Titus 1:5-9
~16 min read
đź’Â Consider this: In what areas of your life has God called you to be a leader? How have you been convicted to better meet these leadership qualifications?
TRANSCRIPT
I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning's message is taken from Titus 1:5-9. If you remember, when we first started this book, we talked about how the Apostle Paul had spent some time in Crete, which was an island in the southeast of Greece. He had established some churches on that island, but he could not stay there any longer. Therefore, he sent Titus to continue the work there, so the purpose of writing this letter was to encourage Titus, the young pastor, on how he should deal with the church and how the church ought to function to be an effective witness to all the unbelievers living on that island.
But there was another reason why Paul sent Titus to Crete. Apparently, there were problems in those churches. There were people in those churches who were misbehaving—deceptive, rebellious—and they were contradicting the teachings of the Bible. So, Titus had to deal with the problems in those churches. That was why Paul said in verse 5:” For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee."
The original Greek word for "set in order" is very interesting; it is from where we get the English word for orthodontist or orthopedic. A dental specialist, whose job is to make straight crooked teeth, or a bone specialist, whose job is to make straight broken bones. In a spiritual sense, Paul was to make straight—set in order—the problems in those churches.
Dear friend, are there problems in the church? Most certainly. The local church, like our church, is made up of believers and unbelievers. We pray and hope that everyone is a believer, but that is not the case. The Bible calls them the sheep and goats, the wheat and tares. The unbelievers or professing believers who in reality do not believe, they do not accept the teachings of the Bible. Naturally, they will give problems. The believers will also give problems whenever they sin or misbehave.
What do we do when we face problems in the church? The same way how Titus was commanded to deal with the problems in those churches. This is what we want to learn from this passage. The title of our message is” Why Do We Need Godly Leaders?”
I. The Need For Leaders
Firstly, we want to learn the need for leaders. Look at the second part of verse 5, Paul says “you are to ordain elders in every city”— where those churches are located— “as I have appointed thee”— as I have directed you to pastor those churches. The Greek word for elders is where we get the English word for Presbyterian. There are three different forms of church government which most churches would practise: Episcopal, congregational, and Presbyterian.
In the Episcopal system, there is one main person who is appointed to lead the church. For example, the Roman Catholics have the Pope, who is the head of the church. The Anglicans and Lutherans have the bishop. In the congregational system, the governing authority lies in the hands of the congregation. For example, the Brethren churches. In the Presbyterian system, there is a group of elders who are elected by the congregation to rule over the church. For example, the Bible Presbyterians, like Bethel BP Church. We believe that the Presbyterian system is closest to the New Testament pattern of church government like here.
In this case, Titus was commanded to ordain the elders—not just one elder, but a group of elders. The word "elder" also speaks of spiritual maturity, not physical maturity. Generally, spiritual maturity comes through years of living the Christian life. It takes time to develop those spiritual qualifications of an elder. That was the reason why Paul told Timothy: "Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure." (1 Timothy 5:22) In other words, do not suddenly ordain an elder. You must watch and examine his qualifications. You must study his life. Is he qualified to be an elder?
How many types of elders are there? If you have your Bibles, maybe you can turn with me to 1 Timothy 5:17. Allow me to read it for you: “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." Notice there are two types of elders: those who rule and those who labour in the word and doctrine. We call them the ruling elders and teaching elders. So, the church is to be ruled by elders, and out of all the ruling elders, some are called to be teaching elders—those who labour in the word and doctrine. They are called pastors. Pastors are elders, but not all elders are pastors.
There is a distinction between ruling elders and teaching elders. Whenever the board of elders comes together, the pastor, who is the teaching elder, would lead the group. He will be the one to chair the meeting, and the reason is because he is supposed to use the Word of God to guide the ruling elders to make decisions for the church. All the decisions that they make must be guided by the Word of God. So, God has called the pastor to be the teaching elder to guide this board of elders as they prayerfully make their decisions.
II. The Kind of Leaders
We need elders as leaders, but not just any kind of leaders. We need leaders who are spiritually qualified. This brings us to our second point: the kind of leaders we need. From verses 6 to 9, Paul gave Titus a list of qualifications. Now I hope to run through this list of qualifications. I pray that you will be patient with me, and it is important for us to know, because if we want godly leaders, then we must know what kind of leaders they are supposed to be.
