Titus 1:1-9
Welcome! Today we begin a new series entitled Titus: Building a People of God. The
picture that has been used to advertise this series shows a group of men in the
1930s building a skyscraper. In poorer countries, it is common to see
half-finished buildings, grand dreams of one or more people that have run smack
dab into a very different reality.
In America America California , there was a planned freeway that was supposed
to connect two other major freeways, but they ran into legal trouble when they
were about to cut through a community called South Pasadena
Unfortunately, what is true for building
projects seems like it can also be true for people.
We all know of people who seem to start out earnestly following Christ but at
some point seem to stop growing, becoming the human version of half-built
projects. What has gone wrong? What can be done? How do we ensure that we
ourselves don’t become ones who stop growing towards completion in Christ? How
do we help others to grow, even those who have not been growing for a long
time?
As we shall see, we can find answers to these
questions in the book of Titus. Over the next six weeks we will go through this
relatively short book, and my desire and prayer is that we, above all, apply what we see here to our own lives
individually, to one another as families, and to one another as a local church.
Let me start with a little background about the
book. Titus is one of the last letters we have written by Paul. It has some
similarities to I and II Timothy in purpose. Timothy was in the process of
ministering to people in Ephesus island of Crete
Structurally, and this is painting with a very
broad brush, Paul’s letter to Titus first has instructions on what leaders
should be like (Chapter 1), then has instructions for the conduct of the
general members of the church, that is, what they should be like to each other
(Chapter 2), and finally has instructions on how the church should interact
with the rest of the world (Chapter 3).
And as we shall see, this letter is very practical with regards to these
three topics.
At the same time, however, perhaps surprisingly,
Titus is also rich doctrinally; that
is, it is also filled with truths about God and faith and salvation. And it is
not as if these are separate things; I have come to believe that doctrine is an
essential component of practical teaching, and practical teaching is also
essential for really understanding doctrine. I think we tend to make a false
dichotomy between the two. To put it another way, I would say that there is
nothing of greater practical importance than what you think about God.
But I have said enough in the way of
introduction. Let’s explore the book itself.
Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge
of the truth that leads to godliness—a faith and knowledge resting on the hope
of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of
time, and at His appointed season He brought His word to light through the
preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior, to Titus, my true
son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus
our Savior. The reason I left you in Crete
was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders
in every town, as I directed you. – Titus 1:1-5
What a rich
opening! It is the written equivalent of a dessert so rich that to really
appreciate it you have to take little bites. So let’s take our time on this.
Why did Paul write such a lengthy opening? Why
not just write, From Paul, you know who I am, to my dear Titus, hey!
Well, one reason is that Paul knows and intends
that this letter not only be read by Titus, but be read by the entire church in
Crete . And in Crete ,
like in other places where the gospel was spreading, there was growth but there
was also opposition. Everywhere the gospel was spreading, false teachers were
also coming in, claiming authority for their teaching one way or another and
confusing and misleading the believers. And so Paul begins by stating clearly
his authority – he is the Paul,
Apostle Paul. And by calling Titus his true son in their common faith, he is
not only using a very warm and tender greeting, he is also clearly delegating
his authority directly to Titus. This is to help Titus as he inevitably has to
confront and contradict false teachers, those who seek their own reputation or
power or whatever it is that they seek, but do so by distorting and
misrepresenting the true gospel. As the church reads this letter, there will be
no question that Titus is “the man.”
In fact, it may not just be this introduction,
but rather much of the entire letter, that is really written more for the
church than it is for Titus. Titus, who had spent not a small amount of time with
Paul, probably knew to do these things anyway. This letter serves as a reminder
but also lays out to the body that Titus is doing the things he is doing
because Paul has taught him to do it.
Now this
opening also has great value for us, because it lets us peek into the very
heart of Paul, a man we should all agree had a heart it would be worthwhile to
emulate. And how Paul describes himself gives us insight into how we should see
ourselves if we want to have a mature view of ourselves. Now remember who Paul
was – a brilliant expert in the Law, trained by the very best Jewish teachers,
a man who had arguably done more to spread the gospel than any other, and yet,
how does he first describe himself? As a “servant”! He is a servant of God, a doulos in Greek, a bondservant, a slave.
I think it is easy to struggle with this imagery because we have been taught
that slavery is bad, end of story. And generally speaking, if you have a human
master, you are right. But it is different if your master is the Lord. We are
truly His slaves, whether we like the term or not, because, as it says in I
Corinthians 7, we were bought at a price. And as it says in Romans 6, we were
slaves already, slaves to sin. And the heart of the gospel message is that we
were unable to pay our way out of slavery to sin; but Christ bought us with His
blood, on the cross. So yes, we are slaves, but what a Master we have! We have
a Master who loves us dearly, whose very name defines what love is!
