This morning we return to the book of Titus and consider the Lord's instruction to Titus through Paul in chapter 3, verses 9 to 11 about how to avoid or the necessity for avoiding all sinful divisions. Let's pray. Lord God, we come to your word We would ask nothing less than that your spirit would make use of its proclamation to bring us further into the truth, to amplify and inflame our love for you, appreciation for you, and to loosen our wills to walk in your way and to live freely in your church as those who know they are well cared for. Father, we pray for your help in this hour. and ask, Lord, for your blessing in Christ's name alone. Amen. Titus chapter 3, verses 9 to 11. This is the Word of God. Forgive me, I'm going to begin back at verse 4. When the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. Knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned." This is God's word. It was not good news that I heard when my dentist told me that my tooth was decaying. It was not good news that I shared with my wife when I told her that months later that tooth, that same tooth had begun to ache. It was not good news when I felt the swelling of an infection in my mouth. It was not good news when the endodontist, I had to practice saying that word, evaluated my tooth and told me that redoing a root canal and crown was unfavorable at best in terms of its outcome. It was not good news that the best course of action would be to extract the tooth, to pull it out of my mouth and leave a gaping hole there. None of that was good news. But let me tell you, it was good news to hear that there was a way to stave off further infection. It was good news that this intensifying corruption in my flesh didn't have to become my cause of death. It was good news to know that we had the option of an extraction. It was good news that my insurance would pay 50% and we could get it done within the week. I probably don't need to tell this to many of you, but it's no fun getting your tooth pulled. But it is good news that it can be done when it needs to be done. Amen? Well, even more so, brothers and sisters, it's not good news that sin has entered the world and that it has corrupted us all. that we are born with a sin nature and do ourselves sin daily in word, thought, and deed, even we believers. It's not good news that the world and the devil gladly encourage our flesh in all manner of pride, unbelief, and rebellion. It's not good news that the sin we commit tempts and brings harm to others, that it corrupts and harms ourselves, and it is an affront to our Savior, a grievance to the Spirit, and an offense to our God. But it is good news that our God is full of mercy, It is good news that He Himself is love. It is good news that God has sent His Son to save us sinners from our sins and to give us what we ourselves had no ability to attain on our own efforts or merits, eternal life. It is good news that he has freely given us faith, hope, and love by his spirit and his word. It is good news that he has made us one with himself and with one another in the church. It is good news that our God is at work to preserve the peace, the purity, and the unity of Christ's body on earth. And it is good news, brothers and sisters. that our God has the will and the power and the wisdom and the means and the grace to preserve these good things against the corrupting, infecting influence of divisiveness and division in the body of Christ. Let me tell you, it is no fun removing a sinfully divisive member from the church or of consigning an outsider to no more contact with our congregation. and leaving that person alone when they need Christ but don't know it. It's no fun to take that course of action with an insider or an outsider. But it is good news that God has provided us with a holy way for such things to be done and for the life and the unity and the peace of the church to be preserved in the face of such conflict. That is good news. This morning we consider Paul's instructions to Titus about how to handle sources of division in the churches in Crete, whether they come from the inside or the outside. We consider this painful but necessary work that Christ has authorized and empowered his church officers to perform on his behalf by his spirit and his word. And I want us to all hear these things today as a proclamation of good news. given the circumstances. We live in a world of sinful division, don't we? Some division is necessary, some is even good, but some division is truly evil and laden with sin. We've had a fresh reminder of the corrupt divisions we create by our sin this week, haven't we? We have heard it in the news about the senseless murder of George Floyd. and about the subsequent irrational rioting and looting and destruction that followed in the city of Minneapolis, which is now spreading throughout the nation. Sin abounds. And divisions, oppositions, rivalries, and dissensions, fights and quarrels multiply. This is the world we live in. The world that so desperately needs God's grace. God's peace, a word of mercy and love and heavenly provision. The world that so desperately needs our good works, brothers and sisters, to encourage them to consider what they need even more, God's good news. But what if we, the Church of Christ, what if we, the bastion of heavenly hope and the world's only lasting refuge of peace, is herself laden with contention, conflict, and corruption? What