Paul's Admonition to Elders

Paul wrote a number of letters to churches in Rome or in Corinth or in Galatia. And then he wrote some personal letters. And we're familiar with the letters he wrote to Timothy. Timothy was one of his younger ministers that he in a sense tutored and worked with and encouraged and uplifted. And so was Titus. Titus was a young man who was a servant with Paul. And I believe that Paul's letter to Philemon is directed to at least what would appear to be, maybe an elder. I'm not sure if Philemon was an elder or if he was just being given instruction that it shows the way to handle people, the way to address people, the way to address things. And so you would think, again, it could very likely be an explanation of how it is that you should conduct yourself within the framework of the Church of God. And so I want to cover the book of Titus today. I don't know whether you've read that recently or not, but it's actually a ministerial instruction letter. That's what Paul is doing.

He wrote to Titus to encourage him because he was kind of in a tough spot, as we'll see. He knew Titus as a younger man. He wrote to encourage him, but he also wanted to instruct him in church organization how to set things up in the church. But then also, he gave some instruction just regarding Christian conduct and what Titus should expect to teach and preach, and then what he should have the other elders and those that he would appoint, what he would want them to teach as well. So from what I looked up, I think this was written from Corinth, probably in the mid-60s, I believe, a few years before Paul would die. And yet, in a sense, as Paul was looking at Timothy and as he was looking at Titus, he was looking at the new generation of ministers. And certainly, I know in thinking about next week and ordaining of Brian and Tom to be a part of the ministry, we reduced the average age of the ministry quite a bit. That's pretty bad. It's bad whenever you have someone who's ordained and yet causes the ministerial age average to come down quite a bit. I mean, not enough, but quite a bit because they are younger than many of the ministers at this point. But I'd like for us to just take a look at what it was that Paul told Titus. And it's not only directed at ministry, but it's directed to all of us. It's directed to all of us as members of the church. And I'd like to begin actually starting in the book of Galatians and just tell you that even though Titus, the name Titus and a reference to him is not included in the book of Acts, it's very clear from what Paul writes here in Galatians 2 that Titus was with him. When he went up to Jerusalem, what we read about in Acts 15. Acts 15 is a big conference that was held in Jerusalem, a big discussion between the Jew and the Gentile congregations, primarily over circumcision and how it is that that should be viewed and whether the Gentile converts should be expected to do that. And yet here in Galatians 2, let's read starting in verse 1, after 14 years, Paul, he says, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus along with me. And I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them, though only on a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders, I laid before them the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure that I'm not running or I had not run in vain. And so Paul describes, you know, why they came together. They wanted to be sure to be in unity. They wanted to be sure to be teaching the same thing, to have the same gospel. And in verse 3 it says, even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. And so here you have a little bit of background on Titus. He was Grecian. And yet he was not required. He was obviously Gentile. So as they learned at this conference, he was not required and others were not required to be circumcised in order to be accepted by God. So we find here just a little bit of a reference to Titus being with Paul there in the book of Acts. You also find that a little later on, actually, maybe this is, I'm not sure as far as the timing, and I don't have those dates either in my head or written down, you also find that Paul sent Titus, or he used Titus as kind of an emissary with the congregation in Corinth. Because, as you know, there are two books that are written to the church in Corinth. 1 Corinthians and then 2 Corinthians.

And 1 Corinthians, in many ways, is a very direct letter, a very corrective letter. There were major things that needed to be resolved in the church at Corinth, and Paul wrote that. And he, I think in some ways, he probably wondered, you know, how will people respond? Will they change? Will they repent? Will they overcome? And yet, what I want to show you is here in 2 Corinthians, you find that Titus was sent by Paul, and he actually came to the church there in Corinth, and he saw what the response was.

Whenever we read this in 2 Corinthians, which is again Paul writing later about what happened, you find that, well, Titus was the one who went, and he talked to the people there. And here, actually, in 2 Corinthians, it says, When I came to Troas to proclaim the good news of Christ, a door was opened for me and the Lord, but my mind could not rest, because I didn't find my brother Titus there. So I said farewell to them, and I went on to Macedonia.

And it's just kind of an interlude here that Paul is mentioning that, well, as I was going about my work, as I went from one place to the next, as I went where the door seemed to be opened, I was a little concerned, because when I thought I might meet up with Titus, he wasn't there.

