When I first started coming to the chapel, about 15 years ago now, and I've shared this story a lot with the youth and maybe even from the pulpit before, but I remember one of the things that was the most kind of shocking, not quite the right word, but kind of really just like, wow, was how loud Dale Evans sang. I just didn't get it. I'd never been in a church before where people sang that loud. But 15 years later, I might be louder now than Dale. And I share that just as continuing evidence of this is what the Lord does. He changes hearts. He transforms people. He changes even the volume of our voices as we grow in confidence as we grow in understanding, as we grow in excitement over what Christ has done, and the depth and the width and the height of His love. So I rejoice with Mark in being able to sing with you as a congregation, being able to sing with you as a body, and lifting our praises up to God. Because what we do here on a Sunday morning, lifting our voices together, matters. This is worship before the face of God. I praise them and I thank them for that opportunity. If you were to come to live in the Berry home for a few weeks, you would quickly detect that our family has a very distinct culture. You would note norms, mores, lifeways, taboos, etc., and you would see that they are constantly repeated and constantly reinforced. You would also note that when a member of the family gets out of sync, as we often do, the harmony of the home is disrupted. To a great extent, my family is held together by a set of mutually held expectations. Our four-year-old, Ruben, already knows and understands many of those expectations, and he works very ambitiously to communicate those to our two-year-old son, Theo, each and every day. right down to the exercising of his own form of corporal punishment. Theo, the two-year-old, is still learning what it means to live in the Berry home. Thirty-seven, maybe even thirty-eight times a day, he asks the question, Why? Why? Why? when given a command. For better or worse, my wife Beth and I have created a highly complex and structured system that makes official the way the Berry family rolls. This is both what distinguishes and associates us with other families, like the Baileys or the Thompsons or the Estoyas. But this is certainly not unique. It's happening in every single one of your homes as well. Every family and social group on Earth does this, and society has benefited much from it. But it is not all a good news story, because here is a fact. Beth and I often get it wrong. The family culture we have built has flaws. We overvalue stuff, and we undervalue people. We love convenience too much and we love sacrifice too little. We are zealous about our earthly kingdom and lackadaisical about the heavenly kingdom. At the chapel, we often explain the Church as a family of families. If that is the case, then we would expect to find all of what we just discussed in place. A culture, norms, a way of living, etc. But there is a significant difference between the Church's expectations and norms and culture from that of our individual lives and our families in our own homes. The expectations involved with being a member of God's family, that is the Church, Those expectations, unlike Beth and I's, are perfect. They are flawless. They are wholly righteous. That is because God Himself has given them to us. And, as the psalmist tells us, the law of the Lord is perfect. The precepts of the Lord are right. The commandment of the Lord is pure. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. This morning, we will begin this discussion that will last two Sundays concerning what is called the Chapel Covenant. This is part of the series we have been doing on what it means to be a member at the chapel. And just in case we have not said it clearly, Clear Creek Chapel is a church that believes all Christians should strive to be formally associated with a local body of believers. These days and in this culture, we often refer to this as membership. More than simply asserting this, however, we are endeavoring to help you see the biblical pattern and the biblical wisdom in the call to membership. In past weeks, Pastor Dan and Mark have established the Old and New Testament arguments for formally being identified with the body of Christ. Pastor Steve last week began to help us think through the implications of membership with his sermon on stewardship. And this morning, we will continue that focus on implications by addressing the chapel covenant. How many of you know what the chapel covenant is? Don't raise your hands yet. That's coming. Now if you're in my flock, you're not allowed to participate in this survey. I want you to raise your hand when you think I am speaking of the chapel covenant. And the way that this particular survey works is that you have to vote the first time you think you hear the correct option. You don't get to hear all the choices first. So when you think you hear it, raise your hand because we're not going back. First option. And the question is, is this the chapel covenant? By God's grace and through his word, we will cultivate in the heart of God's people. If you think that's the chapel covenant, raise your hand. Okay, got a few. Everybody's got to vote. Number two, savoring the supremacy of God, studying the word of God, shaping the people of God. If you think that is the chapel covenant, raise your hand. Okay, a few more. I know, we've got about 10% total right now. They're all waiting. Number three, the elders have developed the truths we treasure as the basic statement of doctrine that each member of the church must believe and affirm. If you believe that that is the chapel covenant, raise your hand. Okay, last one. Recognizing our responsibility to obey all the scriptures and the need to distinguish ourselves from the world as a community of believers, all members shall affirm their commitment to please God in all areas of life by entering into this covenant." If you believe that is the covenant, raise your hand. Okay, for