And so, Paul, who has gone on to great success in the Lord, still views himself, first and foremost, as the slave of the Lord. This never changes and it should never change in us. An essential aspect of the heart of a mature believer is a view of himself as a humble servant of the Lord, willing to do whatever He wants, no matter how lowly or unpleasant the task.
The second term Paul uses to describe himself is as an apostle, apostolos in Greek. Now this word has two distinct senses behind its meaning. One, of which you are all very familiar, is as an Apostle, capital A, one of the “founding fathers” of the church, someone we should all be in awe of. But that is not the original meaning of the word; it has only come to have this meaning because the people we call the apostles were in fact the early leaders of the church, ones who were there at its beginnings.
What apostolos originally meant is messenger. Sometimes we hear words used like ambassador, but that brings to mind a privileged class of politician hobnobbing with the influential, brokering important deals. That is not what apostolos meant. A better term might be mailman, but even that is too lofty. In America, the mailman has a pretty decent life – he is paid pretty well, and has a relatively low-stress occupation. No – a better synonym for apostolos is message boy. In a household with many slaves, it is one of the lowliest slaves, one of the least capable slaves, who has the job of delivering a message across town. The message might be important, it might be eloquent, it might even be glorious, but the one who carries the message doesn’t get credit for any of that. He’s just the delivery boy. And so when Paul calls himself doulos and apostolos, these are both lowly terms. He’s just the slave and delivery boy. And this is how we should see ourselves. God calls us to be doulos and apostolos, servant and messenger, as well. There is no place for boasting here, only doing. Are we serving? Are we relaying the message? Are we faithful? And no matter how successful we become, we should never “rise above” viewing ourselves in this way, as slave and message carrier. Paul never changed, and neither should we.
Now note that Paul doesn’t just call himself an apostolos, but an apostolos of Jesus Christ. Paul’s authority does not come from the fact that he is an apostle, but because of the One who has sent him to give the message. And we too, although we are not apostles in the sense that we commonly use the word, to the degree we are passing on the message, the gospel, we are apostolos of Jesus Christ. We give His message and His message has absolute authority because our Master has absolute authority.
Paul goes on to talk about the mission, or job, he has been given to do: first of all, for the faith of God’s elect, and second, for the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. To unpack the first one, it means to bring people to faith. Paul is a servant and message boy to bring people to saving faith in Christ. Don’t get hung up on the word “elect.” We don’t know who God’s message will bring to saving faith, and so for us, we simply sow it, we deliver the message, we pray, we serve, we do whatever we can, being all things to all people so that some may be saved. And never forget that God desires “all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” I Timothy 2:4. Not being in God’s elect does not mean that God hates them or anything like that; it simply means that He knows that they will not choose to follow Him short of Him violating their will and essentially turning them into robots, which is something He will not do.
The second mission of Paul is for the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. I find this profound; it even hints to the theme of the entire book. Evangelism is terribly important – it is a matter of eternal life and death – but it is only part of Paul’s mission and it should only be part of the mission of any mature believer. Paul says his mission is not just to see people become saved, but to see them become “godly.” The word in Greek is eusebeia, and it doesn’t really mean “not sinning,” but instead means devout. Being godly is at least as much about what you think and do as it is about what you don’t do. Paul is talking about a knowledge of the truth that leads people to truly hunger for God, to want to know Him, to want to serve Him, with all their heart. To go deeper, I would say that eusebeia at its core is a desire to please God. We could do a whole message on that. Although I am sorely tempted to wander down this path, I’ll never make it past verse 2 if I do. Let me just say that, putting it all together, Paul sees himself as a humble servant and message relayer to bring people to saving faith in Christ and so that they would hunger above all to please God.
Paul goes on to say that these two things he is on mission to bring involve both knowledge (which he brings as message boy) and faith, and that it rests on the hope of eternal life which God Himself has promised to us. That is, we have this promise that is so over the top that we cannot even process it – eternal life with God, eternal life with Jesus, eternal life without suffering, eternal life without our own battles against the world, our flesh, or the devil, but an eternal life with peace and joy and love beyond our wildest imagining. This hope – which is hope in something real, that we can truly trust in – should be the fuel for our fire, a fuel for salvation and a fuel for our desiring to please God in our brief lives here on earth. Do you reflect on these things? It is profitable to daydream about heaven! It reminds us of how much God loves us, and it brings us encouragement and hope and faith.
