Titus Study #7

“Putting Up with Perverted People” 

Titus 3:8-11

Study #7 in Titus Series 

 

INTRODUCTION: 

Do you have any “problem people” in your life?

·       Critical people = always finding fault with people and programs

·       Touchy people = thin-skinned, making everyone around them walk on eggshells

·       Grouchy people = grumpy, difficult to get along with

·       Opinionated people = think they are correct on every subject

·       Pushy people = bossy, it’s my way or the highway

 

How do you handle them?

·       You can IGNORE them (pretend they are invisible, let them keep pushing your buttons).

·       You can ENGAGE with them (react, go head-to-head, declare war on them).

·       You can PLACATE them (give them what they want, tell them what they want to hear).

·       OR, you can DEAL with them (honestly, kindly, courageously, in Christian love).

 

It’s bad enough when we must be around difficult people at home or at work, but what about at church? How do we deal with brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ?

 

TRANSITION: 

Since the days of the Early Church, Christians have been faced with this very issue: “How do we deal with people who get out-of-line in the Body of Christ?” 

 

The New Testament deals a lot with this subject. Jesus gave us instruction on this subject in Matthew 18. Paul dealt with this problem in almost all his letters.

 

All the examples I can think of fall into 3 broad categories: 

1.    Rotten Doctrine = They believe in the wrong stuff.

2.    Despicable Behavior = They act in the wrong manner.

3.    Lousy Attitudes = They think in the wrong ways.

...Or, sometimes a combination of all three.

 

Our text for this study is Titus 3:8-11.

 

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 8: This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.

·       “This is a trustworthy statement,” meaning, “You can trust this, it is factual, and you can take it to the bank!” But to exactly which “statement” is Paul referring? I believe that he is referring to what he has just said in verses 4-7. If you look closely, you’ll see that these four verses comprise one long sentence with the phrases divided by commas. In fact, it is one single declarative sentence, one amazing statement about how God saves sinners. Truly it is one of the most important soteriological statements in the New Testament.

·       “…and concerning these things” But Paul is referring to the broader context of what he has just been saying in vs. 1-7. And what was that? Let’s review.

o   In Vs. 1-2 Paul tells Titus to “remind” the Cretan believers to make sure that their walk, (i.e., their Christian life) is in accord with their talk, (i.e., their testimony) and that their “good deeds” are an accurate reflection of who they have become in Christ. Paul tells Titus to remind them that they need to obey their leaders, and live peaceably with all men, and show Christian kindness to believers and unbelievers alike.

o   In Verse 3 Paul reminds Titus and the believers in Crete that we too were all once unbelievers, caught up in sins of every description. He lays out an embarrassing list of the sins we used to commit regularly. Namely, we were wickedly foolish, disobedient, deceived deceivers, enslaved to lusts and evil pleasures, full of malice and envy, hateful haters. That’s a bleak picture of what we were like but accurate, nonetheless.

o   This list reminds me of what Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers in 1 Cor. 6:9-11, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” So, what’s his point? A= Don’t be proud, because before we were saved, we were just like them. This thought launches Paul into the subject of how we got saved.

o   In Vs. 4-7 Paul reminds Titus that our salvation has nothing to do with our goodness or our good works, so there is no place for pride. It is all about His timing, His kindness, His mercy, and His grace. We contributed exactly NOTHING! Verse 5 starts out, “HE SAVED US.” That sums up the whole argument. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, plus nothing. As a result, we have been made heirs of God and one day we will go home to spend eternity with Him.

·       “…concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently” – It’s easy to speak confidently when we know the truth is on our side. It’s easy to preach with confidence and conviction when you know you are standing on the immovable Rock of Truth.       

·       But good doctrine should always bring forth good actions. We “…were created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Eph. 2:10). We were not saved BY good works, but we were saved FOR and UNTO good works. There is a huge difference.

·       “…be careful to engage in good deeds.” Notice that Paul used this same expression in verse 1 (“…be ready for every good deed”).

·       “These things are good and profitable for men. – “These things” (i.e., these good deeds) are good and profitable for men.”  We do good works for the glory of God and for the people whom God loves, because we love HIM! We do not do them to earn our salvation or to gain His favor.

