… as it has been taught …
Summary: The meaning of the word, “church” helps us understand who Paul is talking to and what his words mean. We are not called to a denomination, we are called to a public gathering in the name of Christ.
I don’t feel like I have been stirring up enough trouble here lately. So, to make up for lost time, I saved out today’s morsel for a post all its own.
Paul is giving instructions to Titus that are critical for the establishment of the “church.” Titus is tasked with appointing elders “in every town.” (Verse 5) Paul does not tell Titus to provide elders for ‘every church.’ This point is important. If Paul had seen the churches as separate groups, he would have talked about them that way. Instead, Paul appears to be thinking of the church as one body in many towns.
There is more evidence for this in the word “church” itself. The word for church comes from the Greek, “ekklēsia.” This word refers to a public gathering of people called out from their homes. According to Strong’s Concordance, it is a derivative of a word that means to invite by calling out. It is almost as if Paul’s word for church means a people called to gather in the name of Christ.
When Paul writes that the elders selected must hold to the message “as it has been taught,” two things come to mind. The first thing is Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 1: 10-17, Paul implores the Corinthians not to argue among themselves. Then he asks, “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor 1:13) It is clear to me that Paul does not approve of these arguments or divisions.
The second thing that comes to mind is the state of the church today. The very fact that we have “denominations” flies in the face of what Paul was writing to the people of Corinth. How can church leaders today look at themselves in the mirror? What will our Lord say on the day that we meet him in His kingdom? Will he be pleased that there are “quarrels” among us?
Do not misunderstand me! I am not passing judgment on anyone. I am simply looking at what is in the Bible and comparing it to what I see in the world around me. The reason for all this mental meandering is Paul’s instruction that elders in the church must hold to the message “as it has been taught.”
What happened? If everyone had held to the message as it had been taught, how could there be any division in the church?
Sadly, Jesus foresaw this. In Matthew 24:1-13 he tells the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Five of the virgins were ready and five were not. Those who were not ready were left out in the cold. In Luke 6: 46-49 Jesus laments people who hear his words but do not put them into practice. He asks, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” Then, in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says bluntly, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Can we fool God? Is it our contention as a people of God that God does not care what we do as long as we go to a church that agrees with our personal preferences?
What has been taught? What message were we supposed to hold firmly to? Don’t we have Paul’s own words to read for ourselves?
Application: If God is God, if he can create the earth and all that is in it, then he can get a book published and it will be just the way he wanted it to be.
Food for Thought: How is it possible that people read the same thing and come away with so many different ideas of what the words mean?
Probably as easy as it is to tell one person something at one end of the line and that something said to each person down the line and what was said in the beginning is a whole lot different when it gets to the end of the line,..
I haven’t studied Hebrew or Greek all I have is what’s been written in English,..so it’ really is easy to see how people can get tripped up over words,..Look at the word love,..how many different meanings are there,..the only meaning that should matter is God,..because He is love,..but then we need to elaborate on the word,..there are so many other words that this can be applied to,..
God’s word may stay the same but our words change each and everyday,..some people don’t know what word even means,..
As an employer,..that’s all I have is my word,..if I say I am going to do something by a certain time then I had better be there to get things done or my word means nothing,..God has given us His Word and it means everything,..what He said He has already done,..
Though they read they do not understand, though they know they do not comprehend,..though they hear they do not respond,..the list can go on from here,..I am sure Jesus has already got it all filled out too,..
John,
Thank you! I appreciate your insights on this topic. Especially your comment about your own word and making sure that means something to your customers.
“How can church leaders today look at themselves in the mirror?”
Hmm. That is the second time I have read something like that in the last two days. I am a pastor. Am I a church leader? Who else is a church leader? Maybe we should not have church leaders? Maybe all church leaders should go away?
Paul had divisions in his day too – as you point out here. Who was he writing too? Was he writing to church leaders? Really, it is important. Who was he writing to? Where is the problem?
I think the problem is sin and the church needs to repent. Who is the church? Are church leaders the only ones who need to repent?
What would repentance look like?
No more denominations? How would we do that?
I appreciate your post as I agree with most of it. But to me it raises other questions we should think about. I think about these things often. I am simply sharing my pain here – which may not be welcome 😊. I honestly don’t know why anyone would be a pastor today. I realize that God calls people to do so, but unless someone is called they definitely should not pursue the position. That might solve some of the problems too – at least from the church leader side of the ledger.
I am sure you can tell this is not personal to me 😉.
Rich,..I can assure you that we still need leaders behind the pulpit such as yourself,..I do believe along with you about the church needing to repent,..
When I was a part of the church that decided to vote my wife out,..I thought for sure God had called me to the ministry of food and clothes,..then the merge happened and everything was pulled out like a rug,..all that church was doing for the community as far as ministry was concerned was gone,.I kept taking class after class,..course after course,..still nothing,..the Pastor told me I am good at shouting Amen during his sermon though,..
We need more of that too,..to many are still stuck in the pew sorta speak,..I also believe that we need more of the Holy Spirit moving within the congregation,..it’s been my experience that most of the peope just sit and stare or play with the cell phones during the sermon,..not where I am at now though,..this Pastor feeds off of the shouts that comes from the congregation,..not sure if it’s just him or the Holy Spirit moving through him, but he gets me to my feet shouting out Halaluyah, Praise Jesus and other praise’s to our King,..I may not be able to do this any other way than through the preacher,..so keep it up,..remember it’s God Who gets all the glory anyway,..we are stewards of what He has already provided,..and it’s His Word that He has provided for us,..so keep at the message,..someone needs to hear and respond,..and you may be the one that person needs to hear from,..it’s all God’s divine design,..keep smiling!
