Several weeks ago we started our study of the Letter to Titus. We noted at the beginning of the letter that all Christians are to pursue godliness. A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Mother’s Day by going to Titus Chapter 2 to note specific instructions for women. Last week we looked at instructions for godly men.
We will now go back to Chapter 1 and continue to learn how we are to pursue godliness. Open your Bibles to Titus Chapter 1….
We will read v6-16 but we will focus on v6-9 this morning; read along with me starting with v6…..
Some English translations of this passage do not have the word elders and the descriptions are a bit different; But in context we can note that v6-9 describe the qualities a spiritual leader, one who is called by God to oversee other Christians (this could be a Pastor or an Elder of a church). Let’s take a closer look at these qualities.
A church leader:
a. must be blameless (anegkletos) = not to be called to account or be charged
And the passage tells us what leaders are not to be charged about.
b. to be a husband of one wife; there are a couple things we can note from this statement:
- pastor or elder must be committed to his wife
- pastor or elder must be male
and in today’s world, sadly we need to note
- pastor or elder cannot be “gay”
I sadly note this because today there are supposedly christian churches who promotes homosexuality in their leadership; be warned and warn others; those churches are not biblical!
And we note in the middle of v6, a pastor or elder is to be a man. And if the pastor or elder has children,
c. children are to be believers, not to be charged of being wild and disobedient.
Man, I forgot to cite this verse when my kids were teenagers!
In v7-9 God continues to tell us other areas which a pastor or an elder must not be charged with; they are pretty much self-explanatory, but we can note a few things:
d. not overbearing (i.e. one who does not lord over people): of course leaders must lead, but he must lead by love not by bringing fear.
e. not quick-tempered
f. not given to drunkenness
g. not violent
h. not pursuing dishonest gain (a church leader should always direct you to Jesus Christ)
i. hospitable
j. loves what is good
k. self-controlled
l. upright (i.e. a man of justice and integrity)
m. holy
n. disciplined
o. holds firmly to the trustworthy message = God’s Word
We know the pastor or elder must stand firm with God’s Word because, as stated in the passage, the result is for them to be able to encourage others with sound doctrine and refute false teachings.
We need godly biblical churches today and they can only happen with biblical leaders.
As we have noted, the calling for church leaders is not that easy; of course, with God, everything is possible! Let us note that leaders God calls are not perfect; they are sinful human beings like everyone else; what is called of them is to commit to pursuing these godly qualities and willing to be accountable to them.
And so, church leaders need to do their part, to be biblical and to constantly pursue godliness, yielding to God the Holy Spirit!!
But let us also note, every Christian has a role in having godly biblical churches:
1. pursue and be involved in a biblical church!
As Christians, we need to take a stand on Scriptures alone and encourage others to do the same! Warning – it is not easy to take a stand on Scriptures alone; they will call you names; fanatic, rightwinger, legalistic! But what really counts? Always remember that what really counts is what Jesus thinks of your commitment to His Word and His Word alone. You see, even pastors of Christian churches will fight you with what their denomination believes even though what they believe are really not in the Bible. We will all face Jesus one day and give account to how we treated His Word! Know the Bible, pursue and be involved in a bible church.
And how can a Christian be involved?
2. Pray for your church leaders! They (we) need much prayers!
3. Keep your church leaders biblically accountable, with love!
