This session on Titus was given at the Grace Church Guildford Big Weekend on 4-6 February 2022. An audio recording of the session can be found below along with the transcript.
Given that we are now in February, I can’t help but ask how those New Year’s Resolutions are coming along. Are you still going to the gym? Getting up early? Eating more healthily? Perhaps you were aiming for more spiritual changes. How is your Bible reading plan progressing? Your prayer life holding up? Are you building more intentionally spiritual relationships? Becoming a kinder person? Overcoming a longstanding struggle with sin?
If we are honest, whether we turn them into actual resolutions or not, we all have alterations we’d like to make, changes we’d love to achieve. And yet, a great gulf exists between those aspirations and our achievements. Our gym memberships go unused. Reading plans go uncompleted. Times of prayer become less frequent, less fervent. Struggles with sin become more difficult, more dangerous. We all want change, and yet it so often seems that we fail to achieve it.
How do we change? What tools do we use to transform ourselves and others around us? We all want to grow in our Christian faith, but how can we generate that growth? I believe those are the questions that the book of Titus answers. Titus tells us how we can change. It not only tells us of the ways in which we are to change (e.g. growing in gentleness, generosity, or good works, overcoming anger, arrogance or greed), but more importantly, Titus tells us the way by which we can change. The tool God uses to transform us. As we shall soon see, Titus teaches that it is ‘Truth that Transforms’.
Each chapter of Titus teaches this in a slightly different way. Chapter 1 tell us of ‘Truth-Transformed Shepherds’, Chapter 2 of ‘Truth-Transformed Saints’ and Chapter 3 of ‘Truth-Transformed Society’. In each chapter, Paul applies the same principle (that truth transforms) in a different context. First, the leaders of a church, then the members of a church, and finally out into the world around a church. We look at the first of these together this morning. Did you notice as we read the first chapter, it consists of a short introduction (1:1-4) and then a much longer section discussing elders (1:5-16)? Let us consider these two parts now, and as we do so we will see Paul provides us (1) A Model for Ministry (1:1-4) and then (2) A Survey of Shepherding (1:5-16).
1. A MODEL FOR MINISTRY (1:1-4)
When was the last time you wrote a letter? Not an email, or a text message, but an actual letter? Physical paper and a pen. I suspect that if I were to pass out pens and paper right now, you would struggle to remember how to actually set a letter out. Where does their address go? What about your address? Does the date go on the left or right? Do you begin ‘Dear Sir’ or ‘To whom it may concern’? Do you sign off ‘Yours Sincerely’ or ‘Kind regards’? In the first century, when this letter was written, there were also conventions how how to write letters. 1:1-4 is a good example of them: The author would identify and introduce themselves (1:1-3), name the recipient (1:4a) and give a short blessing (1:4b). However, while this introduction is ordinary in one way, it is rather extraordinary in another. You see, when you take this introduction and compare it to Paul’s others, you notice something very strange. For while Titus is the second shortest letter, only Philemon is smaller, it has the second longest introduction. The only letter with an introduction longer than Titus is Romans, which is Paul’s longest letter.
What turns this observation from a bizarre quiz question new year into a query worth investigating is this: in this letter, Paul’s recipient, Titus, does not need a detailed introduction in order to identify Paul. For example, that is the case in Romans, for Paul had yet to meet the Roman church when he wrote his letter to them. But here, he writes to one of his closest colleagues and companions in ministry. If we took the time to look at Galatians 2, we would see Titus has been with Paul since the very beginning of his ministry, and from 2 Timothy 4:10, we see Titus serves with him until the very end. Titus is Paul’s longest running ministry partner. Further, he is Paul’s most valued ministry partner. As well as being given this assignment in Crete, we learn from 2 Corinthians 7-8 that Titus was also sent to sort out a serious situation in the church at Corinth. Titus seems to be who Paul turns to when he needs a trusted, time-tested, partner in ministry. And yet, reading 1:1-3 you could be forgiven for thinking they had never met each other!
