Titus 1:10-16 Part 2: Doctrine and Devotion Series week 7

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase: Ministry would be easy if it weren’t for people. It’s kind of a tongue and cheek comment, noting some of the difficulties of ministry. There is drama, people problems, relational conflict, all kinds of things that come up when you work with people. But the reality is, if it weren’t for people, there would be no ministry. And our ministry as a church to make disciples, would not be possible without people. People are at the heart of our mission both individually and corporately, to make disciples. And to do that, sometimes we need to get our hands dirty, because people are messy. We’re all messy, aren’t we? We all have our stuff, and God stepped into a mess when he decided to save us, because we were messy and in order to save us he had to work through our mess. But when you work with people, sometimes you have to step into the midst of their mess—their chaos, their “stuff.” And in our text today Paul addresses the messiness of people ministry, only the individuals he has in mind in our text takes it to a whole new level. He talks about people who are not just messy, they are destructive. And they destroy churches for their own selfish gain. ‌‌So he writes to warn Titus, and to help Titus and use today to be able to identify these individuals with in the church, and stop them in their destructive deeds. ‌‌ Big Idea: Churches are destroyed from the inside out. Because churches are destroyed from the inside out, we need to be able to identify destructive members in the church.