Titus 1:7b

The book of Titus and chapter 1, I want to read verses 4 through 9, but our focus is still going to be on verse 7 as we complete this verse from our last study. Titus 1, beginning with verse 4. To Titus, my own son, after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. This cause left I the 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. 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 given to wine, no striker, not given to fervous, filthy lucre. But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate, holding fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. God bless to us his secret word. this evening. If you ever lived in a large city, you may have an occasion to see them building a skyscraper. And these huge buildings, of course, demand a lot of preparation for the project. The first six months or so, they seems like that all the men are doing is digging a deep hole in the ground. And to build a big hole in the ground. build a tall building. You start by digging beneath the surface level. And if you look at it, you think about, well, this seems absurd. You’re going to build this large building, but you have to dig down deep. It seems counterproductive. But ultimately, there’s good reason for this large hole. A mammoth building needs a good foundation. And one capable of supporting a skyscraper has to be well-founded. Otherwise, it will be a problem. You know, a doghouse you can put on a slab. You can put even a house on a concrete slab. But when you build a skyscraper, you’ve got to dig deep and lay a solid foundation for it. Those who stand tall in the church, those who are the church leaders, elders, must have a good foundation, or it will prove disastrous. Now, Paul, you recall, has commanded Titus to ordain elders in every city. There were groups of people in every city on Crete that needed elders. Yet not just any man would do. They had to have certain qualifications, which he is listing here in this first chapter. And he provides a list for prospective elders. First, an elder must be blameless in his family life. In verse 6. and secondly, we see that an elder must be blameless in his personal conduct in verses 7 and 8. Now, we’ve already been dealing with the forbidden negative vices in an elder’s personal conduct. We looked at two last week. You must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, but we need to finish the remainder of the vices of verse 7 tonight. Let me begin by saying this. An elder must be a person who is careful about alcoholic beverages. You’ll notice it says here he’s not given to wine. An elder must not be given to wine. Now, in biblical times, wine was more of a common staple, perhaps, than we have today, especially in the ancient world, this was the case. People were normally used to drinking it. They didn’t always have good water to drink, and they drank wine more or less like we drink coffee or tea. It was quite a, I think, consistent thing that they would do, and thus all use of wine is not prohibited in the Scripture. The scripture says God gives wine that makes it glad the heart of man in Psalm 104, verse 15. You recall that Paul advised Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach’s sake and his off infirmities. Christ himself at the wedding feast turned water into wine, and his first miracle furnished an abundance of it for the guests at the wedding. With respect to drinking, the Bible avoids extremes here. Not only does it allow for us to drinking, to drink wine, but the phrasing here tells us the wording, the word given here, indicates someone who sits long or drinks a long time. In other words, someone who would be getting drunk or spending at least a time, a lot of time, getting under the influence of alcohol. It’s more that it forbids the abuse of alcohol here. emphatically states in the word of God that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God, 1 Corinthians 610. So why would you pick a drunkard to be the elder of the church? The warning of scripture says, who hath woe, who has sorrow, who hath contentions, who hath babblings, who hath wounds without cause, who hath redness of eyes, they that tarry at the wine. In Psalm, or excuse me, Proverbs 23, verses 29. 9 and 30. I don’t see that the Bible would condemn an elder if he had a glass of wine with his dinner or something like that. I don’t think the scripture would condemn that. But let me give you a word of caution. Wine was much more of a necessity in biblical times than it is in our own day. It’s more of a luxury today. In ancient times, wine wasn’t as potent as potent as it was today because of the modern distillation processes that we distillation. still you can get the alcohol content much higher. So I would say this, even greater care should be taken today than wasn’t in needed in biblical times. You could drink more because the alcohol content was lower. And so we have to be very careful if we’re going to drink alcoholic beverages. I don’t promote Christian drinking. It’s not something I would go around and say, yeah, we ought to be drinking. and we certainly should be aware of the dangers of it, but I don’t also condemn it, because I don’t think the Bible says you cannot have a glass of wine with your meal if you wanted to. But we should be careful, because an elder in particular, should be extremely careful in this