Learning the Art of Refusal, Part 1

The same way the church in every generation can get caught up in debatable interpretations, things that God may lead you to apply to your life, but the Bible isn't really perfectly clear on that.

And what you're doing isn't sinning, you're in fact making some kind of stand or statement or conviction or preference in that area. But now you're going to take that and you're going to try to bring it to the body, bring it to other believers. And the Bible isn't as clear as we'd like it and this is what we've always believed and so we take sides and we take shots.

For those of us living in the United States, there is an abundance of Bible teaching available. In fact, there are so many opinions calling out to us and so much teaching available to us that it's hard to know what to listen to and what to ignore. Have you found that to be true? I wonder, have you ever found yourself accepting something that you were told that later on proved to be untrue?

Or have you ever made a really big deal out of something that really wasn't important? Steven Davey wants to help you with all of this today. This is Wisdom for the Heart.

Steven's going to unpack all of this and more in a lesson called Learning the Art of Refusal. I have heard it said before and it's true that buzzards and eagles are similar yet at the same time very different. They're both birds. They both soar high on the wind.

They both have sharp vision and powerful wings. What makes them different is the way they view life below, what they focus on. I can't help but think that to a very large degree whatever a Christian is interested in, whatever a Christian focuses on or chooses not to focus upon determines in a very real way the kind of life they live. There's something we need to develop and we're going to study it together in this session. It is the spiritual art of refusal.

Knowing what to say no to and knowing what to say yes to. I can remember as a kid every so often going out to eat. We typically went to this cafeteria when I was a boy. Back then it was one price takes care of everything.

Every time I went I had the same problem. I wanted it all. I wanted everything. At the front of the line the pasta salad looked really good.

I'll take some of that and then you get a little closer. Further down it's the jello salad with tangerines. Man, that looked really good and I took that and then you get to the bread and that banana bread looks good and so does the sourdough and then you get to the main course and the lasagna looks good but why that fish look good too. And then those cut potatoes soaking in butter and I thought well you know I don't have a vegetable yet so that'll that'll take care of that.

And then you get to desserts and how do you decide between chocolate cake and banana pudding. You don't. That's exactly right. Thank you sir. By the way I had a guy come at me after first hour and he said there's no there's no G on the end of that.

It's banana pudding. Okay. So get it right.

So I've had two more chances to get it to get it right. I go to my table and invariably I'd either end up with a stomach ache or I wouldn't eat half the food that I had I had chosen. I think I think learning the art as you grow up of saying yeah I need that and I really don't need that discerning between good and evil but even developing between developing the choices between what is good and something that is better. There's maturity in that. Just as the individual Christian learns to pick and choose his physical food he's got to learn to pick and choose spiritual influences that will impact his life if he ever hopes to be healthy and wise. There are just some things you have to learn how to ignore. That's exactly what the Apostle Paul is going to reinforce as he nears the end of this letter to Titus. He's going to spell out four things to avoid four things to make sure you don't put them on your tray. Don't invite them into your life you're going to end up with a stomach ache or worse.

Here are four distractions to refuse. Let's get a running start back at chapter 3 and verse 8 which we studied in our last session together and then we'll get to verse 9 today. Look at verse 8. This is a trustworthy statement and concerning these things these doctrines he's developed. I want you to speak with confidence so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men or for mankind in general.

Verse 9 but avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law for these things are unprofitable and worthless. Notice he doesn't say they are unpopular. Well they were very popular as we'll see in a moment. They are just unprofitable. They're worthless. They don't do any good in your life. Leave them alone. Don't put them on your tray and take them into your life. They're not good for you.

They won't help you. Now the first of these four distractions Paul is referring to. Let's take a closer look in our study. Avoid. He says avoid them. That verb means to literally turn your face away.

Turn your back on. Don't look at. That's what he means by avoid. And by the way it's in the present tense which means this isn't a once for all refusal. I've said no to that and I'm never going to say no again.

No it is constant. It is often. It is repeated in your life. Repeatedly turn your face away while everybody else is loading it up. Turn away.

Turn away from what. Well the first of the four are these foolish controversies. What's he talking about. Well the first word kind of gives us a hint that it's not a good thing because he uses the Greek word morass which gives us our word moron or moronic. If you get involved in this you're going to play the role of a moron. You're going to be moronic. Foolish.