It would be like my wife Sarah texting me to say she is on her way home from work and beginning the message with ‘I recently began working as a Research Nurse at a hospital in London, where I seek to care for critically ill children, I commute to work on the train from my home in Guildford, to which I will return in around an hour. Please put the dinner on?’ It’s bizarre for somebody to reintroduce themselves in such a way to those closest to them. If Titus knows all these things that Paul mentions in 1:1-3, why then does Paul write them? I think it is clearly to remind him not merely who Paul was as a person, but of his purpose and process in ministry. Paul is writing to Titus to instruct him about his ministry on Crete, but before he gets to that, he wants to remind Titus what faithful ministry looks like. He wants to give him a refresher course. A pattern he can practice, an approach he can adopt. By giving an overview of his own ministry in 1:1-3, Paul provides Titus, churches in Crete, and each of us, with a Model for Ministry. This model is presented to us in 2 parts: the Motive (1:1-2a); the Method (1:2b-3). The motive and method, the purpose and process, of ministry. Here we learn that: We should seek the salvation of the saints through the sharing of the Scriptures.
A. Our Motive – We should seek the salvation of the saints
If any of you are looking for an inspiring topical study, identifying all the statements that Paul makes about his motivation for ministry is surely worth investigating. Perhaps Paul’s most striking statement is in 2 Corinthians, where, after pleading with the congregation not to abandon him for false apostles, in 12:15, he exclaims, ‘I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.’ (ESV) The NIV summarises the meaning well: ‘I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well’. What a brilliant summary that is of how we should serve: gladly spending and being spent for each other’s souls. What an inscription that would be on a gravestone: ‘She gladly spent herself for souls.’ Is that the kind of service you are striving for? Seeking to gladly spend money, time, energy, even yourself, for the souls of others?
‘For souls’ is a good short summary of what Paul writes here in 1:1. Firstly, we see the motivation behind his ministry is ‘…to further the faith of God’s elect’. This group of ‘God’s elect’ is far wider than the church on Crete, even far wider than the church in Paul’s century. One commentator explains it is ‘all who were, who are and who will be united to Christ by faith’ (Burk). Here we see the breadth of Paul’s motivation: he sought the salvation of all God’s people. Paul does everything for their spiritual advancement. Indeed, it seems he will do anything for it. In 2 Timothy 2:10, as he suffered in prison, bound in chains, he wrote, ‘I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.’ Paul chained himself to that cause, and so was willing to accept chains for it.
Paul not only tells us of the breadth, but also the depth of this motivation. For it is not only to further their faith, but ‘their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness…’. Paul is seeking both the salvation of sinners and the strengthening of the saints. Both bringing non-believers to faith and building believers in faith. The salvation Paul seeks is not just eternal safety, it is a growth in godliness, a life of holiness, a likeness to Jesus Christ. Paul is motivated not merely to see saints escape from Hell, he wants to see them prepared for Heaven. He is not only passionate about evangelism, but also discipleship. He sees the church not merely as a lifeboat for the lost, but as a school for the saints. We will see that is exactly what he speaks of in Titus 2. A place of training, growing, maturing. Fellow church members, do you aspire for Grace Church to be such a place? Not only a lifeboat for the lost, but a school for saints. A place where Christians are changing. My sense is that in most churches if somebody is progressing, growing, maturing, it stands out, it is almost a surprise, for the common Christian experience in those churches is Christians merely existing, not maturing. Stagnating, not growing. However, I think if we read the New Testament, we see that the very opposite should be true. We should strive to be a church where the ordinary experience of most members is steady growth in godliness, regular maturing in faith. We ought to aim to be the kind of church where somebody stagnating or stalling in their faith, is strange, stands out and draws our attention and support to get them growing again. Is that not the kind of congregation you want to be part of? Doing life with people who look more and more like Jesus every Sunday?