He didn't show up. I'm not sure why. He was obviously concerned. But if we go on over to 2 Corinthians 7, you see how it is that Paul brings Titus into the picture in regard to the church at Corinth. He says in chapter 7, verse 5, For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way and disputes within, and fears within, but God. See, now, Paul is stating, well, we'd run into difficulties in numerous different places that we had been. We were needing to be encouraged ourselves, but God, he says in verse 6, who consoles the downcast.

And perhaps that's a direct statement to all of us, that if we're downcast, we want to certainly go to God. We want to ask Him to console us. God who consoles the downcast, consoled us by the arrival of Titus. And so here Paul said that as he was struggling a little, it really picked him up to have Titus come and see him. Picked him up to be able to meet with Titus, and he goes on to say, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was consoled about you, about you being the church in Corinth.

What he had to say about the church in Corinth as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. See, Paul was thrilled to find out, because Titus had been there, and he had seen what the response was. He knew he could tell Paul, he could pick him up with this good news, that the church was receptive, that they were willing to change, that they were responsive to the instruction that Paul had given.

For he says, even in verse 8, I made you sorry with my letter, talking about his first letter. I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for I see that I grieved you with the letter, though only briefly, but now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. See, that was what Paul was excited about. He knew that he had been direct in the correction that he had given them, but he was excited to see that they were grieved to repentance.

For you felt a godly grief, so that you were not harmed in any way by us. And then, of course, here he talks about godly grief. He talks about real repentance. Not just surface repentance, but real repentance. Heartfelt response. And that buoyed Paul up immensely. That made him feel so great, because Titus was able to report that, well, the people in Corinth, they've received your admonition. They've seen where they've been wrong. They're wishing to change. They're struggling, but they have a right attitude. They are learning to be repentant.

Down in verse 13, he says, in this we find comfort. In addition to our own consolation, we rejoice still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by all of you. And so, apparently, as Paul labored among the churches, as he was concerned about how they were doing, he was concerned about their growth, he was concerned about their development, he was concerned about their response. But he also said that Titus was like-minded. Titus had that same outlook. He was, as a younger, in this case, minister to Paul, he had that same kind of outlook.

But in verse 14, for if I had been somewhat boastful about you to him, I was not disgraced. But just as everything we said to you was true sore boasting, to Titus was proved true as well. And so what Paul had told him about the Corinthians turned out to be true. What he had told them about Titus, about him coming, about him helping them, about him wanting to lift them up and giving a good report, that was true.

And it says in verse 15, He says Titus is too. He's thrilled about what he sees happening among your congregation. Over in chapter 8, it continues in talking about Titus, it says, But thanks be to God, who put in the heart of Titus the same eagerness for you that I myself have. And so this is clearly a reference once again to the fact that Paul had a great deal of love, just a heartfelt sincere love and concern for the brethren.

And especially for the people that he had been used by God in drawing into the church. Here in Corinth, when we look back in the book of Acts, we see that Paul was the initial tool that God used to bring people into the church. And it says he was there for 18 months. That was a long period of time, apparently. I think he moved around more often than that, usually.

But he was there because God says, I have much people in this city. I have many people that I'm going to draw to me or to Jesus Christ to be a part of the church of God. And Paul was clearly appreciative of that. And he said, Titus has this same outlook. For he also, in verse 17, he not only accepted our appeal, but since he is more eager than ever, he is going to you on his own accord.

And with him we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his proclaiming good news. And not only that, he also has been appointed by the churches to travel with us while we are administering this generous undertaking for the glory of God, for the glory of the Lord himself, and to show our good will. They were bringing items from one area to the next to try to assist the brethren in different parts.

I guess, perhaps, like we're trying to send to Malawi and Zambia, we're trying to send them things, things that they need. They were transporting things, and they were sending what they felt would be responsible people to be able to provide these goods to the brethren in other areas.

And Titus was selected to be able to be one of those because of his attitude, because of his sincere love for the brethren. And down in verse 23, it says, As for Titus, he is my partner, he is my coworker in your service. And so this is the way Paul looked at what he was supposed to do.

