Titus 3:9-11
~20 min read
TRANSCRIPT
I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our text for today's message is taken from Titus 3:9-11. Allow me to read for you, "But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is a heretic after the first and second admonition reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself." The Lord bless the reading of His holy and sacred word.
This passage teaches us how we ought to deal with divisive issues and divisive people. In fact, throughout this epistle, the Apostle Paul had repeatedly warned Titus about the false teachers. Like in Titus 1:11, “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.” They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him. Jesus Himself also gave the same instruction to His disciples, "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." (Matthew 7:15).
Few things can hurt and weaken a church more than infighting, disunity, and division amongst the members. Indeed, divisive issues and divisive people have a terrible effect on the church. So, the title of our message is ‘Divisiveness Calls For Strong Action’.
When someone comes into your house and tries to break up your family, what would you do? You would react strongly, right? That is precisely what we ought to do with divisive people and divisive issues which try to break up the church. There are three points in our message, and they are based on three verbs: avoid, admonish, and reject.
The only way we can comply with these instructions to avoid, admonish, and reject is to know the Scriptures. As Christians, you and I ought to be equipped with the knowledge of God's word to help us to protect the church, to grant us understanding and discernment when someone is straying away from the truth, or when someone is trying to destroy the church. We must know the Bible well enough to defend what we profess to believe in. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
I. Avoid Divisive Issues
Firstly, we need to avoid divisive issues. Verse 9 says, "But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain." The word ‘avoid’ means to treat something with indifference or contempt. It is to turn yourself away for the purpose of avoiding someone or something. Like in driving—if you want to avoid an area, you go around it.
Sometimes when I fetch our members back to the city, I am still quite confused about the hook turn. For those of you who do not already know, Melbourne is the only city in the world that has this strange road sign: ‘Hook Turn.’ So I would always tell them to direct me to a way to avoid those hook turns. That is the idea—turn away, avoid. There are four things that these divisive people would do that we are to avoid.
Firstly, we are to avoid their foolish questions. It is good for people to ask questions. Without asking questions, we will never learn. It is the key to communication, conversation, knowledge, and understanding. Here in this context, the foolish question was not for the purpose of getting a genuine answer but rather to generate strife, argument, or unbelief. That is where the problem lies.
These people do not want to know the answer. They do not want to learn. They just want to argue, fight, and quarrel. They want people to think that they are smart when they ask such questions. Yes, they may be intelligent in the eyes of ignorant men, but wise people would be able to see through them. They are not interested in the truth, or they already knew there would be no answer. They are just trying to trap you and to make you look stupid. That is why it was called ‘foolish questions.’ The original Greek word for ‘foolish’ is from where we get the English word ‘moron.’ That is the nature of a fool's question.
Sometimes when we share the gospel with unbelievers, they would ask, ’If God is so powerful, why can't He create a rock so heavy that He cannot pick it up?’ or ‘Why can God not make a square to be a circle?’ All those kinds of questions—they are not interested in spiritual things. They are not interested in the things of eternity. They are just trying to disprove God. In reality, they are risking their own eternity by asking such foolish questions. So we tell them, ‘That is a foolish question.’
But when a man honestly asks a question that is troubling him, that he is puzzled and confused, that is not a foolish question. It is a foolish question when the purpose is to generate strife, argument, or to create unbelief. You and I must learn to recognise the intent of the question. Because we will spend hours and hours trying to explain to such people when their real intention is to stir up questions which cannot be answered, and then to undermine the faith of the believers by their controversial teaching and lead the church into confusion.
Let us pause and take a moment and consider, God will take a record of everything we do, including the time we spend—how many hours and how many years we spend in the ultimate purpose of His kingdom and redemption, how much time we spend in evangelism and discipleship. He knows.
And then to compare that with the number of hours we spend in debating with fools and their lies and nonsensical speculations, when souls are dying and begging to hear the gospel—what do you think God will say to us? Most certainly, He will say, ‘My son, be wise and avoid such foolish questions.’
Secondly, we are to avoid fanciful interpretations of genealogies. This does not mean we are not supposed to read certain parts of the book of Genesis or the genealogies of our Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel of Matthew and Luke. The genealogies of the Bible provide for us wonderful spiritual understanding of God's redemptive purpose. It is important for us to learn them.
