Tit 1:1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ (according to the faith of God's elect, in the acknowledging of the truth which is according to godliness
Tit 1:2 on hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the eternal times,
Tit 1:3 but revealed His Word in its own times in a proclamation, with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior,)
Tit 1:4 to Titus, a true child according to our common faith. Grace mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
Tit 1:5 For this cause I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you,
Tit 1:6 if anyone is blameless, husband of one wife, having believing children, not accused of loose behavior, or disobedient.
Tit 1:7 For an overseer must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not full of passion, not given to wine, not quarrelsome, not greedy for ill gain;
Tit 1:8 but hospitable, a lover of good, discreet, just, holy, temperate,
Here Paul is giving the qualifications for the man who aspires to be an elder or pastor in the local church. Why should this concern you?
These qualifications are there so we might see that kind of man that God calls and appoints to lead His people. We find here and in 1st Timothy chapter three that the elder or pastor is a man and he is to be godly.
These qualifications are given so that you might see what kind of leader you are to follow. Also in 1 Timothy we learn that pastors are to set an example for believers “in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” (4:12)
Not only was Titus instructed to appoint elders with godly characteristics, he was instructed to appoint men who would hold fast to Word of God (vs. 9a).
As a Christian man aspiring to be like Jesus Christ you are to “hold fast the faithful Word”…you are to “hold fast sound doctrine.”
* The Bible doesn’t say that Christian men are to hold fast sport statistics.
* It doesn’t say the Christian man aspiring to be like Christ is to hold fast the popular movies and TV shows.
* It doesn’t say that Christian men are to hold fast his “black book” of women’s phone numbers.
The Christian man is to “hold fast the faithful Word; He is to hold fast sound doctrine.” At the end of verse 9 we find two reasons why:
Tit 1:9 “to encourage people and correct those who oppose the Word.”
In verse 10 Paul tells us why this needs to be done:
Tit 1:10 For there are indeed many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision
“Unruly” (anupotaktos, an-oo-pot'-ak-tos) – Translated as “rebellious,” “insubordinate,” “disorderly,” “don’t respect authority,” “not ruled by law,”
“Vain talkers” – Speak nonsense; foolish talkers
“Deceivers” – False teachers; mind-deceivers
“Those of the circumcision” – Converts from Judiasm who professed Christianity but blended Moses, Christ, the law and the Gospel together to create a false way of becoming a believer, saying people can be justified by faith AND by keeping the law.
Paul was telling Titus that he needed to appoint some Godly men, men who loved and held fast the faithful Word and sound doctrine, because there were those in the church who needed to be encouraged, even corrected, so that they might fall in line with Scripture.
There were two classes of people that Titus was to be concerned with:
Those who knew the truth but needed encouragement to follow it.
“Exhort/encourage” – parakeleo – to come alongside and support, comfort, pray for, plead with or entreat
Those who were ignorant of, or opposed to, the truth.
“Correct” – rebuke, reprove, convict, convince
Paul goes on in the balance of this chapter to write to Titus about men in the church who needed to be corrected.
Tit 1:11 whose mouth you must stop, who subvert (upset, overthrow) whole houses, teaching things not right for the sake of ill gain (money).
Someone has said, “Follow the money.” When it comes to false teaching and all the stuff that goes on in the church it is either because of sex or money or both.
Here in verse eleven Paul tells Titus that the men that need to be corrected are in it for the money. Could that be what the reality show, Preachers of LA, is all about? Is it all about the money?
In 2 Timothy chapter three Paul addresses this same kind of man. He says they, “Go secretly into houses, making prisoners of foolish women, weighted down with sin, turned from the way by their evil desires.” (vs. 9)
There is an unholy trend in the church today. Pastors, ministers, evangelists, apostles are using their authority and taking advantage of women they are counseling to have sex with them and impregnate them.
