THE GROWTH OF REBELLIOUS PEOPLE
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
I was reading Scripture again in Titus 1:6-16 whole and explained to Titus the requirements of eldership leadership in the church saying that"an elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, a man whose children believe it or not opened the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer's interest with God's work you must be blameless, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, nonviolent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it is been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refused those who oppose it." Since I have been an elder in a church I took a long hard look at the Scripture, and held tightly against a reflection of myself to see that as hard as I made try I still fall short of some of these things, and I realize just how difficult and how important the message of God is to a dying world.
I found something else in this chapter as well that needs to be pointed out to all of us in this generation. In verse 10 the word tells us "for there are many rebellious people. Mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group." I need to take a moment to explain that statement to anyone who may not understand it. The"circumcision group"that Paul was referring to was the group that I had written about earlier who were trying to impose the concept of Gentiles being circumcised and becoming as Jews before they were accepted in to the church. This was not a teaching from Christ and Paul was trying to deal with the treachery they were causing. Paul goes on in verse 11 "they must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach, and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own provinces said "cretins are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons". This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth."
This is not unlike some of the people who are standing right in our midst within the church today who absolutely refuse to not take in the tainted teachings from this world about the value of good works as opposed to the building of faith and obedience. The words that Paul used in the last part of this first chapter of Titus is thought of by some to be a hard teaching, and yet I believe that we as children of God need to discern the fruit of the spirit brought forth by some who claim Christ just as these people did. Paul finishes in Titus 1:15-16 by saying"to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is peer. In fact, both their mind and their consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." I believe with all my heart that for those of us who can keep our eyes fixed on Christ rather than by being distracted by our own quirks, and problems of control within our minds and hearts will find that our faith in Christ is rewarded by him granting us all that we ever could need. There is a trade-off however of our needing to be obedient to God's word. We must be able to teach what is in accord with the sound doctrine of Jesus Christ. Paul goes on in Titus 2: to explain the needs for various groups within the church to be taught that sound doctrine, and to continue in the same framework of family that Christ has established us to be. We will be taking up more on this idea of living correctly within the church, and within society this next week. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
I was reading Scripture again in Titus 1:6-16 whole and explained to Titus the requirements of eldership leadership in the church saying that"an elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, a man whose children believe it or not opened the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer's interest with God's work you must be blameless, not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, nonviolent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it is been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refused those who oppose it." Since I have been an elder in a church I took a long hard look at the Scripture, and held tightly against a reflection of myself to see that as hard as I made try I still fall short of some of these things, and I realize just how difficult and how important the message of God is to a dying world.
I found something else in this chapter as well that needs to be pointed out to all of us in this generation. In verse 10 the word tells us "for there are many rebellious people. Mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group." I need to take a moment to explain that statement to anyone who may not understand it. The"circumcision group"that Paul was referring to was the group that I had written about earlier who were trying to impose the concept of Gentiles being circumcised and becoming as Jews before they were accepted in to the church. This was not a teaching from Christ and Paul was trying to deal with the treachery they were causing. Paul goes on in verse 11 "they must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach, and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own provinces said "cretins are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons". This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth."
This is not unlike some of the people who are standing right in our midst within the church today who absolutely refuse to not take in the tainted teachings from this world about the value of good works as opposed to the building of faith and obedience. The words that Paul used in the last part of this first chapter of Titus is thought of by some to be a hard teaching, and yet I believe that we as children of God need to discern the fruit of the spirit brought forth by some who claim Christ just as these people did. Paul finishes in Titus 1:15-16 by saying"to the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is peer. In fact, both their mind and their consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good." I believe with all my heart that for those of us who can keep our eyes fixed on Christ rather than by being distracted by our own quirks, and problems of control within our minds and hearts will find that our faith in Christ is rewarded by him granting us all that we ever could need. There is a trade-off however of our needing to be obedient to God's word. We must be able to teach what is in accord with the sound doctrine of Jesus Christ. Paul goes on in Titus 2: to explain the needs for various groups within the church to be taught that sound doctrine, and to continue in the same framework of family that Christ has established us to be. We will be taking up more on this idea of living correctly within the church, and within society this next week. May you richly bless God through your life in him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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