Titus 1:10-16
Good
morning, we continue today in our six week series in the book of Titus. This series, like Paul’s letter to Titus, is
focused on ensuring we mature and become a fully built up follower, disciple of
Christ.
Carl
introduced the book and dove right in to chapter 1 last week. We’ll look at a couple of thoughts from the
first half of chapter 1, and then move on into today’s passage. Before we do that, let’s take a moment and
pray.
God, I cry out to you. Please speak to us from this passage in Titus. Show us how to apply what Paul wrote to Titus here and now in our lives. I thank you that “all Scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training” (II Timothy 3:16). Use this time this morning, to train us up in who and what you desire us to become “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) In Jesus’ name, Amen.
God, I cry out to you. Please speak to us from this passage in Titus. Show us how to apply what Paul wrote to Titus here and now in our lives. I thank you that “all Scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training” (II Timothy 3:16). Use this time this morning, to train us up in who and what you desire us to become “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13) In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Then, Paul states the reason why he left Titus in
He [an elder] must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. Titus 1:9
An elder is entrusted with God’s work (v. 7). Here we get a couple of the primary responsibilities of an elder. He needs to uphold what is right, encouraging others with sound doctrine. In addition, he needs to oppose that which is wrong, refuting those who oppose the message.
The second half of Titus chapter 1 talks about those who oppose the message, oppose the Gospel. I can’t help but think that this is part of Titus’ job “straightening what was left unfinished.” Titus needs to refute those who oppose the message.
For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. Titus 1:10
On the one hand, it seems obvious that there are rebellious people. There are evidences in the news daily of different situations that result in crimes of violence or fraud. However, it may be more difficult to consider that there are rebellious ones even among church-goers. It is uncomfortable to think that someone who positions themselves to be a Christian may not be. And yet, these people that Titus must confront are surely among the church. If they weren’t, why would Titus need to oppose them? In particular, many of the opposers were Judaizers. We talked about this during the Galatians series over the summer. You can find those messages in the Message Archive on the church website.
In short, the Judaizers were trying get people to seek salvation through observing the law rather than trusting on the completed work of Christ on the cross. They said a person could be justified by works rather than by faith in Christ. They might say something like, “Hey, you’re not a Christian if you’re not following the law, too.” Paul said of them in Philippians 3:2, “Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh.”
They must be silenced, because they are ruining
whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach--and that for the
sake of dishonest gain. Titus 1:11
Paul is pushing for action here. “They must be silenced …” Why? The dangers of false teaching are real and the consequences are eternal. The wrong teachings create strife, cause people to stumble in faith, and lead to sin. Jesus had the harshest condemnation for this. In the first couple of verses of Luke 17, Jesus said, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17:1-2) Even worse than that, these teachers are trying to profit from these terrible acts by seeking money, prestige, and influence.
Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” Titus 1:12
We’re going to take a little bit of a detour here. I just wanted to let you know because the quote Paul used really brought out some interesting findings.
And so the quote comes from Epimenides. Epimenides was a Greek philosopher from the sixth or seventh century B.C. He was fromKnossos ,
Crete .
He was a real person, but there is some mythical stuff attached to him,
too. He’s kind of like a cross between
Johnny Appleseed and Rip Van Winkle.
