Develop a Sweet Spirit!
(part 2)
Titus 3:3-8
How many of you like sweet things?
Cotton candy
Candy bars
Chocolate
Cake
Pie
Soft drinks
etc.
And we like sweet people:
People that are nice and friendly.
People that are easy to be around.
Last week we talked about what we were and what God has done for us.
We talked about how mankind is naturally sinful and evil.
How we are constantly at odds with God.
Man wants to do his own thing.
We want to be our own person.
Make our own decisions.
Live the way we want to live.
The world is full of people that are anything but sweet.
Rapist
Murderer
Terrorist
People who are just rude, mean, crude, hard to get along with, etc.
But we are to be different, we are to have a sweet spirit.
A loving, kind and generous spirit, that is different than that of the world.
And we can have that spirit, because of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ!
III. What We Are to Become!
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Since we have been saved by Christ, we are to become like Him.
Our life is to be changed.
Our doctrinal beliefs change.
Our moral values change.
Our attitudes and personalities change, too.
We were once envious, filled with bitterness and wrath.
Now, the love, peace, and joy of Jesus Christ are to be part of our disposition.
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 2:5).
There have been times that I have come into the house after working in the yard or the garden, and that I was a real mess.
Dirt and grass all over me, sweat saturating my clothes.
I not only looked dirty and filthy, I smelled it too.
At times like that Pat just gives me that look and I know what I need to do.
Take a shower, and the sooner the better.
Now, after I’ve showered, I didn’t put on those same sweaty, smelly clothes!
I put on clean clothes.
Once you’re cleansed, you want to put on clean, fresh clothes.
When we become Christians, Jesus washes us clean, makes us perfect before God.
Peter speaks of the washing of rebirth.
“Baptism . . now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 3:21).
When we accept Jesus Christ as Savior, we confess Him.
We’re baptized into Him.
The blood of Christ cleanses us of our sin and we are washed clean.
To go back to our former moral values, beliefs, and attitudes is like putting on the filthy garments of the past that don’t belong.
“A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud” (II Peter 2:22).
Some Christians change in moral values and change in beliefs.
But somehow never transform their attitude.
* The preacher of a very large church was standing outside before services, just to watch what goes on in their church parking lot.
An elderly woman was driving in, and she must have forgotten something.
Because she decided she wanted to go back out.
Rather than going all the way around the parking lot with the flow of traffic, she started to do a U-turn.
Which meant she had to go across three lanes of traffic.
Everybody was supposed to stop for her.
When she started turning, the fellow directing traffic started yelling.
“No Ma’am, no Ma’am, you need to go on, go all the way around.”
She just kept turning, inching around.
He jumped in front of the car and said,
“Ma’am, you’ll have to turn and go all the way around the lot.”
She just kept inching right at him, and he kept backing up.
Finally, he had to jump aside and wave her on through.
The preacher said later,
“I didn’t recognize her. I think she must have been visiting from out of town. None of our people have that kind of spirit!”
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,” (Philippians 2:5, 7).
If we’re proud, stubborn, and arrogant.
If we demand our own way all the time.
We’ve have just put those old smelly garments on once again.
The Bible says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).
Our attitude and disposition can make all the difference in the world.
* Back in 1981 the North American Christian Convention was in Louisville, and its theme was, “In All Things Love.”
Southeast Christian Church was in charge of registrations.
On the first night, a preacher came up to the registration booth and said.
“I don’t like this badge you gave me. It’s not as nice as the ones you gave out earlier and I’d like another one.”
The woman said, “I’m sorry, but we’re out of those. We can retype that one.”
“No!” he said. “I don’t want one like this. I want one like you had before!”
“Sir, you don’t understand.” the woman said. “A number of preachers came in with last-minute registrations that we didn’t plan on. We ran out of that style.”
“Well, I’m a preacher, and want one of those that says, ‘In All Things Love’ on it, do you understand?”
He was the one that didn’t seem to understand.
Here was a guy who knew the Bible.
But somehow, he never built the bridge between what the Scripture says, and his own personal attitude.
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate: when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:21-23).
Christ was the example for us, of the kind of spirit we should have.
And since we have asked Him to be the Lord of our life, we must follow in His steps.
What we find here in Titus 3:3-8 are characteristics of God that we should emulate.
Attitudes that make a sweet-spirited church.
A. Verse 3 talks about God’s kindness.
The church should be a place where people are kind to one another.
They are courteous in the parking lot.
They smile and help each other.
They offer help to newcomers with children who don’t know where to go.
They are kind to elderly and infirmed people.
There is no place in the spirit of the church for a defiant or “me first” spirit.
