Deurpost

TEXT: Titus 1:1-16
PREACHER: Marc La Porte
DATE: June 21 and 28, 2009

Why We Are Studying Titus?

• A red thread throughout our series on the Old Testament kings was how they dealt with leadership and passing on their legacy. The book of Titus is about leadership in the New Testament, and Paul passing on his legacy to Titus;
• The book of Titus is a letter of instruction written by the apostle Paul to his pupil Titus who he leaves behind in the church to continue the work. We are dealing with a similar situation where Todd, who played a significant role in establishing our church, has recently left and afforded an opportunity for the next generation of leaders to continue the work. In that way, we could read the book of Titus as if it was being written to us;
• The book of Titus also talks a lot about right gospel living both in the church and in society, which as topics form great input on how to spend our summer months;

Theme and Background to the Letter (READ: Titus 1:1-5)
This introduction gives us great insight into the main characters, the location for the story, and the reason for this letter;

The letter is written Paul

• Paul was a Jew who persecuted the early church before having an encounter with Jesus after which he became the primary messenger of the gospel to the non-Jewish nations
• Paul’s journeys brought him to countries like , Syria, Turkey, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Macedonia, and Italy
• Paul visited Crete near the end of his life, left Titus there, and wrote him a letter later
• Paul calls himself a servant or slave by choice of God
• Paul calls himself an apostle of Jesus
  • Office of an apostle (the 12 apostles and Paul). Special messenger who were eyewitnesses to the life and resurrection of Jesus, and wrote books of the Bible
  • Gift of an apostle (Barnabas, Timothy, Titus, people today). Gifted individuals who move from place to place to start new churches

The letter is written to Titus

• A Greek believer who was Paul’s troubleshooter to sort out delicate situations
• Titus was very dear to Paul, and called him “a true child” (Tit. 1:4), a “brother” (2 Cor. 2:13), his “partner and fellow worker” (2 Cor. 8:23), and someone who acts “in the same spirit” (2 Cor. 12:18) and took “the same steps” (2 Cor. 12:18)
• That’s why Titus could be a model to other believers (Tit. 2:7), because he was a man of great integrity

The letter is written for God’s elect on the island of Crete

• God’s elect are Christians, people who have responded to the gospel
• The true gospel leads to godliness
• Crete had a history of worshiping false gods
• Cretans were known for lying, laziness and gluttony

The letter is written with the instruction to put things in order and appoint elders

• As the Cretan churches don’t have elders yet suggests they are still fairly young
• It was Titus’ job to appoint elders in every town
• The Bible uses the terms elders, overseers, pastors and shepherds interchangeably (1 Peter 5:1-3)
• Elders are leaders put in place by the Holy Spirit and appointed by other elders
• Elders-shepherds are to protect, feed, lead, and care for the flock
• God has specific qualifications for leaders in the church, so leaders are not chose at random

So, what is the theme of this letter?

• Paul writes a letter to Titus for the Christians on Crete, to put things in order and appoint elders
• What needs to be put in order is that there were false teachers in Crete and Paul want Titus to appoint elders in all the churches to identify and silence (or to put in order) these false teachers
• In the two remaining sections of this chapter, Paul is going to compare the qualifications of an elder to the criteria for identifying false teachers
• The whole letter revolves around the godliness of mature Christians in comparison to the ungodliness of the false teachers

The Qualifications of an Elder (READ: Titus 1:6-9)
This section describes the character an elder should have.

• The list is really about men being good Christians, assuming that good Christians will make good pastors
• The qualifications are about whether he has been a good pastor in his home and the world (neighbors, coworkers)
• The qualifications are about relationship to God, family, self and others
• They can be summarized as being above reproach and the ability to teach sound doctrine
• Only men of the finest character are fit for leadership in God’s church
• To be a pastor means you can pull the load of an ox (1 Tim. 5:17-18), fight like a warrior (2 Tim. 2:3-4), live a life of discipline to compete with the skill of an athlete (2 Tim. 2:5), and work tirelessly like a farmer who is up before the sun doing his job every day (2 Tim. 2:6)

The Problem: False Teachers (READ: Titus 1:10-16)
Why was it so important for Titus to put things in order and appoint elders?

• Paul warns Titus to be on the lookout for false teachers and false teaching
• Paul calls them “insubordinate” (disobedient people who don’t want to come under God’s influence), and people who make themselves known by their unwise speaking and their deception
• You can recognize false teachers because they will:
  • Focus more attention on themselves than on Christ
  • Ask you to do something that will either compromise or dilute your faith
  • De-emphasize the divine nature of Christ or the inspiration of the Bible
  • Urge believers to make decisions based more on human judgment than on prayer and biblical guidelines
• False teachers will try persuade you that the simple story of Jesus and the Cross is not sufficient, but that you need something more (works, faithfulness, baptism, moralism, etc)
• The works of the false teachers prove that they are unbelievers, despite their claim to know God
• It is the task of elders to be alert and take action on anything that divides Christians (2 Timothy 4:2)

What Does This Mean for Us? – The Conclusion

• Having elders is important for a church, for our church
• We need more men to mature in their walk with Jesus, grow in character and take up their calling and responsibility to lead our church
• We all should watch our doctrine closely (Colossians 2:8; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Ephesians 4:15-16)
• READ: Matthew 7:15-19
  • A strong warning from Jesus to be wise and discerning about influence in your life
  • The key identifier is fruit
• So, think about it:
  • How does your character match up against the character qualifications of an elder?
  • What are philosophies according to human tradition that maybe have taken you captive?
  • Are you using your weapons of warfare to the best of their abilities?