Very few people talk about Johnny Appleseed anymore, but he is an
American legend based on a real person John Chapman. I bring Rip Van Winkle into the discussion
because supposedly Epimenides went looking for a lost sheep, stopped in a cave
during the heat of the day and then fell asleep for 57 years. There are records that he spent time in Athens as well as Sparta ,
so a well-known guy in ancient Greece
One of the main sources of information about Epimenides comes from a book written by Diogenes Laërtius in the third century A.D. Written there is this story …
… when the Athenians were attacked by pestilence, and the Pythian priestess bade them purify the city, they sent a ship commanded by Nicias, son of Niceratus, toCrete
to ask the help of Epimenides. And he came in the 46th Olympiad [592 B.C.],
purified their city, and stopped the pestilence in the following way. He took
sheep, some black and others white, and brought them to the Areopagus; and
there he let them go whither they pleased, instructing those who followed them
to mark the spot where each sheep lay down and offer a sacrifice to the local
divinity. And thus, it is said, the plague was stayed. Hence even to this day
altars may be found in different parts of Attica [the region including Athens
So even in the third century A.D., altars with no name inscribed on them could still be found inAthens Athens
to flee attacks by the Thessalonians at Berea Athens Athens
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men ofAthens
I have no idea whether or not this altar that Paul saw is one of the altars erected during Epimenides visit more than 600 years earlier, but it seems possible. You can read the rest of Paul’s sermon there in Acts 17:24-31. At the end of the sermon, Paul says …
“For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” Acts 17:28
Those are two quotes from Greek philosophers. It turns out that the first quote also comes from Epimenides, and from the same poem that our quote in Titus comes from. Here is the stanza from the poem Cretica:
They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Paul is pushing for action here. “They must be silenced …” Why? The dangers of false teaching are real and the consequences are eternal. The wrong teachings create strife, cause people to stumble in faith, and lead to sin. Jesus had the harshest condemnation for this. In the first couple of verses of Luke 17, Jesus said, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17:1-2) Even worse than that, these teachers are trying to profit from these terrible acts by seeking money, prestige, and influence.
Even one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” Titus 1:12
We’re going to take a little bit of a detour here. I just wanted to let you know because the quote Paul used really brought out some interesting findings.
And so the quote comes from Epimenides. Epimenides was a Greek philosopher from the sixth or seventh century B.C. He was from
One of the main sources of information about Epimenides comes from a book written by Diogenes Laërtius in the third century A.D. Written there is this story …
… when the Athenians were attacked by pestilence, and the Pythian priestess bade them purify the city, they sent a ship commanded by Nicias, son of Niceratus, to
So even in the third century A.D., altars with no name inscribed on them could still be found in
Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of
I have no idea whether or not this altar that Paul saw is one of the altars erected during Epimenides visit more than 600 years earlier, but it seems possible. You can read the rest of Paul’s sermon there in Acts 17:24-31. At the end of the sermon, Paul says …
“For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” Acts 17:28
Those are two quotes from Greek philosophers. It turns out that the first quote also comes from Epimenides, and from the same poem that our quote in Titus comes from. Here is the stanza from the poem Cretica:
They fashioned a tomb for you, holy and high one,
Cretans,
always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.
(quoted in Titus 1:12)
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
But you are not dead: you live and abide forever,
For in you
we live and move and have our being. (quoted in Acts 17:28a)
Scholars do not believe Epimenides was writing about Jesus or God the Father. Rather, his subject was Zeus. And the Cretans believed that Zeus was dead and his tomb was located on theisland
of Crete
Paul used the last line there, “For in you we live and move and have our being” to form a connection with the Greek philosophers inAthens
The second line, “Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.” is interesting in the light of the circumstance Paul is describing to Titus. It can be taken as a warning against those who would treat God as if he were dead. Take the three points. A liar is one who will say whatever will gain him the most advantage. An evil beast or evil brute is unthinking toward others and only wants what he can get for himself. An idle belly or lazy glutton is thinking only how he can satiate his own desires with the least possible work. This kind of person would have no interest in sacrifice or service, rather they would be eager to take advantage of someone else.
Carl talked last week about how Paul’s letter to Titus was addressed to him but not intended for Titus only to read. Paul was giving Titus authority in the letter and also speaking truth to those in the churches ofCrete especially the new
elders who would read the letter.
This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith Titus 1:13
Paul affirms Epimenides’ assessment of the Cretans. Maybe you know some Cretans and maybe you don’t. I think it is important to contrast how Paul is telling Titus to interact with the Cretans versus how Paul interacted with the Athenian philosophers. Paul was trying to reason with the citizens ofAthens
Jesus had similar interactions with the crowds and the Pharisees. The crowds he had compassion on because they were like sheep without a shepherd. The Pharisees He was very confrontational toward as we’ve seen in the previous series from the book of John. He challenged them because of their arrogance, pride and unbelief.