By the way, I am fascinated by the phrase promised before the beginning of time. Sometimes you hear people say something like this: First God made Adam and Eve, but they sinned, so God moved to plan B. In plan B they were cast out of Eden and their descendants were supposed to follow after God, but they became even more evil so God made the flood and moved to plan C. Then the descendants of Noah were supposed to follow after God but they didn’t so … and so on, up through God’s calling of Abraham, and then Isaac and then Jacob, and ultimately on to the law-giving through Moses, but that failed too, so God tried judges, but that failed too, so God tried kings which also failed, so God also tried the exile and then when there was nothing left, God went to plan Z, Jesus. This is totally and completely false! Plan A, even before God made Adam and Eve, involved the redemption of man through the Son giving Himself on the cross. This plan was revealed at the appointed season, after the death and resurrection of Christ, although it was hinted at through the prophets again and again centuries before, and of course Jesus spoke of it repeatedly before His death. But this has always been God’s plan.
And then, Paul uses the word that is the title of our message, Entrusted. Paul says, He brought His word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior. This word entrusted is a remarkable word. In Greek it is pisteuo, which has at its root pistis which means faith. The word pisteuo is used elsewhere to describe saving faith, the trust in Jesus that depends solely on Him for salvation. Wait – God trusts us? He has faith in us? He entrusts us not to clean toilets but to communicate God’s Word, to communicate the gospel and to communicate the truths that lead, as Paul says, to godliness, to total devotion to God? You know, it is pretty crazy when you think about it. Why would God do this? Doesn’t He know who and what we are?
Yes, He knows exactly who and what we are, far better than we know ourselves. And yet He entrusts us. Amazing. Now, He also equips us, He fills us with His Spirit, He guides us through His Spirit, He teaches us through His Spirit, but with these gifts He then entrusts us to work for Him, not just cleaning toilets, but doing the real work – the most important work – of the kingdom! If you feel inadequate, good! I would be worried about you if you felt adequate in yourself to do this awesome task. He entrusts us. He has faith in us. He tells us, “You can do it!” With Me, He says, all things are possible. Do you believe Him?
This doesn’t necessarily mean He will make us gifted speakers. Most of us aren’t. (Neither was Paul.) God isn’t looking for talent, but for hearts. And this doesn’t necessarily mean you will ever talk in front of an audience, giving a sermon. That’s not what Paul is talking about. He is talking about sharing your faith and about encouraging others with the truths you are learning. These are things God desires that all of us do. He equips us to do them, and then He entrusts us to do them. Wow!
Then Paul greets Titus as his true son in a common faith. On one level, this is a picture of how Titus has come to faith through Paul and is in this sense Paul’s child, but in another sense, it is plainly a very warm expression of love. I love that Paul addresses him in this warm way, because we can make the mistake, reading and thinking about what it means to be entrusted with this job we have talked about so as to be task-oriented as opposed to people-oriented. That is completely wrong! Look at Paul’s giant list of “hellos” in Romans 16 and tell me Paul was not people-minded. Look at his expressions of love to the Corinthians and others and tell me he did not love people. Paul sees Titus as family. He loves him like family. To do what Paul has talked about is impossible without love, and I don’t mean love as an abstract idea, but love as in actually caring deeply for and being in deep relationship with people. We are called to really love people, to love them so much that we don’t just hang out with them, but that we seek to build into them the truths of God’s Word, and we seek to be open to them building those same truths into us. We are to be family – and not a dysfunctional family, but one whose love is such that the world marvels at it.
Finally, Paul states the reason Titus is there – again, this is more for the other readers of the letter than it is for Titus, who I am sure knows why he is there. The gospel has spread and there are believers in multiple towns, but things are disorganized at this point. Titus is to identify people to serve as elders in each local congregation of believers. Note the plural – Titus is to identify multiple people, whoever is qualified and desires to serve, in each local body. The idea that each church is to have only one pastor is a concept foreign to Scripture and to the early church. In fact, the following verses all imply plurality of leaders: Acts 11:30, Acts 14:23, Acts 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23, and 16:4, Acts 20:17 and 28, Acts 21:18, Phil. 1:1, I Tim. 5:17, James 5:14, I Peter 5:1-2, I Thess. 5:12-13, and Hebr. 13:7 and 17.
I know I’ve spent a lot of time on Greek words today, but please permit me one more – in this case quite simply because it is fun. When Paul says to straighten out, the Greek word is epi-dio-orthoo. When you go to an orthopedist, what does he do? Well, historically, his primary role would be to try to straighten your legs. When you go to an orthodontist, what does he do? Torture you. Well, that, and he straightens your teeth.
Paul then goes on to describe what an elder should be like. By the way, there is a similar list in I Timothy 3:1-7. Due to time, I am only going to look at the list here in Titus.
