Cretans Are Always Liars

Introduction

Well, with more and more people, it’s just better and better singing. And tonight we have had some wonderful singing, and we welcome all of our visitors in our midst tonight. Again, we have several, and we’re glad that you’re here. I begin tonight on my soapbox. People drive selfishly. One of the hardest adjustments. Nearly four years ago now, I know it seems but a few days. Nearly four years ago when we moved from Auburn, Alabama to this neck of the woods. One of the great adjustments I had to make, going from the town of 45,000 to the town of several million people, is all the traffic. And what I’ve learned is you don’t want to be on the road from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 a.m.

To 4 p.m. to about 6.30 p.m. Because it’s a nightmare out there. Too many people, not enough concrete. That’s the problem. And beyond that, people drive selfishly. Have you ever seen? Oops, this man. I see him all the time. It’s about where they want to go, and it doesn’t matter where you want to go. And even if you’re that nice individual that waves them into your lane because they so desperately want into your lane. They’re not going to nod or acknowledge. They’re just going to go. And if they have to run somebody off into the ditch, that’s okay. Because it’s not them. It’s all about me. Let me say that again. People drive selfishly. Well, you’ve already seen, I’ve already let the cat out of the bag.

1. Generalizations Make a Point

Generalizations make a point. They summarize what is generally true. And when you generalize, important cautions can be issued. Some important warnings can be given to assist people to live better and to live higher. When I first started preaching, I used to never use generalizations. Because I thought, I don’t want anybody to misunderstand. I don’t want anybody to conclude that I believe everybody in a certain category is such a way. And then I started reading the New Testament, and I said, hey, Jesus used generalizations. Paul used generalizations. And they expected people to understand that you’re not talking about everybody. And when I said people drive selfishly, obviously we’ve seen selfish drivers. Everybody isn’t selfish when they drive. I hope we are exceptions to the rule. But again, generalizations make a point.

And scriptures use them. And I would say that about figurative language all throughout the New Testament. Why not just say everything literally in short, succinct sentences? Why say something complex? Why use figurative language, why simile and metaphor and hyperbole and ellipsis and all the other things of metonymy that the scriptures use over and over again. Why do that? And make it hard. Actually, what that does is makes it colorful. It makes it interesting. It makes it appealing. It draws in the reader. And so sometimes generalizations are also used to make a point. Now, that takes me to Titus chapter 1 and verse 12, where Paul used just such a generalization. And I want to read it with you tonight. Titus 1 and verse 12. And if we ever get done with the gospel of John in our adult auditorium class, we might just move into Titus.

But I can’t guarantee anything if this morning is any indication we may not make it by the end of this quarter. But in verse 12, Paul says, one of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars. Evil beasts and lazy gluttons. Wow. What a characterization of a group of people. But what follows is even more interesting. Paul saying in the next verse 13, this testimony is true. He quotes one of their poets, somebody from that island of Crete out in the Mediterranean, and who says, Well, Cretans, what are they known for? Well, they’re deceitful. They’re liars. They’re evil beasts. Not much positive about that. And not only that, they’re gluttonous people. Lazy gluttons. Not much good to say about the Cretans. And then Paul says, This testimony is true.

For this cause, reprove them, these who tend to be liars and evil beasts and lazy gluttons. He says, for this cause reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith. Don’t pay attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. He even talks in verse 16 about those who profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him. Being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. Now, how do you know this is a generalization? Titus is in Crete. I don’t think he’s saying, well, you know, Titus, you’re a liar too. You fit in just great there. Or an evil beast or a lazy glutton. And furthermore, if you’ll look back in verse 5, Paul says, I left you in Crete to do what?

Appoint elders. And what follows in the next several verses in Titus 1, 6 through 8, are the qualifications of elders, and they’re not going to be this kind of guy. They’re going to be trustworthy, dependable men. They’re not going to be liars and evil beasts and lazy gluttons. So there’s got to be some people in Crete who are not this. He’s not talking about everybody on the island of Crete fits this category any more than I was saying that everybody who drives on the roads in Houston is selfish and thinks only about themselves. But again, I’ll get on my soapbox. Shelley could tell you, Brett could tell you. I know Sherry could tell you. He’s always on his soapbox when it happens. They don’t care about anybody but themselves.

