Sermon Tone Analysis

*Church Priority #1: Leadership by Biblical Eldership (Titus 1:5)*

/Preached by Pastor Phil Layton at Gold Country Baptist Church on May 11, 2008/

www.goldcountrybaptist.org

Some of you read the devotional /Our Daily Bread, /which had the following entry on Titus 1:5, which will be our text today.

I like the way it summed up our context:

 

[The game of golf] ‘teaches us, among other things, that we can't always take the easy way out of a difficult situation.

When a ball rolls off the fairway and into the rough, the golfer isn't permitted to pick it up and place it where it will be easier to play.

He must hit the ball from the rough.

Young Titus found himself "in the rough."

He had been left in Crete, charged with the task of building up the Lord's work there.

But he encountered problems.

The Cretans were generally deceitful, immoral, and lazy, and this spirit had invaded the churches.

Problem people were causing division.

Paul realized that his friend needed encouragement, so he wrote to him.

He began his letter by saying, in essence, "Yes, things are bad in Crete.

But that's exactly why I left you there.

God can use you to bring about great and necessary changes."

Titus listened, and he succeeded.

Although the Bible doesn't record the results of this encouraging letter from Paul, archeologists have found the remains of stately churches that had the name "Titus" inscribed on their cornerstones.

Whenever we are in a difficult place, we don't help ourselves by looking for the easy way out.

Instead, by exercising our faith in God and facing the challenge, we can battle our way through the problem.

We'll become better people, and we'll discover that God can make us victorious.’

Something I didn’t share last time about Titus, which is interesting is that tradition says that Titus returned to the island of Crete and died there in advanced years (one unconfirmed source said he was 94 years old, an unusually old age among first century lifespans).

His successor, Andreas Cretensis, eulogized him in the following terms: ‘The first foundation-stone of the Cretan church; the pillar of the truth; the stay of the faith; the never silent trumpet of the evangelical message; the exalted echo of Paul’s own voice’ (as cited by Thomas Constable, /Expository Notes/)

The legacy of his ministry is still felt today where the name Titus is honored in many villages, churches, and monasteries where he ministered.

I read one commentator who traced the lasting influence of Christianity in many cities in Crete, by letters they’ve found written to or from pastors in different churches in Crete in just about every century into the 9th century A.D. 

 

It’s encouraging to know that the difficult mission Titus had was successful by God’s grace and peace, and to see what an impact a faithful man of God can have.

This is the man to whom Paul writes

\\ *4 **To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

5 **For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,*

Verse 5 in the context of chapter 1 and in the whole book shows us what Paul considered to be Priority #1 in the Church – Leadership by Biblical Eldership.

OUR OUTLINE:

I.                    THE IMPORTANCE OF ELDERS

II.

THE IDENTITY OF ELDERS

 

*#1 - THE IMPORTANCE OF ELDERS*

Paul begins verse 5 with “For this reason I left you in Crete” – in other words, this is the whole reason you’re there, this is your purpose, your priority #1 – set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city that has a church.

And the first and foremost thing that needs to be set in order and established is biblical eldership, which basically the entire first chapter is devoted to as its most important subject.

The word in v. 5 translated “set in order” literally means to “straighten” - from the Greek word /ortho.

/That’s/ /the word that we get orthodontist from, a dental specialist who straightens and aligns crooked teeth or sets them straight.

In ancient times, this word was used in general of setting broken bones or straightening bent limbs, which can fall under the medical specialty we call orthopedics.

The man of God is called to:

-         straighten out what’s crooked

-         to help align things in the church that are out of order

-         to take what’s out of line and bring in back into it’s proper place

-         to heal what’s broken or hurting

-         to set things straight spiritually

 

There is some work Titus as an individual is to do, but the language and context seems to indicate that once biblically qualified godly elders are leading each local church, /leadership is how/ things that remain will be set in order on an ongoing basis (the other part of this twofold task).

And really the rest of chapter 1 is all about biblical eldership, and it’s not until chapters 2 and 3 that Paul gets to the other matters that needed to be addressed.

The importance of eldership jumps off the page of chapter 1.

If you read Paul’s other letters, you’ll notice he usually begins early in the 1st chapter with a prayer, or an expression of thanksgiving or praise, or some personal remarks, sometimes for several verses.

Here he departs from that pattern and bypasses his standard introduction to get right to the most urgent main mission, the most important imperative, the most significant subject, the most pressing priority, which is leadership by godly elders.

Without his usual greeting protocol, Paul immediately launches into what he clearly considered the most crucial dynamic for the body of believers - the vital need of biblical eldership.