Beginning with the first qualification: “if any be blameless,” verse 7,” a bishop”, which means an overseer, “must be blameless”. To be blameless means above reproach. Obviously, it does not mean he is perfect or he is sinless—no man is. What it means is that his life, his leadership, and his authority should not be in question. There should be nothing you can accuse him of.
You see, the pastor and elders have to live their lives in such a way that they set the standard of holy living in the church, that believers will look up to them and follow their examples. If they do not live such a life, then they will be disqualified from being examples to the believers. They would also allow the enemies of the gospel to attack the church, and that would be a shame.
From time to time, you and I will see believers falling into sin, right? It is very sad, but when the pastor and elders fall into sin, it is very different because their fall will have a devastating impact. The members will be greatly affected—they'll be discouraged, disappointed, and disillusioned. Some of them will think: “If pastors and elders can do that, if they can behave like that, so can we.”
If they do not preach and walk the talk, they will be hypocritical, and there will be judgment. That is the reason why James 3:1 gives us this strong warning: “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.”
He must be “the husband of one wife.” The literal meaning is one-woman man. It is not referring to his marital status or whether he must be married, but rather to his spiritual and moral character. Otherwise, the apostle Paul would be disqualified because he was not married. Some married men are not one-woman men. Do you know why? Because they have been unfaithful to their wives. They may stay married for the rest of their lives, but they are not one-woman men.
A one-woman man is someone who is devoted in his heart and mind to only one woman—his wife. He loves and desires only his wife, and he will keep and maintain his sexual purity in both his thoughts and conduct. The failure to be a one-woman man has been the downfall of many leaders and has been the reason for disqualification more than all other sins.
One of the most difficult and painful sins that we have to deal with is adultery. Many husbands and wives can accept their spouses being lazy, dishonourable, irresponsible, unreliable, and so forth, but they cannot accept their spouses having extramarital relationships. If the pastor is adulterous in his heart, mind, and life, how can he counsel someone who has committed the sin of adultery? He is disqualified.
Now, it is possible for a man to meet all the spiritual qualifications of an elder and yet be disqualified because of his lack of leadership in his own house. That was why Paul said, he must rule his own house well, “having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.” Faithful children mean children who believe God and are not living chaotic, wild and rebellious lives—that is what riot and unruly mean.
How can a spiritual leader rule over the church if he does not have the courage, will, determination, and ability to rule over his own house? Once, someone said to me about a certain pastor that the problem is with his wife—she is the one who causes him to make all the wrong decisions. No doubt the wife could be contributing to the problem, but the real problem is him. If he is not able to rule over his own house, he has no business to rule over the church.
Take a moment and consider this: when a man leads his own house, there may be problems, but it all points down to those few individuals—the wife and the children—people whom he knows very well, people whom he spends most of his time with in a loving environment. On the other hand, when it comes to leading the church, he has to deal with people of different spiritual maturity, people of different age groups—young and old—as well as new believers and long-time believers, people whom he knows, people whom he does not know. Can you imagine the kind of difficulties he has to face? If he is not able to handle the situations at home, how can he be entrusted with the responsibility to handle the situations at church, which is at a larger scale?
No man can be the leader of the church unless he is already the leader of his own house. No man can pastor the church unless he can first pastor his own house. It does not mean that his wife and children are perfect. Again, no one is. They are just as sinful as everyone else; they need the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved. But he must be able to rule; he must be able to lead with the Word of God.
Next, he is “the steward of God”. A steward is someone who takes care of the household on behalf of the owner, which means he is taking care of the church on behalf of God. So, he's not serving his own interest but the interest of his Master. That is the meaning of "not self-willed." When he deals with the business of the church, he is always thinking about what his Master requires of him, what his Master expects of him, and what will please his Master.
Some years ago, someone went to the pastor and said, "There's a member whose son wants to get married in the church." The pastor replied, "But I understand that he's marrying someone who is an unbeliever. The marriage should not take place; it will be unequally yoked." That person said, "Well, the family understands your doctrinal stance, so they are not asking you to marry them. They just want to have the holy matrimony in the church."
