Protecting the Truth that Leads to Godliness
Notes
Transcript
Pray
If you ever wanted a susinct church leadership manual,
and a summary of Christian characetr and behavioural expectations for those in the church,
this book of Titus might be it!
And manuals are not as exciting to read as epic stories like 1 Samuel which we’ve enjoyed this year.
But like every man’s experience, you ignore manuals at your peril - and especially 2 types of manuals,
biblical ones and Ikea ones
Titus was a collegue of Paul’s left on the Island of Crete in the eastern mediterenean,
to continue establishing the new churches there
and this letter was written to encourage him and instruct him in his duties.
verse 1 and 2 intorduce the basic overview of the book well:
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
As usual, Paul, introduces himself as an apostle - meaning he has been personally ordained by Jesus himself to teach with prophetic authroirty.
But before reminidng Titus of this, he first, and more unusally introduces himself as a servant, or better translated a ‘slave’ of God.
Most likely becasue that is the focus of this book.
Paul is instructing Titus to call the churches of Crete to complete obedience to God (ie - godliness).
Paul is a servant to God, and so ought the church of his poeple.
He puts it like this v1 -
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—
Let’s explore those phrases:
Election
Firstly It’s a marvelous and glorious mystery that God’s people, Christians - are ‘elect’,
or predestined,
or God pre-ordained beneficiaries of the promises of eternal life v2.
that God set in motion even before the beginning of time.
I know we often like to fret about such a doctrine that suggests some are chosen and others are not - how can it be fair.
But let us not be nieve about the sinfulness of humanity who as Paul writes elsewhere are spiritually ‘dead'
A dead person cannot raise themselevs to life!
No, our only hope of salvation whatsoever is ‘if’ we are elect,
, chosen in love to bring glory to our God.
Titus 3v5
‘he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy’
So - we praise God that he elects some - for without his preordained plan of salavtion for his chosen people there would be no hope at all for anyone.
To hear that God elects some (and be concerned we’re not included) cannot casue us to respond in idignation,
as if we deserve salavtion at all.
- it can only casue us to respond in repentance and a cry for mercy that we too might benefit from election!
And the grace of God is designed in such a way that ‘all who call on the name of the Lord in repentace will be saved ‘
In other words - true repentance- will be proove you to be elect!
Your name is already sealed before the beginning of time if you repent - And so we praise God, not ourselevs or anyone else for his grace.
It’s an equally encouraging truth for those we love who don’t know Jesus.
For without election they have no/zero hope at all!
But with election there is glorious hope and so we can pray for them and speak to them of JEsus.
It is a marvelous and glorious mystery that we cannot fathom or reason - but that is the sort of God we need.
And just as our faith begins in this reassuring mystery,
so too our faith continues mysteriously -
If we are elect then in a sense our faith cannot help but be prooved through an ongoing sanctification
- an ongoing life of ever improoving godliness,
and yet at the same time we are expected to ‘work at godliness’, put off sin, strive for sound doctrine and right understanding of God’s truth.
We don’t respond to election in fatalism -
“nothing i can or can’t do will affect my salavtion - so why bother” - for that in and of itself may proove we are not elect.
On the contrary - as we hear the truth of God’s word, v1 - we will respond in ever increasing godliness, still v1
within the context of v2 - which is a sure hope in eternal life, which God who does not/cannot lie, also promised before the beginning of time.
Truth that leads to godliness
Put simply - someone who is elect will hear the truth of the bible and respond in repentance and increasing obedience, - in godliness
- not to earn eternal life but becasue they have been elected to eternal life already.
Someone who is not elect will not respond in obediecne to the truth of the bible that leads to godliness
.
The test of election is less about ‘how godly we are behaviourally and more about how honestly responsive to the truth we are.
I’ve met plenty of people who appear very holy and disciplined but reject much of the ‘truth’. - it’s very concerning.
And I’ve met plenty of people who really struggle and or have much to grow in godliness but they love the truth and are convicted and respond to it. - they are a joy!
It’s a good question to ask yourself and pray about.
Does our knowlegde of the truth that lead to Godliness?
Do we respond well and obediently as best we can to the Bible?
