Introduction.
Titus was given the important and urgent task of finding men
who were suitable for the Eldership, so that they could help equip the
congregations the churches in Crete to be a
witness to the greatness of Christ's salvation. Some of the essential tasks
given to the Eldership is to encourage believers to grow in doctrine and
convict those who contradict the faith. Sound doctrine is essential to the
church being a true and faithful witness to God who cannot lie. Sound doctrine
promotes godliness and Christ-centred living therefore the Elders need to have
a firm grasp of the faith taught by the apostles. Paul in verses 10-16 deals with
the opposition the Elders will face as they exercise their office in churches
in Crete.
1. The legacy of sin works to draw believers away from sound
doctrine.
-
The
Elders will face opposition from the legacy left by the sinful nature in
themselves and fellow-believers. One of the most evident fruits of the
legacy of sin in believers is insubordination.
If you look up the word insubordination
in a dictionary it will probably give you the following list of adjectives
- rebellious, mutinous, factious, and seditious. All these adjectives describe an
attitude of opposition to and usually in defiance of established
authority. This is a refusal to submit to authority and to disobey what is
commanded. The Greek word is a very strong word and is probably best
translated as rebellious as it
indicates that the sin that continues to live in the believer is
unsubdued. Rebellion is at the heart of all sin. It was the attitude
advocated by Satan in Garden of Eden to Eve and Adam which says, ‘I will be my own god and determine for
myself what is right and wrong.' In believers this is a refusal to submit to the Lordship of Christ,
it is an attitude of treason against
the King of Glory. It is an attitude of great arrogance as it places personal authority above or equal to
that of Lord of Lords. It is an attitude of extreme self-centredness as it measures everything by how it
affects me. It is a dangerous, sinful attitude. All believers need to take
ownership of the fact that a rebellious attitude is still at work within
their hearts, minds and wills and it is only subdued by the powerful
working of the Holy Spirit. A godly person is one who is in submission to God and zealously
seeks to please him. Believers are disciples in submission to the Master,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
- We
live in an age where authority
is not only challenged, but despised. Almost every level of authority has
been undermined in our society. The breakdown of authority is causing
major problems for the police, teachers, parents, employers, and
communities. God's authority has been reduced simply to one opinion amongst
hundreds of thousands. Where authority is undermined the dominant attitude
quickly becomes one where everyman
does what is right in his own eyes. This is an attitude of lawlessness
which is sinful. In Romans 13:1-2 Paul says, ‘Let every soul be subject to the
governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the
authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the
authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring
judgment on themselves.' Rebellion against authority is ultimately rebellion
against God, by nature we do not desire to submit to authority. We need to
recognise that we all face this problem of rebellion. Rebellion comes to
the fore when we disagree with God, in what he says in his word or does in
his providence. Rebellion calls on us to question God's sovereignty,
wisdom, love, and purpose. Rebellion is an act that denies sound doctrine,
it jettisons the truth that God is God and that man is a created being.
It's like a slave calling his master to give account of his actions. We
need to recognise that insubordination is behind all our yielding to sin.
Every sinful act committed by a believer is an act of insubordination.
When a husband fails to love his wife as Christ loved the church or a wife
fails to submit or children disobey their parents it is an act of
insubordination. It is an act of rebellion against God.
- Insubordination
or rebelliousness manifests itself in the combination of idle talk and deceitfulness. What
is an idle-talker? The Greek
word means talk that is senseless or mischievous its design
is not to edify but to create trouble. The American word for an
idle-talker is wrangler which means someone who argues
noisily or angrily. An idle-talker
is a stirrer a person who spreads rumours and stirs up trouble. A deceitful person seeks to give
information factual or otherwise in order to have people draw the wrong
conclusion. Gossips normally pick up the information given by the
deceitful person and spread it around to bring forth a harvest of trouble.
In the context of Titus 1 the idle-talk and deceitfulness is aimed
at undermining sound doctrine which provides stability to the lives of
believers. Idle-talkers and deceivers
from the circumcision faction
were telling believers that even though you have Jesus as your Saviour you
still need to be circumcised in order to be a true believer. This was
denying the sufficiency of Christ's work of atonement, as it needed to be
augmented by the work of human hands. This was a challenge to the doctrine
of salvation by grace as it relied on human action. It challenged the
doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and gave certain men a
priestly function. The errors of the circumcision
party were appealing as they gave the acts of man a place of
prominence and polished human pride. The rebellious in the congregation refused to submit to the plain teaching of the Apostles. False doctrine
or doctrinal error is serious as it is sinful and refuses to submit to the
doctrine given by God to the Apostles and it encourages or incites other
believers to be insubordinate. The legacy of the sinful nature in
believers needs to be subdued by sound doctrine in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
2. The inherent legacy of sin in our culture draws believers
away from sound doctrine.
