“in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” (Titus 1:2)
Who’s let you down? Who’s failed to deliver on their promise? Who’s used you to get what they want by selling you a load of fecal matter? Let’s run down the list of the usual suspects. First of all, there are politicians. You can tell when their lying because their lips are moving. Then you’ve got the used car salesman. He’ll tell you what you want to hear so he can put you behind the wheel of that car today. Ever fallen for the sleazy pitch of cable infomercial? If you’re in the market for a pill to melt away your love handles or the secret to flipping houses on somebody else’s dime, operators are standing by!
But I have some good news. Some VERY good news! When it comes to liars, God is THE Outlier. He’s the one we can always trust to be truthful. In the beginning of his letter to his protege Titus, the Apostle Paul wants him to be absolutely sure of God’s truthfulness, especially when it comes to His promise of everlasting life. “In hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began” (v2). I don’t know about you, but if there’s one thing I don’t want anyone fudging on the truth, it’s eternal life. That would be the ultimate bait and switch. Paul tells us we can relax because our Heavenly Dad isn’t pulling our leg when it comes to our eternity.
God. Never. Lies.
First let’s back up and get a little context for what’s going on here. God has been using Paul and Titus to tell everyone on the island of Crete about the Good News of Jesus. Through Christ, God has thrown open the doors of His kingdom to every race, culture, language, and socio-economic group. Back in the day, the only way to get an invite to the party was becoming Jewish. Not any more. As a result, the Gospel is absolutely blowing up on this Mediterranean island. God has another assignment for Paul back on the mainland in Nicopolis in what we know today as Greece (Titus 3:12). Since there is still a boatload of work left to do on Crete, he hands the ball to his boy Titus (Titus 1:5). What a great lesson of trusting in Jesus to accomplish what needs to be done through others! For all you workaholics out there, stand down. There’s only one Savior. While He’s graciously invited you and me to be part of His work, He was doing this for a couple of thousand years before we got involved. Paul is totally confident Christ will use Titus to get the ball across the goal line.
A huge part of this incredible Good News is the mind-blowing benefits package. In Jesus, we have “hope of eternal life” (v2). It’s all part of God’s overflowing love for you and me (Jn 3:16). Everlasting life is available to anyone and everyone who places their trust in the Son of God. Christ did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He was completely obedient to every single command of God. Jesus lived the perfect life I failed to live. He died the death for my disobedience and sin I should have died. He rose to a glorious new and eternal life I don’t deserve.
First of all, we need to know that eternal life starts NOW!! Don’t believe me? How about Jesus? Well, He said exactly that. “Whoever hears My words and believes Him who sent Me HAS eternal life” (Jn 5:24 emphasis added). Once Christ gets us in His supernatural Kung Fu grip, He won’t let us go (Jn 6:39-40). We can be absolutely sure of this because God has “sealed us with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance” until the day it is fully realized (Eph 1:13-14). So this everlasting and overflowing life isn’t a pie-in-the-sky-sweet-by-and-by sort of deal. Eternal life starts the moment we place our faith in the resurrected Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee. Eternal life starts right here, right now.
This “hope of eternal life” (v2) is a game changer and brings with it endurance, patience, and perseverance. I don’t know about you, but life on this side of eternity is incredibly hard a lot of the time. It’s not exactly a skip down the primrose path with my pet unicorn under a Skittle rainbow. But our relationship with Jesus allows us access to His resurrection power to handle everything our fallen world throws our way. As a result, we can share in His sufferings, die with Him and fully experience the resurrection of the dead (Phil 3:10-11). The garbage we face in this fallen world pales in comparison to our glorious eternity with Jesus (Rom 8:18, 25). God promises to guard our eternal inheritance and guarantees it to be “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1Pet 1:3-5).
But how can we be sure God isn’t just selling us some heavenly swamp land or an eternal time share? Paul wants us to be sure that He’s our “God, who never lies” (v2). This is no supernatural switcheroo. We can take it to the bank. One of the big ideas throughout the Bible is that God is the source of truth, He can’t do anything but tell the truth. King David praised God because “Your words are true” (2Sam 7:28). Even a slimy prophet for hire named Balaam had to admit, “God is not a man that He should lie” (Num 23:19). The writer of Hebrews goes so far as to say it’s absolutely impossible for God say anything but the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth (Heb 6:18). Jesus had the audacity to say He IS the truth (Jn 14:6)! So it’s not surprising when Christ describes the Third Person of the Trinity as “the Spirit of Truth” (Jn 14:17).
God. Never. Lies.
This is going to be a big deal to Titus in wrapping up his mission. You see, Cretans are known liars (Titus 1:12)! The followers of Jesus should stand out from the crowd because we are truth tellers. Remember, He created us in His image and commands us to stop fudging the facts and shading the truth (Ex 20:16). Speak truth. Stop lying. Stop spinning things to make yourself look better. Just so you’ll know, the book of Proverbs promises that liars won’t get away with it in the end (Prov 19:9). Thought you’d like to know.
Our truth telling God wants us to count on this eternal life which was “promised before the ages began” (v2). This wasn’t some idea He cooked up for the New Testament. We’re talking so long ago that God hadn’t even invented time at the time. Over in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul explodes in praise for all that God has done for us in an incredible run-on sentence of worship. In the original Greek, Ephesians 1:3-14 is actually one incredibly long sentence. In it, the apostle cranks up the Flux Capacitor to let us know how God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world…In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ…In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined” (Eph 1:4, 5, 11). Without going into a mind-numbing explanation of Calvinism and election, the best picture here is that God has been loving you and me long before He got around to creating the universe. God actually saved us in an incredible expression of His descending, one way love “which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2Tim 1:9). Think about that for just a second. God loved you and planned to come to your rescue long before Adam and Eve fell for the lies of that satanic snake.
No comments:
Post a Comment