WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.480 Father, we ask that you would continue to pour out your Holy Spirit upon us as we read your word again and as we think upon your word. 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:21.940 Father, we ask that you would not just help our minds to be conformed to your word, but that we would be disciples of Jesus who are gripped by the gospel, who are learning to live for your glory. 00:00:21.940 --> 00:00:33.620 Father, we ask that your word would touch our hearts and bring before us those different ways that we deceive ourselves and think your word applies to others and not to us. 00:00:34.480 --> 00:00:43.900 And as well, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would deal with our fear of your word, our fear that your word will hurt us, that you will hurt us. 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:46.719 Father, draw us to yourself. 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:50.799 Make us mindful of your son and his death on the cross for us. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:54.599 And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your son and our savior. 00:00:55.099 --> 00:00:55.419 Amen. 00:00:56.099 --> 00:00:56.939 Please be seated. 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:13.319 So I don't know how many of you, how carefully you are listening to Rachel read the Bible, but I know that the first time, and I'll be honest with you, many, many times when I'm reading the Bible, my eyes are just going over the page fairly quickly. 00:01:13.319 --> 00:01:14.619 I'm not really taking it in. 00:01:14.619 --> 00:01:23.819 But I remember the great shock when I saw it in the Bible that all Cretans are liars, lazy beasts, and gluttons. 00:01:24.459 --> 00:01:26.299 And then it says, this saying is true. 00:01:26.519 --> 00:01:39.099 That was a huge shock to me because it seemed as if the Bible is perpetuating prejudice and, in fact, encouraging prejudice. 00:01:39.099 --> 00:01:50.799 And that was separate from the fact that the first time I read this text as well, it really, it came to me or it felt to me as if the Bible was being very sexist as well in terms of how it treated women. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:02:03.200 And so, you know, it's part of the reason why in the early years of my Christian life, which probably went on way too long, I would keep reading parts of the Bible that I found helpful to me. 00:02:03.659 --> 00:02:08.340 And parts of the Bible which troubled me, I would steer away from them. 00:02:08.340 --> 00:02:19.680 So I wouldn't read books like Titus very often because of the apparent sexism and prejudice and encouragement of sexism and prejudice that I saw when I read the book of Titus. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:27.180 So I know it's not really, some of you, if you're guests, you're maybe even surprised that I would be sort of talking about this in public. 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:37.860 But the fact of the matter is that many of us, maybe for decades in our Christian life, are afraid to read parts of the Bible because of things that it says in it. 00:02:37.900 --> 00:02:38.960 So we're going to look at Titus. 00:02:39.240 --> 00:02:41.500 So it would be a great help to me if you got your Bibles out. 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:42.480 We're going to look at the type. 00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:44.140 We're going to look at Titus chapter 1. 00:02:44.780 --> 00:02:46.900 And we're going to go through the whole chapter. 00:02:47.240 --> 00:02:49.460 And let's just see what it says and what it doesn't say. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:51.960 How it confronts our hearts. 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:53.360 How it confronts our culture. 00:02:54.140 --> 00:02:57.120 And at the end of the day, we desperately need God's word. 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:00.780 And it's going to begin in a surprising way. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:05.400 In a way that, in fact, if we take it seriously, is going to trouble us even more. 00:03:06.200 --> 00:03:06.980 Listen to how it goes. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:12.200 And in the original language, the first four verses are one complicated, long sentence. 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:19.019 And I like pointing these things out that has some grammatical flaws in it as well, by the way. 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:21.500 And it goes like this. 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:23.219 Paul, a servant. 00:03:23.219 --> 00:03:27.360 That's a doulos, sometimes translated as slave. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:37.140 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, 00:03:37.139 --> 00:03:45.059 which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began, 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:52.359 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. 00:03:52.360 --> 00:04:00.600 To Titus, my true child and a common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:06.320 And as I said, it's a complicated sentence, and there's some grammatical issues. 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:09.840 But here's just a few things for you to know about Titus. 00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:18.319 Titus was Exhibit A in the Council of Jerusalem when they were trying to have a debate as to whether pagans who became Christians had to be circumcised. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:26.819 And Titus was Exhibit A as a pagan who had become a Christian, and the church in Acts 15 decided they didn't have to. 00:04:27.319 --> 00:04:33.480 The pagans, for many of us guys here, it's not a requirement to become a Christian to be circumcised. 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:42.180 And Titus as well, this book is being written to Titus by Paul probably in about the year 63 or 64, 00:04:42.420 --> 00:04:47.860 a couple of years before Paul himself is martyred under Nero. 00:04:47.860 --> 00:04:52.460 And Paul is giving Titus advice about how to order and structure the church, 00:04:52.819 --> 00:04:59.460 because there's been an evangelistic campaign in the island of Crete, and many people have come to faith. 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:03.000 Paul has moved on, and now Titus is to bring some order into the situation. 00:05:03.460 --> 00:05:06.439 But here's the thing. If you could put up the first point, that would be great. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:12.020 This is, on one hand, going to seem like it's a very, very obvious point, 00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:14.259 and not actually very surprising or important. 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:21.839 But we need to spend some time on this, because it's actually very mind-blowing, 00:05:22.459 --> 00:05:27.560 and very important to us to understand who we are and what goes on in the world. 00:05:28.420 --> 00:05:35.180 The true and living God, self-revealed in the Bible, never, ever, ever lies. 00:05:35.180 --> 00:05:51.379 In the time that the New Testament was written, in paganism, one of the things about the pagan gods, 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:54.420 they lied all the time. They lied all the time. 00:05:55.180 --> 00:05:59.879 That doesn't mean that pagans lied all the time, but the gods lied all the time. 00:05:59.879 --> 00:06:06.420 If you think about it for a second, members of the great faiths, some of the great religions on the planet, 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:14.620 in Hinduism and Buddhism, it's not, I'm not saying that Hindus, as individuals and Buddhists, that they lie a lot. 00:06:14.659 --> 00:06:15.579 I'm not saying that at all. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:19.519 But truth is a complicated, it's not really grounded. 00:06:19.699 --> 00:06:25.939 The desire to tell the truth and the seeking of telling the truth isn't really grounded in the religion and the philosophy. 00:06:25.939 --> 00:06:32.219 Because at the end of the day, in both of those faiths, the goal is to get beyond difference, 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:39.879 to understand that all things are one, truth and falsehood, evil and good, you and I, tree and me, 00:06:40.459 --> 00:06:45.759 that ultimately the distinctions between these things are apparent and not real, 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:49.860 and the whole goal is to get beyond good and evil, beyond difference, 00:06:50.180 --> 00:06:52.180 and ultimately beyond truth and falsehood. 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:59.340 So it actually means that the idea of us, and if we're honest, human beings both greatly desire to know the truth, 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:03.900 we're also afraid of the truth, but how is this desire for the truth grounded 00:07:03.900 --> 00:07:08.399 when ultimate reality is ultimately going beyond all difference, 00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:10.399 including the difference of truth and falsehood? 00:07:10.780 --> 00:07:14.199 In Islam, once again, not saying that individual Muslims lie, 00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:17.240 but in Islam, God is God. 00:07:17.340 --> 00:07:18.740 If he wants to tell a lie, he can tell a lie. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:20.500 If he wants to tell the truth, he can tell the truth. 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:22.839 Who are you to speak to him? Slap, slap, slap. 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:25.360 Just being a bit, sorry, I don't want to be dismissive. 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:29.540 But God is so sovereign and so powerful, he can do literally whatever he wants, 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:32.680 whatever he feels like, it's completely and utterly up to him. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:36.579 In a sense, he's not bound by having to tell the truth. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:42.480 And so, and then you think in our modern world, you know, in university probably, 00:07:42.620 --> 00:07:46.160 there'd be many, many people in university that say the whole idea of truth 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:49.700 and knowing the truth is a modernist conceit. 00:07:50.180 --> 00:07:53.920 That any claim to know the truth is really just a claim to know power 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:57.220 and to desire to have power over others. 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:02.620 And, I mean, one of the ironies is if that you say then is your claim 00:08:02.620 --> 00:08:06.100 that all truth claims are just power claims, 00:08:06.260 --> 00:08:09.180 is that claim that you just made an attempt to have power over me. 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:12.759 They'd want to insist that it was true, not actually a claim of power. 00:08:13.259 --> 00:08:17.900 That, in fact, in both the ancient and the modern world, 00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:22.800 on one hand, humanly speaking, existentially, we have a great desire, 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:25.680 we have this complicated relationship with truth, 00:08:25.740 --> 00:08:28.220 but as part of that complicated relationship with truth, 00:08:28.280 --> 00:08:29.300 we do want to know the truth. 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:33.279 We know that we ourselves tell lies, 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:35.879 but we hate it when somebody tells us a lie. 00:08:38.180 --> 00:08:42.899 Sometimes, in relationships, we want to bring the truth out in the relationships. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.659 Others, times, we're hoping that our wife or our husband 00:08:45.659 --> 00:08:47.539 will not speak the truth to us. 00:08:48.180 --> 00:08:50.379 We have complicated relationships with the truth, 00:08:50.500 --> 00:08:51.560 but what's it grounded on? 00:08:52.539 --> 00:08:54.680 One of the reasons that in the modern world 00:08:54.680 --> 00:08:57.180 that the truth is very hard to ground 00:08:57.179 --> 00:09:00.419 is because at the very heart of modern thought, 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:03.299 this is the government, this is the media, 00:09:03.579 --> 00:09:06.819 this is the university, this is arts and entertainment, 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:08.939 there's a great incoherence. 00:09:09.899 --> 00:09:14.579 Because as a key building block of how people think in the modern world 00:09:14.579 --> 00:09:21.219 is the belief that life came about completely and utterly by random chance. 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:25.899 And after life came about, then evolution happened. 00:09:25.899 --> 00:09:29.279 So in a sense, the modern story is, 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:33.860 life came about completely randomly by chance. 00:09:34.740 --> 00:09:37.579 Eventually, men and women descended from the apes, 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:40.340 therefore know the truth and tell the truth. 00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:43.259 That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. 00:09:44.439 --> 00:09:45.819 It doesn't follow at all. 00:09:45.820 --> 00:09:50.700 The Christian story, 00:09:51.780 --> 00:09:53.720 the big overarching story, 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:56.220 is a very, very, very different story. 00:09:56.360 --> 00:09:58.120 And I think that the Christian story, 00:09:58.280 --> 00:09:59.300 as revealed in the Bible, 00:09:59.379 --> 00:10:03.620 is the only story that actually makes sense of our lived experience. 