Titus Week 4: Founded, Empowered, Devoted

  Ever have a smell that brought back a memory? The smell of rain that brings back a camping trip? Or the smell of apple pie, that brought back a spring picnic. A perfume or cologne that brought back a loved one. How many smells do you think humans can detect? Supposedly, those who make fragrances suggest that there are between 10,000-30,000 different fragrances that we can pick up on. Yet not all of them bring back memories. Why? Because its those things that we are devoted to that connect us. We remember the smells because we are intimately connected to them through the circumstances we’ve experienced. So when we smell a familiar scent, that devotion is triggered and the memory comes flooding back. 

It’s this idea of devotion that brings us back to our final week in the letter to Titus, where we’l be picking it back up in chapter 3, verse 1. As we pick back up in Titus 3:1, let’s look at the last three weeks. 

In our first week, we take about how Titus was sent to Crete for a specific role and purpose to raise up elders in the local congregations. By having good elders to lead the local congregations, a greater experience of God’s grace and peace would happen, because good leadership leads people into the goodness of God. We walked away from that week with the understanding that, every Christian needs to understand their role and purpose within the congregation that they’re apart of for the purpose of experiencing more of God’s grace and peace.

Following that, when we looked at the qualifications of an elder. What we saw was a call to godliness that we are all to strive for. Even if we are never called to the position of elder, each and everyone of us should be striving for the godly character of an elder. 

The reason for this is because God has empowered us through the Holy Spirit to produce and display this goodness in what ever role or position he calls us into. If we are not striving to produce the fruits of the Spirit, then God won’t use us for the greater purpose he has, and we will not experience his grace and peace as he intended us to.

With that call to strive for godly character in whatever role we are called to, that we might produce the fruit of the Spirit, in our mind, we can open up to the last chapter of Titus. Let’s read together. 

1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. 9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. 10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. 12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus (tick-a-kiss) to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. 13 Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. 14 And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. 15 All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Next week were going to talk about politics and I don’t think anyone’s going to leave the worship service happy. But everything that will be said next week, means nothing if we don’t first understand what Paul is telling Titus in this chapter. There is one point that Paul is getting at in this last chapter and that’s preparedness for good work. Three times Paul uses those two words, “good works.” Paul says in verse 1 to be ready for good works, and in verses 8 and 14, he says to be devoted to good works. The end goal of what Paul is talking about here is that we would be a people of good works in the world. So let’s walk through Paul’s thought process, knowing that his intention is to get us to produce good works.

v.1-11

Paul starts off with what we should do. We should, be submissive to rulers and authorities. That word means to put yourself under the subjection of the rulers. That means to yield one’s rights rather than asserting them. Oh boy, that’s going to be a fun one next week to talk about. Not only are we called to this type of yielding, but we are to be obedient, which is to conform to authority. Are we upset yet? Wait until next week. We are called to not speak evil of anyone, and to avoid quarreling. 

Instead we are to be gentle with people and we are to show perfect courtesy to them. That word courtesy is humility; we are to be humble before all people. 

Why? Because of what we were. We were foolish, we were disobedient, we were led astray, we were slaves of passions and pleasures, we were living daily in malice and envy, we lived hating and be hated by others.

But something changed. Christ appeared! Jesus saved us, not because of our righteousness. If we were righteousness we would be submissive and obedient, we would have shown gentleness and humility with people. We wouldn’t have been led astray. We wouldn’t have been slaves to passions and pleasures. We wouldn’t have lived in malice and envy and hatred.  But we weren’t righteous and we know it, so Jesus had to appear, he had to save us, but he saved us because of his mercy not because of our goodness. 

Now notice that everything is past tense. When Jesus appeared, that word means shined upon us, when we accepted Jesus as Savior, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. That’s what he did. That’s why Paul can declare back in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” If you’ve accepted Jesus as Savior, you are a new creation, your old self is gone. That’s what happened when you accept Jesus as your Savior. You are no longer the person you were, you have been regenerated and renewed. At that moment, you gained the riches of the Holy Spirit who now works and lives within you. You were justified by God’s grace with your sins being blotted out of eternity. You became an heir to the hope of eternal life. That’s who you are, so why live in such a way that says other wise? Why live in disobedience? Why live in speaking evil? Why live in quarreling? Why live in harshness? Why live for selfishness? Why live being led astray? Why live as slaves of passions and pleasures? Why live in daily malice, envy and hatred? You are new, you are free, you are an heir to the riches of God.

