Pure in all things

Intro

Who is Titus and where’s Create?

Cretans were known for being liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons - they had a bad rep

They were known for being ungodly people who were disobedient and detestable

They were known for being impure in all things.

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Passage:

Titus 1:1–16 “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”

Transition:

Main Exposition

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Main Point: The church must have elders who love God and are above reproach.

Transitional sentence

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The church must be elder lead and our elders must be above reproach.

Titus 1:5 “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 7 For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach.”

Paul is saying here that we the church need to be led not by one man or a board but we need to be elder led.

What is an elder?

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An elder is a spiritually mature man knowledgeable in Scripture who is officially recognized by the local church to work alongside other elders in providing oversight and care for God’s people.

To become an elder a man must meet the qualifications listed here in Titus and elsewhere in Timothy but to sum up all the qualifications Paul uses the phrase above reproach.

Above Reproach means to be free from shame or disgrace. They uphold a biblical reputation.

Church leaders must conduct themselves with such moral quality that they neither bring shame to the body of Christ nor disgrace the name of Jesus, both within and outside the church. A leader’s moral character and public reputation are necessary requirements to carry out the task of overseer.

elders need to be moral so that they can help teach us how to moral.

While elders must excel in being above reproach, these commands also apply to you and me. We too must seek to live a blameless life.

How do we do this?

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Men and women of God must love the truth of scripture.

Titus 1:9 “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

Paul is calling on men and women of God to hold firm to trustworthy word. What's he talking about? He is talking about holding fast to the Bible and biblical teachings.

Every man and woman of God needs to have sound doctrine because we will all give insight to someone in our life and that insight needs to come from the Bible.

In order to be strong, healthy and fulfilled we need to prioritize reading the Bible. Meditating on it’s words and applying the, to our lives.

Why? Because it is trustworthy. Only the Bible is trustworthy. The words of Jesus bring life and restoration to your broken soul.

Guess what, Satan HATES when you read the Bible. Satan hates when you know the truth because he wants to keep you in bondage. He knows that the word of God is the truth and the truth will set you free.

Which is why False teachers are demonically inspired to trip you up and try to bring you to the gates of hell.

Titus 1:9–10 “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.”

Paul is very firm, he’s not worrying about offending anyone. He says that false teacher must be silenced.

False teachers will try and twist the Bible to lead you astray

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Men and women of God rebuke false teachers

Titus 1:10–14 “For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.”

False teachers are upsetting the family of faith and the children of God so they must be swiftly silenced.

Paul says we need to rebuke them sharply. There are some in the world were we need to be strategic about how we present the gospel, we have to be shrewd and say the truth in love right. We always have to present the gospel without compromising Biblical truth but

With false teachers who are intentionally trying to lead people away, Jesus says they are sheep in wolves clothing who we need to sharply rebuke. Why? To bring people down? No So that we can raise them up and teach them sound doctrine.

We rebuke out of love so that “they may be sound in the faith.”

But get this, before we rebuke false teachers that turn people away from the truth, we first need to obey God and live according to His word.

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We must seek to be pure in all things

Titus 1:15–16 “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”

Family, we have to be pure. We have to be above reproach. We need to seek to have a good godly reputation.

Paul talks about some people in Crete who claim to be professing Christians but yet they deny God with the way they live.

Do you deny God by the way you live?

We know that our works our fruit of the salvation we received by grace through faith.

If you really truly have faith, are you laying your life down every day at the feet if Jesus? Do your actions show you love Jesus with your whole heart or only the heart we see on Sunday?

Paul says that those who profess faith but deny Jesus by their works are detestable, disobedient and unfit.

Y’all have you felt detestable? Do you feel disobedient? Do you feel that man no matter how hard you try you can never kick this sin. Do you feel like man I am living a life that does not honor God?

You do not have to stay detestable because the Lord Jesus was tortured beaten and abused. He suffered so we would know not the condemnation of sin.

1 Peter 2:21–24 “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

The good news of Jesus means that you no longer are unfit, disobedient or detestable but by the wounds of Jesus you cab be called righteous and you can be above reproach

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Men and women of God must love the truth of Scripture and be led by men who are above reproach.

ROMANS 8:1–3 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death

Outline

Main Point: The church must have elders who love God and are above reproach.

The church must be elder lead and our elders must be above reproach

Men and women of God must love the truth of scripture

Men and women of God rebuke false teachers

We must seek to be pure in all things

Small Group Questions

The people of Create were known to be ungodly. They had a bad reputation. What is the importance of having a good reputation? Do yo think the place your from is known for being godly?

Titus 1:5 “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—” Why do churches need elders and what do they do?

Why do elders need to be above reproach? Why are they held to a high standard?

If I am not an elder do I need to be above reproach? Are the qualifications of an elder applicable to me?

Tonight we read Titus 1:9 which says, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” What is “the word that is taught?” Why do we need to hold firm to the word? How do we do this?

What does it mean to give instruction in sound doctrine? does every believer “give instruction in sound doctrine” or is this only the job of a Pastor?

Tonight we read that men and women of God rebuke false teachers and false doctrine. How does a believer in love, rebuke sound doctrine? Why is it essential to do so?

The people of create and many today are surrounded by false doctrine, where do we find false doctrine? how can we recognize someone who preaches false doctrine and what effect do they have? (see verse 10-11)

Titus 1:15–16 says “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”

9. What is the importance of purity? What does it mean to be pure? How can we be pure if we still sin?

10. Some Christians profess to know God but they do not serve Him with their works. If we are saved by grace what is the purpose of our works?

11. If I am not living out the Bible in my everyday life am I truly saved?

12. Take a moment to read 1 Peter 2:21-24. How does Jesus make us pure?

13. In light of everything we have discussed tonight, why must men and woman of God be above reproach and how do we do that?

14. How can we be specially praying for you tonight?