2. Jesus Used Generalizations as Well

Generalizations make a point. Jesus used generalizations as well. And so not just Paul and Titus chapter 1, when he talks about the Cretans, what about this statement? We’ve read it so many times that we don’t even see the point of it being a generalization. Matthew 23, about every couple of sentences. Jesus is saying, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Was every scribe and Pharisee a hypocrite? I don’t think so. I don’t believe Nicodemus was a hypocrite. He was trying to objectively consider the claims of the Christ. Even when he comes to him by night.

And ultimately, he, along with Joseph of Arimathea, another prominent Jew, are going to come and ask for the body of Jesus and to prepare it for burial. And at that point, there’s certainly no hypocrisy in Nicodemus. Now he’s probably going to be kicked out of his present position among the Pharisees because most of them are hypocrites. But I would suggest to you that this does not necessarily have to be true of all scribes and Pharisees. Now, scribes might constitute an even bigger group than the Pharisees, not sure about that, but I don’t think he’s saying that everybody who is a scribe and everybody who is a Pharisee was a hypocrite. But generally, it was so. And so I want to make another observation tonight and get a little bit closer to home with a generalization.

3. Americans Are Selfish, Ungodly, and Idolatrous

Americans. Americans are selfish, just like they drive. Americans are selfish and ungodly and even idolatrous. Now that’s a generalization. But we need to beware of the culture in which we find ourselves generally. Just like the people in Crete needed to recognize the influence and culture around them and thus act accordingly and act differently, and more on that in a moment. This is our culture. Americans are selfish, ungodly, and idolatrous. Let me give you some illustrations. They can so often claim to follow Christ, but they do not follow Christ. They follow themselves. They make the rules. Jesus is not the head of their church. They are. And if they want a Christianity that includes homosexuality and adulterous marriages, they will have it and proclaim it good. And let me just stop and say there are a lot of people with Church of Christ on the sign that are approving of adulterous marriages.

Who are approving of frivolous and unscriptural divorce. And I want to tell you that even becoming rampant among those who are our brethren in Christ. You know the things I ask when some people choose to be affiliated with a certain congregation that says they’re of Christ. One of the things I want them to ask the leadership of that group is, how do you feel about people’s marriages, third, fourth, and fifth marriages where it hasn’t been putting away for sexual immorality? You take a stand against that? I want to tell you a lot of places the answer to that question is no. You get outside of, quote, churches of Christ, you get into the denominational realm, and we know how it is. It’s almost anything goes, and that goes back to point number three.

Jesus is not the head of the church. But they are.

Yet profanity after profanity comes out of their mouths. If they want to believe the doctrine of once saved, always saved, though it flies in the face of hundreds of passages in the New Testament that say otherwise, they will have it. If they want to reject the necessity of baptism in God’s plan, they will ignore Acts 2.38. I was at a debate once where the preacher kept coming back to Acts 2.38, and the other guy just kept ignoring it. He just kept ignoring, going to other passages, his theology was this verse and his theology was that verse. Look, you’ve got to have Acts 2.38 in your theology because it’s in the New Testament. It’s got to fit in there somehow. Romans chapter 6, when it talks about burial, death to sin and rising to walk in newness of life.

That’s what baptism meant. That’s got to fit in there somewhere. Bury with him in baptism. Baptism doth also now save us. That’s got to fit in your theology somewhere. But again, who’s really head of the church where we are? And if they want to engage in corrupting God’s model for the church, like we talked about last week, if they want to exchange God’s model for the church into some kind of a veritable social club and with a social emphasis and humanitarian emphasis only, rather than the lost souls of men and women, then that’s what they’ll have. Boy, I’m going all over the place tonight, aren’t I?

And when the focus is self, when the idols of entertainment and pleasure replace God, people will listen to their own hearts rather than the words that give life. The flesh profits nothing, but my words are spirit and they are life, Jesus said in John chapter 6 and verse 63. And he that rejects me and does not receive my words has one that judges him, the word that I have spoken. The same shall judge him in the last day. John chapter 12 and verse 48. And so, in regard to all the things that I’ve mentioned that are characteristic of our society, and not just our society generally, but even those who claim to be Christian, not everybody’s that way. And that’s what I want to spend the rest of our time talking about tonight.

