Titus 1

Good morning, Saylorville Church, and welcome back! My name is Colton Willey, and I’m the Connections Pastor here. And if you’re new with us this morning, welcome! We’re glad you’re here.

And I’m also happy to be opening up the tiny book of Titus which is in the back of your Bibles. So if you have a copy of Scripture you can find the book of Titus, chapter 1 verse 9 as we’re going to continue on in our brand new sermon series, Doctrine on Display. And that really is a great title for Titus, because Titus is all about doctrine.

If you remember last week our very own Pastor Pat, he opened up the book by explaining that Titus is written by the Apostle Paul to Titus. And Titus was almost like a protégé of the Apostle Paul, and Titus has one goal while he’s in the small island of Crete. His goal, charged by Paul, is to appoint elders, to appoint men of God, spiritual leaders of Christ’s Church in Crete so that they can display doctrine in their preaching and teaching… but so that they can also display doctrine… in their life.

But let me ask you a question as soon as we jump in here. Are you somebody that enjoys doctrine? Do you enjoy doctrine? Some of you laugh, which I don’t know how to really navigate that. If you’re someone who likes doctrine, I think that’s a good thing. I think Christians should like doctrine. I think we should like diving in to the deep things of God. I often tell new believers or just people that I work with that when you and I ask big questions about God, we get big answers… which is a good thing.

But let me ask you another question. Do you like when doctrine is on display? That is, do you like to know what your church believes? And again, the answer is the same thing. You should want that. That’s a good thing. Right now, if you were to just pull out your phone and look up saylorvillechurch.com, you could go to our “about” page, go to our “belief” section, and if you scroll down long enough, you’ll find our Doctrinal Statement. It’s basically just a list of everything that we believe about God, about His Son, the Lord Jesus, and about His Word. There’s almost everything there. And we think that’s a really good thing. Because when you have a public doctrinal statement that everybody can see, it provides clarity for you, right? When you walk through those doors, you know what you’re getting into. It provides transparency, right? We’re not trying to hide what we believe here at Saylorville Church. It also provides accountability, right? If I’m up here preaching the Word of God, then I’d better be congruent with what we’ve decided the Bible teaches and be following that conviction. For us, a doctrinal statement, a public doctrinal statement is a good sign of the healthy church.

You know what else is a good sign? This. [“Notice: Employees must wash hands before returning to work”] That’s a good sign, right? I mean, if you didn’t laugh then, I mean… come on! That’s a sign that you really like to see. I mean, we literally live in the restaurant capital of the world, Ankeny, Iowa. Like, you throw a rock and you hit a restaurant, right? But for me, that sign, it inspires confidence, right? It inspires us to believe, hopefully, that our food, when we go out on a date, when we go out with our family, our food’s being prepared free of germs. Or at least it should inspire that, right?

I’m reminded of an old sitcom called “Seinfeld.” Anyone ever seen “Seinfeld” before? It’s kind of funny. My parents watched it. I didn’t grow up with “Seinfeld,” but my parents watched it a lot. And I do remember one episode where Jerry Seinfeld, who’s the main character, Seinfeld, he goes on a date with a woman he just met and they go to a pizza parlor. And in this episode, Jerry goes to the bathroom in the middle of the meal. And when he goes to the restroom, there’s a man that walks in and it turns out that this is “Poppy.” This is the guy that’s gonna make the pizza for Jerry in his date. Seems normal. The problem is, then Poppy goes to the bathroom. He comes out, hits Jerry in the back and he doesn’t wash his hands! He just leaves. And then what follows is this scene.

It really is a great scene! It’s a funny episode! I love it, though. The date is just like digging into the meal, right? And she’s, oh, this is amazing! And Seinfeld, he’s hesitant… because he knows that a little leaven… leavens the whole lump, right?

You Bible students, you got that reference. But why did I show you that… video? … The reason why is because I think when we study Titus, I think when we jump into the passage that we’re going to go through this morning, I think when the Apostle Paul, when he wrote this passage, I think he had the same face that Jerry had. And I want to show you why… Titus, chapter 1 verse 9. Paul is charging Titus to appoint elders and these elders, verse 9 says:

Titus 1:9, “They must hold firm to the trustworthy Word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who would contradict it.”