Why “rebuke them sharply”? “So that they will be sound in the faith.” There is nothing more important than to be sound in the faith. Being sound in your finances is important, but you certainly can’t take it with you. Being sound in mind or health is important, but they will only serve you for the length of this physical life. For all of us, I think that is less than 100 years. Everything apart from faith is passing away.
I don’t want to encourage you to go out and grab the first person that you see after church and give them a resounding rebuke. But I do want to ask us to consider where we stand in our relationships. We may hear others speak about Jesus in error. I encourage you to consider what your reaction is in such cases. If someone explains that salvation comes by doing good works, what would you say? If there are things that you hear from me or others that causes you to have concerns, please come and talk to me or talk to them.
I remember one time when Jean came up to me after a message. I had taken the easy way out on a passage; I was talking about good works, and I said something to the effect of, “I don’t need to tell you, you know what good works are.” Jean’s point to me was that we need to be reminded, maybe some more than others, but we all profit from spurring one another on to love and good deeds.
So, how do you confront someone? Jesus gave the process in Matthew 18.
“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony 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, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Matthew 18:15-17
Scholars do not believe Epimenides was writing about Jesus or God the Father. Rather, his subject was Zeus. And the Cretans believed that Zeus was dead and his tomb was located on the
Paul used the last line there, “For in you we live and move and have our being” to form a connection with the Greek philosophers in
The second line, “Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies.” is interesting in the light of the circumstance Paul is describing to Titus. It can be taken as a warning against those who would treat God as if he were dead. Take the three points. A liar is one who will say whatever will gain him the most advantage. An evil beast or evil brute is unthinking toward others and only wants what he can get for himself. An idle belly or lazy glutton is thinking only how he can satiate his own desires with the least possible work. This kind of person would have no interest in sacrifice or service, rather they would be eager to take advantage of someone else.
Carl talked last week about how Paul’s letter to Titus was addressed to him but not intended for Titus only to read. Paul was giving Titus authority in the letter and also speaking truth to those in the churches of
This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith Titus 1:13
Paul affirms Epimenides’ assessment of the Cretans. Maybe you know some Cretans and maybe you don’t. I think it is important to contrast how Paul is telling Titus to interact with the Cretans versus how Paul interacted with the Athenian philosophers. Paul was trying to reason with the citizens of
Jesus had similar interactions with the crowds and the Pharisees. The crowds he had compassion on because they were like sheep without a shepherd. The Pharisees He was very confrontational toward as we’ve seen in the previous series from the book of John. He challenged them because of their arrogance, pride and unbelief.
Why “rebuke them sharply”? “So that they will be sound in the faith.” There is nothing more important than to be sound in the faith. Being sound in your finances is important, but you certainly can’t take it with you. Being sound in mind or health is important, but they will only serve you for the length of this physical life. For all of us, I think that is less than 100 years. Everything apart from faith is passing away.
I don’t want to encourage you to go out and grab the first person that you see after church and give them a resounding rebuke. But I do want to ask us to consider where we stand in our relationships. We may hear others speak about Jesus in error. I encourage you to consider what your reaction is in such cases. If someone explains that salvation comes by doing good works, what would you say? If there are things that you hear from me or others that causes you to have concerns, please come and talk to me or talk to them.
I remember one time when Jean came up to me after a message. I had taken the easy way out on a passage; I was talking about good works, and I said something to the effect of, “I don’t need to tell you, you know what good works are.” Jean’s point to me was that we need to be reminded, maybe some more than others, but we all profit from spurring one another on to love and good deeds.
So, how do you confront someone? Jesus gave the process in Matthew 18.
“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony 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, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Matthew 18:15-17
First, try
and handle the situation one on one. If
that is not successful, then take a witness with you. Finally, if there is still a problem, bring
it to the church. Treating them as a
pagan or tax collector means to have nothing to do with them. (I never noticed it before, but Jesus says
“treat him as you would” not “treat him as.”
The pronoun “you” is there in the Greek, too. Jesus doesn’t treat anyone according to their
profession but rather according to the condition of their heart. If we come humbly to him, he will receive
us.)
