The Good The Bad & The Ugly

TITANS FOR TODAY

Series in Titus

 

Talk 2

 

THE GOOD, BAD AND THE UGLY

The Church As It Is & As It Can Be

Titus 1:10-2:10

 

Week of March 13, 2018

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

Hey guys welcome to FORGE!  Our region wide mission is to build men through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  To build great men as God defines greatness.

 

To make guys into men and men into mentors.

 

When men flourish then everyone else benefits!

 

Hey you guys know we have 3 sites now…

Oviedo-Tuesdays

Downtown-Wednesdays

Longwood-Thursdays…no wait, we have 4 sites…

 

We’re live streaming right now so that is our 4^th and potentially our largest site.  And we welcome you who are joining us live…pass the word!

 

You guys make my week…I’m always pumped up and glad to be here!

 

Hey today we continue our TITANS FOR TODAY SERIES in the NT book of Titus…

 

Today: THE GOOD, BAD AND THE UGLY…The Church As it is and As It Can be! 

 

Here’s the text for today-If you have your Bibles…turn to

 

Titus 1:10-2:10

 

¹⁰ For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹ who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. ¹² One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

2 But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.² Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in ^[a]perseverance.

³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, ⁴ so that they may ^[b]encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

⁶ Likewise urge the young men to be ^[c]sensible; ⁷ in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with ^[d]purity in doctrine, dignified, ⁸ sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

⁹ Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not ^[e]argumentative, ¹⁰ not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

 

Now last week I told you that in the entrepreneurial days of the church where Paul was going all over the place telling anyone who would listen about Jesus and starting churches, that Titus was one of his strong Lieutenants.

 

Titus was Paul’s go to man who he could trust.   Titus was with Paul When they started the church in Crete, and Paul left him there to organize and develop the church.  People have to be brought together, given vision, led and loved, and Titus had the gifts to do it!

 

ILL When I planted a church here in Orlando years ago, my denomination ordained me with the title of EVANGELIST.  I remember when I was being interviewed in Atlanta by two veteran pastors who had the final decision of whether or not I would be permitted to be the church planter/evangelist here in Winter Springs.  They asked me the question:

 

            “If you get to a point in your day when you don’t have anything to do, what will you do with your time?”   I replied:  “I can’t imagine not having work to do!”  They said:  “Well, if you don’t have an appointment or planning…what will you do?”

 

I said:  “I’ll go find someone to tell about Jesus.”  They said:  “Right answer.”

 

Paul was the evangelist.

 

His Gifts were proclamational.  He was a speaker.  He left Titus in place to organize the church by training elders to lead the church well.

 

ILL  Here’s a map of Crete so you can get a picture of where it is.

 

 

So on your outline you see…

 

1. CONNECTION OF TODAY’S TEXT WITH WHAT WENT BEFORE:

That’s what we talked about last week…about what kind of elders Titus needed to develop who could be appointed, and we saw this incredible list of qualifications of elders in Titus 1:6-9…(Similar list can be found in I Timothy 3):

 

Remember this?

 

1. ⁶ namely, if any man is above reproach,
2. the husband of one wife,
3. having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 
4. ⁷ For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward,
5. not self-willed,
6. not quick-tempered,
7. not addicted to wine,
8. not pugnacious,
9. not fond of sordid gain,
10. ⁸ but hospitable,
11. loving what is good,
12. sensible,
13. just,

• devout,

15. self-controlled, 

• ⁹ holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

We said this is a vision list of what all Christian men should strive for in terms of Godly character.

 

But today’s passage shows why GODLY ELDERS were necessary in the church in Crete as they are needed in every church.  The Church On the Island of Crete was a toxic church precisely because Creatans were a toxic mess.

 

 

 

1. THE TOXICITY OF THE CHURCH ON CRETE: 1:10-16

Look at what Paul was saying about the church in Crete:

 

^“10 For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹ who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 

¹² One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true.

ILL Polybus the ancient historian said this about Creatans:

“It is almost impossible to find personal conduct more treacherous or public policy more unjust than in Crete.”

To Cretize= to lie and cheat

Highway robbery was a virtue

The Three C cultures to say away from:  Createns, Cilicians, Cappadocians

Createns= famed as drunkards, insolent, untrustworthy, lying and gluttonous people.

But what did they really think of them!

ILL  Let me tell you something that you picked up in American Culture in the last 30-50 years in the news media and in movies and in formal education that is an absolute lie:

ALL CULTURES ARE OF EQUAL VALUE AND EQUALLY GOOD

Don’t you believe it for a second.

Anthropology, sociology and psychology have all told us that all cultures are of equal goodness and value and that we have to honor them all.

That’s just not historically true, and it’s a recent idea.