if the church is herself subject to division? What if she must spend all her time trying to repair and restore herself and has no energy or zeal left over for ministering to those yet out in the world? That would be a terrible fate indeed. Not just for the church, but also, of course, for the world that needs the gospel we bring. Brothers and sisters, when division infects the body of Christ, it may be time for an extraction. Without such recourse, without this last resort, our mission will not succeed in this world of sin. Sin is present in the church, and certainly outside of it. Contention is often a breath away, and at times there will be wolves within the sheepfold, and wolves hanging out on the periphery of the sheepfold, hypocrites and heretics who love themselves more than Christ and his church. And so I say again to you, what we find here in Titus 3, verses 9 to 11, is a message of good news about our Savior. As we look at this passage phrase by phrase, I want to say one more thing before we jump into it. Our good shepherd is not only good at finding green pastures and quiet waters, he also has a keen eye out for the wolves. He's not just tender of hand and voice as he lovingly comforts his sheep, He is also mighty and strong and has the will and the power to cut down the enemies that would seek to divide and conquer his flock. And he shares this ministry of his with those he calls to join him in shepherding his sheep. So let's work through this passage phrase by phrase today with the joy of learning more about how well our strong and loving Savior rules and defends his church against her enemies. First, we'll consider the purpose of avoidance that Paul speaks of here to Timothy, and then the activities church leaders in particular are to avoid, and also even people to be avoided. As we enter upon verse nine, we find it begins with a disjunction. Bring you back to your high school grammar class. But, the word but. This tells us that verse nine and following are not actually the start of a new subject for Paul, but a continuation of the subject he was writing about in the previous verses. And what was that? What was Paul writing about previously? He was telling Titus how to encourage a careful devotion to good works in the lives of the saints. If you heard last week's sermon, this is what we addressed. And this is still Paul's concern in verses 9 and following, that Titus know how to use his authoritative office as a minister of Christ to encourage good works among the believers in his care. Last week, we considered the positive or constructive things Titus was to do to encourage good works, namely, to insist that the believers understand and believe the truths in this trustworthy saying, which we read in our passage this morning, verses 4 to 7. about the gospel, a ministry of building up, adding truth to the knowledge of the saints. Now this week we learned what negative, corrective things Titus had to do to preserve the church's devotion to good works. In particular, what things and people must be avoided, even shunned, to maintain progress in God's evangelistic mission for the church. Not building up now, the good things, but tearing down the bad things. staying away from them, more precisely. And here I want to make a brief point of application, a lesson we must learn if we were to understand and embrace the nature of church ministry and life in this present age. There's always a need for both positive and negative work because of sin's presence in the world. When Nehemiah's men were working on rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. Nehemiah 4. We must not despise the need for our builders to be armed even as they build. King David was comforted by two tools of his shepherd lord, both his staff and his rod, right? Psalm 23. One tool for leading and rescuing, another for beating and protecting. That's what the rod was. Put a wolf to death, if need be. For those who desire the office of elder or minister in the church, you men, who are not officers today, and those who have any responsibility for others, such as husbands or parents, you must be ready to take up both the staff and the rod, the shovel and the sword. One day we will build in God's world without the need for a sword strapped onto our sides. But that day has not yet come. We pray for it. Maranatha, come quickly, Lord. But today, sin and division continue to threaten, and we must remain vigilant, for it's not impossible even to find the enemy within the citadel or right upon its gates. But the main lesson we find here is, of course, the chief purpose of why these things are necessary, and that's this evangelistic mission of the church to the lost, and the way that our good works are useful in God's hands in that mission. I won't cover that ground again. I've rehearsed that numerous times over past weeks. But it's the point of profitability here that matters. The Lord wants his ministers, his elders, to be laboring in the flock in such a way that their labors are strategically resulting in the proliferation of good works among the saints. Not distracted with controversies over here and debates over there that aren't actually getting anything done from God's perspective. So let's turn now and consider this list of what really amounts to four worthless and unprofitable activities that Paul commanded Titus to avoid, and that by extension, the Lord Jesus Christ commands