Before giving instructions for various church members and aspects of the church (as he’ll do in chapter 2), Paul goes /first/ to the important business of getting qualified elders in every church who:

-           have a high standard of Christian living both publicly and privately

-           have a high view of God and His Word

-           have a high emphasis on sound doctrine and will deal with any who teach otherwise or cause people to live otherwise

 

Without wasting any time, Paul reminds his spiritual protege Titus what the key issue is first and foremost in the church a biblical eldership.

There were a lot of issues and problems going on in the church that could detract or distract Titus off course, and Paul will address some of the issues in chapters 2 and 3 of Titus.

But virtually all of chapter 1 is devoted to the centrality of biblical eldership.

Paul focuses a lot of attention here, and we’re going to focus a lot of attention here in the weeks ahead in this chapter, because this is just as important today as it was then.

Paul knew that as the leadership goes, so goes the church.

There were apparently a good number of churches on Crete with a good number of problems, and without Divine direction it would be easy for Titus to feel overwhelmed and wondering where to begin.

Titus might wonder “with all the different issues and problems in the church that could consume all my time, where am I to focus my energies?”

God’s Word answers with a focus on biblical eldership who can share the load of ministry and set in order what remains.

This inspired apostolic letter teaches priority #1 was getting biblical leadership in place and functioning, because until you have the right foundation and framework, the building and maintenance of the body of Christ can’t move forward with lasting stability.

If the church leadership is weak, the church will likely remain weak, even if you address a lot of practical issues among the people or have a lot of programs going.

On the other hand, if the church leadership is strong spiritually, by God’s grace they can grow spiritually through many problems.

The first and foremost need of the church is for qualified godly men to lead in character, conduct, and teaching (in that order).

Alexander Strauch, begins his book /Biblical Eldership /this way:

‘As I walked into the main foyer of the church … I immediately noticed the pictures and names of the senior pastor and his staff.

The pictures were arranged in a pyramid with the senior pastor at the top, his three associate pastors below, and the rest of the church staff completing the base of the pyramid.

As I walked further into the building and down a side hall, I saw another glass encasement with the pictures and names of the church elders.

I immediately thought, /What a superb illustration of how the church elders have been pushed aside to a scarcely visible position in the church!

/This is quite different from the New Testament model of eldership.’

What’s worse (and common) is that in some churches elders aren’t visible at all, because the church has no elders.

Elders to some are like the 7UP slogan about caffeine – “never had it, never will.”

There’s a pride some seem to take in saying “we’ve never done it that way before.”

There are some Baptist churches that not only never had the position, they’ve /never even heard of/ elders as spiritual leaders.

I was in numerous Baptist churches and circles growing up, but I don’t remember ever meeting a leader who was called an elder or hearing the term elder used in this way, and if I did hear the term used, I don’t think I would have had any idea what they were talking about.

To a large number of Christians, the only “elders” they know of are retired people or senior citizens (elder/ly/).

There’s undoubtedly thousands of Baptist churches across this country who only know the structure of the Pastor (paid preacher) and deacons (some would add trustees).

If you talk about elder leadership in some places, you might hear puzzled people say “But we’re Baptist, not Presbyterian?”

When I graduated from seminary and was interviewing at different churches, I’ll never forget one interview.

The deacons and interim pastor were there, and they were interviewing me, and one of the questions was about my belief that God desires the local church to be led by a plurality of spiritually qualified men called elders.

The interim pastor (who had been a Baptist pastor for decades and was now retired) didn’t seem like he had ever heard of that idea before.

He kept asking with a confused look on his face, “you mean plurality, like hire a youth pastor to help out someday?”

My response: “not necessarily staff or paid pastors, but men who are qualified as elders according to Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3”

(It was as if I was speaking a foreign language to him)

 

The importance of eldership that Paul is bringing to Titus here has not always been understood; it’s been under-emphasized and in many quarters it is still unknown.

But if you read through the Bible you’re going to find the word “elder” all over the New Testament, so why has it lost its original importance (or almost its existence!)?

As far as we can tell, virtually all the churches in NT times had multiple Elders installed and functioning as spiritual leaders:

-         There were Elders in all the Churches that Paul founded (Acts 14:23 “they had appointed elders for them in every church”)

-         There were Elders in the Church at Jerusalem (Acts 15)

-         There were Elders in the Church at Ephesus (Acts 20:17)

-         Titus is making sure all the cities on Crete with churches have elders in every place (Titus 1:5) and history indicates that he did just that

-         There were Elders in all the Churches in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Peter begins addressing all those residing or scattered in those places and Peter says “I exhort /the elders among you/” in 5:1)

-         There were Elders in all the Churches of the Dispersion of the Roman Empire (James writes “to the the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad” and he says when someone is sick “he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him” in 5:14)

 

This is /the dominant/ N.T. term for church leaders and it needs to be restored to that proper place if we want to be more like the N.T.

Many are surprised to learn you don’t find any of these other terms in the Bible that we use instead and put so much importance in: