Good Works

Good Works (sermonaudio.com)

Series The Good Life

Speaker Steve Harness Wilton Baptist Church FollowingSermon Activity38(5|33)

We are motivated and commanded by scripture to do good works! Why? We are Grace Recipients, Justified People and Heirs to Eternal Life!!

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Good Mercy44:48Steve Harness• 10/6/241

The Good Life | Wilton Baptist Church (sermonaudio.com)

Good Works (sermonaudio.com)

Welcome to the Wilton Baptist Church, where we worship God, walk with others, and win people to the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m Pastor Steve, and our congregation is pleased to share this message with you today, and we pray it’ll be a blessing and encouragement to you. Blessings as you listen or watch. Okay, the book of Titus, Titus chapter three is our passage today. And just another shout out to all the guys. Guys, if you hadn’t signed up for tomorrow’s event, please sign up. There is a sign up there under the clock there in the lobby. Titus chapter three. For 27 years, no one knew who it was. Every day in a different part of town, or city rather, people would wake up and on their walk to work, as they would walk on the sidewalks of Sydney, Australia, they would find sketched in chalk the words eternity. Eternity in large, beautiful letters all throughout the city, in different neighborhoods, in different parts of the town of Sydney, Australia. And nobody knew for 27 years who was writing eternity all over the place. Arthur Malcolm Stace, born in February of 1885 and who lived through July of 1967, is known as Mr. Eternity. You can see this photograph of him. He was an Australian soldier. He was an alcoholic for much of his teenage years. until the 1930s. And then he converted to Christianity. And he began to spread the message of eternity in copper plate writing. That’s a font or a text. If you have Word or use some kind of digital program, you can find that and use that copper plate writing. and he would write that on the paths and footpaths and doorsteps and staircases and anywhere that chalk could receive writing, he would write in that beautiful font, eternity. He did so until the time of his death in 1967. And he became a legend of folklore there in Sydney, and people even talk about him today. He inspired books, a museum exhibit, statues, even an opera at the Sydney Opera House, and a film. all because of his dedication to write out the words the word rather eternity it was august 6 1930 he heard a bible message by the reverend r.b hammond at the saint barnabas church in broadway and he was inspired by the words and he was enamored by that word eternity two years later on the 14th of november 1932 he heard another bible message evangelist john ridley had a message about the echoes of eternity and his text was this isaiah 57 15 for thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth or dwells in, abides in, lives in eternity, whose name is holy. I dwell in a high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. As Reverend Ridley preached that message, he said, eternity, eternity, I wish that I could shout or sound that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. You’ve got to meet it. Where will you spend eternity? And that phrase and that statement by the preacher just echoed in Mr. Stace’s mind over and over again. And so he woke up the next day. before everyone else was awake, like at 4 a.m., and he walked the streets of Sydney and started to write eternity everywhere that he went. And then he would go back, he would write eternity for a couple hours every morning, and before anyone else would know or see him writing eternity or see him walking around with chalk, he would go back and go about his day. The amazing thing is about Mr. Stace, he was illiterate, he couldn’t read, And in fact, the only other word he could write was his name. That was it. But he put eternity all over the place and it caused and it prompted people to consider their eternity. And many people in the churches of Sydney would say, something that got me thinking about my relationship with God was seeing eternity as I walked to work or as I came back to the house. And mystery eternity. So for 35 years, two years after his conversion, after hearing that message for 35 years and 27 of those years, nobody knew who it was. Eternity. It said that he wrote eternity with chalk on the streets of Sydney over 500,000 times attempting to share Christ with them. What an example of someone doing what he can with what time he has, with what ability God has given to him. We’ve looked at Titus the last seven Sundays, and next week we’ll look at it one more time, Lord willing. And we have good preaching. Good preachers, then, are needed. Good minds, good mentors, good grace, good mercy last time, and today, good works. Next Sunday, we’ll look at good friends. Titus chapter 3 is our text. We’ll begin in verses 7 through 10, is what we’ll be reading for today. So notice in your copy of scripture there, it’ll also be on the screen. I’ll just begin in verse 6. He’s talking about the Holy Ghost who is shed on us. which he said on us abundantly or richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, verse 7, that being justified, just as if I never sinned, just as if I have the very righteousness of Christ himself, justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. In verse eight, this is some of the 10 times or 11 times in 10 verses that we have the word good in this text. Therefore, the message series, the good life. We’re finding the good life that God intends for us to have. Here the word good is the word beautiful and good. It’s