Titus 2:15

Book of Titus chapter 2, verses 11 to 15, our focus on verse 15. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God in our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. May God bless to us is holy and soul. sacred word this evening. During the Civil War, the Confederate commander, Robert E. Lee, had a general under his command by the name of Thomas Jackson. General Jackson feared the Lord. His faith was certainly known to all his troops, and he was diligent about prayer and even the study of the Bible during military service. When the Confederates were falling back at Bull Run, Lee rallied his men by calling out to them, looked to Jackson, he stands there like a stonewall. While their Confederate troops were wavering, those under Jackson’s command stood fast, and thus the man became nicknamed Stonewall Jackson. He became famous in the South, as well as in the North, and for his troops’ steadiness under fire. I’m afraid that in the Spreebarafe. spiritual realm, such a quality is not always appreciated. You know, when the church leaders are uncompromising with God’s truth, they’re often despised. Pastors and elders are not always liked because of their position. If they’re faithfully proclaiming God’s words, some people get offended because of it. As a consequence, spiritual Stonewall Jackson’s are not often treated like heroes of the faith. but harsh tyrants of the church. I want to speak on the topic of don’t despise church leaders from our text tonight. Now, let me begin by saying this. You must not despise the faithful elder because of his authority. You’ll notice in this text here that the word authority is mentioned with regard to those who are in a position of leaders. elders and so forth here Titus in particular is being focused on as the associate of the apostle you should recognize the authority of church leaders the word authority means literally the decree or order or to command all authority implies that the elder may use all the power invested to him by Jesus Christ to command obedience his authority of course doesn’t lie himself but in fact he has been called, he’s been gifted by the head of the church to rule over the body of Christ. Titus authority, we might extend that to the elders on the island of Crete that are be appointed according to chapter 1 and verse 5 flowed through Paul, the apostle, and then to the head Jesus Christ. The authority of an elder today flows also through the apostles, the written word of God, and back to Christ. Elders of the church are to rule, they are to govern the assembly, as under shepherds of Jesus Christ, who is the chief shepherd of the church. The authority of elders, I think, needs to be emphasized today. We have, I think, fallen away from what the scripture teaches on this. I want you to turn. a couple pages over, back actually, to chapter 5 of 1st Thessalonians. Look at verse 12 and 1st part of verse 13. Paul writes here in 1st Thessalonians 5, verse 12, first part of verse 13, and we beseech you, brethren, to know them that which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake. And then if you would look at 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 17, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially them, they who labor in the word and doctrine. Then look at Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 7 and 17. Hebrews 13, verse 13, verse 13, verse 7, remember them which have the rule over in you and have spoken. unto you the word of God, whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation. Verse 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, or give account, that they may do it with joy, not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. This is just a sampling here in the scriptures. here. The Greek word for rule in 13, 17 of Hebrews speaks about leading, overseeing, guiding, ruling. It’s used of political rulers. It certainly includes the idea of authority to command. Now, when elders faithfully teach the word of God, what they proclaim are God’s for the people of God. They’re not making help. suggestions, but they are providing commands for the Christian life, such as we find in verses 12 through 14 here in the book of Titus of this chapter 2. When he talks about denying ungodliness and worldly lust and living soberly and righteousness and godly and godly in the worldly in the world, that’s a command that the elder has a right to demand of the people. Now, obviously, elders are not infallible. They make mistakes. The chief shepherd will hold them accountable. However, when the elders of a true church are following scriptural principles and they make a decision or judgment, it carries Christ authority. Thus, all authority is given to them from Christ regarding this. It’s thought that they have any authority in themselves to command things, just because they willy-nilly decide, they’re going to command something. But whenever they make commands from the word, it is true. And we ought to obey it. Remember, Peter talked about elders not lording it over people. The lorded over people would be to just take your position, say, you’ve got to obey me because of my position. The true elders is going to, a true elder is going to look at scripture and say, this is what the scripture says, and this is why you ought to obey me. And that’s, I think, a key point that needs to needs to be made. It’s not that we can, as elders willy-nilly make commands, but indeed, what we do command according to the authority of Scripture should be obeyed. So you should recognize the authority of church elders. It comes from Christ, ultimately, and while we’re in sync with Christ, and when he commands, it is something you ought to obey. Notice you need to avoid the rebellious spirit among Christians today toward church leaders. Let know, you know, man despise thee. The problem that you see perhaps from the people of Crete or at least Paul anticipates there could be a problem here is that somebody might despise Titus and say, I’m not going to listen to you, I’m not going to obey you. Authority, certainly a dirty word in our world today. In America, people are very independently minded, and they don’t permit anyone to trample on their so-called personal freedoms. And thus, if there is someone who is preventing you from doing what you want to do, well, that person is despised. