You know one of a message titled A Religious Problem. Well, we're going to read from Titus and chapter 1 and verse 10, for there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure. But to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Amen. I want to read it again for you, this time in the paraphrase that the late J. B. Phillips has left to us, for there are many, especially among the Jews, who will not recognize authority, who talk nonsense, and yet in doing so have managed to deceive men's minds. They must be silenced, for they upset the faith of whole households, teaching what they have no business to teach for the sake of what they can get. One of them, yes, one of their prophets has said, Men of Crete are always liars, evil and beastly, lazy and greedy. There is truth in this testimonial of theirs. Don't hesitate to remind them sharply, for you want them to be sound and healthy Christians with a proper contempt for Jewish fairy tales and orders issued by men who have forsaken the path of truth.
Everything is wholesome to those who are themselves wholesome, but nothing is wholesome to those who are themselves unwholesome and who have no faith in God. Their very minds and consciences are diseased. They profess to know God, but their actual behavior denies their profession, for they're obviously vile and rebellious.
And when it comes to doing any real good, they are palpable frauds." Well, I think that makes it fairly clear, doesn't it? I find Phillips often very helpful just adding a little bit of bite, by the way, in which he paraphrases some of the phraseology. Well, we ended last time in verse 9 by noticing the vital importance of the elders appointed there in Crete to be men who, quote, "...hold firmly to the trustworthy word as taught." And Paul tells Titus the reason that that is so important is in order that those men then may be able to give instruction in sound or healthy doctrine, and at the same time will also be able to rebuke those who contradict it. And it is with this issue of the contradicting of the teaching that is sound and healthy that Paul then goes on to speak.
The conjunction there for—the little three-letter word for—that opens verse 10 is the hinge, taking us back to what he has just said in verse 9 and taking us forward into the paragraph that now addresses this issue that is so prevalent amongst the church congregations in the island of Crete. There is a problem that is confronting the church. You might say, Well, of course there are always problems confronting the church in every generation, and that of course is true. And there are multiple problems, and that is equally true. The primary problem, which Paul is addressing here, is not a problem that comes from outside the church but one that is represented within it. He's not addressing here the problem of irreligion, of those who are so clearly opposed to the truth of Jesus, to the gospel, to the good news, to the trustworthy message.
That they live in an environment that is alien to these things is obviously clear. As verse 12 points out, he very skillfully quotes one of the Cretans themselves. It's always good to use one of the people who are part of the establishment in order to criticize the establishment, so it's much easier for me to tell you that Scotsmen are notoriously stingy than for you to tell me that Scotsmen are notoriously stingy.
I can take it easier from myself than I can from someone on the outside. And so he says, even one of the Cretan prophets, he is able to identify the problem, and they have quite a resume, these people. They are liars, brutes, and lazy bellies.
It sounds like a contemporary rock band, actually—liars, brutes, and lazy bellies. It's not a nice picture at all of any kind of community, and he is pointing out the fact that when you find these people who, on the one hand, have a lot of God talk and then, on the other hand, have very little God life, then you realize how close they are living to the fringes of faith and how the description of the community and the culture itself may actually be beginning to filter in to those who should know a lot better than they do. So the problem that he is tackling is, if you like, the religious problem, not the irreligious problem. I think many people today would say, in the strength of everything that goes on in an average week within the framework of contemporary America, that the real problem for the church is the problem of those who are not in the church, the problem of those who are so obviously opposed to it—the societies for new atheism, or the agnosticism that is fairly rampant, or the syncretism and the humanism that is represented in the surrounding culture. Well, there's no question that those things are significant challenges, but neither the present day nor church history would bear out that thesis. But rather, a careful reading of church history and a careful reading here of Titus would point, actually, to the problem being a vastly different problem—namely, the problem that emerges from people who profess to know God. Those who profess to know God, verse 16, but deny him by their works. The problem here, he says, is a religious problem we're facing.
These people have a routine, but they have no reality. These people have a creed, but their conduct does not match their creed. These people have faith talk, but there is no fruit that is seen in their lives. In fact, they are not dissimilar to those that he mentions when he writes in his second letter to Timothy, in chapter 3 of 2 Timothy, concerning those individuals who have an appearance of godliness but deny its power.