something that’s wholesome and wonderful. And so we’re to have these good or beautiful works. Good works are a part of the good life that God has called us to. Verse nine continues, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. They’re empty or worthless. A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” We’re told to affirm these teachings. This is a faithful saying, I will that thou affirm constantly in verse 8. And that word means to affirm with confidence, to make a confident assertion, to speak confidently. We are to speak confidently about the things of God, not in an arrogant way, but with a Bible-type humble confidence, not in ourself or our ability or what we know, but in the veracity of Scripture. And so we can speak with confidence about the rapture. about this soon coming time of christ we can talk about the resurrection and uh… he uh… indicates and mentions that that’s what his faith is and in the previous verses to this and that we can talk with confidence about the mercy of god that we looked at last week about the the grace of god that we examined the time before and even in verse seven being justified by his grace we should be made heirs of the hope of eternal life. And eternal life is dependent upon a resurrection. the resurrection of Christ, then the resurrection, future resurrection of believers. He says that you might be careful. That means to give heed or to give thought. This idea of works is something that we should be considering and thinking about. Good works are part of the good life. Now, there’s a motivation I’ll get to before we get to our primary text. And what’s the motivation of our good works? That’s in verse seven. that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And then he goes on to say, this is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly. What things? The things that he’s been talking about. He says to those who have believed. So here’s our motivation. Why would I want to do a good work? Well, it’s not to save myself. It’s not to make myself more secure. It’s not to just pat myself on the back and make myself feel better. The reason that we’re motivated to do good works is because of these three things. We are grace recipients. You have received, if you’re a Christian, you have received the grace of God. You receive this goodness of God. You didn’t work for it. You didn’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. But he gives it, this grace, freely. Also, we are justified by his grace. We’re justified people. Just as if I didn’t sin, God looks at you that way. Just as if I have the perfection of Jesus, the total righteousness of Christ, he sees you that way. And not only that, we are heirs to the hope of this life, this future life. And he’s talking about eternal life with God in a perfect place called heaven, where we’ll be forevermore as believers in the gospel. And so these three things motivate us to do good work. The word work is a simple word, just means to do. It has to do with action. It’s not passive. It’s active. And it’s the work that we do, the deeds that we perform. And then he says to maintain it. We’ll understand that to mean early. And we’ll look at that in just a little bit. And we’re to do these things because it’s profitable. Why do we do good things? He says it’s profitable, it means useful, as opposed to doing things that are useless or not worthwhile. He says do some good works, do some things that are useful. So good works are part of the good life. So what concepts translates into me doing good works or doing good things. How do I do good things or good works? Verse eight gives us the first point, which is this. He says, it’s a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. In verse eight, we get the idea that we should be thinking about our works. We should have some thoughtfulness about, am I doing a good work? Am I doing the best that I can? Am I doing a good thing in the name of Christ in my life? He says that we would be careful. And it means to give heed or to take thought. To maintain means early. To maintain has the idea of earliness with it. So I don’t want to be late. I don’t want to never do it. I want to do something early. Don’t wait to do something good. When you think of maintenance, maintain, maintenance, some of you practice preventative maintenance. And sometimes it’s beneficial to do maintenance ahead of time. For example, if you’re going to get your car inspected, you want to check your light bulbs to get a $2 light bulb installed instead of a $15 light bulb installed. You do some preventative maintenance, you check it out ahead of time to do that so that you pass the inspection, don’t have to buy their expensive bulb if you have them change it for you. That’s preventative maintenance. So, in a way, think of it as preventative maintenance. I’m going to plan to do some good things. When you wake up each day and you pray and spend some time with God in the Bible and you converse with the Lord, it would be a good prayer to say, Lord, what good would you have me to do today? What are some good works or good things that I can participate in today? So ask that early. What good can I or should I do? This also would indicate like a planning, like I’m going to plan ahead. I’m going to think about the future. Here’s a fact, a lot of churches don’t plan well for the future, and they have people that are doing things, and when they retire, or when they age, they no longer do it, or when they die, then nobody else can fill the shoes. But here’s another fact. Every one of us should be mentoring somebody in the service that we’re doing. I mean, whether you do it or not, the fact is we need to. And