Titus 2:15

Book of Titus Chapter 2, reading verses 11 to 15. Our focus tonight is going to be on 15. For the grace of God that bring us salvation hath appear 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 glory appearing of the great God and 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. the reading of his sacred and holy word this evening. There was a pastor of a little church that complained to Charles Haddon Spurgeon about the smallness of his congregation. Now, Spurgeon would preach to thousands each week, and sometimes they would be overflow crowds in the various aisles of the church, people standing in the back and so forth. Thinking there was some secret to gaining a large audience, the young pastor thought he would seek out Spurgeon’s help. However, Spurgeon asked the young pastor, well, how large is your congregation? And the young man said, 50. Ah, said Spurgeon. That’s more than you will want to be accounted for, I want to account for on the day of judgment. In our last study, we emphasized the authority of faithful elders the need to obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves, as Hebrews 1317 indicates. Many people, we said, despise such authority in church elders. They imbibed the rebellious spirit of the day and think they can do without anybody overseeing. Thus, they rebeerable the rebellious spirit of the day and think they can do without without anybody overseeing. Thus, they rail against people who would rule over them in the house of God. We looked at ways you can be guilty of despising church leaders. We talked about rejecting the authority given the church leaders. And we talked about Korah and his followers from the book of numbers. You could be unwilling to listen to God’s word. What it is proclaimed to you is the Israelite leaders did when they went to Jeremiah and said, you know, we want you to seek God’s will for. for us and when he did they wouldn’t want to listen to it when he told them to what it was. You could engage in formal worship, formal worship like Israel did in Ezekiel’s Day. They came for entertainment purposes, as if he were playing a harp or singing a beautiful song. It was all about entertainment. He said, they listen to you, but they don’t do what you command them to do. You could dismiss the church. leaders because of their appearance, maybe their lack of oratory skills. And we used Paul’s example, how that the Corinthians looked down on him because of his contemptible speech and his bodily presence. And then we said people could look down upon church leaders because of their youth. Timothy was told, don’t let anybody despise you because of your youth, your young age. That’s another reason. Now, while church leaders are given authority to rule over you, they also have great responsibilities. For they watch for your souls as those that must give an account. That’s the second part of of chapter 13 of Hebrews, verse 17. And thus we see Spurgeon telling the young pastor, well, if you have 50 souls, that’s a lot of people to have to be accountable for. So I want to speak tonight on how to use this God given authority properly, and therefore I’m going to talk about how a faith minister can help you respect his authority. Let me begin by saying this. He should faithfully proclaim God’s word. These things speak. These things speak. These things would certainly include all the doctrinal and practical teaching which Paul has provided in this epistle. We could talk about God’s sovereign election from chapter 1 verse 1. We could talk about the hope of eternal life from chapter 1, verse 2. The primacy of preaching from chapter 1, verse 3. The ordination and the qualification of elders in chapter 1, verses 5 to 9. We could talk about confronting false teachers in chapter 1, versus 10 and 11. Godly living in chapter 1, verse 12 through chapter 2, verse 10. The power of God’s grace in chapter 2, that chapter 2, verses 11 and 12. The second coming of Christ in chapter 2, verse 13. The substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for His people, chapter 2, verse 14, and the necessity of good works for the believer, chapter 2, verse 14. We can talk about all those things, and those things would be the things that a minister should preach and proclaim. To speak here means to teach or to preach these things. Since the only authority that elder truly has comes from the Word of God, he must faithfully proclaim the scriptures. Preach the word, the Bible says, be instant in season and out of season. Now, we still use things being in season. You go to the market and try to get watermelon in January and see how you do. Now, some places get it from Guatemala and some of these places, but you can’t always get everything you would like to get at certain times of the year because it’s out of season. The fruit is not produced during that time. If I could apply that to the preaching and proclaiming of the Word of God, there are times when it doesn’t seem to be productive. You don’t see people maybe coming to Christ or you don’t see people growing in graces and you’d like to see them. and so what Paul tells Timothy, it doesn’t matter. You preach the word regardless of the results that you get. Even when it’s not popular to do so, the elder is to proclaim biblical truth. There are seasons, Paul indicates to us, well, people will not endure sound doctrine. They’ll seek after ministers