- The
English word culture comes from
the Latin word ‘cultura' stemming
from ‘colere', which means to cultivate. Culture is the way of
life cultivated by groups of human beings to give structure and
significance to all the activities of life and to promote unity in the
group. Culture is a man-made thing; therefore all cultures will be
influenced by the sinful nature. Culture is not static, new ways of living
are being cultivated all the time. In every culture you will find things
that Scripture defines as sinful and wicked in the eyes of God. It was the
Central African Anglicans that pointed out that the developing culture of
the West towards homosexuality was contrary to the sound doctrine of
Scripture. "The Anglican Church of Nigeria issued a statement in 2006
affirming "our commitment to the total rejection of the evil of
homosexuality which is a perversion of human dignity." The emerging
culture of the West stands contrary to the Scriptures. The task of
Christians is to oppose and not to participate in cultural things that are
contrary to sound doctrine.
- The
culture you live in greatly influences that way you speak, act and think.
All cultures produce nationalistic
characteristics. These are generalisations that are not always true of
all people who belong to a national group and people are often hurt when
the generalisation is applied to them. We joke about Irish simplicity,
Scottish frugality, English reserve, Welsh sentimentality, German
discipline, Chinese inscrutability and the fiery South American
temperament. These national characteristics have sometimes contained
enough truth in them to keep the ideas alive in the minds of others. The national
characteristics of the Cretans were not very complimentary. Listen to Titus
1:12-13a, ‘One of them, a
prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." This testimony
is true.' The
poet from whom Paul quotes was Epimenides who lived in the sixth Century
B.C. There is a lot of information available on Epimenides. Epimenides was
regarded by many as one of "the seven wise men" of the ancient world. He
was considered a prophet (a divinely
inspired man) by many in the ancient world. It is claimed that it was
this same Epimenides who advised the Athenians to sacrifice "to the
appropriate god," which advice probably led to the erection of that
well-known "altar to an unknown god" which provided a starting-point for
Paul's proclamation of the living God (Acts 17:23). The
Cretans got their reputation as liars and deceivers by claiming that the
tomb of Zeus was on the Island. The
reputation of the Cretans for telling lies for selfish purposes was so
widely spread that it had given rise to the noun "Cretism," meaning
"Cretan behaviour," that is, "lying" - and to the verb "to Cretize" or "to
speak like a Cretan," which meant "to tell lies," "to deceive".
-
The term ‘evil
brutes' describes the savage and cruel character of the Cretans in the
times of Epimenides and Paul and Titus. They were very self-assertive and would
push everyone out of the way in order to gain an advantage for themselves. It
also refers to the very sensual and self -indulgent way of life pursued by the
Cretans. Pleasures derived from the senses were pursued with zeal by the
Cretans. The mark of their self-indulgent attitude is captured in the
expression lazy gluttons. This makes
you wonder about the obesity problem in Australia, have we become a nation
of lazy gluttons? Titus was dealing with people living in a culture where the
natural inclination was for them to be untruthful, selfish, and pleasure-loving.
Some modern-thinking missionaries consider Paul to have been politically
incorrect for saying that the reputation of the Cretans was true, and in doing
this gave offence and unnecessarily alienated himself from many. Paul put truth
above being politically correct, Paul believed in exposing sin and labelling it
clearly. When a culture promotes sinful behaviour it must be exposed as sin and
condemned. Listen to some other comments made about Cretans: Cicero,
Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher (106-43 b.c.) said, "Indeed,
(men's) moral principles are so divergent that the Cretans ... consider
highway-robbery to be honourable" (Republic III. ix. 15). Polybius, Greek historian (203-120 b.c.) said "So much in fact do love of
shameful profit and greed prevail among them that among all men Cretans are the
only ones in whose estimation no profit is ever disgraceful" (The
Histories VI. 46). The Cretans were morally bankrupt and arrogantly pursued
sinful pleasures.
-
When a Cretan was converted the newness of life in
Christ clashed very strongly with the culture that had shaped his life. The
ways their culture had promoted in them needed to be brought into submission.
