Titus 1:10-2:1

Introduction

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In Calvin’s commentary on Titus 1:9 he wrote,

Commentaries on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon Chapter 1

The pastor ought to have two voices: one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. The Scripture supplies him with the means of doing both; for he who is deeply skilled in it will be able both to govern those who are teachable, and to refute the enemies of the truth.

Need

As we look at Titus this morning, as a church, we need to know what a pastoral voice sounds like. There are times that the sheep will hear the shepherd yelling and defending the sheep from the wolves that seek to devour them. The majority of the time, the sheep need to hear the voice of the shepherd as he leads them and directs them to the pasture.

Referent

Titus 1:10-2:1

Organization

Silence Fake Leaders

Follow Faithful Shepherds

Sermon in a sentence:

I will follow the right voices.

Context

In vs. 5-9, Paul left Titus in Crete to straighten out what was left there. Titus was to do this by appointing elders in every town to (1) give instruction in sound doctrine and (2) rebuke those who contradict it.

*Read Titus 1:5-2:1*

Silence False Teachers

Paul describes these false teachers as the opposite of a qualified elder (See Kuruvilla p. 206 )

not rebellious (v.6) and rebellious (v.10)

manage house (v. 6) and upset households (v.10)

above reproach [blameless] (vs. 6 & 7) and detestable (blamed)

children must be faithful (v. 6) and unbelieving (v. 15)

self-controlled (v. 8) and beasts, lazy gluttons (v. 12)

not greedy for gain (v. 7) and teaching for shameful gain (v. 11)

It is really difficult to see a problem if you don’t know what something is supposed to look like. I am very thankful that I grew up in a Baptist church. I thank God that I was influenced from a very young age. However, I can also say that I have never been party of an exceptionally healthy church. I have never been a part of a church that had a biblical understanding of elders. I have not been a part of a church that has sung the Psalms in the corporate worship service. I have not been a part of a church that has serious guarded the Lord’s Supper.

I want to tell you Colgate, change is very difficult. And it is often very difficult to see the need for change if you don’t know what needs to be changed. Or why it needs to be changed. This is why I preach through books of the Bible. In the last 3 years of pastoring Colgate, I have preached through 11 books verse by verse. I have taught through at least another 7 books in their entirety. I want you to know, that if you are coming regularly to Colgate Baptist Church, I am going to preach and teach through books. We do not aspect people to know things that are not explicitly taught on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night.

I want you teach you the whole counsel of God so that you can know what church should look like. What a Christian should look like. What a leader of God’s people should look like.

Paul also gives us more information about these men in verses 14-15.

They are men that are always talking about the fringe and secondary issues as gospel issues.

I love talking about the fringe ideas that are often not talked about. Alonzo and I will talk about the Nephilim. Jt and I will talk about Hebrew and Greek. I love to listen to fun and fringe podcasts. But saints, those men that are always contentious and talking about the next thing are not the men you need to follow. Be careful! Maybe some of you need to stop listening to mainstream media and Fox News. Maybe their are some podcasts or books that you need to pick up. But, let us be very careful who we allow to tell us (including ME) what we need. Seek Godly men that do not “deny him (God) by their works” (v. 16)

Let’s go back to the affect of these men. (vs. 10-13) The sin of these men has gone beyond themselves.

Sin must be addressed carefully and with much wisdom!

Sin that becomes impactful to the larger community must be dealt with swiftly and publically.

The false teaching and sin of these men (probably ethnically Jews or those that religiously converted to become Jews) had begun to affect entire families (v. 10) to the point that it was characteristic. Saints, the unity and the holiness of the local body demands public and swift rebuke. Paul gave us this example in the Bible in a number of places.

2 Timothy 4:9–10 “9 Do your best to come to me soon. 10 For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.”

Galatians 2:11–13 “11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.”

I want to address something publically. I am not going to give any details that are unnecessary. Unfortunately, Sandy and Louis have left Colgate on bad terms. After numerous events of sinful behaviour, Holly and I tried to address these issues with Sandy and Louis at different times. We only addressed these patterns of sin after multiple members at different times addressed these issues with us. We addressed them both about some similar events and a lot of different events. Unfortunately, both of them left the church not willing to sit down and attempt reconciliation. Saints, thankfully these two were not pastors or elders that were teaching heresy or something that was sending people to hell. However, both of these leads had very public leadership that needed to be addressed. It is very unfortunate that this is how the events ended. If you have specific questions, I am more than willing to talk to you in my office or some other time. I do believe both of them are believers. We never stated they weren’t. We have only ever asked for repentence and reconciliation. Not once did we ask them to leave. However, their actions were not consistent with that of a Christian leader.

Follow Faithful Shepherds

How Can You Identify These Shepherds?

(v. 1) They teach sound doctrine

I want to give general guidelines here because these are not foolproof.

Committed to Exegetical Preaching

Books, Seminaries, Simeon Trust Workshops

Committed to Constant Education - formal education through a seminary, coalition of pastors, theologians.

Gospel Coalition, Biblical Training, 9 Marks, For the Church

They meet the qualifications found in vs. 5-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

These qualifications are more character than their are performance.

How can you know if a man meets (or is continuing to meet) these qualifications if you don’t spend time with him?

Serve, worship, learn beside him.

Saints, I have seen this too many times to count. Coming to one or two things the church does while simultaneously purposefully neglecting the corporate worship gathering of the saints is not biblical. I am not your shepherd if you are not part of the sheep.

By following their example

You can tell if a person believes what they say if they do what they say.

Financial videos on YouTube- couples come in and one of them says that they are the financial person. But they don’t know how much the couple makes each month. That person doesn’t know the collective debt amount. They person continually has late fees and using over the credit limit on their cards.

You can look at their life and judge what they are saying by what they are doing.

1 Corinthians 11:1 “1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Conclusion

Application

Listen to the voice of the True Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent and Believe today!

Look at the voices you are listening to.

Maybe, you have no constant God ordained leadership in your life. Its church every now and then.

Or maybe you are listening to 75 preachers and that is taking the place of the local congregation.

Or maybe you are part of a local congregation but listening to pastors, podcasts, or books that are really teaching elementary doctrine that is not actually building you up.

You might need to unsubscribe to podcasts and books. You might need to ground yourself in the local church and surround yourself with the God ordained leaders in the church. Our website and I provide numerous resources that you can listen to with confidence.