Titus Study 2
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Paul’s stated purpose
Paul’s stated purpose
Titus 1:1-
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, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 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;
To Titus, my true child in a common faith:
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Slave and apostle for the sake of the faith, their belief’s/doctrine, of the believers, present and future, their experiential knowledge of the truth, Jesus and what is right by God so that the lives lived are godly rooted in the confident assurance of eternal life, which our never lying God who is faithful and trustworthy has promised long ago and has manifested itself in Jesus and the preached word of Paul and others and now the written word, which Paul has been deemed worthy, as are we because we know the truth too.
Qualifications for elder
Qualifications for elder
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.
Titus 1:5-
So Paul leaves Titus in Crete for what purpose?
To put what remained into order, to continue to organize the leadership structure of the churches that Paul has established.
This is going to happen in more than one town, all around the island of Crete
Elder and overseer-elder is the title and usually an older man, overseer is the job description
Paul first lists what he should be like...
Above Reproach—without fault, accusation or blame. Not perfect, but mature and not marred with disgrace or public scandal.
To be above reproach we will look at 3 private areas
Husband of one wife—”a one woman man” not adulterous, or has divorced his wife to marry another, unless she was unfaithful and unrepentant. What is his life post conversion, not pre.
Having children who believe—the general consensus of his kids who are still in the home, there may be one prodigal, but not multiple.
His children are stable and sensible, free of 2 charges
Not accused of debauchery or insubordination—lives lived in rebellion and in a chaotic sinful manner. These children must submit to authority both in the home and outside of it and be living lives that attempt to honor God.
Now more characteristics of the man
again above reproach but in these areas
He must not be arrogant—or self-willed, not submissive to authority, self-serving and entitled.
He must not be quick tempered—quick to become angry, not over righteousness of justice, but usually personally offended, his agenda confronted or contradicted, flies off the handle.
He must not be a drunkard—knows his limitations, does not surrender control of his body to any substance
He must not be violent—contentious or quarrelsome, a combative spirit, perhaps physical if challenged
He must not be out for greedy gain—sordid gain or procuring wealth by disgraceful means, money drives him, strong desire to be rich
But...
He must be hospitable—welcoming and loving of strangers, all who are different,
He must be a lover of good—deep-seated love and submission to the Lord, His word and His way, desire for what is right and good, justice
He must be self-controlled—not quick to be angry or physical, also reasonable, sensible, having sound judgement, not quick to assume, a humble man, what’s best for the “church” not himself
He must be upright—or just, virtuous, a just man seeks justice for others not himself, a man of his word, not caught lying down on the job
He must be holy—devout, authentically and completely devoted to Jesus, cultivates a consistent walk with Christ, not perfect but striving to be godly, sensitive to the Spirit
He must be disciplined—self-controlled in manner and action, having dominion over one-self in public and private
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught—not wavering in the right doctrine and the truth, see v1
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,
A knowledge of the truth leads to godliness, then here has listed godliness in what an elder or overseer should not be and should be and closes it with the man holding fast to the truth.
He then gives two reasons why
An elder must be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, he must know the truth in order to give instruction in the truth. The word for give instruction or exhort comes from the Greek word parakaleo, where we get the word Paraklete or Holy Spirit. The instructor, teacher, illuminator, guider, trainer etc. Like a coach who corrects for the purpose for doing right or better, encourages and comforts,
An elder must be able to rebuke those who contradict it—must be able to here or see inaccuracies, un-truths, and confront them, not for arguments sake or to shame and humiliate, but for the purpose of repentance. Lies must be confronted before they are believed by the ignorant. Mormons and Jehovah’s prey on this.
So how is a church to be structured? We are not told, but we are told it is to be made up of elders/overseers who are mature, wise, godly to live as examples as they teach as well.
Why is this so important?
Titus 1:10-
For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
For there are many—and there always will be those who contradict the truth of scripture, want society to shape how we view scripture. The enemy will always use usable people to destroy the church from without and most damagingly from within.
Characteristics of false teachers and church destroyers
I. Their Communication is Evil
Insubordinate—they have no authority over them, no accountability, no one to speak truth, therefore their teaching is not scriptural
Empty talkers—vain talkers, empty of glory or glory to God, they say a lot and usually really well, but in reality say nothing of substance or meaning.
Deceivers—intentional mental deception is the word Paul uses, not just liers, but false teachers who deliberately engage in mind control, cult-like stuff.
Especially those of the circumcision group was part of this problem, intentional deception to control the Gentiles. Mormons and Jehovah’s
II. Their Motives are Evil
Shameful gain—inline with greedy gain, drug money or blood money, false teachers more times than not are doing it for the money, prosperity gospel brings prosperity to the preacher more than those being preached to.
III. Their Behavior is Evil, v12 & 16
“Cretans are liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This is a saying in Crete and Paul attaches it to the false teachers.
Paul’s instructions to Titus
They must be silenced—why? They are ruining families, destroying lives, that’s what false teaching does, sets up people for destruction, disillusionment, and departure from the faith.
Rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in faith, again, not for rebuking sake, but for the sake of the believers and the false teachers, maybe they will be won over to the truth, restoration is the motivation. This is one of the duties of the elder, to rebuke those who are in error.
Rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in faith, again, not for rebuking sake, but for the sake of the believers and the false teachers, maybe they will be won over to the truth, restoration is the motivation. This is one of the duties of the elder, to rebuke those who are in error.
In what area? Jewish myths and the commands of who? The people, not God, this is burdensome religion, a yoke of slavery, a reattachment to the O.T. Law which could not save.
To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Who are the pure? Believers. God is the creator of all and all is good by Him. The enemy is the one, the evil in us also, decide to use things that are good for evil purposes.
Who are the defiled? Evident in our society, peoples minds and consciences are defiled. Evil is good and good is evil to them now. Murder is right to choose. Evil corrupts how we see things and how we evaluate things. Broken lense
They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their what? Their works, how they live out their lives. Who is on the throne of their lives? They are and the most important thing to them is their happiness, comfort, etc.
Many will say with their lips they know God, but few will back up that profession with righteous, godly lives. Those that really don’t know Jesus are detestable, impure and defiled, disobedient and unfit for the kingdom of God.
How do we do good? How do we love? How are we living right and godly lives? It’s all because we possess the truth, we know and love Jesus. We love because He first loved us. We do because it comes from the overflow of His goodness to us. We live right because the Holy Spirit guides and protects us, we stay plugged into the vine, apart from Him we can do nothing that will last in eternity.