That word sound in your Bible, it’s a really interesting word. It’s the Greek word “hugiaino?.” This word is actually where we get our English word for “hygiene.” Super cool! Paul is literally telling Titus, ‘You know what I’m looking for in Crete? I’m looking for healthy, hygienic doctrine.’ In Paul’s eyes, this doctrine that these false teachers were pouring into Crete, this doctrine that Titus is fighting, this doctrine disgusts Paul. It’s dirty doctrine, and the rest of our passage explains why. Go ahead and join me again in Titus chapter 1 verse 10. Paul says, ‘We need elders in Crete.’ Why? — Because:

Titus 1:10-16

10 “…there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.

11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.

12 (In fact) One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, he says this, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons,” (and it’s kind of a funny verse. Paul says) [13]”This testimony is true.”

(It’s kind of a weird verse. You know, Paul here, he’s not doing like a racial slur, okay? He’s not being prejudiced. What Paul’s saying is he’s saying, ‘Listen, their own people say this about them! Titus, this is gonna be some tough ground to work in.’)

Verse 13, [“This testimony is true.”] “Therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound, that they may be healthy in the faith,

14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.

15 (because) to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but (both) their minds and their consciences are defiled.

16 (Sure) they profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”

So as you can see the Apostle Paul, he’s not pulling any punches when he’s dealing with these false teachers in Crete. In fact, if you look at that last line… look at verse 16, that last line, the first thing he talks to, that he calls them is detestable. That’s sticking with Paul’s theme. The word detestable in the Greek, it literally means “they stink.” It still fits the theme that Paul started with. Paul is saying, ‘I can smell these false teachers and their dirty doctrine from a mile away! So Titus, you need to get in there, and you need to clean some stuff up.’

But we might ask the question, ‘How did it get this bad in Crete?’ ‘What was going on in this church that Titus was sent to that made it so elders were necessary?’ — And I think you actually have some clues in the passage. If you look at verse 10 and verse 16, literally the brackets of our passage, both of them say the same thing. In verse 10, Paul calls these false teachers insubordinate. The Greek word is literally translated “not subject.” These false teachers in Crete are not under any authority, because remember, there no elders, right? It’s literally just a theological ‘wild west.’ It’s like when you go get your doctrine from YouTube or TikTok, okay? Not the best place to go, okay? People can say anything on those platforms. And then look at verse 16. It says that these false teachers are disobedient. That word in the Greek again, it literally means “they cannot be persuaded.” So not only are these false teachers insubordinate, but they don’t want to be under an authority. They don’t want an authority, and they can’t be persuaded to go under any of it. So Paul says, ‘You need elders in this church.’ Why? — ‘because without oversight, without authority guarding the church, dirty doctrine thrives.

Some of you know that I actually went to college at the University of Northern Iowa, (UNI … go Panthers, right? Yeah) Most people don’t care about UNI. It was a great school, okay? — But at UNI there was actually an infamous restaurant called Great Wall. It was a Chinese restaurant. It was at the bottom of College Hill. And all you have to know about this restaurant is that it closed at 4 a.m. at night. Nothing good happens at a restaurant that closes at 4 a.m. at night. And before I was a believer in Christ and with the old Colton, I was once standing in Great Wall at 2 a.m. in the morning, and I was receiving some Chinese food. But as I was receiving the food, this other guy, a worker, he walked into the restaurant holding a five gallon bucket full of water? … I don’t know. It was like some kind of liquidy substance. It was like gray, there was like bubbles coming out of it. He literally went into the kitchen and just threw the water down on the floor and started mopping it. I remember clear as day, I literally thought in that moment, “When’s the last time this place saw a health inspector?” — Because the owners of that restaurant, they probably hated when health inspectors came around. But me… as a customer, I was grateful for health inspectors! (This is hilarious! A guy in the first service, he went to UNI. You know what happened in Great Wall? It burned down! (audience laughs) True story, you can look it up!) As a customer, I was grateful for health inspectors.

Let me ask you a question. Are you grateful for the inspectors that God’s put in your life? –your elders, your deacons, your small group leaders? Maybe a better question for you this morning is, do you have any inspector in your life? Do you have a health inspector that’s constantly checking in on you, constantly asking you how you’re walk with the Lord Jesus is? — because, listen. Dirty doctrine, the kind that Titus is fighting, dirty doctrine hates inspection! Dirty doctrine hates inspection. This is why Paul wants to appoint elders, because he knows that when the lies in a church are really, really loud. The louder the lies, the clearer the authority must be to combat them.

