Key Verse: Titus 2:13 “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” I believe that deer hunters are some of the best at ‘waiting’ on the entire planet. We can sit and wait in the freezing cold, the rain, or the snow and hope for a deer to walk by. In the previous verses in Titus 2, Paul has been reminding Titus of the way each Christian is to conduct themselves here on earth, and what they should be doing. Now Paul reminds Titus that we are not only supposed to be doing, we are also supposed to be waiting. Notice how V.13 begins with the word ‘looking.’ Each day the Christian should be expecting and looking for the return of Christ. We should be looking, because He could return at any moment. We are to live ‘soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.’ Here Paul once again confirms the deity of Christ. He is GOD. We should also remember what type of God He is. He is the God who left Heaven, and gave Himself for us. This is a reference to how Christ willingly laid down His life for us. There are two purposes as to why God laid down His life for us. The first purpose of this was to redeem us from every lawless deed. We owed a debt we could never pay because of sin in our life. But God in Christ bought us back. We were slaves to sin, and could never pay the price to be free. Jesus paid that price with his sinless flesh when he died on the cross. As a result of that we are now free from the bondage of sin and also the consequences of sin as long as we believe this message. The second purpose of the death and resurrection of Christ is that He ‘might purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.’ God wanted an entire people that would be Holy and perfect just like Him. The only way this would be possible is if God put on human flesh, came and died on the cross. Upon our faith in this message we receive the Holy Spirit and He begins to ‘purify’ us and clean us up. We become one of God’s own special people. The result of being one of God’s special people who is in this process of purification is that we are zealous for good works. Church member while we are here waiting for the return of this God. The God who gave Himself for us because He had a plan and a purpose, we should be desiring to good works. We should desire to feed the poor, comfort the broken hearted, share the gospel, attend church and so much more. What are you doing while your waiting for Christ to return? Don’t sit around and do meaningless things. Get busy doing good works for God’s kingdom. Join the new prayer team at the church, join the evangelism team, join the choir, share the gospel! This is what we do while we wait!
