Factious | Titus 3:8-11

I remember many years ago when we were working

through the process of writing down what would

eventually become our church covenant. The document

that guides our lives together is how we are

living out a healthy church life as a local body.

And we knew as we started that process, we knew

that it had to start with the subject of unity.

That was number one. That was on the forefront

of our minds. And we sought to find out, well,

what are the motivations of the heart and what

are the practical actions that would be required

of members here at Oak Hill if we were going

to attain to that kind of healthy church? And

for those of you who are here this morning and

you are already covenant members, you know exactly

how that wording played out because we read it

together every single month, right, at our member

meetings. It is the first of 10 principles that

guide how we live life together. And as we always

say, it's number one on the list of 10 because

if we don't get that one right, we'll never get

to the other nine. And that's an important thing.

So let me put it on the screen just so that we

can be reminded of what it says. This is number

one in our covenant. We will work and pray for

unity of the spirit within the body. Always,

always practicing forgiveness. pursuing reconciliation,

and rejecting harmful gossip. That is number

one. If we don't have that one right, we're not

going to be able to live out the other nine.

And it's interesting, when you look at church

history, a couple things become very, very clear.

Number one, the church that Jesus established

has always struggled with false ideas and false

teachers infiltrating the church. But number

two, the church has always struggled to maintain

unity. Throughout 2 ,000 years, it doesn't matter

what era of church history you're looking at,

from the apostolic era in the pages of Scripture

through every single succeeding age of the church,

disunity. And sometimes in very nasty ways, even

among bishops at the highest echelons of church

leadership, we've struggled with unity. Now,

some of those battles, some of that disunity

was actually required in church history because

essential Christian doctrines were at stake and

they needed to be fought for and clarified and

established. But today, the far more common kind

of disunity that you find among Christians is

fueled by an endless list of conflicts that divide

the body, that tear relationships apart, and

sometimes even bring down entire local churches.

Because we know God's sovereignty, it might raise

a question in your mind. Why does this happen?

Why is there so much disunity all the time? And

you know what the answer is? People. People,

our nature. Even though we've been redeemed by

the blood of Christ, even though we've been born

again to a new nature, during the years on the

earth, we still wrestle with the flesh down here.

And when we wrestle with the flesh and we're

not getting spiritual victory over those things,

sometimes we see pride rise up in us, me included.

Pride, greed, envy, bitterness, unforgiveness,

these things on occasion will raise their ugly

heads in our lives. And when they do, we find

ourselves failing to do what the scripture calls

us to do as brothers and sisters, to humbly,

gently, and patiently bear with one another in

love. That's one of the hardest things that we're

called to do, and to be eager to maintain the

unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And

as a church leader, I'm sometimes frustrated

with myself, and this whole thing frustrates

me because I want to see this church become this

healthy community that grows and matures together,

bearing the fruits of the Spirit. But as I was

preparing for this message this week, I was reminded

that, again, if you look at the history and you

see that the churches always struggle with this,

perhaps we're approaching it wrongly. Perhaps

we have some wrong presuppositions about unity.

Now, we know God wants us to be united. That's

very clear in Scripture. But consider this. Nowhere

in Scripture are we told that finding unity is

going to be easy. I wish that promise were there.

Oh, because the Spirit will be among you. Everybody's

going to get along. And we're going to have no

conflict. Would that not be nice? In fact, even

among the New Testament churches that Paul wrote

letters to. Think about this. Within a generation

of the resurrection of Christ. With apostolic

oversight, what do we find in these churches?

Quarreling, division, rivalries, dissensions,

divisions, bitterness, anger, malice, and more.

So 2 ,000 years later, why would we assume that

it's suddenly going to become anything but difficult?

And maybe, just maybe, God is using that difficulty

to grow us. for our good, right? To transform

us into the likeness of Christ. Because the truth

is, and I can't find the source of this quote,

but it's a great quote. Sanctifying gifts tend

to arrive in painful packages. I'll say it again.

Sanctifying gifts tend to arrive in painful packages.

And having to die to ourselves, having to put

people other than ourselves first, bearing with

one another can sometimes be painful. That's

why unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace

is difficult. But hear me now, it's a worthy

battle. And it's something we have to keep fighting,

all of us, to have this goal that we will work

and pray for unity of the spirit within the body.

That is our subject for this morning. So grab

your Bibles. We're going to Titus chapter three.

