WWUTT 767 Unprofitable and Worthless for People?

When a person believes the gospel, it should stir in the heart of a believer a desire to please God with their works. But if a person believes anything apart from the gospel, it just stirs up division when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

The Gospel as the Basis for Good Works

Thank you, Becky. So we come back again to our study in Titus chapter 3, and for today's reading, I'll begin with verses 8 through 11. The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus, The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful.

He is self-condemned. So in verse 8, Paul says, The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, and what saying is that? Well, that's what we were looking at yesterday in verses 4 through 7, which is essentially the gospel.

When the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of our works, but by His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

And it's in light of the message of the gospel that Paul then says, because of this, devote yourself to good works, and these things are excellent and profitable for people. So it is in light of the gospel that we are to do good works.

It is not good works that saves us. But because we are saved, we would be devoted to doing the work of God. And that's clarified in verse 5, that we are saved not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy.

And now we will work, and the works that we do verify the salvation that we have been given in Christ, that we have been changed from a worldly person described in verse 3 into a kingdom person described in verses 4 -7.

This is what we believe, that God in His goodness and loving kindness has saved us by His own mercy through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit that has been poured into our hearts. Peter says in 2 Peter 1, starting in verse 5, for this very reason, because of the gospel, because of the work of Christ and the mercy of God, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed of his former sins.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

So what we read here in 2 Peter 1 is essentially a list of those works that we should be doing that verify the transformation that's happened in our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. So having presented the gospel in Titus 3 verses 4 -7, Paul says that this saying regarding the gospel that he's just shared is trustworthy, insist on it.

Preach that. Preach sound doctrine. Preach the true gospel. So that those who have believed will be careful to devote themselves to good works. So it's belief in the gospel that produces good works. It's not good works that produces belief in the gospel.

You got it? Because if it was good works that produce belief in the gospel, we would be saved by our works. But this is the work of God that we have come to an understanding of the mercy that he has given us in Jesus Christ.

And these things are excellent and profitable for people. They are excellent because, as we just read in 2 Peter, they keep us from being unfruitful. If we are continuing to progress and advance in these things, then we lack nothing.

As Paul will go on to say here in Titus 3 verse 14, let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. If we're not doing anything, we're not producing fruit.

And if we're not producing fruit, then we risk languishing in our faith and it dying and it not being real at all. This is James in James chapter 1. If a person says that they believe, but they're not showing their belief by their works, they have a dead faith.

Faith without works is dead. So again, the works are not what brings about faith. It's not what brings about justification or salvation. But it's because we have been given faith. It's because we've been justified in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we will therefore then want to do the work of God.

Moralism Without the Gospel Is Unprofitable and Worthless

A friend of mine recently recommended a certain pastor to me, a pastor that he described as being a biblical teacher, and he said one of the reasons why he liked this pastor was because this pastor gave practical application to the gospel.

So I went online and I pulled up a sermon by this pastor. And it was a sermon about why we as Christians shouldn't swear. I certainly don't disagree with the premise. But apart from sharing the name of Jesus and a personal testimony story he had at the beginning of his sermon, and I think he mentioned Jesus somewhere at the end.

But again, it was it was just kind of a passing reference. He never preached Christ or the gospel in this sermon. So if a pastor says, don't swear any, you know, I mean, he did draw from different passages.

Galatians, I think, was one. His main passages were out of Proverbs, though, just talking about the words that we say with our mouth. Never used Ephesians 429. I don't know how you get through a sermon on not swearing and not reference Ephesians 429.

But anyway, if a pastor says, don't swear and it's not in light of the gospel, he's preaching law. The Bible says that law without the gospel doesn't keep people from sin. It actually awakens sin and people are powerless to fight against it.

Paul goes through this in Romans 7, verses 7 through 80, says, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said you shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.

For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I once was alive apart from the law. But when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. And Paul goes on to talk about how he tried to do the things that were right, but he couldn't do it.

The things that he wanted to do, he couldn't do. And ends the chapter by saying, this wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death? His inability to keep the law only kept awakening the dead man in him.

