Ringing True
The Productive Life, part 1
Wildwind Community Church
David K. Flowers
March 12, 2006
We’re beginning a series on the New Testament book of Titus today. My choice to preach from the book of Titus comes from a sense I have had lately that I need to preach to you about behavior. We talk so much about states of heart and attitudes here because we don’t want to come off as saying, “do this, do that,” and not address the way people’s hearts determine who they are. Yet at the end of Titus, we see:
Titus 3:14 (NIV)
14 Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.
So I have titled this sermon series, “The Productive Life.” Paul writes here in Titus 3:14 that key to living a productive life (from a spiritual point of view) is devotion to doing what is good. Paul writes to Titus about doing good things and teaching his people to do good things, so I want to spend a few weeks talking to you about doing what is good.
The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Titus to a pastor friend of his whom he was teaching how to lead in the church. Titus, along with 1st and 2nd Timothy, are called the Pastoral Epistles, epistle meaning “letter” – because both Timothy and Titus were pastors and Paul wrote letters to them to give them direction in how to build strong churches and have effective ministries.
Are you interested in making sure Wildwind is a strong church? Are you interested in seeing us have an effective ministry? Then we must begin, as Paul understood, with high standards for our leaders. Our leaders are the pace-setters, the ones who set the standards for the rest of us to follow. If you have an organization with cruddy leadership, you will sooner or later have a cruddy organization. If you have leaders who set the bar low, the organization will accomplish mediocre things. If you have leaders who are passionate and dedicated and strive to accomplish great things, you will have an organization that accomplishes great things. John Maxwell likes to say that “everything rises and falls on leadership.” Obviously that’s a very general statement but by and large I believe it is true.
Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)
18 If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
Where there is no vision, the people perish. People must be able to see what God is doing – they must learn to identify God’s activity in their lives and in their world. There must be a vision, or chaos will reign. Vision requires a visionary – a person who can make sense of the chaos for people, who can guide them along straight paths. This shows the necessity of leadership. Without vision the people perish – they stumble all over themselves, wanting to be inspired, wanting someone to follow, wanting someone they can trust to lead the way, but finding no one to answer the call.
So in this series we’ll be looking at what to do to live a productive spiritual life, beginning with what leaders are to do, and thus to model, to those around them. Let’s look at verses 1-9 in the first chapter of Titus. I’ll have you remain seated as I read, then I’ll ask you to stand with me as I pray that God will send every one of us out of here having come to understand new things today.
Titus 1:1-9 (NIV)
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness--
2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
3 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
7 Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
8 Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Father, as we open your Word, would Your Holy Spirit just open the eyes of our hearts today? Will you give us new understanding that will make a difference in how we think and how we live? Will you spring new truth to life in hearts and minds today? I trust you to do all of this in Jesus name, Amen.
What is the main difference between the standards for spiritual leaders and the standards for leaders in other areas? The main difference is that whereas it may be beneficial, perhaps even important, for secular leaders to also be good human beings, it is IMPERATIVE that spiritual leaders be good human beings. JFK could be a fairly good president even though he was a philanderer because his platform was not principally moral but political. Of course many said the same thing about Bill Clinton, right? A leader of a Fortune 500 company can be an incredible leader, but a lousy human being. A star football coach may secure one victory after another, yet be a terrible person off the field – a neglectful husband and father, a racist or chauvinist, a drunk.
But good spiritual leadership is different. Spiritual leadership always begins with a commitment to practice in private the things one preaches in public. It does not matter how good a fundraiser a pastor may be, if he does not have financial integrity in his personal life, he can’t lead. Spiritual leadership descends from personal spiritual character. It doesn’t matter how great a speaker a pastor may be – if he does not put his words into practice in his own life, he is a hypocrite and therefore not worthy of leadership. It doesn’t matter how many seats a pastor can fill on Sunday morning – if he does not continually seek to be filled and re-filled by the presence of the Spirit of God in his own life, his work will come crashing down around him as people begin to realize he does not ring true. Spiritual leadership always begins with commitment to practice in private the things one preaches in public. More important than giftedness, more important than charisma, more important than anything else is moral authority – a spiritual leader must ring true.
