Watered Down Words

Titus 1-Part 5
For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.  One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."  Titus 1:10-12 NAS 

LET IT GLOW

When we were in college, we lived on a tight budget, needless to say. So I strove to make ends meet with the grocery buying for our family of four. I would buy a gallon of whole milk and  water it down with nonfat dry milk mixed with water. It wasn't harmful just a little distasteful if it wasn't cold, but it certainly did stretch my grocery money. My husband could detect the watered down version, though. He knew what the "real thing" tasted like. There was no fooling him.
I wonder if Titus could detect the watered down version of the Truth. Today, we read about Paul's warnings about it. Can I detect a water down version of  God's Word?
I am thankful that Paul helps us out, aren't you?

In his book, Swindoll's New Testament Insights on 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Brother Chuck says:

In addition to many other schemes, Satan is the master of deception. To afflict the church, he artfully drapes his lies in the regal robes of truth. He seduces charming, intelligent men and women, promising the world in exchange for their help in deceiving others. And how convincing they are! They move among the elect, up through the ranks of authourity, and into positions of power. Nevertheless, a trained eye can spot them. Paul's letter to Titus explains how. He instructs his younger colleague to watch for three clues in detecting false teachers.

1. Their teaching is nonscriptural. Paul used three terms-rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers-to characterize the relationship between false teachers and the source of all Christian truth.

Rebellious men is better rendered "unaccountable men." These individuals on Crete not only rejected their former authority, they refused to submit themselves to any oversight or give accountability to anyone (Jude 8). This false teacher establishes himself as the religious authority. They clearly contradict the Scripture
(1 Tim. 1:4).

Empty talkers comes from the compound word, which means "empty, vain, futile" in the first part. OT prophets used "empty" to describe the worship of false gods (Jonah 2:8-9) or the worship of one, true God in the absence of good deeds (Is. 1:13-17). VAin talkers speak with smoothe, captivating, even persuasive assuredness, but have little or nothing on which to base their teaching. They cleverly present their personalopinions as spiritual truth.

Deceivers (apatai in Greek) is combined with the word phren (meaning heart, mind) to form the new compoind "mind-deceivers." These false teachers were deliberately engaged in mind-bending control, like the cults of the 1970's.

Today, we have to watch out for door knockers, dressed distinctly, distributing their literature to poorly informed Christians with little knowlege of the Word and little involvment in a local church. I agree with Swindoll-their doctrine is anything but orthodox Christian truth. Don't these false teachers use just enough terminology to snatch a believer out of the Truth, deceiving them?

2. Their motives are evil. Our modern phrase for sordid gain is "drug money." The mere possession of wealth obtained through false teaching brings shame on the person holding it. Make no mistake, most false teachers do what they do for the money. They may try to hide their real motives, but they can't for long. Eventually, they demand financial support from their followers. Their luxurious lifestyles are evidence of how they take advantage of their followers.They lack morals and principles that the Scripture teaches.

3. Their behavior is disgraceful. Their own pagan prophet, the Cretan poet Epimenides, born around 600 B.C. famed these false teachers as liars, evil beasts, slow bellies (lazy gluttons). (Falwell) I don't think these terms need any explanation.

LET IT GROW

What does Paul tell Titus to do about these false teachers?  In verse 11, he says their mouths must be stopped (epistomizo), which originally meant to put something in the mouth as a gag. NAS says they must be silenced. It means "to muzzle" usually by stuffing something in a person's mouth. In more plain language: "Shut them up." In essence, Paul is saying, "Confront the false teachers immediately or they will tear the chruches apart."

Do I know enough Truth and Scriptures to spot a false teacher? Am I able to use the Word of God to refute their teachings a false? I better get studying.

LET IT GO

Stop wasting time and  learn more of God's Word.

Learn the difference in false teaching and true teaching.

Depend on the Holy Spirit to direct my thoughts throughout the day.

Pray when confronted with lies.