What we are to avoid are the fanciful interpretations of those names. Instead of taking them at their historical face value, these people read into those names all kinds of crazy and mythical interpretations and associate those names with legends and myths. The Jews thought very highly of themselves because of their physical genealogies, so arguments arose over the names of their ancestors. ‘I come from this tribe, you come from that tribe,’ and they fight over those arguments.
Do you know what John the Baptist said? ‘Don't be proud because you are the children of Abraham, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up the children of Abraham’ (Matthew 3:9). Indeed, Abraham is the father of the faithful. All those who exercise their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are also the spiritual children of Abraham. But some people just love to get into debates about dates, ancestors, and descendants—genealogists and all kinds of hair-splitting issues that have no spiritual significance at all.
Some years ago, one of my relatives believed that because our surname is Cheng—my name is Paul Cheng—Cheng is my surname, so he believed that our roots traced to the historical hero Admiral Ho in Chinese history. Some of my relatives believed him; others did not believe him. And in order to prove that he was right, he went all the way to China to trace the roots. I remember when I shared this story, one of our church members told me, ‘Do you know that Admiral Cheng Ho was a eunuch?’—which means it was impossible for him to have descendants. But the point I'm trying to make is this—so what if we are the descendants of Admiral Chen Ho? It doesn't matter because it has absolutely no eternal or spiritual value at all.
Dear friend, when you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter who you are or where you trace your roots to. You may come from a family of pastors or five generations of Christians, or you may be born a Jew—you are still outside the kingdom of the Almighty God, and you will be eternally lost. Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity. You cannot come to the Father without the Son. Jesus himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me." (John 14:6)
Thirdly, we are to avoid contentions. There are some people who do not believe in the word of God. They believe in strange doctrines, and they do not agree with sound teachings. They tend to strive, contend with one another, and create troubles—constantly attacking the truth of God's word.
There are others who believe in the word of God but love to argue over theological issues—whether it be divorce and remarriages, or the modes of baptisms, and other theological matters. Some would quote from Charles Spurgeon; others would quote from John Calvin or Martin Luther. I'm not saying such things are not important. It is one thing to have a good theological discussion to edify the souls, but it is another thing altogether to fight and strive with one another over such theological matters.
There are yet others who argue over non-essential matters. ‘Why is this preacher wearing a robe instead of a coat? He looks more like a priest!’ Some years back, I read an argument about whether Christians should or should not drink coffee because some believe caffeine is bad. Others say that if a Christian eats more than four meals a day, he is considered a glutton. People fight and strive over such issues, forgetting the more vital issue—the salvation of the soul. You and I are to avoid contention.
Fourthly, we are to avoid striving about the law. We need to understand that Paul was writing in the context of Jewish believers coming into the Christian faith. Many of the Jews brought along with them all the stipulations of the Old Covenant. They thought that it was necessary to be circumcised in order to be saved. They were constantly striving with the Gentiles to keep the laws of Moses.
Christ paid the price for us on the cross of Calvary to save us. We are no longer under the law. You and I are not bound by the ceremonial law, which pointed to the ultimate Lamb of God—our Lord Jesus Christ, who accomplished the salvific work on the cross of Calvary. You and I are not bound by the civil law, which was meant for the nation of Israel. But the moral law of God—the Ten Commandments—stands forever. It is settled, and we are not to strive about the law.
So, we are to avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law. And the reason why we avoid them is because they are unprofitable and vain—meaningless to fight over such things. It is profitable for people to hear the gospel—the message of salvation. It is profitable for people to hear of their eternal security. It is profitable for people to understand their responsibilities as husbands and wives. It is profitable for people to know their duties in the church as they serve the Lord. It is profitable for us to know how we ought to live a transformed life.
All these are things profitable. But foolish questions, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law—avoid these divisive issues because it is just a waste of time. It doesn't help in the spiritual growth of the believers. It has no eternal value, and it also continues to confuse and undermine the faith of the believers.