As a minister of God, having been directly dealt with by Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, he was very convicted of what his role would be in regard to the initial church or original churches that were a part of the overall church of God. And in his case, they were Gentile churches. And yet, he said that Titus is a partner and coworker in your service.

As for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. Therefore, openly, before the churches, show them the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you. He is writing to the church to say, accept Titus, accept those who are with him, accept the things that you are sending and that may be sent back to you, and do that out of the love of God.

And so, I think you can see, even from what Paul writes in these auxiliary books, that he has a great deal of appreciation for Titus. He is closely associated with him, and he looks upon him as, in a sense, maybe a son. And that's what we find when we go back to the book of Titus. So, let's go there now. Because here, in this actually very short book, I guess somewhat of a personal letter you could say, you only have three chapters, but what we find is that as Paul is writing to Titus, he is going to give him some direct instruction about his ministry, about his appointing others into the ministry, about the conduct of the actually different segments of the church.

Because every congregation has different groupings of people, he actually gives instruction for different people in different situations. And so here we start in chapter 1. It says, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect, and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness in the hope of eternal life.

This type of a greeting is something that Paul commonly uses whenever he writes to the churches. And here as he writes to Titus, he's giving him a similar greeting. He is reminding him of the overall calling, the purpose, the intent of our lives, of our Christian lives, and our hope of eternal life.

He says in verse 4 to Titus, To Titus, my loyal child in the faith that we share. He very much again appreciated the unity and the unison that he had with Titus. He said, grace and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ our Savior. See, that again is a very common greeting that Paul gives. And of course, as you all know, it points out something about the Godhead. It points out how the Father and the Son make up the Godhead. The Holy Spirit is not a part of the Godhead, but it's certainly the power of God. And the power that God does use in transforming all of us.

It's a power that is made available to us, but it's not a part of the Godhead. As he mentions here and as he mentions actually dozens of other places, he gives a similar type of greeting from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.

So he says in verse 5 to Titus, I left you behind in Crete. So apparently, Titus had been with him. Perhaps Paul had been there. It would appear. He says, I left you behind in Crete, and Crete is an island. It's off of the... Dan will have to look it up, so I'll know where Crete is. Isn't it in the Mediterranean Sea, I would think? I'm sure it's between Turkey and the... I better not say, since I didn't look it up. It's an island that is offshore, but I'm offshore of what? Greece, I would think?

Offshore of Greece, and between Greece and Turkey. And so, you know, this appears, even as I look at it today, it's a fairly good-sized island. There are a number of cities on there today. I don't know how many cities were there. I don't know how many people lived there at that time. But it appears that Paul had been there, that he'd been preaching the Gospel, that God had been calling some people and been bringing them into the Church. And yet it says, I left you behind in Crete. For this reason. So that you should put in order what remained to be done.

And so, apparently, you know, whatever Paul was trying to do with the churches, what he was trying to set up, what he was trying to establish, however it doesn't say exactly how many cities they were dealing with or where they were going. But it says, I left you there, so you should put in order what remains to be done, and that you should appoint elders in every city or town.

And you should appoint, wherever there are congregations, elders who would be able to help. Elders who would be able to care for and nurture the congregation. And so, he points out how that appointing elders in every city is actually a very beneficial thing for the congregation.

And it's something that, you know, as we have, you know, transitions and changes here with the congregations today, obviously up in Fulton, we've not had elders up there. We just have several here, of course, which is wonderful. And yet, I think in many ways, we have to say we are remarkably blessed because many congregations don't have many elders.

Or, you know, they have had those elders diminished over a period of time. And so, you know, we are very blessed here in the Kansas City area. But here, as Paul was saying to Titus, I want you to appoint elders in every city as I directed you. And so, apparently, it already told him that. But he was writing to him and reminding him. And he says, I want you to be mindful of this. Those of you who appoint as elders, you should appoint someone who is blameless, married to one wife, whose children are believers, not accused of debauchery, not rebellious.

So here, he starts giving a listing of things, all of which, you know, we should certainly be shooting for. And I can tell you, certainly, whenever you read this type of list, and whenever you read what you read in 1 Timothy, because there's another list there, even a longer list, in 1 Timothy, you would say, well, you know, there's nobody that could really be a minister. You know, because the, you know, the standard is very high. Of course, whenever he says someone who is blameless, he's certainly not talking about someone who is sinless, because then we wouldn't have any ministers.

