Blessed Discrimination

If God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn back once again to Titus, I say once again, it’s
the last time for at least a while. We have come to enjoy these little
flyovers where we revisit books through which I’ve had the privilege
to preach. and just revisit them and do
three or four weeks and kind of rekindle our love and appreciation
for these books. And we’ve come to the final message
of the flyover of this little epistle, this little epistle
that is sandwiched really between the two letters of Timothy. And
it isn’t the way that our Bibles present it, but we know almost
definitively that Second Timothy was written first, and we know
that first Timothy was, pardon me, second Timothy was written
last, and first Timothy was the first of the three to be written,
and so logically Titus is in the middle. Regardless of the
order in which they’re placed in your Bible, the pastoral epistles
give us a wealth of instruction about life and conduct in the
local church. These are effectively pastor
to pastor letters written to two of Paul’s closest ministry
partners. But while they are primarily
for elders, the leaders of the church, these letters, even as
we’ve already experienced, provide God’s people with deep, rich
instruction. Titus was given a seemingly impossible
task, to oversee the very earliest beginnings of a very large island
sprinkled with so many little gospel works, churches. These were little more than what
I would call spiritual greenhouses. Each of those little greenhouses
bearing only a handful of gospel seedlings. new believers. And the massive project that
Titus was assigned was to order these many churches, establishing
rules and principles and the formal, enduring leadership that
would guide them and establish them. And while Paul expresses the
highest regard for Titus because he elsewhere refers to him as
his brother and partner and fellow worker in the Lord. He doesn’t
just throw Titus into the deep end of the pool. Instead, he
offers him plentiful instruction and guidance, and he grants Titus
a measure of spiritual authority and gives him very specific instructions
that he really just seems to reiterate here in this letter.
As we’ve already seen in the opening of this epistle, there
are pinpoint instructions on the type of men for whom Titus
is to watch as would-be elders in these many churches. And these
churches will need shepherds because, as the chapter unfolds,
as you recall, Paul warns about wolves who will come, teachers,
false teachers, that would destroy the church if the church isn’t protected. But turning into chapter two,
Paul even seems to forecast great growth in these plentiful churches. because he gives specific instruction
of all kinds to people of all ages. And Paul immediately attributes
the growth of these churches, not to the foundation that he
helped to lay, or even to Titus’s great giftedness. He attributes
the growth of the church to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In chapter 2, 11 through 14, as we joyfully considered these
past two Sundays. But Paul isn’t done. He has yet
some very important things to communicate to young Titus. There
are things that Titus and his island of churches must do. And equally importantly, there
are things that they must not do. And one of the most important
skills that they will need to develop as believers is the ability
to discriminate. You heard me right. But I don’t
mean that as a dirty word. The ability to discriminate or
to differentiate between two choices, to make wise choices,
is an ability they’re going to need to develop. It’s a spiritual
skill. And it’s important to do that,
to judge between various options, to set aside one while holding
to the other. If you would, I want to take
this, the bulk of this chapter, beginning in verse one. Remind them to be subject to
rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every
good deed to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing
every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish
ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and
pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful,
hating one another. But when the kindness of God,
our Savior, and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us,
not on the basis of deeds, which we have done in righteousness,
but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That being justified by his grace,
we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement.
And concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently.
