JUST BE JUST
TITUS 1:8
In his autobiography, Ma-hot-ma Gandhi wrote the during his student days he read the Gospels and seriously considered converting to Christianity. He believed that the teaching of Jesus Christ held the answer to the solution to the caste system which was dividing the people of India.
So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and speak with the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested to Gandhi that he go and worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned. He wrote, "If Christians have caste differences also I might as well remain a Hindu."
It is obvious that that usher’s prejudice was a far cry from what our Lord Jesus had taught concerning loving your fellow man. But as I read that I thought how many people have I turned away from Christ? Maybe not as bluntly as that user, but how many have I turned away through my words, my actions, or my attitude.
As Christian we all need to realize that how we treat people often well determine what they think of Christ. So with that I want us to turn to our passage for today, Titus 1:8. That is page 1032 in your pew Bibles. Again we are looking into qualifications of an elder that Paul is writing to Titus on the Island of Crete.
Titus 1:8 "but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled,"
We have looked at what it is to be hospitable, a lover of what is good, and sober minded. This week I want to take a look at what it is to be "just". Now that just kind of goes along with the next word Holy.
Being "just" has to do with "performing ones duty toward man" and we will deal with that in the next two weeks, I tried to get it done in one but I had too much stuff I wanted to cover.
Now Holy has to do with "performing ones duty toward God", which we will deal with in a couple weeks.
Let us look at that word just. In a broad sense it means to "fulfill all claims which are right". In a narrower sense it refers to "rendering each one his due as in a judicial sense." In other words giving people justice. Being fair.
So in the context of Titus 1:8 elders must deal with the flock without prejudice. An elder must deal with the flock according to their fruit, and their actions, not according to personal likes or dislikes.
An elder is to realize that the local churches of Christ are made up of different types of people. Some are strong in the faith, some are weak in the faith. Some are new born babes in Christ, while others are mature Christians. Some are prideful others humble. But the elder must be impartial when it comes to dealing with the flock. He must love them all equally.
He must be just and fair, looking past personalities and make decisions on Biblical principals not personal preferences. All such be treated equally by the elder or bishops, of the church. In the case of our church that would equate to the deacons and the pastor.
I believe that there are four basic areas of being just. Now I need to say that while I am speaking of elders primarily, once again these are principals that apply to each one of us, we all need to be just.
First, to be just there must be a full recognition of the freedom of others that we have in Christ. We all need to realize that there is freedom in Christ. Not freedom to sin, but freedom to serve God.
One thing I have notices about many Christians is that we love to get grace, but we find it difficult to give. Many times we see thing only one way, OUR WAY! We don’t want to give any leeway, we don’t want to give grace.
There are a lot of peripheral issues in the church today. Now I am not talking about the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Things such as the Virgin Birth, Salvation by grace alone, the Trinity, the resurrection of Christ, and so one. Those issues make up the core of the Christian faith and most be maintained, and at times fought for.
But there are things that Christian have freedom in choosing to do or not choosing to do. There is motto in a church in Massachusetts which read;
"In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty; in all things charity."
I want you to turn with me to Romans 14:1-6 for a couple minutes here. That would be page 984 in your pew Bibles. Let me read that to you.
"Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks."
Now I understand that there is a lot in that passage so we are going to go through it kind of quickly.
Now in this passage we have two groups of people the one group that Paul calls weak that have a couple of hangs-up. 1. Eating meat, 2. Holy days and later on in verse 21 Paul reveals that had a problem with drinking wine as well.
These hang-ups were probably due to Jewish influence. The Jews thought that unclean food made the unspiritual.
The other group we see in the passage just as one hang-up, and that is group one. They feel free to indulge in meat, wine, and to worship on any day they wanted. Paul if you look down in verse 14 agrees with this group.
Now this conflict is not about essentials to the faith, but these people saw it as a matter of spirituality. Who was closer to Christ. The "weak" say the strong as unspiritual because they lacked discipline. The "strong’ saw the weak as unspiritual because that were hung up and not liberated as Christian.
Paul tells us they were both wrong down in verses 15-17; "Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
Now the reason there was some doubt about eating meat in those days was because when you went down to the market to buy meat you did not know whether it had to been sacrificed to some idol and then brought to market, or whether it was right from the farm. As we can see some Christians cared, others did not.
But how do we apply this to today. Well there are all kinds of things that we have gotten caught up in today’s church. There are Christians who still are debating over which day we should worship on Sat. or Sun. There are group who still say we cannot eat certain foods.
People also have other hang ups. How do you worship? Do you say amen out loud. Do you clap? To you raise your hands? How do you spent your resources? Should you own a fancy car for instances? Should you have cable TV in your home? And the list goes on and on?
And so many Christians uses issues such as these to determine how spiritual their brothers and sisters in Christ really are.
I see basically four positions. I am going to cable TV here just as an illustration.
1. The Mature participator – "I can make good choices without acting superior.
2. The Mature non-participator – "I do not have self-control so I am not going to have cable, but I will not condemn others who do.
3. The Immature participator – "I get cable, and no church is going to tell me not to".
4. Immature non-participator – "I don’t get cable, and no real Christian should".
A big problem in the Christian church today is the immature tend to dominate.
