Preached on Sunday, January 31, 2010
from
Titus 1:5-9; with various passages

Theme: This passage highlights the high standard God places on the character of those who care for His church.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

When you think back on the pastors that God has placed in your life as a Christian, what do you remember most about them?

I’ve often thought of that question in regard to my own Christian life; and I have no doubt that the pastors God gave me were used by Him to make me the man I am today. I hope you don’t mind if I share with you a little about them.

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I became a believer in 1973 in my teen-age years. I knew that I needed to go to a church; and so, I went to the only church that I knew anything about—which was the Presbyterian church down the street from where my family lived in the Seattle area. I didn’t know at the time that there were good churches and bad churches; but in the providence of God, this church happened to be a good one that was pastored by a wonderful, seasoned preacher—a very dignified, older gentleman. He preached in a long black, austere robe; but he didn’t seem to mind that all of us kids used to call him ‘The Rev’. I’ll never forget how much genuine interest he showed in how I had just come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. He and his family lived in the ‘manse’ next to the church—where everyone could see their daily life. I was always impressed with how strong in the Lord his whole family was. This pastor’s family life had a permanent impact on me.

I eventually got involved in a Christian band that was formed in that church; and we performed in a Baptist church not far away—which is where I met the young girl who became my wife. We started dating pretty seriously; and it was then she told me that she didn’t wish to go to a Presbyterian church. I guess I wasn’t a very committed Presbyterian, because I made one of the fastest conversions from Presbyterian to Baptist on record. The pastor of this Baptist church was the one that married my wife and me; and he was a wonderful shepherd to us. He had originally trained to become a medical doctor; and I think that his medical background had made him a very compassionate counselor to people in need. He let me serve as a youth worker in the church, and really took me under his wing. He even gave me the opportunity to preach my first sermon at a Sunday evening service; and suggested afterwards that I go on to train for pastoral ministry. I learned a lot of common-sense principles about dealing with people from him.

It was a sad day for us all when he left us to take a church in Eastern Oregon. But the man who replaced him was another wonderful pastor. He was a man who had just completed his doctoral work at Dallas Theological Seminary; and was a very careful theologian and defender of the faith. He had the disciplined mind of a lawyer; and had even began to host a weekly radio program in Seattle from which he defended the Christian faith and the Bible’s reliability. He sometimes took me along with him to the radio station as he debated with unbelieving clergymen who denied the authority of the Bible. I learned from this pastor to be serious about biblical doctrine and to stand for the defense of the faith in an unbelieving culture. It was under his encouragement and support that my wife and I moved to Portland to pursue my training for ministry.

When we came to Portland, we began the search for a church home. We looked up the brother of a friend of ours from Seattle who pastored a church in the Saint John’s community of Portland, and fell in love with him right away. He gave me the opportunity to serve my Bible college internship under his supervision. He wasn’t like any of the other pastors I had known. He was a mechanic by trade; which made him seem to me like a simple, approachable, down-to-earth, regular guy . . . who just happened to also be the pastor of a church. Some of the greatest times I had learning from him were while we talked in his garage—laying underneath my car as he changed a clutch for me, or took care of some other car repair that I couldn’t afford. The things I learned from him weren’t the kind of things I could have learned in the college classroom—things like serving people’s needs in little ways, and having a joyful attitude in the midst of some of the difficult trials of ministry.

I was very distressed when this pastor left—particularly because of all the ways that he had allowed me to become a part of his ministry. But the pastor that this particular church called next was also one who invited me to participate in the ministry with him. He too was a graduate of Dallas Seminary; and was trained as a teacher. I sat under his ministry while going to seminary; and it was from him that I learned about the importance of being a careful expositor of the Scriptures. All of his sermons were carefully constructed, verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter expositions of the books of the Bible. He taught me the importance of being diligent in my preaching to study the biblical languages; and to make sure that what I preached and taught could be defended from the text of Scripture.

It was shortly after being under his ministry that I was called to become the pastor of Bethany Bible Church back in 1992. But I look back on those five pastors as providential gifts from God that He used to help prepare me for my ministry here.

Between all of these pastors were others—associate pastors, youth pastors, interim pastors, occasional guest preachers, and professors in pastoral ministry—who also had an impact on me. But when I think of these five particular pastors whose preaching ministries I sat under for so many years, I need to tell you that I don’t really remember much about any of the Sunday morning sermons they preached. There are a couple of ‘stand-out’ things in a few sermons here or there; but not much more than that. I honestly don’t know who that says more about—them as preachers, or me as a listener. And as I stand before you as a pastor myself, and am preaching a sermon to you today, the fact that I remember so little from their sermons does give me cause for concern!

