BIG IDEA:
SOUND DOCTRINE IS PROFITABLE BECAUSE IT ALWAYS LINKS GENUINE FAITH TO GOOD DEEDS
INTRODUCTION:
David Platt: The New Testament has a great deal to say about church discipline. Jesus addresses it in Matthew 18:15-20, and Paul does so repeatedly in texts like Romans 16:17-18; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 2 Corinthians 2:5-11; 13:1-3; Galatians 6:1-2; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12; and here in Titus 3:9-15. This fact alone makes it all the more remarkable that no aspect of church life in our day is more neglected than this one. Indeed, the contemporary church’s disregard for this clear teaching of Holy Scripture is perhaps its greatest visible act of disobedience to our Lord. This rebellion is not without significant consequences. John L. Dagg rightly notes, “When discipline leaves a church, Christ goes with it” (Church Order, 274).
For Baptists this is striking when you consider that we have historically viewed church discipline as an essential mark, “the third mark,” of the church, right alongside the Word rightly preached and the ordinances properly administered. Al Mohler notes that a disciplined church as an essential mark of the church goes back at least to the Belgic Confession of 1561 (“Church Discipline,” fn. 2, 26–27). One can also find the roots of this missing jewel of church life in the earliest Anabaptist confession, The Schleitheim Confession of 1527 and its Article 2 on “the Ban” (Akin, “Expositional Analysis”).
And yet, none of Southern Baptists’ most recent confessions—The Baptist Faith and Message 1925, 1963, and 2000—has a statement on this biblical teaching! Greg Wills notes that church discipline began to wane in Southern Baptist life in the 1870s and rapidly decreased thereafter, and “by the 1930’s it was quite rare—most reported exclusions were merely the cleaning of church rolls of names of members long inactive and forgotten” (“Southern Baptist,” 9–10). Of course today we seldom do even this. Even those who have expired and left this world for the world to come find it difficult, if not impossible, to have their names removed from the church roll!
How did we get here? How did we get to a place where the “people of the book” exercise such a blatant act of disobedience to a clear command of Christ and a crucial component of church life? Certainly there have been abuses of the practice, though even the memory of this is so far removed from our own day that I seriously doubt one of us can point to a single example. No, we have been seduced in a far more insidious fashion. This subtle slide away from biblical faithfulness can be seen in both practical and spiritual aspects. The effects spread throughout the whole church, but the problem finds its origin at the top, with the leadership, with the pastors.
First, we have lost our theological nerve, the courage to confront as well as comfort, to admonish as well as exhort. Out of fear of offending, we have slunk away into the false security of silence.
Second, we have been overcome by moral compromise. Our churches look and act so much like the world we would hardly know where to begin if we did restore church discipline.
Third, we are simply and sadly biblically illiterate. Lay this deficiency at the feet of preachers who have jettisoned an expository model of preaching and thereby allowed us to avoid and neglect the hard doctrines of Scripture like church discipline.
Fourth, practical expediency and, I might add, personal ambition have played all-too-important roles. A bigger membership means greater bragging rights. It affords a more attractive platform to make the move to a larger and more influential pulpit or denominational post. I wish I did not believe that there was any merit to this particular observation. However, too many conversations with too many ministers make the case unavoidable.
Where then do we turn for an answer, a solution, a cure to this critical condition in which we find Christ’s church? Surely the answer must be found in returning to God’s Word, which gives us the model that provides a way out and the way forward. While Titus 3:9-15 is not a text deemed as one of the major Scriptures on church discipline, it does provide a foundation for a general treatment of this issue as well as specific counsel for particular situations that demand the practice of this necessary and lost treasure of the church.
Here Paul provides five principles by which the body of Christ is to conduct the practice of church discipline.
Main Idea: We must practice church discipline in submission to the Word of God.
