Fight the Good Fight of Faith, English Edition

Lesson : The Excellence We Show • 

7. God’s grace instructs us how to live and to do good works as we prepare for the second coming of Christ. Read Titus 2.11-14. Fill in the blanks. a. The grace of God bringing salvation trains us to renounce ________________________ and to live _______________________ lives as we wait for our blessed hope. b. Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from _____________________ and purify a people of his possession who are zealous for _____________________________. As God’s beloved children by faith in Jesus Christ, we are called to be imitators of God, to be like our Lord, and to care for others in love. We are, as it were, his members here in this world, as if he were living through us, right here on earth. As such we are called to be “saints” (holy ones) of God, made righteous through faith in Jesus. We have been set apart to live lives that are pure and holy before the Lord. We are to be sanctified (set apart for God’s possession and use), in order to both show and tell others that we belong to Christ, and that they too can be transformed through the same Gospel that has transformed us. Truly, God has not invited us to lives of ungodliness and impurity, but of holiness and righteousness. In addition to being called to be saints, we have also been made ambassadors for Christ, representing Jesus and the Kingdom of God in our relationships and our conduct. We are agents of the Kingdom, citizens of the heavenly reign of God, and as such, have been empowered to make God’s appeal to others in his name. We must be careful to do so with clarity, excellence, and boldness. In both word and deed we proclaim Jesus of Nazareth as both Lord and Christ, the coming King of the world. Through our Gospel presentations we offer life in his name to everyone who will repent and believe, and through our demonstration of love and good works we show what that Kingdom is about. Through our deeds, we play a godly version of “Show and Tell” every day before our family, friends, and neighbors, revealing to them what it means to be in the Kingdom of God. No one can be a saint and an ambassador for Christ in their own strength and will. Christ lives in us by his Holy Spirit, and we can represent him only as we walk with him. As we depend on Christ, so can we represent him well.

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