Titus 1:7a

Titus chapter 1 I want to read verses 4 through 9 but we’re going to be looking at the first part of verse 7 this morning or this evening chapter 1 of Titus versus 4 to 9 will be looking at the first part of verse 7 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 I left thee in Crete, thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast a faithful word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. us is sacred word this evening. Richard Berenzhen served for 10 years as the president of America University. During his tenure, he successfully raised funds for the school, and also he boosted the school’s once mediocre, a scholastic reputation. But the president’s job. charm, mask, an abnormal impulse that he had. I find that his evil behavior was completely inconsistent with his title as university president. Police traced obscene sexual calls to his private line, and his reputation was shattered as evidence began to mount against him. He finally resigned with this statement. I cannot begin to mount against him. to convey my embarrassment or my torment, bad conduct ruined him. Paul has commanded Titus to ordain elders in every city, but not just any man is qualified to enter into the office of the eldership. The apostle provides, therefore, a list of qualifications for those who were prospective elders. For an elder cannot be like that president of that university. First, as we talked about last week, an elder must be blameless in his family life. As we said, blameless does not mean sinless for all Christians sin, but he cannot be justly charged with wickedness or some type of disgraceful act. An elder must be blameless with regard to his marriage. He may be married, but he can only be the husband of one wife. And we mentioned here that you cannot have inconsistencies, indiscretions, in your marriage life. You cannot be guilty of being a polygamist. A lot of the Roman Empire areas may very well have had people who were in polygous mismarriages, and then they come to know Christ. And he’s saying, well, this is not, does not, you know, this disqualifies you from being an elder of the church. And an elders should also be blameless, as we saw with regard to his children. They should be submissive of obedience. While they’re in the house, under your rulership, under your guidance, they should be, um, subjective to you. They should not be intemperate or rebellious or headstrong. They should be under your discipline and ruled well. Because that gives us a way to evaluate how you would roll in the church. Paul now proceeds to look at a second area of qualification, and as that is an elder has to be blameless in his personal conduct. And that’s what we begin to look at here in verse 7. Why an elder must be blameless in his personal conduct. The first thing you’ll notice that he mentions here is for a bishop. You might say, well, I thought we were talking about elders. We are talking about elders, but he uses the word bishop here. And this is my first observation is this, the term explains the main duty of an elder. by using this term bishop. An elder must keep watch over the flock of God. Note that the elder is also called a bishop. These terms, as we mentioned last week, are interchangeable. The Roman Catholic teaching of several priests in their parishes being outranked and governed by a bishop and his diocese is completely foreign to scripture. The word bishopos breaks down into two separate words, epiope, over, and scopio, to look over, or to watch over. And so, therefore, we have the idea of overseer. Paul, speaking to the elders of the church of Ephesus in the book of Acts, says this in Acts chapter 20 verse 28. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and unto all the flock over which God hath made you overseers, and he uses the word episcopas there. The term seems to be borrowed from those who are lookouts or guards over cities or camps, and they’d be up in a watchtower, and they’d be watching out for the enemy’s approach, and their task was to sound the alarm when the enemy approached. The term really is closely associated with the word shepherd. And we said the word pastor is also synonymous with bishop and elder. A pastor has that shepherd idea associated with it. But so does the word bishop, because they’re watching over their flocks. guarding against wolves or some fierce prey that’s coming along. Thus, the elder is to protect the city or camp of God’s people. And so they are to give the warning of fierce enemies or perhaps of spiritual wickedness. You remember in the Old Testament that God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel and told him that he was a watchman. for the house of Israel. Well, the elders are the watchmen of the New Testament, Israel of God, if you would. Son of man, I’ve made the watchman of the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. Watchfulness implies that you’re constantly considering the care and the need of the church. What does the church need with regard to its feeding from the word of God? With regard to discipline or oversight, with regard to warning about false teaching, all these things are wrapped up in this idea of overseeing. Now, the Bible makes it clear, and we should always understand this, that