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. – Titus 1:6-9
Now the words for pastor, overseer, and elder are pretty much used interchangeably in the New Testament. (Two such words are used just in this passage.) All are describing a servant leader, a person who helps to keep the local body of believers on track – think shepherd – and keep them encouraged and growing as well as to deal with problems as they arise. As a reminder, we talked about the role of shepherd in John. Recall that a shepherd of sheep was not a lofty position, but quite the opposite. In fact, a good dog can be quite a good shepherd. Talk about a lowly job description – one where you can be replaced by a dog! But this is how pastors should see their position – it is to humbly serve, day in and day out, without ever seeking glory or recognition for self. And yet, because Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd, it is also a high honor, one that, someday, Jesus will tell those who have done it well, “Well, done, good and faithful servant!”
Notice that a seminary education is not in the list in Titus. Advanced schooling can be extremely valuable, don’t get me wrong, but that is not what Paul is telling Titus to look for. Another thing that is not in the list is the ability to be a dynamic speaker that attracts large crowds of people. Again, there is nothing wrong with having this gift, but it is not in the list.
Let’s look briefly at the actual list. The term “blameless” appears twice, once in the context of family relationships, and then again in the context of relationships with other people. The bottom line is that people should not have valid grounds to accuse them. In the context of family, he should be a one-woman man as it is literally in the Greek. The finer points of what this means in specific situations can be debated, but, again, the bottom line is that no one has something valid against him in this area. Clearly a man who is having relationships outside of marriage is disqualified. As for children, the words wild and disobedient both refer to someone who is out of control, someone, for example, who has left home, a prodigal, who absolutely refuses to follow their parents’ instructions. It does not refer to the normal errors and growing up things children do. These things are sin on the part of the child, and it is part of the parents role to correct and discipline where appropriate, but these things don’t fall to the level of what is described here.
Then the passage turns back to the person under consideration for being an elder. There are five things not to be and six things to be. First, do not be overbearing; to be overbearing means to have an arrogance about yourself, to believe it is only your way that is right, to be unwilling to compromise. Second, do not be quick tempered; to be quick tempered means to lose it all the time, wherever you are, if people push your buttons. It does not mean that you never get angry – but it does mean that in your anger you do not sin. When you do get angry, it is over the things that make God angry. Third, do not be given to drunkenness, literally, not side-by-side with wine. That’s an idiom for someone who is constantly hanging around where the wine is. This doesn’t mean that they cannot have alcohol. Back then it was impossible to avoid alcohol. But even today, I would say that it is talking about those who misuse alcohol, who use it to avoid their problems, or who have become dependent or addicted to it. This would not disqualify an alcoholic who abstains from drink, who has committed to sobriety. It is talking about someone who, present tense, hangs out with the wine.
Fourth, do not be one who is violent. Literally, this is one who hits, who strikes. Hitting may seem extreme to some of us, but violence is a part of life for many people, even in America. In many parts of the world it is even more widespread. In my short time in Mongolia I saw multiple fights, one even where the driver of a cab got out in the middle of a busy road to scream and hit another driver going the other direction who also stopped in the middle of this busy road; I was told that such violence was commonplace. And fifth, the last of things not to do, do not be one pursuing dishonest gain. The world is full of people who cheat to make money; in many parts of the world it is even viewed as honorable. If you have seen the movie Flywheel, this was fiction, but I do not doubt there are used car salesmen who boast in how much they can rip people off.
Now, at the time Titus was looking out there for overseers, there were two types of people coming up to him – some who, perhaps doubting their own qualifications, saw the need, felt God’s Spirit tugging their hearts, and said they were willing to serve or not serve, whatever Titus thought best. And there were others who saw this as an opportunity, to have more power, more prestige, and so on; these people were exactly the wrong type for this role, and most of them would have failed in multiple ways in Paul’s “do not” list.
We then have the list of what to be. First is hospitable, which does not just mean you have people over for dinner, but that you are available to others, that you give of yourself, your time, your prayers, anything to help those around you. Second is one who loves what is good. This is someone who loves to see good things. At our game night this past week, the kids there had a fantastic time, as I’m sure any you ask will tell you. And it was all doing good, clean fun, games, fellowship – it was just a genuinely warm, loving, good time. One who loves good sees things like this and says, “That was great!” and seeks to keep such things happening. Such a person also appreciates and encourages others who do the right thing. Third is one who is self-controlled. Another word that could be used is prudent. The word has more to do with the mind than actions, though of course actions will follow from what is in one’s mind. Literally the Greek word means something like saved mind, or saved thoughts, thoughts befitting one who is saved. Fourth is one who is upright. It’s a general term that means righteous, one who consistently does what is right, who lives a godly life. The next word, translated holy, means pure, unstained by sin, set apart. And the final word, translated disciplined, literally means restrained, not given to excess or outburst.
