Preached on Sunday, January 2, 2010
from
Titus 1:1-4

Theme: The theme of the New Testament book of Titus is that genuine faith in sound gospel teaching is to manifest itself in a life of holiness and good works.

Sometime between the years 63 to 65 A.D.—just a few years before he laid down his life for our Lord Jesus Christ—the great apostle Paul wrote a letter to a newly-appointed pastor of a community of churches.

The situation that this new pastor was appointed to oversee was not an easy one. These churches were scattered across a large island that enjoyed a rich history—being situated as it was in the midst of the Mediterranean Sea only a hundred miles or so south of the coasts of both Greece and Asia Minor. But the culture that surrounded this new church was a very ungodly one; and the people who inhabited this island were proverbial for their dishonesty, debauchery and laziness. In fact, even to this day, it’s an insult to call someone a “Cretan”.

But Paul told this young man,

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— (Titus 1:5).

Clearly, Paul had great confidence in—and love for—the man that he had appointed to this ministry. It was a man that Paul had most likely led to the Lord Jesus many years before; and who had accompanied him on many of his missionary travels. In time, Paul grew to have enough confidence in this young man to send him out as his representative to different churches—sometimes to help bear financial gifts to those in need, and sometimes to even help resolve difficult situations of church conflict.

Paul wrote a letter to this pastor that—I believe—he intended not only to be an encouragement to the pastor himself, but also to be circulated to the church families the pastor served! Paul wanted those churches to understand what it is that this pastor was to do, why he was to do it, and what was to happen to them as a result.

This lead-pastor’s name is Titus. And I believe that it’s God’s will for us, as a church family, to spend the next few months studying together from the New Testament letter that Paul wrote to him.

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The New Testament book of Titus is one of the three New Testament letters that Paul wrote specifically to pastors—the other two being 1 and 2 Timothy. And Titus is the smallest of those three letters. It’s only forty-six verses long. When I lay open the particular edition of the Bible I use, and turn to the book of Titus, I can see the whole letter at a glance. Yet, for as small as it is, it is a powerfully relevant book. In fact, it’s very much a needed message for churches in our own day.

In the book of Titus, the apostle Paul urges pastor Titus to teach sound doctrine to the people of God on the island of Crete; and to make very sure that they understand that such sound gospel teaching goes hand-in-hand with holy living. And that’s a message that particularly needs to be stressed in our day.

Many folks in churches today have grown to believe that if they just believe the right doctrines, then it won’t much matter how they live. And as a result, such professing Christians have grown to be almost indistinguishable from the ungodly people of the culture around them. They are just like what Paul says in 1:16—Christians who “profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work”—never realizing that genuine faith in the message of the gospel is to always express itself in godly living. It’s key to our witness to the world!

That great truth—that true faith in the gospel is to express itself in godly living—is a message that Paul stresses all the way through this brief letter. You’ll find it in the first verse; where Paul speaks of “the truth which accords with godliness” (1:1). In 2:1 Paul writes to Titus and says, “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.” In 2:10; Paul urges that the believers be taught to live godly lives, “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things”. In 2:11-15, he tells Titus;

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you (2:11-15).

Paul tells Titus to remind the believers to, among other things, “be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work” (3:1). He says that “these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men” (3:8). He tells him to “let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (3:14).

A genuine faith in sound gospel teaching is to manifest itself in a life of holiness and good works. That’s what this little letter is about. And it’s a message we desperately need to hear today!

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It’s hard to think of a New Testament book that’s more relevant to our times than this one. Let me show you something of its relevance by sharing a bit more with you about it—and the way that Paul develops this theme of godly living.

One of the things that is characteristic of our day is the rejection of church organization and leadership. We live in a day, in fact, in which there is a growing movement among professing Christians that is very much like an attitude found in unbelievers—that is, the abandonment and rejection of a corporate gathering into an organized church. There are a growing number of popular writers and speakers who profess the Christian faith; but who also have ceased to meet with a local church, and who are advocating that other Christians do the same. The movement even has a name—”churchless Christianity”.

Basically, these writers and speakers are saying something like this: “Organization and institutionalization are human concepts. Jesus didn’t come to this earth to establish a religious institution. And besides, organized religions, and religious institutions that comprise them, tend to oppress people and limit their freedom. The church isn’t a building; and we don’t need authority figures to tell us what to do. The church is a body of people who freely follow Jesus. So; we should not let ourselves be bound to a physical institution, or to a formal creed, or to any kind of spiritually authoritarian leadership structure. We should live in the midst of this world and have ‘church’ wherever it is that we meet—at Starbucks, or in a restaurant, or just in one another’s homes.”

