God’s Book of Titus for Lent Wednesday of Lent 4 Regeneration and Renewal Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In the reading from Titus chapter three, God speaks not of your office, but of your person. Our offices are high and holy and divine. Our persons have not fared so well in the ravages of sin. So what has God done? He saved us “by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.” Dear Christian friends, No matter what your office, your duties are difficult to fulfill. Many Christians fill their offices well, to the praise of God’s name. No one fills their office perfectly and without reproach. If you cannot see your failures in your office, your eyes might be. We must approach our offices with daily repentance—that is, daily sorrow over sin—if there is to be any chance of our faithfulness in them. Tonight’s reading speaks about that difficulty of keeping your person constantly faithful to your office. Paul has been speaking about slaves. Not even slaves should consider themselves exempt from faithfulness. Thus it is written, Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. “Ready for every good work”? Every father can list the ways he should have been a better father. “Avoid quarreling”? You might not want to admit it, but you know very well when you are looking for a fight with your spouse or your sibling. “Perfect courtesy toward all people”? Christians can be unbelievably rude and unkind to their waitress or some other neighbor. Examples such as these are not the sins of office. These are sins of the person, which each of us brings into our office, by which we misrepresent the office, through which we fail our God-given office. What amazing thing! God continually wants to use each of us in the offices He has given—despite our sins and failures! God so earnestly wants to work through our offices—both for our good and for our neighbor’s good—that He continually cleanses us of our sins and strengthens us in our weaknesses. Stated another way, God re-tools and refurbishes our persons every day so that we may rise anew to fill the office He has given. Stated yet another way, Baptism is the daily cleansing of your person so that you might remain faithful to your office. Stated yet one more way, He saved us “by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit.” The Word “regeneration” means “born again” or “birthing again to the original state.” Elsewhere in His Scriptures, God uses this word “regeneration” to describe the way the earth will be when Christ returns on the Last Day and fully cleanses the entire creation from our sin (Matthew 19:28). God says here in Titus that your Baptism is “the washing of regeneration.” Baptism is the bath by which you get birthed again and returned to your original state—the same state that Adam and Eve enjoyed before their fall into sin. Baptism is like a daily reset button that God presses for you, so that the weakness of sin is overcome and “your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:5, cf. Isaiah 40:31). Baptism is not your office. Baptism is the regeneration of your person for the sake of your office. How do we know that regeneration is a daily gift from God to you? Because of that second Word God uses: renewal; “by the washing of regeneration and RENEWAL in the Holy Spirit.” Renewal means “take it from the top” or “start over again” Renewal is the complete renovation you do in your kitchen or your bathroom. Renewal is washing and detailing the family car. God also promises you in 2 Corinthians that your baptismal renewal happens every day. Thus it is written: “We do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being RENEWED day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:6). My wife’s husband is more work for her than her children are; your employer asks more from you than your paycheck seems to represent; some people in the congregation might require more attention than you want to give: tiredness, irritation, nausea, and other sensations chip away at the person, tempting failure in the office. Do not lose heart, my Christians! “Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being RENEWED day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Do not lose heart! When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
