Teachings Of Titus #1

However, the book of Acts never mentions that Paul and Titus were on the Island of Crete together. This is because the book of Acts does not give a complete list of everywhere Paul went on his missionary journeys.

Paul left the island of Crete, and now he is writing back to Titus to give him instructions on how to deal with the people that live there.

WHAT KIND OF PLACE WAS THIS ISLAND? If you were a pastor, it was your worst nightmare. Why? Because of the wicked people who lived on this island.

Illus: In his commentary, William Barclay says, “The Cretians were famed as a drunken, insolent, untrustworthy, lying, gluttonous people.” (The Letter to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, p.277)

Some pastors are given a more difficult assignment than others. Titus was given the difficult assignment to deal with the Cretians. They were despicable people.

Illus: If you wanted to insult anyone during this time, all you had to do was call them Cretians, and that was like spitting in their face.

Titus was a young minister with the big assignment of dealing with the Cretians.

Timothy and Titus were both young ministers under the leadership of the apostle Paul.

• Paul led both of them to the Lord, and refers to them as his sons.

• The letters he wrote to them are known as Pastoral Epistles because they deal with pastoral matters.

Some assume that since Paul wrote two epistles to Timothy that he favored Timothy above Titus. But on the other hand we could assume Titus was a much more mature and stronger Christian, and Paul did not feel the need to write to him as much.

Titus was a very special young minister for these reasons:

1. His conversion was an example of God’s work among the gentiles before the Jerusalem council. (Gal 2:12 ff)

2. He became a missionary to serve beside the apostle Paul.

3. He was in charge of the churches on the island of Crete.

We see some similarities between Timothy and Titus, but we also see a contrast. Timothy was a Jew while Titus was a Gentile.

In the book of Titus, we learn a great deal about three things:

• Titus

• The Church

• The Apostle Paul

In verses 1-4 we learn some things about Paul. For example we learn about-

I. HIS MINISTRY

Look at Titus 1. We read, “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.”

Paul identifies himself in two ways in the book of Titus.

A. FIRST, AS A SERVANT OF GOD

If someone is trying to impress people with his greatness, the last thing he wants to do is to reveal that he is a servant.

• For example, a lot of housewives have been put down in our society for being a housewife. Because of that, they no longer tell people they are housewives. When they are asked what do they do for a living, they say they are domestic engineers.

• I have the highest regard for the men who collect garbage. They invented the phrase, “It is a dirty job, but someone has to do it!” But when they are asked what they do for a living, they tell people they are sanitation engineers.

The apostle Paul had credentials that he could have flaunted in people’s faces, but as proud as he was of the credentials, there was something in his life that he was more proud of, and that was that HE WAS A SERVANT OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. This is why Paul stated PROUDLY that he was a “Slave of the Lord Jesus.”

WHAT DID HE MEAN BY THAT? He meant several things:

1. HE MEANT THAT HE BELONGED TO GOD.

You see, Paul was once a slave to sin.

Illus: A lot of times people will not come to the Lord Jesus for salvation because they state they want to be free to do as they please.

But listen, we need to understand something: Everyone here today is either a slave TO THE LORD JESUS, or a slave to SATAN.

It is not difficult to prove that a lost man is a slave to sin.

• Some are slaves to tobacco products

• Some are slaves to alcoholic products

• Some are slaves to drugs

• Some are slaves to the almighty dollar

• Some are slaves to fame

• Some are slaves to power

• Some are slaves to gambling

• Some are slaves to sex

• Some are slaves to pornography

• Some are slaves to lust

The devil has his chain around their necks and they are his slaves.

The reason that Paul is so proud that he is now a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, is because once he was in the bondage of sin. God saw Paul in this condition, and through the precious Blood that was shed on Calvary, Paul was purchased and now he belongs to God. Paul is PROUD to declare that he is now a SERVANT OF GOD!