all of his church leaders to avoid. And let's keep this in mind. Although the primary application is for Titus and the elders that would govern with him, and therefore for the elders of this church in this context, this is something we all need to pay attention to. Who of us wants to spend their lives distracted? for any reason, in a debate that's going nowhere. And these are the four worthless or unprofitable activities Paul commanded Titus to avoid, foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law. A controversy is a discussion involving disagreement or contention. This term could just as easily be translated as debates. We could read it foolish debates. But note this, Paul wasn't commanding Titus to avoid debates. Some debates are good and necessary. Some controversies are valuable and have the potential of producing much good because they're addressing concerns that God himself places upon the hearers of his word. If someone were to ask Titus whether or not Jesus Christ is really God's only Savior and his eternal Son, you can bet Paul would have said, have that discussion. Enter into that debate with love and goodwill and wisdom, of course. Answer those questions. Paul would not have counseled Titus to avoid it. Church leaders mustn't avoid all debates, but we certainly must avoid all foolish debates. Now, how do you know the difference? between a foolish debate and a potentially fruitful one. Let's think about the meaning of the word foolish for a minute. It has a precise meaning in our scriptures, not just what you think of when you say, oh, you're a fool in modern parlance. According to the Old Testament scriptures, the fool is the one who says in his heart, there is no God, Psalm 14.1. The fool is the one who fails to fear God and rather scoffs at him in pride, Psalm 74. According to Jesus, in Matthew 23, the fool is the one who swears by the gold in the temple, but not by the temple that makes the gold sacred. In Matthew 25, our Lord taught that it was the foolish virgins who failed to be prepared for the coming of the bridegroom, neglecting to fill their lamps with oil. And in Matthew 7, Jesus tells us that it was the foolish man who built his house upon the sand, and who suffered great loss when the wind and waves came crashing against it. The fool, brothers and sisters, is the one who doesn't understand reality as it is. He lives as if God doesn't exist. He's wrong. As if the gold in the temple is more sacred than the temple. He's wrong. As if the bridegroom won't come back for some time, when he will come back soon. As if the storm will never come. As if Judgment Day, in other words, is just a crazy myth. The fool lives in fantasy land, conveniently, but he will suffer a rude awakening on Judgment Day if God's mercy doesn't rescue him from his sinful ignorance first. Well, this tells us a lot about the kind of debates Paul forbade Titus from entering into, the kinds of debates that all of us should avoid in truth. They're debates that rest upon false premises. They're controversies that arise out of false narratives, or myths, as he calls them in all of his three pastoral epistles. Remember back in Titus chapter 1 verse 14, Paul expressed his desire that Christian disciples not devote themselves to Jewish myths, falsehoods, fairy tales. And I believe these Jewish myths, fanciful tales adding to scripture or entirely separate from scripture, likely form the basis for much of these controversies that Titus was to avoid. Here's the thing, no matter what answer is given to such questions, or who wins the debate, the conversation has no ability to further its participants into the truth. Because the contention and the controversy is a result of false assumptions or lies. So whatever the result of the debate, its participants are actually distracted from the truth at best, and at worst are lured into spawning division in the church. We have different parties of viewpoints based upon a non-issue according to Christ. Now, I don't know what kinds of foolish controversies Titus may have encountered. We can speculate the kinds of things. Maybe they had to do with the healing properties of almonds, since the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had once miraculously sprouted and put forth buds and produced almonds, right? Maybe there was a debate about that. People were taking sides. Should we use almonds in our healing prayers? Give them almonds as well. Maybe they debated the relative merits of following ravens around the earth in search of God's provision. Well, God provided for Elijah that way. Maybe this is God's leading. Should we follow ravens or not? Were you pro-raven follower or not? The church divides. It sounds really silly, I know, but it's not beyond humanity. Consider these questions that those outside the church, and even those inside, might want to busy a pastor or an elder with today. And see if you can identify, I won't identify them all this morning, but see if you can identify the falsehood that they're resting upon. Can extraterrestrial aliens be saved by the blood of Christ? Let's spend the afternoon talking about that, Pastor. Paul says, don't waste your time. Would Jesus be a Democrat or a Republican if he were still living on Earth as a man? Which Myers-Briggs personality type is best suited for pastoral ministry? Which of Marvel's Avengers teaches us the most about the saving power of God? What was