Titus
1:10-16
Are you disturbed by the
prevalence of so many false teachers in our day? Listen to the radio, watch the
television preachers, listen to those who preach in buses, go to most of the
churches in this city and all over the world… it is deplorable and disgusting
that many of those of those who speak in the name of God are false! One can
very easily conclude that there is no one preaching the truths of the Bible! Do
not be tempted to go the Elijah way and conclude that you are the only one who
has not bowed to Baal. God has promised us that He has many who are His and
this is the reason why are we are to ask this evening, what is our role in
combating the false teaching of our day? Have ever wondered if there is
anything you could do to deal with the false teachers and teachings of our day?
What is the remedy and strategy given in the Bible as the manner of combating
false teachers and their false teachings?
One of the basic reason why
the church has to have godly leaders on the eldership, who are sound doctrine and
so hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, is so
that they may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke
those who contradict it. The elders have to be able and willing to combat false
teachers and their wicked teachings, if they will be faithful stewards of the
church of God. No one should aspire to the office of the elder, if he does not
have the spine or the guts to do this murky work. While you are appointing the
elders to the church we have to be sure that he is a man who is able and
committed to this task. You notice that there are many false teachers.
Therefore, there must be many more elders who bring sound teaching to deal both
with the errant and their errors.
The passage before us seeks
to expose these false teachers – their identity and character as well as the
influence they have on people. It also exposes the basic tenets of false
teachings and its foundations are shaken. And finally we are given the manner in
which we are to deal with these menace. Clearly, the Lord has not tell us to
remain idle or silent on the ground that everyone has a right to express
himself, has He? He has given us this word so that we may not only know who are
false teachers and what falsehood they propagate, but He has given us clear
instructions on how we are to deal with these liars, before He ultimately deals
with them.
1. Exposing false teachers’ identity
Their character (v.10,12):Paul describes them as insubordinate,
empty talkers and deceivers. This means that they are rebellious, they
refuse to submit to the trustworthy word. They instead talk empty words, they
are full of big and astounding promises which come to nothing, they are full of
fruitless teachings. Unproductive talking so that even if you sit down with
them, you rise up with nothing of substance that you can remember although you
might have spent your full day! Even worse that empty talking, they deceive.
They lie and cheat and con people! This is verified by their own poet whom they
had given the title of a prophet and so Paul calls him a prophet as they did.
He said that that always liars! Their lies were every time they opened up their
vile mouths. They make big claims for themselves, as being apostles and
prophets. They claim big titles for themselves such as reverends and bishops
and dress, and dress in a way that will deceive people. Furthermore, they were
lazy-gluttons! What a contradictory character of people who want to eat and yet
not work! Such must not eat as God has said he who does not work must not eat.
Their identity (v.10, 14): These people belong to the circumcision
party. So the false teachers were Jewish, not the Judaizers who were arguing
that circumcision was necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1) because these were
sincere. These were people bent on deceiving others, by teaching Jewish myths
and endless genealogies (1Tim 1:4). This helps us to know their identity as
Jews.
Their motivation (v.11):Their basic motivation to the work they do is not to preach Christ or
the gospel. These people are motivated by shameful
gain. The basic reason for so many false teachers is not to honor Christ,
it is not win souls to Christ, it is not because they would like to see sinners
converted by Christ, by His gospel and conveyed to His kingdom of light. That
is far from the truth. The truth is that they want to draw as many as possible
to themselves, so that they can have them give as much as possible in order to
enrich themselves. Why do they many of them preach error, it is to provide for
themselves a quick means to gain.
True, there are many who are sincerely
deceived, and we know that the Lord will deliver them. But there are many more
who are doing it as a profession in order to make money. The effect of this is
that they are upsetting many families. Many families have been torn apart by
the greed of these false teachers. Be on your guard for people who have
unending demands for money. Watch out for those who flash their M-pesa lines
bank accounts so that you can send them money. Do not even listen to them,
otherwise they may make a wonderful promise that you will struggle to resist,
and then you will be in their hook!
