Titus 1:9-16

“9 He must have a strong belief in the trustworthy message he was taught; then he will be able to encourage others with wholesome teaching and show those who oppose it where they are wrong. 10 For there are many rebellious people who engage in useless talk and deceive others. This is especially true of those who insist on circumcision for salvation. 11 They must be silenced, because they are turning whole families away from the truth by their false teaching. And they do it only for money. 12 Even one of their own men, a prophet from Crete, has said about them, “The people of Crete are all liars, cruel animals, and lazy gluttons.” 13 This is true. So reprimand them sternly to make them strong in the faith. 14 They must stop listening to Jewish myths and the commands of people who have turned away from the truth.15 Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.”

·       Religious – Those who were insisting on circumcision for salvation. You see they were insisting that people follow all the Old Testament rules and regulations They saw the rules as a road to relationship. Many of us have this same twisted theology, we believe that there is a break in our relationship with God because we break the rules. But in reality it’s the break in our relationship with God that leads to us breaking His law. Because we have this backwards many of us position our lives around keeping the rules instead of cultivating our relationship. When we cultivate the relationship we don’t want to break the law because of our love for Jesus. But when the reason revolves solely around the rules it’s based on law not love. This belief that rules were the road to relationship was what led the Pharisees to turn the 10 commandments into 613. One of the questions that we need to be asking ourselves on a regular basis is this, is my life being ruled by legalism or led by love, am I just following the rules or am I running after the Redeemer. Paul’s ministry was plagued by legalists, those who loved the law but didn’t love the Lord and he dealt with them severely because he recognizes the danger and destruction that comes from legalism. Legalism sucks the life out of grace. Listen to Paul’s words in Galatians 3:1-3: “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”

• Focused on the Flesh. They were driven by greed and gluttony instead of God.  Motivated by money more than the Messiah. Sadly today we have a lot of preachers that care more about a paycheck than they do about people. What is motivating and moving your life, is it cash or is it Christ, are you running after the riches or after the Redeemer? Some of us are more motivated by food than we are the Father, but gluttony here isn’t just food its anything we try to fill our lives with in an attempt to satisfy the flesh. Their focus was on filling the flesh instead of living out their faith. As a result life became about finances and food and filling their bank accounts and their bellies more than obedience to the bible. It says that they were evil bruits, why were they mean, money, 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” The result of chasing after riches was they ruined relationships. Not only do we learn by looking at their life but also by listening to their:

1. Lips

Your lips reveal your life. Proverbs 13:3 “Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.” Psalm 141:3 teaches us a lesson when it comes to our lips, “Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.”

• Lying lips – Deceivers, they use words to win people to their side, instead of winning people to the Savior. Parents I want to challenge you when it comes to your words, are you speaking life or lies? Many of our words end up belittling and bruising instead of building up.    

• Useless talk– This is what I call all words and no walk. As I have said before many of us are mouthing the message but we are not modeling the message. So let me ask you, is there meaning and meat to your words or is it just empty chatter. Mere talkers were very common in Crete and unfortunately they are all to common in the church. We want to talk truth instead of walk truth.

We need to look at peoples walk as well as their words. Jesus said “By their fruit you will know them”  Matthew 7:16. So let me ask you, does your walk match your talk. I have learned to judge people by their track record not just their talk.