“Zealous for Good Deeds!”

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11-14 ESV)

Go back and reread verse 11: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people,”.  That’s the gospel message that we’ve all heard hundreds of times. The pure truth is that Jesus appeared to the world at the right time in the right place, so that any and all who would believe in Him would have eternal life with Him. We’ve heard it so many times that unfortunately, it has become a bit “commonplace”. It doesn’t overwhelm our hearts like it used to. It still should; the gospel hasn’t changed, we have. It’s not just the gospel that becomes “commonplace” to us; it’s hundreds of things. When was the last time watching the sun rise or disappear behind the horizon made your heart swell? When was the last time your mate told you that they love you, that it flooded your heart with joy? Do you remember when you were dating?

Commonplace events no longer have the same effect on us as they once did. Unless we remind ourselves frequently of the cost and importance of them, that’s why we need to constantly remind ourselves what the appearing of God’s grace did, v13-14 says waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works..” Jesus didn’t just appear as God’s grace to redeem us; He redeemed us so that we could be pure, His own possessions, and be zealous for good deeds.

As Paul Harvey used to say, “And that is the rest of the story!”. It seems that too many believers have forgotten these truths about our salvation. God did not simply redeem (buy back) us from the power of sin, but made us pure so that we could see the purity of His Word. He made us His own possessions; we belong to Him, not to ourselves. We no longer are the masters of our own existence; we belong to God, we are His, and He is ours! We need to live like we belong to the King! He doesn’t want us just not to do wrong; He died so that we would be zealous for good deeds.

The Grace of God didn’t appear so that we would follow a list of dos and don’ts. He hasn’t given us 613 New Testament Laws to obey, like He did in the Old Testament. He has taken out our hearts of stone and given us hearts of flesh. He wants us to be zealous for good deeds that will bring honor and glory to His name. His desire is for us to care about what He cares about. So, what does God care about? Start reading His Word regularly, and you’ll find out that it doesn’t take long to become zealous for good deeds.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"