we should mentor other people in the good works that we’re doing. So if you’re helping at the food kitchen or if you’re helping provide some help in the community for something, or if you’re serving here in this place, and like with our kids’ life, we bring a lot of teenagers in and young people to have them be mentored about teaching, we need to do these things. And so this thinking about good works, we need to be careful, be thoughtful about maintaining good teaching. works. One person wrote, every church needs believers who stirs others up to good works. There’s another passage that says we should provoke one another to good works. So many good programs run out of energy when the newness wears off. The key to survival is not just getting the job done or getting through another day, but training others to take over the work and the responsibility so when a leader is gone, then things can continue. Jane did not let the grass grow under her feet. Whenever she heard about a legitimate need within her department at work or some occasion to be celebrated, she took it upon herself to do something about it. Whether it meant pitching in and helping someone at work, cooking a meal, organizing a baby shower, taking someone to the doctor, or just lending her shoulder to cry on, Jane was there. But Jane went a step further. Although she knew people at work counted on her to take charge of these situations, Jane always involved other people. She never did a good deed that she did not invite someone else to join her or help her. Why? Was Jane incapable of doing these projects alone? No, no matter how big or small the task was, she invited someone else so that they would be mentored and have an idea, here’s how to do this. If Jane cannot do it one day, one day she could relocate to another city and so on, or something else could happen. Jane knew it was just as important for her to involve and train other people in her ministry of helping others as it was for her to be faithful. It’s been said that the first job anyone should do in any profession is to begin training his or her replacement. And that’s a great idea for ministry. So Awana, Kids Life, all these other ministry, our deacons, mentoring other people, potential deacons for the future, all these things are necessary. So think about your good works and plan ahead. Number two, practice good works. In verse 8, there’s some practicing. They go right at it here, that they be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable. He says to maintain it, to get an early start on it, don’t delay doing good. So we get the idea then, if we’re going to practice good works, we should commit to doing good works. And not just occasionally, not just, well, if it works out, and if I have free time, if I have five hours and I have nothing else to do, then I’ll do it. We have to plan and schedule and commit to do good works. Otherwise, nothing gets done. There’s always distractions, we’ll talk about that in a moment, to doing good things. So don’t delay doing good, commit to service. Get it on the calendar. Get it on a schedule. Practice good things each day, and sometimes it’s just I’m going to the store, I’m gonna give my cart to the person you know, so they don’t have to put that quarter in at that one store, and get their cart, I’ll just give them my cart. That’s just a small little good thing you can do. Some of you look like you don’t know what I’m talking about. At Aldi, you have to buy the cart for however long you’re there for 25 cents and then you get it back. So you could do, that’s just a small thing. Maybe it’s a food kitchen or you’re donating clothes. I mean, there’s all kinds of ways that you could find, but those would be like occasional. But sometimes you just got to commit to something. I’ll be there. I’ll sign up. I’ll get the job done. Not just occasionally, but on a regular or faithful for committing to something for a regular basis. So practice good things each day. Some of the small things and the larger commitments as well. Now Ephesians 2 verses 8, 9, and 10 says, for by grace, are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, not of works, lest any man should boast. Why do we emphasize works when we’re not saved by works? Because we have a faith that works. That’s the reason why. And then notice the next verse, for we are his workmanship, God is still working on us, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Wait a minute, am I called to do good works? That verse says you are. Should I be doing good things? Absolutely, this verse says that you should be, I should be. were created in Christ Jesus to do good works or unto good works which God hath before ordained that they should walk in them. So it’s not just an occasional thing, doing good things, doing good works. He says we’re walking in them. This is a daily experience. This is like every day, how can I do a good thing? What can I do that is good? Ultimately, that points people to my Savior, Jesus Christ. Not just to get a pat on my back, not to get a promotion for having initiative, not just to have people say, hey, you did a great job, but that people would see Christ in you.” So we practice these good works. Galatians 2 verse 16 says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. or by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Paul contended with that idea with those in Galatia, that region who wanted to do good works to gain or earn their salvation. You’re not gonna be justified before God based on your works. You can’t earn or buy salvation based on what you do or don’t do. You can’t do that. But we’re not justified by the works of the law. Romans 4 too gives us an example. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.” Okay, Abraham, he has a legitimate case. He could brag about the works that he did and being a good person. I mean, he rescued people from danger. He started this nation through his offspring. I mean, he followed God. He dug wells. I mean, he’s done all these good things, was a good neighbor, and even in spite of a lot of conflict and things, But he wasn’t gonna be justified before God by his works. If Abraham couldn’t be justified by his works, we cannot be. But let’s clarify this one step further. Because our works, while they do not justify us before God, they don’t declare us righteous before God, it’s the work of Jesus. Our works do demonstrate justification before other people. People see what they see. They hear what they hear, they know what they know based upon what they experience with you. James 2 clarifies, but wilt thou know, O vain or empty man, that faith without works is dead. A lot of Christians say they believe, but they don’t do anything in the name of Jesus. It’s hard to say, it’s hard to claim, or hard to witness or to co-witness that they’re really believers. It’s difficult if they’re not actively demonstrating because faith without works is dead. Then Abraham’s the example again. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac upon his son upon the altar? Okay, he demonstrated great faith when he raised that knife up and the angel stopped him from sacrificing his son. Fabulous story, if you want to go back to the Old Testament and read about that later. Was not Abraham justified by works when he offered Isaac upon the altar? Seeest thou how faith wrought with his works? And by works, was faith made perfect or complete or mature? That was a rhetorical question. and the scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. You see then, James clarifies, how that by works, a man is justified and not by faith only. How do we know that Abraham was justified? Well, God knew he was justified by his faith. How do we know? We saw his actions. It’s all recorded here. And how do we know somebody has been justified by God? It’s by their works that we get to see and witness. So think about these good works. People see what they see. Our works justify our declared faith in front of other people. Okay, I’m a Christian. Well, I don’t know if he’s a Christian or not. He never does anything for God. He’s never spiritual. He’s never doing anything for Christ. I mean, that’s a tough sale if you don’t. And so we need to have good works. We’re already justified before God by, only by, and only because of Jesus when he died on the cross shedding his blood for us. And so we work not to be justified by God or before God, but we are justified and they understand there’s some kind of righteousness in him because of his actions, because of his works. And so think about your good works. Number two, practice good works. Three, avoid distractions to good works. Verse nine, he says, avoid foolish questions. When I hear that, I think about an old song, foolish questions, you hear them every day. You ever hear that song? The Wilds put that out on some kind of hillbilly CD, and maybe we’ll find it for the Harvest Festival Day. We need to find that song, and you can laugh when you hear that. I love that one. It falls out of the elevator and stuff. It’s a really funny song. So he says, avoid foolish questions. and genealogies and contentions strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and vain the word avoid means to stand and to turn around avoid i’m going to avoid going this direction i’m going to stand i’m going to turn around from that i’m going to avoid that and then he says foolish questions the word foolish means dull or stupid dull or stupid please do not look at your neighbor right now where to avoid dull and stupid questions. Now, there’s no dumb question, but you know, some people who are skeptics will prod and poke and try to ask something that’s just, they already know the answer, or something that’s basic, and they’re just trying to cause a problem, or they’re trying to cause someone, maybe their question tried to distract you from the priorities that are laid out in scripture. gets you off track from what is legit and what is really real. The word questions, of course, it means a question, it has to do with a search. And here it indicates something that’s controversial, something that’s controversial. And then he mentions genealogies. very specifically, and this is a transliterated word. It’s genealogy, just like you say it in English, genealogies. And it has a sense of reckoning and a pedigree, a reckoning and a pedigree. And this would be a worldview that some people would have had back in Paul’s day as he’s writing to Titus on the island of Crete as he’s going out and establishing these churches and ordaining elders in every city there on the island of Crete. Some Judaizers and some people who would later be known as Gnostics. Gnostics, they would study genealogies, and they would get all of this empty knowledge, this worthless knowledge, and that comes from the study of the genealogies. And it’s a word that’s akin to the word fables, and it’s not so much direct heresy that’s referred to here, as much as a profitless discussion about genealogies and aeons of time, or eons of time, and that led to what’s known as Gnosticism. The Gnosko, Gnostic means to know, and this is a worldview. Some people believe you can educate all the problems out of the world. That’s Gnosticism. All you need to do is to reform this person is to educate them more. Jesus didn’t come to reform us. He came to give us eternal life. And when we