regard. You must not be given the wine. Now, there are reasons for this prohibition. If an elder is supposed to be a man of wise judgment, a man who has knowledge and understanding of spiritual things. We have to realize that drink can dull the senses. The Bible says in Hosea 411, it takes away the heart. Alcohol can turn a person into a brood beast who acts without discernment. It disables a man from understanding the will of the Lord. It’s interesting in Ephesians. chapter 5 if you want to look with me there, verses 17 and 18, how this phrasing is stated here, verses 17 and 18. There is some association, I think, between these two verses. He says, wherefore, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine, wherein his excess, but be filled with the spirit. The person who is unwise, the person who is not going to understand what the will of the Lord is the person who has become drunk, who cannot think clearly. The person who is filled with the spirit understands what the will of the Lord is and has spiritual wisdom. And so I think there is a connection between these two concepts. One cannot be filled with the spirit and be filled with drink at the same time. And so how can an elder give attention to reading, exhortation, and doctrine if he’s in flame with wine? It affects his thinking. There’s an interesting passage in the book of Leviticus, Chapter 10. You want to turn with me there. Now, this is the case of Nadab and a bayou. You remember, these are the sons of Aaron who, for some reason, decided that they were going to offer some type of foreign fire before the Lord, some strange fire before the Lord, and God strikes them dead. But it’s interesting that immediately following this, you have a general warning about alcohol given. And it may help explain maybe something about this episode. Let’s look at the first 11 verse. here, if you would. And Nadab in a bayou, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censor, and put fire therein, put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord and devired them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, this is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me. before all the people I will be glorified and Aaron held his peace and Moses called Michelle and Al-Zazfan the sons of Uziel the uncle of Aaron and said unto him come near and carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp so they went near and carried them in their coats out of the camp as Moses has said and Moses said unto Aaron and on to Aaron and on Elie Azar and to Ithamar, his sons. Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes, lest you die, unless wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled. And you shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation lest you die, for the an anointing oil of the Lord is upon you, and they did according to the word of Moses. the Lord spake unto Aaron and saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die. It shall be a statue forever throughout your generations, that you may put difference between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean, that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes with the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. I draw your attention to verse 9. It’s interesting that he makes this connection. He brings in drinking alcohol here right after this episode. And we’re not, I can’t be definitive here, but it certainly is a warning that the person who’s going to serve before the Lord must have his senses about him. He cannot be impaired by drink. And so they were forbidden to drink. It’s interesting at the end of the book of Ezekiel when the great temple is spoken of in the last I think eight chapters if I’m not mistaken, or last few chapters of the book, you’ll find that there is also a prohibition against drinking there. In Ezekiel 4421, no priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court. Now, if we understand this great temple as spiritually portraying the church of Christ because there are spiritual things about this temple that are that certainly go beyond like a physical temple some of the first part of it seems more realistic but the latter part would seem to have a spiritual implication associated with it and the implication if that’s the case then the implication is in a new Testament, the elder or the leader of the church should not be given a drink. He should be away from drink when he’s going to be doing the work of the Lord here in the church. How can an elder have spiritual vision if his physical vision is blurred? How can he provide oversight if he can’t really even control himself? Wine steals away the heart from God and from the worship of God, and it can cause your mouth to utter things which without careful thought. Wine can inflame lust within you. It weakens your guard. It destroys modesty and chastity. And finally, we should realize that an elder is supposed to be an example to the flock. You must not, by your liberty, cause even your brother to stumble. Paul said, it is good neither to eat flesh nor a drink or anything whereby my brother stumb with was offended or was made weak. He said, I won’t even drink it, even if I have the freedom to drink it, I won’t drink it if I thought it was going to cause somebody to stumble. It’s not that important. It’s more important to care for your