It ought to be obvious that idle-talkers and
deceivers would dismiss this claim by
telling believers to see their new faith and life in Christ as an added
appendage to their lives, and so they could continue to follow the customs of
the Island. The idle-talkers and deceivers
would have insisted that becoming a Christian does not mean giving up anything
in your culture. If you have been brought up in a culture where lying and deceiving was a way of life knowing what to believe and who to
believe becomes very confusing. When people are confused they usually simply
return to the status-quo and continue to follow sinful ways. Culture becomes
ingrained in the heart, mind and will. The saying, ‘you can take the boy out of the bush, but not the bush out of the boy'
can also be applied to culture. Culture can and does strengthen sinful
ways, attitudes and speech in individuals. We need to be aware that our culture
promotes sinful ways in the same way as the culture of Crete
did. In our culture the attitude towards the Lord's Day is that it is a day of
self-indulgent pleasure where sport and entertainment are worshipped. In our
culture getting and being drunk is seen and accepted as having a good time. In
our culture using the name of Christ in vain and using filthy language is
counted as normal. In our culture disrespect has become a key aspect of comedy,
being derogative about people is applauded as being humorous. These cultural
attitudes draw believers away from sound doctrine. We need to recognise that
our culture does not promote godly living or honour God. If you are a Christian
you will be swimming against the tide, you will have to fight to be different
to the world you live in. Our culture which praised, promotes and demands being
politically correct would silence those who know the truth of the Gospel. The
Gospel by its very nature is politically incorrect, judgemental and
condemnatory. How can you tell sinners that they are destined to go to hell
without offending them? How can you point to things that are wicked and evil
without offending people? Young Christians in our culture face the daunting
task of rooting out and destroying all aspect of their cultural heritage that
do not lead to godliness.
Sound doctrine equips and enables people to recognise
the legacy of the sinful nature in their own culture.
3. The legacy of sin needs to be exposed and
countered.
- Titus is instructed to deal with idle-talkers and deceivers in
two ways. Firstly their mouths must be stopped (verse 11a) and
secondly they must be rebuked sharply (verse 13). Paul in Titus
1:9 highlighted the task the Elder has of exhorting or refuting those
who contradict sound doctrine. Titus, and the Elders he appointed needed to
meet the idle-talkers and deceivers head on, they were to speak
the truth in love. How were Titus and the Elders to do this confrontation? Firstly by being firmly grounded and rooted
in sound doctrine so that they can convict others of the truth and render them sound in the faith (verse 14c). Idle-talkers and deceivers are to be silenced by admonishing and charging them to
stop teaching false doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3). This instruction was
to be done with meekness. If, rather than taking the admonition to heart and
submitting to the teaching of Scripture, they persisted in undermining sound
doctrine then excommunication, the harshest step was to be used to safeguard
the church and bring the sinner to repentance. Paul gives this instruction in 2
Timothy 2:16 when he says, ‘But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will
increase to more ungodliness.' The world may applaud freedom of speech, but
misleading speech must not be tolerated in the church. Speech that is not
conducive to sound doctrine and does not edify must be stopped. Titus would
have been aware that some idle-talkers and deceivers had already subverted whole households and teaching
things which they ought not (Titus 1:11). Exactly how the idle-talkers
and deceivers sought to use their
mischief for dishonest gain we are
not told, but remember what Polybius,
a Greek historian said, ‘So much in fact
do love of shameful profit and greed prevail among them that among all men
Cretans are the only ones in whose estimation no profit is ever disgraceful.'
The culture had no moral concept when it came to making money.
- Somewhere between the charging and excommunication, idle-talkers and deceivers were to be sharply
rebuked. The Cretans were not likely to pay much attention to gentle
persuasion therefore Titus is instructed to give a sharp rebuke. Matthew Henry says ‘Titus had to do with those who were more
rough and uncultivated, and therefore he must rebuke them sharply; their
corruptions were many and gross, and committed without shame or modesty, and
therefore should be dealt with accordingly.' This sharp rebuke was probably
given firstly in private and then later on in public. Those who do not respond
to a gentle rebuke must receive a sharp rebuke to make them realise that they
need to stop their idle-talk and deception, repent of their sin, and show
the fruit of repentance by promoting sound doctrine.
- Those who think that the church should be an umbrella
organisation where all teachings are acceptable and tolerated are very much out
of step with the Pastoral Epistles of Paul. In the early church non-conformity
to sound doctrine was an issue that the Apostles would not tolerate and we need
to follow their example. Harvie Conn was absolutely right
when he said, ‘The crucial division
(between Christians of different doctrinal beliefs) is not politics or the
graciousness with which one debates issues in the courts of the church. The
crucial issue is not even our personal relationship to Jesus Christ. To be
sure, the decision regarding Jesus Christ divides Christian from non-Christian,
a believer in Jesus from a believer in Confucius. But our question is theology,
not personal faith. And the crucial issue that divides sound teaching and good
theology from false teaching and bad theology is the authority of Scripture.
Shall we believe the Bible or shall we not?' Insubordination urges us
strongly not to believe the Bible and not to submit to its demands. Do you
submit to the Scriptures or do you arrogantly rule over the Scriptures by
giving preference to your own opinions?
Conclusion.
Sound doctrine is vital
to the spiritual health of individual believers and congregations. Insubordination is at the heart of sin
and therefore is found actively at work in all of Adam's race. By the power of
the Holy Spirit we must subdue the residue of insubordination that remains in
us by submitting to the sound doctrine of Scripture.