Now, we've been here for a while, right? So let

me say publicly, I'm sorry for the on again,

off again here in Titus 3. The last month or

so has been pretty chaotic in our lives. And

so I was here, then I was gone, and I was here

and gone. And so it feels like we've been in

Titus 3 forever. So I apologize that. I thank

you for your grace as well. We're going to finish

Titus next week. And then the following Sunday,

we hope, Lord willing, to dive into the book

of Esther. I want to back up to verse 1 because

I feel like we need to read through this again

because the context here is so important. Remember,

Paul is writing to this young protege of his,

Titus, and he's giving him instructions on how

he should exhort the church in the land of Crete,

right? That island in the Mediterranean, Crete.

So he says, Titus, remind them, verse 1, to be

subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient,

to be ready for every good deed, to malign no

one. To be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration

for all men. Now the point of that, and we saw

this in the previous chapter, was this idea of

having a good testimony among unbelievers to

adorn the gospel with their lives so that people

might be drawn to the gospel. Now catch this

now, verse three, he says, here's what you were

saved out of, believers, and this applies to

us today. Here's what you were saved out, verse

three, for we also once were foolish ourselves.

disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts

and pleasures, spending our life in malice and

envy, hateful and hating one another. And then

we have this beautiful section, verses four through

seven. We spent two Sundays here and it really

requires even more because the language here

is so beautiful. Verse four, but when the kindness

of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared,

he saved us. So this is what we once were, all

of those awful things, but when the kindness

of God and his love for us appeared, he saved

us. How did he save us? Not on the basis of deeds,

which we have done in righteousness, but according

to what? His mercy. Everybody see it? By the

washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy

Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly. Through

Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified

by his grace, not by works, but by his grace,

we would be made heirs according to the hope

of eternal life. Wow. And now today's passage,

verses 8 through 11. This is a trustworthy statement,

Paul says. And concerning these things, I want

you to speak confidently so that those who have

believed God will be careful to engage in good

deeds. Now, that's the second time he's mentioned

good deeds. Take note of that. These things are

good and profitable for men, but avoid foolish

controversies and genealogies and strife and

disputes about the law for they're unprofitable

and worthless. Reject a factious man after a

first and second warning, knowing that such a

man is perverted and is sinning, being self -condemned.

Okay, lots to work through there. Let's go back

up to verse eight where Paul begins this way.

This is a trustworthy statement, he says. Now,

why? Why would he start here and say that? Well,

this is a phrase that Paul uses five times in

the pastoral letters. Four times he uses this

phrase in writing to Timothy and this one written

to Titus. Pistos halagos in the Greek. What he's

doing here is drawing special attention to something

he wants these two younger proteges of his to

remember. It's like he's shining a flashlight

on it and saying, hey guys, look carefully at

this. This is something you have to remember.

This is a core truth. And to Titus, Paul's referring

back to what he just wrote in verses four through

seven. So when he says this is trustworthy, he's

going back to verses four through seven. So these

are three things here that Titus should remember

carefully as he ministers on the island of Crete.

First of all, remember how utterly sinful we

all once were. We were so foolish. We were so

disobedient. We were enemies of God. until his

kindness appeared to us. That's number one. Second,

remember how he saved us, not on the basis of

our works, but because of his mercy. And third,

how the Holy Spirit came to us at conversion

and cleansed us, washed away our sins, brought

us to life through the regeneration of our hearts

so that now being justified by grace, we get

to be adopted as sons and daughters of God for

all of eternity. Now, I don't know about you,

but when I review those three things, I'd say

that's pretty important to remember. In fact,

my friends, that is the gospel in a nutshell.

If you ever wanted, like, I'm not exactly sure

what the gospel is, turn to Titus 3, look at

verses 4 through 7, and you'll have your answer.

That is the gospel in a nutshell. So Paul says,

Titus, pay attention. What I've just told you

is a trustworthy statement. You've got to know

this. And then he goes on, and concerning these

things, I want you to speak confidently about

them. So again, this is this grizzled old apostle

talking to this young pastor and saying, you

gotta focus on this. Now the single Greek word

that Paul uses here for speak confidently comes

from a root, a word that basically means to affirm

something strongly. It's a very unusual word.

