Titus 1:1

We’ll be looking at verse one in particular, but let me read the first five verses of chapter one of the book of Titus. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledgement of the truth, which is after godliness. In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior. To Titus, my own son, after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. For this cause, left I. and thee in Crete, that thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. God blessed to us is sacred and His Holy Word this evening. Crete is a mountainous but beautiful island, some 60 miles southeast, of Greece in the Mediterranean Sea. This large island is about 150 miles long, and it varies between 35 and 70 miles wide. Many people go to Crete for vacation. It’s a sunny resort to go to. You can have a wonderful sun drenched week or two there on the island. But the purpose. The purpose of Titus, the recipient of this letter, as verse 4 indicates, being there, as verse 5 indicates that he is, was not for a vacation. It was not for a holiday in the sun. Titus, you recall, was a Greek, according to Galatians chapter 2, and he had been converted under Paul’s preaching. You’ll notice in verse 4, he talks about Titus. son after the common faith, and it evidently he was instrumental in bringing Titus to salvation. And we find that he served as the great missionaries helper in advancing the kingdom in the Roman Empire. He had been left on the island of Crete, according to verse 5, to set things in order that were wanting, lacking regarding the people of God who were living there. Now, the Christian faith had touched Crete early on it would appear in the outreach of the church. There were people from Crete that were at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost when the gospel was preached, and evidently some of those individuals had now gone back to the island. and somewhere along the line it appears here that churches were being established or at least loose congregations at this point on the island Paul himself was instrumental it appears in starting them although we have no record of that but you’ll notice he says I left the in crete which seems to imply that Paul had been there and he left behind Titus to straighten out some of the issues at hand. From this letter, it appears that the apostle knows very well the character of the people. They are people about whom he is well informed. He knows their circumstances. He knows their condition. Now, Paul writes this letter because these newly planted churches on Crete needed a lot of things straightened out. Titus, who’s Paul’s coworker is there to sort things out. Some of the things that are mentioned, we see that Titus is to ordain elders in every city, which implies that there had been some type of loosely formed groups or congregations at this point, and they needed oversight. And one of his purposes was to help them in the selection and setting up of elders. in the churches. One another reason was there were many unruly in vain talkers, he says, in verses 10 to 16 of Chapter 1, who had come along, who were deceiving people, even whole households were being deceived by a false teaching, and so he wanted to make sure that they would be established in the faith. And this is where the shepherds, you know, having a shepherd over the flock would be very helpful in you know, keeping the wolves at bay against the true people of God. We see also from chapter two that the conduct of the people who professed to be believers on the island needed some altering. And you’ll notice in chapter 2 verses 11 and 12, he says, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation at the peer to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. And he wants to emphasize what kind of life they’re supposed to live so that the gospel of Christ be not malign, which he is concerned about. And you’ll notice in chapter 3, verse 1. He says, put them in mind to be subject to the principalities and powers to obey magistrates to be ready to every good work. And here he seems to be indicating that make sure that you’re a good citizen. and you are not someone who is a rebellious subject in the place where you are, in the various area that you’re located with the rulers that are there, obey the magistrates, and be ready to do every good work. Now, as you read through this book, you will recognize many of the problems that come up with regard to the people on Christ. could easily be applied to our own day and age. And so they are very similar. Present-day churches are very vulnerable or false teachers because they’re not solidly established in the faith, as they should be. The issues of the role of men and women and the church also needs to be addressed. The despising of authority also has to be addressed. The basic selfish attitude, so believers also needs to be addressed. And he addresses these kind of issues in this particular book. And so I tell you this, to let you know that this, I think, is a very relevant book for us to consider. It’s an important book. It is God’s Word. And therefore, it is written for our admonition. Now let me begin by saying this. You live in a world where society is very self-centered. You know, in John Bunyan’s book, Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian Faith will come to a town called Vanity. And they hear the sounds of a fare, from a distance even, because they’re approaching the city. It’s