Like I said, I just want to really set the context of the letter before we jump in to our verse-by-verse study.
And the first thing we want to do is understand the characters of the letter.
Who's actually involved here as it relates to this letter to Titus?
So let's first talk about the author, whom we're told in verse 1 of chapter 1 is the Apostle Paul.
Paul wrote this letter, but there is some mystery around the time that he wrote it.
There has been some effort to try to take the pastoral epistles in particular and fit them within the timeline of the book of Acts that tells the story of the early church and focuses so much on Paul's ministry.
But the overwhelming evidence, not only biblically but extra-biblically, suggests that there were two imprisonments for Paul.
You'll remember that Acts 28, it ends with Paul in prison in Rome.
He had been in prison for four years.
When we study the book of Philippians, we see that Paul truly believed that he was going to be released from that imprisonment.
He didn't believe that he was going to die at that particular moment.
He was prepared to die, but he told the Philippians that he believed that the Lord was not going to make that the case, that he would be released from it.
When we understand that he wasn't actually in a dungeon in Rome at that particular point, whatever their version of a dungeon would be,
he was just on house arrest.
He had some freedom to move about and to do some things there in Rome.
It becomes clear that Paul ultimately ended up being released from that imprisonment.
And from there, he traveled.
It seems that he traveled on a few more missionary endeavors for maybe four, five, six years before he was incarcerated again under the reign of Nero.
And then in the process of that incarceration, he was actually legitimately imprisoned and ultimately beheaded for his faith and martyred.
It was during this time frame in between the two imprisonments that Paul and Titus at some point journeyed to Crete,
probably started a few churches there sometime in the mid-60s.
And Paul wrote this letter to follow up with his colleague.
And special consideration needs to be given to Paul's age and circumstance when we evaluate the content and the style of the letter.
Paul recognized that the apostolic age of the church was coming to an end.
And the pastor or epistles are written from the perspective of a man who knew his days were numbered.
The apostles' doctrine, as far as I mean apostles, as in all the apostles, what we have contained in the New Testament,
had already been thoroughly recorded in other books.
Titus, having traveled extensively with Paul in his ministry, didn't need an explanation of doctrine or of particular practices.
He already knew those things.
And Paul trusted Titus regarding those issues, which is why he left him in Crete to lead these churches and to help establish them.
This letter should be understood, really, as a summary challenge to a young companion
to which the baton of church leadership was about to be passed.
Donald Guthrie said,
Titus contains the natural and human expressions of the apostles' own reflections about the future of the work he is obliged to delegate to others.
Most of you know that my dad has pastored for over 40 years.
And beginning January 1st, he transitioned out of a role of lead pastor at Promised Land Baptist Church
and now is on staff as an assistant pastor at Laurel Baptist in Charlotte.
And in the process of the last three years, he didn't know he was going to end up at Laurel,
but he knew that his time, he could sense that his time as a lead pastor was coming to an end,
either through retirement or transitioning to a different form of vocational ministry.
And over the last three years, you know what he's done?
He's prepared his church for that moment.
He's preached through the pastoral epistles.
He's tried to disciple leaders in the church to be prepared to lead the church through a temporary absence of a pastor,
a lead pastor in the church.
He's tried to prepare them for his departure.
That's what Paul's doing here.
When he writes to Timothy and he writes to Titus,
he is writing from the perspective of a man that knows his days are numbered.
He knows that the ministry of the church and the care of the churches
are going to have to be passed on to the next generation of church leaders.
And what we see happening and unfolding in this letter is the final statements, in a sense,
of what he believes these young preachers and pastors must remember as they lead these churches forward.
This helps us understand the urgency of tone in this letter.
Much of Paul's counsel is written in the imperative mood,
which challenges anyone who would take a casual or passive approach to church doctrine and church practice.
Because there are many people who would say,
I don't care about doctrine.
That's boring.
Or who cares about the way the church is structured and the way that things are carried out in a church.
I just want to go and be a part of the things that are scheduled if it's convenient for me.
No, this letter, the urgency of this letter, challenges that type of spirit.
It challenges Christian passivity.
It challenges those who would demean doctrine and who would demean the necessity of helpful church practice and polity.
Just look at a few examples.
Look at verse 13 of chapter 1.
In regards to false teaching, Paul says,
Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
There's urgency there.
Look at chapter 2 and verse 15.
At the end of this section on discipling, he says,
Titus, declare these things.
Exhort and rebuke with all authority.
Don't let anyone disregard you.
Chapter 3 and verse 8.
The saying is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things.
So that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.
There's urgency in this letter.