Thinking about confronting someone, I am reminded of Bill Faye, an evangelist. He taught “how to share your faith without an argument.” The verses are all familiar ones, but one of the keys was to have the person that you are sharing with read the verses for themselves. That way, it’s not you “preaching” at them, but rather the Bible doing the talking. Additionally, you would follow up each reading with a question, “What does that say to you? How do you understand it?” The point is that we can allow Scripture to speak. That way, it’s not what we say, it’s what God says.
I’ve written down a few verses when I’ve gone to talk to someone about something difficult. That way, I don’t forget what I wanted to share and I have that confidence in the truth of God’s Word. It’s not something I’m making up.
and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. Titus 1:14
This is in addition to being sound in faith. Titus’ rebuke is to keep the Cretan believers from paying attention to Jewish myths or any command of those who reject the truth.
Regarding the myths, it most likely refers to additional writings of Judaism: Apocryphal books and books written generally in the time period from just before until just after Christ. These were fictional stories passed off as truth regarding Adam, Moses, Elijah, and others. Some of these writings were used to influence how people could relate to God. Colossians 2 says “don’t let anyone who delights in … the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize.” This kind of thinking was a precursor to the Gnostics from the second century who said God was so far above us that he could only be worshipped through the angels he created. Really nonsense stuff considering God sent His Son who lived among us and died for our sins and who stands at the door of our hearts and knocks and whoever opens the door He will come in and dine with them.
I think we all understand “commands of those who reject the truth.” I think our media and advertising industries are experts at giving us “commands.” I read a phrase this week in an article. It described the American economy as "a greed‐ and fear‐based economy." Where else in the world are you told that saving money hurts the economy? It’s like our civic duty to go to the mall or buy a car every couple of years.
There are commands in the spiritual realm, too: the necessity of good works so that you’re good enough to get into heaven, those kinds of things; commands which are contrary to Scripture.
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. Titus 1:15
Thinking about confronting someone, I am reminded of Bill Faye, an evangelist. He taught “how to share your faith without an argument.” The verses are all familiar ones, but one of the keys was to have the person that you are sharing with read the verses for themselves. That way, it’s not you “preaching” at them, but rather the Bible doing the talking. Additionally, you would follow up each reading with a question, “What does that say to you? How do you understand it?” The point is that we can allow Scripture to speak. That way, it’s not what we say, it’s what God says.
I’ve written down a few verses when I’ve gone to talk to someone about something difficult. That way, I don’t forget what I wanted to share and I have that confidence in the truth of God’s Word. It’s not something I’m making up.
and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth. Titus 1:14
This is in addition to being sound in faith. Titus’ rebuke is to keep the Cretan believers from paying attention to Jewish myths or any command of those who reject the truth.
Regarding the myths, it most likely refers to additional writings of Judaism: Apocryphal books and books written generally in the time period from just before until just after Christ. These were fictional stories passed off as truth regarding Adam, Moses, Elijah, and others. Some of these writings were used to influence how people could relate to God. Colossians 2 says “don’t let anyone who delights in … the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize.” This kind of thinking was a precursor to the Gnostics from the second century who said God was so far above us that he could only be worshipped through the angels he created. Really nonsense stuff considering God sent His Son who lived among us and died for our sins and who stands at the door of our hearts and knocks and whoever opens the door He will come in and dine with them.
I think we all understand “commands of those who reject the truth.” I think our media and advertising industries are experts at giving us “commands.” I read a phrase this week in an article. It described the American economy as "a greed‐ and fear‐based economy." Where else in the world are you told that saving money hurts the economy? It’s like our civic duty to go to the mall or buy a car every couple of years.
There are commands in the spiritual realm, too: the necessity of good works so that you’re good enough to get into heaven, those kinds of things; commands which are contrary to Scripture.
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. Titus 1:15
We’ve got two groups of people, the pure and those who are corrupted or defiled and do not believe.
The pure are not perfect in and of themselves. No one is righteous, not one. Paul is talking about believers, those who put their faith in Jesus. Then, God sees us as He sees Jesus. We are pure and spotless in and through Christ.