An appearance of godliness but deny its power. That's why I often say to you that church is a dangerous place to be. Because a church like this provides an opportunity for individuals to make certain external changes in their lifestyle. So, for example, attending as opposed to previously not attending. Listening as opposed to previously not listening. Beginning to try and change certain things about what we do and why we do them. In other words, moving, if you like, from a position of irreligion to a position of religion, and then discovering that it is the religion that is actually keeping that individual from entering into the truths that we were just singing concerning Jesus. From entering into the reality of the fact that our standing before God is never on the basis of what we have done by external changes but must always be on the strength of what he has accomplished in his death in making a propitiation for our sins.
And until that penny drops, then a church family will be susceptible to those who want to do what was being done here on the island of Crete. Now, if you look at it with me, you will see that Paul, first of all, identifies these folks. He points out the impact, the dangerous impact, of their influence, and then he gives clear instructions as to how they're to be handled. And we'll use that as the template for going through the passage—first of all, Paul's identification of those that he is addressing.
In other places he uses names, but in this instance he doesn't provide any names at all. It may be that he's unfamiliar with individuals themselves. But what he's doing is he's describing the characteristics of these folks so that when this letter is read out, if you like, people will be able to say, Well, if the cap fits, I should wear it.
If this describes me, then it describes me. It is also very straightforwardly clear that in verse 10, this was not a marginal problem. It's not that there were just one or two people that were moving around the congregations. But you will notice it says that there are many who are insubordinate. There are many who are insubordinate. These folks are marked by rebellion. They are like individuals who had enlisted in an army. They submitted for duty, they took their uniform, they put it on, but as soon as battle commenced, they refused to obey their commanding officer. So they were just a walking contradiction.
Why then would you ever clothe yourself in the uniform if you're not going to obey your commanding officer? That's a perfectly legitimate question, isn't it? And he says there are many of these individuals, they are insubordinate, they are rebellious, and particularly, he says, those who are attached to the circumcision party. Now, he doesn't exemplify that, and it's probably wise for us to leave it as he leaves it.
It is clear, as we will see looking on, that there is a distinctly Jewish dimension to the problem that he is addressing. But these individuals who are insubordinate are also, he says, empty talkers. They are like those he writes about in 1 Timothy 1.6, who have wandered away from the truth and are engaged in vain discussions.
Vain discussions. So they basically just talk about nothing, but they make it sound like it's the most important thing you've ever heard in your life. They are always the masters of intrigue, they're always the masters of the esoteric, they're always the individuals who want to deviate from the main things and the plain things and get everybody off on the sidelines of their peculiarities. And what makes it so staggering is that despite the fact that they are deceivers, they are able to bring people into line with them. They're insubordinate, they're empty talkers, and they draw people after them. Now, let's just be honest and recognize that there are people who are peculiarly susceptible to this kind of nonsense.
You see, it's not possible to have a product unless you've got a market. And if a congregation is not versed in the truth, if it doesn't have elders, such as have just been described here up to verse 9, if these local fellowships in Crete are not then instructed in the truth, are not then led by those who are able to refute error, then they will be susceptible for individuals who will be prepared to rise among them and seek to draw people after them. That was the problem in Ephesus. That's why Paul, when he left Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, remember, he gathers the elders with him on the beach, and he says, now listen here, after I leave you, after I leave you, there will arise from among you, from among you, wolves who will seek to eat you up. And that is why I am commending you to God and to the word of his grace. That is why I am urging you to make sure that in your leadership of the church you stand in the gap for this. Paul and Peter and the rest of them are all going to go away by death, and therefore it is imperative that those to whom they entrust the responsibilities of leadership are men who are able to say, Hey, wait a minute!
That's not right! And then to be able to help those under their care to have the same kind of antennae so that they don't find themselves susceptible to the kind of nonsense that is proffered. Now, the danger in it, of course, lies—as we've suggested by way of introduction—the danger of it lies not in the sort of flat-out onslaught approach but in the creeping approach, in the subtle approach. The biggest danger to contemporary Christianity in America is not to be found, as I say, from the onslaughts that come from without. The preoccupation of so many of us with those things is understandable, but we ought not to spend too long on it. It ought to provide an opportunity for us to become increasingly skillful about how to engage people in conversations concerning the gospel, rather than giving us an opportunity to just bemoan everything the first time we manage to grab a cup of coffee with some of our friends tomorrow morning and launch into some great diatribe about how dreadful everything is and how it's all going to pot and it was never like this before, and who knows where our grandchildren will end up, and all that kind of thing.