We are called out of the oldness of sin and into the newness of Jesus’ righteousness. We are called into being devoted to good works because those are the things that are excellent and profitable. God wants us to live in his excellent abundant life (John 10:10). He wants our lives to be profitable in goodness. That’s who we are in Jesus, anything else is marring the great work that has been done for us. 

In July of 2024, USA TODAY did a survey of what people would do if they won the lottery. Sharing some portion of the winnings with family, friends and charities came in at about 14% (https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/banking/how-americans-would-spend-lottery-winnings/#:~:text=Nearly two-thirds of Americans,vacation or a fancy car.). 

Which would be the third most important thing after paying off debts and investing. When people tend to talk about “winning it big,” there’s usually talk about helping other people. Well, as Christians we have won big! 

Lottery’s only last a little bit, with USA TODAY running a separate article showing that 1/3 of lottery winners go bankrupt within the first five years (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/19/powerball-mega-millions-winners-instant-billionaire-regrets/70430571007/). 

However, our salvation lasts for eternity, so if we have won it big, why are we living the same way we lived before? Why are we not living to be devoted to the good works Jesus saved us to live? 

Now we might wonder how we can we begin to live that way. How can we live to be devoted to the good works of Jesus. First off, we need to remember that Jesus saved us by his righteousness, so we’re working from that jumping off point. Everything we do is from his righteousness, not our own. Secondly, we’re working by the richness of the Holy Spirit. Meaning, we’re not working from our power, but through relying on the Holy Spirit to work through us. So if our thought isn’t “Holy Spirit work here,” then we’re trying good works in our own strength, which will fail every time. 

Once we understand were we come from and how we’re empowered, we can then see what Paul says in verse 9. We devote ourselves to good works by avoiding foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law. There’s a lot of things that are foolish controversies. There’s a lot of foolish talk about ancestry and past hurts. There’s a lot of places where dissension happens and the fights break out. And that’s just in the Church. How much more is it outside where sin isn’t checked in anyway. If the Church wrestles with sin because it desires to be separate from it and yet still experiences quarrels, dissension and controversies, what are we to expect from a world that is lost? That’s why we are called to devote ourselves to good works, because if we’re not devoted, we’ll quickly fall into temptation’s trap of engaging in these worthless things. 

And that’s what Paul calls them, they are unprofitable and worthless. Controversies, fights about the past, dissensions, and quarrels bring no profit to the life of the believer, because those are old self things, not new creation things. 

And so Paul talks about that if a person tries to bring division, give them two chances and then no longer engage with them, because it’s not worth it for the devotion to good works.

v.12-15

Paul ends his letter, as he ends most of them. Talking about people, and plans he has or wants to happen. But he inserts his call to the devotion of good works one more time. However this time, he gives one last reason to why we should be devoted. When we’re devoted, we’re able to respond to urgent case because we are not tied down in unfruitful issues. 

We again honored 9/11 this week. An attack that was seemingly out of the blue. Recently on Friday nights, Marika and I have been watching a 1990s cartoon show with Navi, our youngest daughter. In one of the first episodes, a New York detective is showing the city off to her new friend who has been asleep for a 1,000 years. He observes that there are no walls around their city, like the walls around his castle. The detective then tells him, it’s because our enemies are within, and then it pans across the New York skyline and there in the background are the twin towers. 

In that moment you can look back in time and see that we were a country who wasn’t ready for the urgency that was ahead. 

When were dealing with other issues that produce no fruit, we were not prepared for the unknown problems that mattered. We were blind side because we were so caught up in other less important matters. 

It’s the same thing in our own lives. When we’re messing around with issues that blind us to those things that are urgent, we get blindside. However, if we are devoted to good works, avoiding the things that don’t bring about good fruit, we will be ready to respond in goodness when the urgent comes.

We will face these urgent events through the righteousness of Jesus, while being empowered by the Holy Spirit, and we will overcome them with the goodness of God, leaving the event stronger in our faith. 

God is calling us to the life he saved us to live. A life founded on the righteousness of Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and devoted to the good works that he is doing. Anything less than that, is a life that is holding on to the old self, a self that is decaying away. Instead, let us rely on the Holy Spirit to bring us further into the goodness of God, that we may begin to experience the riches of eternal life in the time we have on this moral existence.

