Warning: Two Strikes and You're Out, Part 1

He knows it is divisive. He knows it's gossip. He knows it's causing division. He knows he's slanting the story. He knows he hasn't gotten all the facts. Paul writes, he knows what he's doing and what he's saying all along. That's why you don't have to give him two, three, or three, five, six, ten warnings. The problem with dealing with an individual like this, they are receiving at this point emotional satisfaction from creating controversy in the church.

I mean, to them, this is great. Division is always tragic, but there are times when God calls the church to actually remove people from the fellowship. An unrepentant, contentious person can create so much damage in the body that the solution is to remove that person from the fellowship. In Titus 3, the Apostle Paul gives an interesting command to Titus. Titus is to warn a divisive person twice, and then if he or she does not repent, break fellowship with them. We're going to learn what that command means today. This is wisdom for the heart.

Here's Stephen Davey with today's lesson called Warning. Two strikes and you're out. I have read that nearly one in four Americans will be involved in a lawsuit of some sort during his lifetime. Can you imagine that?

One out of four. Because our culture is literally inundated with this litigious drive, lawsuits. It's nearly impossible anymore to buy anything without having one or more warning labels attached to it.

Have you noticed that? I mean, stuff you'd think people would certainly get without having to read it attached to that particular product. Do we really need all these kind of warnings? But because of the potential of lawsuits, they're attached. I read a number of them.

I'll bring three of them to you by way of introduction. Here are some following warnings. On a Dura Flame fireplace log, the warning reads, caution, risk of fire.

We would hope so. On a cardboard sun shield for cars and vans, here's the warning, quote, do not drive your vehicle with sun shield in place. Oh, that's the problem. Okay.

On a portable baby stroller, caution, remove infant before folding for storage. I mean, how many dads? You know, where's Junior?

I keep forgetting he's in the closet. The problem is most people ignore them. In fact, I read that there's one warning sign that just about everybody ignores, and that's the check engine light on your dash. I read recently in this Harris interactive survey that one out of ten people on the interstate, remember that is your driving, are driving while that light is on. In fact, the survey revealed that 50% of those whose cars were showing signs of an impending breakdown indicated the light had been on for more than three months.

So why didn't they listen to the warning? The adult survey said things like, well, my car seemed to be running just fine. Others said, oh, I didn't have time to have it checked. Others admitted, well, if I got it checked and they found something wrong with it, I wouldn't have had the money to fix it. So I'll just ignore the light.

I read that and immediately had to admit I'm guilty. Just last week, I'm driving my daughter's used car while she's on the field in Santiago, Chile, and it's on its second engine and I'm trying to keep the thing going. And last week, the light came on, check engine. So what did I do? Well, no, I actually, without doing nothing, I actually had some thoughts. I thought of every one of those things this survey revealed, I thought, well, it seems to be okay as I'm driving.

I didn't hear anything funny. I looked at the other machinery, instrument panel, everything seemed to be fine. And I thought, I really don't have time anyway to check. And then again, if I did stop and something was wrong with it, I don't really have the money to fix it.

And so I thought, in fact, this was the last thought I had. Maybe it will turn itself off. And two days later, guess what? It turned off. The car won't start, but the light is not on. No, the light really did turn off. And I guess I have a few more days to drive before some impending disaster comes. The truth is life is filled with caution, signs and signals.

I found this kind of interesting. A woman was quoting a newspaper article to her husband. She didn't know that her little girl was listening.

The girl was about five years old. And she said to her husband, honey, according to this newspaper article, most automobile accidents occur within a 15-mile radius of home. The little girl immediately piped up and said, well, mommy, then why don't we move?

That good. Let's find a safer place to live. Tim Keller, who pastors in New York, told how whenever he traveled anywhere with his brother-in-law, his brother-in-law would refuse to wear a seat belt. And Tim said, I was always getting onto him to wear that seat belt, and he wouldn't do it. On one occasion, he flew into town and was picked up by his brother-in-law on the curb there at the airport. He got into the car and immediately noticed his brother-in-law was wearing his seat belt. And he said, okay, this is different.

What happened to you? And he writes what his brother-in-law responded. He said, well, I went to visit a friend of mine in a hospital who had been in a car accident. And because of that accident, he went through the windshield of his car.