But the thing that I remember most about them—each one in their individual ways—wasn’t the greatness of their sermons, but rather the character of their lives. As I told you about them, I hope you can tell that it was who they were as men of God that impacted me the most. They set an example to me of godly Christian family living, of compassionate and wise care for those in need, of faithfulness in standing for biblical truth and defending the Christian faith, of simple acts of sacrificial service in love, and of the high calling of diligently preaching God’s word. Those are the “sermons” they preached to me that I remember most.

And it’s the invaluable impact of the Christian character of such godly pastors that comes to my most mind powerfully as we turn to this morning’s passage from the New Testament book of Titus.

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Sometime before Paul wrote this letter, he had apparently been ministering to the Christians on the island of Crete. Christians had begun to meet together in its various cities, and churches began to form in some of their homes. And it seems that Titus had been personally involved in the ministry of the gospel on Crete with Paul.

But the time came for Paul to leave; so, he left the work that had begun in the hands of his trusted assistant Titus. And shortly thereafter, Paul wrote the words of our passage this morning; in which he says to Titus,

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict (Titus 1:5-9).

When I read that passage, I feel like I’m reading something of the impact those previous pastors of mine had on me. And it reminds me of how crucial good, godly pastoral leadership is to God’s plan for His precious people. No wonder He sets such high standards for their character.

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Now; Paul began by telling Titus to put in order the things that still remained to be taken care of in all the churches in the island of Crete. God doesn’t want His church to be disorderly. It glorifies Him for things to be done in an orderly and effective manner. And as a key part of this instruction, he told Titus to get to work appointing “elders” in every city.

So; a first question I ask us to consider this morning is . . .

1. WHAT IS AN ELDER?

The word that Paul uses in the original language of verse six is presbuteros. I mentioned earlier that the formative years of my Christian life were spent in a Presbyterian church. And it’s from this word that the Presbyterians draw their name. The word itself means “elder”; and while it can refer to a man who is older in age, its meaning here is primarily that of a man who occupies the office of leadership in a church. The emphasis this particular word gives is on the character of the man who occupies that office.

And do you notice that in verse seven, the elder is also referred to as a “bishop”? That’s taken from the Greek word episkopos—which, over time, ‘morphed’ into the word “bishop”. That word means “overseer”; and it refers to the office of one who gives spiritual oversight over the care and ministry of a church. The emphasis this particular word gives is on the service that the man who occupies the office of elder fulfills.

A third word that is used elsewhere in Scripture is “pastor”; and that gives special emphasis to the idea of “shepherding” God’s people in the same way that a shepherd would provide care and protection for a flock of sheep. And all three of these words—presbyter (or elder), and bishop (or overseer), and shepherd (or pastor)—are referring to the same thing viewed in three different ways. Many people in church history have tried to divide these words up into different offices in the church; but in Scripture, they are all meant to be descriptive of the same man. Peter, in 1 Peter 5:1-2 uses all three together when he writes, “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers . . .”

When you look through the New Testament and put together the “job description” of these ‘overseeing’, ‘shepherding’ elders, you get an appreciation of why they must be strictly qualified

— It’s their job, for example to teach the people of God. 1 Timothy 3:2 tells us that they must be “able to teach”; and 1 Timothy 5:17 says that elders who rule well should “be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine”. Ephesians 4:11 emphasizes this role when it speaks of “pastors and teachers” together as referring to the same office.

— It’s also their role to appoint others in the church to areas of ministry. In 1 Timothy 4:14, Paul tells Timothy, “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.”

— They’re charged with the task of protecting the church’s doctrine and teaching. In 1 Timothy 4:13 and 16 Paul tells Pastor Timothy, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine . . . Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

— Along with this, they are to do the very difficult work of rebuking false teaching and defend the truth from those who oppose it. In fact, Paul tells Titus immediately after our passage this morning—in Titus 1:10-11—that this is one of the very reasons why he needed to appoint elders in Crete; “For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.” In 2 Timothy 2:23-26, he told Timothy, “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

— Many people in our culture have different ideas of what priorities a pastor ought to have. But in the Bible, they are to prioritize the ministries of preaching the word and of prayer. The leaders of the early church delegated the day-to-day details to others; but said, “we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Paul told Pastor Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:1-4, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” The apostle James wrote, in James 5:14, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.”

— And one of the most important things that elders do—just as I highlighted to you when I told you about the wonderful pastors God gave me—is to provide a godly example for the people of God. In 1 Timothy 4:12, Paul told Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” In 1 Peter 5:3, Peter urged the elders to be “examples to the flock.” In Hebrews 13:7, the writer of Hebrews instructed the people of God, “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.”