When I was studying in the Far Eastern Bible College, I learned a valuable lesson from the late Principal, Reverend Timothy Tow, which I will always remember. He said to all the students, ‘When you stand on the pulpit, you have only a limited time to preach. You are facing the people for whom Christ died, and they deserve the best from you. And the only way you can give them the best is to be based on the word of God. If it is not based on the word of God, if it does not save or edify their souls, then they are not receiving the best from you.’
This is exactly what Paul was saying. When you focus on the wrong things, it is unprofitable and vain. As believers, all of us should be engaged in things profitable and meaningful—things that will encourage and edify the souls of men.
II. Admonish The Divisive People
So, firstly, we avoid divisive issues. Secondly, we admonish the divisive people. Look at verse 10, "A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject."
We always understand the word ‘heretic’ to mean someone who rejects the truth or someone who teaches something contrary to sound teachings. But the original meaning of the word ‘heretic’ simply means ‘to choose’ or ‘to prefer.’ In other words, he was someone who had chosen and adopted an idea, a teaching, a doctrine, or an opinion that was not acceptable in the church. He would not submit to the word of God, and he would not submit to the church leadership as well. And because of his strange ideas, this heretic would cause divisions in the church—the body of believers.
Oftentimes, he would have the ability to draw people unto himself. People would gravitate toward him. Perhaps he had great articulative skills—he could speak very well. Or he was very friendly, and he was very convincing. So, people would look to him. If you notice, every cultic group has a leader who is a heretic. He has a group of followers, and he creates a following by first creating an issue—an issue that is unprofitable and vain. And that issue will divide the people. Some would follow him; others would not. And those who followed him would then form a cultic group. That was how many cultic groups were formed.
The way to deal with divisive issues is to avoid them. And the way to deal with divisive people is to admonish them. To admonish is to warn or to rebuke. In Matthew chapter 18, when you deal with a sinning brother—a brother who falls into sin—you go to him one-on-one and speak to him privately so that he may repent and turn to the Lord. When he refuses to repent, then you bring along with you two or three more witnesses to help convince him through the word of God that he may repent.
But if he still refuses to repent, then you tell it to the church. And if he still refuses to repent despite the church telling him not to continue in that sin, then the Bible says, "Let him be unto thee as a heathen or a publican." (Matthew 18:17)
That is how we ought to deal with a sinning brother. The approach is gentle and with great patience. You go to him one-on-one, not just one time, but several times. You bring two or three witnesses to him, not just one time, but several times. You want him to repent. And when he still refuses to repent, then you have no choice but to tell it to the church. And the church then has to exercise church discipline.
But when you deal with the heretics, it is very different. You must be decisive. It must be quick and immediate. You may even have to rebuke him openly because he is introducing errors into the church. He must not be permitted to go on promoting his strange doctrines. He must not be permitted to go on unchallenged. And it is all because of the extent of the sin. When the brother sins, it may just affect him and his immediate family or the people around him. But when the heretic sins, it will affect the whole community, the whole church, the body of believers, because he is dividing the church with his wrong teachings. So, you have to rebuke him by telling him that what he is doing is wrong. He must stop immediately.
If I come onto the pulpit and teach something that is contrary to the word of God, I am committing a terrible sin. It is a terrible sin because it is divisive. It is divisive because some people may recognise my teaching as an error, and they would reject it. But others may embrace it as the truth, and they will believe it. And the church would be divided. I have to be stopped. That is why we have the board of elders. And the board of elders must be apt to teach. They must be equipped with the knowledge of God's word to rebuke those who have erred in their teachings.
That was exactly what the Apostle Paul did to Peter in the book of Galatians, chapter 2. When the Apostle Peter was not eating with the Gentiles—you see, the scenario was this: The Apostle Peter said to the church that God had called him to preach to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. So, he went to his house and preached the word of God. They believed, and then he fellowshipped with them. He ate with them. But all of a sudden, when the Jews came, he was afraid, and he stopped eating and fellowshipping with the Gentiles anymore. Immediately, Paul admonished Peter, and he rebuked him openly.