I want to read to you Romans 14:17 with a modern twist, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, it is not cable TV, it is not raising your hand in worship, it is not any other silly thing, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
Now I do not want people to take me wrong here. There are things that people say today is a matter of choice that are plainly condemned in Scripture. Someone cannot say well you need to give me the freedom to have an abortion, or to be a homosexual or to commit adultery, those things are plainly taught to be sin in the Bible and they must be called just that, sin.
But there are gray areas, those non-essentials. I believe in Roman 14 we have four principles in making personal choices in gray areas.
First as verse 5 reads, "Let each be fully convinced in his own mind". We need to be convinced in our own mind that what we are doing in not sin. That is not to say we ignore the Bible, for that is were we turn to to be convinced. We look to God’s word and it’s instruction.
Secondly we need to understand that what may be appropriate for one person may be totally inappropriate for another. What will be a stumbling block for one person may not be for another.
One person may be fully convinced in their mind that cable TV is sinful, while another has not the slightest problem with it. One is not any more right then the next.
Now some may say that this is situation ethics, but this is not the case. We need to understand that evil is not so much things, as it is people.
Jesus states in Mark 7; "Hear Me, everyone, and understand: "There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man."
In Romans Paul is convinced that all food is clean. For others it was unclean.
The third principal is that people who are fully convinced in their faith are blessed, the end of verse 22,
"Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves." That word happy can be translated blessed. It means finding favor with God.
The fourth principal in making choices concerning gray areas is having doubts about something, and doing it anyway is sin.
Verse 23; "But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin."
That is the bottom line. If you are convinced that doing something would be a sin and you do it anyway, it is sin regardless of what it is. Before we enter into the gray area we need to look to the Word of God, and be convinced in our minds that it is not wrong. Other wise it is sin for us.
We need to combine freedom with responsibility. While there is freedom in Christ, there is not freedom to sin. We do have a duty to God. A duty to His word and it’s commands. Christ did not die on the cross and shed His blood to cleans us of your sins so that we could go on sinning. He died and rose again so we could defeat sin in our lives.
Now to bring this back to Titus 1:8 and being just. Being just is giving others freedom, giving them grace. We are all as individuals ultimately responsible to God. To be just is to mind your own business and let God mind His.
Being just is not applying what we are convinced of in our minds to others. But giving freedom to others to decide for themselves in those gray areas.
The second way in which we must be just goes along with the first, and that is we are not to cast stumbling blocks in the way of others.
I want us to look at another passage for a moment,
1 Cor. 8:9 that is page 992; "But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak."
Again Paul is speaking of meat offered to idols in this passage. He is stated that just because you have liberty in eating meat do not use your liberty to make a brother stumble.
We can go back to the cable TV illustration. If you have cable and your brother does not because he is convinced in his mind he should not have it. You do not turn it on when he is over your house.
Paul gives this chain of events in this passage. A person acts in a way (in this case eating meat), that is permissible to him but questionable to others.
The "weak" brother observes the other doing it. He however is not convinced in his mind that it is ok.
Seeking freedom the weak brother follows the strong leads. Because the weak brother has gone against what he is convinced of in his own mind he is as Romans 14:15 states, "grieved". In other words remorseful of his sin.
To make a brother or sister to stumble because of your freedom is sin. Look at verse 12 in 1 Cor. 8; "But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ."
Listen to the words of Christ in the Gospel of Mark;
"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea."
We need to realize the seriousness in causing a brother to stumble in their walk with Christ. In fact Paul states that it is better to give up our own freedom to do something then it is to cause our brother to sin.
Verse 13 "Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble."
Being just means taking into account the weakness or strength of a brother or sister in Christ. Being just means at times not pursuing our freedom in Christ if it will make our brother stumble. As Rom. 14:19 states; "Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another." That is the attitude of a just man.
Pursue things that do not cause division, but things that make for peace, things that may edify and lift up one another, that encourage one another.
So we have gotten through the first two way of being just. Granting people the freedom that they have in Christ, and not placing stumbling blocks down before our brothers and sister in Christ while enjoying our own freedom in Christ.
Now I know that it can be a difficult thing to do, but that is what just is all about. Putting others first. And treating all equally, putting everyone before yourself.
In closing keep this in mind. When someone is doing something that really bothers you, something that there is questions as to the right or wrong of it. I want you to think on this. How much grace as God given me. When was the last time God stuck me with a thunder bolt because I messed up. I am not saying that God will wink at sin, but He will forgive it.
And He will give us all the grace we need to finally come to Him and ask for forgiveness. God has given us all so much grace, let us trying giving it.
We all have experienced God’s grace. Some however more then others. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour you have not fully experienced the wonderful grace of God.
Please bow heads this morning. Every eye closed head bowed.
Admit you are a sinner. Heaven cannot be gained by being good, coming to church, nothing you can do. Christ has done it all. Obey the Spirit. Go to Christ, ask forgiveness, place your trust in Him. Receive Him this morning. If you would like to receive Christ as your Saviour will you pray this prayer with me. Pray it from your heart, your very soul. In all sincerity.
PRAY
If you prayed that prayer for the first time please speak with me after the service talk about the decision to follow Christ you have made.
