Scripture:  Titus Chapter 3, Verses 5-8

One of the “perceived” benefits to legalism (treating man-made commandments as if they were God-given commandments) and religion (if I obey good enough and perform well enough, then I’ll be accepted by God) is that they, allegedly, offer the most effective motivation to do good works.  Otherwise, how else will people do what’s right apart from a little fear, guilt, and condemnation?  Right?  Wrong.

For Christians, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is too often seen only as being useful for evangelism, and is primarily viewed as merely the entry point to Christianity.  Legalism often suggests for Christian “growth” to take place, that religion and fear must be called back up from the minor leagues—so to speak—and essential doctrines of the Gospel and grace are forced to take a seat on the bench.  None of us are totally immune from the tendency to fall back into works-oriented religion.  As Martin Luther once said, “religion is the default mode of the human heart.”  We must continually be called back to the gospel of grace.  We must understand the Gospel not only in relationship to justification (being saved), but also in relationship to sanctification (growing in Christ-likeness). 

In the Bible, Titus Chapter 3 gives us good teaching on Gospel-motivated good works.  Titus 3:5-8 says that God saved us, “not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy…through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  The Gospel always serves as a reminder we are saved by grace, not by works.  The Apostle Paul goes on to instruct Titus to, “insist on these things (the gospel of grace), so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works” (3:8).  In essence, Paul is saying that since we’ve been saved by grace, this ought to motivate us to devote ourselves to good works.  The gospel of grace provides authentic motivation for devoting ourselves to good works!  

We must realize we are called to “insist”—as Paul commands—on the Gospel rather than guilt, condemnation, fear, legalism, manipulation, and all the other things we typically lean on to motivate ourselves and others to do good.  We must “insist” on the gospel to ourselves, to our families, and to one another.  Through hearing, knowing, and operating out of the Gospel, we’ll devote ourselves to good works!