Christianity for Cretans | Titus 1:10-16 (Mark Evans 7-23-2023)

In the book of Titus, there are people causing problems in the church. They are rebellious, talk empty words, and deceive others. They are part of a group that promotes circumcision as a means of righteousness. Paul warns Titus about these people and encourages him to refute them. The church must be cautious and not fall into self-righteousness. Sound doctrine and faith in Jesus Christ are essential for a pure and strong church. If you have your Bible, do make your way to the book of Titus as we continue on our sermon series in this wonderful epistle. And today we come to Titus chapter 1 and we'll be in verses 10 through 16, Titus 1 verses 10 through 16. And these are the words of the God who dwells in unapproachable light. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true, 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 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. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. And the grass withers and the flower fades. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do praise You that Your Word endures forever, that Your Word is life-giving. And so we do pray for us that we would be sanctified by the truth, knowing that Thy Word is truth. So we do pray You would give us eyes to see and ears to hear, and namely, to see the Lord Jesus Christ, the King in His beauty. In His name we pray, and amen. Amen. You may be seated. Although most of my memories have faded, I do hold on to one clear memory. When I first arrived at military school, this would have been decades ago, and that was because there was a sergeant standing out in front of the battalion, and what made it an unusual view was that he was holding up a sign, and the sign had this phrase written upon it. And from my distance, I couldn't quite make out what he had written, but as I grew a little closer in distance to my dismay, I was able to make out what he had written on this little slate for everyone to see. This sergeant was holding up a sign with the words written upon it, Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here. Apparently this was his warm way of welcoming recruits into military life. And to make things worse, it brought to my mind the original use of that phrase. You might recognize that phrase comes from Dante's Inferno. Dante is entering into the gates of hell, and it reads in this inscription, Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here. And this morning, we can imagine that as Titus pulls up to the island of Crete, there may as well be a sign that reads, Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here, because we'll see this morning the nature of these Cretans and the threat that they pose to the church, both from within and from without. So how are we to respond in such a situation? You might look at our current moment, current state of society, current state of the church, and think that it, too, calls for the abandonment of all hope, that a similar sign should be posted up today in society. But the good news we'll see this morning is how our sound doctrine leads to sound living all under the banner of Jesus Christ. And that's all the cause that we need to press on with great resolve and enduring hope. And so, we'll walk through this text in three simple sections. We'll look at the problem that Titus is faced with, secondly, the correction that Titus is to take up, and thirdly, the purity that is not just his but all Christians. And with all that, we're really just looking at Christianity for Cretans. What does Christianity look like for Cretans? That is, how does Christianity advance in even the toughest and the most unlikely of places? Because let's have a reminder as to where we left off in this letter. We left off with Paul's counsel to Titus, which was, appoint elders in every town along Crete. And Paul told Titus, look out for a particular kind of man. And you might remember the very last thing Paul told Titus was, look out for the kind of man who is able to hold firm to trustworthy doctrine, and can he refute those who would contradict, those who would oppose God's trustworthy word. And such an ability to refute opponents actually leads us right into the reality of verse 10. You can see why this ability to counter the contrarians is going to be needed. Look what Paul says in verse 10, for there are many, not a few, not some, but many, who are insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers. This is Titus' great problem. If Titus thought life on the island of Crete was going to be full of peaceful sunsets, the gentle lapping of waves on the shore, sipping a Mai Tai with an umbrella, his feet popped up. Oh, well, verse 10, burst, that's hot bubble for Titus. And isn't that the way life often goes? You have a good thing going. You set your hand to the plow for a good work, and not too long after, it is opposed. And so, of course, is the advancement of the church, that we will ever be a waging war against Satan's schemes and the world's ways. And so it is here in verse 10, we have this three-headed monster that Titus is to be on guard against. First head, you see it named as the, quote, insubordinate, these would be those who are rebellious and disobedient to godly authority. You can think of the sons of Korah as a fitting example from the book of Numbers. You might remember that group banded together to oppose Moses and Aaron, challenging his leadership saying, hey, who puts you guys in charge? And, of course, the answer to that question was that God Himself is the one who placed Moses and Aaron as a godly authority over God's people. And so opposing Moses and Aaron is really like they were opposing God Himself in insubordination. The second head of this three-headed hydra in verse 