This is my search section here
Connect

Sermons

← back to Sermons

    May 15, 2017

    Class 15: Titus

    Series: New Testament Overview

    Category: Core Seminars, Church Leadership, Eldership, Church Government, Preaching & Teaching, Discipling / Mentoring, Work & Vocation, Personal Holiness, False Teaching, Work of Christ, The Gospel

    Detail:

    Titus: Characteristics of a Gospel-centered church

     

     

      Introduction:

     

    If you’re going to solve problems today, what do you need?  Many say the answer is innovation. What does our economy need?  Innovation! Our educational system?  Innovation!  Politics and government?  Innovation!  Stuck in the quagmire of decades-old disagreements, we need new ways of thinking; a new perspective, a new way of doing things.  So when we approach the topic of the church, innovation should seem to be important as well.  Right?

     

    Well, not exactly.  In some ways, innovation in the church is fine -- email newsletters, photographs in the membership directory, a women’s tea -- Those are great innovations.” But when it comes to theology and the church, “innovation” is generally not something we want to shoot for.  In fact, more often than not, “innovations” in the church have turned out to be heresy.  Why’s that?  Because innovation is good if things need to be improved.  But if Jesus gave us a perfect message, then any change to that gospel is absolutely horrific.  That kind of innovation is to be shunned.

     

    Now, how do we do that?  How do we protect this perfect good news that we’ve received?  That’s what the book of Titus is all about.  And I think Paul’s answer might surprise you.  Because although he does say that our pastors must preach the gospel—he also says that the way we structure our churches, the way we relate to one another, and the way we live in the world all help to preserve this precious message.

     

     

    Let’s begin with some background to the book. Last week we considered Paul’s first letter to Timothy, which was also the first of what are called the Pastoral Epistles. Today, we will consider the second of these Pastoral Epistles, Paul’s letter to Titus. There are many similarities between I Timothy and TitusBoth books are written by Paul to men with pastoral leadership responsibilities, so it is natural that Paul would include similar instructions to both men. In Titus, as in I Timothy, we see instruction about establishing elders, we see the need to oppose false teachers, and we see instruction about what it means to live as a Christian in the church and in the world. So, with all these similarities,

    what’s distinctive about Titus?  There’s a different context here, and so we will some distinct areas of focus. 

     

     

    Structure of Titus:

     

    Turn with me to 1:4-5.  Paul says, “To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from god the Father and Jesus Christ our Savior. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.”   Paul had previously spent time on the island of Crete establishing the church, and now he has sent Titus to continue that work.  That’s the purpose of the letter: to bring spiritual health to the churches in Crete.  So, how does Paul go about equipping Titus do do that?  Flip your handout over to the back page and you’ll see a brief outline of the book of Titus.  You’ll see that Paul equips Titus first by listing the qualifications of elders (1:6-9), just as he had done previously for Timothy.

     

    Why does he begin with a description of biblical leadership?  Well, as you move down the outline you see in verses 10-16 of chapter 1, because—as is so often the case—the absence of good leadership didn’t leave a leadership vacuum; it left bad leadership: false teachers.  These teachers were wreaking havoc and needed to be opposed.

     

    Then, with this most fundamental element of church order in place, Paul continues on in Chapters 2 and 3, encouraging Titus what to teach so that proper order could be achieved in other relationships as well.   He says in 2:1, “You, however, must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine.” This right teaching was to fuel Gospel-driven living among various groups of people who would be in the church: older men, older women, younger women, younger men, slaves, citizens.

     

    What’s paramount to notice on that outline, though, is how after each strand of practical teaching, Paul returns to the gospel - the good news of Jesus.  He does this in chapter 3 – Paul Summarizes the message of forgiveness of sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus, and then Paul says in verse 8:  “This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. (3:8). The Gospel would transform the lives of the Christians in Crete

     

    , and it would transform the churches in Crete as well.  That’s why we can sum up the book well with a phrase from 1:1:  “The knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.”