Finally, we see here the height of Paul’s motivation, the great hope he has for God’s elect. He serves ‘in hope of eternal life’. This is a life that is eternal both in its quantity and its quality. The quantity of living forever. The quality of living fully. What more could be hoped for than never ending life that is always fully satisfying?
Here then in 1:1-2 we see the breadth, depth and height of Paul’s motivation, the scope of the salvation that he seeks for the saints. This is salvation in its fullest and greatest sense. Paul serves to see the saints justified, brought to faith, sanctified, growing in godliness, and glorified, entering into eternal life. The salvation of the saints, that is what motivates him in his ministry. And that is what should motivate Titus, and us as well. In all that we do, we should have this as our great goal: seeking the salvation of the saints. Of course, motivation isn’t enough. Inspiration without action achieves nothing. And so Paul passes on in 1:2 to mention his method for ministry.
B. Our Method – through the sharing of the Scriptures
He tells Titus, and us, that we should seek the salvation of the saints through the sharing of the Scriptures. He begins this by emphasising the sure certainty of God’s promise of eternal life, which he has now brought to light in his Word. I would love to spend the whole sermon just savouring the sweetness of these next words in 1:2, that we have a ‘God, who does not lie...’. There is surely an unending river of enjoyment running out of that phrase. Meditating on them, Thomas Manton, a pastor at Covenant Garden in the 17th century, explained to his congregation that God is ‘too good to deceive and too wise to be deceived.’ And in response, cried out as he was preaching, ‘Oh! That our trust was as sure as his promises.’
In 1:3 we see God’s sure promises were brought to light through Paul’s preaching. Now, as an apostle there was something unique about Paul’s preaching. It was under apostolic authority the gospel first spread and the New Testament was written. And yet, in this letter, Paul tells Titus he too must teach the truth. Proclaim God’s promises. Paul later tells him: ‘These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority.’ (2:15). And ‘This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things…’ (3:8). Paul’s preaching may have been unique, but he still called Titus to teach the truth, share the Scriptures. Why? Why is sharing the Scriptures our method for seeking the salvation of the saints?
I think Paul has already revealed to us the connection between Scripture and salvation, God’s Word and godliness, truth and transformation. Look back with me at 1:1, for it is there we find a phrase that I believe brings us to the very heart of the book. It is here, in the very first verse, that Paul’s point, his main theological idea, can be found. Did you get it? ‘...the truth that leads to godliness...’. If you were to ask me to summarise the message of Titus in four words, it would be ‘Truth leads to godliness’. Or in three words, ‘Truth that Transforms’. This is the idea around which I believe the whole letter is built. For example, look with me in chapter 2. There Paul will spend the first 10 verses setting out what personal godliness looks like for a whole range of different groups of people. And then, in 2:11, he delivers the punchline that will produce this godliness. The truth that will transform. Why is Titus to teach older men to be sober-minded? Young women to be pure? Slave to be submissive to their masters? Read the reason with me in 2:11: ‘For the grace of God has appeared….’. Paul packs that entire paragraph from 2:11-15 full of the truth that will transform them. He does the exact same again in chapter 3. In verses 1-2 he calls for godliness in public life and then in verse 3, he delivers the doctrine that will drives it. ‘At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived…’ and again sets out a long train of transforming truth. From its opening verses, throughout the rest of the letter, Titus teaches truth leads to godliness. Right beliefs produce right behaviour. Our convictions change our conduct. Our doctrine determines our deeds. That is the method behind Paul’s ministry. He described it so well to the Colossians when he exclaims in 1:28-29, ‘He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.’ The salvation of the saints through the sharing of the Scriptures. That is the model for ministry that Paul lays out here in the opening verses.
This is the source of all Paul has to say in this letter. It is on this foundation that Paul builds the rest of his teaching: teaching about leadership in Titus 1, discipleship in Titus 2 and then evangelism in Titus 3. It is as if a river flows out of these opening verses and throughout the rest of the book, as Paul first applies this principle to the leaders of the church, then the members of the church and out into the community around the church. Let’s see how he does the first of these now.