10 comes the empty talkers, or the idle fruitless talkers. Now, compared to insubordination, empty talk may not seem all that harmful. Just spend five minutes in Twitter and you realize we are full, surrounded by empty talk in our day. It doesn't seem to be all that harmful. But also, our Paul warns that empty talk is particularly harmful, especially when such talkers open their mouths to teach. Such empty talk leads to empty sanctification. To use Jude's analogy, they're like waterless clouds. On a hot summer day like today, you might look up at a cloud and think, oh good, here comes some rain, some refreshment, some growth, and yet no water ever actually pours out of it. So it is with empty talk. And lastly, you see the third head of this monster in verse 10, that of deceivers. This is perhaps the most nefarious of the three. Here you have those who are knowingly, wittingly, craftily deceiving and duping God's people. As 2 Peter warns of false teachers and describes their predatory nature as one of reveling in their deceptions, enticing unsteady souls, hearts trained in greed. In other words, these are not teachers who might be a little off on sound doctrine, but have the best of intentions and pure motives. No, these are experts in exploitation. And so you can readily see what a threat such persons pose to God's people. As if that is not problematic enough, then Paul tacks on in verse 10, he says to Titus, Beware especially of those from within the circumcision party. And now what is this circumcision party? We don't talk this way today, right? We don't have the Republican, the Democrat and the circumcision party, though we probably want a third party at this point. But at any rate, who is this group? Well, the circumcision recall originally was a great gift and covenant sign of God to Abraham and to his posterity. It was a most blessed thing to be circumcised. It pointed to that deeper spiritual reality of the heart of stone being cut out of man, being given a heart of flesh. But that said, with the dawning of the new covenant, we could say that the career of circumcision was to be retired. All right. It served its purpose and it did so quite well. It pointed forward to the coming Messiah. And so as Jesus Christ comes, circumcision goes all well and good. But the only problem, which is a perennial problem for the church, is that a kind of legalism soon crept in legalism that latched on to the goodness of circumcision and quickly perverted it. And so this legalism arose in the form of adding to God's law, requiring what God's law does not require as a means of righteousness and any means of righteousness that is not the righteousness of Jesus Christ is a self-righteousness and is to be condemned. And this self-righteousness was what the circumcision party was all about. Do this, perform this, add this to the righteousness of Christ, and you will be even more righteous still. If you want to be saved, truly saved, really saved, then accept circumcision. And now that may not seem all that tempting to us today, but you could see how alluring that would be in their day. Again, circumcision was given by God, a good thing in every way, and yet it was ripped away from its original purpose and it fell into the hands of man for his boasting, for his project of pride. Look at the boxes that I've checked. Look how I've contributed to my salvation. And you can see how it subtly begins to distort the grace of God as if to say, yes, I know God is gracious, but he's not all that gracious. There's still a little bit left on the table for you to do. And so we need to hear just how strongly scripture opposes such self-righteousness from Galatians 5 when it says, if you accept circumcision, then Jesus Christ will be of no advantage to you. And friends, we must hear the same thing this morning. Of course, our temptation is not one of circumcision. But yet how easily we fall into believing Christ, plus just a little bit of my work, Christ, alongside of what I bring and what I do, Christ supplemented by my efforts and my goodness and my diligence. And so we must hear it again. If you accept any other righteousness than the righteousness of Jesus Christ, he is of no advantage to you. It is Christ or nothing, because Christ alone is everything, his obedient life, his death upon the cross, his resurrection life. It is that or it is nothing. And friends, how refreshing to the soul, what is more glorifying to God than that? Here we are, filthy sinners fallen short and yet standing fully righteous before God, accepted by the father because of who Christ is and belonging to him. And it was this plain, pure gospel that the circumcision party was disrupting, striking at the very vitals of the core of the gospel. And so you can see why in verse 11 comes these strong words from Paul when he says, therefore, they must be silenced. They are upsetting whole families. Don't forget, ideas have consequences. And Paul says the consequences of these evil ideas is that entire households are being led astray from the pure and plain gospel. And so the challenge for Titus is that he must silence them. That Greek word for silence is sometimes used for putting a bridle into a horse's mouth, like putting a muzzle over an animal. And that paints a word picture of the challenge that is before Titus. Can he tame these wild beasts who are upsetting whole families and distorting the gospel? So that's Titus' challenge in Crete. Now, added to that comes next, not just the challenge of Crete, but the culture of Crete. When I was younger, I had the chance to travel to several countries over the globe, spending over many different continents of this globe. And so in the course of conversation with strangers, I would inevitably get the question of where are you from? And so in speaking to an