They must be silenced

Pastor Fry delivered a sermon this past Lord’s Day continuing through the book of Titus. Last week he preached from 1:6-9. This week he finished preaching out of chapter 1. The subject was about Paul’s warning of false teachers. Here is the text:

“10For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons." 13This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed” (NASB).

My pastor began by connecting our text with last week’s sermon about the qualification of elders. Paul lists a number of “must-haves” for the aspiring elder: their families were examined, as well as their personal lives. The final qualification found in verse 9 talks about an elder’s ability to refute those contradicting the faith.

Notice what word Paul chose to begin verse 10 with: the word “For.” This connects the ideas in verses 5-9 with 10 and following. “For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers,” says Paul. The Apostle is warning the newly founded churches on the Isle of Crete – we know the churches are young because of his instruction to Titus to appoint elders in every city (verse 5). Even though the churches in Crete were young, many … many false teachers arose to trouble the saints. Isn’t it true that whenever the Holy Spirit of God does His work, the work of our Adversary is soon to follow? This was true with Crete and it is true of us today. The parable of the Tares Among Wheat brings this out in Matthew 13:25-30.

Pastor Fry brought out the simple fact that certain men were labeled false teachers because they claimed to be Christian. False teachers and false prophets always profess to be true believers. Imagine how convincing they’d be if they openly declared themselves to be a false teacher, false prophet, heretic or apostate. They wouldn’t be convincing at all! Just the same, they profess to know God (verse 16).

If they’re false teachers who distort the truth, why does anyone listen to them? Why do any give them the time of day? Look at how they are described in verse 10: “rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision.” Firstly, they were rebellious. This literally means that they were independent, and in the context is referring to indepence from the church. [Begin Sarcasm] Now golly gee, they just looove the church. They love it so much that they want to teach the church. [End Sarcasm]. But they won’t subject themselves to the authority of the church. Second, false teachers are empty talkers. Another word for this is idle. They are idle talkers. Oh, they just love to talk talk talk talk talk. In fact, they’ll talk to anyone who’ll listen to them. The only problem is that what they have to say is destructive. Thirdly, they are deceivers. It is the nature of a false teacher to deceive the saints, which is exactly why they so enjoy teaching positions in the church. If they cannot obtain a teaching role you can bet they will move on to the next congregation of saints. Finally, “especially those of the circumcision.” Paul brings out the fact that sometimes converted Jews would become false teachers. Perhaps this led from the tendency Jews had to view themselves higher than Gentile converts. We have the same problem today with Messianic Jewish congregations. Why insist on calling yourself a Messianic Jew unless you want to emphasize your natural lineage from Abraham. What Jews need to remember is that we are all equal in the sight of God and ought not to flaunt our genealogy before others. “28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (NASB).

“To the pure, all things are pure;” It’s kind of funny how often this verse is quoted with reference to Christian liberty issues =). Certainly some principles can be applied that equal the way this verse is many times used, but it more accurately speaks to purity of doctrine. But the questions arise: (1) How do we know what is pure? and (2) Who is teaching what is pure? We need to use discernment to determine what is pure and who is pure. Paul writes elsewhere: “20do not despise prophetic utterances. 21But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; 22abstain from every form of evil” (NASB). In other words, don’t despise teaching, but test everything. Hold onto good teaching. Avoid bad teaching. Sometimes it will take a little time to properly discern the truth of a matter. In the same manner, it might also take time to properly discern if someone is a true professor and/or qualified to teach.

Pastor Fry then gave some really sound, practical advice that I have to share with you. “Some things,” he said, “leave it alone. If it troubles you, ‘put it on the backburner’ as they say.” What he’s getting at is this: don’t let strange new teachings upset your faith. Use proper means to respond to them. Contact your elders. Seek council from family and close friends. Pray. Search the Scriptures. If you use the means of grace that our Lord provided for His children, your faith will never be upset.

The most memorable statement made by my pastor is one I will always keep with me: “False teachers do say a lot of truth. He may say something that really helps you … that really encourages you. But like the old saying goes, ‘Doesn’t take a lot of poison to kill you.’” Joseph Smith Jr. said a lot of spiritually true things. Charles Taze Russell said a lot of spiritually good things. TD Jakes says a lot of spiritually good things. Unfortunately, each of these teachers also taught distorted truths. Joseph Smith taught polytheism. Charles Taze Russell taught henotheism. TD Jakes promotes Oneness/Modalistic theology. The false teacher couples truth with false teaching.

False teachers have no problem disrupting families (verse 11). This could either refer to house-churches or to the immediate family. They might seem impressive to one or more members in a family and would cause terrible divisions. It is because of this willingness to go to such great lengths to spread their false teaching that Paul declares they “must be silenced.” The Apostle Paul makes this firm statement because some men refuse to shut their mouths. They will continue to blab on about “things they should not teach” (verse 11). Their mouths must be stopped by rebuke (verse 13).

It appears that Paul has hope for some false teachers and not for others. In verse 13 he seems that through a severe rebuke they might be corrected. However in verse 16 he describes some as professing to know God but denying Him by their works and “being detestable and disobedience and worthless for any good deed.” Since Paul did not know with certainty all the elect of God he left room for hope for some and dealt with men differently. Some harder than others.

What should we do when confronted with a false teacher? Don’t listen to them. Don’t give them your ear. Don’t even pretend to have interest in their destructive teaching.

Heretic: “Hey man, guess what new teaching I’ve found in the Bible that seems to go against everything we believe?!”
Christian: “No thanks. I’d rather learn from godly, discerning men. Why don’t you go tell the elders about your new-found belief? Better yet, let’s go talk to them together…”

We should take Paul’s warning to heart. Sooner or later we will all run across false teachers. One only need turn on the channel between 20 and 22 (TBN *cough cough*) to find a multitude of destructive teaching. Let us be found prepared to deal with them with them properly.

Remember that only our mighty God can grant repentance to false teachers. We should pray for them as we are instructed to from 2 Timothy 2:24-25: “24And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth,” (NASB).

With love for the truth of the gospel of Peace,
Case of Base