Paul only uses it one other time. to 1 Timothy,

to Timothy, right? And there it's translated

to make confident assertions. So what Paul is

saying here to Titus is this. Titus, I want you

to take that condensed gospel message that I

just wrote to you, and I want you to insist on

affirming these things over and over and over

again, and I want you to teach them with absolute

confidence. Make it strong. And I say over and

over and over again because the verb is written

in the present tense, which means this should

be an ongoing thing, a daily habit to preach

these truths. Keep on speaking. Keep on affirming

this core message. Listen, friends, you and I,

we should never get tired of hearing it. I know

sometimes I hear this complaint. People are like,

really, the gospel again? Listen, we should never.

get tired of remembering and recalling the effects

of the gospel in our lives. We should never stop

remembering who we once were. Because you've

got to know the bad, right? How many times have

I said this? If you don't remember the bad news,

then it's hard to understand what Christ has

done for you. So we start there, what we once

were, then what Christ has done for us on our

behalf, bringing us to life, cleansing us from

sin, saving us, justifying us, and then... That's

part one and part two, remembering who you now

are in Christ. Your identity as a son or daughter

of God and saying, that's what I now need to

become. God says I'm that positionally, now practically,

that's what I need to live out. So all three

of those things are so important. So when we

come together here on Sundays, you guys, and

we read scripture together, and when we come

to the throne of grace as we just did, Grant

led us to the throne of grace for corporate prayer.

When we lift our voices together and sing praises,

when we listen to God's word being taught from

this pulpit, in all of those moments, what we're

doing is rehearsing the gospel and remembering,

preaching to ourselves, reminding ourselves of

these core truths, and this is exactly what Paul

wants Titus to keep doing. Does that make sense?

Yeah? Now, here's the interesting part to this.

Not only that, because... It's possible for us

to remember the gospel and it all stays up here.

And it doesn't get down to our hands. Because

look, he has a purpose in this. Yes, the believer

should constantly meditate on the goodness of

the gospel, but those truths are designed to

bring about a particular result in us. Notice

the conjunction in the middle of verse eight.

It says, so that. When you see a so that in scripture,

what does it mean? Here's a purpose statement.

Here's a reason for what I just said coming your

way. Look at the reason. Titus, keep affirming

the basics of the gospel. Speak confidently about

them so that those who believe in God will be

careful to do what? Engage in good deeds. So

the gospel truth that we remember up here gets

down to the hands level, right? Where it's being

lived out through good deeds. And man, how often

it's sad. I see Christians, especially online

these days, who are so zealous for the intellectual

side of the faith. They will scrap and claw for

every nuance of right doctrine. And you guys

know I love doctrine. It's a good thing as long

as it translates into a life that's well -lived

for the glory of God and for the good of others.

Right? It can't just stay up here. It can't just

be something I fight over online. It's got to

get down to the practical street level. If it

doesn't, if all of our doctrinal understanding

stays up in our head and doesn't get down there,

what does 1 Corinthians 13 say we are? Just noisy

gongs and clashing, clanging cymbals. See, when

you hear the gospel proclaimed over and over

again and you take it to heart and you apply

it to yourself and you let it fill you with awe

for what Christ has done for you, here's what

you're going to find. You don't have to even

have people tell you to serve others. You want

to serve others. Nobody has to guilt you into

good deeds. You want to do good deeds. It'll

flow right out of your grateful heart. In fact,

that's what Paul says here, that they'll be careful.

To engage in good deeds. That's the Greek verb

frontizo, and it means to be aware of or to be

thoughtful about something. Good deeds should

always be on the forefront of our thinking because

the gospel has saturated our hearts. And so we're

constantly aware of it. You're constantly aware

of other people around you thinking, well, who

can I bless? And how can I serve? In what ways

can I jump in there and be an encouragement to

somebody else? Guys, that should flow out of

us. because of what we read in verses four through

seven. And if that's not true of you, if good

deeds are not at the forefront of your thinking,

then it's a good thing to do a heart check, to

ask yourself, is there something I'm not understanding

about the gospel? If it's not just flowing out

of you, is there a disconnect? Have I underestimated,

for example, my own sin? Have I not fully grasped?

The extent of the sacrifice that Christ has made

for me. Do I not understand my new identity in

Christ? These are good questions to ask, to check

your heart. If you profess to be saved, if you

know Jesus, you have an abiding relationship

with him, but you're not zealous for good deeds,

you're not actively serving others, you're not

giving of yourself sacrificially, you're not

engaged in body life, you're not prioritizing

the life of the church, guess what? There is

a disconnect somewhere. And you're missing out

on the purpose for which God has saved you. So

it's a good thing. Okay. So that's what we should

be doing. Now, as Paul comes to verse 9, he gives

us something that we need to avoid. Oh, there

it is. Let's talk about avoid. Something to avoid.

