Pastoral Epistles

Titus 1 - the qualities of an Elder

This is the first of three weeks where we look at Paul's letter to Titus. As the first to bring Titus up it is appropriate that I lay the groundwork for our understanding of the letter. Who it was written to, the environment where he lived, the big-picture purpose of the whole thing - then get into the nitty gritty of chapter 1 - and I have to tell you that I've had an uncomfortable time preparing this talk, for reasons that we'll get into later!

Who - Titus

We don't know much about Titus, but what we do know is impressive. He is mentioned in 2 Corinthians, Galatians 2, 2 Tim 4 and this letter we have here. 2 Timothy 4v10 mentions that towards the end of Paul's life Titus was away working in Dalmatia . From Titus 1v4 we note that Titus was a convert of Paul and in Galatians 2 we learn that Titus was a Greek who accompanied Paul on his visit to Jerusalem fourteen years earlier when Paul went to present the gospel he was preaching before the leaders of the early church there. Titus was probably a testament to the gospel which Paul was preaching.

We learn most about Titus in 2 Cor 7 & 8 . He was God's avenue of comfort to Paul, both in person and because of the news he brought of the situation at Corinth and the Corinthians love for Paul. 8v16-17 are particularly telling where Paul writes "I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative."

As Paul wrote this letter he had been working alongside Titus in Crete - Paul had to move on, leaving Titus with important work to do amongst the new converts on the island - but Paul wanted Titus to be prepared to move on and join him in Nicopolis for the winter (3v12) once Artemas or Tychicus had been sent to relieve him on Crete.

Where - Crete

The fourth largest island in the Mediterranean , it lies directly south of the Aegean sea . It was not considered to be a nice place. the qualities of the islanders were proverbial

You must have heard the old joke where someone was trying to picture an ideal world, and said that Heaven is where the Italians cook, the Germans ensure everything works and the English provide the humour. On the other hand Hell is where the English cook, the Italians ensure everything works and the Germans provide the humour.

Here Paul quotes Epi-men-ides, a well respected Cretan poet and prophet from 600BC when he says in 1v12 "Even one of their own prophets has said 'Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons'. This testimony is true" . And apparently in Greek literature of Paul's day the verb "to Cretanise" meant "to lie".

Obviously this isn't a blanket judgement on all the people of Crete - otherwise it would have been impossible to have found men with the qualities that Titus is instructed to look for in this very chapter! It does set the scene for us though. Their national characteristics were not. favourable.

Why - Purpose

So this letter isn't written to a church to help them sort out their problems - it is a personal letter to a convert, colleague and faithful friend of many years. The most common date given for this letter is ~AD63, which is in turn about 10 years after the letter to the Galatians was written. so Titus had probably been a Christian for about 24 years at this time. He'd been left behind with a tough job to do - to work amongst the notoriously rebellious and argumentative Cretans and ensure that the churches which were planted there could grow properly and not fall into error.

What I'd like to do now is to look at the introduction in the first four verses, then review the problem in Crete from vs10-16 before tackling the meat of the passage - the qualities of an elder.

1vs 1-4 Introduction, faith and truth

When I read this opening passage it puts me in mind of a recent award winning non-fiction book.

The back of this book tells a little story. A panda goes into a bar, asks for a sandwich and when he finishes it draws a pistol and fires a bullet into the air. The bartender hits the deck and the panda walks out. Next week the panda returns, asks for a packet of crisps and when he finishes it draws a pistol and fires a bullet into the air. As it is walking out the poor frightened barman calls out "What are you doing! What are you doing?" the panda tosses a dictionary onto the bar. "I'm a panda" it says. "Look it up".

<put up OHP>

Eats, shoots and leaves

That's right, it is an award winning book about punctuation. Unfortunately it is nearly 2000 years too late to help Paul out here, but he could have done with it. This opening section is one huge, meandering sentence.

For the sake of time, I'd like to summarise it as follows:

Paul was sent by Jesus and serves God by helping people's faith to grow and by teaching them the truth that leads to godliness. Unlike the Cretans, God never lies - his promises which are based on the hope of eternal life are a trustworthy foundation. And God trusts Paul to preach this message for the time is right for everyone to understand about Gods plans.

1v10-16 the problem in Crete

In the introduction I've said something about the general background view of the people of Crete . Here we see Paul laying out before Titus the extent of the problem that faces him in his work on Crete .