called Vanity Fair. It was a busy place where all the commodities from the various major countries like Italy and France and England were being sold. and bought. Indeed, there were booze or stalls where every foolish knick-knack and trinket in the world was set up for sale. In addition to that, Bunyan says you could buy titles and honors and preferments and all kinds of things, maybe to high office, or there were vain pleasures, and certainly there were empty delights of every kind that were being sold at this vanity fair. Moving this business, Among the crowds were what Bunyan calls cheats and rogues. They were robbers. There were people that were out to steal your money while you’re there and so forth. The air was full of fearful oaths as well as the common chatter of people. I suppose if we and I were walking down New York City Street during a mid-week, we would probably run into this kind of atmosphere, and you’d probably have to make sure you watched your wallet and your purse. and so forth. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Well, Vanity Fair was not a newly erected business. It had been up for about a thousand years, and we read that Beelzebubbub, the Prince of the Demons, and with Apollion and Legion, and their companions, perceived that the Pilgrins’ Way lay through going through the city of Vanity, so they set up this fair to try to distract and to take away from their pursuit of the celestial city. Mr. Christian, Mr. Faithful, have to go through the town, and they have to go through this area. And so they could hear the merchants, you know, yelling, bye, by, bye, and so forth. And they are attempting to pass through the town sort of quietly and quickly and just get through it. But they’re arrested for attempting to avoid the temptations of this wicked place. They were not participating. First, their dress was different. you know, how they were clothed was different than everybody else. Their speech was different than everybody else. And they just weren’t participating. They weren’t buying anything. And so they get arrested. And remember that eventually Faithful was martyred there. And Christian escapes with a man named Hopeful, who is convinced that he wants to follow along with Christian and go to the celestial city. Now, what Bunyan is portraying is portraying. in this book, in this particular section, I think, is the life of the world. The mindset of the society in which we live. The everyday activity that consumes most of the people that you are around. The most influential image in our modern world is really the marketplace. And that’s what he portrays. Nothing’s really changed over time. This description, I think, pictures clearly the way the world works and how its people interact, not just regarding trade, but regarding all kinds of relationships. It provides, if you would, the earthly worldview. This is what the people of the world are focused upon. Everything from education to health is now seen in terms of product, sales, customers, prices, and so forth. We speak about market forces, market share, market value, but money is the bottom line. It’s the driving force behind our society, the pursuit of gain. Now, behind this image is really a philosophy, and that is at the center of life is this sanctity of the individual choice to pursue happiness. True freedom for individual, according to most years. You stroll through Vanity Fair, buy what you want, get the pleasures you want out of it, and so forth. Whatever possessions, whatever you want, whatever you want. It’s sort of a feeling-oriented society. Whatever pleases you, that’s what you should pursue. You do whatever you think is best. Top priority is your own interests. everything is rooted in the here and now though whether we talk about clothing the pleasures of the world the food whatever we’re looking at is really all rooted in an earth-centered viewpoint and so the marketplace here is we find is the cretans were affected by this whole idea that they were being caught up with this thinking this earthly worldview they were self-centered in their character. Now I want you to notice in verse 12 what Paul says here in chapter 1. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. The people of Crete, even from the early days of Christianity, were known as a self-centered lot. Paul quotes this sixth century author here, Epimendis, evidently on the character of his of the fellow countrymen here of Crete and all this time goes by we could take 600 years later from the time that this prophet said this one of their own individuals and it’s still the same it’s still true as what he says they saw themselves and their feelings as the center of the universe others didn’t matter as long as they pleased themselves now you can expect the world to have a philosophy to look out for number one. We could see that, well, yeah, that’s the way the world is. But you notice in the second part of verse 13, Paul says, wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. He’s saying, this would be so bad if it was just the people of the world, that this is the way that people who profess faith in Christ were behaving too. You have imbibed this worldview. They were liars saying whatever would advantage them, you see, not speaking the truth in love. They were beastlike. You know, animals are driven by their appetite, their desire for food or whatever the case may be. That’s what drives them. And people can act