2. A SURVEY OF SHEPHERDING (1:5-16)
If 1:1-4 contains the theory behind ministry, 1:5-16 describes the practice of ministry. For after providing the principle, Paul goes one to apply it to Titus’ context. Because truth transforms, Titus is given a particular task. In 1:5 we read, ‘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.’
Crete is the largest of the Greek islands in the Mediterranean, and it appears that at some point Paul and Titus were both there together. While it is unclear what took place, based on what Paul does throughout Acts, it is likely he and Titus were sharing the gospel, that is the good news of Christianity, with locals there. It appears that in response, people became Christians, turned from their sin and trusted in Jesus for forgiveness, and began to gather together into local churches. It seems that once this happened, as he does elsewhere, Paul decided to move on to share the gospel in another location. However, it appears that he asked Titus to stay behind to help the churches grow and develop. From 1:5 we see there was one particular task that Titus entrusted with. Until this job was complete, until elders were appointed, their work on Crete remained unfinished.
There is so much we could delve into in 1:5 about the nomination of these elders, the selection of these shepherds. I love ecclesiology, that is the doctrine about the church, and so am more than happy to have conversations about how 1:5 sets the pattern for us as we plant churches today.
However, for now I want you to notice this one very basic thing: see that local churches are not built overnight. It can take many years to plant and establish them. We see here that even Paul, an apostle, in the fastest years of Christian expansion, was unable to rapidly raise up churches. Even if multiplication happens quickly through many coming to faith, maturity in that faith is a slow process. Even after elders are appointed, there is much left to do, as the rest of the letter will go on to say. Friends, church work is hard work, slow work, but in the end, it is God’s work. The work he would have us do in this world. Brothers and sisters, do you see here Paul shows us we seek the salvation of the saints by building up the church? Establishing a healthy community of believers in a location? Are you committed to such a cause? And if you are, you need to remember that it is a marathon, not a sprint. Or even better, that it is a relay race, for if Christ does not come back before you die, like every other Christian for the last 2000, you will have to pass the baton on to someone else.
Just as the great buildings of this earth, whether pyramids or temples, were not built up in a few days, the great building of eternity, the final dwelling of God, the church of Jesus Christ, is not built quickly. As you seek the salvation of the saints, build up the local church, you should measure your efforts or just in years, bur in decades. Consider it a cause you will commit to for the rest of your life, not just something that is convenient in your current life stage. Are you ready for that? Is that what you are signing up for? Giving yourself to? Pacing yourself for? Brothers and sisters that is how you can best spend and be spent for souls: (Step 1) become a member of a local church, (2) put that community at the centre of your life, (3) do all you can to build those believers up and bring others to faith and then (4) die. Is that your great life plan? It should be!
We are going to spend our final minutes flying through Paul’s directions for how Titus can finish his initial work on Crete, appoint elders. To help him in this, in the rest of the chapter, Paul tells Titus first about (1) The Nature of Shepherds; and then (2) The Need for Shepherds.
A. The Nature of Shepherds (1:6-9) – Elders are godly men who teach God’s truth
Sometimes we can have very different concepts of what a good leader looks like. Just consider the most recent presidential election in the US: Donald Trump and Joe Biden not only contrasted in policies, but also in their characters. Or think of our current two political leaders here in the UK: Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Stammer. Their qualifications for and style of leadership are very different to each other. Thankfully, when it comes to the church, we aren’t left to work out how to define and identify a good leader, for Paul tells us exactly what to look for. In 1:6-8 Paul explains that elders are godly men and in 1:9 adds that they must also be able to teach God’s truth.
