Titus 1 DT 10.3.08 by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint Fellowship Church – Berkeley):

Titus 1:1, 10-13

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness-

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For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. 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 prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith

This past Sunday at Gracepoint Fellowship Church in Berkeley, we celebrated the baptisms of 4 college students. As we do always, we heard testimonies of how they became Christian. One of the brothers shared how as a non-Christian, he went to church in high school at the prompting of his Christian friends. But because he knew their life outside of church and it seemed that Christianity made no difference in the way they lived, he felt like it would be a waste time and saw no need to go to church. What he shared really stuck in my mind especially as we started the “Monday through Sunday” message series and as we are meditating on Titus 1 for this week as a church.

Titus 1:1 is very clear that knowledge of the truth leads to godliness. God’s word is never meant for head knowledge. It is supposed to lead to actual change in a person’s life, to godliness, to sanctification. Truth has a coercive power and demands a response in the form of a changed life. So, then, why are so many Christians living lives that are not godly? Why are churches full of people who have gone to church their entire lives but whose lives are no different from anyone else with the same values regarding money, view of success, sex, etc.? As a sad result, the #1 reason non-Christian cite for not going to church is hypocrisy — the huge gap between the talk and the walk of Christians they know.

Apostle Paul talks about rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers (v.10). These people do not submit to the authority of God’s word in their lives. They are satisfied with just talking about it. They don’t feel compelled to respond to the truth in some concrete way. They think that mere mental assent is enough. And then such people become the norm and the passage says that they end up ruining whole households (v.11). With their rebellion and mere talk, they end up teaching things that they ought not. With their disregard for the truth, they are teaching others that you don’t need to take the word of God seriously. What are you to do with such people? The passage says that they must be silenced and rebuked sharply so that they will be sound in the faith (vv.11, 13).

Sometimes, the only way to close the gap between our confession and our action, what we claim vs. what we actually do, is through close accountability, correction and rebuke (2 Timothy 4:2, Titus 1:13). We need people in our lives before whom we live an open life so that they know when there is inconsistency and hypocrisy in our life. We need people in our lives who have the courage to speak the truth in love to us and even rebuke us harshly when we are steeped in our sin, dishonoring God’s name but are blind and hardened to it.

But in this ME generation where people are only into affirmation and feeling good, rebuking is a discipline that’s rarely going to be seen in today’s churches. There is such a strong reaction against any kind of correction, let alone rebuking. People only want to hear what makes them feel good and they will even actively gather around themselves people who will tell them what their itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3).

Lord, please be with our entire congregation so that we will have the courage to speak the truth in love as well as receive correction and rebuke when necessary, so that the world will know that we take Your words seriously at Gracepoint Fellowship Church.