 

Verse 9: But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the Law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

·       Notice that this clause has only one verb, which is “avoid.” It is a command, an imperative. This Greek verb is perístemi , which literally means “to turn oneself about so as to stand facing the other way.” Check out 2 Timothy 2:16 where it is used in a similar manner. To avoid means “to shun, to do an about-face from, to have nothing to do with.” That seems clear enough.

·       Then there are four substantives, nouns, things that Paul warns Titus to avoid, namely, “controversies, genealogies, strife, and disputes about the Law.”

·       Paul’s argument is bolstered by the one adjective he uses, which is “foolish.” These four things he mentions are stupid and foolish, and a complete waste of time. His advice to Titus is to avoid getting caught up in verbal battles over idiotic subjects, which he says are “unprofitable and worthless.” Notice how this phrase stands in sharp contrast to what Paul said in verse 8 about standing on the truth and doing good deeds, which he says are, “good and profitable” for all men. In fact, these are some of the things Paul said ought not to be taught, and that he warned against up in Titus 1:11. Instead, Titus should focus on preaching and teaching the simple, time-tested Word of God.

·       N.B. Christian discussions that do not lead to Christian actions are a waste of time. It is easier to discuss theological questions than it is to be kind, considerate, and helpful. There is no virtue in endlessly discussing deep theological questions while the simple tasks of the Christian life are left undone.

 

Verse 10: Reject a factious man after a first and second warning,

·       “Reject” = Refuse to have anything to do with him, leave him behind. Paul says that Titus must take measures against those who insist on going their own way. Their self-will makes them self-condemned.

·       “…a factious man” = The Greek word is herétikos, from the verb meaning “to choose, to prefer.” It gives us our English word heretic. The idea is that a factious man (heretic) chooses his own point of view over that of Scripture.

·        “…after a first and second warning.” This is in keeping with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18:15-17, “¹⁵ “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” Does this mean that we should burn him at the stake, or refuse to talk with him, or move to the other side of the street when we see him coming? NO! We simply no longer treat him like a brother in Christ but as a non-believer that we want to win to Christ. How are we supposed to treat unbelievers? Treat him like that.

 

Verse 11: …knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self-condemned.

·       “…is perverted” = The Greek word is ekstréphō and means “to twist, to subvert, to turn inside out.” Nowadays we use this word almost exclusively to mean sexually perverted in some way, but the term is more general. All sin is a perversion of God’s righteousness and a twisting of His original design.

·       “…is sinning” = The tense of the verb indicates the state of continual sinning.

·       “…being self-condemned” = This is an interesting double compound word in Greek and is also what we call a hapax legomena, meaning it appears only one time in the Bible. Literally the word means to judge himself down, which doesn’t make much sense in English, but in other words, his own words condemn him. The proud heretic who rejects the truth will one day hear his own words played back to him. 

 

“Challenging” people come in 6 basic types: 

 

Type 1 = Trouble-maker churchgoers with lousy doctrine 

·       Titus 1:10-16; 3:8-11 

·       2 Timothy 3:1-5

·       Romans 16:17-20 

 

Type 2 = Nice, sincere people with screwed-up theology 

·       2 Timothy 2:23-26 

 

Type 3 = Orthodox Christians with D.R.A. (= Dirty Rotten Attitude) 

·       Philippians 4:1-2

·       Galatians 2:11-14

 

Type 4 = Christians caught up in sin 

·       Matthew 18:15-22

·       1 Corinthians 5:1-13

·       1 Timothy 5:19-20 (elders)

·       Galatians 6:1 

 

Type 5 = Baby Christians

·       1 Corinthians 3:1; 4:20

·       Ephesians 4:14

 

Type 6 = Interested seekers (open but ignorant)

·       Matthew 5:13-16 

 

More Texts About Dealing with

Difficult People in the Local Church

 

Matthew 18:15-20 

Romans 16:17-20

1 Corinthians 1:11-12; 5:1-13

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 

Galatians 1:6-9; 2:11-14; 3:1-3; 6:1

Philippians 3:2; 4:1-2 

2 Thess. 3:2; 3:6-15

1 Timothy 4:1-3; 5:19-20; 6:3-7

2 Timothy 2:23-26; 3:1-9; 4:14-15 

Titus 1:1o-11, 14; 3:8-11

Hebrews 12:5-13

2 John 10-11