Jesus Christ is the chief shepherd and bishop of the church, according to 1. Peter 2.25, to whom the elders are accountable. The Bible says in Hebrew is third, 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. The elders have to give an account to Christ, who is really the chief shepherd and the chief bishop. If the sheep of the flock die for lack of spiritual food, then the elder is responsible. If there’s a lack of warning and correction and some of the flock are carried off by wolves who are false teachers, the elder is responsible. If he has not properly warned the church as he should. And the Bible Spock talks about their blood being accountable at the hand of the elder. This is why Paul says when he spoke to the elders at Ephesus, I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all. the counsel of God. In other words, I have fully prepared you, and I’ve given you all that God has told me to tell you. I’ve opened the scriptures. I’ve told you about wolves coming in and so forth. He says, I have prepared you properly. Your blood cannot be, you know, I want to be free from that accountability. Let me make this observation. This being the case that elders are to be overseers. The spiritually lethargic, the spiritually undecerning, are unfit for manning God’s watchtower over the house of God. They may have a charming personality. They may be very charismatic. It doesn’t matter. A sleepy or a careless watchman is a disaster for the church. If they’re not proclaiming the full counsel of God, it is going to be disastrous. Someday you may visit the interesting and historic French-Canadian city of Quebec. There you’ll see the plains of Abraham where the English troops under General Wolf won Quebec from the French. And when you see this steep ascent that Wolf’s men had to make up those rocky cliffs, it’s amazing that they succeeded. You say, how in the world did they climb? up there and take the city. So, you know, a few handful of men should have been able to keep this force of soldiers from going up that cliff. They overcame their defenders because they were careless. One night, when the watchmen were either drunk or sleeping or pleasure-seeking and not watching, Wolf and his men climbed up unawares, had access, and went in and took the city. Quebec fell because the defenders failed to keep watch. Now, the city of God must have watchmen that are careful about what’s going on. They’re overseeing the flock. So let the congregation be thankful to have elders who attempt to oversee the flock. Don’t be resentful. Would that be appreciative that God has called men to that office. Another observation is. here. From the word bishop, we made this first observation. The elders should be an overseer. But notice this. From the force of the argument that a bishop must oversee others, there is a necessity that a bishop must first oversee himself. So I suggest to you that elders must be able to keep watch over their own soul. Now we begin to see the necessity of ordaining blameless elders. If they’re careless about their own soul, how can they watch over the souls of others? In the book of Song of Solomon, you have an introduction to the bride of the king in the first chapter. And he expresses his love for his bride, and it’s a picture, of course, of Christ and the church. but as the young woman speaks of herself, we learned something about her. We read in chapter 1 of verse 6, they, meaning her brothers, made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard, have I not kept? She was a caretaker of the family vineyard, and she spent a great deal of time outdoor in the sun. She probably worked long, hard hours doing this. And as a result, she wasn’t able to primp, so to speak, or take special pains about her own appearance. My own vineyard I have not kept. No mabelene eyes, no painted nails, no beauty salon hairdo, no gene-mante skin treatments. She’s out there working. Perhaps she didn’t feel adequate. You can imagine, if you looked at a royal court, the kind of women that might be able to be. You can imagine, be there, the more sophisticated ladies here. She’s looking at herself and say, I’m a country girl. I’m out there taking care of the vineyards. So she felt unworthy. Well, this seems to be Paul’s point. You cannot take care of, if you can’t take care of your own soul, then you’re unworthy to take care of or be in charge of the souls of others. So in choosing an elder, the church, the members should pay attention. does this man take care for his own soul? That is an important thing. Don’t choose a man because he’s a nice guy. Don’t choose a man just because he has speaking ability. Don’t choose a man because he’s commended by others. Don’t choose a man because he’s a relative of yours. We have to think of the importance of the position. Is this man watchful about his own soul so that he can be watchful for the souls of the whole congregation? C. H. Spurgeon once illustrated the effect of Christian leaders upon a congregation in this manner. And I quote, as a result of your own decline, every one of your hearers will suffer more or less. It is with us and our hearers as it is with watches and the public clock. If our watch be wrong, very few will be misled by it but ourselves. But if the horse guards or