I’m reminded of the book of Hebrews, chapter 13 verse 17, where the author of Hebrews, he says to Christians, he says to those of us who are members of the Church, people within the body of Christ, he says:

Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders (your church leaders) and submit to them…”

Now some of you, you see that verse and… you don’t like that! It makes you bristle! Which is, by the way, why some of you have been sitting in this church for years and you’re still not members, because in your mind you don’t like the idea of the elders or anyone, you know… besides Jesus… having the authority to speak into your life, having the authority to challenge you, to check in on you, to ask you hard questions. But I would challenge you this morning, finish the verse.

Hebrews 13[:17] says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls…” (Jesus is the Great Shepherd, but your Church leaders are His under-shepherds that guard the flock.) “… they’re keeping watch over our souls, as those who will have to give an account.” (I will… I, Colton Willey, will have to give an account to Almighty God for how I’ve shepherded you. That should be a humbling thought!) “Let your elders do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Listen, strong church leadership, strong church leadership that has real authority… authority to discipline, authority to ask hard questions… it’s an advantage to you. It’s a gift from God. Why? — Because dirty doctrine hates inspection.

Listen, the primary way to fight the lies of the devil, to fight theological infections, is to allow… even welcome… inspection into your life. So have you? Do you have someone in your life that’s regularly checking in with you? — and regularly asking hard questions? — regularly reorienting you to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ? — because, listen… when a health inspector, if a health inspector walks into Great Wall and they write them up, give them the old “red check mark,” is that health inspector being a bully? No! Is that health inspector being intolerant? No! The health inspector is just doing their job, right?

And by the way, whenever a health inspector writes up a restaurant, it’s not arbitrary, right? They don’t walk in and say, ‘Ehh, yeah… This one’s not going to pass the test.’ Well, the health inspector follows the health code. And church leadership, if it’s biblical, has a code too. Notice the stark difference between the elders in Titus 1 and these false teachers. Look at verse 9 with me real quick. It says of these elders who Titus is trying to appoint, it says:

Titus 1:9, ‘The elders must hold fast to the word…’

This is the code. But in verse 10 it says that the false teachers, what do they do?

Titus 1:10, [“For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.”]

They’re just full of empty talk. Everything that these false teachers are saying,… the philosophies, the words of wisdom… there’s no foundation. There’s no meat. There’s no rock to put it on. And then, look at verse seven. It says:

Titus 1:7, ‘… that elders must be above reproach.’

So it’s not enough for an elder just to know a lot of stuff. And elder actually has to live the life of a Christian. But verse 11:

Titus 1:11, [“They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.”]

These false teachers… the elders, they must be above reproach, but the false teachers, they must be silenced! Why? What’s Paul saying? He’s saying that a key marker of dirty doctrine is having beliefs or a lifestyle that is untethered from this Word. Listen, every single tick that you get away from the Word of God, you’re getting closer and closer to a theological infection. Every time!

I’m reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5. It’s a message to husbands and wives, how to live out a Christian life in a marriage. But there’s one line that I’ve always loved. Paul says:

Ephesians 5:[26] “Husbands, love your wives… having cleansed her with the washing of the water of the word…”

So in Paul’s eyes, your personal daily intake of God’s Word is like a shower that washes away dirty doctrine. So the question has to be, are you showering? — because… listen, if someone doesn’t shower for a couple days, ya notice! And let me tell you something. We notice when you’re not taking your spiritual shower, as well, because as soon as you wake up, as soon as you walk out the door of your house, you realize that you’re picking up dirty doctrines, right?

Our world is full of empty talk. You might pick up a doctrine that says that your salary, your reputation, your looks, anything besides Christ, is what defines you. That’s dirty doctrine. You might be hit with a doctrine that says that your security, your comfort, your safety is found in this world, not in the Lord of hosts. Or maybe you’ll be hit with one of the most insidious doctrines of all, that you can be accepted by God, not through Christ alone, but by what you do for Him. It’s all dirty doctrine. The only question is, are you washing that dirt off with the Word of Almighty God? — because some of you, you might not even know that you’re picking up dirty doctrine.

Just a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I, we went to the Iowa History Museum. You know… gotta get a history reference in here! We went to the Iowa History Museum, and we went there, they have a new exhibit. They’ve got a Civil War exhibit, and it was super cool! They’ve got guns. They’ve got cannons. They’ve got flags. They’ve got uniforms. But one section was very striking. It was the medicine section. And when I went up there, I saw the tools that the surgeons on the battlefield would use. I saw all the guidelines they had. But then I was struck by a factoid that just grasped me! Did you know that for every one soldier killed by a gunshot wound in the Civil War, two died by disease. Literally two times as many soldiers died by disease than they did by bullets. Why? It wasn’t for a lack of doctors. There were doctors in the field. They did surgery on the battlefield. They did amputations on the battlefield. What was the problem? The problem was they had no knowledge of the spread of bacteria. In 1865, they didn’t wash their hands between patients. In 1865, they didn’t even wash the saw that they used in the procedure, and soldiers died by the thousands! The bacteria was there, wasn’t it? But they couldn’t identify it.

