Faithful Pastors, Part 2

1:07What makes for good barbecue? People from Texas and from the Carolinas disagree on this question. I remember shortly after we moved to Charlotte in 2004, we moved into our apartment. The next week, they had a big welcome barbecue for all of the new people living there, and they were serving Carolina barbecue. I remember. Taking a bite of this and just almost spitting it all out right then. I didn't know that stuff is made with vinegar. Why would you put vinegar in something you intend to eat?

1:40I don't know the answer to that question. People from Texas and the Carolinas disagree on what makes good barbecue. But we can all agree on what makes bad barbecue. I don't know if you saw this a couple of years ago, but Munchies, the food division of Vice Media, posted this picture on Twitter. The caption reads: Why is Brooklyn barbecue taking over the world? My fellow Texans, what even is that? A small, limp pile of meat, no sauce, two Hawaiian rolls that look like somebody sat on them right before they pulled them out of the plastic bag, two entire pickles. Why do you need two whole pickles?

2:37And whatever is in that jar that looks peculiar at best. As you can imagine, the internet had an absolute field day with this tweet. I loved this one. Take a look at this first picture. This guy tweets: Why is Oklahoma sushi taking over the world? Five goldfish, a can of Michelob Ultra. I love this guy as well. Look at the second photo. Why is the Brooklyn crawfish boil taking over the world? Ah, crawfish? Few corn kernels.

3:21Friends, faithful barbecue lovers from Texas and the Carolinas, maybe we can't agree on what makes good barbecue. We can definitely agree what is bad barbecue. And so everybody jumped right on this to rebuke the error of the notion that that thing that they showed was good barbecue and to preach the truth through their own pictures of this is what real barbecue looks like, which the internet was filled with in the days after that tweet. Well, today we're going to be covering Titus chapter 1, verses 10 through 16, and we're going to be talking about how Paul challenges Titus. You need to teach the truth, and you need to confront those who are teaching error, because that's what faithful pastors do.

4:00So we're going to be reminded today of what faithful pastors do. They teach the truth and refute error for the good of the church. So what I want to do now is I want to actually back up to verse 9 in Titus chapter 1 because that sets the context for us. That's where we ended last week. Look again at verse 9. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

4:28So this is what a faithful Elder is to do. He's to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so he can teach the truth and refute error. Now, why is this important? Let's pick up in verse 10 for this week. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. So we see here that on the island of Crete, Titus, this faithful man of God, is badly outnumbered by the number of false teachers who are there on that island, and many of them came from what was known as the circumcision party.

5:03Well, we've talked about that several times throughout the pastoral epistles. And the circumcision party was another term for this group of people who was also known as the Judaizers. And they were Jewish men who went around saying, look, if you want to become a Christian, you not only have to believe in Jesus, you also need to first become Jewish. And the primary way that you do that is through circumcision. Circumcision, of course, was the outward sign of belonging in the covenant community of the Jewish people. Now, we hear that in 21st century America, and we're like, well, what's the big deal?

5:36What's the big deal about circumcision? Well, to us, it is no big deal because we have a Judeo-Christian heritage. So most young men in our culture are circumcised when they're infants. That's just the way that it is here. But you have to understand that's not the way that 95% of the world was back in the ancient times. Almost none of them were circumcised. This would be the same thing as saying, if you want to become a Christian, you have to practice foot binding.

6:07That ancient Asian practice where they would take young girls and bind their feet so that they stayed really small and in a certain shape. Or it would be the same thing as saying, if you want to become a Christian, you have to use a lip plate, like you see many of the men and women do in Africa, where they put progressively larger plates in their mouth so that their lip hangs lower and lower. It would be akin to saying that. We hear those things, we think, why would you do that? I mean, that's not part of our culture at all. That's how they heard circumcision.

6:37And so they were offended by that. That was a cultural stumbling block. But more importantly than just being a cultural stumbling block, it went against the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look at how Paul condemns this line of thinking in Galatians chapter 5. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.

7:15For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. You see, friends, the truth is, we are either saved by grace, by what Jesus did in his life, death, and resurrection, or we are saved by our works, by what we do, our efforts to earn righteousness. And you see, if we are saved by grace, we can't possibly improve our standing before God by our works. We're saved by what Jesus did, not by what we can do.