beastlike in their behavior. It also calls them here slow bellies, or as some translated, lazy glutton’s very indulgent. So here we have the concern that he has here. That this me-first attitude, doing what pleases me, is affecting the walk of the Christians on the island of Crete, and he says this has to be corrected. This is not good. This is going to be a black eye, so to speak, for Christianity. Now, I wish you to be a black eye, so to speak, for Christianity. I can tell you that, you know, we’re way beyond that today with our advancement in spiritual life, but the truth of the matter is we’re not any different than that. We easily get caught up in the world in which we live. And Christians living in a self-centered world need to carefully reflect upon this. The whole part of living in this life is not. up to our choice and our freedom, to do whatever we please, to just satisfy our needs. We have to realize that we are to be in subjection to the will of the sovereign God who rules over all. So God requires you to think in terms here of submission to him, in terms of being a child of God. The Vanity Fair outlook, that’s the earthly worldview. The kingdom outlook, because the scripture indicates this world is God’s kingdom. That is the Christian worldview. So we have two worldviews here. One is get out for gain, make all the money want, satisfy yourself, pursue your pleasures and so forth. The Christian worldview is, what does God want me to do? And how am I supposed to live according to that in this life? So here’s the problem. There’s a gap. And the Christian comes along. There can be a gap between these two situations where you’re not where you should be. Neither are you way over here or maybe you’re in the middle, but we need to get all the way to the one end where we are consistent with how we live, according to the biblical teaching. So you live in a society where people live a self-centered life, and we can see the difficulty that Titus, here has to deal with the Christians. This is the background for this book. Now, second, your life should revolve around the Lord and his kingdom. Notice how he begins this book. He says here, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Do you see yourself as a servant of God? Paul is God’s servant. This is where he starts the book. He identifies himself here as a slave. I’m owned by God. God is my master. He’s someone who is under the orders of someone else. He’s not just doing his own whims and following his own pursuit of pleasure. He’s trying to carry out his master’s will. This shouldn’t be seen in a negative way. Paul uses the word here. It means bond servant, which was, someone who voluntarily, out of love for the master, would become a permanent servant. Remember, they took the all and put it through their ears so that they would be permanently attached, according to the law of God, to that master. He’s saying, I’m permanently attached, and I willingly attached to Christ as my master. This idea of servanthood causes us to reflect upon the fact of God’s authority over us. Is Jesus Christ our king or is he not? And if he is, and we’re in his kingdom, then we are to be obedient to what he commands us to do. His choices in life, Paul, indicates to us, were not his own. He is not committed to pleasing himself. He’s committed to being a faith. servant of the Lord. So Paul here immediately gets us to lift our eyes above the world, above the vanity fair that’s going on around us, and say, look who your master is. And follow him. Now, for self-centered people, this had to be shocking. For someone to say this, that’s not the way they’re thinking. But this should give the right attitude when we come to serving the Lord. You as a believer are God’s servant. One time I was introduced to a Lutheran couple and I witnessed to them and I was invited in their home and I visited with them and I invited them to church. And they were new to the area. They professed to be Christians. God had just granted them a new they were just like a young couple starting on in life. And we talked, and I discussed spiritual matters with them over dinner. And then I left some Christian literature for them to read, and then I said, well, you come to our house and we’ll feed you dinner, and we’ll talk some more about this. I thought it doesn’t be a good way to reach out to this family. When they came to my home and we began discussing their obligation to be in church, to worship. the Lord, so forth. They were put off by the matter. I began to discuss their position. As professing Christians, you’re supposed to be a servant of Jesus Christ. You’re supposed to be willing to submit to the master. You have a duty to obey him. They didn’t like that terminology. They were offended by me saying that they were slaves or servants. of Jesus Christ. They didn’t like the whole concept of submission to all things to the Lord. They hated the notion. It really upset them. It intruded on their freedom of whatever, do whatever they wanted to do. Well, ultimately, of course, it became clear that they didn’t know the Lord at all and that they had no clue about really what Christianity was about. They must have been just in name only. I tell you that because It shouldn’t be shocking to us that we read this and it shouldn’t be a problem for us to see ourselves in the same position as Paul. But you might say, well, Paul is God’s servant because he’s a minister. And I’m just a