Protecting the Truth that leads to Godliness
Next, so key is the relationship between ‘truth’ and godliness that Paul spends chapter 1 explaining how that truth is to be protected.
Protecting the Truth that Leads to Godliness
Protecting the Truth that Leads to Godliness
And the answer to protecting truth is: elders.
1 - Elders Protect the Truth
1 - Elders Protect the Truth
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Each church is to have elders to ‘order’ things And as we’ll see ’protect the truth’
So Paul’s primary concern with elders is that good ones are appointed.
Unlike our world today, Paul is not so interested in ability to complete tasks (although that has to be part of it if they are to order things.)
He is most interested in character.
He states twice that an elder is to be blameless.
He’s not meaning sinlessly perfect,
What is clear from the fuller explanation is that an Elder is to be blameless in a sense that they will not bring disgrace, shame or questionable leadership in the church.
Let’s go through those areas of blamelessness.
An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
First off, an elder is to be
Elders:
1 - a man
1 - a man
This isn’t a case of ability, inteligence or equality
- throughout the bible - women are also effective leaders, always valued equally and essential to the work of God.
It is simply a matter of how God has chosen to order things in a way that most brings him glory.
We’ll be strating a sereis in 1 Corinthians in Spetember which discusses this issue in much more detail.
Where women choosing submission to male headship in the church and family,
and men choosing headship in the church and home - which incidentally is something many men are more keen to avoid than most women are to seek headhsip!
Is a way of modeling Christs headship of his people the church.
and it models Christs submission to God the Father.
we could hardly argue that Christ is less equal than the Father,
and we could hardly suggest Christ is ‘missiing out’ or being ‘undervalued’ because he chooses submission to his Father.
Now, Obvioulsy men are not God and so submission for women to men, and non-elder men to their church elders may often be harder than Christ’s submisson to His Father,
but that doesn’t remove the idea that this is God’s model for church.
And as such - that is why the chracter and blamelessness of men chosen to be elders is no important.
As such an elder is to be
Elders:
1 - a man
2 - faithful to his wife.
2 - faithful to his wife.
A man who has histroically or is presently being unfaithful is to be excluded from eldership.
It would perhaps be fair to assume that the congregation would not entrust themselves to a man who cannot remain fauthful to his own wife let alone his Lord and his church.
He is also to be ‘a man
Elders:
1 - a man
2 - faithful to his wife.
3 - whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.’
3 - whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.’
It’s actually a tricky word ‘beleive’ and may simply mean that the chidlren of an elder ought to be ‘faithful’ to their parents.
But what is clear is that there is an expectation that the way in which an elder - and therefore I guess all of us -
ought to be able to raise our chidlren so they are ‘faithful’ to us,
and certainly until they are older -
we should raise them in a way that they believe in what we are teaching them about Jesus.
SO important is it that our children aren’t rebellious that in Duet 21 a son who is still rebellious as he gets older was to be stoned to death!
That sort of conteDt would certainly sharpen out parenting skills wouldn’t it!
And elders chidlren also ought not to be wild.
Again a word translated differently in different places - but at other times it’s translated as ‘rebelious, debauched or disobedient’.
The assumption here is that children ‘will be wild’ without significant effort put into teaching, enforcing, disciplining our children.
It’s not really ok to just laugh of rebelious or wild behaviour in our children.
We are not to raise them as our friends or chums - we are to raise them as obedient and respectful of our authority,
so as not to bring shame on us in their behaviour.
Nothing has casued Leanna and I more exhustion and effort and time in our life than in constantly teaching, disciplinig and correcting our chidlrens’ behaviour.
There are wild tendancies, relelious ways, unfaithful attitudes to be corrected and often punished every single day.
It may be exhusting -
but loving your child is to raise them as God sees to be good: faithful and obedient.
Loving your child is not giving them what they want and being afraid to correcting them, letting things go, allowing disrespectful attitudes and so we could go on.
It’s a lesson our current culture has all but fogotten.
Elders:
1 - a man
2 - faithful to his wife.
3 - whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.’
4 - blameless
4 - blameless
Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
This verse needs little explanation - but it is a challenge and reminder to us all.
what sort of people do we all want to be?