The pastor replied, "The church does not belong to me; I'm just a steward. Why not we ask the Owner of the church whether or not they can have the holy matrimony in the church? The Owner is God. Let us ask God through His Word what He says about marriage." The man was very angry, and he said, "If you do that, they will be very, very offended." The pastor replied, "Well, I'm more afraid of offending the Owner than anyone else."
That is what it means to be a steward. He’s someone who is always having the interest of his Master in mind, in heart, and also in practice. Everything he does, he thinks, and he speaks, he considers his Master. It takes great patience to do that. Sometimes the people and the situation will put his patience to the test. But he is "not soon angry," which means not quick-tempered. He’s not easily provoked. There’s no sudden outburst of anger—you don’t see that happening in his life.
He must “not be given to wine.” A drinker cannot be an elder because he is incapable of the kind of sober judgment which good spiritual leadership requires. The Bible teaches total abstinence. If the elder is a drinker, how can he teach this doctrine? How can he counsel someone who is an alcoholic? He will not be able to do so.
He is “no striker.” It is not about physically abusing someone, although surely he must not do that. Here it is a reference to verbally abusing someone. Some people are very sharp with their words; they are able to hurt others with their words, to emotionally abuse someone, and it can be even more painful than physical abuse. The pastor and elders must never do that.
He is “not given to filthy lucre.” Money will be the last thing on his mind. Sadly, there are pastors, preachers, elders, and ministers who gravitate toward those big churches or toward members who are rich and wealthy. They would spend all their time and attention on these people, hoping to get something in return. They will only preach in big churches, not small churches.
The late Reverend Timothy Tow once said about such preachers: "More money, more preach; less money, less preach; no money, no preach." How tragic! Jesus calls them hirelings, and He said when these hirelings see the wolf coming, he will leave the sheep and flee, leaving the sheep at the mercy of the wolves, he leaves because he is a hireling, he does not care for the sheep, you can read about that in John 10: 12-13. We must never ordain such people as pastors and elders in the church.
Instead of being greedy, he is generous. He’s "a lover of hospitality." The original Greek word for "lover of hospitality" means "a lover of strangers." He loves strangers; he’s approachable. He’s ready to open up his life and his house for anyone, whether believers or unbelievers. He’s not only willing to extend hospitality; he loves hospitality. He’s always looking for opportunities to do that.
By the way, just a reminder: this list of qualifications does not mean that they only apply to the pastor and elders. They apply to every believer too. The pastor and elders have to have these spiritual qualifications to teach others that they would do the same thing. Just like the pastor has to be a one-woman man, it does not mean that all the men sitting in this room need not be one-woman men. We all need to be one-woman men. So, it applies to us.
Dear friend, is there anyone in the church whom you can open up your house to invite? Perhaps the overseas students who do not have their parents around with them—you can invite them over to your house for a hot meal. Is there a new visitor whom you can reach out to, to encourage the person? God wants us to be hospitable. He wants us to always look for opportunities to be hospitable, to be lovers of strangers.
He is "a lover of good men." The literal meaning is that he is a lover of good things. Anything that is true, good, honourable, and pure, he loves. He’s “sober”; he has a steady mind. He is not impulsive in judgment. His mind is controlled by God’s truth, and because his mind is controlled by God’s truth, he is “just and holy.” His life reflects the attributes of God, who is just and holy. He is filled with the Holy Spirit, and he produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit, one of which is to be “temperate”. That means to have self-control.
Finally, look at verse 9: "Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers." One of the spiritual qualifications of the elders is that he must be "apt to teach." He must have the ability to teach. Remember, there are ruling elders and teaching elders—the pastor. Obviously, the pastor is a teaching elder. His primary responsibility is to preach and teach God’s Word, so he must be able to teach. But all the ruling elders must also have a certain knowledge of the Bible. They must be able to explain, illustrate, articulate, and communicate God’s truth to the people.
That is the reason why Paul said to the elders at Ephesus: “feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." (Acts 20:28b) The elders must feed the flock. Feed the flock with what? With the Word of God. So, they must be apt to teach. The elders not only have to teach but also to refute errors, to rebuke those who contradict. That is the meaning of "convince the gainsayers."