Don't do it. And then he gets to the word controversy. This refers to searching or investigating things that have no merit. They have no basis. They have no substantive meaning. They're merely speculations that occupy the mind. They seem appealing. They seem interesting. We ought to maybe give them a little attention.

Don't do that. There are controversies without substance and they're going to get you into heated debates and arguments. So avoid them.

Now Paul has already warned Titus about avoiding Jewish fables in chapter one. Same idea in his mind here. They're controversial. They're not really substantiated by the word. They are what we would say are gray areas perhaps or doubtful issues.

God's spirit may lead you to feel firmly in one but the word of God is not going to be applied in that way to somebody else. Make sure you don't get pulled into heated debates and controversies over these things. And he specifically refers to those things which have very little merit fables to avoid. They're unprofitable. They're fruitless. You could render that.

They're useless. I remember just this summer when my wife going to the beautiful Adirondack Mountains in upper New York the home of Word of Life where I would speak for a week. I thought this is going to be beautiful to get up in the mountains my wife and I and they had a heat wave. They set records for heat for that week and I took them through the Book of Ruth there in one session in the camp grounds without any air conditioning and talked about Jewish culture and how that set the scene for what would transpire in the Book of Ruth and I had a man come up to me and say are you familiar with books on Jewish legends and culture rabbinical interpretations and I said no. He said well there's an excellent one that's been translated in English and it just sort of compiles all these Jewish myths and legends. And I thought that might be useful and so I ordered a book to large book nearly a thousand pages translated into English and it covers centuries of rabbinical tradition and legend and myth. So when I was in Chapter 1 I wasn't there yet and now in Chapter 3 this comes up again and so I pulled that book down from my study at home and began to read through what they may have dealt with in these earlier centuries. Since I knew we were studying Noah and the flood I thought you know I'm going to go and see what they had to say about Noah.

I wonder what the legends and some of these myths are relative to Noah and the ark Noah and that flood and I ended up reading more legends and more interpretations and more controversial things than you could ever imagine. But I certainly have time to read to you but would you like to hear one of them. Okay. All right ma'am. Just for you. Here we go. All right.

I'll actually summarize a few of them. Here's one. Noah and his family. The legend is barely survived because when it began to rain people surrounded the ark and they were trying to tip the ark over. And so God sent lions to scatter them and they surrounded the ark until the ark floated up and away. Fascinating idea.

Thought. Another legend claims that even though it was dark inside the ark that Noah had brought with him a pearl of great price and there is something in the Bible about that in there and that pearl gave off light so that for the year they were in the ark Noah and his family were able to see another rabbinical legend says that when the rain began to fall and the flood waters rise one large sea creature didn't want to perish and nor didn't want to get lost. And so Noah tied him to the ark and he swam alongside the ark and he made furrows in the water as wide as the sea. Another rabbi taught that as the flood waters swelled.