Verse 9. But avoid foolish controversies and

genealogies and strife and disputes about the

law. Why? For they are unprofitable and worthless.

Now, there's an important distinction we need

to make as we interpret this verse. Look at the

word controversies. That's the NAS. It may say

debates in your translation. Listen, at certain

times and in certain circumstances, there is

a need for Christians, especially leaders like

Titus, to wade into controversies and debates.

in order to defend the faith or to refute false

ideas. So don't misunderstand here. There is

an appropriate time and place to engage in arguments.

In fact, do we not see Jesus doing this at times?

Yeah, he's confronting the religious leaders

of Israel. He's engaging and actually rebuking

them. We see Paul doing this, right? He engages

Romans. He engages his fellow Jews, even Greek

philosophers. So the Bible does devote a great

deal of space to both, on one hand, apologetics.

defending the faith and polemics, refuting false

ideas. Because believers need to know, first

of all, what's true and correct, but also what's

wrong and damnable. We need to know those things.

So there is value in doing this, right? So controversies

and debates aren't inherently bad, but, right,

here's the but, but it's incredibly important

that we are able to discern what's worth fighting

for and what's not. This is one of the most important

things in your walk with Christ. If you can hone

this in, this is so valuable. What should I fight

for and what should I let go of? What are the

essentials of the faith that we must battle over?

What are the non -essentials that we can, yes,

hold strong convictions. I'm a big fan of having

strong convictions. But when somebody disagrees,

a brother or sister disagrees, we can sort of

let that go. We can agree to disagree with a

fellow Christian who thinks otherwise. without

creating conflict and division. And then secondarily,

it's incredibly important that when we choose

to debate or enter into a controversy, that we

engage in those arguments in a way that is, one,

charitable to our opponent. And this is where,

man, do we struggle with this online. Charitable

to our opponent, that means we don't argue in

bad faith with them. We don't use logical fallacies.

We don't attack them personally. We don't straw

man their positions just to win the argument

because that dishonors God when we do that. And

number two, that we make sure that any debate

that we get into is productive. That we're not

just arguing in circles trying to win the debate.

wasting our time and energy on things that we

should just walk away from. So that's important.

And that's, by the way, that's what Paul's highlighting

here in verse 9. He's not denying that debates

need to happen at times. He's talking about foolish

debates, right? He's talking about foolish arguments.

And the Greek word there for foolish is moros.

And guess what word in the English comes out

of that? Moron. Quit being a moron. Don't get

involved in moronic controversies. Arguments

over essential doctrines that are non -essential

doctrines that are speculative, that are unprofitable,

Paul says that are ultimately worthless. Don't

get involved in those things. And then he adds

two other important words here in verse nine

that point to the danger in this. He calls them

strife and disputes. Your translation may say

dissensions and quarrels. So not only are these

debates a waste of time, listen now, they can

be a threat to the body. This is where sometimes

we have a disconnect. We're like, well, you know,

I enjoy arguing about these things. But if it

becomes a threat to the body, it threatens to

divide, warning sign, danger sign. Issues have

become so divisive that they tear at the fabric

of relationships. They destroy unity. And Paul

already talked back in chapter one of this letter

about men who did exactly that. Remember back

in chapter one, he talked about certain men in

Crete who were engaging in all these speculative

arguments. Here's what he said about them. He

called them rebellious men, empty talkers, deceivers.

Men who turn away from the truth, who profess

to know God, but by their deeds they deny him.

And they upset entire families with their falsehoods.

They are detestable, disobedient, and worthless,

Paul says. And because of that, he says, Titus,

you need to go out there and silence them. Because,

listen, the topic they're talking about may be

worth discussing, but the way they're doing it,

the way they're coming at it, is divisive. And

they must be silenced. He also described these

men as being of the circumcision, which means

they were his fellow countrymen. They were probably

Hellenistic Jews that were living in Greek lands,

and that would explain the description. In chapter

1, it says that they were pushing Jewish myths.

Here in chapter 3, genealogies and disputes about

the law. And by the way, Paul talks to Timothy

about this as well in detail. So both Timothy

and Titus, he gives them these warnings. This

must have been happening all over the ancient

world. To Timothy, he describes them as myths,

endless genealogies, speculation, fruitless discussion,

wrangling over words, and worldly and empty chatter.

Now look at the last phrase. That will lead to

further ungodliness and spread. Like gangrene.

