This message is a continuation of the theme that I have done at the last few Shepherds’ Conferences, including the message on Titus 2:7-8 three years ago.
Immature young men were common in the church in Crete and Paul was addressing that issue. It was typical male adolescent behavior. Those very same characteristics have become the characteristics of certain large mega church pastors and their acolytes. The problem begins too often in the pulpit — suggestive advertizing (tasteless publicity), vulgarity in preaching, and the like. The problem has gotten worse than it was three years ago (e.g., the tawdry example of Ed Young, jr. and his 24-hour vigil in bed with his wife on the roof of the church…).
To say anything against such activity and to encourage holiness is to be branded with legalism. We don’t want to be branded with legalism. The principles of Romans 14 are sufficient to answer the questions that Scripture doesn’t answer. We need to obey Scripture and beyond that shut up. We want to ignore legalism, but at the same time we don’t want to write off every call to holiness as a declaration of legalism. How are we who are dead to sin still live in it?
These notes are rough, unedited and not a complete transcription of this session.
Words of Grace 