The Foundation of Strong Biblical Leadership
Paul was a great leader. Paul walked the talk. Paul lived the life. Paul rang true, and he wrote Titus to a pastor friend of his named Titus in order to teach him how to ring true – how to walk the talk. And to urge him to make sure that the spiritual leaders he appointed were people who rang true. Starting right in verse 1 we see Paul lay out the foundation of strong Biblical leadership. He calls himself “an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to holiness.” That sounds complicated, but it’s simple. What Paul says here is “I am an apostle (apostle meaning an “ardent supporter of a cause”) of the cause of Jesus Christ dedicated to serving his followers and to teaching His truth to others.” Now that’s one heck of a mission statement for a Christian leader, isn’t it? The foundation of strong Biblical leadership is ardent (diligent, passionate, devoted, enthusiastic) support of the cause of Christ and the faith of God’s people, and commitment to teaching God’s truth to those who need it.
Notice this. It’s commitment to:
•God’s cause
•God’s people
•God’s truth
It’s a commitment to working tirelessly to build a kingdom in which the builder is not King.
Good Christian leadership is built on this foundation. Commitment to God’s cause, not the leader’s cause. Commitment to God’s people, to loving them, nurturing them, and teaching them the truth, which is the third part of the foundation. Commitment to God’s truth. Any preacher who is halfway sensitive struggles to stand up in front of people and tell them they (that we all) are sinners. But that’s not optional – that’s God’s truth. It must be said because God’s truth is that we are sinners in need of a Savior, that we cannot reach God on our own. Good Christian leadership begins with commitment to God’s cause, God’s people, and God’s truth.
Having laid that foundation, Paul goes on in verse 5 to instruct Titus to appoint spiritual leaders in all these various towns, and then he outlines the kind of qualities Titus ought to look for. People, this is what you should expect from your spiritual leaders, and hold them accountable for.
Titus 1:5-9 (NIV)
5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
7 Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
8 Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
An elder (spiritual leader) must be blameless. Leaders in all organizations come to be associated with the organization they lead. A leader is the public face for his/her organization and this is deeply true in the church, since we claim to represent God. Anything unseemly in the personal life of a leader for which he/she can be blamed casts a shadow on the church and on all associated with it.
For those who thought Bill Clinton’s cheating ways didn’t disqualify him as president, I’m not certain whether I agree with you or not, but there is room for varying opinions on that. But here’s what we know as it applies to leaders in the church – they are to be husband of one wife. Wife of one husband. Faithful. Lack of faithfulness to one’s spouse does what? It casts blame on them, doesn’t it?
Next we see that a spiritual leader must be able to manage his/her own children. I believe deeply in this. I have seen pastors and other church leaders whose children are not exactly a credit to the pastor’s ability to lead. They are disobedient, disrespectful, sassy, and out of control. Parenting is the first and greatest platform for both learning and demonstrating leadership skills, and I will not trust any parent who cannot manage their own children to manage the people of Wildwind. Take a look at that, parents who aspire to lead. Do your own children follow you? If not, why should anyone else? If you have not taken the time to learn to lead in your own household, which is right under your nose, why should you be trusted with the responsibility of leading elsewhere?
In verse 7 Paul brings up blamelessness again. Obviously that’s important. Leaders must have a clean conscience and a clean slate. We see next that they cannot be overbearing. To be overbearing means to expect unquestioning obedience. Spiritual leaders must understand that people are created with free will in the image of God, and respect their independence, and guide them patiently. Cannot be quick-tempered. Why? Because people try your patience! Anyone who leads anything knows this is true in all arenas of life. People often don’t keep their commitments. They often don’t pull through for you. They hurt you and let you down. Spiritual leaders must know this, expect this, and roll with it, yet not become jaded and begin to get cynical and resent those they lead. It’s not easy, and yes, it demands maturity, and willingness to always acquire MORE maturity – but that’s the standard spiritual leaders are called to. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
Spiritual leaders must not be given to drunkenness. This one’s obvious, isn’t it? I mean, whether you agree that alcoholism is a disease or not, the fact is that when people get drunk, they either lose, or give up, their self-control. Spiritual leaders have to be able to hang on to self-control because they will be tested by people and by circumstances. They must have their wits about them.
Finally on the list of “don’t’s” is that spiritual leaders cannot be people who are violent or dishonest. You hear this and think how common sense it seems, but really – leaders can be successful in many other avenues of life and violate most or all of these things. They can be philandering, drunken, autocratic, angry, lying scoundrels and still run a successful company.