Robert Schuller said,
“It would be amazing at how much we could influence for Christ if we would just treat people nice.”
B. Verse 3 also speaks of God’s love.
The world is full of hatred, but the church should be full of compassion.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails...(1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
* Paul Harvey and his wife were visiting a church in which the minister was talking about the importance of touching to communicate love.
To illustrate his point, the minister said,
“It’s a proven fact that a newborn baby gains weight 50% faster if the baby is touched and coddled.”
Paul Harvey said his wife leaned over and said to him “Don’t you dare touch me.”
But the church should be a place where we gain spiritual strength, and spiritual pounds.
Because we’re not ashamed to show love.
C. Verse 5 speaks of God's mercy.
The church should stand for the truth.
But it should also be merciful toward sinners or people who make mistakes.
Don’t have a judgmental spirit.
Don’t always be looking for something wrong.
* One preacher said he deliberately put a mistake in the bulletin every week.
So that the people who loved to find a mistake, would be happy when they went home.
Don’t demand that others be perfect.
Be merciful.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
D. Verse 6 speaks of God’s generosity.
He poured out the Holy Spirit on us generously.
A sweet spirited church is a generous church.
It’s not more concerned about nickels and dimes, than it is about people.
Christian people should be models of benevolence.
* A few years ago, one of our men at the church in Inverness, FL., Mike Harris, stood before the congregation one Sunday morning.
He told of a need that a woman, that none of us knew, had.
And when church was over people gave him over $1,000 to help meet her needs.
That’s generosity.
But it doesn’t have to be big things.
It’s in your attitude towards the little things as well.
* Parents attending the North American Christian Convention a few years ago, were invited to bring their elementary age child at 9:00 in the morning, and that child would receive care all day luntil 5:00 in the afternoon.
The children’s workers would not only provide good supervision, but a meal for that child at noon.
They would also take the child on a bus trip to the zoo or a water park, etc.
All this for a cost of $10.00.
Volunteer workers were astonished that people called in complaining about the cost!
“I have two children. They’re charging me $20.00 for my kids. There ought to be some kind of alternative. That seems like a lot of money for somebody coming to worship the Lord!”
But other people called in, saying,
“I can’t believe how much we’re getting for just $10.00. Incredible!”
The difference was not between who had money and those who didn’t.
The difference was that of attitude and disposition.
E. Verse 2 speaks of God’s grace; “having been justified by his grace.”
A sweet-spirited church is anxious to forgive, restore, and bless.
A sweet-spirited church doesn’t hold it against people forever, if they make a mistake.
We don’t say,
“I remember before she got married, she was pregnant.”
“I remember him using some bad language years ago.”
“I remember 15 years ago when you,” and you can fill in the blank.
We must forgive and restore.
We must extend the same latitude towards others, that we want God to extend to us.
* A preacher was heading home from church one Sunday just after services and saw a three car accident ahead of him.
It was just a fender-bender, in which people banged into the rear end of each other.
The police were there, and people were standing around.
When he got close, he saw that all three people involved in the accident were from his church.
And the policeman was from the church. too.
He rolled the window down.
Somebody smiled and said, “Go ahead, preacher. We’ve got it all under control.”
They weren’t standing around holding hands singing, “Sweet, Sweet Spirit In This Place!”
But there was still a pleasant disposition in spite of adversity.
“I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good” (Titus 3:8).
You have to stress these things, because it doesn’t come easy, you have to work at it.
Being sweet-spirited is not the natural reaction, after our car is damaged.
We have to devote ourselves to allowing God to develop within us a sweet spirit.
That means we swallow our pride, restrain our tempers, and make the effort to react the way Jesus did.
We change our attitude.
* Following church one Sunday morning, John knew he was supposed to have a changed disposition.
He went to catch a bus.
He thought he was going to catch it at the last second.
But the bus driver, with a sneer on his face, slammed the door, took off, splashing mud all over the man’s suit.
He stood there for a moment, smiled, and said,
“May your soul rest in peace . . . and may it be soon.”
If we’re honest, we’ll admit a sweet spirit doesn’t come easy.
We have to work at it.
“These things are excellent and profitable for everyone” (Titus 3:8).
Do you want to be excellent in the Christian life?
Change your disposition!
Let your attitude be that of Jesus Christ.
Allow God to begin to develop within you a sweet spirit.
It will be profitable for you and for those around you.
For if you don’t have a sweet spirit, its hard for those around you to have one.
But if your spirit is sweet, then those around you will find it easier to have a sweet spirit too.
* One great preacher used to close every sermon by saying,
“God loved you first, now just love Him back.”
We love Him back, with a sweet spirit!