Their end (v.16): Since they are neither subject to the Chief-Shepherd nor to His Word,
they are false or foreign to His church, impostors who are leopards in
sheep’s-clothing. Therefore they have to be unclothed! Their lies and deception
has to be exposed, you have to know them and we are supposed to do everything
to unveil their identity as deceivers who must not speak in the name of the
Lord. Thankfully, the Lord has promised in His word, “they will not get far, for their folly will be plain to all…” (2Tim.
3:9).Clearly, they are unfit for any
good work andtheir teachings are futile (1Tim 1:6). Do you notice many of
the churches that have come up they have no confession of faith, they do not
follow a traditionally accepted doctrine – their pastors invent their doctrines
in the pulpit! Beware!
2. Exposing the tenets of their errors
This passage seeks to help us expose the
errors of false teaching by giving us threefold test to the teachings we here.
a)
Theyemphasize the
commands of people (v.14)
First of these people have many commands
that appear to be from the Bible. But they are not. Secondly, their commands
are from human origin – following traditions of men. They tell their hearers, “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”
and all these in reference to thing that
all perish as they are used like food, clothing, places etc. according to human precepts and teachings.
(Col. 2:21-22). The point is that these are commands of people and not of God.
They emphasize blessings that their hearers could get from preachers
(themselves as the ‘servants’ or ‘men of God’) if you could meet some
conditions that they set and with the
same breath, threaten with curses if you do not follow the recipe that they
provide! Is this familiar?
You notice that in devoting themselves to
commands, myths and superstitions construed by people, in effect, they turn away from the truth. People who are
ever talking about what so and so said, whether from a vision or dream or
revelation, reject the word of God of God. First because the place words of men
at the same level with the Word of God and also because their attention is to
the words of men rather than God.
b)
They have false
understanding of purity (v. 15)
These people who have much to say from
men invent their own form of godliness. The reason is because both their minds (what they know and
believe) and consciences (what they
will and are able to do) are defiled,
or corrupted and so unfit or unacceptable.Their understanding of holiness is
not the biblical one, although they might talk about holiness as if they know
what they are talking about. God’s word says, “These have indeed the appearance of wisdom in promoting self made
religion and asceticism and severity of the body, but they are of no value in
stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” (Col. 2::23)
Because they are defiled, nothing is pure
to them, they think that the problem is what they eat or touch or handle. They
look at food, places and things as agents of sin. The truth is that what defiles
a person comes from the heart: things like evil
thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness,
deceit, sensuality, envy slander, pride, foolishness – all these are from
within and defile a person (Mark 7:21-22) – sin is internal, in the heart
and this is the problem. What defiles a person is not external. Since they have
an erroneous understanding of sin they fail to have the right understanding of
holiness and purity.
c)
The profess to know
God, but deny Him by their actions (v.16)
All false teachers do not do what they
teach – they are hypocrites. They even act contrary to their own consciences
and knowledge. They live a lie because they do not have the light of dawn, of
the word and the testimony. Their lives are characterized by this violent
division of creed and conduct – what they say is not what they are, their words
and deeds do not march – they profess God in word but deny Him in deed. Their
faith is a dead faith since good works does not accompany it.
John Stott provides a very good
conclusion regarding false teachers and their disciples. He says that we have
to ask three questions about it.
·
First, is its
origin divine or human, tradition or revelation?
·
Secondly, is its
essence inward or outward, spiritual or ritual?
·
Thirdly, is its
result a transformed life or merely a formal creed?
True religion is divine in its origin,
spiritual in its essence and moral in its effect.
3. Dealing with false teachers:
There are two ways prescribed
here of how we are to deal with the false teachers. In both ways, their
erroneous teaching has to be impacted. You cannot divide the false teachers and
their false teachings and so whatever you have to do has to impact both.