The next sentence explains a final qualification – the person must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. This means, first of all, that the person knows and truly believes the gospel; he cannot be swayed by the latest false teaching that comes along. This doesn’t mean he cannot have any questions about anything doctrinally, but it means that he knows and does not question the fundamental doctrines of the faith. Second, it means that he is able to apply it, to speak of it, to encourage others in it, and that he is also able to speak against those who present something else. Again, this does not mean he has to be a fantastic public speaker, but it does mean that he is able to explain the faith.
Well, these are high standards, and going through them again I, for not the first time, wonder a bit what I am doing up here. And I am sure John and Fred have times when they ask themselves the same question. They are high standards and elders are called to live them 24-7.
But if you really think about these lists, these are things God desires from everyone, man or woman. Purity, holiness, goodness, faith are things we are all called to. To do the things in the “don’t” list, or to fail to do the things in the “do” list, is to sin. But don’t despair! And definitely don’t resolve to try “harder,” to try to do these things in your own strength! It is a partnership, not a you-are-on-your-own relationship. I think of 2 Peter 1:3:
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. – 2 Peter 1:3
God does not expect perfection in any of us, not yet. But He is in the business of perfecting us. He is in the business of building His church, and we are His church. He does not want to see any half-finished skyscrapers.
Let me add that Fred, John and I desire to serve you in any way we can to help you yield to God’s building plan and to encourage you along the way. We have diagnostic questionnaires that can help you see where you are at. They are imperfect tools, but they can help you identify areas to grow in, and we can help you in those areas. And if you are a man, I would encourage you to think about yourself down the road as eventually becoming an elder. Again, get your preconceptions/misconceptions about what an elder is out of your head. Look at all the times the word “elder” is used in Acts. These are simply people who have become mature in Christ and then recognized as such. I would even say that becoming an elder should be the natural progression of a believer as Christ builds his skyscrapers. Even if you think you are far from elder material, please talk with any of us, and we can talk about ways we can help you to grow.
I would leave you today with this one thought: Let Him build! Yield to Him! Seek Him. Confess your sins and your inadequacies to Him. Let Him have control of your life. Tell Him, here I am – send me, use me, build me – do whatever You see best to do in me. Leave your life in the hands of the Master Builder whose very name is Love.
And so, Paul, who has gone on to great success in the Lord, still views himself, first and foremost, as the slave of the Lord. This never changes and it should never change in us. An essential aspect of the heart of a mature believer is a view of himself as a humble servant of the Lord, willing to do whatever He wants, no matter how lowly or unpleasant the task.
The second term Paul uses to describe himself is as an apostle, apostolos in Greek. Now this word has two distinct senses behind its meaning. One, of which you are all very familiar, is as an Apostle, capital A, one of the “founding fathers” of the church, someone we should all be in awe of. But that is not the original meaning of the word; it has only come to have this meaning because the people we call the apostles were in fact the early leaders of the church, ones who were there at its beginnings.
What apostolos originally meant is messenger. Sometimes we hear words used like ambassador, but that brings to mind a privileged class of politician hobnobbing with the influential, brokering important deals. That is not what apostolos meant. A better term might be mailman, but even that is too lofty. In America, the mailman has a pretty decent life – he is paid pretty well, and has a relatively low-stress occupation. No – a better synonym for apostolos is message boy. In a household with many slaves, it is one of the lowliest slaves, one of the least capable slaves, who has the job of delivering a message across town. The message might be important, it might be eloquent, it might even be glorious, but the one who carries the message doesn’t get credit for any of that. He’s just the delivery boy. And so when Paul calls himself doulos and apostolos, these are both lowly terms. He’s just the slave and delivery boy. And this is how we should see ourselves. God calls us to be doulos and apostolos, servant and messenger, as well. There is no place for boasting here, only doing. Are we serving? Are we relaying the message? Are we faithful? And no matter how successful we become, we should never “rise above” viewing ourselves in this way, as slave and message carrier. Paul never changed, and neither should we.
Now note that Paul doesn’t just call himself an apostolos, but an apostolos of Jesus Christ. Paul’s authority does not come from the fact that he is an apostle, but because of the One who has sent him to give the message. And we too, although we are not apostles in the sense that we commonly use the word, to the degree we are passing on the message, the gospel, we are apostolos of Jesus Christ. We give His message and His message has absolute authority because our Master has absolute authority.