trust Christ, our lives are immediately changed for eternity. Our priorities and values are changed, but he didn’t come to reform us. He came to save us from our sin. The reformation or the reforming rather, the change that takes place. We’re in this metamorphosis process, Romans 12, one and two, and we’re changing and changing and changing. When the rapture happens, when the trumpet sounds, Or when we’re dead already and the trumpet sounds, we get a new body, we’re transformed. That’s when that is complete, when we step into heaven’s shores. But until then, we’re to keep changing, we’re keep growing, et cetera. But that worldview of education as savior is Gnosticism and the studying of genealogies. And basically it’s like, what do you know? What do you know? What do you know? That’s not gonna save somebody. You can know everything there is to know in the world and still be lost. We need faith. We need faith in Christ. He mentions contentions. This has to do with quarrels. Some people just are always looking for a fight. Strivings, a fight, a conflict, a dispute, it has to do with quarreling as well. He says these things are vain or useless. It means worthless and unprofitable. It’s another word for useless. It’s like he double emphasizes this. Don’t waste your time fighting about people who don’t really care about what they’re fighting about or don’t have a clue about what they’re fighting about. Now, we’re to give an answer to every man that asketh an answer or asketh a reason for the hope that lies within us. We’re going to talk about that in a few weeks at our Truth Defended Conference. How do you answer atheists and skeptics and how do you answer the culture, etc.? ? But he says, when you’re talking and you’re conversing, there’s some people that try to distract you from doing good things. Don’t be distracted. Don’t spend so much time with someone who doesn’t really care, who just wants to fight. So, religious distractions abound. He mentions the Judaizers in chapter 1, and those of the circumcision, or them of the circumcision, is chapter 1, verse 10, I believe. And that group required keeping the law for salvation or sanctification. And they were also interested in money. In verse 11, they held to Jewish mythology, and they encouraged asceticism. Asceticism is in verses 14 and 15. This is all in chapter 1. We looked at this a couple months ago. And asceticism practicers were those who overly emphasize physical training, bodily submission, self-denial as a spiritual practice. And it can be, but they would overemphasize these things into becoming a god. They focus so much on the body to the neglect of the soul. It was a religious distraction. You’ve seen people on videos, you know, they’re self-flagellating their body. They’re beating their body into some form of submission or something that’s asceticism and that’s a distraction from doing good works. Imagine if you were feeding the poor instead of hitting yourself how much more could be done. I mean it’s sad, it’s funny, it’s sad at the same time that people would do that. Conspiracy theories, they abound. I mean there’s things that can distract us. I read through somebody on social media that you have all the sensationalized things on social media today. I encourage you don’t waste too much time on your social media platforms. During the hurricanes, somebody, multiple people said they heard trumpets off in the distance. They heard trumpets off in the distance. And people speculate, what is this? Some speculated, well, that might be the precursor to the trumpet of the rapture. Maybe that’s what it is. You know, they’d hear these horns, like trumpet sounds. And around the time this last hurricane was coming on the shore, whenever that was happening, it’s about the same time that the Hebrew people practiced blowing their shofar horns. And it’s not like a brass trumpet. It makes a different sound. It’s a horn. It’s called a shofar horn. They would call those trumpets back then. And so the Jewish festival of trumpets was happening about the same time they would blow those horns. And I also know scientifically that whenever hurricanes and tornadoes happen, there’s always a hum or a buzz or it almost, it sounds very similar depending on your hearing capacity and where you’re at and where you’re located to that shofar horn buzzing in the background. I could see how they could confuse that. And so people were saying, well, maybe it’s Christ coming back for us. Maybe it’s this, maybe it’s that, maybe it’s that. Listen, you could take all the time you want and try to discern what that is, but you’re wasting your time. It’d be a waste of time. It’s a distraction to doing good works. Well, pastor, what is it? I don’t know. I don’t know, it doesn’t matter. I know it’s not the trumpet when Christ’s coming back. He’s not gonna give us other signs than what the Bible talks about. In the rapture, there’s no sign waiting. It’s just like you hear it or you don’t, and if you don’t hear it, you don’t know it’s happening because it’s only the Christians who hear it when they start to go up. and everyone else is left to conjecture and to wonder. So there’s exaggerations and agenda. And they used to say, don’t believe everything in a newspaper. Well, nobody reads newspapers anymore. So don’t believe everything you see on the evening news or the 24-hour news cycle or the social media, maybe especially the social media, because I see even people that may be Christians, they sensationalize things so much, they make it so far-fetched. that you don’t know what to believe. Confirm every source. Confirm every story. Don’t just blindly believe it. If it’s on the internet, it must be