1:6 really acts as a summary of what it means for an elder to be godly: ‘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.’ That term ‘blameless’ is perhaps better translated in the ESV as ‘above reproach’. It means an elder must possess a character that is beyond criticism. In 1:7 Paul fleshes out what this means, giving examples of a man’s blamelessness by listing both what he is not and what he is. The word blamelessness by itself can seem rather intimidating. And sometimes people feel that it gives the impression that somebody needs to be perfect, flawless, sinless. However, that obviously isn’t the case – there is only one sinless Shepherd, and that is Jesus. Instead, Calvin summarises what it means well when he said it: ‘does not mean one who is exempt from every vice, (for no such person could at any time be found,) but one who is marked by no disgrace…He means…that he shall be a man of unblemished reputation.’ Paul does not teach an elder is to be beyond sinning. Rather, he teaches that an elder is to possess a character beyond criticism. To have a life is free from obvious faults or flaws. When people look at an elder, they are to see a godly man. One who has been transformed by the truth.
They can see this not only from the man’s personal life, but also his family life. He is not only to possess a character beyond criticism, but he is also to preside over a family being faithful. That is what Paul mentions in the second half of 1:6. The NIV’s translation ‘children who believe’ is a possible yet poor one, which they acknowledge in their footnotes by providing the alternative ‘who are trustworthy’. Again, happy to discuss these phrases in more detail with any of you, but in summary, an elder is a man who is both faithful to his wife, and has children who are faithful to him. He is not unfaithful to his wife through adultery, pornography, or lust. He is devoted to her and her alone. Similarly, his children are not unfaithful to him by living wildly and disobediently: even if they are not believers, they behave appropriately to him, respect and honour him as their father.
You can often tell a lot about someone from their house, can’t you?Their socio-economic status, their priorities and hobbies, their quirks and habits. Similarly, Paul says we can tell a lot about a man from his household: how does he treat his wife? How do his children treat him? Before he is called to care for Christ’s bride, we must check he can care for his own. Before asking him to oversee God’s household, look to see how his is overseen.
When we consider these qualifications in this way, one thing becomes clear: the character expected of elders, should not be exclusive of elders. There is nothing Paul lists here in 1:6-8 that God does not want for all his children. God wants all of us to be people of personal godliness with faithful family lives. DAC famously said, ‘These qualifications are remarkable for being unremarkable.’ Friends, every one of these instructions can be found elsewhere in the New Testament as a commandment for all Christians. Another writer puts it like this: ‘There is nothing here that is extraordinary, it is just the ordinary things done extraordinarily well.’ Whether you aspire to be an elder or not. Whether you can be an elder or not. You are to aspire to be blameless. All Christians are to cultivate characters that are beyond criticism. We should all be aiming to have faithful family lives. In this, elders are to be our examples. Paul explains that leaders must not only teach godliness with their lips, but they are also to teach it with their lives. That is why the author of Hebrews can exhort the whole church, whether young or old, male or female, ‘Remember your leaders…Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.’ (13:7) An elder’s life is to be an example to aim for, not an exception to admire.
Of course, Lord willing, some of you will one day be elders. If men in this room today are not elders at Grace Church in 10 or 20 years time, then we will have a big problem. Where else are our future elders going to come from? Elders are not imported from far-away foreign land. If Grace Church is to have elders in the future, it must be raising up elders in the present. And if men in this room, from this generation, don’t develop into elders, then where will they come from?
Brother – do you desire that? If not, why not? In 1 Timothy 3:1, Paul tells us that aspiring to serve as an elder is to aspire to a noble task. Why would you not desire it? What is holding you back from aspiring to such a good work? Brother, there may be all kinds of reasons that mean you never become an elder, but let us ensure not bothering to aim for it, aspire to it, isn’t one of them. Ask yourself, why in 5, 10, or 15 years time could I not be an elder? When you look at this list of qualifications, there a sin in your life that disqualifies you? You need to address that. Is there a Christlike character quality you still lack, you need to develop that! Do you lack a sufficient knowledge of the truth, or feel insecure about teaching others, go and talk to a current elder about how you can grow in those areas. Grace Church needs elders, all churches need elders. Praise God we have six elders now, godly men teaching God’s truth. But Grace Church, every church, in 20 years’ time will need elders just as much as they need them today. Which of us in this generation, in this room, will quietly and steadfastly aspire to such a task? Seek to so grow in godliness and knowledge of the truth so that you can shepherd a flock of sheep in the future?