So that those who have believed God may be careful to engage
in good deeds. These things are good and profitable
for men. but shun foolish controversies
and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law, for they
are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a
first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted
and is sinning, being self condemned. If you would glide back to verse
eight, where we’ll pick up and focus our attention on these
latter four verses. I want to begin to look at what
I’ve titled, shockingly, blessed discrimination. And by that, I’ve already tipped
my hand as to what I suggest by the use of that word. What
Paul wants to give us is the blessed fruit of spiritual discernment. He wants to tell us and teach
us that in discriminating between various things, there are blessings,
spiritual blessings. Paul begins here actually in
verse eight by pointing backwards. He affirms something that he
has just said. And if you look at it, he’s pointing
back at least to verses four through seven. and possibly back
to the entirety of chapter three. I don’t believe that we can expand
it beyond that, although everything that Paul has said in this epistle
is by nature trustworthy. I think that we would have to
look at this like Paul opens with this thought
in verse one. an additional order for Titus
to remind his scattered flock. His point is very simple. He
basically tells Titus to remind his people why God has left them
here on earth. We need that reminder too, don’t
we, from time to time? Last week, we pondered the idea
of being heavenly minded, right? That as believers, as those who
have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we should
be looking. We should be looking for the
blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God
and Savior Christ Jesus. We should be looking for Christ’s
return. We should have an eager expectance
of that additional measure of grace. that would be granted
to us at Christ’s coming. We should be looking. And as I suggested last week.
And I affirm now we cannot be too heavenly minded. But. Many people, while watching and
waiting for the Lord, that can never be a bad thing. We need
to be watchful. We long to be with Christ. They
can get away, it can get away with from us, rather, to the
point that we forget why we’re here, why God has left us here
in the first place. And so Paul’s reminder is simple.
But it builds to a crescendo. In verse seven. But it starts
in verses one and two, would you glance? He reminds us of
our civic duty that we live before a watching world. He says, remind
them to be subject, to be rulers, to rulers, to authorities, to
be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no
one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for
all men. He reminds us. Romans 13, that
God has put government there for a purpose. And in verse three,
it tells us why. Why are we supposed to obey? Why are we supposed to be subject?
Because we also once were foolish ourselves. It’s a reminder of
our sinful past. We were just like them. Disobedient, deceived, enslaved
to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and
envy, hateful, hating one another. But as I said, Paul builds to
a crescendo and he begins that in verse four. And he wants to
tell us, wants to remind us about our salvation. How God mercifully
saved us. Look at verse four, but he saved
us. Even though our condition was
wretched, disobedient, enslaved, hateful, all the rest. He saved
us. Look at the timing of it, when
the kindness of God, our savior and his love for mankind appeared
and not a moment before. What was the cause of our salvation,
not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness? But according to his mercy, there
is no works righteousness. There is no earning our salvation. It had to be out of God’s mercy
or there would be no salvation at all. And by what means? By the washing of regeneration
and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior. And what’s the significance?
To what end? Look at verse seven, that being
justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. No wonder so many commentators
said that between 2.11 through 14 and 3.4 through 7, you have
essentially the theology of Paul in just eight verses. That’s
powerful. Perhaps you can understand, however,
the difficulty of commentators and interpreters and preachers,
including me, in trying to determine exactly what the trustworthy
statement is. And so again, I would say that
it’s at least verses four through seven, but I take it as a whole.
It’s everything from verse one through seven. One historian
spoke in the loftiest measure about these lines. He said, no
nobler statement of doctrine is found anywhere in the Pauline
epistles than in these verses. That’s a powerful statement.
In fact, some commentators spoke of the poetic style and structure
of these verses as being so pronounced That they believe many people
believe that this was an ancient hymn. A citation from an ancient
hymn that was popular. On the island. We don’t know. It’s one long running statement
that much we know. And so Paul urges here that his
opening words here in Chapter 3 are trustworthy. They’re solid, they’re sound
advice. You probably already know that
Paul uses this formula. It’s an encouragement to the
veracity, the truthfulness of his statements. And he uses this
formula plentifully, five times in all. He tells Titus that these
truths deserve our utmost confidence. But the interesting thing is
Paul only uses this formula in the pastoral epistles. Including
this occasion, he employs this introduction five times. First
Timothy 115. Just listen. It is a trustworthy
statement. Deserving full acceptance that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He says you
can go to the bank on that statement, spiritually speaking, trustworthy. First Timothy 3.1 uses it again. It is a trustworthy statement.