I watched the Bridge Diagram presentation linked on the church website. It’s under the banner at the top that says “Good News!” If you haven’t had a chance to watch it, I’d encourage you to make the time. One of the points, they discussed was ways that we fall short of God’s standard. The key areas were actions, thoughts, and words. In the same way, we can turn it around and say the pure demonstrate their purity by their actions, thoughts or desires, and words. If someone is pure, you wouldn’t catch them messing around in sin. You would be shocked to hear them curse or yell and scream. You can’t see someone’s thoughts or desires, but the pure wouldn’t be thinking about how to steal your wallet or cheat you out of something.
I like a story from Ravi Zacharias. He was speaking about a debate he had with an atheist. The atheist was going on about how it didn’t matter what you believed, how it had no impact on your behavior.
In contrast, those who are corrupted or defiled and do not believe. These two qualities are linked. One who does not believe ultimately must be corrupt or defiled. They have rejected the Holy and Perfect One. Therefore, they cannot be pure. Living in contempt of Love, for God is love, is a defilement of self that is worse than any defilement that can come between people. Charles Spurgeon brings an interesting and true point into this topic. Because our conscience has a capacity to tell us right from wrong, some people get the idea that our conscience is somehow an intrinsic good in us. But apart from God, we have no intrinsic goodness. Even our consciences are corrupted. I think that is easy enough to prove. How often have you found fault with what someone else did and then turned around and sought mercy and understanding when you did the exact same thing? Apart from Christ, we are 100% fallen. All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
I think this is why it is necessary for us to come in brokenness and repentance to Christ. Our defilement and corruption has to be broken and rejected before we can come to Christ.
Taking the two groups, the pure and the corrupted, consider how they view the following:
The attributes of God:
The pure see
God as holy and perfect and desire to know Him more.
The corrupt
see God as severe and interfering with his opportunity to do what he wants
The pure see
God’s mercy and rejoice in his salvation and seek to live pleasing to God
The corrupt
see God’s mercy as a license to continue in sin and delay repentance as long as
possible
The Bible:
The Bible:
To the pure,
it is the inerrant Word of God to be taken and followed as it was written to
be.
To the
corrupt, it is a kind of trick or code to be figured out or else something to
be mocked. Someone loaned me a book once
from a Bible “scholar” who was not a Christian.
It was almost hard for me to read the book because it was so contrary to
Christian thinking. One of his main
concepts was that God had become less powerful and man more powerful the
farther you went through the Bible. To
his corrupted mind, the gospel had lost all its power.
Providential
circumstances (good things that happen to us):
To the pure,
every event is an opportunity to glorify God more. I had a fellow believer at work challenge me
on Friday. There are tensions, that
within our group, are avoidable. Don’t
get me wrong, we live in a fallen world, where there are always thorns and
thistles. I don’t expect work will ever
be without pain or hardship of any kind.
But this brother wasn’t putting a burden on me, he was encouraging me to
see and pray for something which was causing an unnecessary hardship for others
on our team. That wasn’t even a good
circumstance, but his challenge to me was how does God want to redeem this
situation.
To the
corrupt, every event is an opportunity to indulge themselves more.
The Gospel
To the pure,
the gospel is the means to life everlasting.
It is a gift that to be accepted.
To the
corrupt, they are wary that God would offer something as a gift. God can’t give us salvation, that just
doesn’t make sense. There must be some
angle.
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. Titus 1:16
I’m afraid what I laid out before may make the corrupt person seem to be an irreligious, a non-church-goer. It is true that the corrupt can be not-religious. However, you can also have a person who claims to know God, but by their actions they deny him. This is who Paul is writing about. I’m thinking about ascetics who have a whole bunch of restrictions or rules. I’m talking about restrictions regarding foods, marriage, and rituals. Jesus said in Luke 11:46, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” These corrupt in the church are unable to receive what God has created with thanksgiving, what He has given them with joy, nor can they allow others to enjoy God’s gifts.
That last sentence is shocking for me. But it is true. Remember we are talking about ones who would influence others in a way that prevents them from coming to God. They cause other people to sin because of their restrictions and rules, commands and myths. Paul is not writing about people outside the church. He’s writing about people who are inside the church and claiming to be Christians.
I hope that you do not ever meet people like this. However, it is important to be aware of such things. Jesus told the Twelve in Matthew 10:16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men.”