We are not to be overbearing - or bullying,
not quick-tempered - even when we don’t get our way
not given to drunkeness - for it clouds our judgement and actions,
not violent, for Jesus’ people love and turn the other cheek,
not pursuing dishonest gain, for we trust God’s plans and are content and grateful for all we have.
rather v8
Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
Self-controlled is going to come up alot in Titus,
it’s a core characteristic for the Christian - elder or not!
pause
All this all requires elders to be
Elders:
1 - a man
2 - faithful to his wife.
3 - whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.’
4 - blameless
5 - disciplined
5 - disciplined
- in other words it’s not natural and it’s not easy!
An elder who is self-contorlled and disciplined
- AND able to demonstrate that in his parenting and marriage
is then able to be trusted to do the same with God’s household the church
and so able to protect the ‘truth that leads to godliness.’
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.
Elders:
1 - a man
2 - faithful to his wife.
3 - whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.’
4 - blameless
5 - disciplined
6 - hold, teach and refute to the truth
6 - hold, teach and refute to the truth
It all holds together like this -
An elder who cannot rebuke his own children can hardly rebuke a church member who has opposed sound doctrine,
Equally an elder who is unfaithful to his wife can hardly insist on faithfulness to the truth in His church!
An elder needs godly characteristics and dicipline to be able to do all these things.
And so I think we ought to be praying more for church elders.
Pause
And Elders are so important in protecting the truth, because there are also enemies to the truth.
2 - Enemies Distract from Truth
2 - Enemies Distract from Truth
Paul doesn’t mince his words when it comes to those who are deceiving Christians with false teachings and doctrine.
For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
No one is certain what the circumsision group was teaching
- it may even be as simple as Jewish teachings that salavtion is found in obedicene to the law - and hence circumcision is part of that.
But they couldn’t be more wrong is Paul’s point.
Yes obedient godliness is required - but not to earn salavtion, but becasue of salavtion by grace in Jesus.
But false teaching is certainly not just from a Jewish origion.
The cretans - who we owe the phrase - lazy cretan - are not to listen to any teaching that is not sound doctrine from the apostles.
One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commands of those who reject the truth.
Paul’s rather cultural sterotype is not his final concluded judgement on all Cretans - after all he’s writing to further the faith of Cretans!
His point is that cultures do develop thier unique traits that are sinful - and they must be challenged and brought under the jdugement and then grace of God.
Perhpas our current cultural bias would be one of individualism - my right to be whoever or whatever, and do whatever we want to be or do.
And no-one has the right to tell us otherwise!
That culture that has no true understanding of our sinfulness before God and deserves an equally sharp rebuke
- so that we will be sound in faith - and return to our only true hope,
which is humbe repentance before Jesus - who saves us dispite our sin in grace and mercy.
v15 makes the point:
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
If you think you can be saved by obediecne to the law, or by individualistic freedom - or any other human commands for that matter - you are impure - corrupted.
You cannot do anything ‘good’ before God for you are rejecting him entirely by your actions.
The ‘I’m a good person so God will love me’ doesnt stand up!
But to those who are elect - saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus -
all things are pure. We are free from the law - it cannot and will not save us or condemn us.
And so instead - we now live as servants to Jesus in the sure hope he sets before us - becasue he has already saved us!
And the way we live the life of an elect child of God,
is by exposing ourselevs to the truth of his word,
protected by church elders,
so that we lives godly lives.
pause
If a year of lockdowns and the inability to meet as church has worn you down spiritually -
it’s not suprosing beacuse we haven’t been able to expose ourselevs to the truth that leads to godliness! - as portected by elders.
We can certainly read the truth at home, but there is a God ordained plan to protect the doctrines we are exposed to through his church,
that without church we may be swayed from.
The world and false teaching can get to us.
But a church that teaches the truth of the word - as protected by a faithful eldership (albeit not perfectly),
will protect us all in the truth of Jesus.
To summarise
Praise God for election - our only hope
Repent and believe and you are by grace an elect child of God.
Secured into eternal life by a God who cannot lie.
So enjoy Jesus by pursuing godliness that comes through the truth.
And pray for and benefit from elders who protect that truth that is so precious to us all.
PRAY