If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work
he desires to do. It’s trustworthy. First Timothy
4.9, it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. Now
this one. This one is a little more difficult
because you could either look over your shoulder as we suggest
that Titus is doing here in chapter three and look at verse eight
as the content of the trustworthy statement. Listen, bodily discipline
is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all
things. It is a trustworthy statement.
And that’s a perfectly valid way to take that phrase. But you can also look forward.
And if you look forward to verse 10, he says it this way, for
it is this that is the life to come. We labor and strive because
we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the savior
of all men, especially believers. It is a trustworthy statement.
So we’ll wrestle with that one another day. It occurs a fourth time, 2 Timothy
2.11, it is a trustworthy statement, for if we died with him, we will
also live with him, underscoring the resurrection. And my whole
point here is that Paul uses this formula to buffet his statements,
to strengthen them, to make them more readily acceptable to his
hearers. And so here in Titus, he upholds
the statement and the points that he makes in verses one through
seven and uses that as a launch point for an additional admonition
to young Titus to gather up all these truths into his heart,
to hold them and believe them, and then to proclaim them, to
speak them. And not sheepishly, but confidently. If you think about it, talking,
that is speaking, is Titus’s job basically. Chapter two opened with Paul
urging Titus to speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.
And chapter two closes, winds down that chapter by telling
Titus in verse 15, these things speak and exhort and reprove
with all authority. As the shepherd of the island
flock, his job is to speak. And so Paul urges him here to
do so a third time, speak, and to do so with confidence. In order for Titus and his fellow
believers on the island of Crete to have an effective ministry,
to build each other up in the faith, To boldly preach the gospel
to sinners, they must have confidence in the message they preach. And I suppose that’s a question
we could ask ourselves, isn’t it? Do we believe it? Because if we’re reluctant, reticent,
to share the gospel with those whom we claim to love, is it
possible that we don’t really believe the message? Do we really
believe that a sinner can have his or her sin forgiven, being
justified simply by believing or placing their faith in Christ’s
finished work on the cross? Do we believe that? It’s a great
question. Well, Paul urges Titus to operate,
to speak with such confidence that it moves his hearers. The
believers that are on the island of Crete, it moves them to action
specifically that they would be careful to engage in good
deeds. Verse 8, the word careful here
doesn’t need to suggest fear or fear of wrongdoing or fear
of consequence. Paul is just utilizing that word
to insist on a watchful effort for good deeds, deeds of kindness.
To think about such things and to take such opportunities as
come into their view all the time. The opportunities are there. We just need to be careful to
observe them. And it’s here that Paul issues
the first of three directives for Titus to discriminate. And I know, I know that in our
society, in this day and age, that is a dirty word. And certainly
we had better agree that all racial discrimination is sinful. Bias, bigotry, prejudice based
on ethnicity and skin color is morally wrong. We would all agree
with that. We should. But the word itself
is not wrong. It is not a sinful, dirty word. It’s just not. It basically means
to recognize or to make a distinction, to differentiate between one
thing and another. That’s not a sinful thing. It doesn’t have to be. I’m obviously
using this word as a loaded word meant to grab your attention,
but we could easily trade out that single word if you wish
for a two-word equivalent, spiritual discernment. Paul is urging Titus
and his island of churches to exercise spiritual discernment,
discrimination, in three ways. First, he urges Titus to exercise
discrimination. in our deeds, what we do. He immediately points out that
salvation, that is real, true, genuine salvation, that which
he outlined in chapter two, verses 11 through 14, and again in this
chapter in verses four through seven, genuine salvation, he
says, will issue forth in right conduct. It will produce good deeds. You
see, we can say the right things and believe the right things,
but if we do, it will result in right behavior. Correct actions,
or as he says here, plainly good deeds. And remember, this is
never spoken of as the means of securing salvation. It’s the
inevitable fruit. To profess faith in Christ was
right and well and good. But it must reveal itself in
time, in deeds. And not just a mere doing. Because
there is the discrimination, it’s not just doing, but doing
well, doing right. Paul knew that Titus knew well
the gospel. That salvation could never be
by means of law keeping, good works. But he also knew the island
people well. that they would not only need
a clear articulation of the gospel, but they would have to see it
in the lives of those who proclaimed it. Turn back to chapter one. I want
to take you on a very brief tour. You see what Paul points out
in verse 16 of chapter one is that such kindness, such good
deeds would not be seen in the lives of false teachers. They
are disobedient and worthless for any good deed. And yet, if
you turn to chapter two and verse seven, such good deeds were expected
by Titus and the other young men. Remember, we placed Titus
in that group because Paul does. In all things, show yourself
to be an example of good deeds. And the passion, the passion
for good deeds, we looked at this for the last two Sundays. The passion for doing good deeds
was an inevitable result of the work of the gospel. Zealous for good deeds, he says
in verse 14. And we just read such actions
were needed before a watching world, chapter three, verse one.