Are we holding firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught (v.9)? Are we ready to speak into peoples’ lives? Is God’s Word in our hearts and on our lips? If you’re like me, it’s probably not. I don’t want you to freak out. I don’t really want you to go home and memorize your Bible. At least, I mean don’t only try to memorize Scripture. Of course, Scripture is the best thing you can put in your head.
But, you’re never going to be Watson. You remember the IBM supercomputer that they put on Jeopardy? Having an endless supply of Biblical knowledge apart from the Spirit of God will serve no use. It’s like the non-Christian Bible scholar I was telling you about. He’s about as useless as a screen door on a submarine.
No, what I want to encourage is that you spend time on your relationship to God. We talked a lot today about purity. Some of the things I was reading made me feel uncomfortable, like the part about the pure not yelling or screaming. I lose my temper with my kids in a way that is not reflective of the Holy Spirit living in me. I think it’s less than it used to be, but any at all is not purity. Again, I’m not really after a “try harder” kind of purity. Yes, there is a need for us to resist temptation and exercise self-control. But, it’s not something we can ever do on our own.
We have to come back to Jesus again and again. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, apart from Him, we can do nothing. Our goal must become to give everything over to Jesus. For us, to live is Christ.
Lord Jesus, we give our lives to you. If we kept them, we would only ruin them. Take our lives and let them be consecrated to you. It’s a freaky thing for us, but it’s where we need to be. Thank you that we are included in Christ. Thank you for the Holy Spirit in us that guarantees our inheritance. Guide us each day we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. Isaiah 26:12
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. Titus 1:16
I’m afraid what I laid out before may make the corrupt person seem to be an irreligious, a non-church-goer. It is true that the corrupt can be not-religious. However, you can also have a person who claims to know God, but by their actions they deny him. This is who Paul is writing about. I’m thinking about ascetics who have a whole bunch of restrictions or rules. I’m talking about restrictions regarding foods, marriage, and rituals. Jesus said in Luke 11:46, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” These corrupt in the church are unable to receive what God has created with thanksgiving, what He has given them with joy, nor can they allow others to enjoy God’s gifts.
That last sentence is shocking for me. But it is true. Remember we are talking about ones who would influence others in a way that prevents them from coming to God. They cause other people to sin because of their restrictions and rules, commands and myths. Paul is not writing about people outside the church. He’s writing about people who are inside the church and claiming to be Christians.
I hope that you do not ever meet people like this. However, it is important to be aware of such things. Jesus told the Twelve in Matthew 10:16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard against men.”
Are we holding firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught (v.9)? Are we ready to speak into peoples’ lives? Is God’s Word in our hearts and on our lips? If you’re like me, it’s probably not. I don’t want you to freak out. I don’t really want you to go home and memorize your Bible. At least, I mean don’t only try to memorize Scripture. Of course, Scripture is the best thing you can put in your head.
But, you’re never going to be Watson. You remember the IBM supercomputer that they put on Jeopardy? Having an endless supply of Biblical knowledge apart from the Spirit of God will serve no use. It’s like the non-Christian Bible scholar I was telling you about. He’s about as useless as a screen door on a submarine.
No, what I want to encourage is that you spend time on your relationship to God. We talked a lot today about purity. Some of the things I was reading made me feel uncomfortable, like the part about the pure not yelling or screaming. I lose my temper with my kids in a way that is not reflective of the Holy Spirit living in me. I think it’s less than it used to be, but any at all is not purity. Again, I’m not really after a “try harder” kind of purity. Yes, there is a need for us to resist temptation and exercise self-control. But, it’s not something we can ever do on our own.
We have to come back to Jesus again and again. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, apart from Him, we can do nothing. Our goal must become to give everything over to Jesus. For us, to live is Christ.
Lord Jesus, we give our lives to you. If we kept them, we would only ruin them. Take our lives and let them be consecrated to you. It’s a freaky thing for us, but it’s where we need to be. Thank you that we are included in Christ. Thank you for the Holy Spirit in us that guarantees our inheritance. Guide us each day we pray. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. Isaiah 26:12
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