You know, we'd be out of luck. But someone who has a certain level of discretion, someone who is able to, who is not creating difficulty here and difficulty there, and, you know, not being blamed, you know, for the way they conduct themselves. Talking about their marriage, talking about their children. It says in verse 7, for a bishop or for an overseer as God's stewards, they must be blameless.

So, I actually mentioned that twice. And then it goes ahead to be very clear. He must not be arrogant. So, it's pretty clear what I'm not supposed to be, and what the elders are not supposed to be. But, of course, all of us know, as we extend that to each of us, you know, none of us should be that.

He should not be arrogant. He should not be quick, tempered, or addicted to wine, or violent, or greedy for gain. And so, there you find a number of things that the elders should not be. But then it goes ahead to say this is what you should look for in verse 8. He should be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-control. And so, in many ways, you know, those deal with area of Christian conduct. They deal with how we conduct ourselves within the framework of a community or a family.

And it goes on in verse 9. He must have a firm grasp of the Word of God. A firm grasp of the Word that is entrusted, or that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it. And so here, not only was there to be a certain level of qualities that they would be looking for, that Titus should look for and be able to see the pluses and the minuses and how it is that an individual handles themselves, but primarily they should have a firm grasp of the Word of God.

Firm grasp, to be able to teach sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict that doctrine. And actually, he mentions this particularly, and he mentions it a little bit later as well.

He mentions this particularly because of Titus's particular situation there in Crete.

Because it sounds like some of the Greeks, or some of the people who lived there on Crete, were pretty brazen, pretty hard-headed, pretty resistant to change.

Because that's what he's going to go ahead and mention. Maybe that applies to some of us.

That's what he was telling Titus, be on the lookout for those. Because in verse 10 he says, there are also many rebellious people and idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. And so apparently there were Jews in that area who lived among maybe the others who were maybe more native to Crete. And yet he said a lot of times, the Jewish contingent of a congregation might bring up a lot of things that maybe they think they know more. Maybe they know more of the law, more of the truth, more of anything about the Bible than say the newly converted Gentile cretians. He goes on to say, he says, they should be silenced. Since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for sordid gain, what's not right to teach? So exactly what they were teaching, I don't know, but I would assume that was something related to Judaism, something requiring more and more and more than what God had actually directed the apostles and what Paul and the apostles had agreed upon, even in Acts 15. But this is what the Holy Spirit would show us that we should do. He goes on in description. He says it was one of their own. Their own prophets who said cretians are always liars, vicious, brutes and lazy gluttons. That's not a very good description. I guess that's what he was quoting from some of their own writers as far as those who describe the people who lived there. He goes on to say that testimony is true. That's a lot of what you run into. People who are not truthful, people who are often vicious and certainly lazy.

That needs to be changed. That needs to be resolved. But if they don't want to resolve that, if they don't want to improve that and come together and live in harmony and unison, which is what we're going to desire in the church, well then you've got a difficult task.

He says, for this reason, rebuke them sharply so that they may become sound in the faith.

See, what is our goal? What's my goal in trying to teach in the churches?

Well, so that all of us will be sound in the faith. See, we've been drawn into the church of God. We've been given an opportunity, as Mr. Brandy mentioned earlier, that we've been drawn to be a firstborn as a part of a divine family. And God is going to add others. He's going to add throughout the ages. He's going to add others. But the firstborn will have a wonderful blessing, an opportunity, and privilege having been given this calling at this time. But he says that, you know, we want to be sound in the faith. See, what does that mean to you? What is it? Are you sound in the faith? Is that how you feel about yourself? Sometimes we can feel like, you know, we stumble over this or that. But ultimately, we need to be extremely sound in our appreciation and gratitude for what Jesus Christ has done for us.

What He has done in forgiving us, in the grace of God that has been extended to us, in the mercy that He allows us to have, and in the growth that He empowers us to have through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We want to be sound in the faith. Not paying attention to Jewish myths or to commandments of those who reject the truth. Now, there's a lot of people who say a lot of things, and certainly today you can find out more about those things than you ever want to know, easily, just by using the internet. You can find out all kinds of stuff.