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a government official or church leader or a parent. Tragically, you see all the civil unrest and violence in our country today, on an ever increasing scale, it seems. There are constant protest and marches. And that hostile authority toward government or the police or the ICE agents or whatever it is is is something we see that has sadly not been absent from the church. It has infiltrated the church as well. There is a strong, rebellious attitude sometimes exhibited toward God’s appointed rulers of the assembly. The word despise here does not mean to just scorn or be little or look down upon, but it cares the idea of thinking around to thought, to circumvent the elder. The idea of opposition, resistance, withstanding the elder. Indeed, there is often a general lack of respect toward the elders in the church today. Thus, it undermines the good order of the church. And disgraces the name of Christ. There are shepherds who are strapped with stubborn, rebellious, wayward sheep, and they have to govern them, and they do it with grief, according to Hebrews 1317, and not with joy. I must say this kind of spirit certainly should be a serious concern for churches. It leads to bitterness and anger and strife and church splits and backbiting and elder resignations and so forth. the peace and the harmony and the edification of the church, I think, requires things to be done decently in an order. It requires leadership. It requires the right kind of leadership, not the dictators of the deatrophies and so forth, but those who use the word of God to lead and guide the assembly. So you need to avoid the rebellious spirit among Christians toward church. leaders. Now, what are the ways you can be guilty of despising the church leaders? He says, let no man despise the. What does that mean? Well, how does it, what does that look like? Let me suggest to you a few passages of script. Let’s look at the book of numbers first. I’ll go all the way back to the Old Testament here. Book of Numbers, Chapter 16. I want to read we could read the whole chapter, but I’m going to just read sections here of it because of its length. Let’s start with the first three verses here. Now, Korah, the son of Ishar, the son of Cahath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and Onn, the son of Peleth, sons of Rubin, took men, and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation of holy are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. Then let’s skip down to verse 12. and Moses sent to Daph and Ibrahim, the sons of Elieab, which said, we will not come up. Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of the land that floweth with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards, will thou put out. the eyes of these men, we will not come up. And then, if you would, skip down to verse 26. Then he spake unto the congregation, saying, depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in their sins. So they got up from the tabernacle Cora, Dathan and Ibyram, on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents and their wives and their sons and their little ones. And Moses said, hereby, you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of mine own hand. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord have not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertainer. under them, and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking, all these words that the ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up in their houses, and all the men that appertained under core and all their goods, they and all that appertained, to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them, and they perished among the congregation. Now here we see one of the ways you could despise church leaders is to reject the authority that’s granted elders. Now, Korah was a Levite here that led a rebellion against the God-given leadership of Moses and Aaron. what led to this rebellion? Well, the authority that was given to Moses and Aaron, according to our text, ye take too much upon you, verse 3, too much authority. Wherefore then lift you up yourselves above the congregation. Who do you think you are? So Corrin his followers had this spirit of what I would call the Brother movement, where we’re all equal, and no one should have such power in the congregation of the Lord. All the congregation are holy, every one of them. That’s what they said. Moses was charged with making himself a prince over the people of God, verse 13. So these men were guilty of rejecting the authority of the leadership and despising it. The insolence of these rebels is seen in how they treated Moses when he tried to meet with them and try to resolve the issue. They would even come and talk with them. They harshly criticized Moses’ leadership. They plan to take control of the reins of authority for themselves. However, you see in this text that God sends a special judgment upon these people that have rebelled in this way. The earth swallows them up, and they go down to the pit of hell. Now, you might say, well, that’s a nice Old Testament story, pastor, but you know, we’re in the New Testament now, yes, we are. But Jude 11 warns us not to follow in the footsteps of Cora. And he applies it to the New Testament church. So that this story is very relevant for today. It’s not just an Old Testament passage. It contains vital warning here. You may not like the elder’s authority, but if it’s a God-given authority, you would be wise to keep that in mind. I know of a church which had a newly appointed