And then he says, praise be to Jesus Christ, our Lord, for he is the one who saves us from this body of death that cannot keep the law and cannot please God by even our best works. This friend said that he really liked this pastor because the pastor gave practical application to the gospel.

Well, he didn't even preach the gospel. But here's how that's supposed to work. A pastor should preach the gospel and show how it practically applies. In this case, demonstrating the transforming power of the gospel over even our speech.

Philippians 2, 5 says to have the mind of Christ. If we have the mind of Christ, then the words that we say should demonstrate that. Jesus said in Matthew 12, 34, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Well, if our heart has been transformed by Christ, then our words, what comes out of our mouths should demonstrate that. And if you're looking for a role model on this kind of preaching, look no further than the apostle Paul.

He was a pro at this. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 8, Paul relates the gospel to how we should give because we've been transformed by the gospel of Christ. We should demonstrate that even in our giving.

In 2nd Corinthians 8, verse 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And in light of this gospel, we should give because as Paul says in verse 8, it demonstrates that your love is genuine.

So our transformation, the transformation that has happened in our hearts because we have heard the gospel and believed it will be demonstrated even in the way that we give to others. God has given monetarily to us.

I'm specifically talking about money here. That's what Paul is addressing in 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9. The money that we have is even a blessing from God. And so knowing that all things are ultimately his, we take those things that God has blessed us with and we give to others to show that our love is genuine because we realize Christ became poor so that we might become rich.

So may we even give of what we have that we may benefit others who are in need. And I believe I've read it once already, but Titus chapter 3, verse 14, Paul says, devote yourself to good work so as to help cases of urgent need.

And that same sort of application is even here in Titus chapter 3 so that we would devote ourselves to good work and not be unfruitful. So Paul says, be devoted to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

It's not unfruitful. It produces fruit in the lives of Christians, in the lives of believers, in light of the gospel. We are doing the work of God. Paul goes on in verse 9 to say, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

And if we come into that moralistic, legalistic kind of teaching that is absent the gospel, that's exactly what we come into. That's exactly what Paul says to avoid. It develops controversies. The Galatians were not believing in the true gospel anymore.

They had accepted another gospel. As Paul says in Galatians chapter 1, not that there is another one, but they had turned away from the true word of Christ that had been preached to them by the apostle Paul at first.

And instead, they believed that by their works, they would be saved. They started listening to the Judaizers. They started listening to those who were saying that you have to be circumcised in order to be saved.

Yeah, you got to follow Jesus and all of that, but you also have to keep the Jewish law. Jesus himself was a Jew. So were the other disciples. Therefore, you have to keep all of the Jewish commands. And so Paul says, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?

You were doing so well, but they were turning away to a different gospel. And because what they believed was rooted in works based salvation, which is really no salvation at all, because it is not by our works that we are saved.

But because they believed by their works, they could be saved. This developed quarrels among them. And in Galatians 5, Paul says, if you're severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace.

If they don't have the grace of God because they're trying to keep the law, then there's no grace that they have between one another. And they end up just fighting. And Paul goes on in verse 15 of chapter 5 to say, if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by each other.

This legalistic sort of doctrine develops quarrels among people. It is not unifying. It is actually divisive. So Paul relates this to even stirring up division. When you get to verse 10, Titus chapter 3, verse 10, as for a person who stirs up division.

So that's all in the context of this. Paul says, preach the gospel and it will develop practical application in the lives of believers. They will be devoted to the good work of God. And if you're devoted to these things, which are excellent and profitable, then you will be fruitful.

Verse 9, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. The gospel is excellent and profitable for people. Legalistic sermons are unprofitable and worthless.

So get that. Going back to the sermon example that I gave you a moment ago of this pastor preaching this sermon about why Christians shouldn't swear. If there is no gospel in that sermon, then all he's preaching is moralism and it doesn't save anybody.

Great. You're not swearing anymore. Guess what? You're going to go to hell with flowery speech. That's essentially what's going to happen to the person. So they obeyed everything the pastor said, but there was no turning from sin, trusting in Christ, being transformed by Christ, being conformed to the image of Christ.

Therefore, there's not going to be any fellowship with Christ for all eternity. If there was no fellowship with Christ in this life, there will be no fellowship with Christ in the next. And there was no Christ in that sermon.

