Titus 1:10-16

The church must strive for purity. Pure in its organization True to its original form Organization of the Lord’s church Christ is the head and He has ordained positions of authoritative responsibility. Evangelist and Elders having been cleansed met the qualifications. and lead servants; Deacons Beyond that we have some liberty, but there is no hierarchy of church leaders who write church law. Titus was supposed to set up the same types of congregations in the same manner that Timothy was working with and instructed to do so in Ephesus. Christ calls for unity in his body. Not just in spirit, but in truth as well.

The church must strive for purity. Pure in its teachings. Paul warned Titus in verse 10, “that there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.” Paul warned Timothy about a similar type of people at Ephesus in I Timothy 1:3-11 The circumcision group were those known as the Judaizers; who believed and taught that for a person to be a Christian then they had to be circumcised and observe the OT law. Paul instructed that both groups were to be silenced. Titus 1:11, “They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.”

The church must strive for purity Pure in its teachings True to the teachings of Christ and his word Paul spoke specifically about Hymenaeus and Philetus who had ship wrecked their faith and were teaching that the resurrection had already taken place, and they destroyed the faith of some. I Timothy 1:20 & II Timothy 2:17-18 Just because people appear to believe in God doesn’t make their teachings correct. Also, just because a church looks Christian doesn’t mean that it is.

Compare Titus 1:16 with… Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

Compare Titus 1:16 with… I Timothy 1:5-7, “The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. The want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.”

Compare Titus 1:16 with… II Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

Christian—belonging to Christ You can’t belong to Christ unless you have been circumcised by the Spirit which takes place at baptism into Christ. Colossians 2:11-12 It is important to have elders who, “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”—Titus 1:9

The church must strive for purity. Pure in its actions True to the form of Christ The false teachers that Paul warned Titus about were motivated by dishonest gain and their actions denied their knowledge of God and actually made them detestable, disobedient and unfit to do any good work.

The church must strive for purity. Pure in its actions Titus 1:15, “To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.” How they think, what they think, why they think, and what they think is acceptable have all been corrupted.

I Timothy 4:1-4, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”

The church must strive for purity. Pure in its actions “To the pure, all things are pure,” Those who have been cleansed or washed by Christ. “all things are pure,”—the teachings of Christ and Paul in regard to marriage and food—Mark 7:14-22; Romans 14:20 Could pertain to all of Christ’s teachings. These are what guide our actions. Not myths or human commands. Our conscience is only as good as we train it.

“The “conscience” is an innate faculty that prompts you to do what your mind thinks is right, and criticizes you when you do what your mind thinks is wrong. Defilement of the conscience means that one has ignored the promptings of the conscience so long, that the conscience ceases to work. And when it ceases to work, one of the most precious safeguards of the soul has been lost.” — Gareth Reese, Timothy and Titus, Pg. 346

The church must strive to be pure… In its organization In its teachings And in its actions We must be made pure to be a part of it.