Aussie, a Brit, an Ecuadorian, a Frenchman, so on and so forth, I would, of course, say, well, I'm from the great nation of Texas. And sometimes I would get questions like, oh, you're from Texas. Do you live on a ranch? How many guns do you own? Where are your cowboy boots and where is your cowboy hat? Do you ride a horse to work? And so on and so forth. Obviously, they had formed certain judgments and stereotypes of Texans, some not wholly untrue. And that's very much the case with Cretans. Remember, this letter of Titus is addressed to the tiny Mediterranean island of Crete. And Crete's reputation preceded it very much in a most notorious way. Crete was the kind of sin city of Greece. And you see that in verse 12. Paul says there, one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, says Cretans are always, not sometimes, always liars, evil beast, lazy gluttons. Now, this is something that radically offends all of our modern sensibilities. Right. One of the great cultural sins of our time is the faux pas of stereotyping. Right. Anything that remotely approaches stereotyping is quickly met with the ire of the elites. And so if you stereotype or you generalize in any way, you'll be quickly reprimanded for being bigoted, small minded, ignorant, racist, unenlightened, and so on and so forth. And you see here, Paul is quite comfortable citing this stereotype that convicts an entire nation. This is a quote that likely originally comes from the poet philosopher Epimenides, who was himself a Cretan. And yet he says of his fellow Cretans, they're all liars and evil beast. And you see, even when Paul evaluates this claim, he says in verse 13, quote, This testimony about Cretans is true. He says, hey, what you've heard about Cretans being lazy, being gluttonous, that's a fair characterization of their culture. Needless to say, Paul would be canceled in our day. But notice the irony, right? Perhaps Paul had a wry smile on his face when he wrote this, because Paul cites a Cretan who says all Cretans are liars, right? A Cretan calls all Cretan liars. So wouldn't that mean that his testimony would have to be false since he, too, is a liar being a Cretan? But Paul says, no, no, this particular Cretan happens to be telling the truth. And so, indeed, this helps us to better understand norms and stereotypes. Stereotypes are, by definition, generally true, but never absolutely true. Indeed, the Greek word stereo just means firm or solid, meaning that the type of the characterization remains solidly consistent in a general kind of way. And we just saw Paul took the same approach with the circumcision party, saying, watch out for them. Now, did Paul mean every last single individual? No, he's just making a generalization. And so we see not only is Scripture unafraid to stereotype, you can actually see the wisdom in Paul's approach. Such stereotyping is setting up Titus for pastoral success because the purpose of the stereotype is not necessarily to vilify. It's not to foster within Titus a hatred or an enmity of the Cretans. It's not for Titus to look down and despise the Cretans in his pride. No, instead, it's to still his nerve, to forewarn him what he is up against, perhaps above all, to remind Titus to place all of his confidence in the power of God's work through the word by the Spirit. And, of course, it falls to us to have the same wisdom and maturity to do likewise. Just as Titus was deployed to depraved Crete, so, too, are we deployed to make disciples of every walk of life, of various kinds of culture, each having their own flaws and foibles and false gods. And so here we are currently missionaries to the West. That's why it's thoroughly appropriate to say that the West is, generally speaking, sexually hedonistic, pluralistic, relativistic, materialistic and increasingly hostile. And we ought to say, challenge accepted, because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation for Cretans and for the West and for every other nation. So there is a word on this great and grave problem set before Titus. Well, let's see next. What is the correction, the antidote to so great a problem? Well, verse 13 picks it up there and Paul says, Therefore, rebuke them sharply, or you could say severely, harshly. And it's typical of Paul, isn't it? The more and more that the gospel is threatened, the fiercer and fiercer is his language. And think about it. That's a rather Christlike thing, isn't it? Some of the strongest words of our Lord Jesus were directed to those who threatened the church, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes. Some of its harshest denunciations went towards those who would who would appear outwardly righteous, yet inwardly be full of hypocrisy and lead others astray. And so, as if Paul says to Titus, imitate Christ, rebuke them sharply, not gently put some elbow grease into it. Titus. But you see next, the purpose of such sharpness is for the sake of soundness. Verse 13 continues the thought saying, rebuke them so that they may be sound in the faith. It's not sharpness for the sake of sharpness. We know Paul condemns being a hotheaded, arrogant bully. No, you see, it's sharpness for the sake of soundness. And this word for sound in verse 13 runs throughout the letter of Titus. It's the Greek word, hygieno, where we get our English word, hygiene. And that's one of the main points of Titus. It's this manual on good hygiene for a healthy church. You don't need me to tell you, if you don't practice good hygiene, then you expose yourself to vulnerabilities, sicknesses and diseases. And that's the genius of Titus. All things for hygienic, healthy church. And maybe that's a question for you to ponder even now. Say that proverbial Martian comes up to you and asks you, how do I practice good hygiene here on Earth? Kids, how