00:10:04.340 --> 00:10:06.540 The Christian story is that fundamentally, 00:10:07.160 --> 00:10:08.820 the true and living God, 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:10.160 self-revealed in the Bible, 00:10:10.380 --> 00:10:12.840 never, ever, ever lies. 00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:16.460 And this God who never, ever, ever lies, 00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:19.139 and only is the truth and speaks the truth, 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:23.300 that he created and sustains all things 00:10:23.300 --> 00:10:27.259 and made human beings in his image. 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:32.580 And so it is that we human beings have a desire and a drive 00:10:32.580 --> 00:10:34.340 to speak and to know the truth. 00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:37.759 The true and living God, 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:39.080 self-revealed in the Bible, 00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:42.879 he is the same one who's created all things, 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:44.840 designed, in a sense, all things, 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:46.259 sustains all things, 00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:48.460 made human beings in his image. 00:10:49.220 --> 00:10:52.740 And therefore, we have a fundamental desire and drive 00:10:52.740 --> 00:10:55.019 to know the truth and to be in the truth. 00:10:55.800 --> 00:10:57.440 That in our heart of hearts, 00:10:57.660 --> 00:10:59.400 we want to be people of the truth, 00:10:59.500 --> 00:11:00.680 not people of the lie. 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:06.459 To tell another group of people 00:11:06.459 --> 00:11:07.620 that they are people of the lie 00:11:07.620 --> 00:11:08.839 would be a huge offense. 00:11:10.519 --> 00:11:12.539 Every human being wants to be 00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:14.799 part of the people of the truth. 00:11:15.819 --> 00:11:16.779 So some of you might say, 00:11:16.899 --> 00:11:17.699 George, okay, this is, 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:20.519 this went really in a different way 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:21.979 than I thought this text was going to go. 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:23.599 But this is how the book of Titus begins, 00:11:23.599 --> 00:11:26.819 by making these very, very bold claims about God. 00:11:27.339 --> 00:11:28.319 But some of you might say, 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:30.240 George, but the problem is we all lie. 00:11:31.079 --> 00:11:32.879 Like, George, you lie, don't you? 00:11:34.039 --> 00:11:35.279 You've lied in the past. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:36.419 You lie today. 00:11:36.899 --> 00:11:38.120 You're going to lie in the future. 00:11:38.259 --> 00:11:39.579 Like, how does that fit in with your story? 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:41.319 But you see, this is actually, once again, 00:11:41.419 --> 00:11:43.479 why I believe that it's only, 00:11:43.739 --> 00:11:44.599 if you think about it, 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:45.779 that the biblical narrative, 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:47.299 the biblical meta-narrative, 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:48.559 is the only narrative 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:50.559 that makes sense of our experience. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:11:52.579 Because as I described at the beginning, 00:11:53.319 --> 00:11:54.839 just a few minutes ago, 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:56.359 how the biblical narrative works, 00:11:56.479 --> 00:11:58.079 I didn't complete the narrative. 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.500 And to complete the narrative 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:02.700 is that the true and living God, 00:12:03.400 --> 00:12:06.259 who has, in a sense, existence in and of himself, 00:12:07.040 --> 00:12:09.200 is the one who's created all things, 00:12:09.300 --> 00:12:10.340 designed all things, 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:11.879 he sustains all things, 00:12:11.940 --> 00:12:13.460 he made human beings in his image. 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:15.800 And at some point in time, 00:12:15.920 --> 00:12:17.300 in our primal history, 00:12:17.300 --> 00:12:21.100 we human beings decided that we would be God. 00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:24.420 I think Genesis 3, 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:27.860 regardless, for any human being, 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:29.940 secular, spiritual, not religious, 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:31.960 there is no story more true 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:34.620 that has ever been written than Genesis 3. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:36.779 But Genesis 1, 2, and 3 00:12:36.779 --> 00:12:39.759 explains so much of human life 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:40.620 and human endeavor. 00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:43.720 So human beings rebelled against God 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:45.460 and desired to be God, 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:47.379 to have his role. 00:12:47.379 --> 00:12:49.659 And in doing that, 00:12:49.779 --> 00:12:50.659 we became bent, 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:51.820 we became twisted. 00:12:52.340 --> 00:12:54.740 And God did not annihilate his image in us, 00:12:54.820 --> 00:12:57.059 but our reflecting the image 00:12:57.059 --> 00:12:58.139 and the likeness of God 00:12:58.139 --> 00:12:59.139 became impaired. 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:01.259 We became impaired. 00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:04.259 We became bent or twisted. 00:13:04.939 --> 00:13:05.919 And so on one hand, 00:13:05.980 --> 00:13:08.720 we now have a complicated relationship with God. 00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:09.500 On one hand, 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:10.679 in the depths of our beings, 00:13:11.179 --> 00:13:13.179 we long and yearn for the true and living God. 00:13:13.259 --> 00:13:13.779 On the other hand, 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:14.820 in the depths of our beings, 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:16.860 we do not want God to be present. 00:13:16.860 --> 00:13:18.419 We want to be God ourselves. 00:13:18.759 --> 00:13:20.039 We want to know the truth. 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:20.659 On the other hand, 00:13:20.700 --> 00:13:21.860 we don't want to know the truth. 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:23.860 We want to be able to manage 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:26.139 and massage what is said 00:13:26.139 --> 00:13:28.000 so that the truth that is said 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:29.440 in public or about ourselves 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:31.600 will be ones that further our own ego 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:33.419 and our own drives and desires. 00:13:33.860 --> 00:13:34.759 But at the same time, 00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:35.960 we want others to speak 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:37.539 the unvarnished truth to us. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.080 Unless it hurts. 00:13:39.159 --> 00:13:40.840 We have a very complicated relationship 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:41.519 with the truth. 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:44.220 And I think only the biblical narrative 00:13:44.220 --> 00:13:45.899 actually grounds that 00:13:45.899 --> 00:13:47.360 at a very, very fundamental level. 00:13:47.560 --> 00:13:48.580 And it reveals to us 00:13:48.580 --> 00:13:49.879 why it is that we need a savior. 00:13:51.080 --> 00:13:53.500 That I can never leave myself 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:54.840 to save myself. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:56.680 I can never leave myself 00:13:56.680 --> 00:13:57.899 to fix myself. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:13:58.480 It doesn't matter 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:00.120 if I have an out-of-body experience. 00:14:00.500 --> 00:14:01.060 It doesn't matter 00:14:01.060 --> 00:14:02.139 if I meditate, 00:14:02.440 --> 00:14:03.940 if I learn physics 00:14:03.940 --> 00:14:04.720 and anthropology 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:05.600 and poetry 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:06.379 and music 00:14:06.379 --> 00:14:07.440 and business 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:08.460 and all of those other things. 00:14:08.460 --> 00:14:10.220 I can never leave myself. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:11.480 I can never leave 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:12.259 my bentness, 00:14:12.400 --> 00:14:12.940 twistedness, 00:14:13.060 --> 00:14:13.620 fallenness. 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:15.220 Those aspects of me 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:16.700 that still very much show 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:17.240 and reflect 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:18.700 that I am a designed being 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:19.460 and that I am made 00:14:19.460 --> 00:14:20.320 in the image of God. 00:14:20.700 --> 00:14:21.500 Yet there's something. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:22.900 I can never leave that 00:14:22.900 --> 00:14:23.960 to save myself. 00:14:24.400 --> 00:14:25.100 And so it is 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:26.740 despite all of my desires 00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:28.139 to justify myself, 00:14:28.259 --> 00:14:29.780 to appear righteous to myself, 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:31.139 to appear completely 00:14:31.139 --> 00:14:32.379 and utterly controlled, 00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:34.259 despite all of my desires, 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:34.900 whether it's done 00:14:34.900 --> 00:14:35.519 through spiritual, 00:14:35.700 --> 00:14:36.200 not religious, 00:14:36.400 --> 00:14:36.920 whether it's done 00:14:36.919 --> 00:14:38.079 through religious ceremonies 00:14:38.079 --> 00:14:38.639 and rituals, 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:39.279 whether it's done 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:40.019 through science 00:14:40.019 --> 00:14:40.799 or the humanities 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:41.799 or art 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:42.899 or philosophy 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:45.500 or political action 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:46.979 or political institutions, 00:14:47.259 --> 00:14:50.019 I cannot save myself. 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:51.759 And unless God 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:53.959 comes into space and time 00:14:53.959 --> 00:14:55.939 to do what I cannot do, 00:14:56.019 --> 00:14:57.319 then I will always remain 00:14:57.319 --> 00:14:58.139 and all of the people 00:14:58.139 --> 00:14:58.759 around me 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:00.339 will remain bent and twisted. 00:15:02.059 --> 00:15:04.259 Our complicated relationship 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:05.120 with the truth 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:06.740 and our complicated relationship 00:15:06.740 --> 00:15:07.620 with lies 00:15:07.620 --> 00:15:09.539 reveals that we need 00:15:09.539 --> 00:15:10.019 a savior. 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:12.399 And that's the other thing 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:13.139 about this text 00:15:13.139 --> 00:15:14.320 which is so completely 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.120 and utterly powerful. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:19.019 Like, it not only reveals 00:15:19.019 --> 00:15:20.860 that the God who does exist, 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:22.720 that the true and living God, 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:24.720 self-revealed in the Bible, 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:26.639 never, ever, ever lies, 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:28.659 but it also reveals 00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:31.620 that he saves, 00:15:31.620 --> 00:15:34.759 that his desire is 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:36.120 that we will begin 00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:38.100 to live a life with him 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:43.039 under his care 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:44.080 and authority 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:45.200 that will go on 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:46.039 for all eternity. 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:47.419 Like, look again 00:15:47.419 --> 00:15:48.299 at Titus 1. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:50.179 Look at verses 3 and 4 00:15:50.179 --> 00:15:51.000 in Titus 1. 