eldership, and when the pastor left not too long afterwards to take a position in another church, all of a sudden there was talk of establishing a steering committee and the elders were, like, left out to dry. That’s despising the authority of the elders. The church had appointed elders, and then the elders. the pastor leaves, and all of a sudden, we’re not going to follow the elders. We’re not going to let them be the leaders and carry on the work of the church. We need a steering committee. At one point, the only two elders in this church were worse. Me and my father. And the charge was made that isn’t right for one family to have such authority in the church. Amazingly, the one who made this charge failed to say. see that Moses and Aaron were brothers. And so the authority was in one family. It’s ironic that you could miss it. But they did. I could speak of the insolence of people toward elders. People have refused to meet with the elders. We will not come up and address a complaint. And I once talked to a person and said, I don’t want to tell you what’s bothering me because then you’ll correct it. You figure that one. I don’t know. People have literally screamed at me and not allowed me to speak. People have slammed the phone down when I was talking to them on the phone. People have falsely accused the elders of the church of being tyrants. If you know me and my father, you know we’re not of that spirit. I could relate to these stories about people deliberately attempted to gang up on me and intimidate me as a pastor and actually disturbed me right before I got up to preach on Sunday mornings. Thankfully, I had some men in the church who ran interference from me. I sort of took the brunt of that. Because once we figured out what they were doing, they were trying to get me all upset before I came up to preach, the men of the church that I could count on, They stood with me and interfered for me. I don’t tell you this, I don’t tell you this just to be sympathetic toward me. I tell you this because this is what happens at churches sometimes. How rebellious people are against the elders. You take too much upon you. That’s a common charge. Who do you think you are? They reject the authority of the elders. Secondly, there’s another way you can despise the church leaders. Is that the church leaders is that. There’s an unwillingness to listen to God’s work. Now look with me in Jeremiah chapter 42. Let me give you another instance of this. Jeremiah chapter 42. And I want to read verses 1 to 4. Then we’ll skip over the chapter 43. But let’s start with 42, verses 1 to 4. Then all the captains of the forces and Johanan, the son of Karia and Jasana, the son of Hoshiah, and all the people from the least, even of the greatest, came near. Said unto Jeremiah the prophet, let we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us under the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant, where we have left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us. The Lord thy God may show us, the way wherein we may walk and the thing that we may do. Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray unto the Lord our God according to your words. And it shall come to pass that whatsoever the Lord shall answer you. I will declare it unto you, and I will keep nothing back from you. Now, that sounds all well and good. Let’s go to chapter 43. Let’s look at the first four verses of this chapter. And it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people, all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, even all these words. Then spake Azariah, the son of Hoshiah, Johanan, the son of Karia, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, thou speakest falsely. The Lord, our God, have not sent thee to say, go not into Egypt to sojourn there. But Baruch, the son of Naraya, seteth thee on against us, or to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, they might put us to death and carry us away captive unto Babylon. So, Johanan, the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah. fearful the Babylonians, the two army commanders of Israel, Johan and Jezaniah, along with their officers, and a host of other people, came to the Prophet Jeremiah. Now, there had been a rebellion in the land, and they had put to death the governor that the Babylonians had appointed the watch over the remnant that was still left in Israel. They had killed. the governor and some of the Roman, the Babylonian soldiers, and the people of God sought out Jeremiah for guidance because they were afraid. What are we going to do? Soon the prophet brings back the answer from the Lord. All the words of the Lord their God. He faithfully told them what God commanded. But they didn’t like what he said. They didn’t want to remain in the land. They were determined to go down to Egypt, and so they said, we don’t really care. We’re going down to Egypt. And they said, God didn’t tell you to say that. This angered their proud spirits and they charged Jeremiah was speaking falsely. Some Christians today despise church teachers in the same way. Well, it’s only his interpretation. It’s only his opinion. I don’t have to listen to what he’s saying. Even when an elder carefully and clearly explains the word of God, some people don’t want to hear it because it’s teaching goes against their desires and plans. Let the elders declare the whole council of God and their soul are going to be people who will be angry about it. And like these proud Israelites of old, they will simply leave and go somewhere else perhaps. Church hoppers are quite common. They bounce from assembly to assembly, never seem to settle, and have, they’re like bees from one flower to the next. People often respond like a young man I once carefully explained to doctrines of grace to. and he couldn’t answer the scriptural arguments that I laid out before him, and he just simply blurted out what his heart was thinking. I don’t care what the Bible says, I still don’t believe it. People say they want to hear the word of God, but really sometimes they only want a confirmation of their own beliefs. They seek out teachers that have that will tickle their ears, so to speak. They don’t want somebody too narrow-minded. So there’s unwillingness to listen to God’s word. And sometimes that is a despising. If the elders teaching the word of God and you’re despising it, you’re despising his authority. Engaging in formal religion is also a way. Let’s look at Ezekiel chapter 33. Also, let’s look at this passage. Chapter 33. I want to look at verses 30 to 32 here. Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people, still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses. And speak one to another, every one to his brother saying, come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh from the Lord. And they come unto thee as people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not listen to do them. They will not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear thy words, but they do them not. Now, the prophet Ezekiel is faithfully proclaiming God’s word, and there are people who are listening to what he has to say. It’s a popular thing to do. But, It was more like a type of entertainment for them. It was, as the scripture says, it was like hearing a lovely, very lovely song, or maybe someone who played really well on the harp. These people, they sat and they listened to Ezekiel preach. They had no intentions of changing their ways. They hear his words, but they don’t do them. Outwardly, they may have stated their love for the Lord, but in inwardly their hearts were set up. on covetous ways, as the scripture says in verse 31. Now, while these people politely came to church, so to speak, they were talking against the prophet privately. You’ll notice verse 30. It is a despising of a church leader to hear God’s word, but not be a doer of it, to simply be entertained by the preaching, but refusing to put the word of God into practice, and then having this negative attitude. attitude toward the elder of the church or the pastor of the church that they had. They spoke against Ely, Ezekiel here. They spoke against him secretly in their houses, behind the wall, and so forth. Not in front of him, but secretly. They talked against him. So here are people regularly attended the church services, but to speak, but they had roast preacher for lunch. they were all smiles in plight in public, but privately they degraded the elders of the church. Engaging in formal religion. They had the veneer, but they had no intentions to really obey what God was really teaching them through the prophet. A fourth thought is this. The elder’s appearance in ordinary skills are poor, and therefore they despise. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10, if you would. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 versus 8 to 10. Paul says here in 2 Corinthians 10 8 to 10, for though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord have given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed. Notice he’s talking about his authority. That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters, for his letters, they say, are weighty and point. powerful, but his bodily presence is weak in his speech. Contemptible. Now, when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he exercised his authority. He rebuked them for the divisions they had in the church. He rebuked them for putting up with the man living in incest and not disciplining. He rebuked them for taking one another to the law courts before unbelievers, things of this nature. On and on. you know, spiritual pride over their gifts and so forth. So as letters, we see are waiting. They’re powerful, they said. But when Paul came personally and they saw Paul, how was he considered? He was despised. Evidently, he was not a very stately or handsome man. He didn’t have a charismatic personality. His physical appearance was weak. the scripture says. Now, we know that Paul had a thorn in his side, we don’t, in his flesh, so to speak, a bodily ailment of some type. We don’t know what it was. We don’t know how it affected him. And so evidently, he wasn’t anyone who projected this great image. And that wasn’t disappointing enough. His speech was contemptible. We don’t know. about his oratory skills. He certainly writes well under the inspiration of the spirit. His book, I don’t know if it had to do with his mannerisms, his style of preaching, his voice. I don’t know. Maybe he just wasn’t up to their standards, as the case may be. But Paul had told them, you know, my speech and my preaching is not with enticing words of men’s wisdom. That’s not how I, approached the work. But he thought that the Spirit’s power was more important to be demonstrated in what he did. But he was despised. He was to consider a person of no notice. Why should he be feared? Why should he be regarded? Why should his authority be obey? I’m afraid nothing has changed in the church. People still look at style over substance in many cases. I was reading John Gill’s biography. And years ago, the famous Baptist minister, John Gill, had an old man in his church. And he proved to be a thorn in the flesh of his pastor. He said, whenever Gil descended from his pulpit after he had preached, this old man would rush up to him and repeatedly question all, repeat the question for all to hear, is that preaching? Is that preaching? That’s behavior is enough to have any past, I think it’s time to take a vacation. But Gil withstood at all, the bad manners for quite some time. And one day, Gil found himself confronted with the old man at the bottom of the pulpit, and the man cried out, is this the great Dr. Gil? Is this the great Dr. Gil? Finally, Gil had had enough. Looking the man in the face, pointing to the pulpit, he said in a loud voice, if you can do better, go ahead. He said that was the last time that the man ever said a thing to him when he got out of the