And I have a hard time keeping up with what little I can keep up with. I don't have lots of time to try to figure out what everybody else is saying. But see, if it isn't in line with what the Word of God says and giving us a firm foundation where we can be sound in the faith, then it doesn't have a lot of interest to me. And I hope that that would be the case for you. But not paying attention to Jewish myths or commandments of those who reject the truth. To the pure old things are pure, but to the corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure. In a sense, He was also telling Titus, you know, I want you to work with people. I want you to encourage them. I want you to lift them up. I want you to encourage them to be sound in the faith. I want you to encourage them to have a great deal of stability in their belief in Jesus Christ and in the encouragement that they should have that Christ is living in them. That is what we all want. And he said, you know, to the pure old things are pure, but to the corrupt nothing is pure. Their very minds and consciences are corrupted and they profess to know God, but they deny Him by their actions and their detestable and disobedient unfit for any good work. You know, there are people and oftentimes religious people who love to argue, who love to stress their point and who want you to believe them. And, you know, exactly what type of category Paul is describing here to Titus. I don't know what that would always be, but certainly, you know, to try to convince people of something that they don't want to believe you're wasting your time. Now, God can do that. God can change people's minds. He can change their lives.

And yet here, you know, he's given Titus some mourning and, like I said, I think he was encouraging him. You know, sometimes you've done about what you can do and you want to work with the congregations where they are sound in the faith and where they are, you know, learning to grow in their relationship with God. So he goes on and actually here in chapter 2 and chapter 3 with instruction about Christian conduct. This chapter 1 is primarily about the ministry and about how Titus is supposed to conduct himself. But here in chapter 2, he says, as for you, well, I guess this is directed still at Titus again, teach what is consistent with sound doctrine. And so, you know, I certainly want to try to do that here in this congregation and anywhere that I'm going to be teaching. I want to try to stick with what I believe and know to be what has been taught, what we have been taught over the years, and how it is that we stick with that sound doctrine and how that we grow. I mean, those things in many ways are clearly identified and not, you know, I'm not going to come up with any new truth in other words. I'm not going to, you know, be able to pronounce who the two witnesses are. There are people who claim they are, and there are people who think they know a lot more about the Bible or a lot more even about, you know, some other prophetly, not just second or two witnesses. That's kind of a well-known one that a lot of people, some people have claimed anyway. But, you know, that has nothing to do with sound doctrine.

You know, teaching of relying on God and drawing closer to Jesus Christ and the truth as we understand that and as we have been taught that, that's what I want you to teach. And so then he starts giving some instruction to Titus regarding other segments of the congregation. He says, tell the older men. You know, I don't know who that is. I don't know how to define older men, but if you fit that category, I used to know who that was. Whenever I was 25 or 30, I clearly knew who that was. You know, the older men, as most everybody there was older. And I recall as a young minister, you know, many of those older men were very, very tolerant, very patient, and very willing to help me learn. And yet what Paul told Titus was, tell the older men in that congregation to be temperate, to be temperate, to be serious, to be prudent, to be sound in faith. So here he brings us back again, and we've been brought into the faith. We've been brought into the truth. But that's going to be displayed by our faith in God, our belief in faith in Jesus Christ. And of course, we know in Hebrews 11, it tells us that we cannot please God without faith. And so he said to be sound in faith as an instruction to the older men, to be sound in love, and to be sound in endurance. And so that's a pretty good instruction. That's very clear that that's what all of us should do. This is directed to older men. And then in verse 3, he says, likewise, tell the older women... I'm not going there.

I don't know exactly who that would be, but in our congregations anymore, many people may fit this category. But it says, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, and not to be slanderers, and not to be slaves to drink. They are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands. See, actually, it almost appears that, well, older women often are able to help and should teach younger women. And it's basically talking about a family setting and making a strong family possible. He goes on to teach and encourage the young women to love their husbands and to love their children, to be self-controlled, to be chased, to be good managers of the household, kind, being submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited. Again, the focus seems to be a little bit different, but it actually appears to be showing love for one another, respect for one another. And clearly, in this case, older women are able to help younger women in many of these areas. He says in verse 6, "...urge the younger men to be self-controlled." Now, that's all he says. And perhaps that would make sense. What is it that younger men generally need? Is it a certain level of self-control?