It does not mean that Peter was a heretic, but it was the extent of his sin. It was so serious that Paul said, ‘Why do you do that? Why are you causing this division between the Jews and the Gentiles? You have preached to the Gentiles that a man is saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone and not by the works of the law. Why are you now behaving not the way you preach?’ Peter had to be stopped. And it was Paul who stopped him, admonished him. And as a believer, Peter repented.
All of us do make mistakes. Nobody is perfect. Heresy, apostasy, and divisiveness can be forgiven if the person will repent. But if you warn and admonish the person once, and he refuses to repent, you warn him a second time. And if he still refuses to repent, then you must reject him.
III. Reject
This brings us to our third and final point—reject. You reject him because verse 11 says, "Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself." To reject is simply to disassociate—to have nothing to do with that person. Here is a divisive person who wants to divide the church. And after two warnings, two admonitions, he still refuses to repent. You must reject him.
The church must disassociate herself from him, and he will no longer have the freedom to promote his divisive ways. His membership is to be cut, and there is to be no readmission until he gives a clear evidence of repentance. Why must we be so harsh? Because the Bible says the heretic is subverted. To be subverted means to be turned upside down. His mind and his heart are all twisted and corrupted.
In chapter 1:11, the Apostle Paul says he subverts whole houses. When this heretic creeps into your house, he will turn your house upside down. When he creeps into the church, he will turn the church upside down. Have you ever looked at the lives of certain people? It does not take long for you to realise—wow, these people just love to fight and divide. Their minds are twisted. Something is turning upside down in their lives, and that is what causes them to fight all the time.
The Bible uses this very interesting word, ‘subverted,’ which is in the perfect tense. This means his character is settled. His condition is settled. He is what he is. He will not change. Verse 11 says, He “sinneth," which means he wilfully rejects the right path despite knowing the truth.
Now, this idea is described for us in Hebrews 10:26. Let me read for you, "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." It is like a man who heard the gospel—that Jesus died on the cross, shed his precious blood, was buried, but rose again from the dead on the third day. He has the full knowledge of that truth, and he wilfully rejects that message.
So there is no more sacrifice for his sins, because he has rejected the only sacrifice that can save his soul. The heretic is such a man. You reject him because he is not going to change. He is settled in his condition. If you allow him to continue, he will keep on teaching strange doctrines and dividing the church. He will continue in his erroneous ways. “Being condemned of himself,” which means he has condemned himself. He was given one admonition. He refused to repent. He was given a second admonition. He still refused to repent. He wilfully rejected those admonitions. He has condemned himself.
Now, this reminds us—when the unbelievers go to the final judgment without Jesus Christ, God does not have to condemn them. They have condemned themselves. If anyone goes to hell, he only has himself to blame. He can stand before the judgment and say, ‘It is not fair. It is not right.’ But God would say, ‘I have sent my only begotten Son into this world to die and shed his precious blood. And he rose again from the dead. And this message was preached to you, yet you wilfully rejected it. And this message was preached to you again, and you wilfully rejected it again, and again, and again. You have no one else to blame but yourself. You have condemned yourself.’
Dear friend, anyone can say he's a Christian. Anyone can join a church. Anyone can be baptised. But if he truly knows the truth and yet rejects the truth, he has no basis at all to believe that he is a Christian. Because a Christian who truly believes the word of God will obey the word of God. When he is being confronted by the word of God, the Holy Spirit will convict his heart, and he will repent. He will not wilfully reject the admonition through the word of God and through the wonderworking of the Holy Spirit. So, this person, first and foremost, was not a believer. He did not believe and therefore he would not obey the word of God.
So the Bible says, such a one is “subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself”. In the Book of Numbers, chapter 22, we have the classic example of Balaam, who refused to obey the word of God. And that classic example tells us how serious it was. He was a prophet of God, but he loved money. King Balak sent some messengers to him and said, ‘Balaam, I want you to come over to my land and curse Israel.’ He replied, ‘Well, I have to go and ask the Lord first what He says.’ The Lord said to him, ‘Do not go with them.’ So, he replied to King Balak, ‘I cannot go with you because the Lord said no.’
But the next time, King Balak sent princes more honourable than the first batch of messengers. And this time, he was tempted. He said, ‘All right, you stay here and rest. Let me ask the Lord again and see what He says.’ The Lord had already said no. God means what He says and says what He meant the first time, He went back and asked the Lord, and God said, ‘Well, go ahead.’
