In today’s passage, Paul is presenting a large piece of what we as Christians believe in a dense and concise way. He talks about Jesus, grace, salvation, and hope. When Jesus came and fulfilled the Scripture he brought salvation to all people. Not just the Jewish people anymore, not just the holy, but everyone. No matter your social status or past, the grace of God can reach you. Once you’ve accepted this grace it begins to transform you and make you more like Jesus. Paul says it is “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions”. I think training is an important word in this passage. For anyone who has been through a lot of training, you know that one of the parts of training is failure. You make mistakes when you’re training, and that is what helps you learn more than anything. It’s the same as what Paul is talking about. We are going to mess up while we become more like Jesus, but the grace that Jesus shows us will let us learn from those mess-ups, cause even if we mess up, Jesus has assured our salvation.

And then there’s hope. Paul says “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”. We know the current age is not what God’s kingdom on earth is going to look like. We know that living our lives according to Christ will many times put us counter to society. When it gets hard to look around at how the world isn’t what it's supposed to be, we look forward to the time that the glory of God and Savior Jesus Christ will appear to make all things whole and right, as promised.

[Titus 2.1]

2.11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

[ WHAT ] is this passage saying and what is a key truth or thought that we learn?

+ How did Jesus bring salvation for all people?

+ How is grace needed for training us? Could we be trained without grace?

+ What does it mean to be a “people for his own possession”?

[ HOW ] is the Lord calling me to action/obedience?

+ Is there sin to confess or a next step to take? How has it gone since last time?

+ How do you feel your “training” is going?

+ Are there times you feel you’ve failed? Have you spoken that to God?

[ WHO ] am I walking with and praying for to discover Jesus?

+ What is my next step?

+ How can I help someone else “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions”?