Discipline, Devotion, and Grace

If you'd open your Bibles to Titus, we're looking at chapter 3, and we're going to finish the book out tonight. So beginning in verse 9 of chapter 3, clear through to the end of verse 15, hear God's word for us. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned. When I send Artemis and Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas and the lawyer and Apollos on their way, seeing that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. All who are with me send greetings to you, greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Let's pray. Father, as we come to you tonight, we ask that the Holy Spirit come upon us and teach your word, teach the truth from this text that you have for us, that we may become more conformed to the image of your son, Jesus Christ. And in that work, Lord God, that we are the light into our families, into our communities, into this world of the gospel. Lord, that we make a positive, true impact for your kingdom enabled by you. And Lord, we give you the praise and the honor and the glory for all of it, and it's in Christ Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. Before we start the message tonight, I don't know why. I didn't realize Don Carroll was to that point in his journey. And as Eugene was sharing, it struck me hard. I'm sure everybody in this church has a Mr. Don story.

My wife and I came here probably the first time in September of 2005. And one of the first men that spoke to us, Pete Snow and Don Carroll, and, you know, Don had just a tremendous way about him, a gentleness. And I don't want to belabor it too long, but I picked 533 because the verse we sang is what God did for Don Carroll. And we as Christians tonight, though it is a sad thing as we think through it, there is a joy because of verse 4 on page 533.

And I'm going to read it quickly. There are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with thee. Tonight is Don or tomorrow morning is Don or any brother or sister in Christ is passing on to the Lord Jesus Christ in his presence. That is the joy.

That is the hope. That is the word we're going to hear tonight from Paul to Titus to the Cretan Church and to the church at Grace. And it made me flash back. My brother passed away in December of 2021. And the night we knew that he was struggling in the hospital, I had the ability to call and talk to him in the ICU, and we knew. We knew. And in that conversation, it was one of the sweetest conversations, and my brother ended the call this way. Knowing he knew when Eugene said about dying well, where he would be and knowing my profession, his final words to me was, I will talk to you soon. And my brother gets and Don will get and all the believers will get when we talk about the grace and the end of this message tonight.

That is what we were talking about. We are talking about what Christ has accomplished so that we have hope, not fear, not overwhelming grief, but grief with joy. Don will stand before Jesus and he will rest in peace with him. And not only that, the other hymns we sang, he will proclaim holy, holy, holy. He will say it is well with my soul because you were enough.

And so as we think through that, and I don't know, like I said, I wasn't realizing that Don was that close, but that we have that type of joy before us is just such an incredible gift of grace from God the Father. So as we look at Titus tonight as Paul finishes up his letter, his pastoral letter to Titus and the putting into right order the Cretan church and also the instruction that comes to our church, let us keep that glorious hope in mind. But we are coming to the final section here in Titus and what we have noted over the previous five messages is that Paul has emphasized a few truths repeatedly in this three chapters. These specific truths that he has touched on to give great emphasis to so that Titus, the elders, and the church at Crete is the importance of sound doctrine.

The importance that the church rests on the doctrine, the word that is proclaimed in the scripture, that Christ and his gospel is the center of who and what they are. The placing of importance on good works in this short book, six times the emphasis on the believer taking that sound doctrine, the faith in Christ Jesus and what he's done, and then making that faith walk in good works. And finally, the needed response that the church, that it's officers, but the church itself needs to have against false teachings and false teachers.

Tonight, the text specifically addresses two of these again. We are going to see in verses 9 and 10, a sterner admonition than we saw in chapter 1 in the discipline process against those in the church who are teaching falsely or putting out false doctrine within the body. We are also going to see in verse 14 that he circles back to the importance that the church demonstrate its faith in actions by works.

The emphasis of these truths should alert us to their importance and that importance is not only for us to see what Titus was taught or what the Cretans should do, it is what we need as the church today. Paul then concludes his letter with a poignant allusion back to that sound doctrine of the gospel when he says these words, grace be with you all. And we're going to spend a little time on what Paul is saying when he says grace be with you all. Paul teaches us in this letter that the church is to be a people that grow in and defend sound doctrine.

God has revealed in order that we may walk in good works, that he is prepared for us. And I want us to spend our time tonight again meditating on these truths Paul has emphasized one final time in the closing of the letter. Verses 9 through 15 call the church, which is us, to appropriately administer discipline, to devote ourselves to good works, and finally to rest in that grace that is offered in Christ Jesus.