You know, I think if you look at insurance rates, teenage driving insurance rates are highest when you're in your older teens and early 20s. You know, that's often going to be a description of younger men. But he says, "...likewise urge the younger men to be self-controlled." And then he says to Titus, verse 7, "...show yourself to be, in all respect, a model of good works, and in your teaching. Show integrity, and show gravity, and sound speech that cannot be censured. Then any opponent will be put to shame, having nothing evil to say of us." So here he was telling Titus and telling him to tell the others, you know, if we are sticking with the trunk of the tree, if we are teaching the Word of God, and of course, as all of us know, we've been called for the mission. You know, the Church has a responsibility to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and we're also going to preach and teach about Jesus Christ. We're going to teach about Him being the King of the Kingdom, because without Him we don't have a Kingdom. He's got to be. He's going to be returning, but also then established as the one that all will look to, even in the world tomorrow, that we look to. But here, he says, be a model of good works, and in your teachings show integrity, show gravity, and sound speech that cannot be sentry. Verse 9, he says, tell slaves or servants to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect, for they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament to the doctrine of God our Savior. Talking of a setting that we do not have, here in this country, at least we shouldn't have, and yet at that time there were certainly some who were enslaved and who were called into the truth of God. So how were they to react?

Well, their response toward those who were their masters should be one of service, one of growing in the love of God, even under that type of situation. For he says, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all of us. To God's grace, God's mercy that he has extended to us applies to every category that he's mentioned. He segmented some of the areas of each congregation.

He says, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all of us, teaching us to renounce impiety and worldly passion, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled and upright and godly. See, that's the type of life that we're expected, as we mentioned earlier. What type of life should a firstborn, first fruit individual be living? Well, the description is controlled, upright, godly, while we wait. We wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of the great God, our Savior, Jesus Christ. See, however long that takes, at the time when Paul wrote this, it was 2,000 years ago, but he was writing it to Titus and said, well, do that for the rest of your life. You're going to wait, Jesus, the rest of your life. And, of course, all of us don't know whether we will live until the time Christ returns. It certainly appears to be close, but we don't know how close, but we certainly want to follow the direction that is given. He says in verse 14, talking about Jesus, He it is, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity. So He's not only the one who forgives, the one who extends mercy, and the one who redeems us to God, but He says He is also the one who purifies for Himself a people of His own who are zealous for good works.

That's what He says He's going to do. He's going to not only forgive us, He will work in our lives to cause us to be purified and to actually be an example of doing good works. That's part of a program that we, of course, have within the Church, but that's only a limited part of what is being expected. And we want to do good works. Actually, this is a kind of a lead-in to what He's going to say a little bit later here in chapter 3. He says, Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show every courtesy to everyone, for we ourselves.

And so here, in essence, He started off the first verse or two of chapter 3 saying, you need to be subject to whatever authorities you have over you. You may not think that the authorities, and certainly whenever we hear all the bickering that's back and forth with all of the political campaigning, you hardly can think that, well, this is right. Because every human system, whether it's here or whether it's anywhere around the world, is going to be replaced. It's not the type of system that really is best, but obviously we all live under a certain system. And even as Paul knew as a Roman citizen, he lived under certain of the guidelines and even certain obligations, but some of the maybe benefits of being a Roman citizen. You can find him talking about that at times, but he was going to be subject to them. But he says to speak evil of no one and not quarrel and be gentle, show courtesy to everyone. And so that's a pretty simple instruction.

But he goes ahead and says, why? He says this to everyone.

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our day in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. He says, remember where you came from. Remember where God, when God started working with you, the kind of shape you were in. And this may be where someone else is. They may need help. They need to be spoken to in a proper way. They need to be spoken to in a way that hopefully they would respond positively. Remember where you were when God called you.

But in verse 4, when the goodness and the loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy through the water of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

And so God called us not because of our righteousness. He called us because we needed to grow in righteousness. He needed what He had to offer. We needed the Spirit of God.