8:00But if we are saved by works, all Jesus did was set us a perfect example to try to follow. We're saved by what we do, not by what Jesus did. That's what's at stake here. It's the very heart of the gospel message. But these false teachers either couldn't or wouldn't recognize that, and that's why Paul describes them in the terms that he uses in verse 10. Look at what he says about them. First, they are insubordinate.

8:28That word can be translated unruly, independent, or rebellious. They refused to submit not only to God's word, but to the apostles, the men that God had called to go and preach the gospel of grace in Christ. They were insubordinate. Moreover, they were empty talkers. It could also be translated an idle talker or a foolish babbler. Well, a lot of you, you know what an empty calorie is. Empty calories are in food. That don't contain any nutritional value.

9:03So, if you eat empty calories, what happens is, for a moment, you feel satisfied. You're glad that you ate the candy, the dessert, whatever it would be. But a short time after that, you're hungry again. It didn't actually satisfy you. And that's how it was with these false teachers. They were empty talkers. At first, it made you feel good, but after a while, you were back searching for a solution to your spiritual problems again. And then finally, he calls them deceivers.

9:34That means they were actively leading people astray. You know, some Christians were walking that narrow path that leads to righteousness. And these false teachers deceived them. They took them off the narrow path that leads to life, and they put them on the broad path that leads to destruction. The path that says, yes, you're saved by what Jesus did, but also what you can do by adding your works to the work of Christ. So, what does Titus need to do with these men, these insubordinate men, these empty talkers, these deceivers? Look at what he says in verse 11. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

10:18Paul is saying, Titus, you have to confront these guys, you have to command them not to teach these things anymore. They are upsetting whole families by teaching this stuff, they're leading people astray. Some people are now questioning whether or not the apostolic message, the gospel of Jesus Christ, is true. Other people have left that message entirely. This is a very bad situation. And Jesus had strong words for people that lead others astray through their teaching. Look at what he says in Matthew chapter 18: Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

11:09Jesus says it's better to die than to lead one of these little children, one of these new believers, astray with your teaching. This is why James says what he says in James chapter 3. Look on the screen. Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. See, teaching God's Word is not something that we should take lightly. I've often said from the pulpit up here that as a teacher, what concerns me most is not that you won't do what I will say, but that you will. And therefore, I have to be very careful with how I handle the word of God and how the other pastors here, how we handle the word of God together. What we want to do is we want to understand what God's Word is saying. We want to explain it to you in a way that is true, and we want to apply it to you in a way that is helpful. That will promote godliness in your life. We don't want to take that lightly. We want to approach it soberly. And so, my prayer is that God would help you to retain everything that I've said that is true and helpful, but that you would forget everything that I've ever said that is untrue or unhelpful for leading you to godliness. The last thing any good and godly teacher wants is to lead others astray.

12:25But you see, these false teachers, it's not just that their teaching is impure, it's not that they're just saying things that are not true, their very motives are impure. Look at what he says about them in that verse: they are teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. So, what were they driven by? They were driven by greed. They wanted people's money, and that's why they were saying what they've said. It's really amazing to me that in 2,000 years, the formula for false teaching has really not changed at all. For 2,000 years, every false teacher has used this kind of formula: I have the secret to knowing God, or I have the secret to becoming more intimate with God. If you send me money, I will tell you how to know God or to become more intimate with God like me. That's basically been the message of nearly every false teacher for 2,000 years. And the danger today is that these false teachers can travel the globe.

13:30They can put themselves online. They can have television ministries that reach millions of people, leading them away from the truth, sometimes bankrupting people in the process. And this is why elders can't be greedy for gain, as he told Titus back in verse 7. This is why elders can't be lovers of money, as he talked about in 1 Timothy 3. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, especially among ministers and ministries. But sadly, this behavior was just typical of the people on the island of Crete. I mean, you look at what this prophet, this poet, is credited with saying, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. How flattering. One of their own people looked around and he said, this is my assessment of us. Always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. I love that Paul adds, this testimony is true. Who can argue with this? In fact, Cretan immorality was very well known throughout the ancient world. The same guy who said that little quote, Epimenides, said that the reason there wasn't any wild beasts on the island is because they were afraid of the people.

14:48Polybius, who was another writer during that time, said, greed and avarice are so widespread that there is no stigma attached to wrongdoing whatsoever. Cicero, who many of you know, you might have had. To memorize some of his works growing up. He said, Moral principles are so divergent that the Cretans consider highway robbery honorable. So it's like if you did something in the ancient world that was evil or rude, I mean, people said or thought, uh, dirty Cretan. That's the reputation that they had. Kind of like if you have bad manners in the South, people are like, uh, Yankee.