So as we start our time through tonight, the very first thing I want us to look at is discipline is necessary. And this is a tough topic in the church many times. But Paul does not shy away and we're going to see it as we look at this point. Verses 9 through 11 say this. Paul writes to Titus and he says, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

We want to stop there at verse 8 and go right back up above where we just finished out. And in the first part of chapter 3, Paul tells Titus and the Cretans that they are to be out there demonstrating their faith in good works, and those good works are founded in the faith that they find in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he tells them that in those things they are excellent and profitable, and now he is making the contrast by saying, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. And then he goes on to say, as for the person or a person who stirs up division relating back to teaching these type of things or being in those types of teachings after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him. In verse 11 it finishes, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned. As we take a look, Paul leads into this teaching on proper discipline by first warning what the church is to be on guard about.

Verse 9 states an imperative. The church, Titus, the elders that you put in place, they are to avoid this false teaching, foolish controversies, genealogies. That word avoid in the ESV in the Greek has a little bit stronger sense in some of our translations. It is actually a word in the Greek that is used that you're turning oneself about, you're turning away from that person.

The other context of that word is a shunning, not just a floyd, but shun them, have nothing to do with them, turn away from them, have no part of. Paul uses the same term in 2 Timothy 2 and we see from that text why we should turn about or shun because in 2 Timothy 2, 16 and 17 we read, but avoid shun irreverent babble for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene. The imperative is as we allow or as we think that we should have debates or where we should talk through whether teachings that are false might have any basis in truth or merit, what we are actually allowing to happen is people, as we see in chapter 1 when Paul is attacking that, saying that it is turning households upside down or upsetting them, we are allowing false teaching in that can harm the body of the church. Not every person sitting in the church is fully founded in sound doctrine.

And so the church is told with no implicit term but to shun that kind of teaching from coming out and like I said in Timothy we read why because it will lead people into more ungodliness and that ungodliness will spread like gangrene through a congregation. Just as he warned us in chapters 1, 10 through 16 he comes back at the end of this letter to address the dangers of the false teachers and their false teachings. In the earlier text Paul called for Titus and the elders to rebuke them sharply. He said to silence them and the rebuke there, the word was used that those engaged in the false teaching when they were rebuked, remember had a two-fold goal which was to silence the teaching and the teacher but it was also to convict and convince.

It was to try to salvage the one false teaching, to bring them to truth. Our text tonight moves us to a sterner application of the discipline that the church is not just suggested but told to apply when it persists. Verse 10 says this, as for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with him.

Does that sound familiar to anyone? After warning him once, after warning him twice have nothing to do with him. If you have your Bibles open turn to Matthew 18. We're going to look at verses 15 through 17. But Paul is instructing the church that as it is brought to the attention of the elders, to the pastor, to the church, that this teaching is there. Go and warn and if that warning is taken, if that rebuke is sharpened, it is silence and it's convicting and convincing, praise God.

If not, go and warn again. So two warnings but then Paul says have nothing to do with them. Again, this have nothing to do is a little stronger term in some of the translation. The New King James uses this wording along with the Christian Standard Bible.

It uses the word reject, reject the person. So in Matthew 18, when we flip there, we see Christ teaching and he is teaching on how we are to deal with sin within the body. And Jesus says these words, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him to be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Paul's teaching to Titus and the church of Crete and to our church is the same of that of our Lord Jesus Christ. This second emphasis of discipline from going from the rebuke to now two admonitions and a turning away, a shunning, a rejecting of them is not new from Paul to Titus. It is not new because we see it in Jesus' teaching but Paul throughout many of his letters in the book or the letter to the Thessalonicans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, even John in 2 John references discipline that the church must administer and that the church must address sin in its body and we ask why.

Is not grace enough to cover the sin? Is not Christ's atoning blood enough even for them? But we look back to what Paul told us in 2 Timothy and that that is a teaching, a thought process that will lead to more ungodliness and it will lead or spread like gangrene. And it echoed as I was preparing this and then came in and knew what I was going to talk about this morning as I hear Eugene read Ezekiel and preach and expound on Ezekiel to the people of Israel. And they are in exile and in exile those people are the ones that grace is being shown upon but those who are in Jerusalem themselves is the one the wrath is falling upon and it made me realize and I've heard it before and you're going to hear when I say it say I've heard that we are the exiles now from the cross to the consummation we are not in our homeland. Jesus said I will return and I will take you unto myself. There is a new heaven and a new earth that you are citizens of that you long for so we are those in exile now and this is a warning to us just like Ezekiel was making to those in exile but also those in Jerusalem. God's wrath is sure to come and God in his discipline we see played out on the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple and the need for grace for the keeping of his people but what we're talking about in our time of exile is a final judgment that is to come. It is no longer that there may be judgment coming and when it does come God is going to keep a remnant.