What else do you expect, for goodness sake? That's not the big danger. No, the big danger is in the subtle interweaving of that which appears to be godly and true with that which isn't. So, for example, Mormonism is a cult. It's not politically correct to say it, but it qualifies. Look up the definition. It is deviant on the person of Jesus Christ, and therefore, it is not Christian.
Now, to say that is not to say anything unkind about any Mormon friends or neighbors. It is simply to say, if you don't understand that, then you are susceptible to the notion that we're all actually the same, and as long as somebody mentions God or mentions Jesus, that's really all that matters. Well, then you may be just as happy in the Christian Science Church.
Why don't you slip in there for a while as well? Because you'll be stupid enough to buy that one. Because again, you'll have your Bible and you'll have Mary Baker Eddy with you, with Mary Baker explaining to you your Bible.
Without her, you cannot get where you need to be. That's not true. Or why not try that you'll always witness this for a little while? After all, they're very zealous people, and nice, and diligent, and far more diligent than most of us in seeking to tell other people about their story.
Therefore, admirable on so many fronts, but deviant in relationship to biblical truth. You see how the danger presents itself? And even when you step from that into a congregation like this, the danger that is represented is not the danger of those who are standing up to say, I don't believe that in the doctrinal statement, and I am opposed to that. No, it is the danger that is represented by people who love to live on the fringes of things with fanciful stories, fairy stories, as Phillips paraphrases it, stories that intrigue, stories that draw people away.
In this instance, stories about your Jewish ancestors and so on, which would have very little impact today, I'm sure. And they combine that, you will notice, devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people. The commands of people. Not the commands of God. These are not people who are being told constantly, Now, I hope you've got your Bible, and I hope you have it open, and I hope you're looking in it to see whether what I'm saying is actually in it.
That's not what they're facing. No, they're facing people saying, Don't you worry about your Bible. You keep your Bible closed. You just listen to me.
I'll tell you what's in the Bible, and furthermore, I'll tell you what to do. And there is a peculiar susceptibility on the part of folks who just basically want somebody to tell them what to do. And they then will be led astray by the commands of people, notice, who turn away from the truth. But they don't say, Follow me, I'm turning away from the truth. They have swerved from the truth, and they say, Follow me, because the truth that you think you have is not the truth you need to have, and you need to understand this about that particular part and this particular notion, and you need to make sure that you're doing this, this, this, this, and this, and that you're definitely not doing this, this, this, this, and this. And so what it does is it caters to our sense of achievement. It caters to our sense of self-fulfillment. If I do this, this, and this, then I'll be accepted.
If I do this, this, and this, I'll be accepted in the community. And that's what you get with congregations that have never understood the grace of God, congregations that have never understood the gospel. You've got congregations then that are trying to make themselves acceptable to God as a result of doing all these things, instead of a congregation that says, I do all of these things, because in Jesus I am acceptable to God. There's all the difference in the world.
It changes everything. And that's what makes this so difficult. Not only is their message wrong, but you will notice their motive is off-skew as well. Why are they doing what they're doing? Well, it says there in verse 11, for shameful gain, teaching what they ought not to teach, for a profit that they ought not to have.
Now, it's an ugly concoction. It's there for your consideration, a form of externalism that fails to recognize that the problem is on the inside. And that's why he says, listen, you should realize that to the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and the unbelieving, nothing is pure, because their minds and their consciences are defiled. Now, Jesus had to deal with that as well, didn't he, when he dealt with the Pharisees in Matthew 15?
If you want to turn to it, you'll just see in his day he's tackling the very same problem. The Pharisees came and said, Why do your disciples break the traditions of the elders? Traditions of the elders—do you notice what that is? That's the commands of men. For they don't wash their hands when they eat. And Jesus says, Well, let me ask you a question. Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
Turns the thing entirely upside down. They're there to ask why they break the traditions of men. He says, Forget the traditions of men for a moment. Why do you break the commandments of God? If you want to talk commandments, let's deal with God's commandments, not your inventions. And then he goes on to say to them, You know, you're actually just hypocrites. And Isaiah prophesied well when he said, The people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
In vain do they worship me. And here's the phrase, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. And so says Paul, summarizing it at the end of verse 16, professing to know God, denying him by their works, they are detestable, they're disobedient, and they're disqualified, unfit for any good work. The Bible warns us to be on guard against false teachers.
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Whisper: medium.en / 2023-05-21 20:43:23 / 2023-05-21 20:52:21 / 9