Session 3 September 16th 2020

 

Read

Titus 1:10-16

 

10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. 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. 12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ 13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth. 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. 16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

 

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Religious people are bad. They are ready to tell everyone else what they are doing wrong. They proclaim the reasons others will never measure up and explain why those people are all going to hell in a handbasket.

 

Religious people aren’t humble or helpful. They don’t pay attention to their own shortcomings or try to address their own issues. They are perfect in their own eyes. They are poisonous and proud.

 

In Paul’s letter to Titus, he unpacks the difference between religion and faith, between rules one ascribes to and a life transformed by truth. Paying attention to “merely human commands” is the same as rejecting the truth, he tells us. Nothing is pure to those who are corrupted, because “both their minds and consciences are corrupted” (Titus 1:14-15). No good action will save us. Only God can purify us and make our actions worth the effort.

 

Following rules won’t make you good.

 

During Jesus’ life on Earth, He condemned religious people by exposing their hypocrisy: “You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness” (Luke 11:39). Jesus didn’t give His life to save us so we’d be good followers of rules. He saved us so we could be in relationship with Him. To live in victory now and in eternity. Following rules won’t make you good. You’ve got to be transformed by the power of a good God.

 

Reflect and pray

 

Have you tried to do something that seemed good but was really selfishly motivated?

What would have made your actions pure?

Do we ask the Holy spirit to constantly build the fruit of the spirit and the characteristics Paul details here, in us