15:26That's how they're thought of. And so, obviously, these are sweeping generalizations. Not all Cretans are like this. Otherwise, where would Titus find elders for the churches? But this was a generalization. This was the reputation that they had. So, he's going to be fighting an uphill battle to try to find these kinds of men, to recognize them, to train them. That's going to be an uphill battle. So, what should he do? Look at the second half of verse 13.

15:56He says, Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. So, what Titus is called to do is to rebuke them sharply, to clearly and decisively call them to repent of false teaching from false motives. But we see here that this is not a rebuke and run situation. Rebuke and run is a strategy that's used by a lot of Christians and a lot of churches. That are characterized by legalism and self-righteousness. You see, what happens in Rebuke and Run is you bring a strong correction to somebody, but the reason that you're bringing that strong correction to them is to punish them, to make them feel bad about what they did, or maybe even worse, to make yourself feel better, so that you can paint yourself in contrast as someone who is more faithful, more committed, more mature, whatever it might be. But in contrast, look at what Paul says: therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.

17:06You see, the motive here is not punishment, it's not a desire to prove yourself. The motive here is reconciliation, the motive is restoration. Titus is called to rebuke those who are in error so that they'll be sound in the faith. So they'll believe the truth and then live their lives in accordance with it. That's an entirely different motive. See, these myths and these commands of people who turn away from the truth, they were harmful to Christians. We don't know exactly what these Jewish myths were, but it seems like from the rest of the pastoral epistles, they had to do with genealogies, which is such a funny concept to us today. So, what they're saying is like people were arguing in the church about who had the highest standing based on whose daddy was more prominent. That sounds like a fraternity or sorority debate, right? For some people, they're like, oh, my daddy is the president of this guy, my daddy is a politician. That's what they were doing. They were arguing in the church about genealogy, who had the highest standing. They were also arguing over commands of people that turned away from the truth. They had invented human laws to say, if we obey these things, we will be holier. We'll be closer to God. Look at what Paul says in Colossians chapter 2.

18:21He says, if with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch? Referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings. Paul asks them, Why are you still submitting to these things? By avoiding certain things, not tasting, not touching, not handling, you can't make yourself any closer to God by doing certain things. You can't make yourself any closer to God. You've already been united with God through faith in Christ.

19:03And so, obviously, today we still have versions of that same kind of legalism where people are saying, if you're a Christian and you want to be close to God, you have to avoid doing these things. You have to start doing these things. That exists, especially in the American South. But really, in the 21st century, that's becoming a lot less common. I think you'd probably agree with that and the conversations that you've had. I hear less and less of if you want. To be close to God, then you have to do these things, you have to stop doing these things. Instead, in the 21st century, I hear more and more of: just say you believe these things, and you will be saved.

19:43Just say that you believe it, just give intellectual assent, agree with these facts, and you are a Christian. And what's more, nobody can ever call that into question. This is where Paul is going with his argument. He's trying to confront that line of thinking. And so, look at verse 15. He says, To the pure, all things are pure. In other words, if God has declared you to be pure through faith in Christ, well, friends, there's nothing that you can do or leave undone that's going to make you ceremonially impure. God has already declared you to be pure. So, you can disregard what the false teachers are saying. There aren't certain things you need to avoid or certain things you need to do to be right with Christ. You are right through faith in the gospel of Jesus. That's how you're made right with God. See, Jesus had to confront this problem in his ministry as well. You might be familiar with Mark chapter 7, where these scribes and Pharisees come up to Jesus, and they're really bent out of shape because his disciples have started eating the meal, but they didn't wash their hands first.

20:55And the scribes and the Pharisees weren't upset because their hands were actually physically dirty. They had Grime on them, they needed some good soap, some hand sanitizer. That's not what they were upset about. They were upset because they were ceremonially unclean. They had been around Gentiles in the marketplace, and they didn't wash that Gentile stuff off of themselves. And so Jesus gathers everybody together. Look at what he says in Mark chapter 7. He says this: Hear me, all of you, and understand. There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him. But the things that come out of a person are what defile him. And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him? Since it enters not his heart, but his stomach, and is expelled. Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, and they defile a person.