would you answer? I'm sure you'd have an answer for your Martian friend. You'd probably say, well, here's how you wash your hands on our planet. Here's why you cover your mouth when you cough on our planet. Here's why you don't eat food off the floor, at least if it's been there longer than five seconds on our planet. But what if your curious Martian asked you, OK, I see, too, you're a religious people. Can you tell me what makes for good spiritual hygiene? What makes for good spiritual health? Could you answer that question? Could you produce a ready list? Well, let Titus be your guide. Rolls out for us things like sound leadership, sound doctrine, sound living, all that amount to a very resilient, healthy church. And you see a fine example of that here is verse 14 says this sound hygienic living means that God's people will not be devoting themselves to Jewish myths and to the commandments of men. And note it well, those commandments are not God's commands. These are man made commands. An example, you might remember from Mark's gospel, wherein the Pharisees are washing their hands, not for the sake of hygiene, but for the sake of self-righteousness. It was this man made tradition and they had many man made rituals that would falsely lead people on a path towards purity. In fact, so convinced were the Pharisees of their purity, they even asked Jesus, Jesus, what's up with your disciples? Why don't they wash their hands as we do? Why don't they follow the traditions of the people? And Jesus responded to them, you hypocrites, you would leave the commandment of God and follow the tradition of men. You have replaced God's statutes with your man made rules and you see it throughout the New Testament. Things like if you want to be really righteous, then don't eat these particular foods, don't get married, abstain from sex, don't touch, don't handle these things. We're really good at this as fallen creatures, aren't we? We mutate God's commandments. We supplement God's word with our own standards and how easily we impose our man made scruples, how easy we elevate our personal convictions, even our confession of faith. To the point of where it takes on a kind of divine status. And so Paul instructs Titus, rebuke these things sharply, it might have all the appearance of godliness and religiosity, but it is of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. And it turns Christians away. So we've seen the problem at hand, we've seen this correction called for thirdly, let's look now at true purity. Because so far things have been rather bleak, right? At this point, Titus might be thinking, where do I hand in my resignation? Right, Paul, I get it. You dropped me off in this force of depravity and I have to hack my way out with rebukes. But do you have any encouragement for me? Do you have a good word for me, Paul? Well, indeed, one of the most freeing and liberating verses of this section, perhaps the whole letter comes in verse 15. To the pure, all things are pure to the pure, all things are pure. You can just hear what a contrast to the imprisonment of legalism, to manmade traditions, to the self-righteousness of circumcision, all things that promise a purity that they cannot deliver. But this truth, this is a breath of fresh air, speaks right to the reality of who the Christian is and therefore how the Christian lives. Firstly, who the Christian is to be in Christ is to be made pure. It is to have been cleansed by the blood of Christ that though filthy from sin, you have been washed and sanctified. Christian, are you pure today? If you are in Jesus Christ, then you indeed are whiter than snow. Of course, you may say, yes, but I feel so dirty, so vile, my conscience reminds me of the sins that I have committed. How could I be pure? And that's a legitimate question. And this is why Jesus made that radical statement, that it's not what goes into a man that makes him impure. No, it's what comes out, out of the heart, all manner of covetousness, pride, lust. That is what makes us impure. And there is no amount of rituals or moral scrubbing that will truly make a man pure. To be pure means nothing less than the inward renewal of Jesus Christ by the spirit. And so Christian here today, if you are in Christ, then you are pure. Secondly, an added beauty is that inward purity goes outward. Inward purity reveals itself outwardly. And this verse helps us to understand that better. Sometimes purity is confused with a kind of mere prudishness, a kind of obsessive strictness or concern, always walking around on eggshells lest you become contaminated, kind of wearing a biohazard suit lest the world infects you. But you see here, no, to the pure, all things are pure. Purity actually brings about a kind of freedom and restores a proper orientation to God's creation. That is the power of purity. Indeed, it's the distinctively Christian position that declares everything created by God is good and is to be received with thanksgiving. This is who we are. God put Adam and Eve into a world of declared goodness and said, it's all for you to enjoy. Save this one tree. So this would mean, for instance, that things like marriage and sex and food and drink and money and work and rest and pleasure and fun can and are to be received by the Christian in purity. So Paul even goes as far as to say in 1 Corinthians, if you want to eat meat offered to idols, you're free to do so. I think that would actually offend most evangelicals today. Paul says, if you want to eat meat offered up in religious worship to a false god, you're free to do so. Only don't use your liberty to make your brother stumble. Now, how can Paul be so outlandish? Well, his point is that these other false gods are exactly that. They're false gods, but, you know, the truth, you know, the true and living