Here, Titus, don't mess around.
Do these things.
Preach the word.
Be faithful.
Lead the churches.
There's urgency here.
Let's look at the recipients as well.
Of course, you know, Titus is the primary recipient.
And when you think about Paul's companions in the New Testament,
Titus might not be the one that immediately comes to your mind.
There isn't a single passage that carefully describes who Titus was.
But if you examine all the little mentions about him in the New Testament,
and you bring them all together,
what you'll discover is that Titus was an incredibly faithful Christian and pastor.
His relationship to Paul was very similar to Timothy's.
He was a young believer that was probably personally led to Christ and discipled by Paul.
You see that in verse 4 of chapter 1.
To Titus, my true child in a common faith.
It's the same thing he said about Timothy.
These are not merely colleagues.
There is a discipling relationship that has occurred here.
And though Titus isn't mentioned by name in Acts 15,
Galatians 2 tells us that he was a Greek Christian
who traveled with Paul and Barnabas to the Jerusalem council.
Do you remember that in Acts 15?
You remember there's the controversy in the church
where the Jewish converts were saying these Gentiles need to be circumcised.
They need to commit to certain Jewish things before they can really truly be saved.
And the apostles gathered together in Jerusalem to confront the heresy
and to set the record straight that no, salvation is by God's grace.
It's apart from all works that don't matter.
Galatians 2 says that Titus traveled with Paul and Barnabas there.
And not only was he present,
but he became their prime example of a Gentile believer
who was truly converted to the faith,
who had the Holy Spirit of God resting on his life,
and yet he was not circumcised.
And they essentially say, here's exhibit A.
Look at Titus, which made him uniquely qualified
to deal with the Jewish heresies that were existent on Crete.
It's a fantastic character in the Bible,
but it doesn't just end there.
Titus was an apostolic delegate from Paul.
He was sent by Paul to Corinth,
to Dalmatia, and of course, Crete.
You can read all about it in 2 Corinthians.
Titus was known for his faithfulness,
his dependability,
and his competence to assist churches
with mounting theological and moral issues.
And here's the bottom line about Titus.
The fact that most of his ministry was carried out in Corinth and Crete
shows that he was a strong, patient leader
who was especially skilled at strengthening struggling churches.
And I'll put that in context for you.
If there was a church that we are aware of in our area
that the pastor left or retired or resigned
or whatever the situation may be,
and there wasn't someone already prepared in place
to kind of step up into that role.
And I was familiar with the church.
And they said, will you help us find a pastor?
I might would call a few friends of mine
that might would be interested.
One of the questions my buddies are going to ask
is what is it that you know about the church?
What's the truth about the church?
What's the issues that are going on there?
And I may know of a few issues,
and I'll describe the issues to them.
Now, let's say that it's a church like Crete or a church like Corinth.
I say, well, there's some pretty severe sexual immorality going on.
They are spiritually arrogant people.
They care a lot about their own giftedness,
and they're not very servant-hearted.
They're not very loving toward one another.
They're faithful to the gospel, but they're not very loving.
You know, they've allowed some kind of heretical theology to come into.
It's going to be a bit of a fight, to be honest with you.
Most pastors run away from that.
That's enough for them to say, yeah, I don't want anything to do with that.
I don't have the energy for that.
Titus ran to that situation.
In fact, 2 Corinthians tells us not only does he run to it,
but his love for Christ's church was far greater than his fear of church hurt.
2 Corinthians 8, 16.
Thanks be to God, Paul writes, who put into the heart of Titus
the same earnest care I have for you.
For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest,
he is going to you of his own accord, knowing the issues in Corinth.
Paul says, Titus isn't going to you begrudgingly because I asked him to do it.
This is not a favor for me.
No, he loves you.
He wants to come to you.
He's not running away from your issues.
He wants to help you.
His love for Christ's church was far greater than his fear of church hurt,
which brings us to an important question as we just think about this person of Titus.
How does your love for Christ's church compare?
Because our tendencies is to be the opposite of Titus.
Whenever we experience issues or whenever we experience hurt
or things don't go exactly the way that we want them to go,
our first inclination is to find another place.
Or maybe we stop attending so regularly.
Or we stop giving regularly to the offering.
Or whatever it is.
We stop going to the classes or the groups or whatever it is.
We get offended by somebody or whatever happens.
Not Titus.
His love was so great that he ran to the problems,
knowing that it was going to be a struggle
and that he was going to have to deal with real people.
People ask all the time.
When I see them that don't belong to our church,
they ask, how's things going with the church?
And I love the question on one hand
because it encourages me that people care.