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An elder (or a bishop), then, is the same thing as a pastor. When you consider the vital role that elders fill in God’s plan for His people, you can see that it was vital to the health and well-being of the church on Crete that Titus obey Paul’s instruction, and appoint elders in the churches that were in every city.

But you can also see, by the crucial role that God has ordained them to fill, that they must be spiritually qualified for the work. As Paul told Timothy, “This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1)—not “good” in the sense of a good career move, but rather “good” in the sense of something that is of great good and of crucial importance to God’s precious people. It’s not a role to take lightly!

And so; that leads us next to ask . . .

2. WHAT KIND OF MAN OUGHT TO BE AN ELDER?

Paul tells us, in this morning’s passage, the qualifications God sets for elders. We’ll be examining these qualifications in specific detail in our next few times together. But just looking over them in brief, you can see that they can be divided up into three broad categories:

— First are what we might call the family qualifications of an elder. God treats the family-life of the elder as something very important. So Paul says, in verse six that he must be “the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.”

— Second, we see what we might call his character qualifications. God calls men to be elders who will be men of integrity—not only in the pulpit, but also in every area of their private and social lives. We see these qualifications negatively stated in verse seven; that he be “not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money . . .” And then, we see them positively stated in verse eight; that he be “hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled . . .”

— And finally, we see his doctrinal qualifications. God wants His elders to cling strongly to the great doctrinal truths of the Scripture. So we see, in the first half of verse nine, that he must be “holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught”.

And do you notice the things that are not mentioned? We’re not told that an elder must be an educated man. We’re not told that he must be a really dynamic speaker. We’re not told that he must be an entertaining story-teller who attracts crowds. We’re not told that he must be handsome and charming. We’re not told that he must be a good administrator, or a great corporate organizer, or a great fund-raiser. We’re not told that he must have written some books. Sadly, those are the things that often move some churches to place a man into the position of elder. But God is not looking for men to lead His church that are great at what they can do. He’s looking for men who are great at what they are—because those are the kinds of men He can use to do what He wants done!

Now; I believe these things are summed up in the phrase you find at the beginning of verse six; “. . . if a man is blameless . . .”; or, as it is in the English Standard Version, “. . . above reproach . . .” That, of course, doesn’t mean that he must be sinless; because no man could ever be pastor if that was the standard! Rather, it means that there must be no charge that can be legitimately laid at his character that would make it questionable that they should care for the holy people for whom Jesus shed His blood. He must not have the kind of skeletons in his closet from the past that can be brought out later to bring shame to the cause of Christ; and he must not have any flaws in his character that the devil can make use of in the future to cause harm to the church.

The reason for this is stated in verse seven; “For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God . . .” The elder is engaged in a very high and worthy work—that of being God’s household manager. He must have the attitude Paul spoke of in Acts 20:28; when he spoke to a group of elders and said, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Such a ‘household manager’ must be trusted to handle the sacred and precious church that the Lord Jesus entrusted to him with the utmost integrity!

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And finally, at the end of verse nine, we see the answer to the question . . .

3. WHY ARE SUCH QUALIFICATIONS NECESSARY?

They are necessary because of the kind of work that the elder is called to do. Paul says it’s so that “he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict” (v. 9b). The church in Crete desperately needed this. As Paul goes on to say, in verses 10-14;

For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. One of them, 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 giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth (vv. 10-14).

And we need this too in our own day. It may well be that one of the greatest reasons why the church is not impacting the culture around us today as it should—but is rather fitting more and more with the ungodly values and priorities of that culture—is because God’s qualifications for godly leadership in the church are not being faithfully followed!

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Now; you might be wondering why we need to take our time through this passage. After all, it’s about the qualifications of a pastor; and you might be inclined to think that such words don’t have anything to do with you. You might even be thinking to yourself that it’s a sermon that I ought to just preach to myself.

Well; I assure you that I am preaching it to myself too! But the fact is that every believer in this room this morning is called to a remarkably high standard of Christian character. As our Lord Himself has said to His followers, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). These qualities describe—to some degree—what ought to characterize every true ambassador of Jesus Christ in this world. And because a pastor is called by God to be a faithful example to the flock, it’s absolutely essential that these qualities—intended by God to be replicated in His people—most definitely be found in him!

The church is the shadow of its leaders cast long. These are standards that all of us need to understand thoroughly—and hold one another accountable to—for our own sakes and for the sake of the witness of Jesus’ church in the world! You need to pray for me, and for the other leaders of the church family, that we will faithfully hold true to these qualifications all our days.

And also, we need to be praying for one another as individual believers; that we will see the spirit of these qualifications represented and exhibited in our lives before the watching world!