Silencing and Rebuking
Well, this week has been tricky. Whenever we talk about false teachers, you have to walk lightly because most false teachers don't consider themselves false teachers. They think they're on the right track.
I'm sure there are people who would call me a false teacher. Man, I try to keep to the truth.
Of course, there are some con artists who purposefully prey on people, and we spoke about some of them in earlier devotions. But today let's look at one last thing Paul said about the false teachers. He said, verse 9, “refute those who oppose good doctrine.” Verse 11, “they must be silenced.“ Verse 13, “rebuke them sharply so that they will be sound in faith.”
Refute False Teaching
Man, those are three confrontational words! Instead of just ignoring the false teachers, Paul says we must do three things: refute them, number one, and that means to prove that they're wrong. You know, we as Christians must be so well versed in the truth that we can immediately refute false teachings when they come in and stand on what is right.
Silence False Voices
Then he says we must silence them. In today's age, that's difficult. You can ban a false teacher from your church and they'll just find another platform—probably on the Internet—to share their ideas there.
But something that I've come to do is to silence false teachers online. I have a few people on Facebook who I'm friends with who put stuff on that I just think is false teaching. And so I've silenced them. In other words, I've just unfollowed them - they don't show up on my newsfeed anymore. I've just made sure that their voices don't pop up all the time, so to speak.
Maybe you need to silence some false teachers in your online life. Unsubscribe from that channel or that show or that page. Oh boy, I hope I don't have a mass exodus from my WhatsApp groups now! But really—do what you can to silence the false teachers in your own life.
Healthy Spiritual Accountability
And the third one that Paul says is rebuke them sharply. And of course he's talking to Titus, who was a church leader. So Titus had the authority to confront.
I think this is why it's important for preachers to have accountability—for other preachers to be listening to preachers, so that if they're off base, someone can step in.
In fact, I have at least a few ministers listening to my messages, and I hope they know that I would welcome a refute or a rebuke from them if I go off track. Because look at the rest of that verse, Paul said, “rebuke them sharply so that they will be sound in the faith.” Teachers and preachers should be able to confront each other and be sound in the faith.
Beware of False Teachers
How does this impact you as a listener and a non-preacher? Beware of teachers that have no accountability, who simply do their own thing, with no other Christian teachers around to keep them sound in their faith.
And silence those false teachers in your life. Don't go watching or listening to those videos or podcasts or clips that lead you astray.
Remember what we said on Monday? Hold tight to the truth. One way to do that is to get rid of the false teachers in your life as much as you can.
And so, my friends, I hope that you are following some people who are God-focused, loving, and on the right track. And I pray that God will give you the discernment to always choose wisely.