brother. So let ministers and members of the church consider carefully what a number of sins, what number of evils are associated with a person given to wine and strong drink. You read through the scriptures. You’ll see all kinds of things that are mentioned. And so we should be very careful about this matter because it can lead to all kinds of problems. And certainly it’s not you don’t want someone given to drink being involved in the eldership of the church. It’s just a disaster waiting to happen if that’s the case. Secondly, an elder must be a person who is not quarrelsome. No striker. the text says here. Now, let me hedge this by saying this. Certainly an elder must contend for the faith. An elder must be a person of a patient spirit, meek, gentle, and if at all possible, a seeker of peace with all men. We know that that is what the scripture commands. However, he has to be prepared to fight the good fight of faith and put on the whole armor of God when it comes to the doctrine of Scripture, to earnestly contempt for the faith that was once delivered on the saints. So, we have to be ready to be courageous defenders of the faith and of the doctrine. Paul himself calls Timothy a good soldier of Jesus Christ in 2. Timothy 2.3. When it came to Peter in the Book of of Galatians, it’s mentioned, that he cited, on the, on the issue, of separating from the, Paul rebuked him publicly at that time when he discovered here. and so, when there was was an issue of and circumcision, Galvasion, said, Paul said, we didn’t give place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. I didn’t give an inch on this doctrine. So never let it be thought. An elders should be sort of a Casper Mill tells us who never contends for the truth. We’re going to be seeing later on in the book of Titus here the importance of the pastor being able to contend for the faith against false teachers that may come along and subvert whole households. But an elder must not be quit to pick a fight here. A striker here is someone who is pugnacious, quarrelsome, someone who is ever ready with his fist, if you would, a spitfire, a fire eater, if you would. And we can think of maybe the back woodsman in former days who used to carry an actual chip of wood on their shoulder and dare somebody to knock it off. That’s where we get to the idea of he’s got a chip on his shoulder. We don’t have to confine this idea just to the physical realm, although striker seems to imply that kind of a spirit about the person. But there are those who get into verbal fist of cuffs over things that are not important. You know, Paul writes to Timothy about not getting into these debates and these arguments about things that are foolish and not really. important with regard to doctrinal things. You can be a brawler verbally, I’ll put it that way. Obviously, such a person is not a good Christian, let alone a good example for the flock of God. As I was studying this this afternoon, a thought came to my mind, and I thought about Moses and the Egyptian. You remember Moses was raised in the house of Pharaoh because he was found by Pharaoh’s daughter. But when he was grown, he went to visit his brother, the Hebrews, to see how they were doing. And he noticed there was an Egyptian who was smiting or striking one of his fellow Jews. And Moses intervened, and we read, he slew the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand. The very next day, he goes out and he finds two Jews that are fighting with one another. and he again intervenes. And you remember what they said to him, who made you a prince and a judge over us in Exodus 214? You killed off that Egyptian yesterday. You know, as far as they were concerned, he disqualified himself for leading them by his action. And so we see that what he did, harmed his influence with regard to his own people, that they wouldn’t look on him as someone who could lead them or help them in this situation. And so we should recognize that that can be the case, that we can destroy our ability to lead people by being a striker or a fighter. Someone was always getting into brawl, so to speak, one way or the other. or verbal. I read a story about C.A. Spurgeon when he was a young preacher. He was warned about a certain quarrelsome woman that was out to get after him. Sure enough, she found him one day, gave him a good tongue lashing. And while she was assailing him with this flood of abuse, he just smiled and said, yes, thank you. I am quite well. I hope you are the same. Men came, he said, another burst of hot lava from her tongue pitched in a higher tone than the first time. And he responded, yes, it does look rather as it might rain. I think I ought to be getting on my way. And off you laugh. And the woman exclaimed, bless the man, he says, death of the post, what’s the use of storming at him? And she didn’t bother him anymore after that. Obviously, this does it. You know, obviously this passage doesn’t mean an elder can’t defend himself or his family if he would be under a physical attack or something of this nature. But it really addresses the spirit of a person. Is this guy a brawler? Is this guy a fighter? Is this a guy someone that’s not gentle, peaceable, and so forth? So the elder must not be quick to pick a fight. Now, there are reasons for this prohibition. And again, all this. applies not just to the elder, but to all of us in this regard. The Bible says that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are spiritual in nature. While the Christian must be like a soldier in a conflict, it is a spiritual war. It’s not a physical war. And therefore, we have to be careful. We’re not fighting flesh and blood. We’re fighting flesh and blood. spiritual wickedness. So your task, as well as that of an elder, is not to inflict bodily wounds on people, but to subdue Satan and sin and advance the kingdom of God. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing? And the weapon we have is not our fist, but it’s the word of God. To cast down every high thought which exalts itself against God requires us also to be a medic in this war as well. We not only have to tear down, but we have to repair. We have to not only wound with the Word of God, but we also should bind up with the Word of God. And so the sword of the Spirit is used in both cases. We cure the wound. If a person is hot-tempered, and is, you know, always, you know, calling down fire from God on someone. They don’t realize what the spirit of a Christian is supposed to be like, let alone that of an elder. An elder must not always be ready to have, you know, strike down someone. He has to learn to bear with people’s faults to be slow to anger, to be an example to all the Christians, to overcome the error in someone by, correcting. Remember how Peter was told to put up the sword in the garden by Christ. Christ’s disciples must not use weapons like this to take on the world and Christ’s cause. We might have to defend our lives, but you know, that’s not the way we advance the kingdom. And so sadly, there are many Christians, even some pastors and elders who are swashbucklers, so to speak, who are, you know, they’re, they’re broad. They’re fist-to-cuff people. Yet the wisdom from above is first gentle and then peaceable, according to James chapter 3 and verse 17. True authority has nothing to do with clinched fist and bare knuckles or an acid tongue. Our task as elders not to beat people up, but to instruct in order to correct and to recover those in error, as 2 Timothy 2. 24 to 26 says. Sometimes we have to sharply rebuke. We see that in Titus 113 when he tells Titus to sharply rebuke the Cretian believers here because of their laziness and so forth, but that isn’t being quarrelsome. And an elder is supposed to be speaking seeking the best interest spiritually of those who were under his care. So an elder must not be someone who is quarrelsome. Thirdly, an elder must be a person who doesn’t covetously pursue gain. It says you’re not given to filthy lucre. So an elder must be free from a covetous spirit. Now, it’s interesting that the scripture tells us that we’re not supposed to be earthly minded. And so if we’re engaged in covetousness, we’re really engaged in accumulation of something, money, possessions or whatever. It’s earthly and its nature. And we become earthly minded. An elder must not be greedy or eager to for base or shameful gain. If a bishop becomes a lover of money, then you find somewhere along the line he ends up using his position to accumulate wealth. That becomes his chief object. Now the Bible nowhere condemns being wealthy. Being rich isn’t a vice no more than being poor as a virtue. Whether one is wealthy or poverty-stricken doesn’t really matter. The elder must not passionately desire riches, nor must he trust in uncertain riches. Now notice 1 Timothy chapter 6, if you would, verses 6 to 10 here. He said, but godliness with contentment is great gain. We brought nothing into this world, and it’s certain we can carry nothing out. Having food and raiment, let us be there with content. They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lust which draw men in which drown men, excuse me, in destruction and perdition. And then if you would also skip down to verse 7. charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. That they may do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life. So here is an elder must be a good example of believers, and we find that this was a problem of covetousness was a problem on creed, evidently. The Roman poet Livy said this, the Cretians are as eager for riches as bees for honey. So he gives a warning here about not being covetous. Now, with this in mind, that doesn’t mean an elder cannot be a successful businessman, or even a man of wealth, but he not be one who lust is covetous in nature. Now, the reason for this prohibition, there are several we could think about, you remember what Jesus said in the sermon on the Mount. You can’t serve God and Mammon, right? If that’s true, then an elder cannot be serving God and be covetous at the same time, because it’s impossible to serve two masters. One or the other is going to take advantage of the situation, and therefore an elder who has a consuming desire for gain cannot possibly be serving the Lord’s interest. I had a friend called me a couple years ago, and he called me up and he said, I just lost my pastor. He was going to a church that was a Presbyterian church at the time, and I said, well, what happened? He said his pastor had gone into the home home-brewed beer business. He started the business, but he didn’t inform the church that he had started the business. And so he advertised online this selling of the beer, and he was making a pretty good