Pastor Pat said last week… and he’s right! He said that we live in an age of illiteracy, and we do. We just don’t read as much as we used to. But, you know what? I think we also live in an age of dependency. And what I mean by that is, we want everybody else to tell us what this book says, but we don’t want to read it ourselves. Listen, the only way that you can identify dirty doctrine is by knowing healthy doctrine, not just from your church leaders, though obviously we’re happy, it’s our joy, it’s our privilege to do that, but from your own personal dedication to the Word of God, your own personal time with the Lord Jesus Christ. Dirty doctrine hates inspection…

But secondly, dirty doctrine infects the body. Look at verse 12 real quick. Verse 12… This is kind of the response of these false teachers. This is what’s happening in Crete.

[Titus 1:11, “They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.”]

Paul says these false teachers are upsetting. .. they’re literally overthrowing whole families! And at first, the focus on the family might seem kind of weird, but it’s actually spot on, because listen… the family unit… a healthy marriage, strong biblical parenting… the family unit is the pillar of a healthy church. Fighting dirty doctrine… listen, fighting dirty doctrine does not start here. It starts in the home… and dads, it especially starts with you. Are you the health inspector of your household? — ’cause that’s what you’re called to do. That’s what I’m called to do.

But what’s actually happening in Titus, we actually have a clue. If you go to another pastoral epistle, 1 Timothy chapter four, Paul gives us a clue. He says that these false teachers that Timothy was dealing with, he says:

1 Timothy 4:1, “… in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons… forbidding marriage.”

Sounds pretty bad! — but what is that teaching? [1 Timothy 4:3] Forbidding marriage… the idea that you could be joined with another person, you don’t have full devotion to God. These false teachers have literally convinced married people that they are less spiritual, less Christian. And so what do they do in Crete? What are they doing? They’re getting divorced! They’re getting their marriages annulled so that they can be more “spiritual.” That’s wild, right? That sounds crazy! — but friends, false teachers do that today, too. Paul says in the epistles that all of us Christians, if we put our faith in Jesus, we are all one in Christ. But you know what false teachers are really, really good at? You know what they excel at? — creating hierarchies in the body, creating hierarchies in the church, groups that “have” and groups that “have not.” And if you don’t think so, just check out the cults. If you were to go to a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall, there’s actually rankings of Christians. There’s the anointed class, which is the [144,000] and then there’s all the other sheep. If you were to go to a Mormon church, Mormons believe that there’s actually degrees of glory… that is, if I work harder, I go to a better heaven. And if you go to a prosperity gospel church, the pastor that’s flying around in the billion dollar jet, well, he’s anointed. It’s all exactly what you would expect from a church that has a theological infection… divisions and hierarchies within the body.

Speaking of infections, you wanna know what’s like one of the worst things that can happen if you have an infection? If you have some kind of bacterial infection, one of the worst things… maybe some of you have had this before… is sepsis. Sepsis is terrible! In fact, I didn’t even know this, but apparently one in three hospital deaths are caused by sepsis… not a good deal! But you know what sepsis literally is? It’s when your body has an infection and in an effort to fight it, the body literally… the immune system… it literally just spirals out of control. It starts attacking its own tissues, its own organs. And the Apostle Paul calls the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the body of Christ. Listen, dirty doctrine is an infection that turns the body against itself.

And what are some symptoms of a theological infection? I want to give you three of them real quick. Okay, here’s the first one. In a church that’s struggling with theological infection, suspicion replaces grace. You look at your fellow brother and sister in Christ, you say they just don’t get it. They just haven’t studied enough. They’re not spiritual enough. Also argument replaces dialogue. Listen, I love as much as the next guy diving into this book with a brother or sister in Christ, looking at the things that maybe we don’t agree on. But we don’t do that just as an argument. We do it so we can grow our knowledge of this book, so we can grow our intimacy with God, so we can grow in our obedience to His word. But if you’re just arguing over this book to win? — it’s an infection. And finally, factions replace unity. People literally start saying, you can’t be a true Christian unless you do this, unless you do that. Theological infections. And the scriptures declare this. If you look at Paul’s pastoral epistles… 1Timothy,

2 Timothy, Titus… Paul says the same thing in all three of them. Stop quarreling! Stop focusing on secondary issues. Why? — because dirty doctrine infects the body.

