All right, well this morning we are turning the page to a new book of the Bible.
We just finished going through the book of 1 Timothy this past fall,
and now we are turning the page to the book of Titus.
Just like Paul wrote a letter to Timothy, he also wrote a letter to a man named Titus.
And if we just for a moment think of these two letters side by side,
there's some similarities between them, but there are also some differences.
These two letters both have a similar feel to them.
This letter to Titus is full of instruction to Titus about how to put things in order in the churches where Titus has been stationed.
There's also warning about false teachers and about controversies and arguments and division,
similar to the letter that Paul sent to Timothy.
There's instructions about elders and how various people ought to relate to each other in the church.
But there's also some major differences in this letter.
Paul says very little about money or wealth or social status.
It seems in Titus' area, laziness and lust and a lack of self-control are the big problems.
Everybody seems to be really focused just on their own pleasures at all costs.
And in this letter to Titus, Paul spends quite a bit of the letter talking about the gospel
and reminding them of what is this good news of what God has done according to his love and his grace and his kindness for us.
So we're going to start this morning just by looking at the first four verses of this letter
and do a little bit of an introduction, and then we'll work our way towards the Lord's table.
Let me read the first four verses for you.
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God's elect
and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness in the hope of eternal life,
which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,
and which now, at his appointed season, he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me
by the command of God our Savior.
To Titus, my true son in our common faith,
grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
So this letter begins in a manner very similar to Paul's other letters.
Paul begins by introducing himself and stating who he is in the first three verses,
and then he states who he's writing to in verse 4,
and he gives that customary blessing or greeting also in verse 4.
Let's begin by talking about Titus.
Who is Titus?
Titus.
Most of us know who Paul is, but who is this guy named Titus, and where is he?
What's the background to this letter?
Well, we don't know exactly where Titus is from,
but we do know that he was a Greek.
We know that from the book of Galatians.
Somewhere along the way, Titus became a follower of Jesus, a believer,
and he ended up being one of Paul's trusted co-workers and partners in the ministry.
And we first see Titus at Paul's side at the end of Paul's first missionary journey,
when Paul goes to Jerusalem to speak to the Jerusalem Council on matters of circumcision.
Titus is there with him at that meeting.
We read about that in Galatians chapter 2.
Then, as Paul embarks on his second missionary journey,
one of the places that he gets to is a city called Corinth,
which is on the Grecian peninsula.
I don't have a laser pointer, but you can see it in the top left corner in Icaa there.
And we read in the book of Acts, chapter 18, about how the church at Corinth was established.
Paul stays there for a year and a half, and then he moves on in his travels.
But then sometime later, after the church had been established at Corinth,
Paul sends Titus to the church there in Corinth,
and Titus seems to serve there in the church as an apostolic delegate,
much in the same way that Timothy did in Ephesus.
And we read about how Titus goes back and forth between the church there in Corinth
and Paul, wherever he is, a couple times.
We learn all this from Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.
So Titus has a bit of a history of working with Paul,
even before we get to this letter.
Then we fast forward, and Paul does a third missionary journey.
And if you know the story from the book of Acts,
this journey ends with him going back to Jerusalem,
preaching, getting imprisoned,
and then later being shipped all the way off to Rome.
And it's generally thought that Paul was released from his house arrest in Rome in 62 AD,
after which he continued doing ministry for a few years before he was martyred.
So it's in that time period, that time after he was released,
but before he was martyred,
that seems to be the likely time that this letter to Titus was written.
And we discover in this letter that Titus has been given a new assignment.
In verse 5, it says,
The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished,
and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.
So for Titus, Corinth is history.
His new assignment from Paul is to see that these already established churches
on the island of Crete come to have proper leadership and order.
Crete is a big island,
and it's just southeast of Greece.
This was the island that Paul stopped at briefly before he was shipwrecked on the way to Rome.
And this island of Crete is the location of Titus, as Paul writes this letter.
Now this island has quite the history to it.
It was the home of the ancient Minoan civilization.
It's thought to be, by some, the place where the Philistines originated from.
Back in the days of the Greek Empire, there were about 40 cities on this island.
And probably most of them were along the coast, all around the edges,
because I don't think you can really see it on the screen,
but it's quite a mountainous island.
By the days of the Roman Empire,
there were at least 20 cities that we know of on the island
through archaeology studies.
And there was quite a religious mix on this island.
There's lots of evidence of the worship of Greek gods.
There are some Roman religions that were present,
some Egyptian religions.
And we know from the Bible that there was an established Jewish presence in Crete.