Now I think about the world we live in today,

this online world where everybody feels like

they should have an opinion and voice it and

fight over every little thing. How prophetic

is that? Because when it spreads and we get into

these things and we divide and it spreads like

gangrene, it leads to further ungodliness. That

is the key to understanding why Paul is so concerned

about this. Because it leads to further ungodliness.

So what is Paul now advising us to do about this?

First word in verse nine is what? Avoid these

things. He says avoid them. Everybody get that?

Circle it, underline it, highlight it. Avoid

these types of things. He uses a very rare Greek

word here that describes turning around. Turn

around. Push away from the table and walk away

from these things. They are not worth your time.

In fact, they're worse. They're a danger and

a threat to the body of Christ. So push away

from the table and don't get involved in moronic

debates. And listen, I can speak for myself.

That sometimes takes discipline. I mean, I see

some things online and I just, I go, oh, I so

badly want to jump in on that. Like that is such

a dumb thing to type, but people do it, right?

And you just, your fingers start doing this.

Like I'm, no, and it's like, I'm not going there.

I'm gonna let the, I'll pray for that person

and let the Lord deal with it. I'm not gonna

get sucked into a moronic debate that isn't gonna

go anywhere. Raise your hand if you've won a

debate on Facebook. Yeah, and you think it really

made a difference. Or anywhere else. Again, it

requires that we grow in our discernment over

what we should fight over and what we should

just let go of. By the way, what are some of

the foolish arguments that we see? I started

making a list last night of all the things that

sometimes well -meaning Christians, sometimes

not so well -meaning Christians will put out

there into the ether and want to fight over.

So many of them right now are political. Political

issues, you see it on X, you see it on YouTube,

you see it on Instagram. Political, worldly political

arguments that Christians just put out there

like bait. Christians speculating on events of

the world and then claiming, well, this is the

end times and this is how it's gonna play out.

And you look at it and shake your head, right?

Nasty fights over... Biblical theology, oh, I'm

a covenant theologian. I'm a dispensationalist.

That stuff has gone bonkers on social media these

days. We're pre -mill, we're post -mill, we're

a -mill, we're pre -trib, we're post -trib, and

the fights go on and on, right? Arguments over

liturgical elements, arguments over musical styles

in church, the list is endless of things that

we will fight over. By the way, let me say this

clearly. Those things aren't necessarily bad

things to discuss. In fact, we should be able

to discuss those things. We should be forming

opinions about them. The question is, if you

engage in those arguments, is it profitable or

worthless? That's what Paul's talking about here.

Those kinds of arguments, by the way, can be

profitable, but be aware of Paul's standard.

The standard is that if it's profitable, it's

gonna end up in what? Godly living. and good

deeds, right? Because again, it goes from here

down to the hands. If I engage with somebody

in a theological debate over something and it

leads to greater godliness for both of us and

living out good deeds, amen and amen. But if

it leads to more ungodliness, if it creates division,

walk away from it. That's Paul's standard. Make

sense? And here's the thing. It's far easier

to sit around and debate theology than it is

to love Christ by obeying his commands. Do you

know that? It's way easier to just type something

than it is to obey Christ. It's far easier to

speculate about the end times than it is to go

volunteer to serve your brothers and sisters

in the local church. And it's easier to make

political arguments online than it is to love

your wife as Christ loved the church. Get my

point? Sometimes we use theological wrangling

as a cover for disobedience or apathy towards

godly things. And properly understood, if we

pursue sound doctrine and we grow in our understanding

of the word, it's gonna lead to humility and

holiness and greater love for others, not division.

True? So we wanna be aware of philosophizing

God's word, philosophizing God's truth. rather

than obeying it and seeking to grow in spiritual

fruit. Amen? Yeah? Okay. You'd be worried there.

