Situations and people to avoid

Text Titus 3:9-11 Time 17/11/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are in the final part of the Book of Titus and I want us to look this evening at 3:9-11. The opening verses of the chapter have been very positive. Paul is concerned that Titus should teach the people on Crete to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men as real Christians should. He wants those who have trusted in God to be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good as These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

All this implies a commitment to upholding the Law of God. The Law cannot save us but it is to be the Christian's rule of life once he has come to faith in Christ.

Now if anything is true of Paul it is that he is realistic and he realises that upholding the law is not always easy. Even among those committed to the idea there are problems and difficulties and so in these verses he goes on to warn against certain situations and certain people. That is what we want to consider tonight then

1. Situations to avoid – what not to do with regard to the law

1. Situations that Paul does not say we must avoid

Paul does not say, you notice, the Law doesn't matter so don't defend it or argue for it or promote it. Quite the opposite. Paul is very keen on obedience and doing good as we have seen. It can't save you but once you are saved then this is how to live. We must not press Paul's words then to say that there should never be a cross word about this, never a disagreement of any sort.

2. Situations that he does say we must avoid

His point is that we should avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law. Questions about the law are bound to arise, there will be disputes and controversies of one sort or another but avoid foolish controversies he says. Avoid arguments and quarrels – wrangling and strife, that sort of thing. The reference to genealogies is similar to what Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:4, 5 ... stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work - which is by faith. Many Jews had a great interest in genealogies because of the importance of Messiah. Once the Messiah has come that subject is not so important. False teachers also used to go on about these genealogies in unhelpful and distracting ways. I think Paul brings the subject in as an example of the convoluted wrangling one can sometimes face – like an endless genealogy, some go on at length explaining away the law or setting up rules of their own that they want to impose on others.

Let's uphold the Law, says Paul, but let's not get caught up in foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law – endless disputes that do no good.

3. Examples of the sort of things that would come under this ban today

Obviously in Paul's day there were particular things that excited the popular imagination and that led to the sort of foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law that he has in mind. What about day? What sort of situations does he want us to avoid?

A number of examples come to mind

1 Think of something like what you can and can't do on a Sunday. The Law makes clear that the Lord's Day is to be special, one day is to be different to the other six. The Bible never goes into specifics on this. So we will probably all ant to avoid doing main shop or the laundry on a Sunday and we will take care over travelling and things like watching TV, playing sport or similar activities. However, it is likely that we will come to different conclusions on certain things. These issues must be thought through with care but they must not become sources of foolish controversy, endless wrangling and quarrels.

2 Something similar could be said about what you wear on a Sunday. There are a number of issue here. What about the hats question for women? Shouldn't women be made to wear hats? Some few churches will actually give you one if you don't have one. What about the men? Should they be encouraged to wear ties and suits? What about shoes? Are trainers acceptable? I was reading about a nineteenth century Baptist minister recently who caused a stir in his first church because he did not wear a white tie as was expected. Things have moved on now and it is the question of whether the minister should wear a tie at all. I don't want to suggest that these matters are unimportant but what we must avoid is wrangling over them.

3 The fifth commandment decrees honour and obedience to parents and implies that the parents should be worthy of such honour and obedience. What the Bible never spells out is some of the specifics. I think it is quite clear that the Bible countenances and encourages physical punishment where necessary but it doesn't tell you what to use and to what age or that other punishments are not allowed. The home schooling movement is a strong one but again it is not entirely clear that this has to be the way to bring children up. Countless other issues in the same category and must not be a source of wrangling.

4 Another example might be keeping or not keeping Christmas and Easter. Different Christians will take different views on this matter. Such differences must not lead to unseemly arguments.

5 Other examples would be things like TV (to have or not to have), divorce (when is it permissible if ever?), contraception, worldliness, forms of evangelism and Bible versions – all issues that have even split churches on occasions. It is not that the Bible does not have things to say on these important subjects, rather that there are sincerely held differences over some of the issues involved and they can easily lead to pointless and destructive arguments.

4. Why such situations must be avoided.

The reason why Paul is so concerned about this is because these (foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law) are unprofitable and useless or worthless. In verse 8 he says that doing good is excellent and profitable for everyone but these foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law most unprofitable and worthless. They do no good. We must therefore avoid them. Otherwise we will find ourselves getting sidetracked and going backwards in the things of God rather than making progress.

I think it is a problem that we have largely avoided in this church but we can very easily slip into it. It only takes one or two determined individuals and there have been times when precious time has been taken up with foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law. That brings us to the next point

2. People to avoid – how to deal with divisive people

Some people seem to think that everything the Bible has to say about church discipline is all found in Matthew 18 – some even narrow down further to certain verses in that chapter. In fact there is more to be said and this is one place for example. Here it is how to deal with a divisive person. Such people do exist. It is important to see the other point of view but this can be taken to extremes. I remember someone telling me about a man in their church like this. He eventually left the church and for some reason his membership was not ended. At that time they were trying to work through a new constitution to improve things. Everything came together well with few big disagreements. On the night of the church meeting where it was all going to be finalised this particular individual turned up unannounced and was the only one to vote against the proposals. The man who told me this story also told me that this man was once on jury service. Now, of course, what goes on among jurors is secret but it was interesting that the jury, despite the Judge's direction, was only able to return a majority decision – 12 to 1! Some people are just divisive. It is as if they cannot help it. So what do you do about divisive people? The procedure is made very clear here.

1. First warn them

Warn a divisive person once. Such people have to be warned. They think they are full of zeal for the Lord, most often, but they need to be shown that they are in fact simply being divisive. They are harming the cause of the gospel and Christian unity. Their supposed stand for the truth is just a pain and unhelpful. If you can get a brother or sister to see this then they have been won and it is a reason to rejoice.

2. If necessary warn them again

And then warn him a second time. It may be that having come around they revert or that they cannot really be brought to see that they are the ones in the wrong and so they need to be warned again. It's a little bit like a referee giving a verbal warning the first time and then showing the yellow card. Although I don't think this should be done in too legal a spirit. This is a rough guide.

3. If necessary after more than one warning then avoid that person

After that, have nothing to do with him. There is no pronouncement on whether this person is a Christian as such. The point is that he is doing damage to the cause of Christ and needs to be got out of the way quickly. Sometimes such people will leave of their own accord but sometimes not and they will have to be formally disciplined and put out. It is the only way, painful as it is.

4. What is the problem with such people?

Paul adds in verse 11 You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. Paul says that such a person is warped or twisted. There is something perverted about him. He is not thinking straight and no amount of argument will do any good until his thinking is straightened out. This is a rare state of affairs but it can be the case and we need to be firm in the face of it. Such an attitude is sinful – it misses the mark. When Paul says that such a person is self-condemned his argument is probably this – such a person is so sure that he is right and that everyone else is wrong that he ends up standing alone and separated from his brothers. That is in fact how it should be – not because he is right and everyone else is wrong as he may think but because he is wrong! His unwillingness to work with others is a testimony to his unworthiness of being counted among those others. What sobering thought. It stands as a warning to all of us not to fall into divisive and unhelpful ways of thinking.