Series: Underserved Grace

Scripture: Titus 1:10-16 (Main passage)

Title: The War on Error

Bottom line: 

For the Church to be sound in the faith (doctrine & deed; belief & behavior; creed & conduct), we must confront false teachings and the Errorists who spread them.

Remember what an elder does:

1. Lead - Follow me as I follow Jesus

2. Feed - Teach/Train

3. Protect - Confront/Rebuke/Correct

Opening comments

When we were talking on our Virtual Church Project on Zoom last Sun night.

Extremes of blogging about false teachers.

Some false teachings that we may be more acquainted with ( and many not even realize is false) include:

”Coffee cup theology”

• Co-habitation is a good idea before you get married. (Not biblical or wise—see Proverbs)

• If someone hits you on the playground, son, you’d better hit them back. (So much for turn the other cheek)

• You deserve God’s blessing (when all we deserve is eternal wrath of God)

• If you’re suffering or sick, it’s because you sinned and God is punishing you. (It sometimes is a consequence but)

• You don’t have enough faith if God didn’t heal you. (This can be the reason but to say it’s always the reason...)

• You aren’t a true Christian if you can’t or haven’t spoken in tongues. (Not true)

• If you commit suicide, you are going to hell no matter what. (Not true)

• Falling out of love with your spouse is grounds for divorce. (Nope)

• It’s not a sin to worry about things. That’s just natural. God understands and overlooks that.

• God and country:

  • God loves America and would never allow anything bad to happen to her.

  • Not distinguishing between America and the kingdom of God. They are not the same thing.

• All religions basically teach the same thing. No. Christianity is fundamentally different than the rest.

• Hell isn’t real.

• All things are possible with God. (Context is being content in all things at all times)

• God is a God of love, therefore, he would never send people to hell. (He’s also a God of justice)

• I’m free in Christ. Therefore, no one has the right to tell me what to do. (Freedom in Christ doesn’t = freedom from responsibility)

• God helps those who help themselves. (God helps those who can’t help themselves)

• If you obey God, he’ll have to bless you financially or materially. (I guess Jesus wasn’t blessed)

• God doesn’t ask anything of you but to trust Jesus. (Actually, he asks a lot of you. Come and see. Come and obey. Come and die)

In the Bible...

• 1 Corinthians - bodily resurrection of Christ

• Galatians - Salvation is grace alone—no works required

• Colossians - Adding of Jewish myths and Greek philosophies

• 1 John - That Jesus was truly God in the flesh

What makes this so difficult is that these carry some truth in them. And they are often from the Bible.

Errorists almost always appeal to the Bible because people respect it.

What does Paul say to Titus (and us) about this war on error?

We must confront them.

Why?

Because that’s what pastors/elders train their people to do.

How?

Lead, feed and protect and leading others to do the same.

When we think of false teachers, we tend to think of crazy, religious cult leaders wearing purple Nike’s and drinking cyanide-laced Kool-aide. But false teaching permeates our culture. It’s in churches and our homes. It’s on talk radio and NPR. It’s on YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat. We cannot escape it. We can only prepare ourselves for it’s onslaught.

Are you preparing yourself?

Are you preparing your children? You can’t prepare them if you aren’t preparing yourself.

Studying the Bible regularly will prepare you to recognize the false teaching like studying authentic currency helps you identify counterfeit money.

Much of the NT was written to deal with false teaching. Examples include:

1 Corinthians - bodily resurrection of Christ

Galatians - Salvation is grace alone—no works required

Colossians - Adding of Jewish myths and Greek philosophies

1 John - That Jesus was truly God in the flesh

Paul equips us to win the war on error by:

Matthew 7:15 (Jesus)

Acts 20:29-30 (Paul)

2 Peter 2:1-3 (Peter)

1 John 4:1-3 (John)

Jude 3-4 (Jude)

2 Tim 3:16

While God has called us to a ministry of reconciliation he has also called us to a ministry of rebuke. That’s Paul’s focus here.

Whether at church or where you live, work, learn, and play, there’s a time to rebuke or confront false teachings.

We know this is effective for we do it with our kids. We rebuke, then correct them, then train them. (2 Tim 3:16) This is how we prepare our children to walk fully and faithfully with Christ.

Episodes:

Notes from Warren Wiersbe in BE Commentary

3 Responsibilities of Titus:

1. Preach God’s word. (1:1-4)

2. Ordain Qualified leaders. (1:5-9)

3. Silence False teachers. (1:10-16)

The enemy is the father of lies; the chief errorist.

Silence False Teachers/ Errorists. (1:10-16)

1. 3 Facts about False teachers:

   1. What they were personally. They were...

      1. “Rebellious” people—actively resisting obedience and authority.

      2. ”Full of meaningless talk”—hot air and claiming but not doing (16)

      3. ”Deceptive” people—“Errorists”

      4. “Liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” (12)

         1. Appetites (idols over spirit-filled life)

         2. Notice adjectives

         3. Celebrities—not servants

         4. Lived it up at other’s expense

      5. Paul summed them up in v. 16:

         1. detestable—disgusting character.

         2. Disobedient—will not be persuaded.

         3. Unfit for anything good—Not able to pass the test.

   2. What they did. They...

      1. Told lies from “home to home” (whole families led astray)

      2. Lie upset faith because faith rises and falls on truth.

      3. Jewish legalism (circumcision)

      4. Jewish myths—“When the plain sense of scripture makes good sense, seek on other sense.” -Dr. David Cooper

   3. Why they did it.

      1. They did it for “dishonest gain” or greed/money.

      2. Testimony—I went into engineering in college for 1 reason: I could make a good living financially. My motives were mixed. They likely included greed. Well, God has a sense of humor! Every time I’ve taken a new job, I’ve taken a pay cut. It was not a surprise to get a pay cut going from Civil engineering to a youth pastor in ‘97. But it was going from a youth pastor to a pastor. Yet, God continuously provides for our family. Even without financial help from family or other financial windfalls (other than 1 family), we are 18 months away from putting 4 daughters through college debt-free. And Anita was not working outside the home until our last daughter’s senior year in high school. God’s grace + Faithful giving to God + Minimizing debt + Living within our means + our girls working from 16/17 on = No student loans or major debts. We only owe for our house.

      3. I share all of that to show that to encourage you in how and why you do what you do to make money. These false teachers were all about dishonest gain. Greed.

      4. BTW, you can be a pastor and be greedy. It’s ultimately a matter of the heart. Which is why Paul makes such a big deal about it with Titus and Timothy.

      5. Reason behind their covetousness:

         1. ”Corrupted” conscience.

         2. They lived a double-life. Outwardly teaching, inwardly corrupt.

         3. You cannot serve 2 masters, said Jesus.

      6. Teachers have corrupted minds and consciences so when they look at innocent foods they are sin because sin has defiled their vision; it’s blocking the light of truth.

   4. One further matter...what Titus must do:

      1. ”Encourage others by sound doctrine and rebuke those who oppose it.” (9) “Sword of the Spirit”

      2. ”They must be silenced” (11)

      3. ”Rebuke them sharply” (13)

      4. 2 Tim 3:16

      5. False teaching is like yeast:

         1. It enters subtly

         2. Grows quickly

         3. Permeates completely

         4. Therefore, the time to rebuke/confront is asap.

      6. The worlds attitude: It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe and do so sincerely. Contrary to the conductor’s words on Polar Express, it matters completely what you believe, no matter how sincerely you believe. (Ex. Terrorists)

      7. Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Other intro thoughts...

One of the most frustrating things about our culture today is how difficult it is to discern what is true.

Whether you’re hearing about:

• COVID-19

• Historic racism

• Debate points

• Campaign ads

Truth in religion is no different.

Even truth in Christianity is a challenge these days.

Whether it’s

• Healing ministries

• Prosperity gospel ministries

There’s no shortage of distortion and deception.

And some are even worse because they do it for dishonest financial gain. I call these folks Errorists.