profit on this. But it happened one day that one of the church members came across his advertising. on the internet. And so, before you know, the whole church is in an up war, you know, what are you doing, you know, selling beer online? Well, the church gave him an ultimatum, either choose one or the other. Either you go into the beer business or you become the pastor, you can’t do both. Well, he chose the beer business and left the pastor it. It shows you where his heart was. But you can’t do both. That’s what they’re saying here. In this situation, and in this case, he preferred, you know, money was more important to him than pastoring. Not that a pastor can’t sometimes, it may have to sometimes work part-time or something to help supplement the situation. But when that becomes the most important thing, when that becomes the consuming thing, then covetousness has won out. And so we see that in this particular case. We can talk about Demas, who having loved this present world, you know, left Paul. We mentioned this morning, Gahazi, the servant of Elisha, who was planning with the wealth he stole from Naiman, that he was going to live it up. He’s going to have servants and oxen and cattle, and he’s going to have the high life he’s going to have. But he was going to leave the service of the prophet, and he was cursed by God. There’s a danger of a man who would handle the word of God deceitfully in order to align his pockets with money. In the book of Isaiah chapter 56, we read this. Israel’s watchmen are blind, and by that he means they’re not looking out for the people of God. Yay, they are greedy dogs who can never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot understand. They all look to their own way, everyone for his gain. for his quarter. Isaiah chapter 56 versus 10 and 11. Think about that. What he’s saying is, yeah, you have people who are supposed to be religious leaders, but they’re all out for themselves. They’re all out for the money. They’re covetous. They’re in for the gain. And not for instruction of the people of God. In the New Testament, Romans 1618, we read about some, for they that are such, meaning false teachers who cause division in the church and steal away the sheep of God. Serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. Think about what he’s saying here. You’re not serving Christ. You’re serving yourself. You’re satisfying your needs and what you want in this. So a lover of money will say anything for personal gain. He’s not a man of integrity. Therefore, he’s not going to be a good steward for the church. Sadly, a love of money, characterizes false teachers. Look at verse 11 of Titus. He talks about these deceivers and false talkers and so forth. He says, whose mouse must be stopped, whose subvert whole households teaching things which they ought not. Why? For filthy lucre’s sake, for the money. And so we see the danger. Now let me make this application. Paul calls this money filthy lucre because it corrupts a person. it causes you to do the most vile and evil things in order to possess it. Any gain that we have by violating the word of God becomes filthy lucre, whether people lie or steal or twist the scriptures or whatever the case may be. If you cheat someone in business, if you get your wealth from another’s loss, like in gambling, that’s not the honest way of doing it by laboring, If you garner it from selling drugs or prostitution or whatever evil source there is, that’s filthy lucre. Therefore, all Christians must see that whatever they gain in life is honestly gained. And we should be careful about covetousness. What are the symptoms of covetousness? A greedy desire to always have more and more. A hoarding of your treasure despite the needs of others, because you don’t want to give up what you have. A neglect of spiritual duties because acquisition of money becomes the chief priority in life, trusting in those accumulated riches rather than in the Lord. So the scriptures says, labor not to be rich, Proverbs 23, 4, and lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth in Matthew 619. Paul himself counsels us to be content with those things that we have. to try to live within our means, not be chasing the Joneses and what they have and keeping up with them. It’s not that we can’t enjoy the fruit of our labors in this life. It’s not that we can’t enjoy the good things that God provides. It’s not that we can’t have new things. But you know what? Nothing in this world is going to ever satisfy you. Like the horse leech, which always says, give, give, give. Your covetous heart was all in there. It’s not going to be happy what you get, what you have. You’re always going to want something else. And so the elder cannot be a person. It pursues covetously pursues gain. Skyscraperers need a strong foundation. Elders in the church need to have a strong foundation if they’re going to lead the people of God. So an elder must be blameless in personal conduct. And tonight we looked at the alcohol beverages. Be careful about that. Not being quarrelsome, not covetously pursuing gain. Remember, these qualifications really we can apply to every Christian. But the elder is supposed to be an example to the flock. And therefore, in particular, he must be careful about these things. But certainly all believers should meet these standards. Well, let us close with it.