Many rebellious people. Mere talkers and deceivers. Jewish legalisers.

Teaching wrong things for the sake of dishonest gain.

"Titus", Paul is saying, "You've got to rebuke them sharply in order to make them sound in the faith. He is to make sure that they don't listen to those who teach wrong things.

Application?

I think it is significant that the kind of problems described in Crete are not a problem we typically face in our time and country. Yes, in Africa - which is why the work of Veritas is so important. Yes, in some other parts of the world. Not so for us though - which affects how I want to deal with the central section of this chapter.

1v5-9 The qualities of an elder

So here we have a big list - and we see a list of character traits rather than knowledge or skill. I don't intend to go through the list and say something about each one, because most of them seem pretty self-evident. It is not surprising that Paul makes such an issue about selecting people with the appropriate character considering the reputation of the Cretans and the indictment Paul lays against them.

Remember, the context of this letter is that Paul is writing a personal letter to a close friend and colleague who is going to be appointing elders amongst a notoriously rebellious and insubordinate people. So I don't think that this is supposed to be a precise checklist that should be followed identically when attempting to identify those qualified to be elders today - if Paul was writing to 21 st Century Britain some elements of the list would change. At the time it was written everyone who could be considered would be married and would have children - certainly not a given today. The relationship of children within families was also very different too.

But it does illustrate the importance of character.

Now another important difference is that unlike Titus we don't have a shared understanding of exactly what an elder or overseer is - so I'd like to take a lightning tour through the NT to see what the Bible has to tell us about this role in the church.

Elders and Overseers

Excluding the occasions where the text is clearly referring to the Jewish elders, the first mention of Christian elders is Acts 11v30 , where Saul and Barnabas convey a gift to the elders in Jerusalem after the Antioch church had a prophecy about a famine to occur in that region and decided to respond to it.

The next mention is in Acts 14v23 where Paul and Barnabas are retracing their way through the cities where they have planted congregations in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch , appointing elders in each church.

Then in Acts 15 we have Paul and Barnabas visiting Jerusalem to get to the bottom of the issue about whether gentile believers should be circumcised - and they are talking to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem . The letter laying out the decision is "signed" by the apostles and elders ( v23 ). And in 16v23 we read that Paul delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem as they travelled from town to town.

It seems clear that from the very beginning there was an active leadership in the churches - both in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Good leadership was important enough that Paul and Barnabas make a point of appointing leaders (although it is interesting that they are doing it on the return journey. giving some time to suss out who is right for a particular place).

The next mention comes in Acts 20v17 where Paul sends for the elders at Ephesus , so he can talk with them, encourage them and warn them one last time. It is a wonderful passage, and I just want to pull out one significant point from there this morning - vs28 "keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers". Whether appointed by Paul or Timothy from a human point of view, it is the Holy Spirit who was actually behind their appointment.

Paul addresses the letter to the Philippians to "all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi , together with the overseers and deacons".

Then there are considerable passages in 1 Timothy, here in Titus and in 1 Peter.

Pulling these references together we can see some of the key elements in the role of the elder:

And it probably also includes

Application

It seems to be a widespread understanding in the NT church that local churches have leadership, normally referred to in those days as elders. It is also true that historically almost all forms of church over the last 2000 years has had some recognised form of church leadership (although the precise name varies by denomination as you know).

So what do we do at Crabtree? I'd like to refer to the statement of church practice, where section 3 talks about leadership.

<show on OHP>

I'm not pleased to stand before you now and say that we are not currently in line with our church practice. Much of this work is being undertaken by the current leadership team, so don't think that the church is drifting aimlessly! But we are not where we should be.

About a year ago we started a process of sorting out elders but it came to an impasse. I'm glad to say that nobody was excluded on any of the horrors on that list. but it wasn't possible at that point to select 3 candidate elders to put before the church.

So where are we now?

I have only one suggestion, based on Acts 20v28. When things are working the way that they should, the Holy Spirit will clearly mark out those that should be elders. And if he is going to do that in a way which is clear to everyone then we need to pray. Really pray, until the Holy Spirit has given us a clear vision here.

The leadership team has set aside an evening to pray together; we need to make some time to pray together as a church - and I ask you to pray individually and in your families too.

Let's all choose to pray about this, really pray that God will give us all wisdom and insight. The leadership team are praying. I'm praying.

Will you pray too?

 

Alex White