He had 300 stitches in his face. And as I looked down at my friend and the pain he was suffering, I said to myself, I need to wear my seat belt. And Tim asked him, but didn't you already know that you could go through the windshield of your car if you had an accident? His brother-in-law said, of course I knew that.

When I went to the hospital to see my friend, I did not receive any new information. I just saw that information applied. And at that moment, the information became real in my heart and began to affect the way I live.

The truth is, even if you do follow all the warning signs, you wear your seat belt, and you follow all the cautions, you cannot guarantee the absence of accidents, pain, problems, but it's possible to minimize the damage and be protected from even greater harm. We've already learned in this letter to Titus from Paul in chapter 3 that remarkable Christianity has this unique attitude of respect to authority, and that, by the way, protects you from even greater harm. Remarkable Christians remember the pit from which they were dug. They never quite get over their conversion, and that is a protective attitude to have, verse 3.

Remarkable Christians revel in the fact that they have been ambushed by the goodness and grace of God, and then they attempt to do the same thing to others, which helps protect us in a myriad of ways, verses 4 through 8. Then we learn that remarkable Christianity learns the art of refusal, what not to put on your tray in the cafeteria of the world where you're surrounded in that buffet by just a plethora of speculations and myths and ideas that will harm you and bring you to even greater danger, verse 9. Now Paul tells Titus, and through him these churches on the island of Crete, the rather surprising news that remarkable distinctive Christian communities of believers called churches actually come with a warning label attached. Here's the warning label.

Two strikes and you're out. Now what in the world would Paul be referring to with this warning label? Well hold on to your baseball hat and look at Titus chapter 3 where we left our study at verse 9, now at verse 10. You know, this is one of those texts you may have never heard a sermon on, and frankly this isn't the kind of text that a pastor would say, I think I'll preach on Titus chapter 3 verse 10, reject a factious man after a first and second warning. That's a lovely text, and reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned. Now just as Paul has already challenged us to refuse unprofitable, fruitless, empty distractions, verse 9, he is now telling us within the context of the local church to refuse, reject.

This time it's a person, a factious man. Reject, that's a word that literally means to have nothing to do with. You have the idea of shunning in this verb. To the Corinthians, Paul wrote that they were to remove from their midst, reject from their midst an unrepentant man who was carrying on in that particular case in 1 Corinthians 5, an immoral relationship with his stepmother. In his letter to the church, the believers living in Rome, Italy, the apostle Paul told the believers, turn away from the one who is causing dissensions. Reject him, withhold from him that closeness of intimate friendship because of what they are doing, Romans 16, 17.

In fact, he begins that particular verse by telling them, I urge you brethren, that is I beg you, I plead with you so I can protect you from greater danger. Keep your eye on those causing dissensions. The word Paul uses to keep your eye on is the verb scopane. It means to mark and avoid. The verb scopane gives us our English transliterated word scope.

We use it for microscope and telescope. In other words, carefully watch out for people who cause dissension in the flock. Don't let them slip out of your point of view, out of sight. Now here in Titus 3, Paul adds to the other passages and the other warnings by identifying a particular kind of person to avoid, to watch out for, to keep your eye on. And he uses that descriptive word you noticed, factious.

Reject a factious man. In the original language that word factious is from hereticus which gives us our word heretic or heretical. It's the only time this particular adjective appears in the New Testament, although the noun form will appear in Galatians chapter 5 and 1 Corinthians 11 which sort of helps us understand what he's talking about here when he talks about factions in the church, divisions in the assembly. So we don't tend to think of, and I would agree with those commentators that don't view Paul here warning Titus of those heretics in the body.

Those would have obviously never been allowed to come along and they would have certainly been removed long before. He's using the word in a broader sense to simply refer to divisive people. One author writes it this way, this will include anyone in the church who is divisive, disruptive.

The issues may be trivial, but arguing about them is not. And because the consequences of bickering and insubordination can be so destructive to the unity of the flock, the apostle is commanding that this divisive man or woman as the case may be should be rejected by the church if they do not respond to the warning. Now if you combine Paul's warning label here in Titus with other similar passages of scripture, Paul is then informing the church that they are to remove from their midst this kind of individual. Did you notice Paul writes reject a factious man after a first and second warning? Here's the warning label then, two strikes and you're out of the game, you're on the sideline, you're out of view, you are disciplined.

