When God's Kindness Regenerates a Rebellious Heart

Introduction

A friend walks into a coffee shop, orders her espresso, and reaches for her wallet. The owner tells her: "It's free. Someone came in a few minutes ago and paid for the next twenty coffees." Her friend looks around for the giver. He's already gone. Two weeks later, inspired by that gesture, she comes back to the same coffee shop, pays for her own coffee, and leaves enough to cover the next four. She walks out without waiting to see anyone's reaction.

That's the picture Edouard Nelson opens with in his sermon on Titus 3:4-11. What actually changes a person's heart? A situation? Willpower? Or discovering a kindness they never expected? The apostle Paul answers in chapter 3 of his letter to Titus: it's the kindness of God that regenerates, transforms, and sets us in motion.

Sermon Outline

1. A starting point: rebellious, enslaved, lost

Paul describes our original condition without softening it: "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another" (Titus 3:3). That "we" matters. Paul isn't talking about other people, he's talking about himself: the zealous Pharisee, devoted to God, busy with religious works.

Edouard Nelson makes the point clearly: you can be very religious and still be far from God. An open rejection of God is sometimes easier to spot than a polite, respectable rebellion hidden behind religious practice. But whether it's visible or invisible, the heart's rebellion is the same. The human heart is a place of desires that enslave. You tell your children one thing, then do the opposite a few hours later. You call out what's wrong in others, and practice it yourself. That's our natural state.

2. A turning point: the kindness of God is revealed

"But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, he saved us" (Titus 3:4-5). Everything changes when God's kindness appears. And this turning point isn't earned. Paul is emphatic: "not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy" (Titus 3:5).

Jesus came looking for rebels. He came to save prostitutes, thieves, tax collectors, religious Pharisees. He came to do good to people who, on their own, wanted to do him harm. Edouard Nelson uses a simple picture: being kind to a friendly neighbor doesn't cost much. But going toward a neighbor who spits in your face is something else entirely. Yet that's exactly what Jesus did: he went after Saul the persecutor, and he comes after us too, with all our passions and rebellions.

3. A regeneration: the washing of new birth

"He saved us... through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:5-7).

Here Paul defines salvation in terms of an experience of the Holy Spirit: a deep renewal, a new birth. Jesus takes rebels and makes them heirs. This divine kindness isn't just forgiving, it's creative. It produces a new life, a new outlook, new desires. It echoes what Paul says in the previous chapter: "the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world" (Titus 2:11-12).

4. A method: emphasize grace, don't beat people with the law

"This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works" (Titus 3:8). How do you get people to believe God and practice good works? You don't hit them over the head. You "affirm confidently," on what basis? On the grace described in verse 7.

Edouard Nelson insists on this: the motivation to do good isn't born out of self-flagellation. It's born when you discover that you received something freely. He gives the example of traffic lights. You might follow the rules of the road out of fear of a police officer. But the day you realize that traffic law is a gift that saves thousands of lives every day, obeying becomes an act of gratitude and joy. The same is true of the Christian life: it's the repeated discovery of God's kindness that produces free, lasting obedience.

5. A warning: avoid pointless quarrels

"But shun foolish questionings, genealogies, strife, and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. Avoid a factious man after a first and second warning" (Titus 3:9-10). One of the first fruits of a new life is refusing needless conflict. Edouard Nelson points, without dramatizing it, to something we can all observe on social media: asking yourself, before you post, whether what you're about to share is useful or just a pointless quarrel. The community shaped by the gospel is called to guard its unity, because of the grace it has received.

Key Takeaways

1. Our starting point is never neutral. Whether the rebellion is visible or hidden under religion, it's real. Paul says this about himself before he says it about anyone else.
2. God's kindness is not a reward. It's a gift that reaches out to rebels. It's never triggered by our righteous works.
3. Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit. The "washing of new birth" produces a new life, a new outlook, new motivations.
4. Grace, not fear, produces lasting obedience. You don't motivate yourself by self-punishment. You motivate yourself by revisiting, day after day, what God has done in Jesus.
5. Avoiding pointless quarrels is itself a good work. Stepping back from a needless conflict is already living out what grace teaches.

Personal Application

1. Where do I still resemble Paul before he met Christ: religious on the outside, but hard, envious, or irritable on the inside?
2. Am I trying to earn God's kindness through my own effort, or do I receive it freely every day as a gift?
3. When I lack motivation to do good, what's my first reaction: to beat myself up, or to remember what Jesus has done for me?
4. Is there someone around me, a neighbor, a coworker, a family member who's "difficult," to whom I could show kindness, like the person at the coffee shop?
5. On social media, which conversations am I letting myself get pulled into, even though they're pointless and only divide?

Scripture References

• Titus 3:3-11 · central text of the sermon.
• Titus 1:5 · Titus's mission in Crete.
• Titus 2:11-14 · the grace that teaches.

FAQ

What exactly does "the washing of new birth" mean in Titus 3:5?

The phrase evokes the image of baptism, but here Paul is speaking of the inward work of the Holy Spirit: a deep renewal that gives a genuinely new life. It's not a small moral tune-up, it's a beginning.

Why does Edouard Nelson say a religious rebellion can be harder to see?

Because it hides behind respectable practice. Before his conversion, Paul was a Pharisee, zealous for God, and yet he describes himself as "foolish, deceived, enslaved." Sincere religion can coexist with a heart far from God, which makes the awakening take longer to arrive.

How can you practically apply "shun foolish questionings" (Titus 3:9)?

Edouard Nelson suggests a simple reflex before jumping into a debate, especially online: ask yourself whether what you're about to say is useful, or whether it's a pointless quarrel that divides without building anything up. Stepping back from that kind of exchange is already obeying Titus 3.