I. Avoid the Foolish (3:9).
A. They are unwise.
B. They are unprofitable.
II. Reject the Divisive (3:10-11).
A. They must be disciplined.
B. They can be dangerous.
C. They are destructive.
III. Follow the Leader (3:12-13).
A. Listen to their advice.
B. Lend your assistance.
IV. Maintain Good Works (3:14).
A. Good works must not be neglected.
B. Good works must meet needs.
V. Enlist the Faithful (3:15).
A. Express the love we share.
B. Pray for the grace we need.
I. (:8) PROMOTE SOUND DOCTRINE WHICH IS PROFITABLE
A. Attitude: Promote Sound Doctrine with Confidence
“This is a trustworthy statement and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently“
Homer Kent: These sublime truths are to be stoutly maintained and urged (diabebaiousthai) upon believers. Orthodox preachers of the Gospel must be no less forceful in their presentation of truth than are the errorists in their falsehoods (same word is used of false teachers in I Tim. 1:7).
B. Goal: Promote Sound Doctrine so that Faith Remains Linked to Good Deeds
“so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds“
Wilbur Wallis: succinct, powerful restatement of the message of the whole epistle … The grace of God, producing faith, comes first; good works should follow: the root and then the fruit.
C. Motivation: Promote Sound Doctrine Because it is Priceless
- “good“
- “profitable“
II. (:9-10) REJECT CONTENTIOUS SUBJECTS AND TEACHERS WHICH ARE NOT PROFITABLE
A. Reject Speculative Subjects that Stir up Strife
- What to Shun
a. “foolish controversies“
Paul Zehr: These controversies are foolish or stupid, rather than merely half-witted. They are pointless because they are inane and do not contribute to godliness (I. H. Marshall 1999: 334). Speculative, foolish controversies indicate a lack of substantive teaching by the opponents. Therefore, it is not necessary to enter into serious discussion on these matters.
b. “genealogies“
Robert Yarbrough: Ancestral descent is of undoubted significance in a religion that traces human origins to Adam and Eve, covenantal redemption to Abraham, and the giving of divine guidance (tôrâ) to the world through Moses. Jesus claimed to be descended from God, which his detractors denied, grounding their legitimacy in the heritage of Moses and claiming Jesus was actually of Samaritan descent (John 8:48–59). Paul claimed that believers were children of Abraham (Gal 3), though some in the church (to say nothing of Jews outside) insisted that adherence to circumcision and the law of Moses were necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1, 5). . . Titus lived in a time and was part of a movement of disputed origins. In the only other use of the word “genealogy” (genealogia) in the New Testament, Paul tells Timothy to instruct Ephesian believers not “to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies,” because “such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work” (1 Tim 1:4). Genealogies were not just an issue in Crete. Titus should take steps to avoid becoming enmeshed in debates about them.
John MacArthur: Paul was not, of course, belittling the many genealogies that are found in both the New and Old Testaments. Those genealogies were critical for determining the God-given lineage of the priesthood, the kings of Judah and Israel, and even the Messiah. Matthew’s gospel opens with “the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. …” (Matt. 1:1; cf. 2-17). Paul’s warning to Titus concerned rather the many fanciful and allegorical interpretations of such genealogies that had fascinated many Jews for centuries.
c. “strife and disputes about the Law“
John MacArthur: A third kind of error that Christians on Crete faced is simply referred to as strife, a general term that carries the ideas of all kinds of self-centered rivalry and contentiousness about the truth.
Because the early church included so many converted Jews, a fourth common error involved disputes about the Mosaic Law. Paul refers to that problem in his letter to the Galatian churches. “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised,” he warned, “simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh” (Gal. 6:12-13; cf. 1 Tim. 1:6-7).
- Why to Shun it
a. “for they are unprofitable“
b. “and worthless“
William Barclay: The second part of the passage warns against useless discussions. The Greek philosophers spent their time on their oversubtle problems. The Jewish Rabbis spent their time building up imaginary genealogies for the characters of the Old Testament. The Jewish scribes spent endless hours discussing what could and could not be done on the Sabbath, and what was and was not unclean. It has been said that there is a danger that people might think themselves religious because they discuss religious questions. It is much easier to discuss theological questions than to be kind and considerate and helpful at home, or efficient and conscientious and honest at work. There is no virtue in sitting discussing deep theological questions when the simple tasks of the Christian life are waiting to be done. Such discussion can be nothing other than avoidance of Christian duties.
B. Reject Contentious Teachers Who Divide the Church
- Whom to Reject
“a factious man“
- When to Reject Him
“after a first and second warning“
Donald Guthrie: The lenience advocated is striking, for it is only on the third occasion of admonition that the more serious action of avoidance is to be taken.
