Sermon Tone Analysis

OPENING SLIDE

What happens when someone who is unqualified gets, errrrr, out of their depth?

SLIDE 1

PAUSE

We have all worked around someone who has a position that they are not qualified for SLIDE 2 and invariably they make bad choices that lead to damage.

SLIDE 3 Damage to equipment, harm to people SLIDE 4 and their lives.

We live in a day that in many ways has incredibly burdensome regulations SLIDE 5 but when we see some of these incidents like that are on the wall it is easy to see why they come into being SLIDE 6 .

Unqualified people make bad choices which have real life implications… INTRODUCTION 1

What happens when someone who is unqualified gets a position of authority?

PAUSE

Unfortunately, we can look to politics for plenty of examples of people, men and women, who are unqualified to be leaders, either through moral or even legal failures… They should never have taken on the role, but somehow they have and what happens… a trail of carnage is left behind them, not only is institutional credibility left in shambles but also real life people are harmed.

There are many, many, many long reaching effects from poor leaders making bad choices...

Leaders, in any setting, have tremendous pressure and responsibility and so we expect them to maintain an impeccable character.

SLOW How much more then should leaders of Christ’s church be of the highest character?

INTRODUCTION 2

Today, we are going to be walking through the qualifications for the position of “elder” in the church.

That may sound about as interesting as watching paint dry but its incredibly important.

Some of you have actually experienced instances of when an unqualified man took a leadership role in the church.

You know first hand the damage done not only to the Church, but also to his family and worst of all to the name of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.

It behooves us to carefully consider the qualifications of eldership in Christ’s Church and do our part in demanding that these qualifications be maintained, not only before an elder enters service but also while an elder is serving the body.

MAIN POINT

So here is the main point today, The qualifications for eldership are specific, inflexible and ongoing;

intentionally put in place not only for the protection and safety of Christ's Church but also to equip and prepare Her to accomplish Her Commission

We are going to see what testing a man must receive before he is entrusted with being a servant leader of Christ’s Church.

It is my sincere hope that this message is not seen as an elevation of the position of elder or those that hold it.

All of us are in desperate need of God’s grace and all honor belongs only to our Lord.

BLANK SLIDE

Let’s go to Him in prayer now.

PRAYER

Father God, we are so grateful for Your goodness and grace toward us.

You give us good things and every good thing is from You.

Your supreme gift was the gift of the righteousness of Your Son, Jesus.

We come before You today indwelt by His Spirit and in His purity - we dare not approach You in our own merit.

We want to hear from You and Your Word tells us the truth about all that pertains to life and godliness.

May we have ears to hear, eyes to see, soft hearts to learn and a desire to understand and obey.

Change us and make us like Your Son, and its in His name I pray, amen.

SERMON

I would encourage you to open your Bibles to the book of Titus.

While you are finding Titus I will fill us in on the context.

CONTEXT

Paul is writing a letter to a fellow Christian named Titus on the island of Crete.

Titus is a convert and fellow missionary of Paul’s and Paul is writing to encourage Titus to accomplish the difficult task he has committed to him - finding qualified men to serve as elders to the church in Crete.

At that time there were men from Crete, the island that Titus would be sent to, who heard the Gospel at Pentecost 33 years prior and presumably returned to the island of Crete and began a church there.

MAP

Paul had sent Titus to Crete because not only was a Gentile like the Cretans there but also because he had shown incredible trustworthiness in accomplishing tasks assigned by Paul.

Paul is writing from Asia to Titus to encouraging him to be selective in choosing the right servant leaders of the church in Crete.

Apparently, due to the culture and time the pickings were incredibly slim.

Actually, a poet from Epimenides who was actually from Crete made this uncharitable and ironic assessment of his countrymen VERSE SLIDE

Titus 1:12 | 12 One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

So Paul is writing to Titus to locate qualified men in a somewhat difficult setting - if the candidate pool is liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons - qualified men will be rare indeed.

Presumably, there are mature believers if a church has been in existence for a generation, but the surrounding culture may have made them somewhat difficult to find.

The ideal elder is indeed a rare bird, perhaps especially in Crete but not impossible to find and God in His providence has preserved for Himself select men for the task of leading His church.

Maybe one other thing we need to realize before we go through this passage is that Paul is telling Titus to identify men that are the same in each sphere of their life.

The ideal candidate will conduct himself appropriately at home, at church and in public.

Titus is to use these three spheres as a filter to advance those men that are whole and clearly called into this service.

SLIDE

So we are going to be in chapter 1 and I will begin in verse 5 a

I.

The Qualified Elder at Home (1:6-7a)

A. Paul's mission for Titus (1:5)

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,

Paul, has commissioned Titus to complete what is lacking in the church in Crete, qualified leadership of the Church.

Interestingly, he says “elders,” which assumes a couple of things.

First there is more than one qualified candidate who is a believer and secondly the position of elder, or πρεσβυτέρους, is not an individual role.

Paul is not sending Titus to look for a king of each church;but a group of men to serve the church in a joint capacity.

The ideal candidate for eldership is faultless and the same throughout every sphere of his life.

He is the same at home, as he is in public as he is in the church.

I keep saying “men” intentionally not because I am a chauvinistic bigot.

Not because I hate women and want to keep them in their place.

No, none of that.

I say “men” because this particular role of elder is limited to just men - the text makes that clear.

To serve the church as an elder one must be a man....

How do I know?

How do I know that this role is exclusively restricted to men?

The first reason I could cite is right here, the word πρεσβυτέρους in Greek is a plural adjective and masculine in form and verse 6 shows two other reasons SLIDE

B. Must be above reproach - faultless (1:6)

6 namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.

The candidate that Titus is to look for is a man who is faultless, blameless or above reproach.

Does that mean that Titus needs to look for a perfect man?

Nope, thank goodness.

There has only ever once been a perfect man and His name is Jesus.

No, if it were about finding the perfect man then finding a needle in the haystack would be easier.

No, when it says a man who is above reproach it is saying that if someone were to accuse him, it would be so out of character, so incredibly unlikely, that we would say, “No!

Not so and so, it couldn’t be!”

That is what it means to be above reproach.

Titus is to find men that are like that.

The next criteria is that their home life proves their character and this is often seen in how they interact with their spouse and kids, He must be above reproach in his marriage.

SLIDE

1.

In his marriage

The qualified elder is one who is married to one woman.

Married men with girlfriends on the side, polygamists and homosexuals need not apply.

The qualified elder is a “one woman” kind of man.

Does this mean that bachelors cannot be elders?

No, if that were the case not even the apostle Paul could be an elder in the church.

No, literally, the Greek translates to, “One woman man.”

“Titus, the kind of guy you are looking for is the guy who only is married to only one woman, and loves her faithfully - a one woman kind of man.”

He is also a man who has fathered believing children SLIDE

2. In fathering his children

Titus is selecting men to serve the church, to lead it and build it up.

QUESTION What kind of leadership is that man going to provide?