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:52.240 Like, at the same time, 00:15:52.659 --> 00:15:53.960 just after in verse 2, 00:15:54.039 --> 00:15:54.539 it says, 00:15:54.539 --> 00:15:56.360 the God who never lies 00:15:56.360 --> 00:15:58.000 has promised before 00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:58.839 ages began 00:15:58.839 --> 00:15:59.899 and at the proper time 00:15:59.899 --> 00:16:01.059 manifested in his word 00:16:01.059 --> 00:16:01.740 through the preaching 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:03.659 with which I have been entrusted 00:16:03.659 --> 00:16:04.919 by the command of God 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:05.659 our Savior. 00:16:06.419 --> 00:16:06.939 To Titus, 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:07.699 my true child, 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:08.480 in a common faith, 00:16:08.599 --> 00:16:09.159 grace and peace 00:16:09.159 --> 00:16:10.000 from God the Father 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:11.199 and Christ Jesus 00:16:11.199 --> 00:16:12.620 our Savior. 00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:15.339 That the text 00:16:15.339 --> 00:16:16.279 introduces us, 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:16.879 you know, 00:16:16.919 --> 00:16:17.439 one of the reasons 00:16:17.439 --> 00:16:18.620 that we fear the truth 00:16:18.620 --> 00:16:19.679 is because many people 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:20.360 use the truth 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:21.300 towards us 00:16:21.300 --> 00:16:22.039 in a brutal way. 00:16:22.940 --> 00:16:23.639 And if we are honest, 00:16:23.740 --> 00:16:25.080 sometimes we use truth 00:16:25.080 --> 00:16:25.960 in a brutal way. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:27.980 In a way to shame, 00:16:28.139 --> 00:16:28.940 to humiliate, 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:29.800 to put down 00:16:29.800 --> 00:16:32.159 as a means for us 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:32.980 to gain power 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:33.700 and control. 00:16:34.180 --> 00:16:35.600 And we often project 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:36.360 and transfer 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:38.659 what we do ourselves 00:16:38.659 --> 00:16:39.919 and what we are worried 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:40.980 that we will do ourselves 00:16:40.980 --> 00:16:42.060 and what people do 00:16:42.060 --> 00:16:42.879 to us ourselves 00:16:42.879 --> 00:16:43.840 and we project that 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:44.360 onto God. 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:46.399 And the same self-revelation 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:46.899 of God 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:47.500 that reveals 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:48.940 that he only speaks 00:16:48.940 --> 00:16:49.360 the truth 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:49.879 that he never, 00:16:50.060 --> 00:16:50.200 ever, 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:51.100 ever lies 00:16:51.100 --> 00:16:51.840 reveals 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:53.120 that he is Savior 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:54.780 and that he has sent 00:16:54.780 --> 00:16:55.360 his Son 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:56.759 into history, 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:57.960 into space and time 00:16:57.960 --> 00:16:59.040 to save us. 00:16:59.420 --> 00:17:00.220 If you could put up 00:17:00.220 --> 00:17:01.840 the next point, 00:17:02.620 --> 00:17:02.920 Rebecca, 00:17:03.280 --> 00:17:04.140 when I receive 00:17:04.140 --> 00:17:04.779 the Gospel, 00:17:05.539 --> 00:17:06.340 I receive 00:17:06.340 --> 00:17:07.460 grace-filled 00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:08.980 power from God 00:17:08.980 --> 00:17:10.440 which makes me 00:17:10.440 --> 00:17:11.519 right with him 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:13.299 and leads me 00:17:13.299 --> 00:17:14.299 to start living 00:17:14.299 --> 00:17:15.480 right with him 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:16.660 and all that 00:17:16.660 --> 00:17:17.799 he has created. 00:17:17.799 --> 00:17:20.659 it's important. 00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:21.299 In all of our 00:17:21.299 --> 00:17:21.919 understandings 00:17:21.919 --> 00:17:22.720 of the Christian faith, 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:23.399 it's not just 00:17:23.399 --> 00:17:24.059 that I have 00:17:24.059 --> 00:17:24.879 this individual 00:17:24.879 --> 00:17:26.220 personal relationship 00:17:26.220 --> 00:17:26.759 with God 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:27.819 that has no social 00:17:27.819 --> 00:17:29.639 consequences 00:17:29.639 --> 00:17:30.619 nor consequences 00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:31.899 in terms of 00:17:31.899 --> 00:17:33.059 how I relate 00:17:33.059 --> 00:17:34.000 to the created world 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:35.019 and other people. 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:37.180 It's not just 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:39.139 that the cross, 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:41.019 as we put our faith 00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:41.460 and trust 00:17:41.460 --> 00:17:42.039 in what Jesus 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:42.799 has done for us 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:43.500 on the cross, 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:45.819 that we are 00:17:45.819 --> 00:17:46.900 receiving a power 00:17:46.900 --> 00:17:48.000 that comes from God 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:48.519 to make us 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:49.339 right with him 00:17:49.339 --> 00:17:51.279 but that same 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.200 power that comes 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:52.619 from God 00:17:52.619 --> 00:17:53.160 that makes us 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:54.119 right with him 00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:56.019 and all begins 00:17:56.019 --> 00:17:57.339 to work within us 00:17:57.339 --> 00:17:58.559 a desire to live 00:17:58.559 --> 00:17:59.440 right with him 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:02.380 and God didn't 00:18:02.380 --> 00:18:03.279 just create me. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:04.099 It's not a 00:18:04.099 --> 00:18:05.339 narcissistic world 00:18:05.339 --> 00:18:05.940 where there's just 00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:06.680 me and God. 00:18:06.819 --> 00:18:08.000 It means that I 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:09.259 start to have a desire 00:18:09.259 --> 00:18:09.920 to live right 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:10.539 with others. 00:18:11.640 --> 00:18:12.220 That that's what 00:18:12.220 --> 00:18:13.160 grace does 00:18:13.160 --> 00:18:13.980 when grace 00:18:13.980 --> 00:18:15.140 comes into our lives. 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:16.460 It's one of the signs 00:18:16.460 --> 00:18:17.420 that we have received 00:18:17.420 --> 00:18:18.980 grace from God. 00:18:19.299 --> 00:18:20.120 Not that we live 00:18:20.120 --> 00:18:21.039 perfect lives 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:22.759 but often what 00:18:22.759 --> 00:18:23.640 should be characterizing 00:18:23.640 --> 00:18:24.480 Christians is not 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:25.299 perfection but 00:18:25.299 --> 00:18:26.039 penitence. 00:18:27.140 --> 00:18:28.259 Lord have mercy 00:18:28.259 --> 00:18:28.900 upon me. 00:18:30.100 --> 00:18:31.500 And that's what 00:18:31.500 --> 00:18:32.480 grace does when it 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:33.380 comes into our lives. 00:18:33.480 --> 00:18:34.019 And that's one of the 00:18:34.019 --> 00:18:34.500 things that's, 00:18:34.779 --> 00:18:35.759 this is the introduction 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:36.799 to the entire letter 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:37.620 and Paul is going to 00:18:37.620 --> 00:18:38.759 be driving this home 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:39.579 in terms of the fact 00:18:39.579 --> 00:18:40.480 that not only does he 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:41.160 want the people 00:18:41.160 --> 00:18:42.320 in the Cretans, 00:18:42.540 --> 00:18:43.460 the people on Crete 00:18:43.460 --> 00:18:44.540 to come to a faith 00:18:44.540 --> 00:18:45.980 in Jesus but for them 00:18:45.980 --> 00:18:47.220 to understand that when 00:18:47.220 --> 00:18:48.019 they come to a faith 00:18:48.019 --> 00:18:49.420 in Jesus it's not a 00:18:49.420 --> 00:18:50.279 license for them to 00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:50.759 be arrogant. 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:52.200 It's not a license for 00:18:52.200 --> 00:18:53.019 them to be violent. 00:18:53.180 --> 00:18:54.620 It's not a license to 00:18:54.620 --> 00:18:55.560 do whatever they want 00:18:55.560 --> 00:18:56.800 but that the same 00:18:56.800 --> 00:18:57.820 grace that's going to 00:18:57.820 --> 00:18:58.660 make them right with 00:18:58.660 --> 00:18:59.740 God will be to begin 00:18:59.740 --> 00:19:00.759 to put within them 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:01.860 the ability and the 00:19:01.860 --> 00:19:02.460 hunger and the 00:19:02.460 --> 00:19:03.160 yearnings and the 00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:03.960 longings and the 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:05.440 self-awareness and 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:06.180 the delivery from 00:19:06.180 --> 00:19:07.759 self-deception so 00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:08.519 that we can actually 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:10.400 start to try to live 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:11.280 right with other 00:19:11.280 --> 00:19:12.340 people and with 00:19:12.340 --> 00:19:13.160 the created order. 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:14.920 If you could just 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:16.060 put up the next 00:19:16.060 --> 00:19:16.780 point, another way 00:19:16.780 --> 00:19:18.380 to put this is that 00:19:18.380 --> 00:19:19.740 God calls us, 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:20.860 that's the significance 00:19:20.860 --> 00:19:21.759 of the elect, 00:19:22.060 --> 00:19:23.560 it's an image of 00:19:23.560 --> 00:19:25.000 God calling us 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:26.320 ordinary human 00:19:26.320 --> 00:19:26.780 beings. 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:27.940 Like, you know, 00:19:28.019 --> 00:19:29.160 if you come here 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:29.680 today and you're not 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:30.400 sure whether you're 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:32.400 a person that's 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:33.180 giving your life to 00:19:33.180 --> 00:19:33.920 Jesus, you're not 00:19:33.920 --> 00:19:34.580 even sure if you 00:19:34.580 --> 00:19:36.320 want to have 00:19:36.320 --> 00:19:36.840 anything to do 00:19:36.840 --> 00:19:37.240 with Jesus. 00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:38.080 What I can tell you 00:19:38.080 --> 00:19:38.640 right now is that 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:39.540 God is calling you. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:41.780 He's calling you 00:19:41.780 --> 00:19:42.640 as you sit there. 00:19:43.340 --> 00:19:44.060 He's calling you 00:19:44.060 --> 00:19:44.580 by name. 00:19:45.800 --> 00:19:46.580 He wants you to 00:19:46.580 --> 00:19:47.240 come to him. 00:19:47.380 --> 00:19:47.980 He wants you to 00:19:47.980 --> 00:19:48.660 hear his word. 00:19:49.220 --> 00:19:50.420 He wants you to 00:19:50.420 --> 00:19:51.340 hear about what 00:19:51.340 --> 00:19:52.200 Jesus has done for 00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:52.920 you on the cross, 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:53.420 that you might 00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:55.100 respond with 00:19:55.100 --> 00:19:57.259 open-handed faith 00:19:57.259 --> 00:19:58.940 and receive from 00:19:58.940 --> 00:19:59.940 him the power that 00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:01.060 can only come from 00:20:01.060 --> 00:20:02.280 him, that's filled 00:20:02.280 --> 00:20:03.060 with grace and 00:20:03.060 --> 00:20:03.800 mercy, that will 00:20:03.800 --> 00:20:04.420 make you right 00:20:04.420 --> 00:20:04.820 with him. 00:20:05.580 --> 00:20:07.019 And God calls us 00:20:07.019 --> 00:20:07.660 so that we will 00:20:07.660 --> 00:20:08.600 come to saving 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:10.059 faith, know 00:20:10.059 --> 00:20:11.859 the truth, live 00:20:11.859 --> 00:20:13.819 a godly life, and 00:20:13.819 --> 00:20:14.579 begin to live with 00:20:14.579 --> 00:20:15.099 him forever. 00:20:16.659 --> 00:20:17.799 That's what Paul is 00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:18.779 wanting the people 00:20:18.779 --> 00:20:20.419 in Crete to 00:20:20.419 --> 00:20:21.099 understand. 00:20:22.439 --> 00:20:23.419 Now, some of you 00:20:23.419 --> 00:20:23.859 are going to say, 00:20:23.939 --> 00:20:24.759 okay, George, you've 00:20:24.759 --> 00:20:25.799 spent a lot of time 00:20:25.799 --> 00:20:26.379 on this. 00:20:26.719 --> 00:20:27.339 Is this going to be 00:20:27.339 --> 00:20:28.119 one of those times 00:20:28.119 --> 00:20:28.699 where you're a little 00:20:28.699 --> 00:20:29.579 bit like a magician, 00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:30.339 you know, and you 00:20:30.339 --> 00:20:31.759 have the dancing 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:33.039 girls and all that 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:33.919 other stuff, and 00:20:33.919 --> 00:20:34.579 you're trying to do 00:20:34.579 --> 00:20:35.859 some little sleight-of-hand 00:20:35.859 --> 00:20:36.819 stuff so that we can 00:20:36.819 --> 00:20:37.559 forget this other 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:38.419 sexist and 00:20:38.419 --> 00:20:39.740 prejudiced stuff. 