common churchgoer. I can understand Paul’s saying that, but not me. You need to read your scriptures carefully because if you read it carefully, you’re going to see you too are to be a servant of Jesus Christ. I’ll just direct your attention to Romans 622 here a moment. Notice how Paul words this. He says, now being made free from sin. You were in bondage to sin and become servants to God. You have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. Oh, you see, he’s talking to the individual Christians here. He’s saying, you are servants, slaves, if you would, to God. When you got out from underneath the slavery that you had to Satan, it didn’t mean that you were free and on your own. Now you’re God’s servant. You’re to serve out of love, like Paul, your master who freed you. So we shouldn’t try to wiggle out of this and say, well, that’s Paul, he’s a minister. No, no. This is for everybody. What Paul is reflecting here is true of every individual believer. Remember where Paul writes to the Philippians, let this mind be in you that was in Jesus Christ in chapter 2. And then what does he tell you? What’s the next thing he tells us about Jesus Christ? Christ took upon himself the form of a servant. That’s the mindset you’re supposed to have. And the very first thing he says immediately afterwards, oh, this is, you’ve got to be like Christ. Be a servant and serve the Lord. Carry out the Father’s will. This is the mindset. That’s first. and foremost, it should be in your thoughts. Jesus Christ taught that if you want to be his disciple, you must deny yourself. He said, you take my yoke upon you. A yoke implies subjection. We know if you have horses or oxen or something that are plowing. They’re in subjection to the one who’s doing the plowing, the farmer. And so we are to take his yoke upon us. God, you see, as a destroyer of the subjective outlook on life that I’ll do whatever it places me. If we come to know Christ, you can cast that kind of thinking away. It’s not founded on Scripture. We’re not our own. We’re bought with a price. And therefore, we are to serve Christ who owns us. People want Jesus Christ as a Savior, but they want them as a Lord. You can’t have one without the other. Remember what Paul wrote in Romans 10, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. It’s not just Jesus as the Savior that we have to confess, but we have to confess he’s our Lord. He’s our master. He rules over us. And if Jesus is your Lord and Savior, then you’re going to have to be willing to say what he said. Not my will be done, but thine. That’s what he said to the Father. So you must see yourself as a servant. Paul immediately, it’s almost as if there was a clap of thunder here. This is the way you’re living, and Paul starts out. I say, I’m a servant of Jesus Christ. That’s a real contrast, and that’s what Christianity is all about, isn’t it? So you must recognize yourself as a servant. You must recognize God’s appointed authority. Now, he says not only is he a servant, but he is an apostle here of Jesus Christ. Since all believers are servants of God, what right does Paul have here to make all these pronouncements that he makes and give out rebukes as he does in chapter 1, verse 13, to the Cretians? He says he’s an apostle. He reminds the Christians here that Christ himself has called Paul, has given him. him authority here to act as an apostle. He’s not giving fatherly advice to the church here, these people here. He is an ambassador for Christ. He’s giving the message of Christ to these people. Apostle has been someone who’s been selected and sent out personally by Christ as the risen Lord, and he declares Christ will as the risen Lord. And he declares Christ will as a person. the king. Now we don’t have apostles today. No one has seen the risen Christ at this point, and he’s not appearing to us at this point, but we do have the inspired authoritative writings of the apostles in the epistles that we have, and in the New Testament that has been given to us. And it must be recognized that Christ, while he no longer gives the church, with apostles and prophets and perhaps evangelists, he does give pastors and teachers for the purpose of the edifying of the church. And thus we see the importance in chapter 1 of verse 5 of ordaining elders in every city. God did not leave the church without authority, without someone to lead the assembly. And thus we find that they were given some authority. They were to declare Christ, will by teaching the Word of God. This is what Christ commands regarding these men. In Hebrews 13, 17, obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you. Now, the elders here are to rule and govern as undershepherds of the chief shepherd, Jesus Christ, to whom they are accountable. In other words, the elders are to rule according to Scripture, not according to their own whims, but according to Scripture. So here, Paul’s authority is mentioned. Now, we should recognize God’s appointed authority. Sadly, many professing Christians today are what we might call spiritual mavericks. They’re accountable to nobody, their self-centered attitude, in their attitude, excuse me. They flit about from church, the church like a butterfly in the meadow. They never settle down here. Whatever is exciting going on, that’s where they’re going to be this week. No one’s watching out, evidently, for their souls. They have this fiercely independent spirit about them. A lone ranger