“no devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth” (v14)
My wife and I were walking through the funky, cool neighborhoods of lower Manhattan a few years ago. We love Greenwich Village, Little Italy, and Chinatown. But something surprised us when my wife was looking at purses one tiny shop. The lady behind the counter made her an offer. “We can make it Fendi for you.” What’s she talking about? My lovely bride said, “No, thank you” and we walked out the door. I didn’t have a clue what was going on. Deb let me know that the woman was willing to turn one of the store’s generic purses into a designer bag. Yeah, I’m a little slow on the uptake. For just a few dollars, my wife could have walked out with purse with a Fendi logo. Well, at least one that LOOKED like a Fendi. That was just one of many stores that had to be making a fortune selling fakes, imitations, and cheap knockoffs.
Here in this letter, Paul tells Titus to shut down a team of false teachers that are peddling a message that sure sounds like the Gospel. It sounds religious. As a matter of fact, it sounds VERY religious. They’re talking about all sorts of Jewish stuff. They sure seem to know what they’re talking about. There’s only one problem. It’s NOT the Gospel. It’s NOT about Jesus. Using a lot of religious mumbo jumbo, these snake oil salesmen aren’t drawing people closer to Christ but farther away. They are selling fakes, imitations, and cheap knockoffs.
One factor that makes any false teacher dangerous is when they seem to know what they are talking about. That’s the case with these Cretan con artists. You see, they’re members of what Paul calls the “circumcision party” (Titus 1:10). They’re Jewish Christians who believe that non-Jews must convert to Judaism before they can even think of following Jesus. This isn't the first time the apostle has run into such crazy talk. It happened in Galatia. Even Paul’s pals Peter and Barnabas got caught up in that mess (Gal 2:7-13). It’s hard for us to wrap our brains around what a huge controversy this was for the new church. Eventually they called a meeting at the home office in Jerusalem to figure out what to do (Acts 15). The leadership team decided that if God was bringing in Gentiles without making them become Jews first, who were they to get in His way.
The false teachers are dazzling these new Cretan Christians with a lot of scriptural hocus pocus. One of the rabbits they pull out of their hat are “Jewish myths and commands of people who turn people from the truth” (v14). They talk at length about stuff that sure sounds churchy and religious. They drop a lot of important sounding theological words. There’s just one little problem. It’s NOT true! It’s NOT God’s Word! And the same thing is still going on today. You’ve heard about this stuff. Kabbalah. The Bible Code. The Daniel Diet. The Search for Noah’s Ark. Folks get caught up in a lot of crap that sure seems religious but actually has very little to do with the Gospel. They’re just fakes, imitations, and cheap knockoffs.
We all need to take a step back and take a long, hard look at what’s being taught. Ultimately, is the message focused on Jesus? Is it telling us who He is and what He’s done? Is it drawing deeper and deeper into a relationship with our Savior? Are we being encouraged to focus on the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2)? Or are we simply being fed a big pile of religious sounding hooey? Is it all just spiritual smoke and mirrors? Here’s the bottom line, the entire Bible is about Jesus. He’s THE Hero of THE Story. Don’t major in the minors. As Stephen Covey says, “Keep the main thing, the main thing.” And the Main Thing is JESUS! When we spend all of our time looking at the trees with a microscope, we miss the beauty of the forest of the Gospel! Don’t fall for fakes, imitations, and cheap knockoffs.
No comments:
Post a Comment