true. No. Don’t think like that. A lot of Christians look like idiots because they keep posting stuff that is just not true. And what a foolish way for Christians to convey themselves to the world. Think about good works, practice good works, avoid distractions, the good works. Number four, reject division causers. In verse 10, a man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, rejects. So he’s gonna go and warn him, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself. Here is the word heretic, and it means a division causer. A heretic is someone that creates factions, a faction, like, hey, I’m pretty close to believing this, but I don’t believe that, so I’m gonna make a new faction. There’s been a lot of factions or things that are pretty close to the same thing throughout history because of heretics. And they’ll cause division in a church or a family or in a belief or an idea. And it says here very plainly, he subverts. He also sins, and it goes on in the next verse to say that he’s self-condemning himself. You don’t have to condemn someone who’s a heretic. You can rebuke him, you can warn him, but you don’t have to spend all your time condemning him. He’s already condemned. His words already condemn him according to this text. So you warn him. That’s the idea of admonition. And reject him if he does not repent. But he’s condemned already. So what do you do after you warn him and then you warn him? What do you do? You leave him alone. That’s what it says. You just reject him. You leave him alone. You go on. Why does leaving heretics alone have anything to do with our good works? Have you ever thought about that after we read the text? What does this have to do with doing good works? Why do we reject division causers? Because you have more time to devote to doing good things rather than correcting somebody who doesn’t care. You can, and this happens online even, is people will rebuke people online, somebody they will never meet, they will never meet. They don’t even know them. and you try to correct them. The best way to help somebody is to help the person that’s beside you, that’s in front of you, that’s around you. That’s the best way to help somebody. And you have people saying things online, social media, et cetera, and they’re trying to correct other people. You could do a lot more good with a lot less social media interactions. On social media, I’m all about encouragement, posting Bible verses. But you’re not gonna get somebody to think, oh, I’ve been wrong all this time. Look at that clever graphic that they put. You’re not gonna do that. You don’t know them personally. Unless you know them personally, it’s not gonna probably make that much of an effect. Spend some time helping people that you do know. I’ll conclude with this, five practical work tips. Number one, participate in church life. How can I get some good works into my life? Participate in church life. It could be a Sunday morning service or the scattered groups or a water or some other type of event that’s going on. I want to be participating in the life of the church. You notice, and it’s been for years now, I don’t say just come to church, but participate, participate in church. You know, we can, these chairs participate. I mean, these chairs rather are here, but we want you to participate, to be active, to participate, to act in things, so work. Number two, partner with other Christians working together to make a difference. Okay, hey, you’re interested in this? Yes, I have this skill. Yes, let’s collaborate together. Let’s work together on this. Number three, plan for regular practice of good works. It could be at the open door. They have chapels on Thursday nights. I’ve gone before. We need to get some more guys and people who are interested in ministry and people who want to sing and help with the lead in the singing or if you play an instrument or something. This is a good work that you could do to give a pat on the back to 15 or 20 guys who are homeless who are trying to get some skills to be able to hold down a job and to get off drugs and all these things. participate in something like that. But it’d be like, hey, I’ll help serve this, or I’ll help organize these shoes on the rack over there. You could do something like that. And there’s other places as well that you could find to help out. Number four then, purpose to make a difference for others. And in the process, you are also changed. It changes you. It could actually change you more than the person that you’re helping whenever you’re serving and helping out with something. And then finally, number five, prize the service, value the service of Jesus and the co-laboring that we get to do together, together for the glory of God. So maybe you already help out with something. And it could be like I’m weed eating or I’m mowing or I’m power spraying the building or I’m fixing this or doing that. Take somebody with you. Co-labor together. Let’s work together on the good things that God would have us to do. Maybe you’re going to work a booth at the fair, and we’re trying to get back into fairs where we could do that. Or to witness to somebody. Have somebody to go with you to help out, so you can mentor them and be encouraged together. I’ll conclude with this final verse then, John 9, four, I must work the works of him that sent me, Jesus said, while it is day, the night cometh, when no man can work. That’s a really thoughtful statement. There will be a day you can no longer do what you can do today. You just can’t do it. It’s either our minds or our bodies or both. Time catches up with us, we don’t know. Our end, or the end that God has in mind, the appointment for