Titus 1:10-16 October 9, 2011
Turn with me this morning to the book of Titus, chapter 1. I trust that by now you have learned where the book of Titus in located - in the middle of the NT, right after 1 & 2 Timothy, and right before Philemon and Hebrews. This letter is written by the Apostle Paul to one of his young protegés, a young Greek man named Titus. Paul had left Titus on the Greek island of Crete, a 160 mile long island in the Mediterranean Sea, just south of Greece - an island filled with pagans. But the gospel had come to this island, and in the midst of the idol worship, many churches had been established. But there was a problem - the churches needed something straightened out: they needed leaders. Just like someone with a broken leg needs to go to the doctor and get the bone set, the broken bone needs straightened out, so Paul knew that the churches were hurting because there was a major problem that needed straightening out: the church needed capable leaders. So Paul left Titus on Crete to straighten out this problem.
In 1:5 Paul writes, The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. We talked last week about these elders. Paul gives Titus a list of qualities to look for in these leaders. But we often dismiss these verses as not applicable to our lives - either we say I’m not an elder or let’s see if our elders measure up - but the whole purpose for elders as we discussed last week is to give US an example to FOLLOW! So really these qualities are ones that should be in our lives as well!
But then after listing the qualities, Paul goes on state further the job of these elders. That’s where we’ll pick up today. Starting with verse 9. Read 1:9-16 - Pray.
It says here that elders must hold firmly to the truth. We use the truth in two ways:
• we encourage others through sound doctrine, - we build up the church by teaching right things, and
• we refute those who oppose sound doctrine. Both of these sound pretty scholarly. Far too often we come with the mentality, I don’t want to hear doctrine - that’s dry, stuffy, academic stuff: just give me some inspiring, devotional thoughts. We say, I don’t want to study deeply, I just want something that will make me feel good - that will give me warm fuzzies. Give me 5 easy steps to spiritual maturity. Let me have the daily bread and read a little Max Lucado and I’ll be good. [And let me pause to say I’m not knocking Max Lucado - but reading his books does not make us mature Christians.]
So, we need to focus on the truth. We grow through studying right doctrine. And don’t get scared off by that word “doctrine” - doctrine simply means teaching. We need to learn what is right, and that will be an encouragement to us. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Right teaching helps us do right. But we need to understand that there is a lot of confusion out there about what is right.
A helicopter pilot was flying over Seattle and got lost in the dense fog. As the pilot emerged from the fog, he had no idea where he was. He saw a tall building nearby with people working, so he hovered the helicopter near one of the windows and held up a sign asking “Where am I?” One of the workers wrote a response and held up a sign that said, “You are in a helicopter.” The pilot nodded his thanks and flew straight to the airport.
One of the passengers was curious and asked, “How could that sign ‘you are in a helicopter’ help you know where you were?” The pilot said, “Simple. The answer that guy gave me was technically correct, but completely useless, so I figured that building must be the Microsoft Technical Support building, so then I knew where I was!”
Many Americans are circling around in a moral fog with no idea which direction to go. They don’t know what the bible really teaches. Many Christians simply turn on the TV to listen to their favorite televangelist, but that only creates more confusion about what the truth really is.
Most churches will put up with a lot of unbiblical preaching, as long as their preacher is a nice man. They don’t want someone who is rude or sharp. But it’s interesting that part of the leadership needed to have healthy churches is the willingness to offer rebuke and refutation.
Verse 9 tells us to hold firmly to the trustworthy message - what does that mean? Don’t change it! Don’t drift away. If you are headed down the road one way, don’t veer off course. Some people come to scripture, and instead of looking for the typical, accepted explanation for a passage, they look for something sensational, something that sounds interesting, something that is a little different.
I’ve shared with you before as a seminary student, going over to a friend’s church to preach for him one Sunday night. Afterwards, back at his house, he started talking about what he had been learning. He said, you know in Genesis 1, I was reading about God creating the sun, and I thought, that’s Jesus. And then it said he created the moon, and that’s the Holy Spirit. And then he created stars, so I thought to myself - that’s the preachers!
And believe it or not, he really thought he was being a great student of the Bible by coming up with this strange, twisted explanation for what is really very obvious: God created the sun, moon, and stars. One of the basis rules of bible interpretation is this: When the obvious sense makes common sense, seek no other sense! If you read a passage and you understand it, don’t try to find some deep hidden meaning.
So, we are to hold firmly to the truth - we encourage by sound teaching, and we refute wrong teaching, those who oppose sound teaching. The $10 words for this are these: orthodoxy - simply means right teaching, and heterodoxy, means other teaching, other than that which is right. A more appropriate word is heresy: choosing something other than the truth.
So, we want to be orthodox in our views, to have sound teaching - because anything else is heresy. Now the term “heretic” is a pretty strong word, but God makes it pretty clear in this passage that false teaching is not to be tolerated. Let’s consider what Paul says about them.
• Their Attitudes - Verse 10 says they are rebellious - these are people who will not place themselves under anyone else’s authority. They answer to no one. They are a law unto themselves. If you try to confront them, they will not listen to you.
They are mere talkers and deceivers - they were really smooth speakers. You just love to listen to them. Even when they are telling you lies, it sounds so good!