pulpit. Gil was also criticized by the ladies of the church for his old-fashioned appearance of the pulpit. He had the tradition of wearing a wig and also these bibs that I guess were connected with the office. Well, these bibs really angered one of the women in the church who decided something had to be done. Armed with a pair of scissors, she went up to the pastor and said, can I do you a good turn? Gill said, okay. And so she shortened those bibs, cut them down. Now it was Gil’s turn. And he said, can I give you reciprocal favor? Can I do you a favor? A good turn? The lady agreed. said, and Gil said, let me borrow your scissors. He told the woman that the length of something she possessed bothered him. He said, stick out your tongue. A true tragedy is that church leaders are not valued for their faithfulness of teaching the word. I mean, sadly, you know, appearance and oratory skills evidently are more important to most people than actually the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. The elder’s appearance and oratory skills are poor, and so there’s a despising of church leaders. Maybe they’re not up to what you find on the radio preachers, the guys that are smooth and suave and debonair and all this. The last thing I’ll mention here about despising an elder is maybe he’s a young man. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verses 11. and 12. 1st Timothy chapter 4 and verses 11 and 12. Paul writes to Timothy and he says here in these verses, these things command and teach, let no man despise thou, thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers. Let no man despise thy youth. Now it’s estimated that Timothy was probably around 30 years of age here. and hence he was a young man. He was in a very important position as one of the close associates of the apostle. He would go into churches and carry the apostle’s message. Now you can imagine that some of these churches, maybe they had older believers in the church. I think, who’s this young whippersnapper coming in here and telling us what to do? Let no man despise your youth. Timothy, we know we know. at Ephesus and churches in the surrounding area. And so he could be looked down upon. He must see it that the Christians respect him because of his office. I’m afraid that today people, sometimes despise church leaders because of their age. Gordon Clark in his commentary on 1st Timothy here, he said this, and I thought it was interesting. The position of young ministers. particularly in their first pastor, it is difficult. Just out of seminary, about 25 years of age, they must administer a congregation that contains at least one or two conceded, touchy, inconsiderate members, and even some evil ones. Inexperience results in innocent but thoughtless remarks. Minor misunderstandings become major. I have seen congregations destroy young ministers. There are times when older church member thinks, you know, think, you know, who’s this young buck? I actually had someone in my church one time called me a young buck. You’re just a young buck. I don’t have to listen to God that’s still wet behind the ears. It should be remembered that God has called and gifted sometimes young men for the work of the ministry and has given them positions of authority. But all these areas are where the elder could be. despised him. We don’t know how old Titus was. He could be a young man, too. Let me close here, and we’re going to have to look at the second part of this verse in another study. But every believer needs to understand the authority of a faithful elder. Elders are commanded to rule and govern the church. That’s what they’re supposed to do. Not like a dictator. So don’t despise the elders for wielding the power that they have. This is a rebellious agent. And sadly, some Christians seem to be rebels at heart. Don’t think around the elders, just circumvent them, and this happens quite often. Don’t be part of that. If you honestly disagree with the elder, go talk with the elder. Don’t treat them with contempt and become like core and gather a group of people against them and basically have open rebellion. Be willing to listen to the message of God’s word. Remember, it’s not the man who’s speaking if he’s proclaiming God’s truth. It’s God who’s speaking. Of course, it’s possible for an elder to mistakenly misinterpret something. Yet I have had people who told me they wish I had never dealt into a particular doctrine and taught on that subject. Why? Because while admitting that what I seemed, what I said seemed to be irrefutable, they didn’t want to obey what the Bible actually said on the subject. be a doer of the word, not just a hear only. I confess, I’m not an order. There are much better and certainly smoother speakers than me. I’m not a handsome, you know, charismatic person. I always say I’m a simple man doing an impossible task, because that’s what the minister’s trying to do. I’m a plain teacher, the word of God. I don’t have $500 suits. I don’t have a Rolex watch. I don’t have a crystal cathedral. But none of that matters. What do you really want in a shepherd? While allowing mistakes in a young elder, remember the office that holds. Be patient with him, work with him. Be merciful in your judgments of him. Yes, the church may be like leaders, maybe like Stonewall Jackson. When it comes to the spiritual truth, appreciate them that they’re unmovable on these things. I had a man once tell me who had been in the church for a while, and then he had left. And when he came back, he said to me, you know, you haven’t changed it all in your doctrine. Yeah, well, doctrine should be something we’re pretty consistent about it. I mean, there are times we may learn something and have to make adjustments here or there. But, I mean, overall, our basic doctrine ought to be something we don’t, you know, change every time the windlass. blows. It’s something we should be solid about. Well, let us close with a word of prayer tonight as we consider this past.