that we should be ready for every good deed. And he clarifies he
he doesn’t want to trip anybody up. He knows that there is this
tendency. To be those who try to earn their
salvation by good deeds, and he says in verse five of chapter
three, he saved us not on the basis of deeds, it doesn’t matter
how good you are. Such deeds, he says finally in
chapter three, verse 14, were a practical mark of salvation. Our people must also learn to
engage in good deeds, to meet pressing needs so that they will
not be unfruitful. And so I would describe such
good deeds as spirit prompted random acts of kindness. where
we watch and we observe and we notice a need and we meet it
insofar as we’re able. And in such good deeds, God’s
people are to serve not only believers, their fellow believers,
but they are to open doors with unbelievers for gospel opportunities. These good deeds, this well-doing.
They must be consistent It’s not just a one shot deal. You
don’t do just one act of kindness and think that you’ve really
capped your life as a good deed person. They have to be thorough. This isn’t just a well wish. This isn’t just a good intention. This is a completed act of kindness. And they’re selfless. These will
likely be costly, they’ll cost us time or money or our possessions. But the bottom line, they’re
thoughtful. We have to watch and observe and take notice of
the needs of those around us, and we have to move. As we saw
at the close of chapter two, we are to live as those who are
members of Christ, zealous. We have a hardy and passionate
pursuit of good deeds. This is one of Paul’s very practical
and astute observations of the people on the island of Crete.
They needed an earthly example. That’s the only explanation as
to why this theme is so prevalent in the epistle to Titus. They
were watching for those who treated the world, treated those around
them with the same kind of mercy and kindness that God had shown
to them. Remember? Those people on the
island of Crete are no different than unbelievers anywhere. No
different than your neighbors. No different than the people
in this city. But there’s another area of our
lives over which we must exercise spiritual discernment, discrimination,
not only over our deeds, but over our dialogue. Would you
look at verse nine? Paul wants us to know the wholesome
fruit of spiritual discernment, not only in discrimination of
our deeds, but discrimination in our dialogue. Verse nine,
shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes
about the law for they are unprofitable and worth less. Paul says here
in so many words that there are subjects that we as believers
ought to avoid. Controversies, errant teaching,
it divides families and divides entire churches as we saw in
chapter one. And because of this, Paul urges
Titus to keep close watch on such influences and to avoid
them completely. It’s a subject that he had already
addressed in chapter one. Would you turn back to chapter
one? Just briefly. Verse 10, there
are many rebellious men, empty talkers, deceivers, especially
those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they
are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not
teach for the sake of sordid gain. This is an echo here in
chapter three of the same exhortation. And to be sure here, Paul commands
it. Shun them, he says. Avoid it. refused to even get involved
with people like this. Paul uses this exact word only
one other time. Second Timothy 2, 16, he says,
avoid worldly and empty chatter. The word is a fascinating one
to translate because it means to stand around, to go out of
the way of someone or something. Literally to turn yourself about
when you see something. It is to do an about face on
a conversation. And the tense of the verb here
refers to a continuing state of mind. To give up on such dialogue
for good. We don’t necessarily need to
be rude. about these subjects of conversation, but when we
hear them arise, we may politely extract ourselves from these
conversations. Conversations and questionable
subject matter was a concern for Paul that he would address
again and again. 1 Timothy 3, or pardon me, 1
Timothy 1, 3 through 4, As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia,
remain on at Ephesus, that you may instruct certain men not
to teach strange doctrines, nor pay attention to myths and endless
genealogies. He addresses again in 1st Timothy
6. And so what specifically, what
kinds of conversations Are these young shepherds, Timothy and
Titus, to avoid? What conversations are we, too,
instructed to extract ourselves from? Before we ponder those little
items individually, would you turn back in your Bible one book
to 2 Timothy? I just want to show you one little
thing. Here in this epistle, 2 Timothy, Paul’s last, he’s
basically doling out the same counsel to young Timothy. We’ve
seen this again and again in these two epistles, this interplay,