attitude. They do what they please. They’re accountable to nobody. While elders do not have the authority of an apostle, God has given them the right to govern the church. They’re going to have to give an account of how they use that authority to Christ. Elders are accountable to Christ. The members are accountable to the elders, and we’re all accountable to one another. Now, this authority sometimes is strongly resented, but we should realize that God has set over nations, rulers, that govern the people, and we’re supposed to obey them. He set up in the family, the husband, or slash father, if you would, to rule the family. family. Then he set up in churches, elders, over the congregation, to wish of respect and submit to them as long as they are following the biblical principles of God’s word. Now, I’m not saying that elders are perfect, and they never make mistakes. And I’m not saying that there are times that elders can’t be dictators and be doing whatever they want to do and not be following Christ. There are deatrophies that you find. And that would be wrong, and that would be an abuse of the office. But what we’re trying to say here, in general, is that God has placed elders over people to shepherd them, to guide them, and to provide help for them, to watch out for their souls. We shouldn’t resent this. We should recognize it and appreciate this fact. So you must recognize God’s appointed authority. The third point I’d make under this second heading is this, you must be committed to the kingdom of God. you notice how Paul right up front says that he’s Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. As much opposition, as much persecution as he endured, you might wonder if he’d be tempted to shy away from such a bold statement, such a public declaration. Yet Paul doesn’t hesitate to take his place among those who name the name of Jesus Christ. He’s a follower of Christ. He’s a follower of Christ. is hated and despised as Christ is, I’m his follower. From Paul’s example, every Christian should learn to be ready to be counted among those who are the followers of Christ. You must be willing to make such a bold profession. We should try to cover up or hide our Christianity and somehow try to be a secret Christian, if you would. I’m reminded of Nicodemus. There’s an interesting phrase in chapter 3. that he came to Jesus by night. Evidently, he didn’t want the other Jews or religious leaders seeing him come to Jesus. And he came by night under the cover of darkness, if you were, hide it. In John Bunyan’s Pilgrin’s Progress, Mr. Christian goes to the house of the interpreter, and while he’s there, he gets lessons on the Christian life. And at one point, the interpreter took him to the door of the palace, and around the door stood a great company of men. And they desired to go into the palace, but they didn’t dare. There was a man that sat a short distance from the palace door or gate there at a table, and there was a book there, and there was an inkwell. And he would write down the name of anyone who purposed to enter into the palace. But the problem was he also saw many men there with armor on standing around trying to prevent anyone from getting in the door. And Christian was amazed when there were the company of men. many saw that desired to go in, but they were afraid to because the opposition was there. But he said there was a man of a very stout countenance. He walked up to the man sitting at the table and he said, set down my name, sir. And when he had done so, he drew a sword and proceeded to head through the door of the palace. And he used the sword to fight off the house. men who were trying to prevent him from going in. And he hacks his way and cuts his way into the palace. And here’s this pleasant voice from within saying, come in, come in, come in. Eternal glory, thou shalt win. Now, Bunyan in this particular scene, I think, is showing us there is great opposition to being a member of the kingdom of Christ, to being a Christian, to following the Lord. Those people around us at times will do all in their power to keep you from coming to Christ, or prevent you from serving Christ, or persecute you, or ostracize you because you are a follower of Jesus Christ. But notice how Bunyan emphasizes the boldness of this man. Set die my name, sir. I’m a follower. I’m going to go. I’m going. I’m going. This willingness to outwardly commit. To being a disciple of Christ and following Christ. This despite the fact he knew opposition was going to be there. And it would be a hard fight to get through. In this little incident, I think Bunyan illustrates the truth of Matthew 10. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him I will confess also before my father, which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men him, will I also deny before my father, which is in heaven? think not that I am calm to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s foe shall be they of his own household. Are you like Paul? Are you willing to confess openly, publicly, I am a servant of Jesus Christ. Well, the self-sableness. spirit of the Cretians, Paul confronts immediately right away. We see it in the opening words here of Titus. Remember, your life as a Christian, should revolve around the Lord and His kingdom. We should have a Christian worldview. And therefore, I think this book hopefully will set an order our thinking on this issue. Well, let us close with the Lord.