Okay. Let's turn our attention then to the man

that Paul describes here in verse 10. He calls

him a factious man. Now, we'll define that in

just a second biblically, but my guess is you

already know what a factious person is because

almost everybody in this room has a factious

person in their life. We're sort of familiar

with this idea. Think about, and maybe that's

not true of everybody, if you have a particular

family member, right, who's constantly at the

center of family conflict, right, and that's,

it's the, He or she's the most divisive person

in your family, constantly creating drama. Or

you have a coworker who's a constant source of

controversy because he or she runs around the

office gossiping and dividing people. Or maybe

it's a neighbor who lives on your block, the

one that's always posting on the 411 page on

Facebook and complaining about everybody else

but themselves and dividing the neighbors. That

is a factious person. That's a divisive person,

always at the center of drama, always at the

center of conflict. Listen, always driving wedges

between people. That's what Paul's talking about

here. The root of the Greek word that he uses

is literally, it's an interesting word, it literally

means to choose or prefer in its most general

sense. So what the factious person does, he prefers

himself over everybody else. It's all about his

thoughts. His thoughts are the most important

thoughts. And his perspective is what matters

most. His opinions are what everyone else should

adopt. He thinks very highly of himself in his

opinions. And from that prideful place, he seeks

to win converts. What he wants to do is bring

together disciples that will... honor him and

admire him and think he's so smart. Folks that

he can first persuade and build his ego and then

control them to his advantage. So this is how

you build factions within any organization, including

the church. You find disciples who will follow

after you and then you can use them and you can

foster division in that organization. And the

strife that results distracts from the energies

of the church. The church is to be focused on

gospel issues, but what happens when somebody

becomes factious? Now all the energy gets sucked

out of doing the things we're supposed to be

doing, and everybody has to go over here and

try to fix this problem. It distracts from our

core mission and from our purpose, and it eats

away at unity. The factious man... is what one

scholar calls a disturber of the peace of the

church. And this is a very serious thing. In

fact, in the vice list of Galatians 5 .20, Paul

lists strife, disputes, dissensions, and factions

among the deeds of the flesh, which if they mark

a man's life, he will not see the kingdom of

God. Make sure you hear that. If that is the

mark of his life, if that is his mission and

his purpose in life to create, factions and conflict,

he will not see the kingdom of God, Paul says.

And in my decades of mystery, I've met way too

many of these people. We've had that problem

at Oak Hill in the 18 years we've been a church.

And it's painful. And it's hard. And it does.

It sucks the life out of the church. It takes

us off of our path, what we're supposed to be

doing. And we now got to deal with all this conflict

and division. It's a disturber of the peace of

the church. And church history is filled with

it. Again, if you study, if you just go out and

study the ecumenical councils of the church,

you will see drama after drama after drama between

people that should know better. Fighting and

manipulating and using state power to get their

way. One of the great church fathers, Jerome,

fourth century translator of the Vulgate Bible,

was an awful human being. Brilliant. Has made

a huge mark on church history, but he was known

as an absolute jerk. Nobody wanted to be around

him. In fact, what he would do is whenever somebody

even opposed him, he would defend himself by

trying to blacken the reputation of all the other

scholars in his life. So we gotta be careful

here. They love theological combat more than

fellowship. That's what I found. Few things that

mark these folks. They love theological combat

more than they love the fellowship of the body.

They have stubborn, unteachable hearts. Won't

even listen to another position. They seek to

undermine others' confidence in leadership. This

is one of the most subversive parts of a factious

man. Not only does he draw disciples to himself,

but in that process, he seeks to undermine leadership.

to draw people to himself rather than to leaders.

They seek to impress, recruit, and control less

knowledgeable people. In other words, like puppet

masters, if I can find some less knowledgeable

people that I can draw into my orbit, then I've

won. And then over time, they become mean -spirited

and condescending, ridicule anybody who disagrees

with them. Anybody that holds to another position

is a fool. And lastly, their concern is only

for themselves, not the health of the church.

It's just not what they're about. So what do

we do about such men? Let's ask and answer that

final question. The answer to the question's

in verse 10, but before we go there, first drop

down to verse 11, because there's a couple other

things you need to see about the factious man.

In verse 11, Paul says, knowing that such a man

is perverted, and is sinning, being self -condemned.

Now, that word knowing is important. Paul uses

this word eido, which carries the idea of knowing

something through perception. Knowing something

through perception. In other words, the sin of

this factious man is observable. In fact, it's

obvious to everybody. It's clear to everybody

exactly what he's been doing. And in my experience,

I found this to be true. In the factious people

that have come through our body, Ultimately,

when the church finds out that it had to be dealt

with and the elders or whoever went and confronted

this person, usually what we hear is, yep, I

knew that was going to happen. Because they got

a sense that this person was creating this drama

within the body. And so it becomes observable.

By the way, especially in a church our size,

you really can't hide well. You can do it in

bigger churches. Oftentimes you can hide a factious

heart. But here in a smaller church, you really

can't hide. Now, the word perverted, I don't

love the translation of that in the NAS because

when you hear perverted in our culture today,

it usually speaks of sexual sin. That's not what's

going on here. You might see the word warped.

I think that's the ESV, and that's a better term.