The king of Bashan Deuteronomy has a vague reference to living that he must have survived. And what happened was he sat on the rungs of the ladder on the side of the ark and he begged Noah promising him that if he would let them survive that he and his sons would be slaves of Noah and his family for life and so Noah drilled a hole in the ark and fed the king every day by handing out food to the king and his sons. Another legend claims that every rain drop that fell on earth God first brought it to a boil in the underworld before he carried it out and then dumped it on mankind. I mean this is great devotional reading isn't it? This will spice up the Bible no question about it. One more rabbinical legend claims that when Noah sent out the dove she flew to the gates of the Garden of Eden and God opened the gates and the bird went in and took a fresh leaf from the tree there from the Garden of Eden. You know it's all interesting stuff and no wonder Paul would reinforce these predominantly Jewish congregations on the island of Crete to put those things away they were unprofitable they would just bring up arguments you can imagine Titus who would be preaching and teaching from the Old Testament from the writings of eyewitness accounts as God is progressively giving his revelation and you can imagine everybody gathering okay we're going to study Noah and the ark and oh no that's not what happened no this is what happened no this is what I think happened this rabbi said this this interpretation believed this and we ought to get some kind of meaning out of that and it just would keep the congregation embroiled in debate unprofitable debate and controversy in the same way the church in every generation can get caught up in debatable interpretations questionable things things that God may lead you to apply to your life but the Bible isn't really perfectly clear on that and what you're doing isn't sinning you're in fact making some kind of stand or statement or conviction or preference in that area but now you're going to take that you're going to try to to bring it to the body bring it to other believers and the Bible isn't as clear as we'd like it and maybe it's clearly against that idea but no matter this is what we've always believed and so we take sides and we take shots and the church suffers Paul delivered the same warnings to Timothy when he wrote don't pay attention to myths and endless genealogies which give rise to to mere speculation rather than furthering the plan of God which is by faith in the world looks at the church and the church can appear moronic not because it's standing for truths that certainly would seem foolish to an unbelieving world but the things the Bible barely nods at or mention some deeper truth or meaning is brought out doesn't accomplish the mission of the church by means of the gospel Paul also wrote further to Timothy in second Timothy 2 23 but refused foolish and ignorant speculations knowing that they produce quarrels take a look at the fruit of it producing quarrels the Bible isn't clear on something don't bring it out into an argument don't take it to your table the enemy is more than happy in a church fight to stay neutral and just provide both sides with ammunition as they fire away which is also why Paul would write do everything in your power be diligent here's something to pursue the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace in our greenhouse class that I mentioned our class for incoming potential new members the need is never more apparent and more exciting to see developing right there in front of our eyes as people from all over gather for this 12 weeks of study and typically what I do at the very beginning if you've been through it and I know half our assembly hasn't and so I'll tell you a little bit of what we do we will go around the room I've got about 82 adults I think in this particular class and I'll ask them you know tell us where you're from and we'll just go all over the map denominationally spiritual backgrounds are different doctrinal beliefs are going to be different and we're going to talk about what we believe and why it's important and a lot of other things that are going to fall by the wayside I mean we have in this particular class I just thought about it as I was studying this text we have former Anglicans Presbyterians Methodists Catholics Evangelical free church Bible Church non-denominational independent Baptists free will Baptists Southern Baptists really confused Baptists we get them all in there together they're coming directly from their former church I go around and I just have them raise their hand when I get to your particular denomination a missionary an alliance and United Methodist and if we have anybody from the Assemblies of God I say you can raise both hands if you'd like to just to have a little fun and they come from all over some are coming from small churches and they are intimidated they're new here make sure you say hello to people around you they may be so new and intimidated some are coming from churches so large that it makes our church feel small some are used to their pastor preaching on topics and and issues of the day and others are used to their their pastor preaching through a book of the Bible for years at a time that's common out there you'd be surprised some are from churches that sang mostly hymns with a an organ and a piano and some are from churches that sang mostly choruses with a with a band some of them some of them want more music some of them want longer sermons okay made that part up but if I asked them I know somebody would probably tell me that some people are coming from churches with a lot of liturgy everything is just planned there's a calendar they follow others are coming from churches were just kind of free flowing and you never quite know what's going to happen with people in that class born in the south people have moved here from the north from the west from up east we have in this class Caucasian African Asian Hispanic and a mixture of a lot of others some come from a place where they heard the gospel every time they showed up some are hearing it for the first time I just met this past week with one gentleman a young police officer who I'm not sure how I got started but he began podcasting our sermons while on duty he'd listen to them and one day he pulled over and accepted Jesus Christ as his savior he and his wife are now coming it's all brand new we got we had older believers and young brand new believers we got we have singles we have married couples we have parents with children and parents without children or couples without children