This is an admonition from Paul to Titus, his son in the faith.
I chose this text because of the tendency of pastors lately to use filthy jokes, erotic language and the like in preaching today. The “pornification” of the pulpit. The idea is that this is the “tool of contextualization.” But Paul said otherwise. And this passage exemplifies that.
NY Times Magazine article — “Who Would Jesus Smack Down” (about Mark Driscoll). Even secular news outlets are speaking of the issue, but most evangelicals are not thinking Biblically about it.
What gifts and virtues qualify a man to be a pastor and what style is appropriate? A decade ago, these would not have seemed to be tough questions. But it is perplexing to too many these days. Others may not approve and affirm of these things, but are unwilling to speak about it for fear of tearing apart the fabric of evangelicalism — tolerance for shenanigans! This is not healthy.
Examples —
- XXX-church — sponsoring booths at porn conferences; “Jesus loves porn stars”
- Purposefully coarse words and sexually intimate details in sermons and blogs
- “Any words can be used to glorify God.” Really?????
- No news channel in Seattle is using gutter language to broadcast news and no one is demanding that they do.
- Three years ago the latest fad was “40 days of Purpose” and today it is “40 days of Sex” (Ed Young, Jr. — Fellowship Church)
- Time: “And God said, ‘Just do it’”
- School board in Kenosha, WI told a church using its school that its flyers were pornographic and they could no longer use its facilities.
Does anyone real think any of these things have a sanctifying effect in our churches? Of course not! Too many pastors are interested in looking cool to the world. And too many church members want to be comfortable in the world.
This is too rapidly becoming the norm.
Titus was a young man who had earned Paul’s trust. Paul had likely led Titus to faith. In 2 Cor. Paul refers to him 9x — and several other times in other letters. He regarded Titus as much more than a messenger boy. So when he left Crete, he left Titus there to establish and order the leadership there.
Paul had not so nice things to say about Crete — it was even worse than Seattle! Cf. 1:10-16. No cultural sensitivity there! Yes, it was harsh. This passage explodes some of the favorite methods of contextualization. He did not let the flavor of that culture flavor his preaching and ministry. He does not lower the bar of ministry to the level of culture.
How do you meet the standard of leaders (1:5) in that kind of culture? He was to teach the people to be different and not to ape the fads of the culture.
He wasn’t supposed to crawl into the sewer of the culture, but to model dignity, integrity and sound speech (2:7-8)… This was the method of leading an opponent to Christ.
What are the things that adorn sound doctrine? Doctrine is vital, not extraneous and superfluous. Some truths are so vital that if you alter them, you are anathema. If you alter them, “their mouths must be stopped.” There are also some codes of conduct that are so essential that if they are violated, we are to break fellowship with them (if they are calling themselves Christians; e.g., 1 Cor. 5:11).
Sanctified behavior is the essential companion to sound doctrine. Some kinds of behavior are absolutely essentially. You may verbally affirm the most sound creed and doctrinal statement, but live unsanctified in some of these perverse ways, you are disqualified from ministry. Sound doctrine is essential, but its not enough. There is sanctification that must adorn it (1:15-16).
Paul also shows how that is to be done and practiced in the church — the kinds of qualities that must be stressed (especially in a grunge-addicted society like Crete), and who is to teach the various groups within the church (2:1ff).
Note vv. 6-8 — how Titus is to train the younger men. How to train young men to follow God in a pagan and idolatrous culture. There is not a word here about adapting ministry to the low-brow culture. Titus was to set the standard for them, not vice versa. [The context in 1 Cor. 9 is the same as here — avoid unnecessary cultural stumbling blocks so people are hindered from the gospel — he wanted to keep himself out of the way as the gospel advanced. He respected every cultures taboos as much as possible. (He was not attempting to fit into that culture!)]
Notice how the twin themes of reverence and dignity run through this passage. Cf. 1:13 — rebuke them sharply…
Paul encourages Titus to promote sound doctrine, sound behavior, and sound speech. These are all part of every pastor’s duty. Each of them is interwoven with the others. They are all aspects of one another — inter-related. Sound doctrine is a feature of sound behavior. Your doctrine isn’t really pure if you don’t impart it to others in a dignified way.
I want to focus on what he says about speech. Your doctrine is not really pure if you are not an example of purity and action and speech. If your conduct and speech are unsanctified, you are unfit for ministry and you should step down. Paul is putting a very high premium on purity and soundness of language — not just language in the pulpit, but his everyday speech so that his whole life would be in accord with holiness. Don’t say anything in any context that would be unbecoming of the gospel.
Don’t give the world any reason to criticize us apart from the gospel. This is not a complex issue at all. Fleshly, self-indulgent, erotic gutter language is unbecoming of Christ and should not even be an issue for the church (and less than a decade ago wasn’t!). Cf. 1:16.
If you can fill your conversations and sermons with course language without a pang of conscience you should get out of the ministry. The pulpit is the last place where everything holy should be dragged through the gutter. Some things are too shameful to even be mentioned (1 Cor. 12). The last thing the church should do is mimic the world in thinking that nothing is shameful!
Two kinds of profanity every Christian should avoid —
- course talk — private bodily functions…
- any kind of irreverence — no joking about anything sacred
- these are not gray areas.
We must have boundaries that we refuse to cross before we get to anything remotely irreverent. E.g., Col. 3:8ff ; 4:6; Eph. 4:29; 5:4. (See Johnson’s messages on the third commandment and Ephesians 5:1-4).
What is sound speech? Cf. Eph. 5:4 —
- filthiness — “dirty words” — every culture has a list of these words and there is no need to make a list of them. They are the calling cards of carnal conversation.
- silly talk — buffoonery — stupid talk. Moronic word play with lewd and erotic talk
- course jesting — dirty jokes. In secular Gk. literature it meant cleverness and generally was used positively. It is someone who is quick-witted in a risqué manner. Scripture emphatically condemns it. It is always understood negatively.
He says that they are not to be avoided “as much as possible,” but not even once! And these are the very things that the modern gurus of contextualization are saying that we are to use. This is not a hard issue to determine. Paul was never nick-named “the cussing apostle.” There is a significant difference between strong language and profane language.
All of us minister in ungodly culture, no matter where we serve. We need to be sound in doctrine, conduct and speech — no matter where we serve. When God called Isaiah, the first thing He did was cleanse Isaiah’s unclean lips. There is nothing prophetic about a trash mouth.
Words of Grace 