4. But as for You

As you’re, if you’re still in Titus chapter 1, after he says, reprove them severely that they may be sound in the faith. I’ve always loved the beginning of chapter 2 and verse 1, where Paul simply says to Titus, but as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. All these other things we’ve looked at, the things people want to believe, the things people practice in the name of religion. That may generally be so in the religious world. That may generally be true in our society, but that doesn’t matter. In terms of what you need to do. And that’s why these four words are in bold for you tonight. But as for you, that says contrast. That says something different. That says you can’t be like your society around you or your culture that can influence you.

God wants you to be different. But as for you, speak the things which are fitting. These other things that I mentioned in that list over and over those things aren’t fitting. Because they’re not consistent with Scripture. But as for you, why generalize? Because there are dangers lurking all around us. You know, if everybody else is driving selfishly, well, maybe I need it’s a dog eat dog world. I’m going to run people off the road and into the ditch because I got places I got to be. What happened to being kind, courteous? What happened to the forbearing spirit that Christians are supposed to have? Philippians chapter 4 and verse 5. It’s not do unto you as you did unto me. That’s not the attitude of the Christian.

We almost ran me off the road. I’m going to almost run him off the road. Even in driving, what kind of attitudes do we display? And if we’re consistently doing something, isn’t that a reflection of our character and who we really are? The words that we speak, isn’t that a reflection of who we really are on the inside? Jesus said that in Matthew chapter 12. And so while you may or may not have agreed with my generalizations tonight, I believe what I’ve said about Americans is generally true. Generally selfish, ungodly, and even idolatrous. The things I’ve said about the religious among us. I think those things are generally true. But here’s where we come to the application for us. What are we going to do? But as for you, Paul tells Titus.

5. What's Different About You?

What’s different about you? What’s different about us? Because we are people of the book. Because we are people who belong to Jesus Christ and who are influenced by his life and his example and his mind. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. And how is that borne out? In the care and consideration we give, even to the way we dress. It’s obvious that a lot of folks don’t give much consideration to it. Just go to them all for about 15 minutes. It’s like those people didn’t give any care and consideration to the nature of their dress. Christians do that because they’re concerned about modesty. Oh, there’s not a lot of passages on modesty in the New Testament, but there’s a couple, 1 Timothy chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 3.

How many times does God have to say it? We need to dress in such a way that befits, well, that’s like the word fitting here in Titus chapter 2 and verse 1. We need to dress in such a way that befits our calling and claim to be Christians. That’s what Paul said in 1 Timothy 2, 9 and 10. Is that different about you? Would people say in your high school that you dress differently than others? That there’s some conviction about you, there’s something different about you that makes you dress differently, not as provocatively as others. And again, what about your speech? As we mentioned this morning, Colossians chapter 4 and verse 5, seasoned as it were with salt. What does that say? The Christian gives thought and consideration to the things that they say before they say them.

Does that reflect the way you speak? Are you always being governed by this true? Is this kind? Is it helpful? Is it encouraging? What’s the point of these words? There’s so many warnings about idle words and careless words. Like again in Matthew chapter 12. You think sometimes you ever say things carelessly? I have.

6. Your Commitment to Truth

That affects everything. Your meditation and worship habits. We asked this morning are we gonna are we gonna leave, walk out these doors, and that’s it? We’re gonna shut it down spiritually until maybe Wednesday night. Or worse yet, maybe next Sunday. Our meditation and our worship habits, the thoughts that we have about God on a frequent basis are reflection of the fact that we’re different than those around us. And really all of that is based on this final point. And that is what is different. The sound doctrine that Paul mentions to Titus in Titus chapter 2 and verse 1. Your commitment to truth.

