Titus 1:1-4

Who is Titus? Titus was a Greek Christian, he was a young pastor and he was one of Paul’s closest friends. He was saved, discipled and mentored under Paul’s ministry. Paul brought Titus to the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 as an example of a born-again, spirit-filled Gentile convert who did not identify with or practice Jewish customs.

Paul and Titus travelled together on missionary journeys and did significant ministry in Corinth, which is where this letter was written in 63AD. Paul mentioned Titus 13 times throughout his epistles. Every person in ministry longs for the partnership that Paul and Titus had.

Why is this letter important? Titus was sent to the island of Crete because the churches were polluted. They were unfaithful and untruthful. They were lazy. They allowed false teaching to enter their churches. They allowed mythology and philosophy to distort the truth of God’s Word. This letter was written so Titus had an additional layer of authority as he supervised these churches toward a return to biblical truth.

We’re going to learn that being a Christian and walking with Jesus is a sacred stewardship.

Chapter 1 focuses on the theology, character and conduct of church leaders.

Chapter 2 focuses on character and conduct of church members inside their local church.

Chapter 3 focuses on character and conduct of leaders and members before the unbelieving world around them.

In Hebrews, we saw an order for Christian living. I told you, “don’t skip steps.” In Titus, we will see a stewardship order for the church. If leadership stewards wrongly, a congregation will follow. It is possible for leadership to steward correctly and a congregation still steward incorrectly. If a congregation stewards wrongly with the people they worship with on Sunday morning, they will steward wrongly with the people they don’t worship with on Sunday morning. It is essential for your personal spiritual maturity and the spiritual fruitfulness of this church, that steps are not skipped.

Today, we’re going to learn about sacred stewardship from Paul’s example in the first 4 verses.

Titus 1:1–4 ESV

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; 4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Sacred Stewardship #1 - Steward God’s mission

Look at verse 1. Paul addressed himself as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. The New Testament repeatedly gives evidence of both callings in Paul’s life. ‘Servant’ is a slave of God. Slaves do not set the agenda for the day, or the mission for the week, or the course for the year. A slave lives according the will and mission of the master. A New Testament apostle had to be an eyewitness of Christ and/or being specifically called by Jesus in person. For that reason, we don’t have apostles in 2026. However, an apostle of Jesus Christ is also a messenger or an ambassador. An ambassador is a representative of something larger than himself. All of us are messengers and ambassadors of Jesus Christ. That is our role as an obedient follower of Jesus.

For Paul, being a servant of God wasn’t an obedient calling alone. The Old Testament records several leaders and prophets who had the special designation of being a servant of God, so Paul was announcing his ministry credibility to the Jewish population in Crete. Likewise, being an apostle of Jesus Christ was announcing his credibility to the Gentiles in Crete.

That is an important distinction because Paul established in the first 12 words this message of Titus is for all believers from all backgrounds in all situations without discrimination.

Paul stewarded God’s mission by serving. In verses 1-4, we see three priorities of serving.

There are plenty of beliefs in life that God doesn’t specifically say anything about. Sports teams. Vehicles. Coffee brand. A second portion of dessert. There are topics that God is very specific about. When a person believes the opposite of what God says, the book of Titus has strong words for them. Paul tells Titus that person is a false teacher and must be silenced. At the end of chapter three, Paul instructs Titus “have nothing more to do with” the unrepentant false teacher. Friends, we must agree with God on matters he is specific about.

Paul served for the faith of God’s elect. Paul served so people would know Jesus. Some of you are going to get stuck on God’s elect or what I say next, but don’t miss that Paul stewarded God’s mission so people would know Jesus. Let’s talk about God’s elect. Put up the slide. Elect means chosen. As we read the Old Testament, we learn that Israel is God’s chosen.

Deuteronomy 4:35–39 ESV

35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. 36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

Isaiah 49:13–16 ESV

13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted. 14 But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.” 15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. 16 Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

Isaiah 49:26 ESV

26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. Then all flesh shall know that I am the Lord your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

We should be grateful that Israel is not the only group that is God’s chosen. As we read the New Testament, we learn that Christians are also God’s chosen. Both groups are human. Both groups are sinful. Although we don’t fully understand how God will work this out, Christians being chosen does not erase Israel being chosen.

Over the past 3-4 years, I have heard a lot of opinions about Israel from prominent people in our country. At different times, I have felt a small amount of pressure to engage some of those opinions. 98% of the time, I don’t engage. 98% of the time in the future, I won’t engage. The 2% that I do engage is almost always Scripture. Here’s why. The topic makes me angry because there is no other people group on the planet that is talked about quite like Israel. And, there are other people groups that do much worse things on much larger scales. Read 1 John this week. We cannot hate people while we claim to love God.

None of us is omniscient, or omnipotent, or omnipresent. There is information in the world that we do not have. There are things in the world that we do not understand. There are problems in the world that we wish we could fix. Concerning the topic of God’s elect, I have chosen to believe what God says about who he chooses and not engage the rest of it. If Paul stewarded God’s mission so people would know Jesus, you and I would be wise to follow his footsteps.

Paul served so knowledge of truth would lead to godliness. Paul wanted people to know Jesus and disciple them toward godliness. Paul wanted people to be more than information accumulators. People wanted people to live by the faith they claim they had. Paul wanted people to be changed by Christ and be committed to God’s mission.

Paul served to encourage believers with the hope of eternal life. Paul encouraged believers there was more to life than get up, go to work, come home, make dinner, do some chores, take a walk, go to bed, get up…repeat. Every NT letter he wrote has an aspect of encouragement. Are you an encourager? Think about the past 6 days ~ Who specifically did you encourage that you attend a worship service with?

When we steward God’s mission, we help people know Jesus, we help people be changed by Jesus and we encourage people during the week.

Sacred Stewardship #2 - Steward God’s message

Look at verses 2-3. Part of Paul’s calling was to preach God’s Word. We read three deep theological truths in our text.

God never lies. God is incapable of untruthfulness. If we believe God does not have the ability to lie, then we steward God’s Word differently. We grow to believe our Bible is the standard of truth that determines how we view cultural trends. We grow to believe 2 Timothy 3:16 - “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” We grow to believe the conviction of the Holy Spirit is for our edification and not our judgment.

God does not break promises. God is incapable of breaking promises. The hope of eternal life was promised before creation. Before sin entered the world, God promised redemption of mankind. When we struggle to believe that God doesn’t break promises, sometimes we want to turn a Bible verse into a promise.

Hebrews 13:5 - “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” PROMISE

Isaiah 55:11 - “My word shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” PROMISE

Proverbs 22:6 - “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” NOT A PROMISE

God is made known at the proper time through His Word.

Sacred Stewardship #3 - Steward God’s people

Look at verse 4. ‘To Titus, my true child in a common faith.’ We already learned that Paul and Titus were close ministry partners, but here we learn that Paul introduced Titus to the gospel and discipled him. Paul invested in Titus’ life by mentoring him into spiritual maturity.

Paul’s spiritual fruitfulness had normal rhythms of reproduction. Every person in this room is a 2nd generation Christian of somebody. Is there a 2nd generation Christian of you that is not a family member?

Paul’s spiritual fruitfulness believed his commonality in Jesus with Titus was their strongest commonality.

It seems Titus believed that, because their spiritual fruitfulness is what drives the sacred stewardship of the next three chapters.