Friday, August 14, 2009

Churches on the Brink...Part Two

Churches are dying and are unhealthy in America. Our response to this problem usually is to bring in a "consultant", pay them thousands of dollars to tell us how to put on a better show on Sundays (laser lights, fog machines, and a really cool skit!). Paul approaches broken churches differently and says to fix a broken church you have to start with the pastors/elders. They need to repent of unsound (or absent) doctrine and unsound practice.

Once the pastors/elders are squared away Paul tells Titus to deal with false teaching that has always been and is to this day a major problem in the church. Paul says to rebuke false teachers sharply and to "silence them". This is almost impossible for American Christians to conceive of because we are so "nice". We tolerate almost anything even when Scripture says some things (like false teaching) can't be tolerated in a church. Pastors are challenged by Paul to be able to discern false teaching and deal with it so it doesn't ruin the lives of the people he is instructed by God to protect.

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