But I’ll tell you what motivates me when I teach and preach more than anything else. Well, right up there is the fact I don’t want to bore people. I work on that. I don’t want to bore people. But more importantly than that. I want to be right. I want what I say to be truth. Because it is the truth that sets free. John chapter 8 and verse 32. And I can’t know everything, as we were talking this morning about some things we can’t know for sure about Judas, perhaps what all his thoughts were in his heart. I can’t know everything about that, but I can know what I need to know to please God and go to heaven. And I need to stand firmly on that, even if everybody else doesn’t.

I’ve got to stay committed to the truth. But not just be right. Then I need to live right. It’s not enough to just be right. I need to set myself to living right. And I’ll tell you, the world’s not going to appreciate that. And it never has. In John 15. In John 15, if you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember, the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. If the world hates you, verse 18, you know that it hated me before it hated you.

Sometimes it’s not easy to be a disciple of Jesus Christ when it runs counter to all that’s going on around us in our culture. But we must not succumb to the pressure to be like the world. Or to mold ourselves after the world. Do not be conformed to this world, young people. That’ll lead us to the emptiness of Solomon’s experiment that we talked about this morning. But be transformed. That says different. That says, but as for you, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For our lives to be governed by truth. It will enrich our lives. It will enrich the lives of others. And while some will hate us for it.

Conclusion

I want you to look at Hebrews 6 and verse 10, and we’ll conclude tonight. Hebrews 6 and verse 10. Not everybody’s going to understand the decisions that we make when we’re trying to mold ourselves after the will of Christ. Some are not going to appreciate, some are not going to pat you on the back. You might not receive the encouragement from men that you think you ought to receive. But I’ve always found this to be a comforting thought. Hebrews 6 and verse 10. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. You set yourself to the task of glorifying God in this way. In worship, in ministering to his people.

You set yourself to the task. And whether other people acknowledge it or not, whether the world hates you or not, is irrelevant. Because what matters is God will see. And God will reward, and he is not unjust. He does not overlook.

In Hebrews 4, the eyes of the Lord are in every place. There is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. One side of that is when we do evil, when we think evil, when we lust, when we engage in sinful activity, the Lord sees. And we’ll be held accountable. But the other side of that is that when we do right, even when it’s difficult, when we sacrifice for him, when we say no to temptation, when we choose someone to serve, the Lord knows. And he will reward accordingly. Since the time I became a Christian, I have not lived perfectly. Shocking, isn’t it? No, none of us have. But thanks be to God that we’re not automatically given his wrath as a result.

He is merciful. He can still use us in his service. Despite our failures of the past. And if we’ll just keep at it, persevere in doing right.

Not because we’ve earned it, not because we’ve merited it, but because we’ve been people of faith. Because we have been justified by faith. So many people start to think this isn’t going to pay off. This, you know, I’ve had made too many mistakes. They give up. It’s too hard. I don’t want to go against the current. This is but as for you message. It’s too difficult for me. Look, let me tell you. I’ve lived over half my life. I’m getting there in a hurry. It’s not going to be that long. Stay the course. And the Lord will reward. And it will be worth all the sacrifices we’ve made in order to get there. I’ve said this before. When we get to heaven, there will not be a single regret for any choice that we made to do right and serve the Lord.

We’ll not say, boy, that price was too high. Oh man, I can’t believe I did that. Initial obedience to the Lord. Man, all these people here, it’s all everybody’s going to be watching me as I come forward and confess Christ and I’m baptized. Well, these eyes are going to be watching me. Look, this is the cheering section here. We’re excited about the decision of someone. You know, you can be baptized any time of the night or day. There can be just a handful of people here. But do you know how encouraging it is for all of us who have been Christians for a long period of time to see someone put on the Lord in baptism? This is the most supportive group you’ll ever find. So we said, well, you know, it’s difficult.

And sometimes, you know, people put the death grip on the pew. There’s some fear involved in doing something so publicly. But I’ll tell you could you could really encourage us all tonight by putting on the Lord and making that decision. I’m going to be different than the world. I’m not going to be like other Americans who are selfish, ungodly, and even idolatrous. I’m going to be true and faithful to the Lord. And the Lord rewards that kind of courage and that kind of dedication. And if you’ve already done that, I want to encourage you to stay the course and be faithful in your life. The reward is far beyond description. If there’s anyone subject to the invitation tonight, won’t you come while we stand and sing together?