Paul goes on to talk about the mission, or job, he has been given to do: first of all, for the faith of God’s elect, and second, for the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. To unpack the first one, it means to bring people to faith. Paul is a servant and message boy to bring people to saving faith in Christ. Don’t get hung up on the word “elect.” We don’t know who God’s message will bring to saving faith, and so for us, we simply sow it, we deliver the message, we pray, we serve, we do whatever we can, being all things to all people so that some may be saved. And never forget that God desires “all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” I Timothy 2:4. Not being in God’s elect does not mean that God hates them or anything like that; it simply means that He knows that they will not choose to follow Him short of Him violating their will and essentially turning them into robots, which is something He will not do.
The second mission of Paul is for the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. I find this profound; it even hints to the theme of the entire book. Evangelism is terribly important – it is a matter of eternal life and death – but it is only part of Paul’s mission and it should only be part of the mission of any mature believer. Paul says his mission is not just to see people become saved, but to see them become “godly.” The word in Greek is eusebeia, and it doesn’t really mean “not sinning,” but instead means devout. Being godly is at least as much about what you think and do as it is about what you don’t do. Paul is talking about a knowledge of the truth that leads people to truly hunger for God, to want to know Him, to want to serve Him, with all their heart. To go deeper, I would say that eusebeia at its core is a desire to please God. We could do a whole message on that. Although I am sorely tempted to wander down this path, I’ll never make it past verse 2 if I do. Let me just say that, putting it all together, Paul sees himself as a humble servant and message relayer to bring people to saving faith in Christ and so that they would hunger above all to please God.
Paul goes on to say that these two things he is on mission to bring involve both knowledge (which he brings as message boy) and faith, and that it rests on the hope of eternal life which God Himself has promised to us. That is, we have this promise that is so over the top that we cannot even process it – eternal life with God, eternal life with Jesus, eternal life without suffering, eternal life without our own battles against the world, our flesh, or the devil, but an eternal life with peace and joy and love beyond our wildest imagining. This hope – which is hope in something real, that we can truly trust in – should be the fuel for our fire, a fuel for salvation and a fuel for our desiring to please God in our brief lives here on earth. Do you reflect on these things? It is profitable to daydream about heaven! It reminds us of how much God loves us, and it brings us encouragement and hope and faith.
By the way, I am fascinated by the phrase promised before the beginning of time. Sometimes you hear people say something like this: First God made Adam and Eve, but they sinned, so God moved to plan B. In plan B they were cast out of Eden and their descendants were supposed to follow after God, but they became even more evil so God made the flood and moved to plan C. Then the descendants of Noah were supposed to follow after God but they didn’t so … and so on, up through God’s calling of Abraham, and then Isaac and then Jacob, and ultimately on to the law-giving through Moses, but that failed too, so God tried judges, but that failed too, so God tried kings which also failed, so God also tried the exile and then when there was nothing left, God went to plan Z, Jesus. This is totally and completely false! Plan A, even before God made Adam and Eve, involved the redemption of man through the Son giving Himself on the cross. This plan was revealed at the appointed season, after the death and resurrection of Christ, although it was hinted at through the prophets again and again centuries before, and of course Jesus spoke of it repeatedly before His death. But this has always been God’s plan.
And then, Paul uses the word that is the title of our message, Entrusted. Paul says, He brought His word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior. This word entrusted is a remarkable word. In Greek it is pisteuo, which has at its root pistis which means faith. The word pisteuo is used elsewhere to describe saving faith, the trust in Jesus that depends solely on Him for salvation. Wait – God trusts us? He has faith in us? He entrusts us not to clean toilets but to communicate God’s Word, to communicate the gospel and to communicate the truths that lead, as Paul says, to godliness, to total devotion to God? You know, it is pretty crazy when you think about it. Why would God do this? Doesn’t He know who and what we are?
Yes, He knows exactly who and what we are, far better than we know ourselves. And yet He entrusts us. Amazing. Now, He also equips us, He fills us with His Spirit, He guides us through His Spirit, He teaches us through His Spirit, but with these gifts He then entrusts us to work for Him, not just cleaning toilets, but doing the real work – the most important work – of the kingdom! If you feel inadequate, good! I would be worried about you if you felt adequate in yourself to do this awesome task. He entrusts us. He has faith in us. He tells us, “You can do it!” With Me, He says, all things are possible. Do you believe Him?
This doesn’t necessarily mean He will make us gifted speakers. Most of us aren’t. (Neither was Paul.) God isn’t looking for talent, but for hearts. And this doesn’t necessarily mean you will ever talk in front of an audience, giving a sermon. That’s not what Paul is talking about. He is talking about sharing your faith and about encouraging others with the truths you are learning. These are things God desires that all of us do. He equips us to do them, and then He entrusts us to do them. Wow!