This need for elders is what Paul turns to next.
B. The Need for Shepherds (1:10-16) – Elders are needed to fight the wolves and feed the sheep
In 1:9 we see that elders are not only to be transformed by the truth (i.e. godly men), but are also to be able to teach the truth. This has two sides to it. Do you see the two sides to this teaching? Both building up and beating off. Feeding the sheep and fighting the wolves. Elders must be able to both construct and correct. Again, Thomas Manton writes that they should ‘be able to handle the sword and the trowel…’. Calvin comments, ‘They must have two voices: one for gathering the sheep and another for driving away the wolves’.
In 1:10 onwards we see the reason why elders must be able to do these two things. Paul tells Titus to appoint Godly men who can teach God’s truth, why? It seems there are many wolves lurking around these flocks on Crete. In 1:10-11 we read of false teachers who must be silenced, stopped, refuted and driven off. Earlier in 1:1 we learnt that truth transforms, but let us not forget that deceit destroys. Titus 1:1 speaks of ‘the truth that leads to godliness’. But equally, 2 Timothy 2:16 teaches that those who indulge in false teaching ‘become more and more ungodly.’ That is why we need elders, to fight the wolves. We need elders to lead us in combatting false teaching.
However, from 1:12 we see that we also need elders to feed the sheep. In 1:12, Paul quotes a rather provocative phrase from a Cretan poet called Epimenides, who hundreds of years before Paul, summarised the state of his nation. He described his people as: ‘always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.’ When we look at other ancient accounts, it only confirms this conclusion. The ancient Roman, Cicero, commented, Cretan ‘moral principles are so [astray], they consider highway robbery to be honourable.’ That is the kind of people Cretans were. Liars and deceivers, doing whatever it took to make a profit, following their physical passions and pleasures wherever they led them. Now the Bible tells us we all have a sinful, corrupt nature. Isaiah writes: ‘All we like sheep have gone astray…’ (53:6). Yet it seems this straying developed in a particularly shocking way on Crete. As a result, when Cretans began to become Christians, a great transformation was need. We see in 1:13, that those who were still in such sins needed to be rebuked, so that they could be ‘sound’, that is healthy, in their faith. These churches needed to be taught the truth that would transform them. Which is what Paul spends the rest of the letter urging Titus to do.
However, as we close do you see how this whole chapter makes sense? You see, God’s people must be taught God’s truth if they are to be godly. Yet, when we reach the end of the book in 3:12, we see Titus will not always be around to do that. He will soon leave and return to Paul at Nicopolis.
If truth transforms, then it makes sense that the first thing Titus is to do is to find men who have been transformed by truth and can teach others so that they can be transformed as well. This is why Paul tells Titus to make the appointment of elders a priority. Of course local churches can exist without elders. Matthew 18:20 states that two believers exercising authority in Jesus’ name together is enough. It is members, not elders, that constitute a church. And yet, as someone has put it, ‘elders [though] not essential for the being of a church...are essential to its wellbeing.’ A church may survive, but it is unlikely to thrive without elders. A shepherd might leave his flock alone for a few nights out in the wild, but if they are left indefinitely, you can be sure that either the wolves will come or the sheep will begin to starve. That is why the theologian John Owen concluded: 'the first duty of a church without [elders] is to obtain them’. And from Titus 1, Paul seemed to think so as well.
Well, brothers and sisters, we have just tore through Titus 1. As we did so, we had to step over and around lots of questions and topics that I’d love to have covered. However, as Lois reminded us, that’s what the lunch and dinner table, or the afternoon walk is for! For us to speak about these things with one another and grow in understanding together.
ALEXANDER ARRELL