Jesus' Enneagram type? Since the Bible code proves the Old Testament scriptures predicted the Great Depression, the Holocaust, and the Oklahoma City bombing, shouldn't we be using it in evangelism? And which diet will help me unlock the peace of God in my life? Now these might seem silly, I hope they do. Each question depends upon one or more ideas that are patently false. Wrong use of scripture. And church leaders need to be able to identify such questions or debates and simply avoid them. Stay away from those chat rooms, those blog posts, those conversations. Simply put, don't waste your time. Now, we must say, of course, that it's possible that someone might come to me or the elders and have an honest question. They're evidently not aware of the fact that the premise is false, and they just need to be educated. I'm not saying we don't have those conversations and illuminate the person, help them see the error of the thinking of the debate, whether it's come from someone else, et cetera. There is a point of grace. Patience, of course, we need to enter into these things. But the point is this, if that person persists and is unwilling to see biblical reason, the church leader must not allow himself to be lured further into such a worthless conversation. That's what Paul is commanding of Titus here. The next item on Paul's list is genealogies. Genealogies are essentially family trees that trace your descendants through marriage and birth and adoption. They were a means of recording history to some degree in Israel. They were used in old covenant times to determine your tribal identity and also whether or not you were eligible to serve as a priest or a king, perhaps even a prophet. They were used to determine inheritances in Israel. Here they were to be avoided because men apparently were making something of them in an age when such old covenant considerations were no longer important or valuable or relevant. The final prophet, priest, and king had come, Jesus Christ. And now those who served him as apostles, ministers, elders, or deacons were qualified for such positions, not by their physical birth or lineage, but based on the gifting of the Holy Spirit and the affirmation of the church. There were no more land inheritances in Israel. Now all the saints had an inheritance in the real promised land, in heaven itself. And tribal identity was rendered meaningless, especially after the gospel extended to and included Gentiles in the covenant. Though we might rightly imagine some misguided or warped Jewish legalists seeking to make much of such things for their own advantage. Perhaps they started campaigns in favor of particular pastors or elders because their ancestry was from the tribe of Judah, and they had a real right to rule over the people as a result. Or maybe they came from Levi and so their prayers would be more acceptable before God since their ancestry was the priestly class in Israel. Perhaps they spoke against others who didn't have such kind of lineage. Maybe they sought to find hidden truths by looking at connections at different genealogical lines. These people had names that included the name of God and they were the fourth one born from their father. And so therefore, this person here has the same situation, and ooh, maybe God's gonna do something mighty miraculous through him, because that's what he did through someone else who's looked like this, and our basis of comparison is the genealogy. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 4, we discover that Paul didn't just warn Titus about the dangers of too much introspection into genealogical records. He warned Timothy about what he called myths, We've addressed that already. And endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. Right? Well, I believe this is the concern Paul has. It's connected to the idea of myth. People are importing into the genealogical record significance and meaning and power that is simply not there. This is not a command to say get off of Ancestry.com. This does not mean you can't know your family tree or think about it. It doesn't mean there isn't observations about God's grace to you by delivering you from sin after a line of much sin in your ancestry. It doesn't mean there's no fruit at all thinking about your history, your lineage in the flesh. It means such is not a source of divine revelation. Such is not a source of significance and meaning for your life that supersedes what you have by becoming a child of God and the power of the Spirit by believing the gospel. And such should never divide us from one another in the church and become a source of dissension, which is the third thing that Paul mentions in this list. The third activity church leaders must avoid, disagreements that lead to discord We could translate the word rivalries. This really has to do with the idea of a party spirit, of grabbing an allegiance onto one viewpoint in this debate and identifying yourself with it in such a way that you become ostracized from others. When you come into church, people aren't sitting away from each other because they're loving each other and concerned about the coronavirus. We're leaving room for others who have concern about it, so we space out. No, actually, this side of the congregation are those who have committed to homeschooling, and these over here have not. Right? And all of a sudden, division arises in the body of Christ out of something that is not commanded by God's word, something we've added to it. Any kind of debate could take place. I am sure there were gatherings in the early church where Gentiles were over here and Jews were over there when they were united in Christ. And the apostle would come and preach, and the result, the application of the service, would be for them to mingle and show the love across the bounds. Brothers and sisters, the problem with the foolish controversies and the genealogies is their potential to set formerly united brothers in Christ against one another. And God hates this. Recall Proverbs 6, verses 16 to 19, which says, there are six things that the Lord hates. That's it. Seven that are an abomination to him. These words make you compelled to listen. What are they? Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lives, and one who sows discord among brothers. God hates it. Discord was being sown in Corinth, you may recall. A party spirit was developing, factions were arising. It had to do with who was the best, most reliable leader or most faithful teacher in the church. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree. That's what Paul wrote. and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it's been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? No, he's not. Churches have divided over really insignificant matters. or about merely earthly concerns, even weighty ones. Maybe because of a personality cult where the pastor and elder is idolized. A pastor leaves a church and half the congregation follows him. Is there allegiances to him and not to the body? Perhaps. There's all sorts of permutations, right? Maybe because of political issues, there's divide in the flock. At the time of the Civil War, multiple dissensions arose in the church, which led whole denominations to being split. It happens. But there is not to be a party spirit in the church, a cliquish spirit, a divided spirit. God forbid that our church manifest division on issues where we have freedom to be different from one another in Christ. Right? And the concern about controversies and genealogies is this issue of division, which also can result in actual quarrels, not just people having different position, but now active contention, fighting, verbally, possibly physically. Quarrels about the law. This is a reference to the old covenant law codes, the statutes and rules handed down by Moses, the ceremonial and judicial laws that had governed the nation state of Israel and their communion with the Lord, but they were legal requirements, even though they came from God, they were designed to govern his old covenant people, not his new covenant people. For they passed away when the gospel went to the Gentiles and brought them in, when his apostles began to make disciples of all nations. And so the church leader is to avoid all debates that lead to fights about irrelevant aspects of the law of Moses. These quarrels are unprofitable. They're not going to advance us in the gospel, in the truth of Christ, and in the power we need, the love we need to do good works. So many of these quarrels, many of these debates, these Jewish myths, these controversies were likely based upon the false idea that these regulations of the old covenant law code still had binding power upon the Christian when they don't. And the problem we've seen already in all of these things, brothers and sisters, is not just that these activities, they bring division into the body, which then distracts the body from being able to grow in the love of Christ for one another and for the world, and do those good works that are a part of God's progressing and advancing his evangelistic mission in the world. We're just nursing our own wounds because we've created unnecessary division in the body and we're not able to come together to serve others and serve one another. This is the concern. And there comes a point when not just such activities must be avoided, here we move on, but all people who stir up such division by way of these and other sorts of things are also to be avoided. That's what the Spirit reveals next. The Titus was to have nothing to do with those who persisted in making these controversies or dissensions the subject of conversation. Some people, as Paul wrote in verse 11, are themselves warped and self-condemned. Now here it's most likely that Paul is referring to people outside of the church. Paul doesn't make it absolutely clear. But when he speaks of avoiding such people, he's not using the same language that's used elsewhere for excommunication. So it's probable, though not certain, that what we're talking about is someone from the outside who's seeking to inject dissension in the body by forcing members of the church to enter into a debate and take one side or the other. That's going to then divide the church. Someone comes up and says, hey, black lives matter, right? And you go, well, yeah, I mean, of course. I mean, we're all made in the image of God. Black lives matter. And someone comes to someone else and says, hey, blue lives matter, right? God's about law and order. All of a sudden, this from the outside starts to infect the body of Christ. And no longer we are judging things according to God's word where we say every person created in the image of God matters to God and should be an object of our love and concern. And also, God has appointed governing authorities that we should be