Faith Sermons and Studies Faith Baptist Church

I don’t know if you have ever read the book “Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage”, but it is a remarkable story. Written in 1959 by Alfred Lansing, the story covers the attempt of renowned explorer Ernest Shackleton as he endeavors to navigate a trans-arctic expedition in 1914. . .



Shackleton is known for his newspaper advertisement seeking crew for the journey. The ad read: ‌‌Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in event of success.‌‌Such a high risk endeavor, yet Shackleton found enough men to step up and accompany him on his dangerous voyage. I can only imagine the difficulty of finding men who were willing to take such risk—men who were willing to lay it all on the line to accomplish their mission and fulfill their destiny.

But this call, given by Shackleton, to embrace a difficult calling reminds me of something. It reminds me of God’s design for men. God’s call on the life of men is to embrace the ups and downs of manhood and fulfill their calling as leaders and providers in our world today. But there’s a problem—just like Ernest Shackleton, there is a shortage of such men. A good and godly man is difficult to find. Men today are too busy doing other things, pursuing other things, to give themselves fully and completely to the calling God has for them. And we are forced to ask the question: “where are all the men? Where are the men who are willing to embrace their calling, despite the difficulty, and lay it all on the line to be a follower of Jesus?” In a world where men are being told they don’t have to accept the responsibility, or even told they don’t have to be men at all, how shall we find such men? And how do we even know what they look like? ‌‌I think some of those questions can be answered through the life of the Apostle Paul. Paul serves as an example of what the type of man God wants looks like. And from the example of Paul shown in the first few verses of Titus 1, we can learn what a godly man looks like, and what standard for which all men should strive. Our big idea today is simple: ‌‌

Big Idea: God has a high calling for men today!

Join guest speaker Larry Utsch in an evaluation of Revelation 20:9-15

I don’t know if you’ve ever read the book “Around the World in 80 Days” by Jules Verne, but I remember reading this classic in high school and being sucked into this incredible story. The novel tells the tale of Phileas Fogg, a wealthy Englishman, who lived a humble and solitary life. Fogg carried out his life with great accuracy and precision, and lived by a very scheduled routine. One day at the gentleman's club where Fogg was a member, a discussion broke out about how long it would take one to travel around the entire globe. Fogg being a precise sort of individual with the ability to make accurate mathematical equations, claimed one could go around the globe in 80 days. The other members of the gentleman’s club debated this claim, and finally Fogg determined to prove it for himself. So Fogg accepted a wager from his friends of 20,000 pounds that a man could travel around the globe in 80 days. Taking his newly hired French valet Passpartout, Fogg sets sail in the skies with a hot air balloon, determined to make it back to the gentlemen’s club in 80 days. ‌



The book follows the adventures of Fogg and his valet thorough various unique experiences as they attempted to race back to London in the 80 day time frame. . . He did indeed made it around the world in 80 days. After much celebration and accommodation for what had been accomplished, the book ends with Phileas Fogg going back to his normal life and resuming his daily regimented routine. ‌‌



I remember reading this book as a young person, and being sucked into the adventure. But then I got to the ending. And I remember thinking—is this it? After all you have seen and heard, are you really just going to go right back to your normal, everyday, boring life?



This experience can happen in our spiritual lives as well. We can lose passion or desire for the things of God. Perhaps they just seem too ordinary or mundane. Maybe they used to hold joy or happiness and now they don’t. Or maybe, we just lose that fire that we once had for spiritual things and they no longer move us as they once did. Sometimes we can lose our love our passion for the things of God. And God doesn’t want us to get there in our spiritual lives. So as we come to our text today, Paul takes time to remind us of what we have in Christ. Lest we become apathetic towards what Jesus has done for us, and lest we become so consumed with doing, that we forget the One we are doing it for, Paul takes time to remind us that there is complete joy, fulfillment, and satisfaction in Jesus. Sometimes we lose sight of that, but it doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. So as we unpack our text this morning, the big idea I want you to remember is this: ‌‌

Big Idea: we should be completely satisfied with the incredible grace of God.

