Many Empty Talkers and Deceivers

Titus 1:7-9 ESV

 

“For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He 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 contradict it.”

 

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are all God’s stewards (bond-servants of Jesus Christ). We are not all in positions of authority and rule within the church, obviously, but we are still his servants, doing his bidding. We are his representatives to the world around us. We are all servants in God’s house, which is his body, the people of God collectively. And we are all his ministers to the body of Christ for their encouragement and strengthening in the faith.

 

[1 Thes 5:11-14; Rom 15:4-6; 2 Co 13:11; Heb 3:13; Eph 4:15-16; Heb 10:24-25; Col 3:16; Eph 5:11; Matt 5:13-16; 1 Pet 2:29]

 

So, not just elders, but all who believe in Jesus Christ should be living lives above reproach. Not one of us should be quick-tempered or a drunkard, but a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. And we, too, are to hold firmly to the word of God and to our faith. And we should all be those who correctly handle the word of truth by sharing and teaching Scriptures in consistency with their context.

 

[1 Co 5:11; 2 Co 12:20; Gal 5:20; Eph 4:26-31; Eph 5:18; Jas 1:19-20; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 3:13; 1 Co 15:2; Phi 2:16; Heb 3:14; 2 Tim 2:15]

 

Titus 1:10-14 ESV

 

“For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.”

 

We who are followers of Jesus Christ must be faithful servants of the Lord in walking in obedience to our Lord and in doing what he says, living holy lives, pleasing to God. And we must hold fast to the truth of the gospel of our salvation as was taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles, and we must be those who are sharing the gospel in sound doctrine and who are able to oppose those who contradict the gospel truth.

 

For, there are many within the gatherings of the church who are not submissive to the Lord Jesus, who are disobedient (unruly) and who are unwilling to come under Christ’s Lordship. They are refusing to fall in line with God’s plans for his people. Thus, they are not cooperative with God’s plan of salvation and sanctification for our lives, but they are defiant and rebellious, who do not submit to God’s law (see Rom 6:16; Rom 8:5-8).

 

Their professions of faith in Jesus Christ are lip service only because they refuse to die daily with Christ to sin and to live daily to Christ and to his righteousness. They refuse to walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands and to follow Jesus wherever he leads us. And they refuse to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ and to submit to him as Lord of their lives for they have been convinced that they don’t have to do any of that.

 

They are spiritually lazy, just living for themselves and for what entertains them without regard for what God wants or has planned for their lives. Although they profess faith in Jesus Christ, they are not bearing fruit in keeping with repentance or in keeping with the faith they profess. But they are still living for the flesh in deliberate and habitual sin, convinced that God’s love and grace covers it all.

 

Many who are living like this while professing faith in Jesus Christ are wielding influence over other people’s lives and are leading them astray. For many of them are pastors and elders and Bible teachers and writers of devotions and those who write books which are best sellers in the world of what is considered Christian literature. Some of them are Christian musicians, too, who also have great influence in the Christian world.

 

And those who are teaching what is false and who are leading people to continue living in sin, and who are convincing them that faith in Jesus Christ does not require repentance, obedience, or submission to Christ as Lord, they need to be silenced, for they are leading many people straight to hell on the false promise of heaven as their eternal destiny. For they are leaving them still dead in their sins without the hope of eternal life with God.

 

So, those of us who know the truth, and who are living the truth, need to also be those who are sharing the truth wherever we might be with other people, even virtually, where we have the opportunity to share the truth of the gospel and to expose the lies of the devil. For not many people are teaching the truth these days, and the truth needs to go out to the people.

 

Titus 1:15-16 ESV

 

“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. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”

 

The pure are not just those who say they believe in Jesus Christ, but they are those who are walking in righteousness and holiness, who are living holy and godly lives pleasing to the Lord. They are those who are walking the walk who are not just talking the walk. They are still human, but they are not living in rebellion against the Lord, but righteousness is what they practice. Obedience is what they practice, by God’s grace, in his power.

 

“All things,” though, is not intended here to mean “all things,” for obviously evil is not pure. But they would be all things regarded as pure by God, according to the teachings of Scripture. And to the defiled and unbelieving (which includes some people who profess faith in Jesus) nothing is pure, and that is largely because they do not honor the Lord or his word, and they reject purity in favor of what is evil and wicked. So, they are unfit.

 

But if we are to follow Jesus Christ with our lives, in truth, we must be those who are dying daily with Christ to sin and who are living daily to Christ and to his righteousness. We are not to be those who make sin our practice, but righteousness is to be what we practice. We are to be those, too, who are following the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands who are living holy lives pleasing to God, because we love him and because we honor Him.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]

 

HOLY GROUND

WE ARE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND

 

Acapeldridge

 

THIS IS HOLY GROUND

WE'RE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND

FOR THE LORD IS PRESENT

AND WHERE HE IS, IS HOLY

 

YOU ARE HOLY GOD

A PERFECT AND HOLY GOD

WE WILL COME BEFORE YOU

WITH HEARTS MADE CLEAN BY JESUS BLOOD

 

WE ARE STANDING ON HOLY GROUND

AND I KNOW THAT THERE ARE ANGELS ALL AROUND

LET US PRAISE JESUS NOW

WE ARE STANDING IN HIS PRESENCE

ON HOLY GROUND

 

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