Today you should read: Titus 1:10-16
I’m so excited about our brief journey in the book of Titus. This letter, of course was written to Titus by Paul and deals with order in the church among other critical themes. It’s what we call a Pastoral Epistle. Titus is the pastor on the island of Crete.
Paul begins this letter and gets right into the thick of it. The danger of misusing our words in God’s church. This was a problem in the early church and is still a problem today.
Whoever said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” was crazy! Words are our primary weapon of choice to inflict pain on others. As we so often say at Center Point – before you speak you should ask three questions and then speak accordingly:
- Is it true?
- Is it kind?
- Is it necessary?
Let’s do a short Bible study today on these few verses and see what God teaches us.
- We are RESPONSIBLE for our words. (v.10)
Paul tells Titus to deal with the following issues in the church:
- Rebellious people
- Engaging in useless talk
- Deceiving others
We must be cautious of all of these – not having a rebellious heart – not practicing useless talk (and we do), and not deceiving others.
Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes–these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. Ephesians 5:4
It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin. Luke 17:2
NOTE: This is especially true regarding salvation (v.10b). The critical danger in adding anything (like works or baptism) to salvation or taking anything away is overwhelming.
- The DANGER: Turning from truth to false teaching. (v.11)
People follow false teaching because they haven’t been taught truth. Truth is the solution to false doctrine. When you know truth – you won’t accept error. We must be extremely careful about this today. There are many top selling authors and “preachers” who are marketing false doctrine and Christians are buying it by the millions. And I DO MEAN millions – remember what verse 11b says – they do it only for money. BE CAREFUL!
- We must not hold on to myths – but TRUTH with a pure heart. (v.14)
We worship myths and traditions often more than the truth of God’s Word. Stop listening to myths and check everything out with Scripture.
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11
- What we say and do REFLECTS our relationship with God. (v.16)
Remember it’s easy to proclaim our faith – but our faith isn’t confirmed by what we say – it’s by what we do.
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matthew 7:21-23
You can claim to know God with your lips but deny Him with you life.
What’s God speaking to you about today? What do you need to tweak in your walk with Him?
By: Tim Parsons — Lead Pastor
JumpstartCPC.com 
“Useless Talk” & “False Teaching”
I was a college student in the early 80’s when twenty four hour news came into existence with CNN. Around the same time cable television and talk radio began to expand across America. Thirty five plus years later we have all kinds of social media outlets and methods of communicating. The volume of “useless talk” and “false teaching” is probably the highest it’s ever been in human history. So how do we cut through the clutter and get to the truth? Fortunately we have the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit to help us discern what is good & true. Praise God for His unchanging Word.
All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. II Timothy 3:16-17
It must have been a difficult time for Titus whose task was to appoint elders who aspired to the qualifications described in the previous passage. And then on top of that, he had the contentious false teachers (v.11) to handle, teachers in it for the money. So arguably, Titus has his hands full, prospects seem few or far off, lots of issues to wrestle through, where to begin?
There is a treasure to be found in verse 15, when Paul speaks “but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.” This is the starting place, and Pastor Tim’s questions about kindness, truth, and necessity are like a spotlight on the soul. If the mind is defiled, it cannot accurately inform the conscience, so conscience cannot warn the person. But when the conscience is accurately and fully developed with God’s truth, it functions as the warning system God designed.
Whether you are Marvin Gaye singing about lost love, or you are Pinocchio with Jiminy Cricket, the phrase “let your conscience be your guide” is only as sound as the foundation it is built on.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAyAM4T0pqc)…that’s Jiminy Cricket, there.