14.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• Because of the grace of God in Jesus Christ, we have hope: 
  - the hope of Christ’s glorious return.
• We prepare ourselves for Christ’s return
  - by living self-controlled, upright, holy, godly, disciplined lives.
• The fourteenth mark of a mature Christian is that he is upright.
• To be “upright” means to live in a way that is right in God’s eyes.
• When we believe in Christ, then God gives Christ’s upright life to us!
• We are truly upright when we trust in God’s grace, not in ourselves.
• The grace of God trains us to live the upright life that Christ has given us.
• In a mature Christian’s life, the grace of God and the life of Jesus are clearly seen.

14.2 Titus 1:7-8 (ESV)←⤒🔗

^7. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,

^8. but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

© NET Bible

14.3 Titus 2:11-14←⤒🔗

^11.  For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.

^12. It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

^13. as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

^14. He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness  and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good.

© NET Bible

14.4 Our hope←⤒🔗

In Lesson 13 we looked at Titus 2:14: “He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good.”

In this lesson we will study the whole passage, Titus 2:11-14. This passage can help us to understand why a mature Christian is “upright, holy, and disciplined” (Titus 1:8).

The passage begins with wonderful words: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people” (verse 11). Here Paul is speaking about the grace that God has shown us in the coming, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ. Christ brought salvation for all kinds of people–young and old, men and women, slaves and masters (Titus 2:1-10).

Christ brought us the grace of God (God’s love and kindness towards sinners). Because of this we have “hope.” Our hope is “the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (verse 13).

Our Saviour will come again! On that day we will see his glory and share in it. That is the hope with which we live.

14.5 Preparing for Christ’s return←⤒🔗

To “hope” is to wait joyfully for something you cannot yet see. Hope is powerful. It changes the way you live. When you hope for something, you also prepare yourself for it.

How do we prepare ourselves for the day when Christ will appear? The answer to this question is found in Titus 2:12. By the grace of God, we “reject godless ways and worldly desires and…live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”

These words sound almost like the words of Titus 1:8. There we read that an overseer must be “self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.” Self-controlled. Upright. Godly. Holy. Disciplined. These words describe the life of someone who is preparing for Christ’s return!

In the next part of this lesson, you will learn what it means to be “upright.”

14.6 Upright by the grace of God←⤒🔗

If you want to understand the meaning of the word “upright,” then look at its second part. It is the word “right.” To be “upright” is to live in a way that is right in God’s eyes. (Not all English Bibles use the word “upright.” Some use the word “righteous” and some use the word “just.” These three words have the same meaning.)

But wait! How can Titus 1:8 say that an overseer must be upright? And how can Titus 2:12 say that all believers must be upright? The Bible tells us that no one is upright (Romans 3:10). Jesus alone lived in a way that was right before God. He alone is “the Righteous One” (Acts 7:52).

Yet that is where the grace of God comes in! Remember how our passage (Titus 2:11-14) begins: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.”

By the grace of God, we have been saved from our unrighteousness. Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, took our sins on himself. In return for our sins, he gave us his righteousness!

Through faith we have become one with Christ. His upright life is now our upright life. This is what the Bible means when it says that God “justified” us (for example, see Romans 3:24). To “justify” a person means to declare, “This person’s life is an upright life.” That is what God has done for you and me, the moment when we believed in Christ.

14.7 Trusting in God’s grace←⤒🔗

One day Jesus told this story:

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’

“Then Jesus said, ‘I tell you that this man [the tax collector] went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee’” (Luke 18:10-14a).

In this story the Pharisee was not justified (declared upright by God). Why not? Because he trusted in his own righteousness (Luke 18:9). The tax collector was declared upright by God. Why? Because he trusted not in himself but in God’s mercy and grace. In this way he received the upright life of Christ.

As Christians, we can often be like the Pharisee in the story. We can trust in ourselves. We can imagine that we are better than the “unrighteous people” around us.

But that is not how a mature Christian thinks. A mature Christian trusts not in his own “upright life,” but in the upright life of Christ. “God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!” That is the prayer in a mature Christian’s heart.

14.8 Trained by the grace of God←⤒🔗

By God’s grace we have been justified (declared upright). But God’s grace does not end there! Titus 2:12 says that the grace of God “trains us…to live…upright…lives.”

The word “train” means to teach and correct a child. As believers, we are like small children. We have received new life from God our Father. Now God wants to train us in this new life.

We can also say it in another way: we have received the upright life of Jesus Christ. Now we must learn to live this upright life. We must learn to think, speak, and act like Jesus.

That is what the Bible means when it speaks about “upright” (or “righteous” or “just”) people. For example, the Bible tells us that

• David was an upright king (1 Kings 9:4);
• Job was upright (Job 1:1);
• Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous before God (Luke 1:6).
• Cornelius was an upright man (Acts 10:22).

Were these people sinners? Yes. But they trusted in God’s grace and forgiveness, which would be given to them in Jesus Christ. Because they trusted in God’s grace, his grace trained them. They listened to his Word. They repented of their sins. More and more, their lives looked like the life of Jesus.

That is what it means to be a mature Christian. In a mature Christian’s life, the grace of God is clearly seen. A mature Christian is always becoming more and more mature¾more and more like Jesus.

The upright life of Jesus is described in Galatians 5:22-23: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). This life does not come from us. It comes from the Holy Spirit. Again, it is all by the grace of God!