that’ll say smooth and comforting things. things to them and turn their ears away from the truth, as second Timothy 4-4 tells us. But the elders not to present his own ideas, his own philosophies, but the message that comes from God. In the Old Testament, after the days of the Babylonian captivity, God raised up a man called Ezra, a spiritual leader for the remnant of the people of God who had returned back to the land of Israel. We read that Ezra was a ready scribe in the law of God. And the Bible declares Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of God and to do it and to teach Israel statutes, statutes and judgments. So here is Ezra, someone who is carefully going to study the law of God, and then set out to teach the people of God as various doctrines and principles for living. Ezra didn’t concern himself with any novel or more exciting methods. His message was not one of, you know, getting in touch with your inner self or something of this nature. His approach was to study what God had said in his word and then teach to people what God said. And make the application of that. to their lives. So the people feared him. They respected him. They respected his authority. Because they knew, he was teaching them the Word of God. Sometimes the elders’ teaching is a heavy burden. Maybe you as a hearer might not like to hear about divine wrath or hellfire or severe discipline or things of this nature. It’s sometimes when the Word of God is true. proclaimed, it cuts against the flesh. It’s always geared toward mortifying the flesh in us. But here’s the key thing. You may not always like what the faithful elder speaks, but if the message is coming from God, you respect his authority. Because he is teaching you what God is saying in his word. And this is what helps the people God respect the authority, then of the else. They appreciate the proclamation of God’s truth. You know, there is a famine of the word of the Lord today. Don’t despise those elders who are faithful fulfilling the obligations to God. And so we should realize there is a need for this. So faithful fulfilling the obligations to God. proclaim God’s word. If they do that, you should be respecting them. The second thing, he says here, the elder should teach in a way which encourages you in your Christian life. He says here to these things speak, and then he says, exhort. Exort. The Greek word for exhort means to call a person. Now, here they have the idea of to entreat them, to urge them. to admonish them even. The elder’s task is not simply to preach and to teach with, you know, even divine thunderbolts from the pulpit, so to speak. If that’s all the minister does, you might think the man is uncaring and perhaps unloving. He doesn’t understand your circumstance. The elder’s duty is not merely to tell you what God commands, but to encourage you to do it. You know, the Bible has a lot of thou shalt nots. But it also has a very much. many fear-nots. We have to promote the fear-nots, too. We have to try to encourage them to exercise their faith and to do what God says. Take the step forward in faith. You learn to respect the elder who knows your problems and struggles in life. He patiently encourages you to practice the Christian faith. In 1519, Prince Frederick the Wise, one of Martin Luther’s protectors became very seriously ill. It was at that time Luther wrote a little book for him. It was entitled, The 14 Constellations. In addition to many words of instruction and comfort for the Prince Frederick, he also said this, Thus it is good for us always to be oppressed with some trouble. less than our weakness we succumb to offenses of the world and the fall in the sin. Luther went on to say, without a struggle, there’s no victory. He said that Lot in his conflict with the evil influence of the Sodomites was helped in his righteousness. So while trouble usually brings tension, it can for the Christian be the context of triumph. And so Luther is telling Prince Frederick, I know you’re very ill, I know you’re sick, but God has a good purpose in it. And he’s benefiting you in this sickness and keeping you even from sinful activity in this sickness. And so he’s trying to encourage him. You can’t read through Paul’s epistles. to the churches without reading words of encouragement that he gives to the churches. Now, it’s true. If you read 1 Corinthians, he has a lot of negative things to say. They have a lot of problems. But that’s not always said. Yes, his letters may be heavy and weighty, as some complained about Paul. But that’s not all he said. For example, he wrote to the Corinthians and tried to encourage them to follow the way. of Christ. At one point, he wrote to the Corinthians and he addressed a problem of their failure to do as they promised. Now, Paul had previously pointed out their Christian obligation to help the church at Jerusalem that first sent out missionaries to preach the gospel to them. And if they communicated spiritual things to them, then they should reciprocate and at least provide material things for the church now that they are in the hardship at Jerusalem. Now, he became concerned because they had eagerly agreed to send a financial gift, but as time went on, they became lax in their purpose and actually never collected the money. The Apostle is concerned, and he addresses the issue when he writes 2 Corinthians. Now, he could have laid them out for this and