and in it, Paul’s heart is on full display. His concerns are
very consistent with these two men. These letters, again, are
bathed in a tone that distinctly suggests the twilight of Paul’s
life and ministry. And because of that, there’s
a solemnity, a directness, a sense of urgency. Look, if you would,
at verse two, chapter two, verse 23. Because Paul, it seems, says
it even more strongly to Timothy. In these, his final words. 223, refuse foolish and ignorant
speculations, knowing that they produce quarrel. And that sounds very different
from our advice, shun foolish controversies and genealogies
and strife and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable
and worthless. But you know what? He basically
says the identical thing. He uses four verbal parallels
in the process. Refuse, or as translated in Titus,
shun, Foolish, same word, both places. Speculations or controversies,
as it’s translated in Titus, and quarrels or disputes. Both of these verses, even if
they’re translated somewhat differently, are identical. And so first of all, he says,
shun foolish controversies. And he emphasizes just the utter
foolishness of some of these conversations that go nowhere
and produce nothing. They start at speculation. They
can’t go any further than speculation. Many translate this as a myth. It’s an idea. It’s a man-made
homespun idea that bears no spiritual fruit. Foolish controversies. Empty. And then genealogies. The Jewish people who were rather
plentiful on the island of Crete, by the way, had developed and
imbibed and were passing along many fanciful stories, legends,
really, about the patriarchs as their descendants. And there
was much pride woven into that whole thing with respect to their
family trees. tying themselves back to the
great saints of old and layering them with all kinds of fictitious
matter. But the truth was these were
no more than legends, conjecture, speculation, fictional creativity. And because of that, these stories
As they inevitably collided with other such stories produced great
friction among the people. These stories were contrary to
the gospel, and they were a great distraction to the truth. Paul
says such narratives must be disregarded. Shunned. Strife. The third item on the
list, the word describes one of the saddest, most destructive
scenarios in all of scripture, wrangling and content, contention,
bitter discord, unloving demeanor that produces unproductive quarrels. They’re arguing over thin air,
it can produce no good thing. This divisive attitude of contention
was really the fruit The result of these myths and controversies,
someone’s story would cross someone else’s version, pride would lead
to envy and bitterness, and strife was the ultimate result. Paul says, shun foolish controversies,
genealogy, strife, disputes about the law. In addition to the fictional
elements, there were even debates, as there always are, over divine
truth, the law, the scriptures, these were arguments over some
point of doctrine or some interpretation of a passage or some application
of a principle. And it seems that there’s always
something about which to dispute. What is translated here in Titus
as dispute is translated there in Second Timothy as quarrels. Arguments, debates that soon
go south, right? Bickering and just plain strife. These disputes. These disputes
here are about the law, strange and very Jewish interpretations
of the Old Testament. But in the Second Timothy passage,
these disputes or quarrels are directly caused by what Paul
refers to here as controversies, speculations. In his end summary,
why are they so dangerous? Because they’re unprofitable
and worthless. Paul says that all of these types of conversation,
whether individually or collectively, are unprofitable and worthless. They don’t produce repentance
in an unbeliever, nor do they produce godliness in the lives
of believers. Such conversations are trivial
and troublesome and worthless. Worthless, that’s a very powerful
word. James uses it to speak of the man’s religion who does
not bridle his tongue, remember? It speaks of something that is
empty. It doesn’t accomplish the desired end for which it
aims. Christianity, as we’ve seen,
not only brings salvation, it brings sanctification as well. It produces a transformed life. But empty conversation? Empty
conversation is ultimately no good, either for the individual
or for those around him. It’s devoid of all practical
benefits of Christianity. Peter uses the word to refer
back to our former manner of life before Christ. He says that
it was a futile way of life, vain, worthless, unprofitable. Well, as Paul urges us to be
prepared, for spiritual discernment, to enjoy the wholesome fruit
of spiritual discernment, not only in our deeds and in our
dialogue, but thirdly, in our dealings. Verse 10. Reject a
factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that
such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.