It literally means, the word means to be turned

inside out, twisted or distorted. This person

is distorted in his thinking. He twists things.

for his own advantage. He's willfully engaged

in behavior that is rebellious in every way.

He twists everything for his own gain. And it's

that self -will, that preferring of himself that

makes himself condemned, Paul says. He actually

passes judgment on his own warped thinking by

the way he functions within the body. Yikes,

huh? And I know some of you are thinking, I've

never met a person like that. You'd be surprised.

Man, when I first got, sidebar, when I first

got into ministry, I was so naive. I left the

corporate world. I went into ministry and I thought,

everybody in the church thinks we're all together

as one. Everybody's rowing in the same direction.

It's going to be amazing. I was stunned in just

the first year in full -time ministry. How many

people came into churches with this mindset?

I underestimated the whole spiritual warfare

of this thing, of the work that Satan was doing

to try to disrupt the unity of the church. And

I was shocked and naive, and I learned a great

lesson. You've got to think the best of people,

but you've also got to have your eyes on to know

that there are people like this in the body of

Christ. Now, what do we do with such a man? Paul

writes very simply in verse 10, we reject him

after a first warning and a second warning. Now,

there's debates on this in scholarly circles

whether or not Paul here is describing a formal

church discipline process like we see in Matthew

18 or something less than that. And I'm not sure

I have an exact opinion on this, but there are

two things that are common to both the Matthew

18 process and what we read here in Titus 3.

First, it has to be dealt with. It has to be

dealt with. You cannot allow this type of factious

behavior to just exist in the church body where

this person can spread his poison. It has to

be confronted. And second, there has to be a

process of warning before you take any drastic

measures. So like the Matthew 18 process, the

first step would be to go to this person and

privately and discreetly warn him, to admonish

him, to acknowledge his sin, to repent of his

factious words and behavior, to change course

and come back to unity in the body. And then

it's also likely if he's repentant that he might

have to go to people that he's influenced and

correct that, apologize and correct it. So it's

quite a process. And listen, for some folks,

that's too much to ask. The pride, their pride

is too deeply rooted. The ego is too deeply involved.

And oftentimes a factious man will resist that

first confrontation. But then it's incumbent

upon all of us as church members and leaders

in particular, we still have to show patience.

and charity and love. We can't overreact. We've

got to go to that person a second time, maybe

with more people, maybe with an elder, and we've

got to warn him a second time. And the ultimate

goal, whether it's formal church discipline or

if it's just rejecting somebody like this, the

ultimate goal is not to punish the man. It's

not to embarrass the man. It's to get him to

turn and repent and come back in a healthy way

back into the body. That's always the goal. As

an elder, I've been a part of quite a few church

discipline cases. I can tell you, nobody ever

wants to put somebody out of the church. It is

not fun for anyone. It is heart -wrenching. It

is tearful. It is awful. You want to see people

repent and return to the things of fellowship

and to the things of church life that really

matter and to unity. But if the factious man

refuses to repent after that second warning,

Paul tells us he's to be rejected by all, not

just the leadership, but by all members of the

church. He is to be removed from the body for

the sake of everybody, for the sake of the health

of the local church. He's gotta be dealt with.

He's gotta be put out. Here's the thing we have

to remember. This is really hard. When the church

has to do this, this is really hard. And from

the outside, guess what? The world is gonna judge

us as unloving when we do this, right? But the

opposite is true. It's actually a very loving

thing to do this. Both loving for the sinner,

right? Because if you don't confront him, he

doesn't learn the lesson that God has for him.

So it's loving to confront him, but more importantly,

it's loving for the rest of the body because

we're protecting the body from that type of divisive

poison. So it's actually quite loving. And if

we don't do it, especially leaders, then we are

disobedient to God's word. If we don't deal with

the problem and follow God's instructions, whether

it's Matthew 18 or Titus 3, if we don't follow

those instructions, then we're not faithful leaders.