greenwoods, which observatory should go amiss, half of London would lose its reckoning. So it is with the minister. He is the parish clock. Many take their time from him. And if he be incorrect, then they all go wrongly, and he is great measure accountable for all the sin which he occasions. Unquote. The man isn’t watching his own soul. How can he watch for the souls of others? So a bishop indicates some type of here and providing oversight. The second thing he says here about this office is that he has to be, he is a steward of God, as a steward of God. Here we have the idea the elder must take care for the house. In an ancient world, the owner of the house would have a man who was classified as a steward. he’d be like the head manager, if you would, over the house taking care of it, running things, managing affairs. And thus such a man would be charged with the task of caring for everything in the nobleman’s household. You remember how Joseph in the Old Testament was given a position in the House of Potterford? we read in Genesis 39 that he made him overseer over his house and all that he had he put into his hand. That’s the same idea that we have here. Now in such a position, blamelessness is required. And thus he says, if any be blameless, Thasman and wife, having faith, or if any, for a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of his wife as the steward of, God. And so we have the same idea here. The master of the house, let us say, goes away, leaves his property behind in the charge of various stewards. When he returns, they have to give an account. And we find Jesus told various parables along this line. And this is the duty of a steward. Christ has gone away into the far country, so to speak, being taken up. into heaven, ruling and reigning there. And he has placed his church in the hands of stewards over to oversee it, and they’ll give an account to the owner when he returns. And with this in mind, then, the steward has to be careful what he does. He must not abuse his power. He must not steal from his master. He must not foolishly waste his master’s goods by bad investments. He must not mistreat his fellow servants who work under him and abuses power. He must not live it up, eating and drinking and pleasure seeking and failing to carry out his master’s pleasure. So we find it elders then are stewards of the local church, which is said to be the house of God in 1 Timothy 315. God is the great householder. Christ, of course, is the owner in a sense. His house is his church where he has, as a majestic person, keeps his residence for he dwells among his people. But God says to elders, you’re to run my household. You must care for my church. Don’t abuse your power. Don’t mistreat your fellow servants. Make sure everybody has what is needed. Keep my house orderly. Keep my church pure and holy. Dispense the bread of life to everyone according to their need. And one day I’m going to review your work and I will carefully inspect what you are doing. So we find here that the elder must care for God’s house. We see here that in this regard that an elder must be faithful. I want you to look with me at 1 Corinthians chapter 4 in verses 1 to 4, where Paul speaks about his duties. Chapter 4, 1 Corinthians, verses 1 to 4, let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, stewards, he says, of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it’s required in stewards. that a man be found faithful. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man’s judgment. Yea, I judge not my own self, for I know nothing by myself. Yet am I not thereby justified. But he that judges me is the Lord. This is we said last week, where Peter says that he is an elder. So that the apostles were considered elders as well as having the unique office of apostles. We see that Paul, as an apostle, uses the word steward indicating that he is like an elder too. And acted as an elder at times until, of course, they called their own elders to the church. And so he is a steward of God in the same capacity as others are. They are stewards of the mysteries of God. As stewards, they’re entrusted with the gospel and charged with the task of preaching and teaching the gospel faithfully under the church. Moreover, 1 Corinthians chapter 4 makes it very clear that a steward over God’s house must be, according to verse 2, found faithful. Faithful. That is the key factor. and being a steward. You’ve been entrusted with something, and you are to be faithful to the Lord. As Paul goes on to explain here, you’re not to be faithful to men. You owe your duty to Christ. It doesn’t matter what the Corinthians think. Ultimately, God is going to be the judge. Christ himself will be the judge of Paul and how he is done. When God says, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reproved, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. The question is, you’ve been faithful. I like what Jeremiah lays out before us in Jeremiah 23, verses 28 and 30. God says this, He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, seth the Lord? Therefore, I am against the prophet, saith the Lord, that steal my words, everyone from his neighbor. In ancient times, there were crooked merchants. They’d sell you the wheat, but they’d make sure they