Are you kidding? Only two? I mean that's tougher than any baseball umpire I have ever seen in action. I happen to know two men in our church who have been or are professional baseball umpires. I think that's got to be one of the toughest jobs on the planet, especially when you're calling pitches and you're behind home plate and you've got to reach that point where you have to yell out, strike what? Three. We have three baseball players in here.

Strike, thank you, okay, played Little League too. Strike three and then what? You're out. I mean there's nowhere to hide after that.

There's nowhere to go. You've just called a guy and I have never, watching games, at games, I have never seen that batter turn and say to the umpire, thank you. You made the right call. I thought it was slightly out but you're right, it was a strike and I'll go sit down now. No, that's an umpire's fantasy dream.

I imagine that doesn't quite happen like that. Titus, go get on your gear. Better get your helmet on, your chest pad, your chin pads. It might not be pretty.

There's a collision about to take place. And by the way, Titus, you're not to give them three strikes but only two. That intrigued me. Why two and not three?

Let me show you why. If you look back at the text, Paul describes this factious person with three descriptive words or phrases and that will clear it up. Knowing, verse 11, knowing that such a man is, here it is first of all, perverted.

It's the only time you find that word in that form in the New Testament. Now you might think he's referring to sexual immorality with the idea of perversion. He's not. The word he's using is a word that refers to a person whose mind is turned around, inside out. You could think of it this way, turned upside down.

He could be in anything. You could use the word slanted. He's tilted. His perspective is skewered about whatever that thing is, that issue. And it's going to be tilted to his opinion or side only.

And I think it's interesting that that word would be used because in a very real way and very practical way, this is exactly what happens in so many divisive issues in the church, right? Somebody has facts or feelings, only one side of the issue, not the entire facts of both sides. And since they don't know all the facts about both sides of the issue, everything tends to get slanted or tilted or skewered to their opinion. And then what becomes even more dangerous is they take that slanted opinion and they attempt to convince people that their opinion and their perspective is the only correct one and people begin taking sides. Whenever slanted, skewered thinkers direct traffic in the assembly, collisions are going to take place. Paul goes on secondly to say they're not only slanted but they are sinning.

I think we need to understand this in its most wooden interpretation. The word for sin, or to be sinning, means to be missing the mark. In other words, they think they represent the truth but they've missed the target. They think they've hit a bullseye with their opinion or their perspective but they haven't even hit the side of the barn. They've actually wandered off the path.

They are completely missing the mark. That's what he has in mind. You'll notice thirdly, he says of them, not only are they slanted and sinning but they are self-condemned. Again, this is a rare word used by Paul, in fact a word that says it all, clarifies it for us. John Phillips, that wonderful expositor from Great Britain who's now with the Lord expanded this word so you can understand the full impact of its meaning. Paul is writing this divisive, factious, slanted, sinning person is self-condemned.

Why? Because he knows, here's the idea of the word, he knows perfectly well that what he is doing is wrong. He knows it is divisive. He knows it's gossip. He knows it's causing division. He knows he's slanting the story. He knows he hasn't gotten all the facts.

Paul writes he knows what he's doing and what he's saying all along. That's why you don't have to give them two, three, or three, five, six, ten warnings. Gene Getz writes in his commentary, the problem with dealing with an individual like this and why they only get two strikes is because they are receiving at this point emotional satisfaction from creating controversy in the church.

I mean, to them, this is great. They must be stopped, he writes. In fact, he says in his commentary, there is only one recourse for Titus and that is radical surgery. But give him a warning and then another. In fact, the word used for warning here is wonderfully loaded word. It's a compound word that means to put to the mind.

It's the root word we've used to create new thetic counseling, put to the mind the truth. So this isn't then just one cryptic quick warning. You get a call, this is warning number one, collect. Another phone call a few days later, this is warning number two, you're out.

No, that's not the idea. This is more like an extended conversation in that first warning where you put to their mind, that is you expose to them the error of their way. You expose to them, you bring to their mind the potential consequences according to the scriptures. You bring to them the damage they are doing and that's why you only need one more warning after that.