And this has a ring of truth to it. It’s certainly true that the church is much more than a building. It’s certainly true that it’s composed of people who follow Jesus freely. But it’s also true that Jesus commanded us to form into communities of faith that have a structure and a creed. Our Lord has, in fact, said that He would “build His church” upon a creed (Matthew 16:15-18); and He commanded that we hold one another morally accountable to the corporately gathered church—to which He gave great spiritual authority (Matthew 18:15-20). And in spite of the faults we may find in the local church, the Bible commands us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together for mutual edification (Hebrews 10:24-25). We neglect this word of instruction from the Bible to our own spiritual peril!

(Just as an aside; I would add that we should always beware of so-called “Christian” writers and speakers who openly depart from, or speak against, the church structure that our Lord and His apostles established. The apostle John warned of those who “went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us” [1 John 2:19]. I would encourage you, dear brothers and sisters, to always be very discerning about who you listen to—even when they say they are Christians!)

So; what does Paul say about this in this little letter? Amazingly, the first thing that he tells Titus to do in order to make sure true gospel faith expresses itself in godly living is to command that good, healthy local church organization be established; and that good, godly spiritual leadership be set-up—the exact opposite of what some are advocating today! Paul writes;

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.

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 (Titus 1:5-11).

What a relevant message this little book has to give to us! Who would have thought that God’s solution to this basic problem—the problem of how professing Christians live contrary to the truth they profess—was to make sure that the church is well-organized, and that godly leadership is well-instituted?

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Now; that’s the thing that’s stressed in the first chapter. And the thing that is then stressed in the second chapter is sound, faithful, authoritative, exhortive biblical instruction. Once more, this makes Titus a very relevant book to study.

When I first came to our church, I was a bit surprised by something. People would come to visit our worship service; and then, as they were leaving, tell me how nice it is to visit a church where God’s word was being taught. “It doesn’t seem like anyone is preaching from the Bible expositionally anymore”, they’d say. And I’d be somewhat flattered by that; but I guess I didn’t really believe it. And yet, I kept hearing it from one new visitor after another. They kept telling me how nice it was to finally find a church where the Bible was being preached.

Now; I certainly don’t want to inflate the matter into something bigger than it is. But over the years; I’ve become convinced that we do, in fact, live in a day in which churches that preach and teach from the Bible in a clear, expositional manner—and in a way that says, “Here’s what the Bible tells you to do; now rise up and do it”—are truly rare! There may be lots of reasons for this (and I certainly hope and pray it changes). But the Bible itself warns that it will happen. Paul wrote to Pastor Timothy and urged him to faithfully ‘preach the word’; “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” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Again, this underscores why we need to hear from this book Titus. Paul begins the second chapter by telling Titus, “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine” (2:1); and then begins to explain what godly living would mean in the lives of the different people in the church;

that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things (2:2-10).

Contrary to what is so often done today, Paul then urges to instruct the people on these things with great spiritual authority; “Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you” (2:15).

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So; Paul develops the theme of his book—that gospel truth must always go hand-in-hand with godly living—by urging Titus in the first chapter to establish sound church organization and to appoint godly leaders, and urging him in the second chapter give faithful, biblical instruction to the church family in an authoritative, exhortive manner. Where would you hear such a thing today except in the Bible itself? That’s why we need to hear from this book.

And that brings us to the focus of the third chapter. It’s focus is on good works; and I would say that, in our day, that’s something that’s already emphasized. I’m glad it is. But the thing that the book of Titus reminds us is that it is the third great emphasis—and not the first. Good works are most certainly to characterize the people of God; and we are to faithfully serve the people around us. But we are always to do so upon the foundation of (1) sound church organization and spiritual leadership, and (2) faithful biblical instruction.

So; after the instructions of the first and second chapter, Paul then urges Titus in chapter three, “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work” (3:1). He says that “these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men” (3:8). He writes, “And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (3:14).

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So; that’s the nature of this wonderful book of Titus and its message to us. The grace of God has come into this world—bringing salvation to all who believe in it. But it also comes teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should become distinctly different from the people of this world. We should be a people who live “soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (2:11-14).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; the world is looking at us and longs to see the proof that the gospel we preach is true. And they know it’s true—in part—by the way it has transformed the people who proclaim it.

May God use our study of this book to make us the kind of people who truly “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things” (2:10).