God's remnant is already revealed and church we are called to live in a godly manner as that remnant. We must understand these warnings come and the need for discipline is to keep the body of Christ a pure bride to the best that we can. Jesus applies discipline. God applies discipline and his body is given command from him to apply discipline to our lives in order that you may be restored and be right in our time of exile. What we see in these texts and this emphasis, this chastening discipline is designed for the good of the one who errs. Church discipline is designed by God as grace. So why do we struggle with it? Why if church discipline is designed by God as fatherly discipline instituted by the body, the men that he raises up to restore the child who has sinned that it honors and glorifies God.

Why is it that we find discipline difficult and why do we resist it? Paul when he writes to the church in Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 he says this, brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted. First Corinthians 5 one through five, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans for a man has his father's wife. I want you to think about the sin that's being described here.

A man has his father's wife and you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body I am present in spirit and as if present I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present with the power of the Lord Jesus you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Unfortunately that's we stop there and that's how we see church discipline. It is a retributive discipline and it's not the first Corinthians discipline. And when I'm talking about that I'm talking as if I was caught in sin my first reactions are going to be because of the pride that fills me to try to make right or rationalize the sin.

And you're all wrong and all you do is you want to get me. And many times on the elders the pastors it's like we want to be careful here so that we don't cause a problem or a rift or harm a feeling. And if we stopped in first Corinthians five at that point in verse five that would be correct. But Paul when he says you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh it goes on to say that so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Do we truly believe that God is holy right just and he is going to judge sin completely and those outside of Jesus Christ are going to hell. Because then church discipline becomes an act of gracious love by the body and should be received by the one erring as a gracious act not as a condemning judgment. We see that even in the difficult work of shunning rejecting we are caught which we call excommunication today the goal is restoration. We see this difficult issue raise its head in churches around our community around our country around the world where men are identified as as lost in sin and instead of the church restoring the church turns its head to false teachings.

The church turns its head and says Christ's grace will be sufficient to cover but brothers and sisters we are called in scripture to love one another and in that love we are called to discipline. In our GA in June there was an overture that the GA should send to the presbyterian church USA a letter that was penned in 1963 and you guys can correct me I think it was called back then in 73 a letter to the nations. We've changed the name to a letter to the churches and it sort of lays out in that letter the truths that the PCA as it's being formed is saying that this is what you've strayed from this is what we hold to. And in that overture it ended with these words and I got to get it right from a faithful or a loving daughter to a prodigal mother. And the debate that erupted I was in the committee on overtures and the debate that erupted over that final statement of our church saying that we were faithful as a daughter the breakaway and we were sending it to our prodigal mother. The church that has adopted the liberal view on homosexuality the liberal view on how to serve the liberal view outside of scripture on several topics.

We did not some in the room did not want to be offensive to the PC USA because that just may cause harsh feelings. That's not what we're called to. We are called as the loving daughter to look to the prodigal mother and say you are sinning that is exactly what Martin Luther did with the 95 thesis that he hung on the door. Martin Luther never said I don't want to be Catholic.

But you are erring so badly this is what we need to do. This is the truth of scripture that we must hold to. We are called to lovingly discipline to lovingly share the truth of the gospel. We are called not just to main churches but to those in the body that the elders and the pastors are called to the spiritual oversight of the body.

And as you read the BCO we are to be inclined to be knowing how the congregation that the flock live within that body and if there are those who are dealing with sin. We are called to discipline not out of the sake of retribution but out of the sake of love to restore them so that they are honoring to Christ Jesus. We are called to encourage one another. We are called to stir up one another to good works. And yes we are called to hold one another accountable. As difficult as that may be it is for Christ's honor in the very soul of the one that is trapped in sin. My prayer is that as a church here at Grace as a church broader the PCA as the churches around us that are true Bible based churches. My prayer is that we may humble ourselves before one another so as to bring honor and glory to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Paul then moves on from this talk of discipline and in the closing section he goes to an encouragement to foster the acting out of our faith in participating in good works that are before us.

In verse 12 through 14 we read when I send Artemis or Tychicus to you do your best to come to me at Nicopolis for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way see that they lack nothing and let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help the cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. Paul gives Titus instruction on upcoming needs that he has and a desire for Titus himself to come and plan to join him but in the meantime he needs to send Zenas and Apollos to him immediately and he asks that the church assist in that work so that they can get there not needing anything or lacking anything in their journey. Paul uses this opportunity to reinforce the importance of the believers to learn more and more how they are to participate, how they are to show their faith in action, that they are to be a people of good works. We are called as members of Christ's church to walk in those works. We are called to help advance the kingdom of God. How do we do it? What are good works?

We mentioned it six times. There's some touches in here of what good works look like but they're vast and broad and they're made for us, prepared for us by God beforehand. It may be financial working that we can do. It may be the simple giving to send another along the way in order for the gospel to be proclaimed to an area that needs it badly. It may be the witness of the people coming together to do a work for another person and seeing the love with which it's done. It's a witness into the community, a witness into the world.

