Chuck Larsen

I remember reading about a Japanese businessman who was explaining the overall success of the Japanese automobile producers that had overtaken the American producers in both the number and quality of their products. He explained their factory employees’ diligence and hard work and contrasted it with the “fat and lazy” workers in the American plants. Of course, this drew incredible controversy, forcing him to apologize for such comments later. His apology was insincere. He said, “I did not mean to say that all Americans are fat and lazy. Some are Fat, and some are Lazy.” I nearly choked on my coffee when I read that line. That apology was not meant to mend fences, it was meant to pour a concrete footer under the fence and install a wrought iron gate. Ted Turner issued a similar apology around the same time for saying, “Christianity is a religion for losers.” The insincerity of his sarcastic apology is noteworthy. He said, “I really, from the very bottom of my heart, want to apologize for statements I made about Christianity. I did it mainly out of frustration. At one time or another, I have offended almost every group. I am sure I will be apologizing again.” That is a Hallmark card you cannot find anywhere. Apologies wrapped in air quotes are still just air quotes.

Trobriand Islanders, who live at a minimal subsistence level, nevertheless have little interest in or respect for other people and nations. Their word for an outsider is dim-dim, someone of little consequence. They consider outsiders as lower beings. This is nothing new. Wherever explorers found Indians in America, each band considered itself “the people” or “human beings” and the next Indian tribe up or downriver as barbarians and something less than human. That is the ancient version of “my group chat is correct, and your group chat is full of idiots.” Every race was certain that the other race had been dropped on their collective heads at birth.

This base racial prejudice is the same attitude that was displayed by the party of the circumcision that Paul was describing to Titus. This party was attempting to drive a racial wedge between the Jewish believers and the Gentile believers on Crete. They said, “All Cretans are liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons.” Paul refers to them as “teaching what they should not be teaching.” Each nationality, each race, has its origin in the sons of Noah. We are all related and of equal value. God loved each ethos, each fragment of the human race, so much that he gave his Son to die for it. Jesus died for each of the persons in every ethos. Christianity magnifies the individual as the object of God’s love. That individual is then added to other individuals to create a church, the body of Christ. Paul told the Colossians, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:11

Paul gives Titus some characteristics to help him identify false teachers in verse 10 of chapter 1 and then opens verse 11 with a severe challenge. He says, “It’s necessary to silence them.” Jesus once said that it was “necessary” for Him to go to Jerusalem and die on the cross for the sins of all mankind. That Greek word is the same one used by Paul regarding muzzling the dangerous dogs who bring false teachings to God’s people. As it was necessary for Christ to die for salvation to come to mankind, it is also necessary to silence the lies that might prevent true salvation from coming to individuals. To believe in the doctrines of the false teachers that add something or take something away from the gospel message of Jesus Christ is to be distracted by a wrong answer that will cause some to fail the test. The Gospel of Jesus is a simple message of salvation by grace through faith alone.

The issue that Paul is addressing and that the early church addressed as a whole is whether certain aspects of the Old Testament were essential ingredients for salvation along with faith in Jesus Christ. The issue is still very relevant today. Many churches attempt to promote a specific teaching by attaching it to the condition of “faith” expressed in the Gospel. You must believe and be baptized. You must believe and stop committing a specific sin. You must believe and etc., etc… But the simplicity of the Gospel was given clearly to the Philippian jailor who fell on his knees and cried out with the question, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”

John Piper quotes Romans 4:4-5, saying, “To the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” He then writes, “For ‘the ungodly’—who know that they are riding the Titanic to destruction—the best news in all the world is the news that God will, by faith alone, count them as righteous because of Christ. This is the great ground of joy in the word of the cross: Justification is by grace alone (not mixed with our merit), through faith alone (not mixed with our works), on the basis of Christ alone (not mingling his righteousness with ours), to the glory of God alone (not ours).” Anyone who twists the scriptures to add another essential to the Good News of Jesus Christ must be silenced. There was much opposition to the message of faith alone proclaimed by the Apostles. Paul was regularly attacked for his presentation of the Gospel. But he said, ““For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God leading to salvation for the Jew first and also for the gentile. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