     

     

     

    So, with this goal of a Gospel-centered church in place, we’ll walk through this book theme by theme.  First a look at good leadership, (2) then at bad leadership, (3) then we’ll examine the gospel message that motivates Paul’s instructions on orderly relationships in chapters 2 and 3, and (4) then finally those practical instructions themselves.  Let’s dive in.

     

     

    Theme 1, Gospel Shaped Leaders (1:5-9)

     

    We see first, as we saw clearly in I Timothy, that good leadership is essential to a healthy church. While churches can go on functioning for periods of time without the type of men described in Titus and I Timothy, a church quickly loses its pure Gospel witness without such men leading. So, what do these Gospel shaped leaders look like? Look at 1:6-9.  Paul tells 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 manages God’s household, 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” (1:6-9).

     

    Let’s take a few moments to look more closely at these qualifications.  First and foremost, Paul describes the elder as someone who is blameless.  No Christian is perfect; but the elder is one whose life does not bring the Gospel into reproach. 

     

     

     

     

    Toward that end, we see that these Gospel-shaped leaders won’t just be leaders at church, they will first be leaders in their own homes.  An elder should be the husband of one wife. That doesn’tmean an elder must be married; that would have excluded Paul, not to mention Jesus himself. Paul is referring to faithfulness in marriage. An elder must be a man who faithfully keeps to one woman and does not wander in any way.

     

    And the elder’s relationship with his childrenmatters as well.  As a side note, it does not seem that Paul is arguing that an elder’s children must be Christians, as that is outside of the control of the parents. Rather, a better translation for the term “believe” in verse 6 is “trustworthy” or “faithful”. The passage appears to be contrasting a reputation for wild and disobedient behavior with a reputation for being faithful and trustworthy.

     

    But more than just manage his own family well, the elder’s relationship with other people should be exemplary too:

     

    He should not be “overbearing,” determining to get his way whatever the cost to others. He's not be “quick-tempered;” elders will be put in situations where they will be tempted to lose patience, so a man who makes a habit of losing his cool is not fit to lead the church. The elder is to be “not given to drunkenness,” but instead demonstrates moderation and self-controlThe elder is to be “not violent”, showing us that Biblical masculinity is not tied to any sort of macho aggression, power, domination.  Instead, the Bible’steaching on masculinity focuses on protecting and providing—using strength for the benefit of others.  The elder should not be one that pursues “dishonest gain; it is not wrong for an elder to have wealth, but he should never make his living through less than reputable means.

     

    Now, with these more negative restrictions in place, Paul goes on to provide positive descriptions of how the elder should relate to other people. So the elder is called to be “hospitable”—literally, a “lover of strangers”—he reaches out to those who are different from himThe elder also “loves what is good.” This idea of “loving what is good,” “teaching what is good” and “doing what is good” comes up again and again in the book of Titus.  How do you know if a church is healthy?  According to Paul, it’s committed to what is good.  And that commitment begins with its leaders.  Therefore, the elder is also someone who is “self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.”  An elder is not one who is carelessly walking through life, giving little thought to his own growth in Godliness. No, if the elder is going to lead others to follow Christ, well, he must first be able to control and discipline himself.  He must be pursuing holiness himself if he is going to call others to repent of their sins and put their trust in Christ.

     

    Now, as we’ve gone through this list so far, you’ve probably noticed something.  All of these qualities are things that the Bible commends for all Christian men, and most of them are applicable to Christian women as well.  So we shouldn’t use this list just as a portrait of a godly elder – we can use it as a way to examine ourselves, and to encourage others.  We can take this list of qualities even this week, and, as appropriate, pray that God would grow these sorts of fruit in our lives.

