For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Titus 1:10-14
As we continue to take a look at the role of leaders in the Church and their responsibilities and qualifications. It’s very clear, one of the roles of the leader, whether Pastor, Elder, or Bishop, is to protect the Church from false teachers and rebuke those false teachers sharply. Again the word Pastor is latin for Shepherd, so think of the leadership role in the Church as a Shepherd overlooking their flock. This is how God designed the Church
The Apostle Paul also gave some specific examples to Titus to emphasize his points. Paul explains these false teachers are deceivers and rebellious people. In todays Christianity we don’t want to rebuke anyone, we don’t want to offend anyone. But its Biblical, as a leader of the Church, you must protect your flock from false teachers and rebuke those wolves. Failure to do this is failure to fulfill your calling as a leader of the Church
So what is the result if you don’t protect your Church from false teachers? Well the Apostle Paul reveals to us “who subvert entire households, teaching things which they should not teach, for lucrative gain” If you allow these false teachers to penetrate the Church, they will deceive a large portion of the congregation. This will have disastrous results on your congregation, as they will become split and divided
Now here’s an interesting note, the Apostle Paul says “One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said” So what is Paul talking about here? Did God ordain a false prophet? No, to understand this we need to understand the Greco-Roman context of the scripture. It was common in the Greek culture to reference poets as prophets, infact the words were typically used interchangeably. The Greeks were a pagan culture, and believe in many gods, so it’s not suprising they would believe a poet could be divine is some way. So the Apostle Paul is pointing out, one of their famous poets declared “All Cretens are liars, evil brutes, and lazy gluttons”
Its obvious this is a very vague and discriminatory statement made by the poet, however their were people who took this statement as divinely inspired therefor created a false teaching. Do you see how these ideas can quickly escalate and create a life of their own. This is why the Apostle Paul is teaching Titus and us, it’s very important for the leaders of the Church, to rebuke these false teachings and whoever is spreading them without remorse for the greater good of the Church
So what was the Apostle Pauls conclusion for these false teachers “Rebuke them Sharply” don’t allow the wolves to overtake the Church, don’t allow the false teachings to creep into the Church and deceive the bretheren , Amen!
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