It may be that simple. We know definitely that it is a participation in the means of grace. Those are our duties, our works that we're called to by God. We are to be a worshiping people. We are to be a praying people. We are to be participating and observing the sacraments of the church. We are to come together in fellowship. We are to stir one another up in Christ Jesus.

Those are the good works, folks. We are to study and apply the word to ourselves and to one another. We are to hold each other accountable to our profession of faith in Christ Jesus. This is the fourth time good works is addressed in this short letter in a positive sense.

Six times overall, it's emphasized. And the emphasis here is a reinforcement of what James is teaching in chapter two of his book. We many times struggle with people who say, you say it's by faith alone, but then go to James and you read this. But when you see Paul's teaching, when you see Jesus' teaching, and when you actually read what James is saying, what you see is that when you have a regeneration of your spirit by the Holy Spirit and faith comes, good works is the natural flow out of it. That's what James says. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works, can that faith save him?

Good reformer. Faith alone. Is James saying it's not faith alone?

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Not saying that faith isn't there and not saying the good works brought the faith.

It's saying that if faith is there, good works will be there. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works and I will show you my faith by my works. I will demonstrate Jesus Christ, the most faithful of those with faith, who is God the Father, the exact representation and imprint, the essence of God himself, came and served and walked the truth that he taught.

You believe that God is one you do well, even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone and in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. And you're thinking, wow, Jay, everything you just said, it sounds like James flipped backwards and you're saying the opposite, but James finishes it this way, for as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith which must be present for us to do good works apart from that work is dead. It is the outworking of that faith, that gift of God that God gives us in faith that we are to be the ambassadors of Christ to the world around us. A servant serving and it only comes by the faith that we have in Jesus Christ. Church, we see Paul emphasize, we see James tell us that faith and works are hand in hand. God calls us to faith. In that call, he also calls and equips us so that we may walk in the works that he has prepared for us. Ephesians 2, 10 tells us that. You and I have works that serve a purpose in the economy of God and they were prepared beforehand when he chose us in Christ Jesus and when the Holy Spirit regenerated you and enabled you to walk in those works. Do we understand that? Paul is urging us to learn to walk in these works. It's kind of neat he uses the word learn.

It's something we have to learn and grow in. We do these works so that our faith is a living and vibrant testimony to those around us. May we rely on the Holy Spirit to move us to complete these works for the glory of God. Paul then closes this great letter of instruction to Titus to the church at Crete and to the church at Harrisburg with a benediction that is very short and sweet but one of great importance.

This conclusion here is we will only be able to succeed in our walk by the grace. In verse 15 we read, all who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Paul opened his letter with somewhat of an allusion to the gospel speaking about the authority which he had given to him by God and the hope that we rest in that God has secured for us and he is now concluding his letter with grace be with you.

What is he saying? Is he saying I hope favor is with you that good times see shine upon you. Is grace I hope that all is well and continues to be well.

When we read this in the Greek the definite article is left in place here. So literally read it is the grace be with you all. The grace. What is the grace?

It is allusion back to that same exact opening that gospel foundation that he has anchored Titus, the elders, the church at Crete and the church at Harrisburg to do. When Paul says those final five words, grace be with you all, he is not stating general favor. In a sense he is but even more he is stating that the grace of God, the grace needed that you can only find in Christ Jesus and his work on your behalf, that be with you all. The grace of the Lord. As we think about Don Carroll and what we read, the grace of the Lord. It is an amazing grace. It is a saving grace. It is a sustaining grace. And as Don will find out soon, it is a completely glorifying, fulfilling grace. We have to break God's grace down, the grace into different components common and irresistible but it's grace.

Because God is gracious and it is his grace that he bestows and in that grace we can stand. This is the grace that Paul is referring to. We have the gospel in a very tiny packet proclaimed one last time to the church. This should center us on the fact that none of his imperatives or his other teachings are we able to accomplish outside the grace of God. It is only through Christ and the application of the word by the spirit that you and I can successfully walk the Christian life. I pray that we go here from tonight in the grace, empowered to believe, to work and enjoy our Father, God Almighty.

Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the teaching of Paul to Titus, to the church at Crete, to the elders. Lord, to the teaching here at Grace Church. Father, forgive us where we fail as a church. Forgive us when we allow sin to well up, whether inside ourselves privately or as we see it around us and Lord that we do not respond. Give us the courage of your love to graciously and humbly apply discipline to our brothers and sisters, to each other, to ourselves so that we may be a light of Christ and of his kingdom, of his gospel. Father, I pray that as we leave here tonight, that we walk in your grace, that we devote ourselves to serving you and Lord God that we stay true to the gospel revealed. And it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.