There’s a third area where we are to exercise discrimination,
spiritual discernment. It’s over the area of our company,
the company we keep, those with whom we interact. And Paul moves
here seamlessly from the unprofitable teaching that ultimately bears
no fruit to those who promote and spread such nonsense. Sometimes
Paul says we need to exercise spiritual discernment about those
with whom we even interact. In fact, when writing to the
Roman Christians, Paul said it this way. Paul warned them severely
to keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances
contrary to the teaching which you have learned and turn away
from them. Romans 16, 17, some of the precious
members of the church, Christ’s own sheep. could possibly be
taken in by such divisive teaching and ultimately lost forever. Such troublesome men must be
watched and dealt with accordingly. They wouldn’t be run off immediately
as we’ll see in a moment because many such people Many such men
can be shown the error of their way and salvaged for the Lord’s
good service. And I want to caution you here.
Because the word translated here in the New American Standard
as factious. Is the word, listen for it, harita
cause. I don’t know if you could hear
it there by my pronunciation of the Greek word, but ultimately
the word from which we it’s the word from which we derive our
English word heretic. Now, obviously, a heretic is
somebody to be avoided. But herein lies my caution. This
word is only used once in all of scripture right here. And
when Paul used it, it did not come with the full freight of
meaning that it accumulated over time. Paul is pointing merely
to a strong-willed, strongly opinioned man who had a tendency
to breed, to multiply, to engage in conversations where his incorrect
opinions spread. He’s the one that comes into
the fellowship for the primary purposes of gathering a following
so that others will adopt his view. And as such, he causes
division. Such a man was not necessarily
a heretic as we know it, but he does come with some different
views, some strange unorthodox opinions, The problem is he’s
not content to hold such views to himself. He’s intent on garnering
a following. He’s a factious man, a divisive
man. He stubbornly and often surreptitiously
seeks his own way. If the church isn’t what he would
like it to be, he will just set about to reshape the church after
his own ideals and ideas. So it isn’t even so much that
his doctrine is bad, it’s his heart. His heart is not right. He’s factious. Nevertheless,
watch what happens. Paul says he’s not only to be
watched, but he is to be addressed. You gotta talk to the guy. And
he says here, warned, You don’t just blow somebody like this
out of the water. You come alongside of him and
you patiently instruct him, you teach him, you show him the error
of his way. Paul uses a word here that he
alone uses in the New Testament. May I share it? He only uses
it three times. First Corinthians 10, 11. These
things happened to them as an example and they were written
for our instruction. Ephesians 6, 4, parenting verse,
fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in
the discipline and instruction of the Lord. The man just needs
to be taught. It’s not a strong or a harsh
word here. This isn’t a scolding, this is
a teachable moment. It’s instruction. This is pulling
the brother aside and instructing him and saying, look, this is
not the right way to go about things. And yet, having instructed the
man not once, but twice, now Paul uses a much stronger word.