00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:40.339 No, I'm not doing 00:20:40.339 --> 00:20:40.799 that at all. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:41.879 And depending on how 00:20:41.879 --> 00:20:42.759 you look at it, what's 00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:43.759 going to come next is 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:44.899 either greatly tragic 00:20:44.899 --> 00:20:46.379 or greatly incoherent. 00:20:47.159 --> 00:20:47.919 But it's really 00:20:47.919 --> 00:20:48.899 important for us to 00:20:48.899 --> 00:20:50.679 grasp this opening 00:20:50.679 --> 00:20:51.919 introduction before we 00:20:51.919 --> 00:20:53.139 see what it is that 00:20:53.139 --> 00:20:54.079 Paul is going to say 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:55.599 and isn't saying in 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:56.299 the rest of the book. 00:20:56.460 --> 00:20:57.200 So let's look at 00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:57.939 verse 5. 00:20:58.639 --> 00:20:59.700 Is Paul now going to 00:20:59.700 --> 00:21:00.639 be making some 00:21:00.639 --> 00:21:02.460 sexist statements? 00:21:04.039 --> 00:21:05.419 Is he propping up 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:08.560 patriarchy at the 00:21:08.560 --> 00:21:09.560 expense of women? 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:12.400 Verse 5. 00:21:12.759 --> 00:21:13.840 This is why I left 00:21:13.840 --> 00:21:15.380 you in Crete, so 00:21:15.380 --> 00:21:16.240 that you might put 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:18.340 what remained into 00:21:18.340 --> 00:21:20.120 order and appoint 00:21:20.120 --> 00:21:21.900 elders in every town 00:21:21.900 --> 00:21:23.000 as I directed you. 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:24.300 And the word elder 00:21:24.300 --> 00:21:24.840 here, we'll just 00:21:24.840 --> 00:21:25.320 pause. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:26.259 In the Greek, it 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:26.880 sounds like 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:27.560 presbyter. 00:21:28.340 --> 00:21:29.080 And we're going to 00:21:29.080 --> 00:21:29.620 see in a moment 00:21:29.620 --> 00:21:30.820 that the presbyter 00:21:30.820 --> 00:21:32.160 position and the 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:33.680 episcopus or the 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:34.519 bishop's position, 00:21:34.660 --> 00:21:35.100 he's sort of 00:21:35.099 --> 00:21:35.480 treating them 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:35.980 almost as 00:21:35.980 --> 00:21:36.519 synonymous. 00:21:37.679 --> 00:21:39.139 And so it's 00:21:39.139 --> 00:21:39.740 not the same 00:21:39.740 --> 00:21:40.579 word as is often 00:21:40.579 --> 00:21:41.639 used for pastor, 00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:44.539 which comes from 00:21:44.539 --> 00:21:45.299 a different word. 00:21:45.399 --> 00:21:46.059 There's a different 00:21:46.059 --> 00:21:46.919 text that come 00:21:46.919 --> 00:21:47.139 out of it. 00:21:47.240 --> 00:21:48.299 The word underlying 00:21:48.299 --> 00:21:48.819 the word that we 00:21:48.819 --> 00:21:49.559 use as pastor 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:50.199 comes from the 00:21:50.199 --> 00:21:50.859 idea of shepherd. 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:52.879 But this word 00:21:52.879 --> 00:21:53.619 elder isn't 00:21:53.619 --> 00:21:54.959 describing somebody 00:21:54.959 --> 00:21:55.719 who's old. 00:21:56.699 --> 00:21:57.599 In this room, I 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:57.899 don't know if 00:21:57.899 --> 00:21:58.240 there's some 00:21:58.240 --> 00:21:59.119 visiting clergy, 00:21:59.459 --> 00:22:00.419 but as in 00:22:00.419 --> 00:22:01.339 Anglican polity, 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:02.219 I'm the only 00:22:02.219 --> 00:22:02.939 elder in the 00:22:02.939 --> 00:22:03.119 room. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:04.279 I know I'm 00:22:04.279 --> 00:22:04.959 getting elderly 00:22:04.959 --> 00:22:06.239 as well, but 00:22:06.239 --> 00:22:07.599 I've been an 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:08.379 elder since I 00:22:08.379 --> 00:22:10.279 was 28, when I 00:22:10.279 --> 00:22:12.739 was set aside to 00:22:12.739 --> 00:22:13.539 have this role of 00:22:13.539 --> 00:22:15.299 the presbyter in 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:16.319 congregations. 00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:17.679 And different 00:22:17.679 --> 00:22:18.439 denominations have 00:22:18.439 --> 00:22:18.939 different ways of 00:22:18.939 --> 00:22:19.619 ordering them and 00:22:19.619 --> 00:22:20.279 all that type of 00:22:20.279 --> 00:22:20.519 stuff. 00:22:20.639 --> 00:22:21.399 But there's this, 00:22:21.639 --> 00:22:22.879 most denominations, 00:22:23.339 --> 00:22:24.199 apart from Salvation 00:22:24.199 --> 00:22:25.099 Army and Brethren, 00:22:25.699 --> 00:22:27.259 have some sense of 00:22:27.259 --> 00:22:28.159 the elder who's 00:22:28.159 --> 00:22:28.959 set aside. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:30.680 And so that's 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:31.039 what's it. 00:22:31.120 --> 00:22:31.840 So I'll just say 00:22:31.840 --> 00:22:32.140 it again. 00:22:32.360 --> 00:22:33.120 Verse 5, this is 00:22:33.120 --> 00:22:33.880 why I left you in 00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:35.100 Crete, so that you 00:22:35.100 --> 00:22:36.140 might put what 00:22:36.140 --> 00:22:36.840 remained into 00:22:36.840 --> 00:22:37.240 order. 00:22:37.860 --> 00:22:38.480 That's his big 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:39.160 task, and he has 00:22:39.160 --> 00:22:40.140 one other task, 00:22:40.579 --> 00:22:41.579 and appoint elders 00:22:41.579 --> 00:22:42.559 in every town as I 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:43.160 directed you. 00:22:43.700 --> 00:22:44.559 If anyone is above 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:46.259 reproach, the husband 00:22:46.259 --> 00:22:47.400 of one wife, or 00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:48.940 literally, a one 00:22:48.940 --> 00:22:49.960 man woman. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:51.539 That's what it says 00:22:51.539 --> 00:22:52.180 literally in the 00:22:52.180 --> 00:22:52.400 Greek. 00:22:52.579 --> 00:22:55.380 A one man, sorry, a 00:22:55.380 --> 00:22:56.180 one woman man. 00:22:56.279 --> 00:22:56.720 Yeah, yeah, I'm 00:22:56.720 --> 00:22:57.319 getting old. 00:22:57.319 --> 00:22:59.119 Not only will I 00:22:59.119 --> 00:22:59.619 have to be doing 00:22:59.619 --> 00:23:00.980 this very shortly 00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:02.099 with a walker like 00:23:02.099 --> 00:23:02.960 this, but my 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:03.960 eventually goes so 00:23:03.960 --> 00:23:04.759 gag-a, you're going 00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:05.939 to have to take me 00:23:05.939 --> 00:23:06.619 away from here. 00:23:07.339 --> 00:23:09.299 The cane will 00:23:09.299 --> 00:23:11.099 gently drag me 00:23:11.099 --> 00:23:12.039 aside, and I'll 00:23:12.039 --> 00:23:13.500 sit there happily 00:23:13.500 --> 00:23:14.519 singing hymns and 00:23:14.519 --> 00:23:15.240 praise songs. 00:23:15.599 --> 00:23:16.220 Anyway, sorry, 00:23:17.159 --> 00:23:18.159 hopefully in tune 00:23:18.159 --> 00:23:18.559 still. 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:20.879 It literally says 00:23:20.879 --> 00:23:22.960 a one woman man. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:23.779 That's literally 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:24.559 what it says, a 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:25.279 one woman man. 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:28.079 His children are 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:28.879 believers, continuing 00:23:28.879 --> 00:23:30.799 in verse 6, not 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:31.599 open to the charge 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:32.619 of debauchery or 00:23:32.619 --> 00:23:33.539 insubordination. 00:23:33.980 --> 00:23:35.420 For an overseer, that 00:23:35.420 --> 00:23:36.859 is the word that's 00:23:36.859 --> 00:23:37.680 usually often 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:38.299 translated as 00:23:38.299 --> 00:23:38.619 bishop. 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:41.000 Episcopus is the 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:41.899 underlying Greek 00:23:41.899 --> 00:23:42.220 word. 00:23:42.859 --> 00:23:43.920 As God's steward, 00:23:44.099 --> 00:23:44.779 must be above 00:23:44.779 --> 00:23:45.279 reproach. 00:23:45.339 --> 00:23:46.019 He must not be 00:23:46.019 --> 00:23:46.839 arrogant or quick 00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:47.619 tempered or a 00:23:47.619 --> 00:23:48.720 drunkard or violent 00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:49.779 or greedy for gain, 00:23:50.200 --> 00:23:51.779 but hospitable, a 00:23:51.779 --> 00:23:52.480 lover of good, 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:53.779 self-controlled, 00:23:53.779 --> 00:23:55.480 upright, holy, and 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:55.940 disciplined. 00:23:56.940 --> 00:23:57.839 And in the original 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:59.359 language, verse 9 is 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:00.000 emphasized. 00:24:00.379 --> 00:24:01.160 If we were using a 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:02.420 more modern way to 00:24:02.420 --> 00:24:03.279 communicate the 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:04.180 original language, it 00:24:04.180 --> 00:24:05.099 would be bolded. 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:07.559 He must hold firm to 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:08.899 the trustworthy word as 00:24:08.899 --> 00:24:10.579 taught so that he may 00:24:10.579 --> 00:24:11.420 be able to give 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:12.940 instruction in sound 00:24:12.940 --> 00:24:13.539 doctrine. 00:24:14.299 --> 00:24:15.420 It also means healthy 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:16.839 or wholesome doctrine, 00:24:17.139 --> 00:24:18.779 and also to rebuke 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:20.660 those who contradict it. 00:24:20.660 --> 00:24:24.420 So, here's the first 00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:24.580 thing. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:25.200 I'm going to go in a 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:25.779 way that you're 00:24:25.779 --> 00:24:26.660 completely and utterly 00:24:26.660 --> 00:24:27.360 maybe going to 00:24:27.360 --> 00:24:28.200 surprise you, but it's 00:24:28.200 --> 00:24:29.340 a really important word 00:24:29.340 --> 00:24:30.640 to Canadians today. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:33.060 Brothers and sisters, 00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:33.820 those of you who are 00:24:33.820 --> 00:24:34.540 here are Christians, 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:36.460 we are not Muslims. 00:24:37.620 --> 00:24:38.680 We are not Hindus. 00:24:38.840 --> 00:24:39.700 We are not Buddhists. 00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:42.580 You can be a very, 00:24:42.680 --> 00:24:43.519 very, very devout 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:44.759 Muslim and never go to 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:45.759 the mosque once in your 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:46.460 entire life. 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:47.320 You can be a very 00:24:47.320 --> 00:24:48.180 devout Buddhist, 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:49.519 very, very devout 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:50.700 Hindu and never go to 00:24:50.700 --> 00:24:52.440 the temple once in 00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:53.359 your entire life. 00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:55.579 It's very interesting 00:24:55.579 --> 00:24:57.160 that Paul here, he's 00:24:57.160 --> 00:24:57.960 done a ministry of 00:24:57.960 --> 00:24:59.000 evangelism throughout 00:24:59.000 --> 00:24:59.960 the island. 00:25:00.180 --> 00:25:01.180 Many people have come 00:25:01.180 --> 00:25:03.200 to faith, and it's 00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:04.379 not now that he says, 00:25:04.500 --> 00:25:05.059 well, now that they're 00:25:05.059 --> 00:25:06.240 in faith, just teach 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:07.980 them to download 00:25:07.980 --> 00:25:10.279 Matt Chandler's latest 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:11.839 sermon, because what it 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:12.500 means to be a 00:25:12.500 --> 00:25:13.980 Christian is to just 00:25:13.980 --> 00:25:15.519 listen by yourself to 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:16.500 sermons from really 00:25:16.500 --> 00:25:17.839 good speakers like Tim 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:18.680 Keller or Matt 00:25:18.680 --> 00:25:20.000 Chandler, and that's 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:20.799 the Christian life. 00:25:21.259 --> 00:25:22.700 He doesn't say, just 00:25:22.700 --> 00:25:23.700 by the way, every once 00:25:23.700 --> 00:25:24.400 in a while you should 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:25.200 come together a little 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:26.279 bit like a crowd, and 00:25:26.279 --> 00:25:27.240 I'll just zap you with 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:28.380 the Holy Spirit, and 00:25:28.380 --> 00:25:29.080 somebody will have a 00:25:29.080 --> 00:25:29.960 prophetic word, and 00:25:29.960 --> 00:25:30.680 then afterwards you 00:25:30.680 --> 00:25:31.539 just sort of disappear 00:25:31.539 --> 00:25:32.460 and you go back. 00:25:33.360 --> 00:25:35.360 As I put it here, if 00:25:35.360 --> 00:25:35.920 you could put up the 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:36.940 point, Rebecca, that 00:25:36.940 --> 00:25:37.460 would be great. 