obeying and submitting to. And in Christ, we can say both things. When the world says no, it's one or the other. The world may want to inject that kind of dissension in this body that would divide us from one another. And we are to avoid people that will not stop injecting that kind of division. And that's just one example we're aware of today. We must not follow them in their folly. But we do not just consign people immediately to unbelief, consign people to whether it be excommunication or just avoidance. We're no longer going to bring our evangelistic campaign to your door. We're not going to speak the gospel to you anymore. We're actually going to ignore you. That's what's being said for the outsider here. Avoid them altogether. But notice the mercy of God at work in this procedure with me. The church leader isn't to just write such people off as soon as they get a whiff that they're not really about the gospel or that the conversation may lead to division in the body. They're to be warned and admonished, corrected with a word from the pastor or the elder. And if after a season it appears that they have not desisted but continue in their folly, the path that would lead to divide the body, they are then to be admonished a second time The mercy extends, the patience extends. And only then, after two such admonitions, is the church to avoid such persons altogether, ultimately shunning them, no conversation whatsoever, unless, and I think we can properly say, they make some evident show of true repentance and of faith and love toward God, which he is able to accomplish in their lives apart from the ministry of the church through his providence. He is able to break them down and make them open to hearing, to come back to the church and apologize and say, I'm ready to actually listen now. But the church leader and the congregation must not feel guilty as though they are condemning such a person by avoiding them altogether. Paul helps us here as he taught Titus. We must understand that such a person is actually self-condemned already. We're not adding to condemnation. We're just calling things what they already are when we do such a thing. They've chosen this path for themselves. They've proven that they're committed to it by not responding to multiple admonitions from the church. We don't have the power to coerce them. That belongs to God alone. They've already expressed their allegiance. And like a tooth, brothers and sisters, that is bent on its own corruption, to keep it in the body is to allow it to spread its infection to others and to despise the health of the whole body. It must be extracted. If the person in question is a professing member of the church, excommunication is in order. If they're an outsider seeking to stir up controversy, they just must simply be avoided. In conclusion, saints of God, I want us to remember that we live in a world of sin and division where these kinds of things need to be taught and addressed and acted upon in the church. We are susceptible to such things because we live and minister in an evil age. But thanks be to God for the provision of this remedy, for this wisdom that is from above, for this mercy and grace that surrounds it. See with me this morning just how jealous your Savior is for your affection and devotion, that you actually be blessed like that tree of Psalm 1, producing fruit and bearing good works before the world. He is zealous that this be your estate. See with me today how much he cares for you, that he would not let any outsider or pretender on the inside distract you from the knowledge of his love and the enjoyment of his peace, his purity, and the unity we have in his body. Be comforted by his strength and his power and his will to oppose all who truly oppose you and your enjoyment of what Christ died to give you. And I'll finish with this, pray for your leaders. that we have the wisdom and grace to walk in this and to take up the valiancy of Christ and honor him by preserving and protecting the life of the body according to the authority that he's given to us as he had given to Titus long ago. The Lord has much good that he wants to do through us, brothers and sisters, many good works that he would have us do for the good of the world and for the glory of Christ. And he wants us to be zealous to preserve our unity, that we would be able to serve others in the love of God. And may he give us that grace today as we embrace this pattern he has for his church. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you that you are our defender, that you are aware of threats that sometimes we are not. and that you have put this ministry of avoidance in particular upon the lives and ministries of your elders and pastors. We pray, Lord, that we would all grow in wisdom in these things, grow in our esteem of these things as being necessary. And we ask, Father God, that you would be at work to preserve our unity as a church. We praise you this day that we are not divided by space today, but are gathered together in one place. And may that be. reproduced in the spirit as it has been in the past, that we would continue to love each other and walk with one another and spend our time focused on that which unites us in Christ and not upon those things that might unnecessarily divide us. Vindicate your glory and your love for your church by giving us a continual share in your graces. In Christ's name we pray, amen.