To Encourage You

Titus 2:1 “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.”

In the verse above, the apostle and great teacher Paul is teaching his protégé Titus  how to teach.  Paul instructs Titus that his teaching should be in contrast with that of those he has just warned him about at the end of chapter 1, i.e., false teachers. Their teaching is called such things as “empty,” and “deceptive.”  Their efforts are described as “unfit for any good work.”  Jesus spoke this same way about the scribes and Pharisees with these words: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men”  (Matthew 15:8-9).

You see, the religious leaders in Jesus’ day had built an entire system of religion that was rooted in man’s ideas rather than on the Word of God.  They had developed a huge system of “dos and don’ts” that they thought would earn them favor with God, but it missed the mark completely.  In another place Jesus told them “You (are) blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!” (Matthew 23:24).  In other words, they were fastidious about aspects of the Old Testament law such as clean and unclean foods. The tiniest unclean animal was a gnat, and the Pharisees would strain the things they drank through a cloth to make sure they didn’t swallow one. Yet, they rejected Jesus and His teaching, and by doing so, they, in effect, had “swallowed a camel,” one of the largest unclean animals.

In our day and age, we are constantly bombarded with human-centered views about the way people think things should be.  Yet, so often, these ideas are, at best, void of any consideration of the things God has said, and at worst, in direct conflict with them.  In the verse above, Paul urges Titus to teach “sound doctrine.” “Sound” means that which is helpful, life-giving, beneficial.  It’s in contrast to so much of the teaching of men that is “unsound” because it’s not rooted in the Truth of God’s Word. Anything that is not the truth will never produce anything helpful, for how can a lie produce anything good? 

So, are you listening to “sound doctrine”?  Are you viewing the things people assert through the lens of God’s Word?  May God help us to listen to the sound teaching that comes from God’s Word, and may He help us to base the things we say and do on His Truth as well.  Listen to these words from Proverbs 4:20-23, which speak of this very thing, for they are words from God to His children, sound words that bring blessing to those who hear: “My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”