Relationships Series

Titus 3:9-15. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. 12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13 Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. 14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. 15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. (ESV)

After recent unprecedented flooding in British Columbia, critical shortages have set in due largely to a wave of panic-buying across the province. Greg Wilson, a B.C. representative of the Retail Council of Canada, stated that this week’s shortages were due almost entirely to hoarding, rather than the highway washouts. The exact same thing happened due to the wave of panic-buying that defined the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Commentators on the situation noted that we'd like to think we would display restraint instead of panic in the aftermath of a disaster, and that we wouldn't race out to stock up on everything from bread to fruit to toilet paper for fear they soon run out. But don't kid yourself, it's a hard impulse to resist, and it's one that's adding more pain in B.C. right now. (https://nationalpost.com/news/panic-buying-not-highway-washouts-causing-empty-shelves-and-shortages-in-b-c)

How we treat others is a great concern to God. As we loving care for our co-ministers, look out for our fellow servants, deal with difficult people and protect against those who seek to undermine the Christian faith, how we deal with these people speaks volumes. It not only is a barometer to Church health but has very practical implications in how we reach the lost. The most effective and God designed program for reaching the lost is not a rally, public event, book or video program. It is calling believers to live in such a way that shows that our God saves sinners from sin. Such testimony is built on sanctified relationships. Chapter 1 of the book of Titus has dealt with the relationship of believers in the church with the Lord of the church, as exemplified by its leadership. Chapter 2 introduced believers’ relationships with each other, and the first half of chapter 3 deals with the relationship of believers with the unregenerate society in which they live. In Titus 3:9-15, the end of the letter, Paul gives what might be called “The last word on relationships,” in which he concludes by distinguishing true relationships between Christians with false ones.

When a person has an important conversation or correspondence with a friend or counselor, the most personal, and sometimes the most urgent, concerns are mentioned last. That seems to be true in this epistle. In his closing words, Paul mentions four distinct and important categories of personal relationships within the church that are of special importance: 1) Relationships with false teachers (Titus 3:9), 2) With factious people (Titus 3:10–11), 3) With fellow servants (Titus 3:12–13), and 4) With faithful friends (Titus 3:14–15).

In order to have an effective witness, Christians must distinguish true relationships against those with:

1) False Teachers (Titus 3:9)

Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. (ESV)

Believers on the island of Crete had been overexposed to a large number of men who claimed to represent the Lord, to be His servants, and to teach His Word. In reality, however, they were spiritually corrupt and were enemies of the Lord, His Word, and His church. Those men had generated so much confusion that Paul had admonished Titus to “set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city … [who would hold] fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that [they] may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict,” namely, the “many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach, for the sake of sordid gain” (1:5, 9–11). Therefore, Titus’ first instruction here was to “avoid foolish controversies”. “Avoid/Shun” translates a form of the verb periistemi, which in the mid middle voice, as here, means “to turn oneself around, to purposely turn away from something or someone.” This is a PRESENT MIDDLE IMPERATIVE, meaning “to continue to keep aloof from or avoid” (Utley, R. J. (2000). Paul’s Fourth Missionary Journey: I Timothy, Titus, II Timothy (Vol. Volume 9, p. 128). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.). Titus, the other elders, and the congregations on Crete were to turn the other way from morally and spiritually destructive false teachers, who not only corrupted the churches but, by their sinful and sordid lifestyles, were a great hindrance to the credibility of the gospel. The effect of false teaching is explained in several New Testament passages. It unsettles the soul (Acts 15:24), shipwrecks faith (1 Tim. 1:19), leads to blasphemy (v. 20) to the ruin of the hearers (2 Tim. 2:14), produces ungodliness (v. 16), and spreads “like gangrene” (v. 17). The basic reason given for such avoidance is the essential unprofitableness and uselessness of the false teaching