packed in some chaff along with it. So, you know, add to a weight. Sort of like when you buy meat at the store today, they always have water on the meat so that it weighs more. And when you get your meat. Well, they cheat people out of their rightful portion here. Crooked merchants. Well, God says those entrusted with his word must faithfully teach it. They must not mix in their own shaft in with the word of God. And pawn it off as God’s word because you would be cheating the people of God. When you consider your own sins and your own weaknesses and your own inward corruption that you still have to battle as an elder of a church, you should tremble at the task. It is an awesome task that we have as the ministers of the gospel of Christ. As an elder, it should drive you to your knees daily, prayerfully seeking the Lord’s grace and help. As Paul says in the New Testament, who is sufficient for these things? It’s a difficult task. False prophets, he says, add chaff to the wheat. They mix in their own ideas. They’re not faithful to the calling they’ve been given. So why an elder must be blameless in his personal conduct? Because he’s a bishop. and because he is a steward of God. Secondly, to be blameless as an elder, to be blameless, an elder is forbidden to have negative vices in his personal conduct. Let’s look at a couple of these tonight. An elder must not be arrogant. He says here, you’re not to be self-willed. It means arrogant, self-pleasing, inflexible, stubborn, we can even say egotistical. Now, you recall, in the Old Testament, we talked about this on several occasions. There was a man called Nabal. David and his men had protected the shepherds and the flocks of this wealthy man. And when shearing time came, was a time of celebration, time of plenty, David made a request, could we have some sense? supplies from Nabol. But Nabol ridiculed David as a runaway slave. He refused to give as many any provisions at all. David was furious. He was prepared to kill Nabol and all his household. However, there was a servant of Nabol who thought, I better tell Abigail, Naabal’s wife, what’s going on here. And he runs to her. And he explains how good David and his men had been to the shepherds, and the danger of the household was in because of Nabal’s harsh answer. As he put it, now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master and against all his household, for he is such a man of Belial that a man cannot speak to him. He’s unreasonable. You can’t talk to him. You know, he’s so stubborn and difficult, and egotistical, no one could reason with him. Abigail decides she’s going to head off with the supplies and decide she’s not going to even speak to him until the next day when he sober’s up because he was drunk, then she’ll tell him what she did and how she spared the household. This was self-willed. This is what we’re talking. This kind of attitude. In the New Testament in 3rd John 9, we have a man named deatrophies. that is mentioned, who loved to have the preeminence. Here is a man who gained authority of the church, over the church, and he actually spoke against the apostle John himself. He opposed an apostle, not because, you know, not because the apostle was wrong in doctrine, but he thought, you know, he thought he was smarter than the apostle. John wrote to the church, but diatriphes refused to receive the apostle’s message in anyone who, would listen to John, would be cast out of the church. He was on an eco-trip. He was arrogant. And he would have his way despite the odds here of being opposed to an apostle. How do you spot this type of person? How do we know of someone is self-willed? Look for a man when he has made up his mind about something, takes the attitude that anyone who questions his conclusions are questioning God himself. If you look at, if he acts like someone who’s like Moses, who comes down from Mount Sinai with the law of God and saying, hey, I have direct contact with God, I have all the answers, then you know someone is being very self-willed here. Moreover, if their minds are so adamant that you can’t reason with them, that you can’t talk with them about things. Paul says an elder must be gentle and patient, one who’s fair-minded, able and willing to understand a different point of view, even if he disagrees with it. Now let me make this observation here. A fault in many ministers and elders is knowing that they’re gifted to teach, so they refuse to be taught by others. I mention that because you can think it’s beneath you to listen to those who have less knowledge of scripture than you have. Maybe it’s a common member of the church. Maybe the common member of the church comes up and say, you know, pastor, you know, what about this verse of Scripture? This seems to me to be in conflict of what you’ve taught this morning. It’s a dangerous thing to have respect of persons in the faith of God. God. Could God reveal something to the common member that he hasn’t revealed to you as an elder of the church? Yes. Are we willing to at least hear them? Are we willing to give a hearing to what he has to say? To weigh it carefully? Maybe he’s right. But a self-willed person is not willing to listen. And I’m afraid that an elder should not be like that. You know, and it’s too many sometimes