22:22So you see, Jesus is saying it's not what goes into us that defiles us, it's what comes out of us, from our hearts. So he Continues on, look again at the text. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their minds and their consciences are defiled. See, our great need is to be declared pure and eventually to be made pure by Jesus Himself, and that happens to us through faith in Christ. Anyone who trusts in the finished work of Jesus, His perfect life, His death, and His resurrection, is declared pure.

23:04There's nothing that we can do to overturn God's declaration about us. Nothing that we can eat, nothing that we can drink, nothing that we can touch, nothing that we can put into our bodies, nothing that we do can make us impure before God because He has already declared us to be pure through faith. So He says, To the pure, all things are pure, but to anyone who is unbelieving, to anyone who does not trust in the person and work of Jesus, nothing is pure. They're still unclean because of their sin, and there's not anything that they can do. No amount of religious works, no amount of giving or serving or anything else is going to make them pure before God. Because their problem is they haven't been declared pure through faith in Christ. They can't purify their own hearts or their own minds or their own consciences.

24:00So the question becomes, well, how do you know? I mean, if you've got two people that are both professing to be believers in Jesus, both professing that they are pure, how do you tell people apart? How would you know who is pure and who's not pure? How would you know if you are pure or impure? Well, he handles that in verse 16. Look at that final verse. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

24:39Jesus says the problem is that their life doesn't match up with their profession. Their life doesn't match up with their profession. Look at what he says in Matthew chapter 7. Again, that passage from the Sermon on the Mount that we talked about earlier. He says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, you will recognize them by their fruits.

25:27Last year I made a terrible decision. This was two years ago. Two years ago, I made a terrible decision, and I had this big old low spot in my front yard. So I brought in like several truckloads of dirt to cover up this low spot that was around this tree in my front yard, and I covered that over with sod, and I fixed the problem. It was amazing. That never happens. I had all this water pooled up in my front yard forever, and I fixed the problem. Now my yard drained down to the street, and I won.

25:56And so, for another year, I go out there, and everything looks awesome. And then I go out there last year, and the leaves are falling off the tree, like not in the winter, in the spring. And I go out there this spring, and there's no leaves at all. And the tree that was ugly before is uglier now because it's dead. And I asked my father-in-law, I said, What did I do? And he said, Well, I don't know. Like, did you fertilize? I mean, did you, were there chemicals around? I said, No, no, no. I said, Well, I did put like, you know, five yards of dirt on top of it. He's like, Oh, you cut off all the oxygen. You killed it.

26:34Great. I have lots of money to replace trees. My point in telling you that story was that for a long time, for about a year, you couldn't tell. You couldn't tell at all. Like, it had leaves on it that were green. Everything looked fine. But over time, the truth became apparent. The tree didn't have life in it, it was dead. Eventually, I could tell by the lack of fruit. And that's what Jesus is saying. Saying here in Matthew chapter 7. John, one of his most faithful disciples, agrees with him. Look at what he teaches in 1 John chapter 2. He says, By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him truly, the love of God is perfected.

27:26See, the Bible confirms the age-old saying, the proof is in the pudding. You will know whether people are true or false, not by what they say, but by how they live their lives. You can call yourself a Christian all day, but if there's no fruit to back up that profession, you can get angry with me for saying that. You can get angry with another Christian in your life for saying that and pointing that out, but your argument isn't with us. Your argument is with Jesus. And Jesus says repeatedly in his word that if we say that we know him, we will have fruit in our life that proves out the truth of that profession.

28:08Friends, the truth is not always easy to tell people. And the truth is not always easy to hear. We all know that. And that's exactly why faithful pastors are so critical in the life of a healthy church. It's because all of us need faithful men who are going to stand up and tell us the truth. Faithful men who will equip us and encourage us. Not only to believe the right things, but to live our lives in accordance with them and to call other people to do the same.

28:38I don't know about your story, your background growing up, but for me, I didn't grow up in a church where I heard the gospel preached. I didn't have anybody standing up there telling me the truth week after week. I was in church every Sunday, usually twice. I was really, really involved. But what I walked away from after 18 years of being involved in a church like that was that Jesus died so that I could try harder to be a good person.