Then Paul greets Titus as his true son in a common faith. On one level, this is a picture of how Titus has come to faith through Paul and is in this sense Paul’s child, but in another sense, it is plainly a very warm expression of love. I love that Paul addresses him in this warm way, because we can make the mistake, reading and thinking about what it means to be entrusted with this job we have talked about so as to be task-oriented as opposed to people-oriented. That is completely wrong! Look at Paul’s giant list of “hellos” in Romans 16 and tell me Paul was not people-minded. Look at his expressions of love to the Corinthians and others and tell me he did not love people. Paul sees Titus as family. He loves him like family. To do what Paul has talked about is impossible without love, and I don’t mean love as an abstract idea, but love as in actually caring deeply for and being in deep relationship with people. We are called to really love people, to love them so much that we don’t just hang out with them, but that we seek to build into them the truths of God’s Word, and we seek to be open to them building those same truths into us. We are to be family – and not a dysfunctional family, but one whose love is such that the world marvels at it.
Finally, Paul states the reason Titus is there – again, this is more for the other readers of the letter than it is for Titus, who I am sure knows why he is there. The gospel has spread and there are believers in multiple towns, but things are disorganized at this point. Titus is to identify people to serve as elders in each local congregation of believers. Note the plural – Titus is to identify multiple people, whoever is qualified and desires to serve, in each local body. The idea that each church is to have only one pastor is a concept foreign to Scripture and to the early church. In fact, the following verses all imply plurality of leaders: Acts 11:30, Acts 14:23, Acts 15:2, 4, 6, 22, 23, and 16:4, Acts 20:17 and 28, Acts 21:18, Phil. 1:1, I Tim. 5:17, James 5:14, I Peter 5:1-2, I Thess. 5:12-13, and Hebr. 13:7 and 17.
I know I’ve spent a lot of time on Greek words today, but please permit me one more – in this case quite simply because it is fun. When Paul says to straighten out, the Greek word is epi-dio-orthoo. When you go to an orthopedist, what does he do? Well, historically, his primary role would be to try to straighten your legs. When you go to an orthodontist, what does he do? Torture you. Well, that, and he straightens your teeth.
Paul then goes on to describe what an elder should be like. By the way, there is a similar list in I Timothy 3:1-7. Due to time, I am only going to look at the list here in Titus.
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. – Titus 1:6-9
Now the words for pastor, overseer, and elder are pretty much used interchangeably in the New Testament. (Two such words are used just in this passage.) All are describing a servant leader, a person who helps to keep the local body of believers on track – think shepherd – and keep them encouraged and growing as well as to deal with problems as they arise. As a reminder, we talked about the role of shepherd in John. Recall that a shepherd of sheep was not a lofty position, but quite the opposite. In fact, a good dog can be quite a good shepherd. Talk about a lowly job description – one where you can be replaced by a dog! But this is how pastors should see their position – it is to humbly serve, day in and day out, without ever seeking glory or recognition for self. And yet, because Jesus called Himself the Good Shepherd, it is also a high honor, one that, someday, Jesus will tell those who have done it well, “Well, done, good and faithful servant!”
Notice that a seminary education is not in the list in Titus. Advanced schooling can be extremely valuable, don’t get me wrong, but that is not what Paul is telling Titus to look for. Another thing that is not in the list is the ability to be a dynamic speaker that attracts large crowds of people. Again, there is nothing wrong with having this gift, but it is not in the list.
Let’s look briefly at the actual list. The term “blameless” appears twice, once in the context of family relationships, and then again in the context of relationships with other people. The bottom line is that people should not have valid grounds to accuse them. In the context of family, he should be a one-woman man as it is literally in the Greek. The finer points of what this means in specific situations can be debated, but, again, the bottom line is that no one has something valid against him in this area. Clearly a man who is having relationships outside of marriage is disqualified. As for children, the words wild and disobedient both refer to someone who is out of control, someone, for example, who has left home, a prodigal, who absolutely refuses to follow their parents’ instructions. It does not refer to the normal errors and growing up things children do. These things are sin on the part of the child, and it is part of the parents role to correct and discipline where appropriate, but these things don’t fall to the level of what is described here.
Then the passage turns back to the person under consideration for being an elder. There are five things not to be and six things to be. First, do not be overbearing; to be overbearing means to have an arrogance about yourself, to believe it is only your way that is right, to be unwilling to compromise. Second, do not be quick tempered; to be quick tempered means to lose it all the time, wherever you are, if people push your buttons. It does not mean that you never get angry – but it does mean that in your anger you do not sin. When you do get angry, it is over the things that make God angry. Third, do not be given to drunkenness, literally, not side-by-side with wine. That’s an idiom for someone who is constantly hanging around where the wine is. This doesn’t mean that they cannot have alcohol. Back then it was impossible to avoid alcohol. But even today, I would say that it is talking about those who misuse alcohol, who use it to avoid their problems, or who have become dependent or addicted to it. This would not disqualify an alcoholic who abstains from drink, who has committed to sobriety. It is talking about someone who, present tense, hangs out with the wine.