those of you that were holding out, very wise. We'll come back to that paragraph. But it seems to me would be my hunch that many of you, just like myself, were maybe a little foggy on exactly chapel covenant. I don't hear much about that. When I became a member at the chapel well over 10 years ago, I would have read the book of faith and order as our membership process requires. Now the Book of Faith and Order is the document that describes what the chapel believes, that is, our faith. And it also describes how the chapel will function, that is, our order, hence the Book of Faith and Order. It's a charter document of sorts and it's common in many churches. Formally, the introduction in our Book of Faith and Order self-describes its contents as Confession, Covenant, and Constitution. You can get a copy of this at our information booth that's out in the lobby, at the chapel office, down this hallway over here, or most easily online under the About Us tab. In this document that is the Book of Faith and Order, there is a section that is called the Chapel Covenant. It states the following. recognizing our responsibility to obey all the scriptures, in the need to distinguish ourselves from the world as a community of believers, all members shall affirm their commitment to please God in all areas of life by entering into this covenant. It goes on, humbly depending on the Holy Spirit's enabling and aiding us, and affirming the truths we treasure, which are in the Book of Faith and Order, we covenant or we promise to glorify God by striving. And then comes a list of about 16 different points which speak in summary fashion to what the scripture calls believers to in body life. Surprised? About a month ago, I was too. Yes, I browse documents at other churches. Just last weekend, my family attended Cornerstone Church in South Carolina on a little family mini vacation. And they called a very similar section in their constitution, quote unquote, Christian conduct. At Capitol Hill Baptist Church, for those of you who follow the Nine Marks ministry, it is simply identified as their covenant. Similarly, at Bethlehem Baptist, for those of you who served well by Desiring God Ministries, it is also referred to as their covenant. Simply put, a church covenant is a statement of how a church has agreed to live together, creating the common commitments that undergird a functional community, very similar to what happens in any family. The chapel covenant contains nothing different than what you find in the Word. It simply highlights and calls out specific aspects that shape the life of the body. As one church has put it, it is equal parts promise, summary of expectations, ethical statement, and biblical standard. If you have not read the Chapel Covenant in our Book of Faith and Order in a while, perhaps you would consider reading it again in the week to come. Again, the easiest place to find it is on the website under the About Us tab, and it's under Article No. 6 in the Book of Faith and Order. That, if you do it, will be helpful preparation for next week's sermon as we move forward describing this. So why would the chapel require its members to agree to a covenant and thereby make a serious and sober promise? Although we could come up with a moderate-sized list of legitimate responses to this question, we're going to let the book of Titus both shape and limit our explanations this morning. And we're going to be focusing mostly on Titus chapter 2. So if you'll open your Bibles, or scroll your machines to Titus chapter 2, and let's pray as we get started. Father, we rejoice in all the promises that you've given us. It is so good to sing of them, to sing them to one another, as well as to sing them to you. Lord, may we believe these truths that we sing. May we believe these truths that we will preach and be transformed. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. The book of Titus is titled Titus because it is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to a man named Titus. Titus and Paul had previously been together preaching the gospel to the people who lived on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. As far as we know, they were the first persons to bring the good news of the gospel to these people. Paul, however, could not stick around to see a church established. for those on the island of Crete who had become Christians. He was on a journey to Rome. Therefore, he left Titus behind. And it tells us in chapter 1 that he left him behind so that Titus might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town, so that Titus might establish the church in Crete. Thus, in the book of Titus, we get a fascinating look into what it was like at the ground level for these new churches. What God, through the Apostle Paul, identified as important and necessary. What we find in the book of Titus is both reassuring and challenging. It's reassuring because what Paul calls for is exactly what we would expect him to call for based on his other writings. Essentially, the book of Titus breaks pretty tidily down into faith and order. It's challenging because Paul is actually very specific in detailing who and what the church is to be. And this is the first of three observations we are going to make from our text this morning. If the gospel, then a way of living. Let's read together Titus chapter 2, verses 1 through 10. Paul says this, But as for you, speaking to Titus, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself, Titus, in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. They are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior." In almost all of Paul's letters, you are going to find what is essentially a highly detailed list that specifies and commands what the Church's attitudes, words, and behaviors are to be. Where the gospel call goes out, and it certainly does in the book of Titus, there is always the call to gospel living. The two are never separated. So perhaps we should not be surprised when a contemporary church, like Clear Creek Chapel, includes