Titus Series - Belief and Behavior - Leaders of Common Faith

                             

Belief and Behavior - Leaders of Common Faith

Titus 1:5-9

Paul addresses this letter to a friend as well as colleague in the proclamation of the Gospel. He is a son in the common faith, the hope and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. How many of us have friends, brother/sister, or neighbors who are of the common faith? In ones that we know who share a bond with the Lord in knowledge, love, peace, and grace; a oneness that is the same as the Father’s and Son’s. This is a common faith (koinos). So let’s begin with the first portion of the text, “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. An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.”

Paul had started the church in Crete between his travels from Macedonia and Greece. He left many young converts in different towns on the island. He didn’t have the time to spend on nurturing new churches, so he left another of his young proteges, Tiitus, a gentile believer, who traveled with Barnabus and Paul on the missionary sojourn even to the end of Paul’s life in Rome (2 Tim. 4:10) and was sent to Dalmatia, modern day Serbia and Montenegro at the end of Paul’s life.

Paul's directive to Titus, who had been in Corinth prior (2 Cor. 7:6-7,13-14), was to administrate the new believers in sound doctrine and appoint leaders (elders, overseers, pastors) in the churches. The titles elders, overseers, and pastors were synonymous. They were all placed in charge of the believer’s welfare, training in the scripture, and in the harmony and unity of sound doctrine. But even more, the leaders in the church had to demonstrate their faith through their lives and their family. First, they were to be blameless, beyond approach from others, and without blemish in character, cleansed by the blood of the unblemished Lamb of God, saved by grace through faith. The second quality of a leader was faithfulness, to their wife (one wife), faithful to Christ, and to the church. He was to be monogamous, otherwise faithful to one wife, a one woman man. Now to his family, they too were to be believers and obedient to their parents and not with unduly charges of rebelliousness.

Application - I know how difficult this is as a now retired pastor. The easy part was the personal walk with Jesus through the life of faith. A scripture says, for He chose me and foreknew me before I was born. “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love.” (Eph. 1:4) I am only blameless because of the blood of Jesus Christ. And this is the case for every elder, overseer, or pastor. For we were all sinners and in need of a Savior who was blameless and who gave us His Holy Spirit as guide, counselor, helper, and literally the power of God that leads us to be blameless in our acts and behavior. Without Jesus no one would be blameless. As for faithfulness, we are given a free will to follow the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. God has given us the steadfastness and strength to believe without wavering. God has shown us faithfulness through His Son. And this carries through everything that we do and into all relationships. Especially our family. For these will be tested and tried for genuineness. “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

Paul addresses the additional character matters required of a leader. Let’s read the final portion of the text, “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.”

The overseer, elder, pastor, must not be overbearing, or quick-tempered in his home or in the church. Jesus had told his disciples when they wanted to know who would rule, he stated, “But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:25-28) Paul would have referenced this concern as well for all prospective church leaders in Crete to be servant leaders. Now to an issue that may have been more prevalent in the Cretian communities, the consumption of wine and drunkenness and the issue of violence that sometimes follows inadvertently because of intoxication.

Now to the core of faithfulness to sound doctrines, Titus was a great example to the men and women of faith by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul knew Titus’ relationship and commitment to the Lord Jesus was solid. He was to demonstrate through his life and words the hospitality, goodness and self-controlled nature of the Holy Spirit. For it was in the power of the Holy Spirit that Titus would shine like a bright light of holiness and discipline in the darkness of the Cretian communities. 

Last, the steadfastness of Titus’ life to the gospel, the trustworthy message of salvation, love, hope, and peace in the Lord Jesus. He was to appoint and train leaders in unwavering sound doctrine, so that all were of one accord in the faith. With this training, he was to encourage the believers to proclaim and share their witness to their fellow Cretians, and to be able to refute those who opposed them with the truth of Holy Scripture and with gentleness not aggression. “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Pet.3:15-16)

  Application - Here is a truth you can take to the bank, when you are saved, God creates in you a new person, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor. 5:17)

This new person doesn’t hold to overbearing attitudes, or acts of violence and drunkenness. I know this from my own life, how he transformed me to live in His image by the Holy Spirit who lives in me. I was a new person, with a new desire, not for the world, or power, but for longing to please Jesus who saved me.

It is this witness to others, for some of them know the old you and can now see the transformative work of the Holy Spirit as his regenerative work in salvation leads to holiness and godliness. “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…” (Titus 3:4-5)

God may be calling you to be an overseer, elder, or pastor. Please prayerfully read and ask Jesus to bring these character qualities to the front of your lives, showing his work that He has done in us. “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. (Phil. 2:13; 4:5)

Last, be encouraged and be an encouragement. For the Word of God today is the same as it was spoken and written. “Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens” “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Psalm 119:89; Matthew 24:35) Let us be hospitable and do what is good in honoring our Lord. And in all of this let us be steadfast in the Word of God. Let it give us Wisdom, Understanding, Discernment, instruction and insight. (WUDI) so that we may live lives that are pleasing to our Lord and God.  Then we can give answers and refute unsound doctrines that are prevalent in our world today. Amen

I’m again including the ABC’s of salvation (JD Farag). Please, Jesus, God the Son, came to this world to save all who would believe and trust in him. He desires to reveal himself to you, He is the Light that overcomes the darkness of this lawless world. He hears your prayers, and all authority in heaven and earth have been given to him. He will answer you if you will truly believe. If you haven’t asked him to be your Lord and Savior, today could be that day.

 First, A - Admit that you are a sinner. This is where that godly sorrow leads to genuine repentance for sinning against a righteous God and there is a change of heart, we change our mind and God changes our hearts and regenerates us from the inside out. Romans 3:10 - As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (We are all born sinners which is why we must be born spiritually in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven). Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The bad news is that the wages of sin is death, in other words our sin means that we have been given a death sentence, we have the death penalty hanging over our heads, that's the bad news. But here's the good news: The good news is that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ephesians 2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Second,

 B - Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and that God raised Jesus from the dead. This is trusting with all of your heart that Jesus Christ is who he said he was. Romans 10:9-10 - That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Third, 

C - Call upon the name of the Lord. Every single person who ever lived since Adam will bend their knee and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Romans 14:11 - For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God." Don't wait until later — do this now. Romans 10:13 - For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." "O God, I am a sinner. I'm sorry for my sin. I want to turn from my sin. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son; I believe that He died on the cross for my sin and that He was buried and You raised Him to life. I have decided to place my faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting only in His shed blood as sufficient to save my soul and to take me to heaven. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me. Amen."

Please share this with someone this week, the Lord knows that we and they need it.

If you would like other lessons, please go to http://pmdinhisservice.blogspot.com 

Until next week, In His Service Mike Davis

I have revised my webpage on Spiritual warfare. Please give it a look. I’m adding answers each week to questions that pertain to our time today. Thank you http://uss-warfare3.web node.com