Titus 1

The pastoral epistles are written by the Apostle Paul to Timothy and Titus.  They provide the church in every age with a wealth of direction from the Lord concerning the Christian life and the ministry of the Lord's church.  The period is swiftly approaching when the generation of leaders beyond the original disciples will have to continue with the Lord's good work on earth. The original men of His choosing will soon move on to the Lord's congregation in heaven.  We have a strong sense of that timing in 2 Timothy, since Paul appears to have an awareness that his earthly race is almost over.  In all three of these letters, we can hear in the apostle's message something of a passing of the baton to men like Titus. 

Paul was only a servant of Jesus Christ, though he had a special apostolic role that was very important to the history of the entire Christian church.  He knew that God was the one who had chosen His own beloved children, and that he, Paul, had served for a number of years at the Lord's good pleasure.  He had built up the Lord's family in the faith that he had received from Jesus Christ, and was now passing this job on to other faithful soldiers of the cross.  Paul was not manufacturing new theology as some might still suspect.  He was simply teaching the foundational truths of the Son of God and urging on his hearers a life of godliness that follows from the facts of the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

In addition to proclaiming Christ, his person and his works, Paul was teaching those who would receive his message the sure hope of eternal life, knowing that the God who has promised a life of blessing for his chosen ones never lies or gives up on his plans.  His decree was sure before the ages began.  These great promises of God are certain.  They are known through the preaching of men like Paul and Titus, and they are guaranteed by God our Savior.

Just as Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to establish good order within the church there, Titus had a special place of service in Crete.  Each city and century have their particular challenges, and the men of God entrusted with establishing good order in Christ's kingdom need to have some awareness of where they are and of how the Lord would use them in that specific place and time.

The order of Christ as King in His church is not only doctrinal, it is also governmental and personal.  Titus has a special direction from the apostle to appoint elders in every town on the island of Crete.  The qualities for these servant leaders are very similar to those that Paul communicated in 1 Timothy.  They are heavily weighted in the direction of exemplary character, and say little or nothing about native abilities or showy spirituality.

Respected Christian men living commendable lives in their communities, men who had proven themselves as leaders in their families, these men were part of God's plan for order and blessing in His church.  This is one of the main reasons that Paul left Titus in Crete.  If the church were to select leaders on some other basis, it is very possible that forceful and arrogant men would soon be running the Lord's family in their own way and for their own purposes.  We need humble men of quiet, steady, godly leadership.  Even in a place like Crete, the Lord can eventually provide such men from among the Christian converts themselves.

There are some skills that are necessary.  The Lord's teachers must be able to recognize the difference between good theology and bad theology, taking action to teach and encourage the former, while correcting those who would mislead God's people with the latter.  Among the Jews and pagans on the island of Crete, there was apparently a ready supply of men who should not be elders.  Some of these would presume to teach their false ideas anyway, and they even may have wanted to take up a collection for themselves.  These false teachers had to be silenced by those leaders whom God had actually chosen through his servant Titus.  The prevailing way of life on the island was not particularly commendable, so it would be necessary for the true elders in the churches to take a hand in leading the people into a more orderly and diligent pattern of life.  When elders do this job well, they are acting on behalf of Jesus.  All the authority in the church is His.

What right does anyone have to correct anyone, whether in doctrine or in life.  We don't have the right ourselves, but Jesus does.  He is the one who bought us with His blood.  If we ignore the moral and ministerial claims that he has upon us, and if we let arrogant noisy people take over His church by force of personality or some other worldly advantage, we are trespassing upon something that belongs only to the King who died on a cross, and who now reigns over us from on high.  We appoint elders in all the church because this is His plan.  We instruct people in godly doctrine and living because he demands that we do so.  His way is the way of love and obedience.  Do we really think that any other way would be better than His?

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Titus 2

There is a life to be lived in accord with sound Christian teaching.  This is such a relief to hear.  It tells us that the Christian faith is not just a mind game for people who enjoy spiritual brain teasers.  Biblical wisdom has always been expressed through obedient living.  It is also a great relief to know that our eternal destiny is not simply to be in a place where we are sure that we have all the correct ideas.  In heaven we will live in the glory of perfect motivation and behavior. 

One further exciting feature of living as a Christian in this age is that we do not have to wait until we get to heaven to experience the joy of doing things God's way.  Nor do we have to consider ourselves as those who are hopelessly stuck in habits of heart and life that are displeasing to God, harmful both to ourselves and others.  Each of us can consider our current life situation and take joy in learning more about heaven's ways not merely by thinking about what God loves, but by also doing what He loves as we pursue the life that God has for us today.

This will look somewhat different for different Christians.  Paul urges Titus to encourage people in the ways of heaven with an awareness of who they are.  For instance, the challenges that older men face are not normally the same dangers that are more obvious for young men, though there is a certain amount of overlap between these two groups.  We should expect that older men would live with an awareness of the example that they are setting for others in the congregation.  They need to seek the same virtues that God requires in the elders and deacons of the church.

Older woman in the faith have an additional responsibility.  The younger women must be able to look to them for guidance as role models.  How is a young lady supposed to behave in a new marital relationship?  What if she has children?  How can she deal with the special strains that come upon new wives and mothers?  Surely the more mature Christian women should be able to help these younger women in areas where even the most godly men may lack some credibility.  We all need to learn how to love like Jesus.  People who have faced the same kinds of struggles that we have should be able to help us in growing in the love of God.

Everyone needs to understand that self-expression is not the highest Christian virtue.  Especially young men would do well to have good role models of godly restraint for their imitation.  That's why a man like Titus will need to understand that his own way of life will be such an important testimony in the church.  The work of the ministry is not merely excellence in finding out what is wrong and criticizing it.  People in Crete will need to see what it means to be a Christian man.  If they cannot get that from Titus, Paul's authorized representative on the island, where will they find someone they can safely imitate?  The teaching of a man like Titus must be sound, but there is something else that must also be sound about him: his integrity, his dignity, and his good works.  Attending to these matters are not a distraction from his teaching and preaching.  They are a part of the fullness of who he must be as a minister of the Word.

There are certain facts of life and truths about God and man that cut across all group boundaries.  They are what they are for for young and old, for women and men, for slaves and free.  All of us need to adorn the teaching of God our Savior with a life that fits that teaching.  All of us need to know that the grace of God that brought us the cross is the same grace of God that brings us the fullness of heavenly sanctification.  All of us need to know that we don't have to wait for heaven to experience more of that grace of sanctification.

The grace of God trains us now.  What a wonderful message!  It is grace that trains us to renounce ungodliness.  The word “trains” implies some progress.  It is grace that is increasingly able to see a worldly passion for what it is, to see that it is not pleasing to the Lord, and to eventually, perhaps over a number of years, to renounce it.  It is grace that allows us to finally discover the self-control that may have always eluded us.  It is grace that empowers a person to love righteousness, and especially to love the righteous One, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, but it is also grace that moves those who are in Christ to live an increasingly upright and godly life. 

It is also the grace of God that makes us eager for heaven and for the appearance of the Lord from that place of perfected righteous life.  Jesus is our great God and Savior not only because we have come to believe that He is the Son of God who saved us.  His gracious work of redemption is expressed the first time that we truly say, “I believe,” but that is not the last expression of the redemption that is ours through the blood of Christ.  We have been redeemed from a lawless life, and we have been redeemed for a life of heavenly purity.  That is why the church is to be zealous for works that are truly and quietly good.  This is a message that no one who calls on the Name of the Lord should be allowed to disregard.  It is news that is far too good for any of us to disregard.