really reamed them out for, why didn’t you collect the money? But what he does is he encourages them. First, he points out how liberally the churches in Macedonia had given to this cause. Why, they gave even above their ability, beyond what I thought they could give. In their poverty, they gave a lot to help out the church at Jerusalem. Now, Paul is using that as a stimulus. Look what they did. Even though they didn’t have a lot. Look with how much they gave out of law. love for these believers at Jerusalem. Then Paul goes on and said, look at Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor, that through his poverty, you might become rich. This was a moving illustration of what Christ gave for the benefit of his people. The sacrifice he made, they should follow his example. He thanks God for his own. unspeakable gift. Who could match this gift? And that Paul points out as a spiritual principle about giving. He which soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly. He that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully. 2nd Corinthians 9.6. He’s encouraging, look, you want to be stingy about it. Fine, but you won’t have the big reward. If you want a larger reward, then you give more. In other words, he’s trying to encourage. them, is he not? Then he talks about God loving the cheerful giver. God doesn’t want you to give grudgingly. You’re not forced to give anything. But God loves those who give with that kind of love and concern for the people of God. They’re fellow believers in Christ. Finally, he says, I’m going to send you Titus. He’s going to oversee the whole project. Because I would like to get this collection taken up because I don’t want you to be embarrassed. the representatives from these other churches come with me and we visit Corinth. I don’t want you to be embarrassed because you haven’t collected and now you’ll have to do it out of necessity. He says, I don’t want that. I want you to do it willingly. I want you to do it because you love the Lord, because you love the people of God. So all those things. He could have laid him out, but he says, basically he says, let me encourage you. Here’s what I’m going to encourage you to do this. You notice the elders often have to spend time with the how to. do something. How to implement this passage of scripture in your life. If you ever read through the sermon on the Mount, you’ll be struck by the how-toes that are in. I’ll just take one example. For example, when Jesus talks about prayer, he gives you the how to, actually he starts with how not to pray. Then he talks about how to pray. And then he says, here’s an example of prayer. And gives us the model prayer, right? Don’t be like the heathen who, you know, for their, they think they’re going to be heard for their much repetition and so forth, and they’re chanting and so forth. Don’t be like the Pharisees and the scribes who, you know, want everybody to see them praying and they get their reward already. So when you pray, do it in secret, God will reward you openly. You don’t have to be long-winded. You don’t have to be showy in your prayers. So this was all encouragement about prayer, how to do it. How to do it. Avoid the common foolishness you see going on about prayer. And here’s how you do it. Here’s an example. When the elder can exhort people in that way, it encourages them in the Christian faith. Oh, okay, I never thought about doing it that way, or I never thought about this particular aspect. That’s what we try to do. Encourage people to implement scripture. So teach in a way, the other elders should teach in a way which encourages you in your Christian life. Third thing. The elders should be brave enough to rebuke you. The third thing he says here, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. It is tempting to be a people pleaser. You don’t want to ruffle anybody’s feathers. You don’t want to get people upset. You’re trying to build a church. If you get people upset, they leave. So you don’t want to say anything is going to necessarily offend people. Maybe you want to avoid those unpopular doctrines, so you’ll be more acceptable. Maybe there is behavior that’s going on in the church that you should be rebuking, but you don’t. Maybe there’s homosexuality. Maybe there’s improper unbiblical divorce taking place. Maybe there’s disobedience to parents, bad temper. Maybe there’s lying. Maybe there’s an unforgiving spirit. Who knows? What could happen? The only way to do some believers good is to rebuke them. Now, hopefully the elder, first of all, would exhort you. You ought to be doing this. You shouldn’t be doing that. But suppose you don’t listen. Then he may have to be more severe in his treatment of you and rebuke you for not heeding the Word of God. The Bible says faith for the wounds of a friend. The pastor is your friend. He comes to you as a friend. friend. He comes to you as one who’s concerned about your soul and your well-being. He doesn’t do it to destroy you. He does it to help you to confront the sin in your life. In particular, the elder at times has to be very outspoken about the crying sin of the day, the one that’s the most glaring, the one that’s the most prominent. He doesn’t just draw a bow at a venture and just shoot an arrow. But we find that he, puts the arrow on the string, takes aim, and by the Holy Spirit’s direction, it hits home. Sometimes we have to address specific