Notice how this all comes down to management of self and others? The gist of it is that a leader must:
•Manage his/her household and family responsibly
•Manage him/herself responsibly
•Manage others responsibly
Now imagine that all churches and all ministries everywhere were led by people like this. This is the standard for leaders in the Christian church. It is with these standards in mind that the author of Hebrews is able to write:
Hebrews 13:17 (MSG)
17 Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?
This is what I want you to see today. High standards for leaders quickly accrue to the benefit of those who follow. Leaders are expected to lead and followers are expected to follow. Isn’t it easier to follow a person of character and integrity who you know isn’t perfect but who you are convinced is laboring moment by moment to be the leader God has called him/her to be according to the standards set forth in God’s Word? Of course it is. When it’s hard to lead – when leadership costs something – when it’s not fast and easy to get into a position of leadership – when the standards are so high that only the most dedicated, the most committed, the most diligent and faithful people can or will meet those standards, the followers and the organization ultimately benefit. If John Maxwell is right – if everything rises and falls on leadership – then my friends, you want your leaders to be people who are paying a price for the privilege of leading.
I encourage you to check out 1 Timothy 3:1-12 where Paul gives Timothy an almost identical list of what to look for in a Christian leader. We don’t have time to read that right now, but in verse 10 of that passage Paul says that those who wish to lead “must first be tested.”
1 Timothy 3:10 (NIV)
10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
In other words, don’t let someone lead just because they say they want to. Don’t even let them lead because you think they might be good at it. Watch their lives. Make them prove that they are serious about this, and serious about not letting down the people who follow them. Don’t allow someone to lead until they have proven that they have the character and commitment it takes, as well as the abilities. What Paul is really telling Timothy and Titus is that people have a right to be led by people who are serious about not letting them down.
Heading back to Titus, Paul moves from “must-nots” to the musts beginning in verse 8. Okay, so we can’t be drunks, violent, autocratic, bad parents, etc. What should we do then? What are the positive qualities of spiritual leadership?
Titus 1:8-9 (NIV)
8 Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Hospitable huh? Remember that Paul wrote in a time when ministers could frequently expect to have people in their homes. There were no official church buildings, no regular meeting places – it was a leader’s home or no place.
Next, spiritual leaders must love what is good. Why? Because our highest and strongest efforts will be devoted to what we love.
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Watch what you allow yourself to become and remain attached to. You live out of your deepest heart. The things you love determine who you are. That is why leaders must love what is good. Leaders must not simply be determined to do good – they must be LOVERS of good. They must be willing to spend themselves pursuing good people, good ideas, good habits, good personal virtues, and good counsel.
Spiritual leaders must be self-controlled (no surprise there – we already identified that in the things Paul is telling leaders to avoid), upright, holy, and disciplined. What’s the picture that is painted here? It’s a picture of maturity – of a person who has gotten enough control over themselves to not be driven by their passions, someone who is able to see the goodness of God even when things go bad, go wrong, go awry. Upright – again basically free from blame or suspicion. Holy – we spent all last series talking about holiness – allowing God to build his character in you. Disciplined. It’s not always easy to live this kind of life, and stay committed to it, day after day after day. Sometimes leaders want someone to follow – leaders want someone else to make the hard decisions, want someone else to take the heat when someone’s mad about something, want to not have to deal with messy human lives anymore. God’s church needs leaders who will not run when the bullets start flying, not grow bitter when their every word is not heeded and immediately applied. Discipline is simply moment-by-moment commitment. Make the commitment and then keep making it. This is what it means to ring true.
There are the standards for those who would lead in the church. They are high standards. We don’t get to tell you guys to live one way while we’re living another way. My leadership team knows that any decision they make is binding first of all on them. If they decide with me to offer a class, I expect to see them there unless there are extenuating circumstances. They do not have the luxury of making decisions that affect your lives but do not affect their own. If they decide that we need to come to you with a financial issue, they have to have already contributed to solving that problem.
Leaders must ring true. Pastors (elders) must ring true. Lay leaders (deacons) must ring true. A Christian leader leads out of the overflow of his/her relationship with God. Those of you who have been abused by church leaders in the past – know that they were ignoring their mandate. Those who aspire to lead, know that you will be tested. Those who are asked to follow, know that much is expected of those you follow, and I ask you to support them and follow them wholeheartedly.
Next week we’ll take a look at the last half of Titus chapter 1 and see what happens when church leaders go bad. Let’s pray.