00:25:38.019 --> 00:25:39.180 God does not make 00:25:39.180 --> 00:25:40.880 happenstance crowds. 00:25:41.120 --> 00:25:41.960 Sorry, every once in a 00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:42.580 while I have to show 00:25:42.580 --> 00:25:43.400 you that I'm educated. 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:45.820 God does not make 00:25:45.820 --> 00:25:47.519 happenstance crowds. 00:25:47.519 --> 00:25:49.299 He forms communities 00:25:49.299 --> 00:25:49.940 on the move. 00:25:51.539 --> 00:25:52.960 It doesn't create static 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:54.480 communities, but communities 00:25:54.480 --> 00:25:55.240 that are going to be on 00:25:55.240 --> 00:25:56.579 the move, because the 00:25:56.579 --> 00:25:57.420 rest of the letter is 00:25:57.420 --> 00:25:58.259 going to be about how to 00:25:58.259 --> 00:25:59.420 transmit the faith, 00:26:00.339 --> 00:26:02.819 movement, how to 00:26:02.819 --> 00:26:04.119 transmit the faith to 00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:05.240 new believers, how to 00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:06.379 share the gospel with 00:26:06.379 --> 00:26:07.460 people who are outside of 00:26:07.460 --> 00:26:08.440 the church, how to 00:26:08.440 --> 00:26:09.839 transmit the gospel to 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:11.660 children, the new 00:26:11.660 --> 00:26:12.759 generations that keep 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:13.619 arising. 00:26:13.619 --> 00:26:17.379 God here calls, first 00:26:17.379 --> 00:26:18.519 of all, he calls you to 00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:19.500 a saving faith with 00:26:19.500 --> 00:26:20.359 himself, and then he 00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:21.079 calls you into 00:26:21.079 --> 00:26:22.379 community, and the 00:26:22.379 --> 00:26:22.919 community is going to 00:26:22.919 --> 00:26:23.639 have some type of 00:26:23.639 --> 00:26:24.039 structure. 00:26:24.839 --> 00:26:25.719 It's a very, very 00:26:25.719 --> 00:26:27.739 powerful word, because 00:26:27.739 --> 00:26:29.699 especially in 2016 in 00:26:29.699 --> 00:26:30.619 Ottawa, where you can 00:26:30.619 --> 00:26:32.299 have far better sermons 00:26:32.299 --> 00:26:33.959 than I can give, you can 00:26:33.959 --> 00:26:36.639 find online for free. 00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:40.179 You can just spend your 00:26:40.179 --> 00:26:41.099 Sunday mornings going for 00:26:41.099 --> 00:26:42.139 a drive in the country, 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:43.200 or, you know, hanging 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:44.040 out at your favorite 00:26:44.040 --> 00:26:45.380 cafe or Tim Hortons. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:46.840 You can listen to Tim 00:26:46.840 --> 00:26:47.840 Keller or somebody like 00:26:47.840 --> 00:26:48.860 that, way better speaker 00:26:48.860 --> 00:26:50.220 than I am, way wiser than 00:26:50.220 --> 00:26:51.640 I am, and that can be your 00:26:51.640 --> 00:26:52.360 Christian life, and the 00:26:52.360 --> 00:26:54.060 Bible basically says that's 00:26:54.060 --> 00:26:55.060 not the Christian life. 00:26:56.520 --> 00:26:57.520 That while a devout 00:26:57.520 --> 00:26:58.740 Muslim or a Buddhist or a 00:26:58.740 --> 00:26:59.700 Hindu can be devout in 00:26:59.700 --> 00:27:00.640 all of those ways within 00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:01.820 their own context and 00:27:01.820 --> 00:27:02.700 never actually meet with 00:27:02.700 --> 00:27:04.600 others, Christians are 00:27:04.600 --> 00:27:06.840 designed, God has called 00:27:06.840 --> 00:27:08.740 us to walk together. 00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:10.759 Could you put up the next 00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:10.940 one? 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:11.740 Here's another way to put 00:27:11.740 --> 00:27:11.839 it. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:12.400 Some of you have been 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:13.359 here before over the 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:13.559 years. 00:27:13.660 --> 00:27:14.299 This is one of the little 00:27:14.299 --> 00:27:15.079 sayings that I've 00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:15.440 developed. 00:27:16.259 --> 00:27:17.539 We enter the Jesus way 00:27:17.539 --> 00:27:19.759 one by one, but we walk 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:21.240 the Jesus way with Jesus 00:27:21.240 --> 00:27:21.779 and others. 00:27:22.859 --> 00:27:24.460 We enter the Jesus way 00:27:24.460 --> 00:27:25.200 one by one. 00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:26.120 We have to come to a 00:27:26.120 --> 00:27:27.579 personal saving faith in 00:27:27.579 --> 00:27:27.900 Jesus. 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:30.319 We don't inherit the 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:31.359 Christian faith from our 00:27:31.359 --> 00:27:32.200 parents or our 00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:32.579 grandparents. 00:27:33.460 --> 00:27:34.740 We might be told it by 00:27:34.740 --> 00:27:35.640 them, but we have to 00:27:35.640 --> 00:27:37.039 receive it for ourselves 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:37.700 personally. 00:27:38.740 --> 00:27:40.140 So we enter the Christian 00:27:40.140 --> 00:27:41.040 faith through the Jesus 00:27:41.040 --> 00:27:42.880 way one by one, but we 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:44.160 walk the Jesus way. 00:27:44.620 --> 00:27:46.960 We're to walk it, not to 00:27:46.960 --> 00:27:47.480 sit it. 00:27:48.700 --> 00:27:51.180 And we walk it with Jesus 00:27:51.180 --> 00:27:52.240 and with others. 00:27:52.860 --> 00:27:54.460 And that's the Jesus way. 00:27:54.700 --> 00:27:55.920 That's the Jesus way which 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:56.880 is presented in the New 00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:57.259 Testament. 00:27:58.660 --> 00:28:00.880 And somebody might say, 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:01.820 okay, George, whoa, whoa, 00:28:01.820 --> 00:28:02.860 look at that time. 00:28:02.859 --> 00:28:07.439 husband of one wife, a one 00:28:07.439 --> 00:28:08.479 woman man. 00:28:09.539 --> 00:28:10.599 Well, let's look at verse 00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:11.179 six again. 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:14.899 If anyone is above reproach, 00:28:14.939 --> 00:28:15.979 who can be an elder, who 00:28:15.979 --> 00:28:17.099 can be an episcopist? 00:28:17.500 --> 00:28:18.979 Anyone who is above reproach, 00:28:19.059 --> 00:28:21.419 the husband of one wife, a 00:28:21.419 --> 00:28:23.539 one woman man. 00:28:23.539 --> 00:28:33.659 For many years, I was a 00:28:33.659 --> 00:28:34.159 supporter. 00:28:35.339 --> 00:28:36.059 I don't know how to go 00:28:36.059 --> 00:28:36.319 into it. 00:28:36.539 --> 00:28:37.299 I'm just going to go into 00:28:37.299 --> 00:28:37.440 it. 00:28:37.539 --> 00:28:38.399 This might not be very 00:28:38.399 --> 00:28:39.659 polished or anything like 00:28:39.659 --> 00:28:39.980 that. 00:28:40.420 --> 00:28:41.440 Just a little bit of a 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:43.059 personal history about me. 00:28:43.139 --> 00:28:44.119 For many of you, you know 00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:45.119 that for many, many, many, 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:46.899 many decades, I was a firm 00:28:46.899 --> 00:28:48.779 supporter that women could be 00:28:48.779 --> 00:28:49.099 elders. 00:28:49.879 --> 00:28:51.579 This text was a problem to 00:28:51.579 --> 00:28:51.799 me. 00:28:53.199 --> 00:28:55.500 And the way that churches 00:28:55.500 --> 00:28:56.960 and many Christians, not 00:28:56.960 --> 00:28:58.159 necessarily saying you, the 00:28:58.159 --> 00:28:59.899 way that many churches deal 00:28:59.899 --> 00:29:01.119 with this, the very plain 00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:02.079 sense of the original 00:29:02.079 --> 00:29:04.019 language that's consistent 00:29:04.019 --> 00:29:05.099 with other texts in the 00:29:05.099 --> 00:29:07.399 New Testament, some churches 00:29:07.399 --> 00:29:09.279 deal with this by talking 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:10.240 and understanding that the 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:13.079 Bible is just a repository of 00:29:13.079 --> 00:29:13.579 symbols. 00:29:14.220 --> 00:29:15.639 It's sort of like if you go to 00:29:15.639 --> 00:29:17.399 watch Daredevil on Netflix 00:29:17.399 --> 00:29:19.559 and the Punisher goes into a 00:29:19.559 --> 00:29:21.139 room and when he opens the 00:29:21.140 --> 00:29:22.460 door and in the room, there's 00:29:22.460 --> 00:29:23.780 a whole pile of different 00:29:23.780 --> 00:29:24.240 weapons. 00:29:25.380 --> 00:29:27.140 And the Punisher can go and 00:29:27.140 --> 00:29:28.120 get a different weapon, 00:29:28.460 --> 00:29:29.560 whatever he feels like he 00:29:29.560 --> 00:29:30.000 needs. 00:29:30.920 --> 00:29:32.320 And some people say that 00:29:32.320 --> 00:29:33.620 they're being biblical because 00:29:33.620 --> 00:29:35.360 the Bible is like the 00:29:35.360 --> 00:29:36.980 Punisher's room of lots of 00:29:36.980 --> 00:29:38.880 weapons and explosives and 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:39.300 ammunition. 00:29:39.460 --> 00:29:40.360 And you can just sort of pick 00:29:40.360 --> 00:29:41.500 the bits and pieces of 00:29:41.500 --> 00:29:43.100 ammunition you need for the 00:29:43.100 --> 00:29:44.180 task that's at hand. 00:29:44.520 --> 00:29:45.720 But that really goes against 00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:46.940 the whole understanding that 00:29:46.940 --> 00:29:48.240 God never lies and that it's 00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:49.640 one word that he speaks. 00:29:49.640 --> 00:29:52.259 It's that the call of the 00:29:52.259 --> 00:29:53.320 Christian is to have a 00:29:53.320 --> 00:29:54.640 consistent and coherent 00:29:54.640 --> 00:29:56.140 reading of God's word, even 00:29:56.140 --> 00:29:57.540 if that means you go against 00:29:57.540 --> 00:29:58.259 the culture. 00:29:59.060 --> 00:30:01.320 But that the goal is not just 00:30:01.320 --> 00:30:02.640 to always go against the 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:03.960 culture, not just to be what if 00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:05.240 the culture says yes, I'm going 00:30:05.240 --> 00:30:05.700 to say no. 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:06.700 If the culture says no, I'm 00:30:06.700 --> 00:30:06.800 going to. 00:30:07.020 --> 00:30:08.360 It's not just to always be a 00:30:08.360 --> 00:30:09.340 pain in the butt to the 00:30:09.340 --> 00:30:09.740 culture. 00:30:10.320 --> 00:30:12.080 It's that mindful of the 00:30:12.080 --> 00:30:13.560 culture, mindful of what you're 00:30:13.560 --> 00:30:14.960 understanding, mindful of how 00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:16.220 they understand things at the 00:30:16.220 --> 00:30:17.600 same time that we want to 00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:19.079 ultimately read and know the 00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:20.059 Bible and have the Bible 00:30:20.059 --> 00:30:21.299 form us and the Bible speaks 00:30:21.299 --> 00:30:23.219 one consistent, coherent word 00:30:23.219 --> 00:30:24.480 and we need to seek it. 00:30:25.740 --> 00:30:26.740 And, you know, there's others 00:30:26.740 --> 00:30:29.059 who basically say that, well, 00:30:29.079 --> 00:30:30.199 you know, you can never solve 00:30:30.199 --> 00:30:31.719 these problems of why it is 00:30:31.719 --> 00:30:33.639 that in Acts, in Romans 16, 00:30:33.719 --> 00:30:34.859 which we just looked at last 00:30:34.859 --> 00:30:36.159 week, and if you're curious 00:30:36.159 --> 00:30:37.859 about what I said about it, you 00:30:37.859 --> 00:30:39.639 can go online and listen to it. 00:30:39.919 --> 00:30:41.539 And in Romans 16, it's very, 00:30:41.659 --> 00:30:43.879 very clear that Phoebe is a 00:30:43.879 --> 00:30:44.839 really important person. 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:45.899 The church has lots of 00:30:45.899 --> 00:30:48.179 authority, that Prisca teaches 00:30:48.179 --> 00:30:50.740 Apollos, that Junia is an 00:30:50.740 --> 00:30:52.220 apostle and Junia is a woman's 00:30:52.220 --> 00:30:53.319 name, that they have 00:30:53.319 --> 00:30:54.779 significant ministries that 00:30:54.779 --> 00:30:56.419 they teach, that there's 00:30:56.419 --> 00:30:58.379 women who prophesy and pray in 00:30:58.379 --> 00:30:59.759 public gatherings with men and 00:30:59.759 --> 00:30:59.959 women. 