My challenge for you is to prepare for next week’s sermon on politics. Walk back through this passage, taking the unprofitable things that we are to avoid, and seeing how those things are in the political realm right now. What is God calling me away from in how I approach the political landscape, that I might live more in his goodness.

Let us be a people who are devoted to good works, that the people around us might see those works and praise our Heavenly Father. Amen.

Titus Week 3: Position To Produce

  Anyone know what a position player is? In sports it’s simply a player that plays a specific position to fulfill specific needs on a team. Every position is at least slightly different than every other position. In baseball you have eight positions players. The catcher is the general of the field; they can see all and they call plays. First baseman has a small range of area to field, as their primary role is to field infield balls from other positions at their base. The second baseman’s play the area ranges from behind second base over to the out of bounds fence and from inner outfield to the inner infield. The Shortstop plays opposite of the second baseman covering his mirrored side. Third baseman is much like the first baseman, but usually with a stronger arm and willing to take a hard hit. Left and right field mirror each other in area to cover, while centerfield’s job is to cover half of left and right field as well. Each of these players are then to also bat in a specific position in the lineup as the manager sees fit for their ability. The pitcher, though sometimes he hits, is not necessarily considered a position player and their DH, or designated hitter, is also not considered a position player. This is similar in hockey where the goalie is not considered a position player.

Each of these positions carry with it specific needs to fulfill so that the whole team benefits. 

And its this idea of fulling our positions to benefit the whole, that brings us back to our summer series as we walk through Paul’s letter to Titus, where we’ll be picking it back up in chapter 2 verse 1. And as we open up to Titus 2:1, let’s look back on the last two weeks. 

In our first week, we talked about the purpose of Paul’s writing and how Paul is calling Titus to his role and purpose of raising up elders so that God’s grace and peace can be experienced by the local church. This is something all believers must learn. We all must learn our God given role and purpose in his Church. When we do, we give room for God’s grace and peace to happen, because we’re experiencing for ourselves that grace and peace. 

Following that, last week we started to get into the nitty gritty of Titus’ call to raise up elders. We were given a list of qualifications of what an elder should be. In those qualifications there was the family side, the personal character side, and the protecting the flock side. In the family side, an elder was to lead his family in godliness. In the personal side, he needed a consistent godly character that was moving closer to Christ. Finally, in the protecting the flock side, an elder was to make sure that the believers God had given them to oversee, were being protected from people who would distort the core of the Gospel. When looking at all of these qualifications, though some people were called to the role of elder, each and every believer is to strive to meet these qualifications. That’s because an elder is supposed to be a maturing Christian, and that is God’s goal for all of us. That is made even clearer in the next chapter of Titus. 

So let’s read together Titus chapter 2 verses 1-15.

1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. 7 Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

15 Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Paul writes to Titus about five groups of people: Older men, Older women, younger men, younger women and bondservants. Notice that though Paul’s intention is for Titus to raise up elders, good elders are not all a church needs. Each and every believer has their own role and purpose. It’s almost as if everyone should be striving for the qualities of godliness.

v. 1-10

Each one of these has their own focus and some overlap. Older men are to be sober-minded, meaning they should be in their right mind, meaning they shouldn’t be drunk. Why, because they should be dignified, and self-controlled. You can’t be either if you’re not sober. But older men should also be sound in their faith, meaning they should be rock solid in what they believer about God. But older men should also love people, meaning they are graceful with others. They also should be steadfast, meaning they are to endure the hard things of life. 

Older women are to be similar. Reverent behavior is the same as being dignified and self-controlled. Not being a slave to wine is the same as being sober-minded, and if you are reverent in behavior, then you won’t be a slander. Instead, older women are to be teachers of what’s good, this is means by word an action they are showing what goodness or what nobleness and being honorable looks like. In addition, they are to train young women, which means they are to help young women realize their own need for self-control. In this case, how to love their husbands, how to deal with children, out to live a pure and self-controlled life, how to keep the home in order, how to be kind, and how to be submissive, which means to follow their husband in a godly way. 

Young men are to be self-controlled, but here Paul tells Titus to be a model of what that means. Titus is to model good works, he is to teach integrity, dignity, and healthy speech. 

Finally, Paul addresses bondservants who are also supposed to be self-controlled, they are to please their masters, and not argue or steal from them, but instead be good or pleasant in how they respond to their master. 