Much stronger than he did in verse nine. There he said, shun,
avoid. Here in verse 10 he says, In
exercising discernment about who we associate with, we are
to reject people at times. That is strong. And it sounds to our ears so
harsh, doesn’t it? But such response is for the
safety and security of the flock. Paul says, have nothing to do
with such a man, cease any kind of Christian fellowship with
him. Not only should such a person
not be allowed a teaching role in the church, Paul means here
he shouldn’t even be allowed in the fellowship in the first
place. Paul uses this same word to direct another young pastor,
Timothy. In first Timothy four, seven.
He tells Timothy that there are individuals, listen to this,
that he is to have nothing to do with. Same word. Have nothing to do with such
unteachable people. And in case you think this is
Paul just having a bad day, Jesus said essentially the same thing.
Matthew 18, if your brother sins, go show him his fault in private.
If he listens to you, you’ve won your brother. But if he does
not listen to you, take one or two more with you that by the
mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. And so Paul says, this is a process. You go once and then twice to
address your brother’s sin. this factious tendency that he
has. But once that process is completed,
if the individual continues to promote his divisive course,
he must be considered and treated as an outsider. And knowing that
such treatment sounds harsh and excessive, Paul puts it in perspective
at the end of this verse when he characterizes the nature of
this factious man. Would you glance at the verse?
Knowing that such a man is perverted and sinning. Yikes, he’s a troublemaker. The
word perverted here is not speaking about a sensual man, not perverted
in that sense, but rather to a perverted doctrinal mind with an obviously corrupted character. This is spiritual perversion.
He’s warped in principle. He’s crooked theologically. His
problem is every bit as much a heart issue as it is a doctrinal
one. And as such, he is sinning. Not just because he is behaving
in a divisive manner, but he refuses to listen to reason. He rejects instruction and correction. He’s bent on a course of division. And as such, Paul finishes here,
he’s self-condemned. By this, Paul doesn’t mean that
he verbally declares himself his own guilt and judgment. What
he tells us here is that by his actions, he’s already judged. His own willful, divisive, unrepentant
conduct have rendered a guilty verdict over his entire behavior.
Well, that’s a strong place to have to end our flyover consideration
of this epistle. Let me give you some good news. It ended well. It ended well
for Titus. It ended well for Crete, so far
as we know. Titus seems to have gotten his
monumental task completed. He seems to have set in order
what remained to be done in the many churches on the island of
Crete, including appointing elders in every city. Amazing work. And we don’t know exactly how
long it took. Not long. How do we know? Glance down,
if you’re still in Titus 3, glance down to verse 12. Because Paul urges Titus to meet
him within the coming year at Nicopolis. Titus had maybe six
to nine months to complete these great tasks in order to meet
Paul at the meeting place. And what makes us believe that
he did so? At the very end of Second Timothy, in Paul’s final
words, he mentions his friend Titus one last time. And all it says is this, Titus
has gone to Dalmatia. Titus was on a new ministry project.
Having completed his work on Crete, he was on a new ministry. But our work is just beginning.
And we have great need of spiritual discernment, don’t we? Discernment
over our deeds, discernment over our dialogue, and discernment
over our dealings. Let’s pray for that. Our merciful
King, we humble ourselves in your glorious presence. And Lord,
we want to think the best of everyone. But Lord, there are deeds, there
are things that people do that are just utterly void and empty
and worthless. We want our lives to count. We
pray that you would show us what good deeds are. Give us opportunity
to do good deeds, kind things, spirit-inspired things. Grant
us the grace to be careful about our dialogue, not just those
in which we participate, but those even in which we attend
with our ears. Father, give us discernment,
give us a discrimination in our dealings that if need be, if
someone will not relent of their factiousness, Lord, grant us
the grace to have nothing to do with them.
Father, these are not harsh things. These are the very means of protecting
the flock. And we plead for your grace to
do it for your glory. We pray all of these things in
Jesus name. Amen.