     

     

     

     

     

    But the last quality Paul gives to Titus is the most unique for elders and also one of the most important, in 1:9:  “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. The elder must be able to teach.  He can’t be wishy-washy on doctrine – especially on the “trustworthy message,” namely the Gospel.  He may never abuse alcohol, never act in a violent way, and have a orderly family -- but if he denies the Gospel or, if he fails to speak up when others begin to deny the Gospel, he is not only unfit to lead the church, he is helping the wolves who would come into the church.  So when we are evaluating an elder candidate, we can ask ourselves: does this person seem to be used by God to bring clarity to the Scriptures?  Is he the type of person who can talk with a confused and wandering Christian and call them to the truth?  And is he willing to firmly disagree with those who would teach what is contrary to the gospel?

     

    In summary,

     

     

     

     

    if our message—the Gospel we proclaim—is central to the church’s existence and our existence as Christians, then the elders who lead must be faithful in knowing and holding the truth of the gospel. They must also have the kind of lives which back up that truth.  Paul is telling Titus that if you get these sorts of men in place leading your church, you are on the path to a faithful witness in the world – and you’re glorifying God by obeying his instructions on how to order the church.  So we should pray that God wouldmake our church rich in these sorts of elders.  Pray that he would keep our elders faithful.  And pray that as it says in verse 9, we would be encouraged by the sound doctrine they teach.  QUESTIONS?

     

     

    Theme 2, Resistance of Gospel Deniers (1:10-16, 3:9-11)

     

    So . . . those are the good leaders.  But what about the bad?  Before getting onto the teaching of sound doctrine, we see that there is first a need to refute false teachers.  Let’s look at 1:10-14.  Paul tells Titus.  “For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of their own prophets has said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth” (1:10-14). What is going on in Crete doesn’t seem to be the mere presence of false teachers in the surrounding community, “somewhere out there.”  No, it appears that these false teachers had actually gained a strong hearing in the church – it says they’re “ruining whole households!”

     

    So, who are these false teachers? In 1:10, Paul refers to the “circumcision group.” Based on what we can piece together from Paul’s other letters, these are people who accept Jesus as the Messiah yet require the Jewish laws to be observed, including the law of circumcision. Paul knows that any addition to the gospel is a false gospel. And so he tells Titus in no uncertain terms that it is his duty to oppose such teachers and their teachings..And don’t just tell them they are wrong; explain to them how they are wrong.  He says in verse 13, “rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith.”  His goal here is not to stifle freedom of expression but to halt the spread of spiritual disease and to heal sick souls—even the souls of these false teachers.

     

     

     

     

     

    Paul picks up this theme again in 3:9-11:  Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (3:9-11).  In thinking about this, you know, one of the most important things any pastor or elder will do for us is something we may never notice. It is not visiting hospitals, successfully leading a church to expand its budget, or ensuring that his sermons have clear outlines—all of which are good things. It is this: working hard to know Scripture in order to protect us from false teaching.  False teaching is a bit like asbestos: if it gets in the air of a church, everyone is at risk of being harmed – they breathe it in, but they may not even know it.  We need our leaders to be watching out for us.

     

    And, all of us should seek the Spirit’s help in our discernment of good teaching from bad.  We should be like the Bereans in Acts, searching the scriptures to verify what we hear. 

     

    But, of course, it is not enough to simply oppose false teaching It’s great, for example, if you have a church that opposes universalism – the idea that all religions lead to God.  That’s untrue, and unhealthy for the church.  But you’ve got to go further.  A church must have elders that also teach sound doctrine.  Solid, consistent teaching of the truth is the best way to prevent falsehood from taking hold in the church.   And what is that truth?  That leads us to our third theme,

     

    Gospel Saturated Doctrine (2:1,11-15 and 3:3-8)

     

    In 2:1, Paul says to Titus, in contrast to the false teachers,You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine” (2:1). And at the core of this sound doctrine that Titus and every other Christian pastor has been called to preach is the gospel.  Chapter 2, verse 11-14: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (2:11-14).  This is the heart of everything Paul is trying to get across in this letter to TitusIt is the antidote to false teaching.  It is the fuel that produces godly elders, and that drives the godly living we will consider further in just a few minutes.