God, and you know him. So, in other words, to the pure, all things are pure. Now, are we to take this to mean that anything goes? Nothing is to be abused. Nothing is to be avoided. Cast off all restraints. Well, trust you can see that is most certainly not Paul's point. He's not encouraging a kind of free spirited licentiousness, but rather from being in right relationship with God. The Christian is liberated from manmade constraints and the false pursuits of self purification. And if we can further unpack this purity, we can contrast it with its opposite. You see that in verse 15. Unlike the pure for whom everything is pure, Paul says to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. And you can see why their minds and their consciences are defiled. All right. I imagine if you had mud smeared over your glasses, right? Just sludge covering your lenses such that everywhere you look, beautiful countryside, a nice meadow, no matter how good, no matter how beautiful everything you saw passes through those lenses and it appears to you as filthy and impure. Paul says this is the unbelievers lot by virtue of not being cleansed by Christ, by being not purified. Nothing is pure. If the subject is not pure, then none of the objects are pure. And this is the futility of unbelief. This is why, for example, unbelief issues forth in sex full of guilt and perversion, food consumed with ingratitude, drink of hedonistic indulgences, relationships of manipulation, morals of dead righteousness, discipline without joy and a conscience that is never strong and pure. The unbeliever uses the very same creation, the very same gifts that it's filtered through this defiled conscience, and so no longer is the true, the good and the beautiful. This is why the Christian and non-Christian can look at the very same sunset, eat the very same food, drink the very same drink. And for the Christian, it tells of the goodness and the glory of God. And yet for the unbeliever, the thought of sincerely giving thanks is not even a thought. When I was younger, I had a pastor, he used to say that when you're a Christian, food tastes better, food tastes better. I didn't quite know what he meant at the time. I figured that Christian taste buds are identical to any other kind of taste buds. But the older I get, the more I understand what he was saying. It's as the psalmist says, taste and see that the Lord is good. To the pure, all things are pure. And yet to the impure, nothing is pure. And so as you see, verse 16 says, and this does not stop them from professing to know God, yet denying him by their works. And friends, we must be ever aware that the very same claim is true in our day, in our cultural moment. People are growing tired of the old philosophical materialism of this century in the previous century. But what is fast growing and what is replacing it is all kinds of spiritualism, paganism, pantheism, new ageism of this claim to know God, to have some kind of experience with God, whether it be he, she, it, they, the world, the universe and so on and so forth. But Titus firmly roots us in reality that to the pure and only to those who have been made pure by Jesus Christ, all things are pure. And so if you're here this morning and not a Christian, I hear testimony of scripture to you that you can be made pure today and that there is nothing that you can do save only this, but to come in simple faith and trust to the Lord Jesus Christ. And though your sins be as scarlet, he and he alone could have you be whiter than snow if you become in simple faith. Well, as we begin to close, let us lay up in our hearts what is the main thrust of this great section, and that is simply Christianity for Cretans, Christianity for Cretans, because just remember the setting of this letter you pull into the island of Crete and the billboard says, Welcome to Crete, the proud home of liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons. Enjoy your stay. But here's the good news. Crete was not a lost cause. Cretans did not have to remain Cretans. That is the power of the gospel. And this is the reason that Titus is left on the island with these instructions. Paul has the rational hope that the gospel will go to work and that it will redeem this depraved nation and it will transform liars into saints and gluttons into the godly. The question for us is, do we have that confidence? Do we look at our land, our cities, our communities? And yes, while bemoaning the decay of society, the rancid godliness that surrounds us, can we still hear the words of Paul to Titus? Titus, look around. This is why I left you at Crete. And so let us ask ourselves the very same thing this morning. Why are you here? Why are we left here? Is it not this to disciple the nations, to proclaim the gospel? Is it not this to live a life of purity that is a profound witness? Is it not this to live upright lives that adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ? For it is the power of God unto salvation for the Cretans, for you and I and for all people. Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly father, we do praise you for you are the God who has made known such good news. That you have not hid it under the bushel, you have publicly proclaimed it in the Lord Jesus Christ, vindicating him and raising him up to everlasting life, pouring out your spirit upon the church, commissioning the church to go forth and declare this good news unto every tribe, every tongue, every nation. That man might be reconciled to you and that man might be truly made pure from the inward out. Help us to be faithful witnesses and disciples that we would go forth in the confidence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the authority of the scriptures and by the witness of the spirit. In his name we pray. Amen.