Paul instructs Titus on the importance of silencing those false teachers who attempt to add some religious or cultural ritual, rite, or practice to the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. The specific legalists that Paul is addressing are referred to as the “party of the circumcision.” They are called a party because they cut themselves off from others without their particular characteristics. It could be anything. It could be baptism as the deed added to salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. It could be attending services on Saturday instead of Sunday, or just Church attendance as a whole could be promoted as an additional requirement for salvation. The problem is that whenever something else is added to the essential ingredient of salvation, you have divisions, or parties, in the church. They are, in and of themselves, very divisive in nature. That is why Paul tells Titus that it is extremely important to silence them because they destroy “whole households.” A church divided over the exact hour the service should start is very likely to schedule the potluck later just so the other side will starve.

There is always division when anything is added to the message of salvation by grace through faith. The division has its essence in the issue that is added to faith. You see, the very essence of legalism is putting confidence or faith in a religious activity rather than putting faith or confidence in God. It trusts a practice rather than a person. Practices focus on our abilities and understandings rather than focusing on our Savior. Whenever that is done, the practice becomes the focal point of our relationships rather than the person of our Lord and Savior. We love the practice more than the person. Or we trust the leader’s ideas and interpretations rather than trusting God’s Word. Jesus alone is to be the central focus of our confidence and faith. He is the one who purchased it for us and the only true savior. False teachers always present different ideas, fresh thoughts, and alternative methods, but none of them can save us. Legalists often have clever slogans and matching T shirts. They cannot fix your guilt any more than your gym membership can guarantee you a six pack.

Two construction workers once fell into a deep pit. One said to the other, “Save me from this wretched place. Please get me out of the dirt and mud.” The other replied, “You idiot, how can I? I am in the same plight as you.” Since they were both in the pit, neither one could help the other. Then they heard a voice from above calling to them to grasp a rope. A third worker had not fallen into the pit, so he was the only one who could save them. He brought help from above. The very best man among the prophets could not save us from the pit of sin because he, too, was a sinner just as we are. He landed in the same pit we did. But Jesus was God and thus was not sinful. He came from above to save us from the horrible mess we are in. Like the two workmen, we cannot save ourselves. Only Jesus Christ can save us. Paul says, “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Philippians 2:10 through 11.

Paul tells Titus that those who try to push their religious opinions regarding legalism onto others as valid doctrines do so out of impure motives. He says they do it for “dishonest gain.” This phrase usually refers to monetary profit, but it also refers to prideful gratification. When Paul tells his readers to watch out for the wolves in sheep clothing who will distract them from the Gospel truths the Apostles passed on to the church, he warns them about false motives. Wolves scatter the flocks. They steal, kill, and destroy. Wolves do not feed the flock; they do not care for the flock and do not comfort and give birth to the little lambs. They simply fleece and kill and eat. I have watched cable religious programming late at night. I have seen some wolves dressed up so fancy that they look like sheep who shop at Nordstrom. The credit card number is always large and the Gospel footnotes are always small. “Send us your seed and you will reap a harvest of abundance,” they say, which mysteriously always results in them getting the money and me getting a cheap monthly newsletter.

David’s sins were sins of an impure heart. When he confesses and pleads with God for forgiveness, he asks God to “create in me a pure heart.” A pure heart revolves around pure motives. It is what is meant by the passages that call us to love God with all our hearts. Deeds are observed by man and are accepted, but God always looks at the heart. We are more concerned with conduct than motives. But to God, actions are secondary to motives. The holiest service, the greatest sacrifice, is deemed unacceptable to God when impure motives are the source. Proverbs 21:27 says, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he brings it with evil intent.” That is a direct shot across the bow of every person who tries to impress others by appearing religious. If you have ever written a large check to the church just because the person next to you peeked at your envelope, you know what God thinks of that.

Now do not misunderstand. We all have impure motives to some extent. David, the man after God’s heart was not perfect, and neither am I and neither are you. The false teachers are not perfect either and to give any human the authority in our lives that belongs only to God, is to demean the person and work of Jesus Christ. John Stott said it well; “Only one act of pure love, unsullied by any taint of ulterior motive, has ever been performed in the history of the world, namely the self giving of God in Christ on the cross for undeserving sinners.” All men are sinners, and the only hope for sinners is the sinless one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke tells us, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:17