Some of the Jews that were present on the day of Pentecost,
when Peter preached his sermon, were from Crete.
And there's also mention in this letter of the circumcision group
and quarrels about the Jewish law.
It's quite possible that the church on Crete first got its start
from some of those Jews who had gone to Jerusalem for Pentecost,
heard Peter preaching the good news of Jesus that day,
and then went back home to Crete
and shared the news with other people in their hometown
or home cities on the island.
Whatever the case, there are now churches there.
There are now followers of Jesus in many towns and cities on the island.
And this is why Paul has assigned Titus to be there.
We notice in verse 5
that he not only serves the congregation in one city,
but that he is functioning in the whole region.
His job is to appoint elders in every town.
So we get the sense that the gospel has really spread by this time
to many of these cities and towns on the island of Crete.
And on top of all this, we discover at the end of this letter,
if we look ahead to chapter 3, verse 12,
that Titus' assignment here is temporary.
Chapter 3, verse 12, Paul says,
As soon as I send Artemis or Tychicus to you,
do your best to come to me at Nicopolis,
because I have decided to winter there.
So Titus is not the pastor of one of the churches there.
He's a co-worker of Paul.
He's an apostolic delegate who's assigned here
to put things in order for the churches on Crete
until he is relieved in the near future by someone else.
Finally, notice how Paul refers to Titus
in his salutation in verse 4.
To Titus, my true son in our common faith.
These are really warm words.
Not just a friend, not just a co-worker or partner,
but son.
Just like Timothy has been as a son to Paul,
we get the sense that Titus is like family with Paul.
They've worked together, they've traveled together,
there's high trust between them,
but of course this closeness of family
runs even deeper than that.
Paul says,
My true son in our common faith.
It's because they share in the same faith in Jesus.
And through the Spirit,
are members together of the family of God.
Let's now go back up to what we skipped over
in the first three verses
and just talk a little bit about Paul.
Paul introduces himself as two things here.
First, a servant of God.
And second, as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
And we've talked about this many times before,
but we'll just run it over one more time
in case you're new or you miss some of those Sundays.
The apostles were men specially chosen
by Jesus himself to speak on Jesus' behalf
the very words of God to the people.
They were tasked with preaching,
much like the prophets of old.
They were tasked with bearing witness
to what they had seen and heard
of Jesus Christ when he was here on earth.
Although Paul is a bit of an exception to that
if you know his story.
And they were tasked with spreading that message,
that good news in Jerusalem
and from there outward all over the world.
And they bore a special authority
from Jesus to do this work.
Christ spoke through them,
which is why we count their words,
like in this letter,
as the very words of God.
So Paul is reminding Titus of his role,
his authoritative role from Jesus.
These aren't just the words of Paul.
They're the words of Christ through me
because I am his apostle.
And here in this introduction,
Paul actually goes on a fair bit
about what his role is as an apostle.
Let's look at some of the things
that Paul says here for a moment.
He says,
An apostle of Jesus Christ
to further the faith of God's elect
and their knowledge of the truth
that leads to godliness
in the hope of eternal life.
Now, depending on your translation,
there may be a little bit of a difference there,
but the gist of this seems to be
that Paul's purpose as an apostle
is to further the faith of God's people.
It's that they would go deeper
in their knowledge of the truth,
which will result in them being more godly,
more fully devoted to God.
And this is his work as an apostle
wherever he goes.
This is his aim.
Paul speaks on behalf of Jesus,
or in this case,
writes on behalf of Jesus,
and it's for the benefit of God's people
that they will come to know the truth,
how they're to worship God,
how they're to be devoted to God,
and for those who don't already believe in him,
that they would believe in him,
that they would come to have that faith.
And Paul says,
it's not only about godliness,
they kind of chopped the verse off
before it gets to the end of the thought here.
It's not only about being devoted to God,
but it's in the hope of eternal life.
The sure hope of everlasting life
is what this is all about for Paul.
It's why he has been sent by Jesus
as an apostle to speak and to write.
It's so that people can believe
and so that they can know the truth
that leads them to receiving God's amazing gift
of everlasting life.
Because that's what Jesus promised
time and time again
as he walked the earth.
That was his message,
that those who believe
will be raised from the dead
and will receive eternal life.
At this point,
Paul goes on a bit of a rabbit trail
and he just gets talking about
this promise of eternal life.
And when God made this promise,
Paul says that
God, who does not lie,
promised this before the beginning of time.
First, we notice the way
that Paul describes God here.
Quite literally, in the original,
it's the unlying God.