But I understand this is really hard. We have

to deal decisively with factious people. And

yeah, we have to employ biblical wisdom. Here's

what I found in these situations. They're not

always as clear cut as you wish they were. And

sometimes elders, we have to get together, collect

feedback, collect data, and we've got to talk

about it, we've got to pray, and we've got to

settle on a course of action. And it's interesting,

sometimes when you read through the letters of

the New Testament, you see Paul putting up with

a lot of nonsense from church members. Have you

noticed that? And he doesn't always jump straight

to discipline. Sometimes it's persuasion, sometimes

it's preaching, sometimes it's writing, you're

getting a letter, right? And he sort of has patience

with people trying to turn them until he throws

down the gauntlet. And he brings all of his apostolic

power to bear. Why? When it undermines unity

in the body and it affects godly living. That's

when the gauntlet has to be thrown down. Does

that make sense? Okay. So, unity. Let me close

with a couple thoughts on this. Here's the reality

of church life. Imagine this now. Maybe you may

have never thought of this before, but as a pastor,

I think about it a lot. How do you get hundreds

of people in the same organization on the same

page and everything? How do you do that? It's

gotta be supernatural, right? Getting everybody

to have one mind, even in a church of our size.

Imagine, honestly, guys who pastor churches of

thousands. I don't think I could sleep at night.

How do you get that many people on the same page?

With one mind, it's an extremely difficult thing

to do. And it's even more difficult, I think,

in our world today, in our world of social media.

Listen, submission to one another, I would say,

is probably at an all -time low within the Christian

community. Everyone seems to think that they

should voice their opinion about everything.

That's just the culture we're in today. So I

want to appeal to you guys as members of my church

family. This is all of our job. All of our calling

to battle for unity in a way that pleases the

Lord, we all have a role to play in this. Sometimes

church members will go, you know what, let the

elders deal with that. Let leaders deal with

that. This is all of our job. If we want our

church to remain healthy and free from conflict

and dissension, we all have to take seriously

the words that we read here in this passage.

And we have to take seriously... Jesus' commands

that are so frequent, by this all people will

know that you're my disciples, he said, if you

what? If you love one another. We've got to strive

for that. Not division, but love. Just as I've

loved you, he said, you also are to love one

another. We know love by this, that he laid down

his life for us, and we ought to lay down our

lives for our brothers and sisters. And then

in my opinion, the most important guide, if you

want to memorize a passage from Philippians 2,

be of the same mind, Paul says. Church, church

at Philippi, church at Oak Hill, be of the same

mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit,

intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness.

or empty conceit, but with humility of mind,

regard one another as more important than yourselves.

If everybody does that simultaneously, wow, that's

a healthy church. But we all have a part to play

in this. So even though unity is difficult, we

never give up striving for it. We never give

up teaching it. We never give up defending it.

And not only, when we have unity, guys, listen,

when we have unity, not only does it ensure a

healthy church within these walls, we live together

in a healthy way, but it also sends a message

to people outside these walls, in this neighborhood,

in Santa Clarita, unbelievers. When they see

how we love each other, when they see that, man,

that church at Oak Hill, they don't fight. They're

on the same page. Unity in the church reveals

to them that this is a place that is different

than the world out there. That they can come

in here and find the peace and the joy that they've

been searching for out in the world that's not

there. They can find it here in the person of

Christ because they see how we love each other

and how we will not allow division to seep into

this body. So it strengthens us within and it's

a witness without. To that end, may we all strive

for what's required, required, commanded of us

as brothers and sisters. I'll say it again, to

humbly, gently, and patiently bear with one another

in love and to be eager to maintain the unity

of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Amen? Will

you commit with me to this? Let's pray together.

Lord, So grateful for the practical nature of

your word in this, Lord. So grateful, God, that

you have protected this church family from division

in so many ways. And even in the times when it's

affected us, Lord, you've been so good to us

to help us root it out. And you've made us faithful

servants, faithful saints to step into hard things

and practice church discipline when necessary,

to practice this idea of rejecting a factious

man. Lord, It's not something we would ever ask

for, but you have helped us to do it well, and

I'm so grateful for your supernatural guidance

by your Spirit. Thankful for an elder team that

has always leaned into the hard things like this.

You have protected us in so many ways, Lord,

and I pray for all of us here today that if there's

anybody here who recognizes themselves in a factious

spirit, Lord, that you would quash that right

now by your Spirit. That anybody who here who

is seeking to be this type of person, Lord, would

repent today and seek unity in the body. That

you would go before us, Lord, and keep protecting

our body so that we might be united as one moving

forward with the same purpose and the same mission.

That we would know that this is a healthy body

and we could be a testimony to the world out

there. Lord, do a great work in us in these things.

We trust you for it, Lord. We know we can't do

it in our own strength, in our own flesh. We

will fail. And so we submit ourselves to you

and ask God that you would do a great work. Thank

you, Lord Jesus, again, for your word and how

it convicts us and how it moves us to change.

We praise you and we pray these things in the

name of Jesus. Amen.