All of these attributes that Paul is talking about, are attributes that all believers are called to. Paul had written to the Galatians, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control … (Galatians 5:22-23)” The things that Paul is telling Titus to communicate to others are the very things that God is calling all of us to do. How these fruit of the Spirit are carried out will depend on who we are, old or young, and what are roles we may have, leaders of households, house-keepers, bondservants.  But no matter where we find ourselves, we should be striving for the work of God in us and through us, that we might produce the fruit that God has saved us to show. 

v.11-15

And we can and should do this, because God gives us the grace to do so. It’s through Jesus’ work on the cross that we are called out of our uncontrolled lives. It’s because of Jesus’ sacrifice that we are called out of hatred, out of misery, out of turmoil, out of agitation, out of rudeness, out of evil, out of disobedience, and out of harshness. We are called to a greater work, a godly work that is achieved through Jesus and is empowered by the Holy Spirit. God is purifying us, and setting us aside from the world, to show us greater peace and grace, because he desires goodness to flow out of us.

So we must strive to submit to the Holy Spirit’s work, and take seriously the call to bear the fruit of the Spirit. 

It does’t matter what position we are called to, God is calling each and everyone of us to display the goodness that flows from the person of God to the people of God. Though there are different positions for baseball players, they should all know how to throw the and catch the ball. They are to know the game and the situations they find themselves. If there’s a runner on first base, the infielders are thinking a double play, but the outfielders are thinking “catch the ball, and get it in because the runner might tag up.” Though they play different roles, they are striving to utilize their common skills in their role, for the betterment of the team. We are called to strive for the fruit of the Spirit and to fulfill our role and position in a God honoring way.

So my challenge for you this week, is to look at the group you most closely identify with and see what area God wants to work on you in. If you’re an older guy, are you sober-minded, are you dignified, are you self-controlled, are you sound in faith, are you loving, and enduring? Older women can it be said of you that you are reverent in your behavior, are you teaching goodness, have you ever tried to help a young woman in their life? Young women, if you have a husband or kids are you loving them? Are you self-controlled, working in purity and kindness? Young men, are you doing good works, are you showing integrity, and dignity and being self-controlled? We don’t have bondservants in our society, but if you have a job, are you self-controlled at work, are you seeking to please your boss, not arguing with them or stealing from them, are you known to be a pleasant person at your job?

God is calling all of us to not merely say we follow Jesus, but to produce the fruit of that following. We’re all going to stumble and falter, but that should drive us to a greater reliance on God and seeking his forgiveness and his empowerment. God desires that we would be a people who experience his grace and peace, so lets put ourselves into position to receive it. That God would be given the glory through our lives. Amen.

Titus Week 2: Qualified No Matter the Title

  Have you seen those pictures that go around the internet with the text that reads, “When you lie on your resume, but still get the job”? You might see a dog with a shuttlecock on it’s nose, as it blends in with some ducks, or you might see a cat with a coat on that says security dog. They’re pretty funny, but knowing the right qualifications and actually having them are two different things. When I was first starting out in vocational ministry I looked at, and applied to, a lot of ministries. Usually I got interviews, and in most cases got to the last round before they went with someone else. That was a blessing in disguise, because it means I’ve had the honor of serving this congregation for almost seventeen years come this October. But one of the craziest ministries I looked, but never applied to, was one that was looking for a youth pastor. It was a full time position, but they were only paying a part-time salary in California. In addition, they were looking for a young person with five plus years of full-time ministry experience and at least a masters level degree. 

It is still the most ridiculous set of qualifications I have ever seen. So knowing that was what they were looking for, I didn’t even attempt to apply.  

But its this idea of knowing and having the right qualifications that brings us back to our summer study in the letter to Titus, where we’ll pick it back up in verse 5 of chapter 1. As we open our Bibles up to Titus 1:5, let’s look back on how the letter started.

In our first week in Titus, we talked about how Paul had sent Titus to Crete so that he could appoint elders in the local congregations there, and make sure that the churches were in order. In doing this, Paul starts off with helping Titus understand that, he was being called to know his role and purpose, in order to help bring about a greater experience of God’s grace and peace within the local body of believers. What we got out of that was, that, when believers understand that they have a role and purpose and embrace it within their local congregations, a greater experience of God’s grace and peace occurs. So Paul is telling Titus, and through him the Holy Spirit is telling us, that we need to fulfill our role and purpose in our local congregation, so that as a body of believers, we can experience a greater grace and peace. Something we should all want.