So our question this morning has to be, are you a carrier? Are you a carrier of the infectious theological system? Or are you a carrier of division in the church? — because… listen… the more that you and I drift away from the purity of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more susceptible we are to dirty doctrine… plain and simple… which leads us to our final point. Dirty doctrine, the kind that Titus is fighting tooth and nail against… dirty doctrine can never make you clean. Notice verse 15, this is Paul’s like final word, basically, concerning these false teachers. And it seemingly comes out of nowhere. But Paul says in verse 15:

Titus 1:15, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.”

Why does Paul make this distinction? Why does he go here? It’s important for us to understand what this group of false teachers in Crete were actually teaching, and there’s a lot of clues in the text. I want you really quickly to look at verse 10.

[Titus 1:10, “For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.”]

When Paul’s describing these false teachers, he says the worst opponents, the worst false teachers, are of the circumcision party, referring to some Jewish believers. Look at verse 14. There’s more clues.

[Titus 1:14, “… devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.”]

It says that they’re propagating Jewish myths and man-made commands of people. Most commentators would say that the false teachers in Titus are a group of people called the Judaizers, and they’re all over the New Testament. They were like Paul’s number one rival. And you can summarize what the Judaizers believed by just looking at a passage in Scripture, Acts 15:1. This is basically the theology of the Judaizers.

Acts 15:1, ‘…men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ‘

What are they saying? They’re saying that the finished work of Jesus Christ is not enough for salvation. They’re saying, ‘You Cretans, you need to do further work. You need to have further devotion, you need further cleansing if you really are to be clean.’

But let me ask you something. Something that all of us… hopefully… do every day is wash our hands. But when’s the last time when you went into the bathroom and you washed your hands, you left the bathroom and then you just turned around and immediately went back in there and washed your hands. That’d be weird, right? That’d almost be OCD. No. We assume that a little water and a little soap can make our hands clean. How much more does the perfect life, the sacrificial death, and the triumphant resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ…. how much more is sufficient, not just to cleanse our body but to cleanse our eternal soul? — ’cause… listen… the ultimate, the ultimate marker of all dirty doctrine is a “Jesus +” theology…

Jesus + circumcision; Jesus + church attendance; Jesus +hustle; Jesus + cleaning myself up. Listen… Jesus + anything equals nothing. And the reason why is ’cause if Jesus’ finished work on that cross, His resurrection…. friend, if that’s not enough to cleanse you, then you’ll never be clean… and neither will I.

But what does Jesus say to you today? If you were to believe on Him on faith, or if you’re a Christian and you already do, He says what He said to His Apostles all those years ago in John 15:

John 15:3, “You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

You are already clean. That word clean that Jesus uses is the exact same word in Titus for “pure.”  Exact same word. Jesus says, ‘If you put your faith in Me, you are already clean because of the Word which I’ve spoken to you.

John 15:4, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

Think about our Lord’s life. Think about the countless unclean masses that came to King Jesus; the paralyzed, the demon possessed, the woman with the flowing blood. When they came up and they touched Jesus, they didn’t make Jesus unclean. He made them clean! — And He’ll make you clean, too. He made me clean. And you know what? To the pure, all things are pure. The only question is, are you willing to bring your dirtiness, all your mess, all your struggle to the Lord Jesus that He would make you clean? You see, dirty doctrine… Dirty doctrine says that the problem is out there and the solution is in you. But the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ says that the problem is in me and the solution is in Christ. Jesus + anything equals nothing, but Jesus plus nothing equals everything. So ask yourself this morning, what equation dominates your life? Let’s pray.

Father God in heaven, Lord, we praise You and we thank You that though we were once red like crimson in our sin, though we were once dead, Lord, through the finished work of Your Son, Jesus, we can be made clean. We can be made white as snow. And so Lord, I pray God that You would protect this church, protect Your leaders, protect this flock from dirty doctrine. Those who know You, Lord, I pray God that You would help us not be divisive but be unified in our love for the Gospel, Lord, that we wouldn’t replace works for the finished work of Your Son on the cross. And I pray for those in this room that still have a “Jesus +” theology. Lord, would they see that that’s just bondage, and that it can never make them clean? And yet Lord, You’ve finished everything that’s required in Your death and resurrection. Father, if in our own strength we confide, our striving would be losing. So, Lord, would You be a mighty fortress to us this morning for Your glory? in Jesus’ name. Amen. [Music]