     

    We should cherish what is at the heart of this message, there in verse 14:  Jesus Christ gave himself for us, to redeem us.  This message is not about anything we have done, it is about what God has done for us already through Christ.  A hallmark of sound doctrine is grace.  Because of our sinful nature, we can never achieve our own salvation.  In our sin, we are the enemies of a holy God.  Our only hope is that God would rescue us from his own good justice.  Andthat is exactly what he does – in love, sending his son Jesus to live a perfect life and die the death we deserved to die on the cross, and rise again on the 3rd day – so that whoever would turn from his sin and believe in Jesus will receive life instead of death, glory instead of judgment, forgiveness instead of wrath.  That’s grace:  totally undeserved favor.

     

     

     

     

     

    Look with me at 3:3-8, where Paul again reveals the riches of this grace:  “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone” (3:3-8).  Titus was to stress this Gospel.  And so we too must hear it, and believe it, and value it, and thank God for it, because only then will we be able to devote ourselves to what is good.

     

     

    And an important part of valuing the Gospel is remembering what we have been saved from.  Look at verse 3 again.  All of us, including Paul himself, have been foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by passions and pleasures. Now, interestingly, these adjectives sound similar to what Paul said about the false teachers that are in Crete.  Is it possible… that we were just like them?  This is central to the message of Titus.  Yes, Paul’s given instruction about elders and resisting false teaching and holy living.  But all that instruction must be grounded in the truth that we were no better off than the false teachers on Crete.  We are broken.  We are sinful.  We are unworthy of God’s love. A Gospel-centered church is not a church where people come because they were the most respectable and upstanding of people in society or because they have the most to offer to God. No, the heart of sound doctrine is that we were all once foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved.  Paul and Titus, you and me have all been at one point more like these slimy false teachers than like Christ, and that is precisely why we need this Gospel message.   

     

    Now, let’s say we get that.  We mentally understand the Gospel.  Our brain assents to this sound doctrine that should be taught in the church.  Is that all?  Is the Christian life just signing your name on a list of truths?

     

    Not at all.  [And personally, this has probably the most encouraging thing about Titus for me this past week, as I’ve been studying it:]  God radically changes our lives through the gospel.  Moralism, rules, effort and determination ultimately are not what bring about a changed life; -- the gospel produces godlinesss in us.  Look again at 2:11-12:  “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”  Did you hear that?  If you struggle with ungodliness and worldly passions like I do, hear and believe that it is God’s grace that teaches us to say no to sin and follow him.  Notice – God’s grace doesn’t say “no” for us – we don’t just sit on the couch; we’re called to pursue holinessBut we can do so only as the gospel of God’s mercy teaches us about God’s love and about who we are as beloved children of God.  We are saved because of his kindness!  We’ve been washed!  We’ve been reborn!  We’ve had the Holy Spirit poured out on us!  We’ve been justified by his grace!  We’re heirs of eternal life!  (cf. 3:5-7.)  As we meditate on the cross and savor these gospel realities, our gratitude soars.  And then, not out of moral determination but out of immense gratefulness, we learn to obey God for his glory and our good.  His grace exposes our worldly desires as trivial, so that God would satisfy us supremely.    We can only live supernaturally because we have been forgiven supernaturally.

     

    And that leads us into our final point, where Paul will teach about what lives that have been transformed by the Gospel look like practically in the church.  Before we cover that, Any QUESTIONS?

     

     

     

     

     

    Theme 4, Gospel Centered Living (2:2-10 and 3:1-2)

     

     

    For those who know the Gospel, how does God now call and equip them to live?  Look at 2:2-6:  Paul says to Titus, “Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled” (2:2-6).

     

    Again, these lists of qualities are tremendously practical for us – depending where we fall in these categories, we can use them to examine our own hearts, and then use the other lists as a guide for what to pray for others.  The point of it all is that those who have been transformed by the Gospel will live changed lives and they will encourage others to walk in paths of godliness.