Brother Rich,
If I need to be taken to task for something I have said or written, there is no one I would rather be taken to task by than you! So your pain and your comments are welcome here.
I probably should have clarified this in the post: I don’t consider your church to be a denomination. Rather, I think of Bethel as a refuge from denominations. A biblical refuge. As pastor, you are the chief torchbearer for the assembly of believers. One who rightly calls us to examine the Scriptures as they are written rather than as we wish they were written.
I don’t write this to puff you up, you know me better than that. I write it because I believe it is true. My heart aches for you and all of your brethren who are courageous enough to accept the call to be pastors. I don’t envy you, but I thank God for you! I know some of the abuse you take as a pastor, but I also know your Chief Shepherd.
Thank you for your service, brother. You are an amazing gift to our community. Please forgive my shortcomings as a blogger.
How is it possible that people read the same thing and come away with so many different ideas of what the words mean?
It’s great to get up in the morning, discover your furnace has decided 64 degrees is better for our home than the 72 degrees we had chosen. Then find out Mrs. England’s little boy has handed you a can of worms.
As human beings we tend to believe that our opinions are very well-informed and valid. We all have selective attention/hearing and only focus on predetermined aspects leaving the other ones aside, especially when it comes to opinions and beliefs. The information we choose doesn’t always have to be the most valid or relevant, but it always confirms our beliefs or opinions. So in the end, we always end up hearing only what we want to hear. If we hear something that questions our beliefs or opinions, we’ll automatically build up a wall of rejection and simply hear what we want to hear and believe what we want to believe, no matter the validity of the evidence. Most of the time we are not even interested in knowing the truth, we just want to prove to ourselves that we’re right.
Knowing this, God has provided the Holy Spirit who reveals Gods truths to each us by overcoming our selective attention/hearing mechanism, and we are placed in a position where we must each make a choice. We can accept truth as revealed by the Holy Spirit, repent and accept salvation through Christ, or we can reject what we now know to be true and accept the consequences.
Those who repent and accept salvation through Jesus Christ will begin a life of struggle as we seek transformation, becoming increasingly more Christlike through the Holy Spirit. Do we continue to allow the old selective/hearing mechanism to rule our lives, or do we experience the renewing of our minds through the Holy Spirit and receive Gods revealed truths.
Ron,
Some people like worms! I have a brother-in-law who has a small fish farm and he is always digging worms in his yard for the fish. So…
Aside from your comment about worms :-), you bring up a very good point about truth. When Jesus was on trial before Pilate he says, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18: 37)
I love that simple statement. Am I on the side of truth? That question defines who we are as a person.
Now I gotta dig a fish farm, I’m sure the worms will keep coming.
Great point, the Church is on the side of truth, God knows who we are.
I think it is enough if you “dig” going to church, brother. 🙂
Hahahahaha!
Thank you Ron, John and Jeff. Ron, I appreciate your encouragement and your story, from which I learn as well.
Jeff, I appreciate your heart and hope this did not come across as taking you to task. I didn’t intend that. So forgive me if that is what I appear to be communicating. I was raising questions that the post honestly made me think about. But your post was fair and not offensive. But I was sharing my pain and questions on the post. That may not have been fair!
My heart as a pastor is to be part of the church, not outside of it. I don’t know if that makes sense or not. I don’t like the separation that sometimes seems to be there between “clergy” and the “sheep.” I too am a sheep. I too am part of the church body. I am just saying that we are all in this together – united as one. No one on a pedestal – all eyes on Jesus.
And Jeff – you are one who helps many do just that – including me.
I am still not sure I am communicating well, so I will finish. But I appreciate your encouragement and words and blog, which is always excellent.
Rich, as a pastors son I can relate to some of the emotions and pain you allude to. As Jeff can attest to I have been hearing him noodle this same topic out-loud for over 10 years while on our spiritual walks for physical exercise during regularly scheduled pre-COVID breaks at city hall. I appreciated mostly 🙂 Jeff’s deep dives. When I moved to Camas in 91 I ended up going to a church where, as Jeff describes Bethel, I heard the Word being taught by testing & approving through the help of the Holy Spirit. However Denominationally it was considerably outside my comfort zone. Denomination for me was just the the tool or variety of structures available, as long as the foundation was solid denomination was secondary. It’s all ice cream for me with cream & sugar but God created amazing varieties on this young earth including us so the good tasting additives/ flavors/ preferences seems consistent to me. Now when bad additives like dog poo or arsenic begin to get added to the cream & sugar, leadership (you, me, we) need to pray, act & support the chef to help keep using good ingredients. If that combined effort ever blatantly fails then a new chef & or Parlor is in order. Ha it’s late and the ice cream is beginning to melt. 😴
Anon,
Thank you! I appreciate the “many flavors” approach to this topic. I can see that your love of cooking has flavored your comment, too! 🙂 Your patient companionship while I “noodle” on our walks has always been appreciated!
To go back to your foundation metaphor, what can we “build” on that of our own that does not detract from our Lord and His Word? I’m not saying it can’t be done — I am asking. Perhaps we should schedule another walk… ? 🙂
I have a slight prayer that I hope never gets answered. For everyone to stop encouraging your puns Jeff. I think that people come from different lives lived and certain things like words have different meanings to different people. If I say duck some people would look around for a feathered friend when I would be diving for a small hole. Different experiences in life cause people to relate words differently. You’ve blocked off comments for old posts. But I’m trying to get back on track with my walk before my stumble, so I’m going over all your posts.