On the way, his donkey crushed his foot against the wall. And he said to the donkey, ‘If I had a sword, I would have killed you.’ The donkey replied, ‘Am I not your servant? Have I not served you all my life?’ Then the Lord opened his eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord. And the angel of the Lord said to him, ‘If the donkey had not stopped you, I would have killed you.’
It is a terrible thing to disobey God and fall into the hands of an angry God. You and I must never play the fool with the word of God. As believers, we are not perfect. Sometimes we fall into sin. When the word of God confronts us, when the Spirit of God convicts us, we must humble ourselves and repent. We must not wilfully reject the wonderworking of the Almighty God. There are serious consequences.
God has blessed us with His precious word to save the souls of men, to edify and encourage their souls, including our souls, to teach us the path of righteousness. We should look at God's word and learn how to live such a transformed life instead of dwelling on foolish questions and genealogies, and then contending with one another and striving about the law.
It is a very serious thing to cause division within the church. We love the church. We want our unbelieving loved ones to come to church to hear the pure gospel because only the gospel of Jesus Christ can save their souls. We want the church to be protected so that the pure word of God can be preached. And we know that the church belongs to God and the church is for the glory of God.
And if anyone does anything against the glory of God, do you think there will be no serious consequences? Most certainly, there will be. Just as one pastor said, ‘All it takes is a little fire, and this whole building will be burned. All it takes is for God to withhold our breath, and you and I will be gone.’
We must never play with God, His Word, and His Church, because Jesus died to save the body of believers—the church. The church belongs to God. Instead, you and I ought to be united together for the glory of God. So, divisiveness calls for strong action. If you have forgotten whatever I have said, remember these three verbs: avoid, admonish, and reject.
Avoid divisive issues—issues that have no eternal and spiritual value at all. Admonish divisive people. And then reject the heretic after the second admonition. Why? Because we want to keep the church pure. And we pray that God will help us and keep Bethel BP Church pure so that the word of God will be preached without compromise and in all its purity, to the glory of God. Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven, we give Thee thanks for this opportunity that we can consider this portion of Scripture in the book of Titus 3: 9 - 11. Indeed, Thou hast taught us that divisiveness calls for strong action. It is not harsh, but rather it is loving. It is loving because we love the souls of men. We love the church of Jesus Christ. We want the church to be united. We want the pulpit to be pure. We want the people to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ without compromise.
So, we want to do all we can, in all the strength and resources that Thou hast given to us, to defend and protect the church. And we pray that Thou wilt continue to protect Bethel BP Church, that we will be united and not divided, that we will be a beacon of light for the glory of Thy precious name. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF TITUSThe Commitment Of A Faithful ServantThe Commitment Of A Faithful ServantTitus 1:1
The Hope Of Eternal LifeThe Hope Of Eternal LifeTitus 1:2-4
Why Do We Need Godly Leaders?Why Do We Need Godly Leaders?Titus 1:5-9
How To Deal With Church Troublemakers?How To Deal With Church Troublemakers?Titus 1:10-14
The Product Of Who We AreThe Product Of Who We AreTitus 1:15-16
What Legacy Are You Leaving Behind?What Legacy Are You Leaving Behind?Titus 2:1-3
How Should Young People Live?How Should Young People Live?Titus 2:4-8
How Can You Witness For God More Effectively At Work?How Can You Witness For God More Effectively At Work?Titus 2:9-10
The Wonderful Grace Of GodThe Wonderful Grace Of GodTitus 2:11-15
How Can You Witness For God More Effectively As Good Citizens?How Can You Witness For God More Effectively As Good Citizens?Titus 3:1-3
Remember How We Were SavedRemember How We Were SavedTitus 3:4-8
Divisiveness Calls For Strong ActionDivisiveness Calls For Strong ActionTitus 3:9-11
Message 6: To Fight the Good Fight of Faith is to Hold Fast the Faithful WordMessage 6: To Fight the Good Fight of Faith is to Hold Fast the Faithful WordTitus 1:9-11