Thomas Lea: While Paul stood squarely against false teaching (1:13; 2:15), his use of the term “divisive” indicates the destructive nature of those promoting error among believers (cf. 1:11). Divisions within the church result in believers who are confused, frustrated, angry, and hurt. They become ineffective in ministering to one another and to a lost world in desperate need of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the “good works” characteristic of genuine Christians. Reminiscent of Jesus’ teaching (Matt 18:15-17), Paul required personal confrontation characterized by patience (i.e., two warnings). If this failed, Paul allowed no hesitation in “having nothing to do with him” (lit. “reject” him). Hiebert aptly sums up the reasonableness of this rejection by stating, “Further efforts would not be a good stewardship of his time and energies and would give the offender an undeserved sense of importance.”
- Why to Reject Him
a. “knowing that such a man is perverted” – Off track
b. “and is sinning” – continuing to sin
c. “being self-condemned“
D. Edmond Hiebert: His stubborn refusal of admonition would assure Titus that the man is ‘warped,’ the perfect tense marking him as being in a state of perversion, twisted and turned out, wholly out of touch with truth. The passive voice seems to point to the satanic agency behind his condition.
“Sinful” represents a present-tense verb: “he is sinning,” deliberately missing the divine standard by his persistent refusal to receive correction. It reveals an inner moral condition of being “self-condemned.” He knows that in his deliberate refusal to abandon his self-chosen views he is wrong and stands condemned by his own better judgment.
(:12-15) CLOSING GREETINGS — THE FRUIT OF THE GOSPEL IS MANIFESTED IN GOOD DEEDS OF SERVICE TO OTHERS IN NEED
A. (:12) Mutual Ministry
- My Ministry to You
“When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you“
Paul Zehr: Paul plans to send one of the two persons to Crete to relieve Titus so that Titus could travel to Nicopolis and be with Paul again. Based on what we learn from 2 Timothy, Paul apparently decided to send Artemas to Crete, since Tychicus is sent to Ephesus (2 Tim 4:12) and departs from Dalmatia, which is up the coast from Nicopolis (2 Tim 4:10). Nothing is known of Artemas. Apparently he was a Christian capable of leading the churches in Crete after Titus left.
- Your Ministry to Me
“make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.”
B. (:13) Fellowship in the Gospel
“Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them.”
R.C.H. Lenski: Like a general, Paul moves his lieutenants into strategic positions.
Robert Yarbrough: Traveling Christian workers were dependent on local generosity for their subsistence, unless like Paul they worked to support themselves. Paul emphasizes this reality by adding, “See that they have everything they need,” which is literally “in order that they may lack nothing,” with a possible emphasis on nothing. Titus should support them in every respect. Despite the urgent tone and wide-ranging counsel of Paul’s letter, Titus’s attention cannot be only on himself and his churches; he is expected also to share Paul’s heart for the wider spread of the gospel in regions beyond Crete. Missions does not detract from pastoral labor and oversight but is part of the lifeblood of those necessary local ministries.
C. (:14) Meeting Critical Needs
“And let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs,
that they may not be unfruitful.”
William Barclay: Paul’s last piece of advice is that the Christian people should practise good deeds, so that they themselves should be independent and also able to help others who are in need. Christian workers work not only to have enough for themselves but also to have something to give away.
Robert Yarbrough: Paul wants the community under Titus’s leadership to prioritize ethical expression of their confessed faith. “Sound doctrine involves living out the truth in everyday life.” Living faith is more than nodding assent to some biblical assertions.
Thomas Lea: This particular opportunity to help Zenas and Apollos would be a concrete example of at least one kind of good work. The final phrase in this sentence, “in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives,” applies to their assisting others with pressing needs. “Unproductive” is literally “unfruitful.”
(:15) Closing Greetings and Benediction
“All who are with me greet you.”
“Greet those who love us in the faith.”
Donald Guthrie: This description brings a most intimate touch into the otherwise rather vague greetings.”
“Grace be with you all.”
Robert Yarbrough: Grace will sustain Titus, Paul knows, in the difficult tasks he faces, as it linked believers across the stretches of the Roman Empire and beyond. It continues to transform those who receive the gospel message in all corners of the globe today as God’s promise of redemption unfolds and “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2:13) approaches.