And He says, this Spirit He poured out in verse 6 on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So this is a process that you see Paul writing about in many of his books to the churches and here directly to Titus, and certainly he writes in the same way to Timothy, but talking about that transformation, that conversion and transformation process, that's a lifelong process that is inspired by the Holy Spirit. He says this saying is sure, and I desire, I guess he was saying to Titus, I desire that you insist on these things so that those who have come to believe in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. This is what all of us want to be mindful of. He's mentioned this up in chapter 2. He says, God, Christ purifying Himself of people who are zealous for good works. He mentions in verse 8 of chapter 3, I desire that you insist that people who have come to believe in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works, the things that are excellent and profitable to everyone. And so what type of a servant does God expect every one of us to be? Well, He's describing that here. But He also does warn, say, avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they're unprofitable and worthless.

You know, there are certain things that are just going to go round and round and round and round and not going anywhere. And I know I have over the course of a number of decades, even among the Church of God, talked to at least a few people who thought they had something to say, who thought they had something to inform us of or me of, and yet they were just going round and round and round in circles. And of course, you know, this is even a little more, I think, direct when it talks about, you know, just creating controversy and dissension and arguing about the law.

You know, this is not something that's beneficial, brethren. And He says, after a first and second admonition, have nothing more to do with someone, anyone, who causes division. Since you know that such a person is perverted and sinful, being self-condemned. The causing division, as He mentions here, and of course He wanted Titus to be aware of that among the people there in Corinth or in Crete, He said that's not to be tolerated. That's to be avoided. And you don't want that. And of course, unfortunately, even though you find this written pretty clearly in the first few chapters of 1 Corinthians being a major problem for any church, and certainly, you know, the church of God, you know, unfortunately we fall and pray. We've been suckered into that way too many times.

So if I proclaim next week that I'm going to, you know, start my own church, don't follow me.

Don't follow me, because you wouldn't be following anything. You know, God called you into His church, and He wants you to produce good works. He wants you, you know, people are going to cause division, and unfortunately we've had way too much of that. You know, this appears to be pretty clear. So he finally brings to a conclusion his discussion with Titus, and he says that in verse 12, when I send Artemis to you or Tychicus, do your best to come to me in Nicopolis. So he wanted to see Titus. He knew he'd left him there. He knew he'd left him with a pretty good-sized job. He knew that maybe he wasn't fully aware of what all he might need to do in dealing with the congregation but he told him he needed to look for and then appoint elders who could help, who could serve in that way. And he says, I hope you're able to meet me, for I've decided to spend the winter in Nicopolis. Make every effort to send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they lack nothing. Now, there's a good note about a lawyer. You know, sometimes they're not so good as far as the statements that are made about the law or law yours, but here, you know, Zenas appears to be in favor and doing perhaps helping with the church. See that they lack nothing. Let people learn to devote themselves to good works. Now, how many times has he said that now? That's what he's mentioned to Titus, to encourage the people to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs so that they may not be unproductive.

So that's pretty clear information that Paul is sharing with Titus. And it says, all who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with all of you, as he often again, close many of his letters. And particularly, when he writes to Timothy, he writes in a very personal way, a very beloved way, a way where he looked upon Timothy as his son. And here in Titus, it looks like he's also talking to him in a similar way. And yet, he's actually encouraging him in the work that he was to do, the assignment that he had been given, in what we would think to be a pretty difficult task.

And so, this is what we find in the book of Titus. And again, I've not gone over this recently, but I wanted to go over it. As I mentioned, we don't have ordinations all that often, but when we do, we have a good amount of material to look back on and to see, well, what is it that God's Word tells us? And actually, as we even look at how people are ordained in the book of Acts, this is the primary history book we have to show us what was done, you know, there are numerous references to how it is the ministry should conduct themselves and how they should be reviewed, in a sense. And so, Paul wanted Titus to be familiar with all of that, as he did in this book. He told him he wanted him to appoint elders in every city. He wanted him to preach sound doctrine, and he wanted him to exhort the brethren to be zealous for good works.

And I, you know, truly know that all of you want to do that. I know that we have been doing that.

I know certainly with some of our activities more recently, we've been doing a very good job with that. We want to keep that up, and certainly we want to not only do, but we want to be zealous of good works, doing what we can to serve one another, to serve others, and to grow in the love of God. So, that's what I wanted to cover today. Like I mentioned, I will not be here with you. You'll be in a different location next week, but I won't be here next weekend being up in Fulton for pretty much today.