As a pastor and church planter, Titus was charged to call these unruly men out and not just for the sake of exposing the works of darkness but so that they might be turned back to the Lord and wholesome doctrine.
Tit 1:12 One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
Tit 1:13-14 This witness is true; for which cause convict them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish myths and commandments of men, turning away from the truth.
Paul was encouraging Titus to use the Word of God (publicly and privately, gently and sternly) to bring sharp conviction to these kinds of men so that they would be sound in faith (uncorrupt; no longer infected with bad principles and practices; no longer unruly, foolish talkers and deceivers).
In verses 15 and 16 of Titus chapter one Paul makes a sobering statement, “To the pure all things are pure. But to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and reprobate to every good work.”
There were people in the church at Crete that were so defiled that they had become reprobate—they were rotten at the core; unprincipled; no desire to do good; no capacity to perform any good. But at the same time they professed to know God.
In 2 Timothy 3:5 Paul tells Timothy to avoid men such as these but here in Titus Paul exhorts Titus to focus on speaking the things which befit sound doctrine.
Sometimes we make the mistake of answering a fool according to his foolishness. Proverbs 26:4 says, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.”
Here is the crux of Paul’s exhortation to Titus: If more pastors were doing this we would have more of an impact for Christ in the world. If more people who professed to be followers of Jesus were living this way our churches might be bringing more praise, glory and honor to our Lord.
* Sadly, our churches are more concerned about the tithe then transformation.
* Pastors are more concerned about growing in number than growing spiritually.
* They are more concerned about their reputation than the reverence of God.
* They are more busy trying to grow their empires than growing people to look like Christ.
But Paul says to Titus in 2:1, “But you…”
Yes, I know that they are making a mockery of the church on Oprah’s network.
Yes, I know that the mega-churches are pulling in everyone with their money, large buildings, lights, celebrities, smoke and mirrors and multimedia productions.
Again, if the church leaders could get this right we would have more of an impact for Christ in the world and bring more praise, glory and honor to our Lord.
Tit 2:1 But you, tell believers to live the kind of life that reflects sound doctrine.
Tit 2:2 Tell older men to be sober. Tell them to be men of good character, to use good judgment, and to be well-grounded in faith, love, and endurance.
Paul starts with the men because that’s where true, biblical leadership begins. Then he goes to the women.
Tit 2:3 Tell older women to live their lives in a way that shows they are dedicated to God. Tell them not to be gossips or addicted to alcohol, but to be examples of virtue.
Tit 2:4 In this way they will teach young women to show love to their husbands and children,
Tit 2:5 to use good judgment, and to be morally pure. Also, tell them to teach young women to be homemakers, to be kind, and to place themselves under their husbands' authority. Then no one can speak evil of God's word.
I know they don’t teach this much anymore but the place of true, lasting ministry for a woman is not in the corporate world; it’s not Wall Street; the Bible says that it’s in the home! “The hand that rocks the cradle, still rules the world.” (1 Timothy 2:15).
Tit 2:6 Encourage young men to be sober-minded (so¯phroneo¯ - “to be in their right mind; sane; formally demon-possessed man - Mark 5:15) .
Tit 2:7 Always set an example by doing good things. When you teach, be an example of moral purity and dignity.
Tit 2:8 Speak an accurate message that cannot be condemned. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed because they cannot say anything bad about us.
James Warren Jones was the founder and the leader of the Peoples Temple, best known for the cult murder/suicide in 1978 of 909 of its members in Jonestown, Guyana, and the murder of five individuals at a nearby airstrip. Over 300 children were murdered at Jonestown, almost all of them by cyanide poisoning.
If some of those folks who went to Jonestown, Guyana, had arrived at his church looking for sound doctrine, they’d be alive today. If somebody had asked Jim Jones to give an account for his lifestyle—his sexual sins, for instance—if someone asked him to validate his teachings and lifestyle with the Bible, the Word of God, people would have seen him as a false teacher and lives would have been spared. Are we much better in our churches today?