some parents are homeschooling some are sending their kids to public school and some are sending their kids to Christian school and I'm able to tell them my wife and I did all three homeschool public school Christian school and I can say well all authority none of them work perfectly I'll add none of them work perfectly the myriad of varieties represented in one new members class and you're thinking how in the world are we ever going to get along and maybe you're wondering if we will how did the believers on the island of Crete get along you have descendants of Gentile pirates and historic Jewish converts some of them are poor some of them are wealthy some of them aren't educated Paul will mention one at the end of the letter that's an attorney highly educated some are going to be people who who grew up under the influence of the Essenes I mean they were so liturgical they had ceremony upon ceremony and they would need a meal without ceremonial cleansing they would come together and eat meals together wearing special clothing ceremonially cleansed and that person gets converted comes to faith stands in the assembly next to a Gentile that doesn't bathe period right you have people coming in with all kinds of religious traditions and some coming from idolatrous backgrounds everybody came into the faith and into that assembly by means of the cross where their sins were washed away but opinions tend to stick funny how that happens Paul effectively tells Titus you're going to need to remind them that there are opinions and they may have a lineage of rabbinical traditions but the word isn't going to really make that clear they may have dearly held beliefs that may not be wrong but are not to be communicated as the model tell them what to leave at the buffet line and not take with them to the table they're unprofitable they are worthless they're not going to bear spiritual fruit even if you win the argument it will not advance the gospel without a clear text of scripture the interpretation can take on an authority of whoever is dispensing it the rabbis of old with their volumes of opinions and speculations taught as doctrine and you end up with a Noah and his family being protected by lions and feeding a king out of compassion with some huge monstrous animal in tow and a dove getting an olive leaf from the Garden of Eden at the end of the day none of that advances the gospel I shared recently with my class my growing opinion that we ought to be wearing white clothing I mean we're told in Revelation that our future wardrobe is going to be triumphant robes of white clean linen indicative of victory in battle and in light of that coming day I mean why not we ought to even now begin to wear white in anticipation of our final victory with Christ as we eventually come revelation 19 says with Christ wearing white on stallions of white so let's start wearing white clothing of course they smile and they think are you pulling my leg and I'll laugh and say of course I am but could I be serious and I read a quote to them from one church leader who gathered a following in the second century and he was serious as he preached and taught and I quote forsake colored clothing forsake colored clothing remove everything in your wardrobe that is not white he goes on though no longer sleep on a soft pillow nor take warm baths if you are sincere about following Christ and especially the newer believers will go yeah I'm sincere tell me if you are sincere about following Christ never shave your beard for to shave is an attempt to improve on the work of him who created us I can't help but laugh when I read that quote because I grew up in a circle of churches that believe that if you didn't shave you were sinning any facial hair was tantamount to rebellion I mean if you were really sincere about following Christ you shaved and I can't help but laugh because here's a guy preaching in the second century that if you did shave you were sinning and guess what the Bible says about either side of that argument nothing unless you twist some scripture and come up with your own interpretation listen in any generation there are plenty of controversies that are really fruitful I haven't even mentioned you know whether or not global warming is make believe if drilling offshore is a good idea gun control is a bad thing if border control is a waste of money if you should only be eating organic foods to prove you're really taking care of God's vessel if you ought to be driving an electric car to show that you're really showing good sense and taking care of God's planet if you're feeding your cats and your dogs expensive food that contains vegetables because your dog needs to eat vegetables like you do your dog needs to eat that cat that's what he ought to eat there's some controversy for you I'll hear about that let her rip I mean let's hash out you know our views on a thousand things parenting styles you know worship styles personal convictions or preferences an array of opinions and traditions and secondary issues that in an assembly can quickly elevate to becoming equal to doctrine see Jesus faced that he told the Pharisees you're teaching the traditions of men as doctrine you're taking all your speculations and all of your opinions and you're elevating it to the level of this is God's truth it is fruitless have you ever heard a pastor or teacher express an opinion but he presented it like biblical doctrine actually there's nothing wrong with sharing our opinions but we need to discern between what is man's opinion and what is God's truth we're going to explore this more but we need to stop here we're just about out of time and we'll resume this lesson next time this is wisdom for the heart with Stephen Davey you can learn more about us if you visit our website which is wisdom online.org once you go there you'll be able to access the complete archive of Stephen's Bible teaching ministry he's been pastoring and teaching for over 35 years and all of those sermons are posted online we also post each day's broadcast so if you ever miss one of these lessons you can go to our website and keep caught up with our daily Bible teaching ministry the archive of Stephen's teaching is available on that site free of charge and you can access it anytime at wisdom online.org our ministry is on social media and that's a great way to stay informed and to interact with us be sure and like and follow our Facebook page so that you'll get updates well thanks again for joining us today we're so glad you were with us as I said earlier we'll bring you the conclusion to this message next time join us then here on wisdom for the heart.