Now I will say that all people including the unborn are valuable because they are image bearers of God and need to know about the love of God in Christ and need to be treated as far as possible with respect.

But not all cultures have contributed to the good and growth and benefits of humanity.  There are many cultures who haven’t contributed to the advance of science in saving lives, of creating new technology for the benefit of people.  There are cultures that we can talk about that have used technological advances to hurt and kill people.

Tell you the truth, I have no idea what people on Crete are like today, but in Paul’s day as a group, they were difficult people.  They were people who had a toxic culture.

They were so bad that they needed Jesus…like all the rest of us do!

This toxic culture they brought into the church:

“For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

 

 

• THE ANTIDOTE: GODLY, SOUND LEADERS:  2:1-10

 

1. TITUS HIMSELF:

 

2 But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

Then by Gender and Age:

2. OLDER MEN

² Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in ^[a]perseverance.

3. OLDER WOMEN

³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, ⁴ so that they may ^[b]encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, ⁵ to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

4. YOUNG MEN

⁶ Likewise urge the young men to be ^[c]sensible; 

5. TITUS AGAIN:

⁷ in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with ^[d]purity in doctrine, dignified, ⁸ sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

6. SLAVES: WORKERS

⁹ Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not ^[e]argumentative, ¹⁰ not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

Applications:

1. The antidote to difficult church situations around the world is godly and strong leaders. Churches struggle when men don’t become godly in character and knowledgable in doctrine, which is:  Biblical teaching.

ILL One thing I saw once when I was watching the movie LONE SURVIVOR was how nicked up and scratched the guys weapons were.  They were in the battle for their lives and 3 out of the 4 would die, but they had practiced and used their weapons and it showed.

I know a lot of you read the Bible on technology, but I love it when I see a guy’s Bible that is well…shows use…a Bible that has some battle fatigue to it.  I want to challenge you to say:  “I’m going to know my Bible, and I’m going to work hard on my character.”  I hope you have one at home that you’re really working up and studying and spilling coffee on.

Learn: The Books of the Bible…in order.

We also need strong leaders- don’t pick a church based on a nice guy.  Pick a church where there is conviction in the Gospel.  Strength.

Decide to Grow…decide to pursue now what you will one day be:

² Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in ^[a]perseverance.

2. SOUND DOCTRINE LEADS TO SOUND LIVING.

There is a correspondence between our Bibles, our Belief and our Behavior.

I often have wondered why many Christians have said:

“I don’t want doctrine!  Don’t give me doctrine!”

I think they might be saying:  “Don’t give me difficult teachings to try and understand.  Just give me the simple Gospel.”

That may be…

But I wonder if some Christians don’t want to study the teachings of the Bible because they don’t want to have to change their behavior to those doctrines?    I wonder:  Do they want to choose their own behavior and claim to be Christians without really believing the truth and conforming to the truth?

Grace…unleashes true character…virtue…

3. OLDER MEN…MENTOR YOUNGER MEN

Pray about:  WHO SHOULD I MENTOR?

 

OK TEAM TALK:

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS

1. For just 5 minutes…talk about the most toxic church situation you have ever been in. Don’t spend more time than 5 minutes!!!

 

2. Why do churches need strong and godly leaders?  Clue:  v11

 

 

3. According to 2:1-10 what constitutes ‘godly & sound leadership’ for the church?

 

WRAP UP:

 

ESSENTIALS—

1. Invite a Friend
2. Pass on What You Learned
3. Become a Partner-Thank you guys for keeping us in the fight! You guys are great!  We are up to 50 partners.  Our model dictates that we have 200 partners giving 25-50 a month and our goal this year is to get up to 75 partners.  Go to ForgeTruth.com and donate…partner up.
4. Memorize the SOS-Scripture of Series

ILL Subject: Conclusions of Archeologists

 

After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year outside of New York City, New York scientists found traces of copper cable dating back 100 years. They came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

 

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, a Los Angeles, California archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet somewhere just outside Oceanside. Shortly after, a story in the LA Times read: ” California archaeologists report a finding of 200 year old copper cable, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than the New Yorkers.”

 

One week later, a local newspaper in Macon, Georgia, reported the following: “After digging down about 30 feet deep in his pasture near the community of Cochran, Bubba, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Bubba has therefore concluded that 300 years ago , Georgia had already gone wireless”.

 

Just makes a person proud to be livin’ in the South doesn’t it!

 

A lot of men have concocted and believed stories about themselves and their history.

 

We want to be men who Jesus is building into a real story.

 

YOU TAKE IT TO HEART, AND LET’S PRAY.

Below you’ll find options for downloads including a handout for the lesson (.pdf), an audio-only version of the lesson (.mp3) To save them, right-click and select “Save link as…”