And I think the most helpful answer is
things are going really well
and we're also people
who have issues.
because we all are.
Titus didn't run away from that.
No, he loved the church.
That's the kind of person he was.
And Paul says,
he's my partner and fellow worker
and he's my true child in a common faith.
But this letter isn't just addressed to Titus.
It's also for churches.
Paul's letter was indeed personal.
That doesn't mean it was private.
In fact, it was never intended to be confidential.
It was addressed to Titus,
but the letter was copied
and was read to the churches in Creed
as necessary apostolic teaching
given by the Spirit of God.
Again, Donald Guthrie says,
in contrast with the other Pauline letters
which are addressed to churches,
all three pastoral epistles
are directed to individuals
and many of the injunctions
are clearly personal.
Yet much of the material
appears to be designed
for the communities
to which Timothy and Titus
were ministering.
Thus, they are generally thought
to be quasi-public epistles.
Here's why that matters.
The early church treated this letter to Titus
not as a unique keepsake
of Paul's personal correspondence.
Like you might go to the museums
in Washington, D.C.
and you might find a set
of personal correspondence
between some historical figures
of our nation.
That's not why the church
kept this letter.
Scribes very carefully,
meticulously,
from its delivery
began to copy it
and transmit it
and share it
with churches in their area
and eventually this letter
began to spread
to other places around the world
so that other Christians
could see not a writing from Paul
but so that other Christians
could see the Word of God.
The only reason for the church
to take that kind of care
in personal correspondence
is if they truly believed
that it was inspired Scripture.
Which means that Titus
was not simply for Titus.
It was for churches
given by God
for churches both then and now.
And that's reason enough
for us to take it seriously.
That's the characters.
Quickly, let's look at
the circumstances of the letter.
There's no indication
that Paul ever journeyed to Crete
in his missionary journeys in Acts
but according to verse 5
in chapter 1,
clearly he and Titus
had gone there at some point
and probably had established
a few churches.
It's also likely
that there were already
some other Christians there
based on some Cretans
being present in Jerusalem
on the day of Pentecost.
I think it's safe to assume
that some of them were converted
and went home
and began maybe some small churches.
So there's Christians there
at least at the point
that the letter was written.
The congregations,
as I said before,
were young church plants.
They were being tested
by heretical theology
and they were being tempted
by an immoral Cretian culture.
Paul eventually moved on from Crete
but he leaves Titus behind.
That's the circumstances here.
And he leaves him behind
with a particular task.
Here's Titus' task.
He was to set things in order,
verse 5,
he's to set things in order
so that the gospel of Jesus
would be proclaimed,
the apostles' doctrine
would be preserved,
saved,
and fruitful Christians
would reflect the kingdom of God
to which they belonged.
And the letter is a follow-up
to Titus
to challenge him
and encourage him
in the work
that he was left there to do.
The circumstances on Crete
were no different than our own.
We too are constantly embattled
with heretical theology.
Maybe,
perhaps even more so today
where information moves so fast
and you can get on YouTube
and find people
with millions of views
on a YouTube video
and you really have no idea
where they came from
and very quickly
you can get sucked
into a heretical theology.
We're inundated with that.
They seem to be friendly
to our cause
but when we really dig down
they're not full of good works,
God-glorifying works,
but evil works.
Just like the churches on Crete,
we need to be diligent
to set up structures
that will help us continue
to proclaim the gospel,
preserve sound doctrine,
and produce faithful disciples.
It's the circumstance.
Let's quickly overview the contents
and then we'll pray.
Here's the theme.
The theme of Titus
is the inseparable link
between faith and practice,
between belief and behavior.
And this truth is based,
according to the ESV Study Bible,
this truth is the basis
for its critique of false teaching
as well as its instruction
in Christian living
and qualifications for church leaders.
The structures in Titus
aren't the goal.
The structures in Titus
are the means
to accomplish the goal,
which is gospel fidelity
and good works
that glorify the Lord.
And the bottom line in Titus
is that belief affects behavior.
Doctrine produces devotion.
And the primary assertion in Titus
is that the Christian gospel
is the only foundation
for consistent
and lasting devotion
to God's glory.
Now that doesn't mean
that non-believers
aren't concerned
with behaviors
that we would categorize
as good works,
but it does mean
that the inevitable result
of genuine faith in Christ
is a life
that is marked
by consistent good works,
by sanctification
that does not lead us
towards worldliness,
but leads us away
from worldliness.
That's the point of the letter.
The Cretans were facing ideologies
that in some sense
looked like love for God,
but ultimately
did not produce godly works.