In our day today, some of the preachers with the biggest churches and the biggest followings are very smooth speakers, but they have no content. They don’t teach the scriptures, they tell you how to succeed in life; they appeal to emotionalism and tell moving stories. But they are all fluff - mere talkers.
I remember once turning on the TV, and a preacher was on TV having a crusade. For about 10 minutes, he just said the same thing over and over again: Be loosed, woman be loosed, there’s someone here with an addiction, be loosed, this is for you, be loosed. And the amazing thing is that people thought this was wonderful.
Deceivers - really the idea of being a seducer - there are many people who will take scripture out of context to suit their purposes. If you want to know what God has to say, look at a scripture in its context. If you want to get confused, just pull verses out of context. Judas went out and hanged himself - go and do thou likewise - that which thou doeth, do quickly.
I know of one preacher a generation ago who was struggling with ladies wearing their hair up in a topknot. He said on Sunday morning, Everyone come back tonight and I’m going to show you from the scripture why God says you shouldn’t wear you hair like that. His text that night was Matthew 24:17 - Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house. But as he pulled it out of context, he preached this message: Topknot come down! It really happened - his name was J. Frank Norris - and he had a church of 10’s of thousands.
Verse 12 tells us these false teachers were liars - teaching falsehood
evil brutes - sinking to the level of a beast - not caring what they do or who they hurt
lazy gluttons - they lived for their own appetites, indulging in sensual pleasure. Verse 16 say they are
destestable - it literally means they emit a foul odor. In other words, Something about them stinks!
disobedient - they refuse to be persuaded to turn from their teaching
unfit for anything good - they are useless and worthless.
Don’t be deceived - false teaching is worthless! It isn’t interesting, novel, exciting - it is putrid and disgusting!
Look at what Paul says about
• Their Actions - who are thse false teachers? Paul says in verse 10, especially those of the circumcision group.
So what was the circumcision group? Paul faced them in Acts 15 - Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them.
This was a group that taught even though you are saved by faith, you need to keep the OT Jewish laws. We say, There’s no group around like that today! Sure there are. Only, they have a little different emphasis. We call it Legalism - demanding someone to do something that is not commanded by scripture. It can be anything from the bible version you use - I’ve heard preachers say that the KJV was better than the original manuscripts of scripture. I had a secretary once who felt you couldn’t be saved unless you spoke in tongues. She thought I was going to hell. There are other churches around that hold you cannot get to heaven unless you are baptized in water. Women wearing pants, going to the movies, long hair on men - legalists will have all kinds of things send you to hell.
And notice what the did - verse 10 - whole households were upset by their false teaching. They were going from house to house spreading their lies and dissension. Some of the greatest spiritual growth has taken place in small group home bible studies. But some of the greatest heresy and church division has arisen out of small group home bible studies.
We see their attitudes, their actions, and thirdly, notice their motivation:
• Their Motivation - verse 11 says, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. The bottom line is the buck, the almighty dollar. Do I really believe people teach falsehood for money? Yes, I do!
Remember Jim Bakker and PTL Club - Good hearted people sent in their money for a Christian timeshare resort, and Jim Bakker used it to air condition his doghouse and put gold thread in his shower curtains.
Recently, the IRS did tax audits of 6 of the top tax-exempt ministries. Only two of them would turn over reporting of their funds. One of the biggest Christian Broadcasting Networks presently has cash, short term investments and long term investments of about $280 million. Yet, they continue to ask donors for more money without disclosing how much they already have.
Or take one female televangelist, whose ministry paid her and her husband 3/4 million dollars, and then St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed her ministry purchased for her and her husband a $2 million home, a $10 million private jet, and houses worth another $2 million for the couple's children, who also work for the ministry. The articles also outlined her recent personal purchases, including a $500,000 vacation home.
So, in light of false teachers - who subvert the truth and plague the church - What should we do? Paul says refute them - verse 11 - They must be silenced - verse 13 - rebuke them sharply. The phrase in verse 11 literally means Put a muzzle on them! Shut them up. Put a cork in it. Stick a gag in their mouth.
Too often we want to be kind and loving and accepting of everyone. We encourage others to listen to false teaching. But what germs are to a physical body, false teaching is to the body of Christ, the church. It is like a cancer that needs to be cut out!
If you have a friend who listens to someone on TV or the internet, or reads their books - don’t jump all over your friend, but loving pull them aside to talk about the beliefs of that teacher. If you don’t know, take some time to find out. Do some research. Sadly, in many Christian bookstores, the books that are on the front displays are heretical, but they are the books that sell, so the bookstore keeps ordering them.
So, what is our response to this false teaching. First, according to Titus, it should be addressed by the elders of the church when it raises its head in the church. But as we said last week - we need to follow the example of the elders - so WE - each one of us - needs to be on the lookout for false teaching and for those who might be following false teachers. When we see false teaching we need to stand against it. And we need to educate ourselves.
There are so many teachers out there - which ones are orthodox and which ones are heretics? It takes some investigation.
But until we are willing to confront falsehood and teach the truth, we will continue to be led astray into wrong belief. And that wrong belief affects many.
If we want to be sound in the faith, we need to study the scripture, follow the scripture, and expose falsehood where we see it. Let’s make a commitment to do that in our lives. Let’s pray.