If you’ve ever made an investment, purchased life insurance, created a retirement account, chances are you had to name a beneficiary. A beneficiary is someone who is designated to receive the benefits or proceeds from someone else’s property when that person passes away. Beneficiaries can be named for many types of property: ‌


Bank accounts‌
Brokerage accounts‌
Insurance policies‌
Retirement accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs‌
A will or trust‌‌

All of these and more have the option to name a beneficiary, who will take over possession of items or finances when the current owner passes away. And chances are, most of us have beneficiaries of some sort. If you have a will or trust, you’ll have a beneficiary. A retirement account has a beneficiary. I know my wife and I both have life insurance—she’s my beneficiary and I am hers. Why? Because we want each other to be taken care of in the event that something sudden or tragic happens. It makes sense, and it is a good move to have some of these things set up. ‌

But one thing is usually true about beneficiaries. The beneficiary is usually someone who is close to you. It’s someone that means something to you, usually a close relative. But we wouldn’t expect that you would make just any random person the beneficiary on something like this. Most of you are not going to make me the beneficiary on your life insurance. It’s going to be your spouse, or kids, or something like that. You certainly would not name a complete stranger as your beneficiary. We want someone we know, love, and trust to handle our affairs in our absence. ‌‌

But as I thought about these things this week, I came to realize that there is one exception to this. There is one individual if you will who made his beneficiary to someone who wasn’t a close part of his family, but this individual made his beneficiary, or I should say beneficiaries, individuals who were far off, who had become estranged. And in this unique set of circumstances, treasures more than could ever be valued were heaped upon the most unlikely of recipients. The individual of whom I am talking of course is God, and the goods that were left are the blessings of his grace. The beneficiaries then, are all those who believe on the name of Jesus. If you’re a believer today, that is you. You are a recipient of God’s undeserved favor. And through the death of his son Jesus, all who believe on him become recipients of his divine favor. What a blessing this is! ‌‌And as we come to our text today, Paul shares some of the items we recieved as beneficiaries of the divine favor of God. He shows us two specific works that God has done to bestow this favor upon us, and we are left to come up with a response to such great blessings. And as we unpack this text today, we encounter the big idea that we can take home with us today: ‌‌

Big Idea: God deserves our praise for his undeserved favor

I was thinking this week, there is something about someone who does good work that is just attractive. If you see someone who takes their time to put in the work to do something right, and maybe they have a little skill too, but if you see that, it is a pleasurable experience. Maybe it’s a builder or carpenter who gets two joints to fit together perfectly. Or a repairman who goes above and beyond to get the job done, or a landscaper who just makes a property look amazing. That type of worker and work ethic makes you just want to sit back and say “wow,” they really care about what they are doing and they are doing good work! ‌‌



The same is true in our spiritual lives. There is something that stands out when a person does a good job. Good workers are hard to find, and when someone does a good job, has a good work ethic, that stands out to their employer and also to those around. When we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, he changes every area of our lives, including how we show up to work. And God’s desire for believers is that the way we work at our jobs shows a testimony of the change that Jesus has made in our life. Because what better witness is there than a transformed life? And when we live out our faith at our jobs by how we work, we leave a compelling witness of the transformational power of the Gospel. That’s what Paul talks about in our text this morning. He’s talked about older men and younger men, he talked about older women and younger women, and now he talks about employees on the job. And from Paul’s discussion here we get our big idea for today: ‌‌



Big Idea: Dedicated work highlights spiritual beliefs

I have heard it said, and I'm sure you have as well, that behind every great man is an even greater woman. I suspect that this is very much the case. Women make us who we are. They give us life, they give us care, and our lives either are currently or have been dependent on them in one way or another. But women are under attack today. Women are under attack on multiple fronts. On one side, you have the feminist movement which seeks to release women from the bondage of men, seeking, to destroy the institution of marriage and free women from the home and even motherhood. On the other hand, we have the transgender movement, where it seems that anybody can decide to be a woman, and in doing so it only cheapens the uniqueness and value of women and femininity. One side overemphasizes femininity to the extreme, seeking liberation from men and masculine structures, while the other side devalues femininity, making it something that can be pursued and obtained by anyone.‌‌

But in our text today, Paul teaches us that God places incredible value on women and that biblical femininity is of extreme importance to God. The role that God gives women as women, as wives, and as mothers is a very special and specific God-given mission that women are innately designed to fulfill. And Paul teaches us that when women embrace their God-given role and design and model biblical femininity, this has an evangelistic effect. Because what better to display the transformational power of the gospel then a changed life? And so, in our text today, Paul addresses expectations for women, for wives, and for mothers, and shows us how women in these roles can find meaning and value by embracing the mission God has for them.‌‌

Last week we looked at men in the church, this week we look at God’s plan for women. And as we unpack our text this morning, we come to our big idea for today: ‌‌



Big Idea: God strategically designed biblical femininity as a compelling witness to unbelievers