00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:01.459 If you read the New Testament, 00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:02.759 you read the book of Galatians 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:03.679 and you read the book of 00:31:03.679 --> 00:31:05.419 Ephesians and you read other 00:31:05.419 --> 00:31:06.679 books, it's very, very clear 00:31:06.679 --> 00:31:07.720 that women, there's no 00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:08.919 distinction between whether or 00:31:08.919 --> 00:31:10.220 not women have the abilities to 00:31:10.220 --> 00:31:11.220 lead, whether they have the 00:31:11.220 --> 00:31:13.500 abilities to teach, whether they 00:31:13.500 --> 00:31:16.500 have the abilities to exercise 00:31:16.500 --> 00:31:18.019 different types of authority. 00:31:18.140 --> 00:31:19.440 It's very, very clear if you 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:20.480 read the New Testament that 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:21.779 there's this fundamental 00:31:21.779 --> 00:31:23.640 equality in the receiving of 00:31:23.640 --> 00:31:24.359 different gifts. 00:31:25.859 --> 00:31:27.940 And so some people just say, 00:31:28.059 --> 00:31:28.859 well, you'll never figure out 00:31:28.859 --> 00:31:29.759 the difference, so we should 00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:31.039 just pick the nice Canadian 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:32.359 option and say that women 00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:33.339 should be elders. 00:31:33.480 --> 00:31:34.160 In other words, we'll just 00:31:34.160 --> 00:31:35.019 ignore Titus. 00:31:36.660 --> 00:31:37.960 Another way that people deal 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:38.920 with it is just say, well, 00:31:38.920 --> 00:31:40.099 that's just a cultural thing. 00:31:40.180 --> 00:31:41.099 Paul didn't know better. 00:31:41.099 --> 00:31:42.759 But the problem is that the 00:31:42.759 --> 00:31:44.539 very same texts in the rest of 00:31:44.539 --> 00:31:45.719 the Bible that help us to 00:31:45.719 --> 00:31:48.099 understand Paul's great desire 00:31:48.099 --> 00:31:50.519 and high value to women and all 00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:52.099 of their gifts are the very same 00:31:52.099 --> 00:31:56.039 ones that show that, in fact, 00:31:56.299 --> 00:31:57.559 Paul was quite willing to go 00:31:57.559 --> 00:31:58.799 completely and utterly against 00:31:58.799 --> 00:31:59.500 his culture. 00:32:02.299 --> 00:32:04.399 And the other problem is, and it's 00:32:04.399 --> 00:32:06.039 the same one with the so-called 00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:08.059 trajectory argument, is that 00:32:08.059 --> 00:32:09.379 somehow or another the Bible is 00:32:09.380 --> 00:32:11.040 incomplete, but if you follow the 00:32:11.040 --> 00:32:12.360 Bible, you can see the trajectory 00:32:12.360 --> 00:32:13.240 and where it's going to go. 00:32:13.900 --> 00:32:16.220 And this idea that there's texts 00:32:16.220 --> 00:32:17.400 like this are just Paul's 00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:19.760 cultural blindness, or that the 00:32:19.760 --> 00:32:21.240 Bible has some trajectory and 00:32:21.240 --> 00:32:22.480 there's the truth which it's 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:23.600 pointing to, but it doesn't 00:32:23.600 --> 00:32:25.880 actually articulate, that I never 00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:27.740 held those positions when I was 00:32:27.740 --> 00:32:29.420 trying to understand Titus 1, 00:32:29.500 --> 00:32:30.920 because I understood that it's a 00:32:30.920 --> 00:32:33.340 blank check, a get-out-of-jail-free 00:32:33.340 --> 00:32:34.980 card to ultimately believe 00:32:34.980 --> 00:32:35.720 whatever you want. 00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:41.360 Now, it could justify apartheid. 00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:44.620 It could justify any moral thing 00:32:44.620 --> 00:32:46.000 that our culture wants that the 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:47.339 Bible says, no, we can always just 00:32:47.339 --> 00:32:48.279 say, well, it's just a cultural 00:32:48.279 --> 00:32:48.620 thing. 00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:50.400 We can always make up some 00:32:50.400 --> 00:32:50.920 trajectory. 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:53.660 So for many, many, many years, 00:32:54.180 --> 00:32:55.559 had lots of other things that was on 00:32:55.559 --> 00:32:56.019 my mind. 00:32:56.100 --> 00:32:59.620 I just said, Titus 1 exists, 00:33:00.620 --> 00:33:03.880 1 Timothy 3 exists, Romans 16 exists. 00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:06.140 I have no idea how there's a 00:33:06.140 --> 00:33:08.280 consistent message here, but the 00:33:08.280 --> 00:33:09.540 problem isn't in the Bible, the 00:33:09.540 --> 00:33:10.320 problem's in me. 00:33:12.080 --> 00:33:13.400 The problem's in me. 00:33:15.320 --> 00:33:17.060 And then about six or seven years 00:33:17.060 --> 00:33:18.800 ago, I was reading something and 00:33:18.800 --> 00:33:20.480 there was a footnote, and I'm one of 00:33:20.480 --> 00:33:22.280 these really weird people who reads 00:33:22.280 --> 00:33:23.020 footnotes. 00:33:24.520 --> 00:33:25.880 You know who you are. 00:33:27.120 --> 00:33:29.160 We're a very, very tiny club, 00:33:29.520 --> 00:33:30.360 footnote readers. 00:33:31.120 --> 00:33:32.400 I'm coming out of the closet. 00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:35.840 I'm a footnote reader, and I love 00:33:35.840 --> 00:33:36.519 footnotes. 00:33:36.660 --> 00:33:37.640 I always look at them. 00:33:38.740 --> 00:33:39.960 People see some of the books. 00:33:40.180 --> 00:33:42.019 I have two page markers, one for 00:33:42.019 --> 00:33:43.300 where I'm reading and one so I can 00:33:43.300 --> 00:33:44.660 find the current page and the 00:33:44.660 --> 00:33:46.040 footnotes at the back of the book 00:33:46.040 --> 00:33:47.860 so I can keep going back and 00:33:47.860 --> 00:33:48.780 forward and looking at them. 00:33:49.320 --> 00:33:51.360 And anyway, what I now believe is 00:33:51.360 --> 00:33:51.720 this. 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:54.300 I think there is a very consistent, 00:33:54.519 --> 00:33:55.620 coherent way to read the New 00:33:55.620 --> 00:33:58.620 Testament, where virtually Acts 16 and 00:33:58.620 --> 00:34:00.360 Titus 1 fit together very clearly. 00:34:00.359 --> 00:34:03.039 Phoebe wasn't an elder or an 00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:03.639 episcopist. 00:34:04.159 --> 00:34:05.979 Prisca wasn't an elder or an 00:34:05.979 --> 00:34:06.539 episcopist. 00:34:06.740 --> 00:34:08.819 Junia wasn't an elder or an 00:34:08.819 --> 00:34:09.480 episcopist. 00:34:10.299 --> 00:34:12.699 Philip's daughters who prophesied in 00:34:12.699 --> 00:34:15.460 churches, they weren't an elder or an 00:34:15.460 --> 00:34:16.139 episcopist. 00:34:16.139 --> 00:34:21.219 that what the Bible is saying here is 00:34:21.219 --> 00:34:24.379 not supporting patriarchy and it's not 00:34:24.379 --> 00:34:27.319 denigrating women because the New 00:34:27.319 --> 00:34:29.379 Testament very clearly teaches that 00:34:29.379 --> 00:34:31.559 women can teach and they can lead. 00:34:32.500 --> 00:34:34.799 What the Bible here is saying is that 00:34:34.799 --> 00:34:37.879 not that all men are elders and women 00:34:37.879 --> 00:34:43.879 are non-elders, but that God sets aside a 00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:46.579 very, very, very small group to have the 00:34:46.579 --> 00:34:49.240 role of elder in a community on the move. 00:34:50.740 --> 00:34:53.559 And only men are called to that particular 00:34:53.559 --> 00:34:54.099 position. 00:34:55.079 --> 00:34:57.539 And what it means, not that all men are, 00:34:57.599 --> 00:34:59.380 but just a very, very small number of men 00:34:59.380 --> 00:34:59.579 are. 00:35:00.340 --> 00:35:02.840 And once you see that distinction between 00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:04.840 that authoritative type of teaching and 00:35:04.840 --> 00:35:08.340 role of an elder and all the other things, I 00:35:08.340 --> 00:35:09.740 think you can have a completely and 00:35:09.740 --> 00:35:12.440 consistently consistent reading of the 00:35:12.440 --> 00:35:12.980 word of God. 00:35:14.059 --> 00:35:16.920 And it's a very, very, and what it means is 00:35:16.920 --> 00:35:18.800 that those more traditionalist readings of 00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:20.780 the Bible that want to try to make it look 00:35:20.780 --> 00:35:23.280 as if that men are somehow superior, that 00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:25.880 men are giving these roles because we're 00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:27.900 not controlled by emotion or we have 00:35:27.900 --> 00:35:30.380 better abilities to speak or lead, all 00:35:30.380 --> 00:35:32.400 those traditional and patriarchal assumptions 00:35:32.400 --> 00:35:34.360 are completely and utterly rejected by the 00:35:34.360 --> 00:35:36.000 New Testament, I believe. 00:35:37.039 --> 00:35:38.940 And in fact, actually, if you go back and you 00:35:38.940 --> 00:35:40.880 read 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, if you read 00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:43.660 all of the Pentateuch, when you see about 00:35:43.660 --> 00:35:45.380 why it is that God chose Israel, what is 00:35:45.380 --> 00:35:47.460 it that God consistently says to the nation 00:35:47.460 --> 00:35:47.880 of Israel? 00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:49.820 I didn't pick you because you were the 00:35:49.820 --> 00:35:50.260 best. 00:35:52.099 --> 00:35:54.280 I picked you because you were the least, 00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:55.900 because I wanted to show my glory. 00:35:57.599 --> 00:36:00.360 And in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2, he describes 00:36:00.980 --> 00:36:03.039 Christians as not being the wise and the 00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:04.619 powerful of the world, but the weak and the 00:36:04.619 --> 00:36:05.000 foolish. 00:36:05.640 --> 00:36:07.400 That God uses the weak and the foolish to 00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:08.079 shame the wise. 00:36:08.079 --> 00:36:10.299 And so I know I'm an elder. 00:36:11.579 --> 00:36:13.719 And I'm not saying that God has chosen me 00:36:13.719 --> 00:36:15.799 to be an elder because I'm smarter than you 00:36:15.799 --> 00:36:17.319 folks, holier than you folks. 00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:21.219 In heaven, when God reveals the meaning of 00:36:21.219 --> 00:36:24.519 our lives to us, I'll turn red. 00:36:25.579 --> 00:36:27.840 Not because he sings my praises, but because 00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:29.599 of all the things about me that are weak, 00:36:31.059 --> 00:36:31.980 that led him to choose. 00:36:32.219 --> 00:36:32.860 Any elder. 00:36:32.860 --> 00:36:34.920 I really believe that. 00:36:36.740 --> 00:36:40.180 And so what this text is saying is that a 00:36:40.180 --> 00:36:41.800 man or a woman can be the president of the 00:36:41.800 --> 00:36:42.420 United States. 00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:45.000 A man or a woman could be an astronaut, a 00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:45.780 race car driver. 00:36:45.880 --> 00:36:47.059 They can care for the kids. 00:36:47.180 --> 00:36:48.140 They can run businesses. 00:36:48.360 --> 00:36:49.400 They can sing songs. 00:36:49.500 --> 00:36:51.620 They can play classical musical 00:36:51.620 --> 00:36:51.960 instruments. 00:36:52.059 --> 00:36:53.320 They can be deputy ministers. 00:36:53.880 --> 00:36:55.559 They can do all of those types of things. 00:36:55.640 --> 00:36:57.620 A man or a woman can do all of those types 00:36:57.620 --> 00:36:58.120 of things. 00:36:58.119 --> 00:37:00.559 If that's what they want to do, if that's 00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:02.319 the gifting, if that's the vocation, God 00:37:02.319 --> 00:37:04.719 calls different people to do all of those 00:37:04.719 --> 00:37:06.299 different things without any type of 00:37:06.299 --> 00:37:07.579 distinction whatsoever. 00:37:08.380 --> 00:37:11.400 But he just calls a very, very tiny number 00:37:11.400 --> 00:37:13.639 of men and only men to be the elder or the 00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:14.719 Episcopal in the church. 00:37:14.980 --> 00:37:16.619 And I think that's a consistent way to read 00:37:16.619 --> 00:37:18.779 the New Testament and the Old Testament. 00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:21.799 And it's profoundly countercultural. 00:37:22.579 --> 00:37:25.880 I resisted very deeply wanting to come to that 00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:26.400 conclusion. 00:37:26.400 --> 00:37:29.420 It is very un-Canadian in 2016. 00:37:30.380 --> 00:37:33.200 But at the end of the day, I believe that the 00:37:33.200 --> 00:37:35.079 true and living God, self-revealed in the 00:37:35.079 --> 00:37:38.139 Bible, never, ever, ever lies. 00:37:39.880 --> 00:37:44.099 And that he saves us as he tells the truth. 00:37:44.160 --> 00:37:45.019 It's all for our good. 00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:50.680 I've lost my... 00:37:50.680 --> 00:37:51.500 There we go, in the notes. 00:37:51.500 --> 00:37:57.300 Now, some of you are going to say, well, George, I 00:37:57.300 --> 00:37:58.059 don't know what I'm going to think about. 00:37:58.119 --> 00:37:59.460 Here's what I want to say about what I just 00:37:59.460 --> 00:37:59.739 said. 00:38:00.679 --> 00:38:03.099 If there's one takeaway that you get from this, 00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:04.239 be... 00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:06.019 I'm going to make a bit of a Bible reference 00:38:06.019 --> 00:38:06.480 here. 00:38:06.860 --> 00:38:08.340 Be a Berean. 00:38:09.820 --> 00:38:11.280 I can't remember where it is in the book of 00:38:11.280 --> 00:38:11.960 Acts right now. 00:38:12.139 --> 00:38:13.300 And I can't find my place in my... 00:38:13.300 --> 00:38:15.199 I spot in the notes. 