Moving from that understanding, Paul now gives Titus more details of roles in the local congregation, and through the fulfilling of those roles, how peace and grace can be experienced. Let’s read starting in Titus 1:5.

5 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— 6 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. 7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 12 One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13 This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. 15 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. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Paul begins his section on roles with that of the overseer, or elder. Every local congregation is to have spiritual overseers who tend to the overall needs of the congregation  but especially the spiritual needs of the people. These overseers have some requirements, so let’s walk through them. Overall an elder is to be above reproach, meaning they are to have a good reputation. Now no one can please everyone, but in general, an elder should be known positively by most people.

Next, is family matters. They should be married to one wife, meaning, they’re not a polygamist. God’s intended marriage unit is one man and one woman, one can be celibate and be an elder, but one cannot be in any type of relationship other than a heterosexual monogamous one. This specifying of married to one woman and it’s corresponding passage in 1st Timothy 3, implies that elder is to be male. This is why we only have male eldership in our congregation. And there is a whole debate about this that happens within the Church on women eldership. If that is something you wold like me to take a Sunday and teach on, I will, but for now, we’re just reading the plain text of the Scripture. 

In addition to this, again going off of the parallel passage in 1st Timothy, the children who are in the home are to be faithful. Meaning they are to be raised as believers, and have the faith instilled in them. The elder should conduct his household in such a way, that his children are known to not be insubordinate and they are not allowed to engage in debauchery which means not engaging in sensual pleasures. In other words, as long as the children are at home, they are reared to be respectful both to God and people. There are those that interpret this passage to say that an elder’s child should be a believer after they leave the home. However, though this should be the goal of a every Christian parent, when a child leaves that home, an elder can no longer be held responsible for the choices of the child. Instead the elder should strive to be an example of a godly parent and loving their child whether they remain faithful or not.

From the family, Paul reiterates that an elder should be above reproach. So he begins to give some personal details of what that means. There should be no arrogance, quick temper, drunkenness, violence, greediness. There might be moments of such things, an arrogant moment, a momentary loss of temper, a sip one to far, a hammer tossed across the room, a laps in desire to gain more, we all struggle with sin and sometimes, even the best of us, have those quick momentary lapses. However, Paul is talking about lifestyle. What’s being talked about here is a consistency issue, this is why Paul brings up the positive to these negatives.  

An elder must be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. The elder is more consistent in the positive areas of life, rather than in the negative ones. Paul’s not talking about perfect people, remember this is the same guy that in Romans 7:15 wrote, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Elders are those who hate the things of sin, and though they may falter like the rest of us, pursue the positive things of Christ. This is why Paul states they “… must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.” An elder is someone that holds to the faith and moves further from sin as they lead others. 

This is something we all should strive for. Though we might not all be called to be elders and overseers of a congregation, we should all strive to be moving closer to Christ and further from sin. Like we have stated time and time again, sin has no power over us, and any power it seems to have is power that we give back to it by not holding firm to Jesus and walking in the Holy Spirit. An elder is someone who is doing that consistently enough and loves people enough to make sure their spiritual lives are being pointed to Jesus. By an elder’s desire to pursue Christ, they give instruction. Showing what it means to be a redeemed person who falters and yet still seeks after Jesus. They rebuke and take rebukes when appropriate. 

Right now I’m reading through the early history of the Church and time and time again one overseer of a large city will send letters of encouragement and rebuke to other overseers. The Church has always understood that we are all susceptible to stumbling in our faith. Yet an elder is to be the first to turn in repentance because they are solid enough in their faith to know, they can falter just like anyone else.

However, next to being an example to the people who are being watched over, the purpose of an elder is to watch over the spiritual condition of those God has entrusted to them. In our congregation, when a person becomes a member of the church, there is a section called “The Commitment of the Elders and Leadership of the Church to its Members.” In that section it states, 

“We, as elders and the leadership, have committed ourselves to love you. Jesus said this trait would mark His disciples (John13:34), and we intend to live out that divine order of love. We will always be committed to you and we are here to serve and help you to become the person God created you to be.