You know, it is so sad that from time to time there will be people in the church who will contradict the teachings of the Bible. So, the pastors and elders have to teach and even rebuke these people, if necessary, to correct them, to tell them, "This is wrong."
Can you imagine if I, as the pastor, were to tell someone, "No, you cannot do this in the church; you cannot teach this in the church," and the person says to me, "Why can’t I do this?" Then my answer is, "Well, well, I don’t know; I cannot explain it to you, but you just have to listen and do it." That would be ridiculous. That would be disastrous, don’t you think?
The pastor and elders have to be equipped to be able to teach as well as to rebuke if necessary. The only way the pastor and elders can do that is by "holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught." The faithful word is the Word of God. To hold fast is to cling to it and not let go. It is not a physical clinging; it is a spiritual clinging to it. How do we spiritually cling to the Word of God? You and I must read it, obey it, meditate on it. We must study it. "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)
Many years ago, when I graduated from Bible college, an old pastor said to me, "Paul, whatever you have learned in Bible college—your four or five years of studies in Bible college—can only last you for four or five years. Then you will be repeating yourself, and you will keep repeating yourself. The only way to have an effective ministry, the only way to constantly teach the Word of God, is that you yourself must constantly study the Word of God." How true!
The same principle applies to Sunday School teachers, to parents, to fellowship leaders, to all of us believers. The only way we can constantly share the Word of God is that we ourselves must be constantly studying the Word of God.
Dear friend, God has brought you to this church not by chance nor coincidence, but by His appointment. This is the place where you bring your unbelieving loved ones and friends to hear the pure Gospel. This is the place where you bring your family, your children, to be discipled and taught the Word of God, that they will bear good Christian testimonies.
However, the local church, like our church, is not perfect. Just like all the other churches in this world, only the invisible Church—the Universal Church—is perfect. There will be problems, and we have to deal with those problems. We are not afraid of the problems. We are afraid of not having leaders. Not just any kind of leaders—we want leaders who fulfil all these spiritual qualifications.
So, you and I must pray. We must pray for the church. We must pray for all these little ones who are in the Sunday School. We must pray for the youth in our YPG ministry. We must pray for our adults in the fellowship groups, that our Almighty God will raise up godly men and women to serve as elders and to serve tables as deacons and deaconesses. This is the only way that Bethel BP Church can be preserved. This is the only way that Bethel BP Church can shine as a beacon of light in this dark and sinful world. And we do this not for ourselves, not even for our children, but for the glory of God.
Let us pray: our Father in Heaven, indeed, Thou hast taught us why we need godly leaders. We need leaders to lead the church, to rule over the church. There will be problems, but Thou hast given us the spiritual qualifications for how we may choose our leaders.
And we pray that Thou wilt raise godly leaders in our midst, so that they will be able to serve Thee as pastors and elders, so that they will be able to deal with the problems in the church. Pastors will live and die, but Thou wilt raise up other pastors, preachers, and elders to teach and to lead Thy church.
This is the only way that our church can survive and be preserved. This is the only way that we can be a good testimony, to be the salt and the light of this world. We cannot do this unless Thou would raise up godly leaders in our midst. And we pray for such godly leaders. May Thou be gracious and merciful. We pray all this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
THE BOOK OF TITUSThe Commitment Of A Faithful ServantThe Commitment Of A Faithful ServantTitus 1:1
The Hope Of Eternal LifeThe Hope Of Eternal LifeTitus 1:2-4
Why Do We Need Godly Leaders?Why Do We Need Godly Leaders?Titus 1:5-9
How To Deal With Church Troublemakers?How To Deal With Church Troublemakers?Titus 1:10-14
The Product Of Who We AreThe Product Of Who We AreTitus 1:15-16
What Legacy Are You Leaving Behind?What Legacy Are You Leaving Behind?Titus 2:1-3
Message 6: To Fight the Good Fight of Faith is to Hold Fast the Faithful WordMessage 6: To Fight the Good Fight of Faith is to Hold Fast the Faithful WordTitus 1:9-11