00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:16.879 But one of the things... 00:38:16.879 --> 00:38:21.399 It says that when Paul went to Berea, the people 00:38:21.399 --> 00:38:23.559 there were more noble than others. 00:38:23.779 --> 00:38:26.579 Because as he spoke day by day, they searched the 00:38:26.579 --> 00:38:28.460 scriptures to see if that was true. 00:38:28.659 --> 00:38:30.099 And that's what I want you folks to do. 00:38:30.679 --> 00:38:31.779 Search the scriptures. 00:38:32.219 --> 00:38:34.079 Read the Bible from cover to cover. 00:38:34.779 --> 00:38:36.339 Read quietly. 00:38:36.639 --> 00:38:37.519 Read deeply. 00:38:38.579 --> 00:38:40.839 Read to note the things that are similar and the 00:38:40.839 --> 00:38:41.679 things that are different. 00:38:42.179 --> 00:38:43.819 Read to know for yourself. 00:38:43.820 --> 00:38:45.680 Read the Bible. 00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:49.780 Be a people of the Bible who soak your mind and 00:38:49.780 --> 00:38:51.260 your hearts in the scriptures. 00:38:52.420 --> 00:38:55.880 And know that God who speaks in the Bible doesn't 00:38:55.880 --> 00:38:56.220 lie. 00:38:56.380 --> 00:38:58.160 He wants you to know the truth and he wants to 00:38:58.160 --> 00:38:58.700 save you. 00:38:59.200 --> 00:39:01.780 And that no Christian should be like I was in the 00:39:01.780 --> 00:39:04.700 early years of my Christian life, afraid to read 00:39:04.700 --> 00:39:06.940 parts of the Bible because I thought it would make 00:39:06.940 --> 00:39:09.200 me sexist or make me prejudiced. 00:39:09.539 --> 00:39:11.700 Nobody should fear God's word. 00:39:11.699 --> 00:39:15.339 Know there's a type of godly fear which is based on the 00:39:15.339 --> 00:39:17.619 idea that God is God and that I am not. 00:39:17.759 --> 00:39:20.819 That God is God and that comes into conflict with my 00:39:20.819 --> 00:39:21.799 God project. 00:39:22.099 --> 00:39:23.939 And that's that there's a type of godly fear. 00:39:24.319 --> 00:39:26.699 But God doesn't want anybody to fear his word. 00:39:26.799 --> 00:39:28.599 He wants them to search the scriptures. 00:39:28.759 --> 00:39:30.099 That's what I urge you. 00:39:31.259 --> 00:39:34.179 Search the scriptures and share with me how you read the 00:39:34.179 --> 00:39:34.259 Bible. 00:39:34.259 --> 00:39:36.419 I just want to know and read the Bible in a consistent, 00:39:36.639 --> 00:39:38.659 coherent way that brings God glory. 00:39:38.659 --> 00:39:41.159 Please pray for me that that's what I can do. 00:39:43.440 --> 00:39:44.920 I'm almost out of time. 00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:49.920 What about the, that sexist stuff, George? 00:39:50.139 --> 00:39:51.980 Actually, before we go to that, could you put up the 00:39:51.980 --> 00:39:56.159 next point, Andrew? 00:39:56.159 --> 00:40:01.199 You'll notice here where it goes back, you can pray for me in 00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:04.159 terms of an elder about all the different things about elders. 00:40:04.399 --> 00:40:07.579 They shouldn't be, they shouldn't be arrogant or quick 00:40:07.579 --> 00:40:09.440 tempered or violent or greedy for gain. 00:40:09.819 --> 00:40:12.199 Here's the other thing about the Bible and knowing the truth. 00:40:12.519 --> 00:40:15.279 One of the reasons that people are uneasy about knowing the 00:40:15.279 --> 00:40:18.000 Bible is that many of us have met Christians who read the 00:40:18.000 --> 00:40:19.679 Bible because they like weapons. 00:40:19.679 --> 00:40:24.919 They like to justify their anger, their intolerance, their brutal 00:40:24.919 --> 00:40:29.179 treating of people, their brutal put-downs, their superiority. 00:40:29.639 --> 00:40:33.960 Many people that we have come across, I remember being the chaplain in a 00:40:33.960 --> 00:40:38.039 college for a while and there's this one student and all he ever wanted to 00:40:38.039 --> 00:40:39.919 do was show his superior knowledge. 00:40:40.019 --> 00:40:44.679 He had this unbelievably complicated, arcane, reformed, systematic theology. 00:40:45.460 --> 00:40:47.940 He would ask me questions about whether I was this or that. 00:40:47.940 --> 00:40:49.340 I didn't even know what the word meant. 00:40:50.119 --> 00:40:54.380 And he did it to mock me, to show that he knew more than I did. 00:40:54.460 --> 00:40:56.679 And we've all come across people like that. 00:40:57.360 --> 00:41:03.400 And here's the thing, if you read Titus 1, knowing true doctrine never gives 00:41:03.400 --> 00:41:08.240 anyone permission to be arrogant, quick-tempered, brutal, aggressive, 00:41:08.579 --> 00:41:10.019 and I would add anger-driven. 00:41:10.019 --> 00:41:20.679 No, you're not understanding true doctrine if it leads you to be brutal and cruel. 00:41:22.019 --> 00:41:24.820 It doesn't matter how technically correct it is. 00:41:25.300 --> 00:41:26.519 You have missed the point. 00:41:28.519 --> 00:41:31.559 God's word humbles us, always humbles us. 00:41:32.259 --> 00:41:33.880 It touches our heart to humble us. 00:41:33.880 --> 00:41:39.539 And that's sort of what the lead-in is to this part that's apparently prejudiced. 00:41:40.599 --> 00:41:41.320 Verse 10. 00:41:41.519 --> 00:41:42.420 Let's look at that part. 00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:44.320 If you didn't hear it before, you're going to hear it now. 00:41:44.980 --> 00:41:48.160 The thing that, I don't know how many times I read Titus before, it shocked me. 00:41:48.640 --> 00:41:50.700 For there are many here who are insubordinate, 00:41:50.699 --> 00:41:54.799 for there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers, and deceivers, 00:41:55.519 --> 00:41:57.579 especially those of the circumcision party. 00:41:58.259 --> 00:42:01.599 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families 00:42:01.599 --> 00:42:04.299 by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 00:42:05.199 --> 00:42:08.139 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, 00:42:08.339 --> 00:42:12.839 Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. 00:42:13.299 --> 00:42:14.899 This testimony is true. 00:42:14.900 --> 00:42:20.880 Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in faith, 00:42:21.220 --> 00:42:23.059 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths 00:42:23.059 --> 00:42:25.619 and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 00:42:26.160 --> 00:42:27.680 To the pure all things are pure, 00:42:27.780 --> 00:42:30.139 but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure. 00:42:30.639 --> 00:42:33.340 But both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 00:42:33.480 --> 00:42:36.260 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. 00:42:36.820 --> 00:42:39.780 They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. 00:42:40.480 --> 00:42:42.420 Now that's a pretty shocking statement. 00:42:42.420 --> 00:42:44.860 Now here's the problem. 00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:47.139 Here's one of the things that you understand that you have prejudice. 00:42:47.940 --> 00:42:49.400 If I'm driving along the road, 00:42:49.980 --> 00:42:51.720 and somebody's driving really poorly, 00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:54.940 and I eventually get by them, 00:42:55.639 --> 00:42:56.860 and I say to myself, 00:42:57.159 --> 00:42:57.659 Ah, woman. 00:43:01.019 --> 00:43:02.000 That's a woman. 00:43:03.400 --> 00:43:04.420 I'm prejudiced. 00:43:05.840 --> 00:43:07.200 Now you fill in the blank. 00:43:07.579 --> 00:43:09.599 A man, a black, a white. 00:43:10.059 --> 00:43:11.659 Ah, a guy who drives an Audi. 00:43:11.659 --> 00:43:12.019 Ah. 00:43:14.099 --> 00:43:16.079 You know, one percenters. 00:43:16.960 --> 00:43:17.199 Okay? 00:43:18.199 --> 00:43:19.359 If you pass another person, 00:43:19.440 --> 00:43:19.639 you say, 00:43:19.699 --> 00:43:20.940 Oh wow, they're not driving very well. 00:43:22.659 --> 00:43:24.299 But you pass another person, 00:43:24.639 --> 00:43:25.519 and you say, 00:43:25.579 --> 00:43:25.899 A woman. 00:43:26.440 --> 00:43:27.500 You have a prejudice problem. 00:43:29.739 --> 00:43:32.500 If people here think they don't have any prejudice issues, 00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:35.099 it just shows your lack of self-awareness. 00:43:36.539 --> 00:43:38.559 Just shows your lack of self-awareness. 00:43:38.559 --> 00:43:40.400 It's a human problem. 00:43:41.239 --> 00:43:42.579 It's not a problem for men, 00:43:42.659 --> 00:43:43.420 or a problem for women, 00:43:43.579 --> 00:43:44.460 or a problem for whites, 00:43:44.559 --> 00:43:45.019 or blacks, 00:43:45.099 --> 00:43:45.519 or Asians. 00:43:45.619 --> 00:43:46.599 It's a human problem. 00:43:47.860 --> 00:43:49.559 This categorizing, 00:43:49.960 --> 00:43:50.920 and dismissing, 00:43:51.440 --> 00:43:51.980 of people. 00:43:52.539 --> 00:43:53.940 So is that what Paul is doing here? 00:43:54.779 --> 00:43:56.139 You know what Paul is doing here? 00:43:56.779 --> 00:43:57.840 He's setting the hook. 00:43:57.840 --> 00:43:59.600 You see, 00:44:00.100 --> 00:44:01.620 all of Paul's readers 00:44:01.620 --> 00:44:02.720 who weren't from Crete 00:44:02.720 --> 00:44:03.740 would have agreed with this. 00:44:04.420 --> 00:44:05.660 In the ancient world, 00:44:05.780 --> 00:44:07.000 there's actually a word 00:44:07.000 --> 00:44:08.220 coming from Crete 00:44:08.220 --> 00:44:09.500 that if you call somebody 00:44:09.500 --> 00:44:10.740 to Cretanize, 00:44:10.860 --> 00:44:11.780 or that they're Crete, 00:44:12.180 --> 00:44:12.800 you're telling them, 00:44:13.079 --> 00:44:14.280 you're describing the person. 00:44:14.460 --> 00:44:15.280 If you were to say to somebody, 00:44:15.340 --> 00:44:15.900 Oh, he's like a, 00:44:15.900 --> 00:44:16.700 he's a Crete. 00:44:16.960 --> 00:44:18.380 I don't know how to say it exactly in Greek. 00:44:18.720 --> 00:44:19.740 What you're saying is that 00:44:19.740 --> 00:44:20.600 they lie 00:44:20.600 --> 00:44:21.880 and are untrustworthy. 00:44:22.760 --> 00:44:23.960 It's actually in Greek. 00:44:24.539 --> 00:44:25.840 And it goes back to the fact 00:44:25.840 --> 00:44:27.480 that in the Greek, 00:44:27.639 --> 00:44:28.440 Crete religion, 00:44:28.440 --> 00:44:29.880 they believe that Zeus, 00:44:30.039 --> 00:44:30.740 the head of the gods, 00:44:30.780 --> 00:44:31.720 was born in Crete, 00:44:32.199 --> 00:44:34.019 but also that he died in Crete 00:44:34.019 --> 00:44:35.320 and was buried in Crete. 00:44:36.380 --> 00:44:37.119 And so for the rest 00:44:37.119 --> 00:44:37.920 of the ancient world, 00:44:38.000 --> 00:44:39.199 how could the supreme God 00:44:39.199 --> 00:44:40.139 be buried in Crete? 00:44:40.280 --> 00:44:41.380 They're obviously liars 00:44:41.380 --> 00:44:42.240 and untrustworthy. 00:44:44.380 --> 00:44:47.000 But if Paul just said this, 00:44:47.659 --> 00:44:48.840 there'd be a problem. 00:44:49.260 --> 00:44:50.220 Just look across 00:44:50.220 --> 00:44:52.079 at chapter 3, verse 3. 00:44:53.960 --> 00:44:55.159 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:44:55.220 --> 00:44:56.000 Those Cretes, 00:44:56.139 --> 00:44:56.960 those Cretes, 00:44:57.039 --> 00:44:57.619 they're liars, 00:44:57.740 --> 00:44:58.280 evil beasts, 00:44:58.400 --> 00:44:59.119 lazy gluttons. 00:44:59.320 --> 00:44:59.860 Verse 3. 00:45:00.519 --> 00:45:00.940 For we are, 00:45:01.019 --> 00:45:02.139 after he's done all the other stuff 00:45:02.139 --> 00:45:02.679 that we'll look at, 00:45:02.980 --> 00:45:04.360 you know, next week. 00:45:04.880 --> 00:45:05.579 For we ourselves 00:45:05.579 --> 00:45:06.500 were once foolish, 00:45:06.699 --> 00:45:07.340 disobedient, 00:45:07.539 --> 00:45:08.179 led astray, 00:45:08.639 --> 00:45:10.059 slaves to various passions 00:45:10.059 --> 00:45:10.740 and pleasures, 00:45:11.400 --> 00:45:12.139 passing our day 00:45:12.139 --> 00:45:13.139 in malice and envy, 00:45:13.300 --> 00:45:14.880 hated by others 00:45:14.880 --> 00:45:15.920 and hating one another. 00:45:18.740 --> 00:45:19.460 Dang it. 00:45:19.860 --> 00:45:20.599 I'm a Crete. 00:45:20.599 --> 00:45:24.739 In the Old Testament, 00:45:24.860 --> 00:45:25.420 if you go back, 00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:27.279 there's this very powerful story 00:45:27.279 --> 00:45:28.839 where David had slept 00:45:28.839 --> 00:45:30.039 with another man's wife 00:45:30.039 --> 00:45:32.599 and then he makes her pregnant 00:45:32.599 --> 00:45:35.519 and he calls her husband 00:45:35.519 --> 00:45:36.599 back from the front 00:45:36.599 --> 00:45:39.139 and he gets him drunk twice 00:45:39.139 --> 00:45:39.799 to try to get him 00:45:39.799 --> 00:45:40.779 to sleep with his wife 00:45:40.779 --> 00:45:42.420 and then when he fails to do it, 00:45:42.819 --> 00:45:45.799 he has Uriah killed in battle. 00:45:47.239 --> 00:45:48.480 And then Nathan the prophet 00:45:48.480 --> 00:45:49.820 comes to speak to David 00:45:49.820 --> 00:45:51.500 and Nathan tells a parable 00:45:51.500 --> 00:45:52.820 about there was a very rich man 00:45:52.820 --> 00:45:53.860 who had huge flocks 00:45:53.860 --> 00:45:55.039 and he had a guest who came 00:45:55.039 --> 00:45:56.380 but rather than taking 00:45:56.380 --> 00:45:57.000 one of the lambs 00:45:57.000 --> 00:45:57.760 from his own flock, 00:45:57.860 --> 00:45:59.039 he went to this really poor guy 00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:00.099 who only had one lamb 00:46:00.099 --> 00:46:00.719 and he treated it 00:46:00.719 --> 00:46:01.860 like it was his favorite pet, 00:46:01.940 --> 00:46:02.780 almost like his son 00:46:02.780 --> 00:46:03.360 or his daughter 00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:04.559 and the rich man 00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:05.880 took that little lamb 00:46:05.880 --> 00:46:06.860 from the poor man 00:46:06.860 --> 00:46:08.860 and killed the poor man's lamb 00:46:08.860 --> 00:46:09.639 so he could feed it 00:46:09.639 --> 00:46:10.159 to the guest 00:46:10.159 --> 00:46:11.780 and David gets irate 00:46:11.780 --> 00:46:12.119 and says, 00:46:12.280 --> 00:46:13.440 that man deserves to die 00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:14.480 and then Nathan says, 00:46:14.659 --> 00:46:15.460 you are the man. 00:46:15.460 --> 00:46:18.820 You are the man. 00:46:22.519 --> 00:46:24.940 And what Paul is doing 00:46:24.940 --> 00:46:26.000 in Titus 1 00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:28.699 is making us realize 00:46:28.699 --> 00:46:30.039 by the time we get to Titus 3 00:46:30.039 --> 00:46:31.539 if we're listening carefully, 00:46:32.480 --> 00:46:33.679 you are the man. 00:46:34.699 --> 00:46:35.920 You are the man or the woman. 