Fourth, do not be one who is violent. Literally, this is one who hits, who strikes. Hitting may seem extreme to some of us, but violence is a part of life for many people, even in America. In many parts of the world it is even more widespread. In my short time in Mongolia I saw multiple fights, one even where the driver of a cab got out in the middle of a busy road to scream and hit another driver going the other direction who also stopped in the middle of this busy road; I was told that such violence was commonplace. And fifth, the last of things not to do, do not be one pursuing dishonest gain. The world is full of people who cheat to make money; in many parts of the world it is even viewed as honorable. If you have seen the movie Flywheel, this was fiction, but I do not doubt there are used car salesmen who boast in how much they can rip people off.
Now, at the time Titus was looking out there for overseers, there were two types of people coming up to him – some who, perhaps doubting their own qualifications, saw the need, felt God’s Spirit tugging their hearts, and said they were willing to serve or not serve, whatever Titus thought best. And there were others who saw this as an opportunity, to have more power, more prestige, and so on; these people were exactly the wrong type for this role, and most of them would have failed in multiple ways in Paul’s “do not” list.
We then have the list of what to be. First is hospitable, which does not just mean you have people over for dinner, but that you are available to others, that you give of yourself, your time, your prayers, anything to help those around you. Second is one who loves what is good. This is someone who loves to see good things. At our game night this past week, the kids there had a fantastic time, as I’m sure any you ask will tell you. And it was all doing good, clean fun, games, fellowship – it was just a genuinely warm, loving, good time. One who loves good sees things like this and says, “That was great!” and seeks to keep such things happening. Such a person also appreciates and encourages others who do the right thing. Third is one who is self-controlled. Another word that could be used is prudent. The word has more to do with the mind than actions, though of course actions will follow from what is in one’s mind. Literally the Greek word means something like saved mind, or saved thoughts, thoughts befitting one who is saved. Fourth is one who is upright. It’s a general term that means righteous, one who consistently does what is right, who lives a godly life. The next word, translated holy, means pure, unstained by sin, set apart. And the final word, translated disciplined, literally means restrained, not given to excess or outburst.
The next sentence explains a final qualification – the person must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. This means, first of all, that the person knows and truly believes the gospel; he cannot be swayed by the latest false teaching that comes along. This doesn’t mean he cannot have any questions about anything doctrinally, but it means that he knows and does not question the fundamental doctrines of the faith. Second, it means that he is able to apply it, to speak of it, to encourage others in it, and that he is also able to speak against those who present something else. Again, this does not mean he has to be a fantastic public speaker, but it does mean that he is able to explain the faith.
Well, these are high standards, and going through them again I, for not the first time, wonder a bit what I am doing up here. And I am sure John and Fred have times when they ask themselves the same question. They are high standards and elders are called to live them 24-7.
But if you really think about these lists, these are things God desires from everyone, man or woman. Purity, holiness, goodness, faith are things we are all called to. To do the things in the “don’t” list, or to fail to do the things in the “do” list, is to sin. But don’t despair! And definitely don’t resolve to try “harder,” to try to do these things in your own strength! It is a partnership, not a you-are-on-your-own relationship. I think of 2 Peter 1:3:
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. – 2 Peter 1:3
God does not expect perfection in any of us, not yet. But He is in the business of perfecting us. He is in the business of building His church, and we are His church. He does not want to see any half-finished skyscrapers.
Let me add that Fred, John and I desire to serve you in any way we can to help you yield to God’s building plan and to encourage you along the way. We have diagnostic questionnaires that can help you see where you are at. They are imperfect tools, but they can help you identify areas to grow in, and we can help you in those areas. And if you are a man, I would encourage you to think about yourself down the road as eventually becoming an elder. Again, get your preconceptions/misconceptions about what an elder is out of your head. Look at all the times the word “elder” is used in Acts. These are simply people who have become mature in Christ and then recognized as such. I would even say that becoming an elder should be the natural progression of a believer as Christ builds his skyscrapers. Even if you think you are far from elder material, please talk with any of us, and we can talk about ways we can help you to grow.
I would leave you today with this one thought: Let Him build! Yield to Him! Seek Him. Confess your sins and your inadequacies to Him. Let Him have control of your life. Tell Him, here I am – send me, use me, build me – do whatever You see best to do in me. Leave your life in the hands of the Master Builder whose very name is Love.
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