Why? Because they got it the first time. They understood it. They knew what they were doing and they knew the damage they were creating and now they know you know, but they've made up their mind they'd rather keep doing it to listen to you.

So after the second warning, they're pulled out of the game, so to speak. They're not going to quit on their own. Kent Hughes, pastor for many years wrote, that's because they actually love the fight. They enjoy the tantalizing controversy. They thrive on being the person in the know and the one who really has the story straight.

They love the shock on people's faces when they tell them what so and so did or said and their favorite expression in the assembly is something like you won't believe what I found out. And the division begins kind of creeping and crawling like poison ivy through the body and unsuspecting people just happen to wander in. An infection begins to spread. Another pastor of many years, Chuck Swindoll, who wrote in his commentary on this verse with seasoned wisdom and advice, now in his middle 70s, he writes, the battle hardened apostle wanted to prepare his young prodigy, Titus, for the conflicts awaiting him. Effective spiritual leadership does everything with compassion, but never at the expense of conviction.

It never fails to confront when necessary. Then he uses the same medical analogy that Gene Getz, his associate on the faculty, used to be used. He said, just as a surgeon must cut out diseased tissue. So leaders in churches must confront those who would infect the body of Christ with discord and divide congregations into factions. Then he gives this particular pointed warning to those in leadership. If the pastor, Elder Shepherd, is not willing to love his congregation enough to risk misunderstanding and criticism, he should step aside and choose another less hazardous occupation.

Well put. I mean, isn't that like saying, you know, if a baseball umpire isn't quite able to bring himself to call the batter out, if he isn't able to say that's strike three, you are out. He really ought to be in another profession because the entire game can be ruined. The warning light is on. You can't be among those who would say, well, I don't have time to fix it.

It's going to cost too much. And maybe that person will just fix themselves all by themselves. Paul makes it painfully clear here, have conversation, have warning, put it to their mind. And if they fail to respond because they don't want to, because they prefer the fight, remove them. Which means, as ironic as this sounds, as I study this text, Paul's solution to dealing with a divisive person is to create division.

Did you catch that? There will be a division, but it is to be a division between the flock and the person who persists in their unrepentant, divisive agenda. He or she is no longer allowed access to the body. There is a division. Their access, their platform, as it were, to the congregation is taken away. The flock then is thus protected from that divisive spirit, that slanted mindset that is creating and can create havoc in the flock.

Yes, there will be a division. It will be painful, time consuming, hurtful, emotional, even tearful. But the flock will divide this factious person away from themselves so that he or she can no longer continue in their unrelenting, undermining attempts to create division among the flock. And by the way, I combine this text with the other text of the Apostle Paul and he makes it clear that there is to be no readmission until there is evidence of genuine repentance, a changed mind. What the church then becomes is an outward demonstration, a tool in the Father's hand to reveal what has occurred physically in the loss of fellowship, spiritually the loss of fellowship with the Father. The church demonstrates what the Father is feeling. The church demonstrates what has occurred in the loss of fellowship between the child and their Savior in demonstrating a loss of fellowship between the child, the member, and the flock. Fellowship has been broken.

Division has occurred. And we who are left in the body pray that that breach will be restored, not only between believers, but between this unrepentant believer and his Savior. We can't finish this lesson today, so Stephen will resume and conclude this lesson on our next broadcast.

Please don't miss it. This is Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. I want to make you aware of a special opportunity. This series comes from Titus 3. The book of Titus was written by Paul to give advice to a young pastor on how a church should be run. Stephen has a book that goes through the entire letter verse by verse.

It's part of our Wisdom commentary series and it's called Titus. This book is available at a very special rate during this series. We've had churches and individuals get multiple copies because they wanted all of the church leaders to have it.

In some cases, elders and deacons have worked through this book as a group. If you want to have it, it's deeply discounted right now. Call us at 866-48-BIBLE for information. You'll also find it on our website and the discount is already applied. So call us at 866-48-BIBLE or visit wisdomonline.org to get your copy of this resource. Thanks again for joining us. We'll conclude this lesson on our next broadcast, so make sure to tune in here on WISDOM FOR THE HEART.