00:46:36.639 --> 00:46:37.720 I point at somebody, 00:46:37.880 --> 00:46:38.639 I have three fingers 00:46:38.639 --> 00:46:39.380 pointing back. 00:46:39.380 --> 00:46:44.400 Every human being does 00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:45.000 unless you are missing 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:45.840 those three fingers 00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:46.640 but then the story 00:46:46.640 --> 00:46:47.280 doesn't work. 00:46:49.559 --> 00:46:50.539 But you are fundamentally 00:46:50.539 --> 00:46:51.940 three fingers pointing back 00:46:51.940 --> 00:46:54.140 and he is setting the hook. 00:46:55.740 --> 00:46:56.940 See, here is the problem. 00:46:57.800 --> 00:46:58.880 The problem is 00:46:58.880 --> 00:47:02.140 that you might say 00:47:02.140 --> 00:47:03.440 it is insubordination. 00:47:03.840 --> 00:47:05.019 I call it cutting edge 00:47:05.019 --> 00:47:05.780 creative thinking. 00:47:06.599 --> 00:47:07.519 You might call it 00:47:07.519 --> 00:47:08.380 insubordination 00:47:08.380 --> 00:47:09.619 but I call it 00:47:09.619 --> 00:47:10.099 that you are just 00:47:10.099 --> 00:47:11.200 insecure in your leadership. 00:47:11.780 --> 00:47:12.559 You might call it 00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:13.440 insubordination 00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:14.660 but I call it 00:47:14.660 --> 00:47:15.099 the fact that 00:47:15.099 --> 00:47:15.539 I am actually 00:47:15.539 --> 00:47:16.519 theologically trained 00:47:16.519 --> 00:47:17.140 to know the Bible 00:47:17.140 --> 00:47:17.900 better than you do. 00:47:18.300 --> 00:47:19.300 You might call it 00:47:19.300 --> 00:47:20.480 empty talking and deception. 00:47:20.720 --> 00:47:21.260 I call it 00:47:21.260 --> 00:47:22.640 superior verbal skills 00:47:22.640 --> 00:47:23.300 and confidence. 00:47:23.940 --> 00:47:24.800 You might call it 00:47:24.800 --> 00:47:25.900 empty talking and deception. 00:47:26.119 --> 00:47:26.720 I call it 00:47:26.720 --> 00:47:27.619 that I am better educated 00:47:27.619 --> 00:47:28.200 than you are. 00:47:28.720 --> 00:47:29.700 You might call it 00:47:29.700 --> 00:47:30.360 shameful gain. 00:47:30.460 --> 00:47:30.980 I call it 00:47:30.980 --> 00:47:32.140 being practical with money. 00:47:32.579 --> 00:47:33.660 You might call it 00:47:33.660 --> 00:47:35.220 circumcision party. 00:47:35.480 --> 00:47:36.200 I call it 00:47:36.200 --> 00:47:37.200 appropriating the best 00:47:37.200 --> 00:47:37.920 of our traditions. 00:47:38.380 --> 00:47:39.700 You might call it 00:47:39.700 --> 00:47:41.360 empty myths and stories. 00:47:41.559 --> 00:47:42.099 I call it 00:47:42.099 --> 00:47:43.180 I just know more things 00:47:43.180 --> 00:47:43.660 than you do. 00:47:44.079 --> 00:47:44.960 You might call 00:47:44.960 --> 00:47:46.400 our minds and consciences 00:47:46.400 --> 00:47:47.079 defiled. 00:47:47.360 --> 00:47:48.019 I call it 00:47:48.019 --> 00:47:48.860 that I am liberated 00:47:48.860 --> 00:47:49.740 and progressive 00:47:49.740 --> 00:47:50.700 and I am gripped 00:47:50.700 --> 00:47:51.420 by the gospel. 00:47:51.780 --> 00:47:52.720 You might call it 00:47:52.720 --> 00:47:53.280 detestable. 00:47:53.440 --> 00:47:54.059 I call it 00:47:54.059 --> 00:47:55.860 appropriately contextualized 00:47:55.860 --> 00:47:56.519 in our culture. 00:47:58.480 --> 00:47:59.320 In other words 00:47:59.320 --> 00:47:59.920 we read 00:47:59.920 --> 00:48:00.680 Titus 1 00:48:00.680 --> 00:48:01.460 verses 10 00:48:01.460 --> 00:48:02.039 to the end 00:48:02.039 --> 00:48:02.920 and all we do 00:48:02.920 --> 00:48:03.280 is think 00:48:03.280 --> 00:48:04.400 boy I wish 00:48:04.400 --> 00:48:05.220 that that church 00:48:05.220 --> 00:48:06.380 knew about that text. 00:48:06.660 --> 00:48:07.180 Boy I wish 00:48:07.179 --> 00:48:08.239 my dad heard that. 00:48:08.599 --> 00:48:09.239 Boy I wish 00:48:09.239 --> 00:48:09.960 the young people 00:48:09.960 --> 00:48:10.379 knew that. 00:48:10.559 --> 00:48:11.139 Boy I wish 00:48:11.139 --> 00:48:11.960 the men knew that. 00:48:12.039 --> 00:48:12.779 The women knew that. 00:48:12.899 --> 00:48:14.039 The bishops knew that. 00:48:14.119 --> 00:48:14.919 The priests knew that. 00:48:17.440 --> 00:48:18.179 And we don't see 00:48:18.179 --> 00:48:18.799 the three fingers 00:48:18.799 --> 00:48:19.319 pointing back 00:48:19.319 --> 00:48:19.879 at ourselves. 00:48:22.039 --> 00:48:22.639 See that's 00:48:22.639 --> 00:48:23.399 the context 00:48:23.399 --> 00:48:24.139 within the word 00:48:24.139 --> 00:48:25.059 which the word 00:48:25.059 --> 00:48:25.460 of God 00:48:25.460 --> 00:48:26.519 comes to us 00:48:26.519 --> 00:48:28.419 is that 00:48:28.419 --> 00:48:28.960 in the words 00:48:28.960 --> 00:48:29.559 of the psalm 00:48:29.559 --> 00:48:30.139 we flatter 00:48:30.139 --> 00:48:30.859 ourselves 00:48:30.860 --> 00:48:31.800 too much 00:48:31.800 --> 00:48:32.400 to detect 00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:32.940 or hate 00:48:32.940 --> 00:48:33.680 our own sin. 00:48:35.180 --> 00:48:35.940 Could you put up 00:48:35.940 --> 00:48:36.440 the final point 00:48:36.440 --> 00:48:37.300 and I invite you 00:48:37.300 --> 00:48:37.940 all to stand? 00:48:40.599 --> 00:48:42.000 And the final point 00:48:42.000 --> 00:48:42.660 is a prayer 00:48:42.660 --> 00:48:44.880 and 00:48:44.880 --> 00:48:47.640 you know 00:48:47.640 --> 00:48:48.539 all of this stuff 00:48:48.539 --> 00:48:49.160 about flattering 00:48:49.160 --> 00:48:50.079 ourselves too much 00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:50.480 to detect 00:48:50.480 --> 00:48:50.720 or hate 00:48:50.720 --> 00:48:51.180 our own sin 00:48:51.180 --> 00:48:51.800 it just shows 00:48:51.800 --> 00:48:52.200 that we need 00:48:52.200 --> 00:48:52.700 a savior. 00:48:53.800 --> 00:48:54.539 It just shows 00:48:54.539 --> 00:48:54.880 that we need 00:48:54.880 --> 00:48:55.420 a savior. 00:48:55.420 --> 00:48:58.320 that we need 00:48:58.320 --> 00:48:58.840 God 00:48:58.840 --> 00:48:59.740 to exercise 00:48:59.740 --> 00:49:00.280 power 00:49:00.280 --> 00:49:00.760 to make us 00:49:00.760 --> 00:49:01.340 right with him 00:49:01.340 --> 00:49:01.900 and we need 00:49:01.900 --> 00:49:02.280 to not only 00:49:02.280 --> 00:49:02.780 be gripped 00:49:02.780 --> 00:49:03.500 by how he's 00:49:03.500 --> 00:49:03.780 made us 00:49:03.780 --> 00:49:04.280 right with him 00:49:04.280 --> 00:49:04.740 but gripped 00:49:04.740 --> 00:49:05.360 in such a way 00:49:05.360 --> 00:49:05.920 that it starts 00:49:05.920 --> 00:49:06.420 to change 00:49:06.420 --> 00:49:07.000 our lives 00:49:07.000 --> 00:49:07.659 that we can be 00:49:07.659 --> 00:49:08.860 so in a sense 00:49:08.860 --> 00:49:09.559 comforted 00:49:09.559 --> 00:49:10.440 by the security 00:49:10.440 --> 00:49:11.180 that it's not 00:49:11.180 --> 00:49:12.240 it's no longer 00:49:12.240 --> 00:49:13.180 me justifying 00:49:13.180 --> 00:49:13.639 myself 00:49:13.639 --> 00:49:14.360 me making 00:49:14.360 --> 00:49:14.820 myself 00:49:14.820 --> 00:49:15.240 righteous 00:49:15.240 --> 00:49:15.980 me making 00:49:15.980 --> 00:49:16.420 myself 00:49:16.420 --> 00:49:17.240 looking superior 00:49:17.240 --> 00:49:18.019 me trying 00:49:18.019 --> 00:49:18.940 to manage 00:49:18.940 --> 00:49:19.700 my appearance 00:49:19.700 --> 00:49:20.220 so people 00:49:20.220 --> 00:49:20.800 don't see 00:49:20.800 --> 00:49:21.400 the sin 00:49:21.400 --> 00:49:22.039 or the emptiness 00:49:22.039 --> 00:49:23.400 or the hollowness 00:49:23.400 --> 00:49:24.119 that's in the depth 00:49:24.119 --> 00:49:24.780 of who I am 00:49:24.780 --> 00:49:25.300 that it's me 00:49:25.300 --> 00:49:26.140 managing my image 00:49:26.140 --> 00:49:27.019 that at the end 00:49:27.019 --> 00:49:27.380 of the day 00:49:27.380 --> 00:49:28.100 the gospel 00:49:28.100 --> 00:49:29.019 is this profound 00:49:29.019 --> 00:49:29.480 message 00:49:29.480 --> 00:49:30.220 that God 00:49:30.220 --> 00:49:31.560 and only God 00:49:31.560 --> 00:49:32.840 can make us 00:49:32.840 --> 00:49:33.580 right with himself 00:49:33.580 --> 00:49:34.740 that there's not 00:49:34.740 --> 00:49:35.480 a hollowness 00:49:35.480 --> 00:49:36.240 that would devour 00:49:36.240 --> 00:49:36.860 us at the center 00:49:36.860 --> 00:49:37.180 of us 00:49:37.180 --> 00:49:38.060 that God saw 00:49:38.060 --> 00:49:39.320 our need 00:49:39.320 --> 00:49:40.200 and loved us 00:49:40.200 --> 00:49:40.640 so much 00:49:40.640 --> 00:49:41.080 that he sent 00:49:41.080 --> 00:49:41.440 his son 00:49:41.440 --> 00:49:41.900 to die upon 00:49:41.900 --> 00:49:42.420 the cross 00:49:42.420 --> 00:49:42.760 for us 00:49:42.760 --> 00:49:43.560 that only 00:49:43.560 --> 00:49:44.280 as the gospel 00:49:44.280 --> 00:49:44.980 grips us 00:49:44.980 --> 00:49:45.720 can we actually 00:49:45.720 --> 00:49:46.280 begin to have 00:49:46.280 --> 00:49:46.980 the security 00:49:46.980 --> 00:49:48.780 to look 00:49:48.780 --> 00:49:49.320 at our own 00:49:49.320 --> 00:49:50.080 self-deception 00:49:50.080 --> 00:49:51.160 and self-flattery 00:49:51.160 --> 00:49:52.700 to consider 00:49:52.700 --> 00:49:54.200 without unmaking 00:49:54.200 --> 00:49:54.540 us 00:49:54.539 --> 00:49:55.320 that every time 00:49:55.320 --> 00:49:55.739 I point 00:49:55.739 --> 00:49:56.099 at another 00:49:56.099 --> 00:49:56.460 person 00:49:56.460 --> 00:49:56.920 I'm pointing 00:49:56.920 --> 00:49:57.539 three fingers 00:49:57.539 --> 00:49:58.279 back at myself 00:49:58.279 --> 00:50:00.659 so for some 00:50:00.659 --> 00:50:00.920 of us 00:50:00.920 --> 00:50:01.519 maybe this is 00:50:01.519 --> 00:50:02.059 a way 00:50:02.059 --> 00:50:03.019 to begin 00:50:03.019 --> 00:50:03.460 to enter 00:50:03.460 --> 00:50:04.000 the Christian 00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:04.460 faith 00:50:04.460 --> 00:50:05.880 it's a conversion 00:50:05.880 --> 00:50:06.360 prayer 00:50:06.360 --> 00:50:07.179 for others 00:50:07.179 --> 00:50:07.519 of us 00:50:07.519 --> 00:50:07.739 who are 00:50:07.739 --> 00:50:08.139 followers 00:50:08.139 --> 00:50:08.659 of Jesus 00:50:08.659 --> 00:50:09.759 I suggest 00:50:09.759 --> 00:50:10.420 that Titus 1 00:50:10.420 --> 00:50:10.960 leads us 00:50:10.960 --> 00:50:11.860 to desperately 00:50:11.860 --> 00:50:12.719 need to pray 00:50:12.719 --> 00:50:13.480 a prayer 00:50:13.480 --> 00:50:14.099 like this 00:50:14.099 --> 00:50:15.199 so if 00:50:15.199 --> 00:50:15.900 those who are 00:50:15.900 --> 00:50:16.179 led 00:50:16.179 --> 00:50:16.539 if you would 00:50:16.539 --> 00:50:17.019 like to say 00:50:17.019 --> 00:50:17.440 it out loud 00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:17.820 with me 00:50:17.820 --> 00:50:18.380 that would 00:50:18.380 --> 00:50:18.880 be great 00:50:18.880 --> 00:50:20.360 dear Lord 00:50:20.360 --> 00:50:21.680 please help 00:50:21.680 --> 00:50:21.980 me 00:50:21.980 --> 00:50:23.160 I flatter 00:50:23.160 --> 00:50:23.800 myself 00:50:23.800 --> 00:50:24.539 too much 00:50:24.539 --> 00:50:25.300 to detect 00:50:25.300 --> 00:50:26.039 or hate 00:50:26.039 --> 00:50:26.640 my own 00:50:26.640 --> 00:50:27.019 sin 00:50:27.019 --> 00:50:28.519 please bring 00:50:28.519 --> 00:50:29.160 your word 00:50:29.160 --> 00:50:29.700 to bear 00:50:29.700 --> 00:50:30.680 on my heart 00:50:30.680 --> 00:50:31.760 that I might 00:50:31.760 --> 00:50:32.320 repent 00:50:32.320 --> 00:50:33.039 and amend 00:50:33.039 --> 00:50:33.800 my life 00:50:33.800 --> 00:50:35.099 please make 00:50:35.099 --> 00:50:35.940 me a disciple 00:50:35.940 --> 00:50:36.700 of Jesus 00:50:36.700 --> 00:50:37.480 gripped by 00:50:37.480 --> 00:50:38.119 the gospel 00:50:38.119 --> 00:50:39.140 living for 00:50:39.140 --> 00:50:39.720 your glory 00:50:39.720 --> 00:50:40.900 Father 00:50:40.900 --> 00:50:41.400 pour out 00:50:41.400 --> 00:50:41.780 your Holy 00:50:41.780 --> 00:50:42.079 Spirit 00:50:42.079 --> 00:50:42.579 upon us 00:50:42.579 --> 00:50:43.099 deliver us 00:50:43.099 --> 00:50:43.660 from a fear 00:50:43.660 --> 00:50:44.260 of your word 00:50:44.260 --> 00:50:44.820 make us 00:50:44.820 --> 00:50:45.340 people who 00:50:45.340 --> 00:50:46.059 search the 00:50:46.059 --> 00:50:46.539 scriptures 00:50:46.539 --> 00:50:47.460 to know 00:50:47.460 --> 00:50:47.900 the truth 00:50:47.900 --> 00:50:48.420 thank you 00:50:48.420 --> 00:50:48.800 Father 00:50:48.800 --> 00:50:49.599 that you 00:50:49.599 --> 00:50:50.139 are a God 00:50:50.139 --> 00:50:50.679 who never 00:50:50.679 --> 00:50:51.279 lies 00:50:51.279 --> 00:50:52.099 never 00:50:52.099 --> 00:50:52.679 ever 00:50:52.679 --> 00:50:53.139 ever 00:50:53.139 --> 00:50:53.840 lies 00:50:53.840 --> 00:50:54.579 and that 00:50:54.579 --> 00:50:54.980 you love 00:50:54.980 --> 00:50:55.199 us 00:50:55.199 --> 00:50:55.480 and you 00:50:55.480 --> 00:50:55.860 sent your 00:50:55.860 --> 00:50:56.179 son to 00:50:56.179 --> 00:50:56.519 die upon 00:50:56.519 --> 00:50:56.980 the cross 00:50:56.980 --> 00:50:57.500 for us 00:50:57.500 --> 00:50:58.039 Father 00:50:58.039 --> 00:50:58.679 we praise 00:50:58.679 --> 00:50:58.920 you 00:50:58.920 --> 00:50:59.579 and all 00:50:59.579 --> 00:50:59.900 this we 00:50:59.900 --> 00:51:00.420 ask and 00:51:00.420 --> 00:51:00.739 thank 00:51:00.739 --> 00:51:01.119 in the name 00:51:01.119 --> 00:51:01.559 of Jesus 00:51:01.559 --> 00:51:02.259 your son 00:51:02.259 --> 00:51:02.579 and our 00:51:02.579 --> 00:51:02.880 savior 00:51:02.880 --> 00:51:03.840 amen