sins. Sometimes we have to rebuke someone to their face. Remember how Paul did that to the Peter, as Galatians tells us. You see, Paul telling Titus to rebuke believers on Crete because of their sin in Chapter 1, versus 11 and 12, and 13. talks about the Cretians and how they’re slow bellies and liars, and he says, rebuke them sharply. One day after a Sunday service, a man went to Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s office there at the church, and he wanted to have an interview with the pastor. The man was a Wesleyan Methodist, and he asked Spurgeon, do you believe a person can reach a state of perfection in this life? Spurgeon replied that all believe that all believe, struggle with sin and perfection is only going to come in the next world when we reach heaven. The man proudly said, well, I have reached a state of sinless perfection. Surprised by that statement, Spurgeon jumped up from his desk where he was sitting and walked over toward the man. Now, to appreciate Spurgeon’s and what happened next, what he did, he had to realize that that Spurgeon was a very heavy man at this point. He weighed a lot. I had a friend once that said when he got on the scale, it went past the numbers. You know, he buried the numbers or something. He was way over what the scale could tell you. Well, Spurgeon was pretty heavy. As the minister walked toward the man, Spurgeon deliberately stepped on the man’s foot with all his weight. The man quickly lost. his temper and said some things were unbecoming a Christian. Spurgeon simply said, I see that you really have not reached the state of perfection yet. This was a subtle rebuke of the man, but it was an effective one. I trust that when an elder must rebuke you, he does so in a kind but a firm manner, and you realize that his authority comes from God to do this. and our rebellious society rebukes are not normally well received. People get rebuked, they pack up their bags and leave the church and head for another. They go to a church where no one’s going to say anything about what they’re doing. But elders are shepherds of the flock. They’re accountable to the chief shepherd. They have to give it a count. And sometimes they have to use the rod rather than the staff as shepherds. So the elder needs to be brave enough to rebuke you. And finally, the elder needs to order his life so it’s not open to reproach. Let no man despise thee. Let me look at that phrase from this other perspective about how an elder here can keep you from despising him. An elder has to be sincere and honest. Paul pointed out to Titus in chapter 2, verses 7 and 8, how he was supposed to be a pattern of good works to those around him. How he was to set the example, how he was to live his life. We’re not to be like the Pharisees who Jesus said, don’t do after their works for they say, but they don’t do. We’re not to be like that. Peter, as Paul says in the book of Romans, you that teach that another shouldn’t lie or steal. Do you steal? Do you lie or whatever the case may be? If you see the sincerity of the elder, now he’s not a perfect person, and I’m sure if you put him under the microscope, you’ll find something wrong with him. It’s fashionable to despise those in authority. It’s fashionable to say, well, who do he think he is to tell me what to do. There was a minister who preached a sermon one morning on honesty. On Monday, he decided he’d take the bus to the church and go. do work in his office there. He paid the fare, but the bus driver gave him too much and change. Now, as he sat on the bus and he recounted the change, he realized he had gotten too much. He was wondering what to do. Was it worthy, worthwhile mentioning it? Should he give it back to the man when he got off the bus? Should he be thankful the Lord gave him a little extra? What should he do? But he thought, I can’t live with myself if I keep the money, so when he was getting off the bus, he gave the money back to the bus driver and said, you gave me too much in change. He said, you made a mistake. And the driver smiled and said, there was no mistake. As was your church yesterday. I heard you preach on the subject of honesty. I decided I would test you to see if you were going to be honest. Good thing the pastor decided he’d give the money back, and I’d keep it. It’s true the elder lives in a glass house. I said, if you, you know, if you, Look at his words and his life. I’m sure you could find something as you scrutinize it that you wouldn’t like. My only response is, when you judge the pastor, I hope that you judge yourself as minutely as you do him. And before you brand the elder hypocrite, be sure that all the hypocritical beams are out of your life first. Yet being an example of a Christian before others will gain the elder respect. And that respect will be for his authority as the pastor of the church. And when he does fail on occasion, hopefully it’ll be easy to forgive him. Because you know, usually his intentions are good and sincere and so forth. C.H. Spurgeon correctly pointed out to the young pastor with a large church, with a large church comes a lot of responsibility. An elder may help believers to his, respect church leaders by faithfully proclaiming God’s Word, teaching in a way which encourages you in your Christian life, being brave enough to rebuke you, and finally ordering his life so that it’s not open to reproach. Let’s close with a word.