29:09I'm not saying that's the message that was always preached, but after my childhood and being in that church, that's the message that I walked away with. Jesus died so that I could try harder to be a good person. And maybe that's your story as well. And if it is, maybe you're like me. I tried really, really hard to be a good person, but what that led me into was a life of hypocrisy, where I pretended to be one thing on the outside when I knew full well on the inside I wasn't what I pretended to be. It led me into self-righteousness where I thought more highly of myself than I deserved and I looked down on other people who were less good at performing. And what I needed was what God brought into my life in college. I needed faithful pastors. I needed faithful friends who would point me to the true gospel, who would explain what faith and repentance really looked like.

30:01And so today you may be realizing, perhaps for the first time, that although you profess to know God, there's no fruit in your life to back up that profession. What I mean is that although you claim to be a Christian, there's not consistent evidence of faith in Christ and repentance from your sin. And if that's the case, you know, you may be sitting here thinking, well, I can't admit that. I can't admit that to my parents. I can't admit that to my friends. I can't admit that to other Christians who think that I'm a Christian.

30:34And what I would say to you is, I know that that's a hard thing. That was hard for me too. But that really doesn't matter at all. Because God knows your heart. And in the end, you are going to stand before Him. He alone is going to judge you finally, not the people that are in your life today. And beyond that, every single Christian in your life has had to come to the place where we have recognized, I need to be saved. I need to be saved from my sin and from all of my hypocrisy and self-righteousness and everything else. I need to be saved. So you admitting that you need to be saved too is not something that Christians look down on. It's something that we, not to mention the angels in heaven, rejoice in. We rejoice when Jesus has done what he came to do to seek and to save the lost.

31:31And I know there's many of us in here today, perhaps most of us, who are already believers in Jesus. But your problem is that you're struggling with guilt and condemnation. And you hear some of these messages from the Word, and you think to yourself, I just don't measure up. I just don't measure up. Well, the gospel says to you, you're right. You're right. You don't measure up. I don't measure up. That's the very reason that we needed Jesus to come. We needed Jesus because we don't measure up. We fall short again and again. We sin again and again.

32:11But Jesus came and he lived a perfect life, always obeyed the Father, never sinned, though he was tempted in every way. And he went to the cross and died in your place and for mine, and then rose again so that we would be declared righteous. And the beautiful reality is that now he lives in us through the person of the Holy Spirit. We've now been given power over our sin so that we can live a life free from those things that formerly put us in bondage.

32:44You see, we need to be reminded of all of those things as Christians because we can get so discouraged trying to be faithful to God, trying to obey him, trying to make his name known. So we need faithful pastors who are going to stand before us week in and week out and remind us. us of the beauty of the gospel, about our acceptance through faith in Christ. That's what faithful pastors do. They teach the truth and they refute error for the good of the church. Let's pray.

33:17Father, we begin by praying for ourselves. We are so forgetful. As the famous hymn says, our hearts are prone to wander. Lord, we feel it. We are so easily led away from the true gospel and faith in Christ alone, to trusting in ourselves, to trusting in our works, to trusting in anything and everything besides Jesus to make us right before you. And so, God, we ask this morning for fresh faith. We ask that you would help us to set our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and now is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

34:17I pray for all of those who are here today who really aren't sure whether they're Christians or not. God, would you meet them where they are? Would you give them Assurance this morning, either assurance that they need to turn from sin and trust truly and fully in Christ, or assurance that they actually are believers who need their faith strengthened. So, in the first case, God, we pray for salvation, the work that only you can do. And in the second case, God, we pray for the church to come around them, to encourage them, build them up, instruct them.

34:59And, Father, we would be remiss if we did not pray for those who are false teachers, the men and women who are in our community, in our country, around the world, who are preaching another gospel, a false gospel. We pray that they would repent, that they would be reconciled first to you and then to everyone else, and that instead of leading perhaps thousands or millions of people astray, we would begin to hear reports of millions of people coming to faith in Christ through their ministries. That we could celebrate those men, even those women, who are preaching a false gospel now because they will repent and preach the true gospel later.

35:49We pray for them, they're not our enemies. And we ask, God, that you would change their hearts, change their minds. So, that there would be more and more faithful preachers of the word. God, we thank you for the healthy local church that you've placed us in. We thank you for the pastors who serve our church so faithfully. And we ask, God, that more and more we would be committed to the truth, that we would be committed to your grace, that we would be committed to love, loving you and loving one another.

36:31Thank you so much for your word. In Christ's name, we pray all of these things. Amen.