The unlying God.
Which means that God always tells the truth.
He never lies.
Think about the false gods of Greek mythology.
If you ever learned about those stories
as a kid in school,
they were known to lie at times,
to be deceptive,
to be manipulative,
to try to further their own little ends.
But God,
the creator,
Yahweh,
is not like that,
says Paul.
He never lies.
He is the unlying God.
Which means
that his promises
give us sure hope.
Not the flimsy,
hope so kind of hope.
Next, we notice
when God made this promise.
And again,
there's some variance
in the translations here,
but quite literally,
which the unlying God promised
before the times of eternity.
And all of the translations
seem to recognize
that this is an idiom of sorts,
but there's a couple different thoughts
on how to translate it.
Some say
that he promised
before long ages ago,
which God promised
long ages ago,
possibly referring to God
speaking through his prophets
in the Old Testament days.
But the majority
of translations
seem to understand
this idiom
to refer to that period of time
before God created
the heavens and the earth.
And so,
before time began,
before the beginning of time,
not that time
is anything of itself
or had a beginning
of its own,
but before time
as in the history
here on earth,
the times of man,
before all that,
before we were even created,
before the earth was made,
God made the promise
of everlasting life
for his chosen people.
His elect,
as Paul calls them
in verse 1.
So this promise
of eternal life
was made long,
long,
long ago
before the world
was made.
God knew exactly
what he was going to do.
He knew what would happen
on the earth.
He knew how things
would unfold
and back then
he made the promise.
But,
Paul says,
it's just now
that God has brought
all of this to light.
His great plan
to save us,
to give us
this eternal life.
Now,
in the time of Paul's writing,
in the days of Jesus
and the apostles,
according to God's
own appointed time,
he has brought it to light
through the preaching
entrusted to me
by the command of God,
says Paul.
So Paul knows exactly
what he's doing
as an apostle.
He knows that he has been
tasked with declaring
the promise of eternal life,
the promise that God made
before the world began.
A promise that God
is now revealing
through Christ
and through
his apostles
so that God's elect,
God's chosen people,
might hear
and believe
and receive
this wonderful gift
of eternal life.
Let's talk for just a minute
about that word
elect
in verse 1.
This is the way
that Christ
refers to the people
of God
as the elect.
It means
those who are selected
or chosen
and it is a word
that sometimes
makes people uncomfortable.
There's a lot of debate
around this
idea
and how
and when
and who
is chosen.
What does it mean
to be chosen
by God
and we're not going
to get into all that
this morning
but the word
chosen,
the idea
of being chosen
is right here
in the words
of God.
That's how Jesus
refers
to the people
of God.
They are God's
elect.
He has chosen
them
and this word
is interesting.
Maybe one of the
reasons for it
is because
it partly
can refer
to people
who have not
even yet
come to believe.
think about
Paul's
commissioning
as an apostle.
Before he had
gone out
and done
any preaching
there were people
that God knew
in advance
would receive
the message
and be saved.
God's
choosing
and so
for Paul
this
choosing
of God
it wasn't
a disincentive
to preach
the gospel.
It wasn't
as though
he said
well God's
chosen
we'll just
let it happen
then.
No it was
the opposite.
There are people
out there
whom God
has chosen
to be
his own
but how
can they
have faith
in God
and believe
in his
son
unless they
hear this
good news
about Jesus.
I gotta get
out there
I gotta
proclaim
this message
as we heard
in Sunday
school this
morning.
I'm obligated
to get
to those
people in
Rome
and preach
the good
news to
them.
This was
Paul's role
to play
in God's
elect
coming
to faith
in him.
We shouldn't
shy away
from this
idea
that God
has
chosen
his people
even before
they hear
the message
of the gospel.
He chose
Abraham.
he chose
Isaac.
He chose
Jacob in
the Old
Testament.
He chose
specially the
nation of
Israel to
be his
special people
and not
the other
nations.
But in the
nation of
Israel he
chose the
tribe of
Levi to
do that
special work
at the
temple and
the priesthood.
And here we
read that those
who have come
to faith in
Jesus through
Paul's preaching
are the
chosen,
the elect
of God.
And so if you
are here this
morning and
you truly
have faith in
Jesus then this
is true of you
as well.
You were
chosen by
God.
This should be
precious to
us.
Do we
deserve it?
No.
We've all
sinned.
We've all
fall short of
God's glory.
But God's
choosing of us
even before we
had heard the
gospel speaks
of his great
love for us.
It tells us
that he wanted
us.
He desired us.