are. Now, it’s true that when we are basing our beliefs firmly on the word of God, we should stand firm, strongly oppose error. But we always ought to be open to be convinced from God’s word if we are wrong about something. An arrogant man doesn’t qualify for the office of outer. The reason is simple. A bishop must seek to please God and care for the people of God. He’s not the master of the house. He’s a servant. and we should recognize that. He’s not there to seek the please himself. He is seeking the carry out the will of God. So the world may applaud the self-willed as a strong leader, but that kind of person is really unfit for the church because this man needs to be a humble man, on a self-willed man. So the elder must not be arrogant. And the second thing I mention here is this. An elder must not be quick-tempered. soon angry, it says. Now I don’t want to have to go through my whole message that I gave this morning, so this is going to be real brief on this section here. Anger is permissible. Anger is a God-given quality, an emotion, and it is to be used in a proper manner. We can be angry in sin not. The text doesn’t say the elder can’t be angry. He cannot be soon-act. angry here. And certainly he should not be sinfully angry, as the scripture indicates to us. We talked about Moses, me, the meekest man on the face of the earth, but he became fiercely angry when God’s word or his teaching was not abided by when people became idolatrous. When the scriptures condemn anger, it’s because anger is without a just cause or it’s improperly expressed. We said it’s an anger. motivator to action. When properly channeled, it stimulates you. So anger is permissible, but what we’re dealing here was quick-temperedness. That’s to be condemned. We’re to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath, according to James 1-9. Ecclesiasties 7-9 says, Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. Proverbs 1518 says, A wrathful man stirroth up strife. those with a short fuse will soon explode and God’s work will fall apart under that kind of leadership. The ordinary, you know, fiery and furious are unfit for the office. If every trifle sets off a person, then Satan’s going to take advantage of that and he will create havoc in the church. So the elder, while he may get angry, he has to control himself so that he does not quickly fly into a towering rage here. He is not to be quick temper. He’s going to have to endure insults. He’s going to have to deal with false accusations, bad manners, malicious gossip, and in meekness instruct those. who disagree with him. Here’s the secret. Grace should moderate our temper and our anger. And so, you know, somebody will say, well, I’m naturally that way. Well, you’re not supposed to be natural about anything anymore. If you’ve been touched by the grace of God, you ought to be spiritual, right? So you need to change your ways. And so we can’t say, well, I’m naturally that way, and therefore I ought to be an elder. No, you need to control your anger. You know, Alexander the Great was a very intelligent, energetic man who conquered the world. But anger brought him down. A dear friend of Alexander, a general in his army once became intoxicated and ridiculed the emperor in front of his men. Alexander became so angry, he quickly snatched a spear from one of the men that standing around him and threw it at the general. He said, I only meant to scare him, but his aim was… was true and he killed his best friend. And then afterwards he was really remorseful. You know, and he tried to kill himself with the spear. His men stopped him. And then for days on end, he was in his tent beside himself because of murdering his best friend. He miserably failed to control his temper. And in a quick moment, that’s what happened. All Christians should control their anger, of course, but an elder needs to be an example to the flock in this regard. When we deal with anger, we should always meditate on the providence of God because God has brought this circumstance into our life. We should pray for a forgiving spirit because sometimes we have done the wrong thing, and, you know, we needed to be forgiven from Christ. We should delay. speaking and acting if necessary in order to first control our temper. We should avoid those occasions which lead to wrath. There are some people who are contentious, and that’s all they want to be, and sometimes it’s just better to avoid them. And then ask for strength and grace to be patient and to use your anger wisely in a manner in which you’re solving a problem and not just blowing up. Well, that university president, disgraced himself as president of American University by his personal conduct. An elder must be blameless in his personal conduct so he doesn’t disgrace the Church of Jesus Christ. And we have just begun looking at the qualifications here of an elder. And these things are important for us to remember. As I said last week, whatever we say about elders, it’s true also for all the people of God. It’s just that he is supposed to set the example. He sets the bar, so to speak. And all believers should have certainly all these qualities, too, in their lives as well. Pray that I may match up and certainly be useful in this regard. Let us close to the word.