     

     

    We should notice that Paul assumes that there are folks of all ages in the churches on Crete.  We live in a culture where youth and creativity are valued more than age and wisdom.   It shouldn’t be so in the church. If you are older, then you have a particular responsibility in Christ’s church to be providing an example to the younger men and women of what it means to live as a Christian.  Your physical health may not be what it used to be, but this is the time of life for your spiritual health to shine as an example.Those of us who are younger would do well to pray for our older brothers and sisters in the faith.  Do we treasure the legacy and esteem the example of older Christians like Paul teaches us to here?   Here at CHBC, we are blessed to have an inter-generational membership.  But we only have inter-generational fellowship if each of us takes ownership of the picture of the Gospel-centered church that Paul commends here:  older women training younger woman, older men setting an example for younger men we’ve got to get into relationships with folks who aren’t exactly like us.  That’s why we talk so much about a culture of discipling, where we intend to pour into one other’s lives in deliberately edifying relationships with the goal being that the Gospel would be made visible among us.

     

     

     

    Paul continues on to give instruction for slaves, “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive” (2:9-10). Now, we should recognize that when the New Testament talks about slaves, it is not talking about the racial, discriminating slavery America practiced for nearly three centuries. It is talking about a kind of slavery that was a type of servitude, but which is probably closer to our idea of employment than to our idea of slavery. We’ll go into more detail on the slavery issue later when we cover the book of Philemon.  Butfor our purposes today, it is probably best to apply Paul’s admonition to slaves to us as employees, recognizing that our system of employment is far better than what these slaves on Crete would have experienced.  

     

    What this means for us is that our work is important.  It is one of the key ways the Gospel is adorned by our lives before non-Christians.  So, if we are to live lives with the Gospel at the center, what will this mean for our lives at work, particularly in relation to our boss? Well, negatively, we shouldn’t talk back toour employers, or steal from them in any way.

    Positively, we should be subject to our bosses in everything, except if it would cause us to sin. We should try to please them, to show them we can be fully trusted…Have you ever thought about God caring for your employer? Have you ever considered God’s desire for the good news to be attractive to them? And have you ever thought about God wanting to use you to reach them? The way we work may be one of the most powerful witnesses God uses – our goal, as it says in 2:10, is

     

    to make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”  If you are known as a Christian and as an exceptional employee, that will commend the gospel.

     

     

    A Gospel-centered church is going to be filled with people seeking to understand what it means to live holy lives, they are going to understand this more as they are taught “what is in accord with sound doctrine.” As they do this, they will be able to stand against false teachers and make the Gospel known to non-Christians.  That’s what Paul wants to see in the churches in Crete, and that’s what we should pray for our congregation here.  QUESTIONS?

     

     

    Conclusion:

     

    Well, let me conclude with a series of questions for us, to help us think about applying this book of Titus to our lives.

     

    First, do we take Gospel-driven elders for granted? Or do we pray that God would continue to raise up Titus 1–type men to lead his church here on Capitol Hill and for that matter that God would raise such men up in churches across the world?

     

    Second, Do we assume that just because we haven’t denied the gospel in today’s class that false teaching could never occur in this place?  Are we on guard against those who would teach any other Gospel than Christ crucified?

     

    Third, Do we ever take the Gospel itself for granted?  Do we forget that it was the kindness and love of God our savior that appeared to give us new life? 

     

    And finally, do we ever try to cultivate a godly life on our own strength, apart from the grace of God?  Thank God that we don’t have to do that:  his grace is what teaches us how to honor him.   We will never live out these truths from Titus fully in this age.  But by God’s grace, the salvation that we have in Christ assures us – as it says in 2:13, “while we wait for the blessed hope the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”  So let’s pray that God would bless us with godly elders, that he would protect us from false teaching, that he would make the Gospel real to us every day, and that as a result, we would in the words of Titus 3:14 “devote [ourselves] to doing what is good” – to the glory of God.