A relationship
with us for us
to be his
people despite
our sin,
despite the bad
things that he
knew we would
do.
God's choosing
speaks of his
unconditional love.
love.
So this is how
Paul starts his
letter to
Titus here on
the island of
Crete.
He reminds
Titus of who
he is, an
apostle of
Jesus Christ,
and that he
does in fact
carry spiritual
authority, and
yet he speaks to
Titus affectionately
as his true
son because they
share the same
faith in Jesus.
He prays a
blessing of God's
grace and peace
upon Titus, and
already we've seen
that Paul is
ready to just
declare the good
news of Jesus,
even in this
introduction.
We're going to
take time now to
come to the
Lord's table once
again.
We do this every
month, and it's a
remembrance of
Jesus.
It's a remembrance
of the gospel.
There are two
elements on this
table.
There is the
bread, and
there is what
we call the
cup.
Actually, we've
got lots of
little cups, but
what's in them is
grape juice.
Both of these are
symbols that Jesus
gave meaning to on
the night that he
was betrayed, on
the night before
his death.
Jesus sat around
the table with his
twelve disciples
that night, and
he took bread, he
gave thanks, and
then he broke it,
and he passed it
out to his
disciples around
the table.
He said, take,
eat, this is my
body, which is for
you.
And then later he
took a cup, and
it had the fruit of
the vine in it, or
in some of the
vernacular of that
day, the blood of
the grape, and he
passed that cup around
the table as well, and
urged his disciples to
drink from it.
He said, this is my
blood of the
covenant, which is
poured out for you
for the forgiveness
of sins.
Jesus was, of course,
speaking about his
death the next day,
and he was
essentially saying to
his followers, I'm
about to die, but
my death, my body
being broken, my
blood being poured
out tomorrow is
for your benefit.
It's for you, for
the forgiveness of
your sins, for a
new arrangement
between you and
God.
They didn't fully
realize at that
moment the full
meaning of this.
All along they'd
been hearing Jesus
talk about all
these wonderful
things, the
kingdom of God, the
kingdom of heaven,
salvation, which
they were to be a
part of, eternal
life, as we heard
as Titus mentions
here, or Paul
mentions here to
Titus, eternal
life that they would
receive, resurrection
from the dead after
they die, standing
before God in the
judgment, not
guilty, and all of
these things Jesus
was saying that they
could receive just by
faith, by
believing.
They didn't see,
however, that this
amazing free gift of
God to people had a
cost.
It would come at the
cost of Jesus' life to
make all these good
promises a reality.
Jesus would have to
suffer and to die for
them, for us.
And Jesus did that on
the cross 2,000 years
ago.
Three days later, he
rose from the dead.
And this truth, this
knowledge, is what Paul
is talking about here in
his letter to Titus.
This is the news, this
is the gospel that was
entrusted to him, that's
been, he's been
commanded by God to
preach, this truth
that believing gives
us that sure hope of
eternal life.
Have you put your
faith in Jesus?
Do you believe in him?
The one that God sent
from heaven to save us?
What does it mean to
put your faith in him?
It just simply means to
believe, to take
seriously as truth the
things that Jesus said.
The things that are
revealed about who
Jesus is, that yes, he
is the Son of God.
He is the Messiah.
He is the Savior
provided.
He is the way to God.
Have you put your faith
in Jesus Christ?
Christ.
If you haven't done this
yet, I want to urge you to
do it today.
This is the most important
decision that anyone can
make in their lives.
I urge you, if you haven't
done it, confess your sins to
him today.
Ask for his forgiveness.
Find that sure hope, that
offer that he gives us
freely of eternal life.
You can even do this now,
in these next minutes, as we
take time to quietly pray and
reflect.
Feel free to close your eyes and
just to be with God in these
next moments.
And for those of us who believe
what we do here is we just take a
moment to pray quietly, to think
over what Jesus has done for us,
confess our sins to the Lord, and
to be reminded of his love before
we partake of the table.
After a few minutes of that, we'll
have our elders come forward, and
I think that's just one.
That's just Charles today.
Maybe Brian will come and help as
well.
And they'll serve the bread and
the cup, and if you truly believe
in Jesus, whether for many years or
whether it's for the first time
today, then join with us and
partake with us of the bread and
the cup.
We'll wait till everybody has been
served, and then we'll eat and
drink all together in unison after
I pray and give thanks.
pour us irenei, let's look past our
sceme で ernest
to bereme the Kenneth
we'll sit on af.
We'll Ariana
we'll see you next time and
before
you
Thank you.