And the responsibility
of church leaders
is to confront such heresies,
proclaim the true gospel
that produces godly behavior
through the work
of the Holy Spirit.
Let's look at how this is represented
in the book itself.
Look at verse 1 of chapter 1.
Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
for the sake of the faith
of God's elect
and their knowledge
of the truth,
which accords with godliness.
In other words,
faith in Christ
and knowledge of sound doctrine
produces godliness.
When you come to Christ,
when you immerse yourself
in the sound doctrine
of the Bible,
the inevitable result
will be godliness.
We see it from
the very first verse.
Not only that,
we see that evil works
demonstrate one's alienation
from God.
Chapter 1, verse 16.
Look at that with me.
They profess to know God,
but they deny Him
by their works.
In other words,
our behavior exposes
the true nature
of our beliefs.
And one of the things
that comes through
strongly in this letter
is that if you claim
to know and follow God,
but you have no interest
in living in obedience
to God,
you're not interested
in the six things
that we've covered earlier
that are all rooted
in the Scriptures.
You don't really have
a lot of interest
in doing those things,
but you want to say
that you belong to God.
My friend,
you're not a Christian.
You're not a Christian.
Because faith in Christ
and sound doctrine
from the Bible
will inevitably produce
good works
through the work
of the Spirit.
That's the urgency
of Paul's writing.
Don't let the heresy
seep in
because the heresies
won't produce godliness
which shows
that you've lost
the gospel.
And if you've lost
the gospel,
then what's the point?
He says,
sound doctrine
confronts cultural norms.
Look at verse 12 and 13
in verse 1
in chapter 1.
We read it a while ago.
One of the Cretans,
a prophet of their own,
said Cretans
are always liars,
evil beasts,
lazy gluttons,
and this testimony
is true.
Now look at chapter 2.
We won't read
all of the first 10 verses.
We'll just pick
some parts around.
Teach what accords
with sound doctrine,
verse 1,
because older men
are to be sober-minded
and dignified
and so on.
Then the older women,
likewise,
verse 3,
are to be reverent
in behavior
and so on.
They're to train
younger women
to love their husbands
and so on.
Self-controlled,
pure,
working at home.
Younger men
are to be self-controlled,
so on and so forth
as it goes.
There's a stark contrast
here that Paul is painting.
Here is how the world lives.
Here is the fruit
of Christ's work
in a believer's life.
Let me give you
some examples.
This isn't very different
than our own day.
Our culture says
that the idea
of male headship
in the home
and wives primarily
as homemakers
is oppressive,
demeaning,
and abusive.
The Bible says
right here
in verses 3 and 4,
older women
are to so train
the young women
to love their husbands
and children,
to be self-controlled
and pure,
working at home,
kind,
submissive
to their own husbands
that the word of God
may not be reviled.
What's the point here?
It doesn't matter
what the cultural ideal says.
Christianity
will always stick out
in the crowd.
It will always look different.
And we'll get there
in a few weeks.
Paul's point is not
that women can't work
outside the home.
His point is that
according to the scriptures
and God's design,
their primary role,
their primary concern
is to care for their homes
and to care for their children.
Well, that flies in the face
of cultural ideologies today.
And at some point,
we're gonna have to come
against this truth
and we're gonna have to consider,
am I gonna go along
with what I feel like
is best in the cultural ideologies
or am I gonna come
to the scriptures
and I'm gonna be obedient
to what the Lord says
produces good works
through the work
of the Holy Spirit
in my life?
You say,
well, I thought Titus
was gonna be an easy book.
It might not be that easy for us.
How about another one?
Have you ever heard
of quiet quitting?
It's a buzzword today.
Essentially,
quiet quitting
is an employee
of a business
who only does
the bare minimum
necessary
to maintain their job.
they refuse
to actually go
above and beyond
anything that they've asked
to do.
We're told this culture
says that this type
of behavior
is encouraged,
it's probably good
for your mental health
and this degradation
of any kind
of power structures
in our culture
says that your boss
doesn't deserve
for your hardest work,
so just do whatever
you gotta do
to get a paycheck
and move on.
What does the Bible say?
Look at chapter 2
and verse 9.
Bondservants,
this is really
slaves and masters.
I think it applies
to our work.
Bondservants are to be
submissive to their
own masters
in everything.
They're to be
well-pleasing,
not argumentative,
not pilfering.
That means thieves.
They're not to steal
from their business.
They're not to steal
time from their business,
but showing all good faith
so that in everything
they may adorn
the doctrine of God
our Savior.
And here's the point.