Undoubtedly, Christian leaders must not tolerate such.
a)
They
must be silenced (v. 11)
With such dangerous men
purporting to speak for God, in His name, using His word, enriching themselves
to the detriment of whole families being destroyed, we have to get together to
do what we must do to stop them. The way to stop them is silence them. Their mouths have to be muzzled. A gag is what will
help the situation because laissez-fare will not do. There is a need for the church to have
leaders who will rise up to stop them from continuing to do what they are
doing. By teaching things they ought no to teach, there are ruining the
households. When they demand money from people, there families who go angry and
yet others end up in great debts. But it is even worse than that because, eternal
destiny of people is affected by teaching them things that do not bring any
eternal profit but bring eternal ruin to people. This is the reason why we
cannot remain unmoved.
The basic way provided in the
passage on how to silence them is by having elders who hold firm to the
trustworthy word and so are able to rebuke those who contradict them. Truthful
teaching has to be preached far and wide. Elders who are able have to deal with
the false teachers. In church history we know of such godly men like Augustine
of Hippo who dealt with the false teaching of Arius in the 4th
century, Asahel Nettleton who dealt with Charles Finney in the 18th
Century, etc. we are to be concerned to publish the truth far and wide, by
raising faithful men who are to take the gospel farther. This is our aim in the
Pastors’ Theological Course. It is our prayer that the Lord may be pleased to
bring more to be taught, and add more teachers to instruct the students in
sound teaching. The church has to be very quick and active in raising
preachers.
But the passage does not tell
us exactly how to stop them although the rest of the Scripture has something to
say about it. In 3:10, Paul instructs Titus, “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once, and then
twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped
and sinful; he is self-condemned.The first thing to with those in error is
to warn them and admonish them so that they may be won over by truth. If he
refuses, he must be sharply reprimanded and told to desist and if he persists
then he has to be disciplined by the church and be handed over to Satan (1Tim.
1:20).
I am persuaded that the best
manner to deal with the prevailing false teaching is by being more vocal in
making the true gospel known in this city and beyond. I have been praying that
the Lord may make it possible for us to get into the media by having our own
radio broadcasting station, so that we could propagate the truths of the Word
of God far and wide.
b)
They
must be rebuked sharply (v. 13)
False
teachers have to be rebuked sharply or decisively by the elders, when the Lord
provides the opportunity. A sharp rebuke is the dose recommended by the Lord
for false teachers. Such a rebuke will get through them. We must not give them
an opportunity or tolerate them at all. How can they become what they are not
if no one is going to withstand them to the face and tell them that they
actions are unacceptable? This is done out of concern for them and their
hearers. They have to change in respect to the truth, they have to stop saying
and teaching what they are teaching and we must do all we can to admonish them
who come our way. One day I was in a bust where a man was preaching false
teaching and afterwards he came to sit by where I was and I got the chance to
tell him that if he wants to preach, then he has to use the Bible and not his
own imaginations! Though he did not like it, I told him.
v We
must not give up the false teachers as no one is beyond the reach of the grace
of God – there is hope for them because God is very gracious and patient with
people. Paul told Timothy that the Lord’s
servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently
enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant
them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their
senses and escape the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his
will. (2Tim. 2:24-26).It is my prayer that the Lord may help us all to be
exactly like this so that the Lord may bring even false teachers under the
authority of His Word, and under the lordship of Christ.
v This
evening we rejoice that the Lord has granted us a church that is committed to
the Word of God. This is not something that we should take for granted there
are many people who are looking for a church that is founded on the Word of
God. The many people who have come to this church from other churches are a
witness to what they have gone through.
v Please
pray for us in the eldership that the Lord may help us to remain faithful to
the word of God – first of all to preach nothing but the truth of the Word of
God to you. secondly, that we may be ever willing to rebuke and silence those
who contradict the word of truth. And thirdly, to be able to identify and raise
faithful men who are able to pass the truths of the word of God to others so
that there will be continuity and propagation of the truths of the word in this
city, in this country and beyond.
v Let
us be willing to give ourselves fully to combat the false teachers and their
teachings by investing our time and resources towards the propagation of the
knowledge of the truth that accords to godliness. Prayerfully consider what we
as a church should do to combat the false teachers and teachings and be
supportive. Meanwhile, our commitment is to the gospel and the preaching of
truth because the weapons of our warfare
are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy
every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take captive to
obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is
complete. (2Cor. 10:4-6)
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