“We commit ourselves to teach and feed you the pure word of God (John 21:16). We who pastor you believe in the absolute need of your knowing and growing in the Word. We will give ourselves to nourish you, with the goal that you become the maximum possible person according to God’s plan for you.

“We commit ourselves to stand by you in any time of need, burden, or personal crises. However, you must let us know when you are hurt if we are to function as God intends for us to function, when the need arises.

“We commit ourselves to pray for you and have been praying for you. The Bible says that we are to ‘oversee the flock’ and to ‘watch for your souls.’”

“Finally, we are committed to counsel and correct you, should you drift from the truth as it is in Jesus. The Bible directs pastoral and elder leadership to ‘reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine (2 Tim. 4:2).’ We are committed to doing everything as lovingly as possible to keep you in obedience to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”

It’s the duty of the elders to make sure the local flock of God is spiritually healthy. And it’s the duty of the elders to live out a life that is consistent with what it looks like to be faithful in both our victories and defeats.

But it is also the elders’ job to be protective of the flock from outside attacks. Paul mentions the circumcision party, who follow Jewish myths, and get people to turn away from the truth. In the case Titus will be dealing with, these are people that hold to a faith that says Gentiles have to put themselves under the Jewish law in order to be saved. But in his follow up on what these people look like, Paul gives us a glimpse into other things that would come against the Church. 

Since a primary goal of the elders are to make sure that there is peace within the congregation, they have to deal with attacks from the outside by those who hold an unattainable litmus test for people. Last year I spoke on the core of Christian doctrine, which are those things that if a person holds to, I won’t disfellowship with them. I might not let them teach, because I’m pretty guarded when it comes to that, but I won’t simply turn them away. If I did that, then there would be a lot less people I would talk to, and that number would be ever shrinking, because, for those who see defilement everywhere, Paul is stating that, everything is defiled. It’s the job of the local elder to make those decisions. And not everyone will be happy about those decisions. But the elder answers to God, not to rogue parties. If God desires to remove an elder for their decisions, God will remove that elder. 

The local elder is an important position that is not to be sought after for personal gain, but to be desired as a position to serve in. It’s a position out in front and judged by many people. I personal get emails and texts telling me how I’m leading people astray. How I don’t care for the people’s spiritual lives, how I don’t preach the Gospel, and that I don’t teach from the Bible. I do take criticism seriously, and bring it before God to see if I am indeed leading wrongly. However I have found that most attacks are from people who do not care for the local body of believers, because they come at the issue with venom and not grace. To combat this, the old saying is true, “water off a duck’s back.”  Meaning, I try not take attacks personally.

The five men who lead this congregation love you. They are not perfect by any means. They falter. But they love Jesus, they love people, and they repent readily when they mess up. It took years for us to get to where we are, sometimes there was only two elders here because we did not have enough to qualify for the role. But now, there are a dozen or more men who I would call on in an instant to be an elder, yet at this time, God hasn’t called them. But they display the qualifications of that position.

That is something we should all strive for. Everyone of us should strive for the qualifications of an elder. All of us should be a good steward of what God has given us. We should all strive to be above reproach. We should all strive to not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain. We should all strive to be hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. And we should all strive to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.

We can easily get hung up on the men verse women thing that is such a hot topic. You know for years I knew I wasn’t qualified to be an elder, and even now, there are times when I still don’t think I am. To tell you the truth, if I wasn’t called to this position, I wouldn’t do it. The stress and attacks are not worth it if Christ wasn’t my prize. The man verse woman thing to me side tracks us from being faithful in what God has called us to. If I was an elder or if I was not, I am still called to the same level of faithfulness. No matter what my role, or my title, I am to be striving to be more conformed to the image of Jesus than I was yesterday. And there are people, both men and women who exemplify that image and yet are not in positions of eldership, and their calling is no less important. 

God is calling us to himself. That means being faithfully growing in our walks with the Lord. Positions are meaningless if Jesus is not our goal. 

My challenge for you this week, is not to seek a role in the church, but rather to seek Jesus. Walk back through these qualifications of an elder that are found in verses 7-9 and ask yourself, would I be qualified? If there is an area that needs improvement, seek the Lord to build you up in that area, not for the prestige of the title, but for the joy of being closer to Jesus.

If we were all of the maturity level to be qualified to be an elder, how great would be the peace and grace of God that we would experience.

Let us be a congregation of qualified people. Amen.