The issues mentioned
in Titus
are not merely
behavioral qualities.
They're characteristics
of Christ's kingdom people.
They confront
what is acceptable
in cultural ideas
because they mark
the lives of individuals
who ultimately
do not serve
the kingdom of this world.
And if you belong
to Christ,
you are a stranger here.
You are not serving
this world.
You are serving
His kingdom
and your life
is to reflect
that kingdom.
And Paul says
when the gospel is there
and self-doctrine is there
and the core values
are there,
whatever it is,
the things that are
biblically based,
when those things are there,
this is the kind of life
that it produces
and it's going to fly
in the face of culture
and the culture
is going to hate you
for it.
we also see that good works
proceed from salvation.
They do not produce salvation.
Chapter 3, verse 3.
For we ourselves
were once foolish,
disobedient,
led astray,
slaves to various passions
and pleasures,
passing our days
in malice and envy
and hated by others
and hating one another.
But when the goodness
and loving kindness
of our God
and Savior appeared,
He saved us
not because of works
done by us
in righteousness,
but according
to His own mercy.
So, lest you get
the wrong idea,
these works
that Paul is talking about
do not produce salvation.
They flow from a person
who has actually come
and received the grace
and mercy of Christ.
The gospel produces
humility and patience
toward non-believers.
That's chapter 3,
verses 1 through 3.
We see gospel fidelity
and good works
require discipline
and intentionality.
That's chapter 3,
8 and 9,
and verse 14.
Look at verse 14
of chapter 3.
Let our people learn
to devote themselves
to good works.
That means it doesn't,
it's not always
going to come naturally.
You've got to care about it.
You've got to keep it
in front of you.
You've got to pursue it
in your life.
And the focal point
of all of this
as we read a few moments ago
in chapter 2
is that Jesus' purpose
in coming
was to redeem us
from sin
and make us eager
for good works
by making us
His own people.
That's the point.
Jesus didn't come
to make us
free to sin.
He came to make us
free from sin.
He's redeeming
a people
for His own possession.
He's making them
His kingdom people
and He's shaping them
to look like Him
in this world.
And they'll stand
in stark contrast
to the world
when they're focused
on the true gospel
and the sound doctrine
of the Bible.
That's Titus
in a nutshell.
But what about
the structures?
There's three structures
that Paul says
if this is going
to be preserved.
Gospel fidelity
that leads to good works
through the Holy Spirit.
If this is going
to be preserved
in these churches
you need three structures
in place.
One,
faithful and qualified leaders.
That's chapter 1.
You need a plurality
of leaders,
elders and deacons
that are qualified,
that will serve the church
and preserve these things
to make sure the church
is heading in the right direction.
He also says
you need intentional discipling.
Did you notice
in those ten verses
in chapter 2
the older men
teaching the younger men,
the older women
teaching the younger women.
That may not necessarily
relate to age
in every circumstance.
It may just be related
to spiritual maturity
in some circumstances.
But the path forward
is intentional discipling
with one another.
That's a structure here.
And then the third one
is swift confrontation
of error.
We see it in chapter 1,
we see it again
in chapter 3.
Deal with error.
Don't let it fester.
Deal with it, Paul says.
Let's wrap it up.
The process of writing
this letter,
Paul ends up giving us
a portrait
of a healthy church.
In Titus,
a healthy,
God-honoring church
includes
foundational gospel doctrine,
faithful church leaders,
functional Christian discipling,
felicitous handling of error.
I needed an F.
It means proper,
but I needed an F.
So,
felicitous handling of error
and fruitful Christian living.
In Titus,
this is what a healthy church
looks like.
Not a perfect church.
No church is perfect.
Not until we get to heaven.
This is a healthy church.
One that glorifies God
in this world.
It looks like this.
You know what this
reminds me of?
This reminds me a lot
of gospel focus
and Bible teaching
and gathered worship
and discipling culture
and kingdom mission
and pursuing holiness.
As we study this letter together,
I want to ask you
to do something with me.
Will you resolve
with me
to maintain
gospel fidelity
and devote yourselves
to good works?
Works that glorify the Lord.
Will you join me
in ensuring
that our church
structures itself
in such a way
to help us
proclaim the gospel,
preserve sound doctrine,
and produce
faithful disciples?
And perhaps
we can borrow again
from Edwards'
preface in this.
Being sensible
that we are
unable
to do anything
without God's help,
we do humbly
and treat him
by his grace
to enable us
to keep
these resolutions
so far as they
are agreeable
to his will
for Christ's sake.
That's what we can
look forward to
in the coming months
as we study Titus.
Titus.