in its membership documentation a requirement that the member promise or covenant to aspire to Is it not merely a reflection of what Paul does repeatedly in the New Testament? Let's note that there is no sense here that it was up to the Cretans, those who lived on the island of Crete, to come up with some version of church or body life that suited their particular age group or ethnic group or lifestyle group or culture in a manner that superseded Paul's instructions. There was to be no first church of Mediterranean island-dwelling lazy gluttons. Which, if that language surprises you, we'll see it a little bit later in the text here. Not at all. Instead, Paul makes it very clear. This, verses 1 through 10, is the way that Christians live. This is how the church functions. Note the declarative nature of Paul's instructions. In verse 2, he says, older men are to be. In verse 3, older women are to be, are to teach, are to train. Verse 6, young men are to be. Verse 7, Titus, the interim pastor, was to be. And in verse 9, slaves are to be. Now, wisdom will dictate how disobedience is worked out in every local expression of believers, but it must be worked out. There is to be no such thing as a church where what you act like doesn't matter. For many, however, If the church makes any attempt at designating certain things as unacceptable or prescribing what is right and what is wrong conduct, they will condemn the church as narrow-minded, unloving, doctrinaire, harsh, or judgmental. Yet in doing this, they take what Paul clearly does repeatedly throughout the New Testament and they set it aside as if it has no consequence in the life of the church. These may even be the same people who, in their own homes, demand a certain kind of living from those who live with them. But coming to church, and the Word as preached, demands a certain kind of living. And the defenses and the walls go up. You have no right to tell me how to live. Beloved, according to the pattern of scripture, we should be concerned when a church seems to have very little interest in its members' attitudes, words, and behaviors. This is not to say that the church's main role is to become the sin police of the world. It is not. But the pattern of scripture stands. If the gospel, then a way of living. We cannot stop there, however, because Paul does not stop there. This way of living is merely a product. Because an apple tree, then apples. Or in the case of the church, because an orchard, then an entire harvest, which can feed the nations. Let's read verses 11 through 14 together. Four, Paul says, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 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. Regardless of your translation, you're going to see that the first word of verse 11 is for, F-O-R. This links the church-should-be-this-way language of verses 1 through 10 to the realities, the truths of verses 11 through 14. What is true always issues forth in what is done. Leap buildings in a single bound, for you come from Krypton. Use that hammer. for you come from Asgard. Now, for some of you, you have no idea what I'm talking about, but many of you do. Strive to live the Christian life for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. This, beloved, is the gospel. who through His death on the cross bore the punishment that was due me because of my sin against a holy God, and who obeyed God's law perfectly on my behalf, rescuing me from the damning wrath of God. This historical act of the real person, Jesus Christ, the God-man, frees me from the power of sin. We know that our old self was crucified with Christ in order that, Romans 6 tells us, we would no longer be slaves to sin. You see, the Gospel is far more than a spiritual transaction that has taken place in the heavenlies, though it be that. It is a transforming reality. The Gospel changes everything, including me, including you. The Gospel, when truly embraced, truly transforms. There is no caveat, no disclaimer. This is the consistent pattern and proclamation of the New Testament. The Gospel, when truly embraced, truly transforms. This is why Paul goes on in verse 12 to describe the practical outworking of the gospel. It, that is the gospel, trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. Rightly understanding the chapel's covenant, then, means that we will not read it simply as, Thou shalt, but rather, thou shalt because thou art. Thou art redeemed, purchased, bought back, out of the power of sin, out from under the wrath of God. Christians obey and are transformed because they can obey and they are being transformed. As Paul puts it at the end of verse 14, Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from lawlessness and to purify us for himself. A people for his own possession who are zealous to do good works. In this letter to Titus, again and again, as Paul lays out the fundamentals for the churches springing up in Crete, he reemphasizes that the gospel truly embraced, truly transforms. If this is not the pattern evident in the Church, then the Church may have embraced something else than the one true gospel, and the Church may not even be a Church. The chapel covenant calls us to commit to being who we truly are. The absence of this commitment is what was threatening the Church in Crete. People infiltrating the Church with a message that was not The Gospel. But it was passing for the Gospel. And guess what it looked like? Guess what it sounded like? Well, we don't have to guess, because Paul describes it right at the end of chapter 1. If you let your eyes skim over chapter 1, verses 10 through 16, you'll see words like this. Insubordinate. Empty talkers. Deceivers. Corrupting. Liars. Evil beasts. Lazy gluttons. And Paul finishes the description off with this summary about those who embrace a kind of gospel that does not transform. Paul in verse 16 captures this very succinctly, a gospel that does not transform. They, that is these folks bringing a non-gospel into the church, profess to know God, we're His, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work. May God keep us from this at the chapel, and may our covenant together remind us that we are a people of the true gospel, a fact which has life-changing implications every single day. Again, Paul is still not finished. If the gospel, then a way of living. Because the gospel, then a way of living. And finally, for those without the gospel, then a way of living. Besides the grand reason given in verse 2.11 that we already talked about for the grace of God, for living a transformed life, Paul has identified another reason that is oriented to those who are not in the church, who do not have the gospel. Very briefly, note verses 5 and 8 and 10 in chapter 2, and then the first few verses in chapter 3 with me. In each case, Paul provides an additional rationale for the kind of obedience he is calling believers to. It sounds like this. In verse 5, do these things, that the word of God may not be reviled. In verse 8, do these things, so that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us. In verse 10, do these things so that in everything they may adorn, that is the believers, may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. And in chapter 3, verses 1 through 2, Paul says, remind the believers in Crete to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, and to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. A set of commands there oriented toward the outside world. It is undeniable that as Paul calls the church to live in a way that demonstrates the transforming nature of the gospel, he also has those without the gospel, that is, the watching world, in mind. Why? First, Paul is keen that the church would accurately shape the world's perception of the gospel, the word from which it comes to be known, and the Savior who has made it all happen. And Paul has good reason for this concern, does he not? So much glory has been robbed from God by the Church. Not by failing to obey, necessarily. That will be part and parcel of the Church until Christ returns. But by failing to repent. That is to call sin sin and to turn from it in heart and in action by God's grace and thereby display how the gospel changes people. The major failure of the church is not that there is sin in the church or that believers sin. That will be the case until Christ returns. The major failure in the world's eyes is that we do not repent. The travesty is not that Christians sin, it is that they do not change. While Bible-believing Christians would question, then, the genuineness of such a person's faith, which is a legitimate question, the world simply questions the faith itself, or even worse, God himself. So there is the protection of the testimony of Christ before a watching world, but there is also the proclamation of the gospel to a dying world. Our good works, our Christian living, our commitment to being transformed by the gospel, gives the unbeliever reason to consider the gospel as it pertains to their own lives. Paul says at the beginning of chapter 3 there, show perfect courtesy to all people. Then he goes on, for we ourselves were once foolish. We were once disobedient. We were once led astray. But, when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. This was not by works of our own. These things, the Gospel, are excellent and profitable, in verse 8, Paul tells us, for all people, believers and unbelievers alike. Christian conduct, that is genuine attitudes, behaviors, and words, the chapel covenant, Christian conduct, that is genuine attitudes, behaviors, and words, that is the chapel covenant, is not first and foremost about setting up a stark contrast between us and them. It does do that, and it should do that, but not first and foremost. And God forbid that we become a church that looks down our nose at unbelievers or believes that the primary difference between unbelievers and believers is what they do or don't do. Christian conduct is and has always been about the glorious transforming power of the gospel and our great King, Jesus Christ, who has made it possible. When unbelievers see believers living out the gospel, they are confronted with a reality that is not of this world. And the older I get, the clearer that is. When believers see unbelievers living without the gospel, they should be reminded of how they were once lost in sin, and how the loving kindness of our Savior rescued us. We should hope and pray that unbelievers might come to know this very same rescue. And we do do this, don't we? We should also hope that our conduct would present no stumbling block, but would adorn and beautify the faith in a manner that makes it irresistible. May our consideration of the Word this morning make us the humblest and happiest of people, dead set on living in ever-growing obedience to God by the grace that he has given for, as Paul says, he has saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. Let's pray. Father, Your Word is sharp. It cuts. It divides. It lays to the left and it lays to the right, Lord. It exposes. Father, we are Your people. We ask You for this. We pray that we would embrace this grace, Father, that You have given for lives that are being transformed continually. Father, we know that sinlessness is not in view on this side of heaven, Father, but we also know that we have been freed from the power of sin, and that You have enabled us to strive toward perfection and obedience, to strive for Your glory in our living, in our attitudes, in our words, in our behaviors. Father, enable us to do this. Help us to understand and be taught well that Christian people live in Christian ways, Father, evermore. And that when we don't, Lord, that the Holy Spirit would convict, that we would repent, turn from sin, and live in a way that honors You. Father, this brings You glory. This sets us apart from the world. And Father, this shows the world. the reality of your transforming grace, the reality of your gospel. Father, may you bless us as a church in these things. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.