It was nothing but just this moralism. Stop swearing. Okay, well, I've done that. So what? It's unprofitable and it's worthless. It does nothing for anybody. You could even say, well, I obeyed that verse in Proverbs that said, don't swear.

Doesn't matter. Again, Isaiah 64 6, even our best deeds before a holy God are as filthy rags as a soiled garment. It is unprofitable and it is worthless. So Paul then goes on to say that these people are trying to impose this kind of controversy on people, this kind of quarrel about the law.

They stir up division. They are divisive. They're going to break up the body of Christ. It only sows division in the brotherhood. So when you come across this person who is teaching a different doctrine, warn him once and then warn him twice.

And then after that, have nothing to do with him. Now this harkens back to the disciplinary procedure that should take place in the church as Jesus lays it out in Matthew chapter 18, Matthew 18 verses 15 through 20.

He says that if you have a disagreement with your brother, then you should go to your brother and show him his fault just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two others along so that every claim may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

If he refuses to listen even to them, take it to the church. And if he refuses to listen to the church, treat him as you would an outsider. And specifically the two terms that Jesus uses is as a Gentile or as a tax collector, someone who is outside the body.

For they have shown themselves to be acting contrary to the mind of Christ. They don't have the mind of Christ, especially if they are resistant to correction. As it says in Proverbs 12, 1, such a person is stupid.

He who loves discipline, loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. So as for a person who stirs up division by quarreling over these things that Paul had mentioned previously in verse 9, warn him once and then warn him twice.

And then after that have nothing to do with him. So again, this harkens back to the disciplinary process that Jesus says should happen in a church according to Matthew 18 verses 15 through 20. And the last stage in that disciplinary process in both passages, Titus 3 and in Matthew 18 is to remove that person from the church.

As for a person who stirs up division, warn him once, then twice, then have nothing more to do with him. And when the church makes that decision, don't feel bad about it. I feel bad for that person, certainly.

But don't you as the church feel guilty for having to make that decision? Because as it says in verse 11, such a person is warped and sinful. The reason why they're being removed is because they resist correction.

The Holy Spirit can't be in their hearts if they're not going to be convicted over this sin, which is one of the works of the Holy Spirit, according to John 16. So such a person who is resistant to this kind of correction is warped and sinful.

He is self-condemned. If the church has to remove a person because they're resistant to discipline, because they refuse to repent, that's not the church's fault. The person is self-condemned. In Proverbs 6, verse 12, we read, a worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord.

Therefore, calamity will come upon him suddenly. In a moment, he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him. Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, and a false witness who breathes out lies.

And here's the last one, into verse 19. This is the one that it says is an abomination to God, one who sows discord among brothers. Such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned. I do believe that we should follow the instruction Paul gives in 2 Thessalonians 3, do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother, but if after being removed from the church he still refuses to repent, we read in 1 John 2, they went out from us, so that it might be clear to us that they were never of us in the first place.

Prayer for Gospel Fruitfulness

Let's pray. Our great God and Savior, we thank you for your gospel. Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to anyone who believes it. And I pray that you would continue to preach the gospel to us by the Holy Spirit of God.

We would read the gospel when we open up the word, we would remember the gospel when it comes to our mind, we would rejoice in the gospel and we would share the gospel. And it is because of the gospel of Christ that it has been produced in us a desire to please God with all that we are and all that we do.

So continue to show to us that practical application of the gospel. How does it apply to this today? How does it apply to my work? How does it apply to play? How can I do these things in a way that is honoring to the Lord and continues to produce fruit in the lives of those who believe it?

So continue to work out our salvation. May we continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling as Paul instructed the Philippians, knowing that it is in Christ that we are saved and will be delivered into your glorious kingdom forever by your work, not by ours.

But may the works that we do with our hands be pleasing unto you, O Lord. May the words that we say with our mouths be pleasing unto God. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text. Pastor Gabe is the author of the book 40 of the Most Popular Bible Verses and What They Really Mean. Available in paperback or for your Kindle found at our website at www .utt .com.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's Word when we understand the text.