death, we don’t know. Everyone can find a way to serve, no matter what stage of life they’re in, you can find something to do. It could be encouragement, it could be making phone calls, sending letters to people like, hey, it was great seeing you at church, or I missed you. It doesn’t matter what life stage you’re in, there’s always a way that you can serve and minister. Do what you can, when you can, as long as you can. I think it’s a great statement. Finally then, good works are part of the good life. Theodore Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, do you like him? I like seeing him on that horse there, it’s pretty cool. But he wrote in 1917 in the Ladies Home Journal, they asked and interviewed him and talked to him after he had already been president. Former president, they said, can you give us an article, tell us about something about church life, and he gave 10 reasons to go to church, and he included a lot of this about working together. Here you go. Number one, in this actual world of a churchless community where men have abandoned and scoffed at their religious needs, a community is a community on the rapid downgrade. So if we neglect church things, the community is declining. Number two, church work and church attendance has some responsibility for others and a sense of moral strength which prevents a relaxation of one’s own moral fiber. Number three, There are enough holidays for most of us to be devoted to pure holiday making. Sundays are different from other holidays in that there are 52 of them every year. On Sunday, he said, go to church. Number four, yes, I know all the excuses. I know that one can worship the creator and dedicate oneself to living a good living in a grove of trees or by a running brook or by one’s own house, just as well as in church. But he said, I also know as a matter of cold fact, the average man does not thus worship and dedicate himself. If he stays away from the church, he does not spend his time in good works or in lofty meditation. He looks over the colored pages in the newspaper. Number five, he may not hear a good sermon at church. Oh, that’s probably true sometimes. But unless he is very unfortunate, he will hear a good sermon by a good church member and his good wife, who’s engaged all week long in a series of tasks for making hard lives a little bit easier. Number six, he will listen to and take part in Bible reading, some beautiful passages from the Bible. And if he’s not familiar with the Bible, he suffered such a loss. Number seven, he will probably take part in singing some good songs. Number eight, he will meet and nod or speak to good, quiet neighbors. He will come away feeling a little more charitable toward all the world, even toward those excessively foolish young men who regard churchgoing as rather a soft performance. Number nine, I advocate a man’s joining in church work for the sake of showing his faith by his works. We read a verse about that today. And number 10, he said, the man who does not in some way active or not connect himself with some active working church misses many opportunities for helping his neighbors, and therefore, incidentally, for helping himself. Isn’t that amazing? A former president stated that. That’s over 100 years ago, but great statements and good ideas. Everyone, the good life. has some good works in it. Good works are part of the good life. Let’s take some moment to respond. Here’s some questions on the screen. You could pray this today. Lord, help me to do good things for your glory. Lord, help me to do good things for your glory. And before we pray, let’s respond. Maybe say, that’s my prayer. Lord, help me to do good things for your glory. Anybody like that? A lot of hands are all raised and waving, yes. Number two, Lord, help me to look for ways to serve others. Are there ways that I can serve others? Lord, I want to look for ways. Show me ways that I can serve others. Is that your prayer today? I’ll look, I’ll keep my eyes open. Yeah, you see a need, take the lead, is a good statement for that. And then finally, Lord, help my good works to not become distracted, lessened, or merely occasional? There’s going to be a test. Will he be committed? Will she fulfill her calling to do this type of work, to help others, to serve the Lord? Lord, help my good works to not become distracted, lessened, or merely occasional. That’s my prayer today. If you want to pray for that, raise your hand. Yes, a lot of hands. Thank you. Thank you. Maybe there’s a friend you’ve not yet trusted Christ. You haven’t yet started that transformation. You hadn’t believed in Jesus yet. Trust Christ today. Let’s talk after the service here. Let’s go ahead and pray together. Father, we thank you for this message that you gave to Titus and the churches and the pastors he was helping and serving. We thank you for Paul conveying this message, and it’s impactful for us today, thousands of years later. Lord, help each Christian here to find ways to serve, find a good work, not just here, but in the community, in the workplace, and in the neighborhoods. And Lord, we pray that you would let us see needs around us and really step out and by faith serve and minister in all of this for your glory. May you be exalted in our lives of service, the work that we do, let others see these works, and know more about you through our testimony, that they see Jesus in us. Like the passage talks about being the hands and feet of Christ. Let that be true for each of us. Lord, bless now as we take these decisions and take this message with us. Help us all to find good things, even today and throughout this week, to do for your honor. We pray in Jesus’ name, amen.