Works of Grace – Words of Grace Blog – June 20, 2025

Works of Grace – Words of Grace Blog – June 20, 2025

This Sunday at Grace Community Church we will take up the topic of work from the book of Proverbs. This weekend I encourage you to read the small letter of Titus to see how works play an important part in our Christian discipleship.

Titus is a fascinating letter. It was written by the Apostle Paul to his missionary friend Titus. Titus was on the Mediterranean island of Crete, where he was charged with organizing the new churches, discipling its leaders, and instructing the Christians in godly living.

The Cretans had a reputation for being lazy. Titus was to address this character issue by exhorting the new believers in the ways of work.

First, Paul made it clear to Titus, and Titus was to do the same to the church, that no one is a Christian because of their good works (2:11, 3:4-7). This letter contains one of the clearest statements in all the New Testament on the grace of God as the basis of our salvation. The grace, goodness, loving kindness, and mercy of God are behind the great spiritual reality that a person can be made right with God, washed clean of sin, and given the hope of eternal life.

But we shouldn’t think that someone’s work for our salvation is not involved. Paul said that Jesus Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from the sin of breaking God’s law (2:14). This was the work of Christ on the cross where he bore the punishment for our sin. And, the Holy Spirit does the regenerating, renewing work in our hearts that makes us clean and new in Christ (3:5).

So, while we rejoice that we don’t have to do good works for our salvation, we shouldn’t forget that God himself did a great work on our behalf to reconcile us to himself. His grace involves his work for us.

The second way Titus addresses the Cretan character issue of laziness is to tell the Christians who are saved by grace to now go to work. Is Paul contradicting himself? In no way. The message is that we are not saved by our good works, but now that we are saved, we are to engage in good works as the evidence of the living and abiding grace of God in us (2:11-12).

While the whole letter of Titus has the theme of good works underneath it, at least seven times the Christian’s work is specifically mentioned. Just as one of the clearest statements of God’s grace for salvation is in Titus, so is this one on works, “Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help in cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful” (3:14).

I believe that when Paul wrote to Titus, he did so from a mind shaped by Proverbs. Now we, who are in Christ, return to Proverbs to be discipled in the ways of Christian living by the power of God’s grace in us.

Brothers and sisters let’s be clear and confident in the sufficient grace of God in Christ for our salvation. And let’s be active in our work to meet needs and bear fruit for God’s glory.

Enjoy Titus this weekend. I’ll see you Sunday for more of Proverbs.

-Scott