Good morning, this is Pastor Bill Roberts of the Terre Haute Reformed Presbyterian Church. We'll be starting a new series of sermons through the book of Titus, one of the shorter books, Paul writing to his friend and co-worker Titus. Today we'll be reading from the Word of God, the first five verses of the book. So let's hear God speaking to us as Paul wrote to his good friend and co-worker Titus. Paul, a servant of God and 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 the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in His Word through the preaching which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. To Titus, my true child in a common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Jesus Christ our Savior. This is why I left you in Crete so you might put what remains into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. As we go through life, we often come to times when we have a milestone, something that maybe indicates progress in our lives. Maybe it's a graduation from college or high school. Maybe it's getting married or having your first child. You can look back and see the change. Well, the same thing is true for a congregation. A congregation often goes through times when they have a certain milestone. And as a congregation, we're looking forward to that. The time when we go from being a church plant, a new work, until we're finally organized as a congregation. It'll be a great day, and we anticipate it'll happen early in 2018. And one of the things that needs to happen is the election of local elders, men to lead the congregation. So it is that we look forward to an election and having men who would be qualified to lead. Because in the church, as in anything else, Who the leader is, who the leadership is, is critically important. As one man has said, everything falls and rises on leadership. My children worked for a Steak and Shake and it was one of the top of all the restaurants that are part of the chain. And the question is why? Because if you know that the restaurants, they're all laid out the same way, the menus are the same, the advertising is the same, Now, locations can differ, but I don't think it was that much different than other, the ones in town. The difference was the leadership. One of the ones who was in the leadership in that restaurant was very good at what he did and getting others to work and using the time well. And so it became a very profitable one of the leading stores. It wasn't even because my children would work there. So the leadership was so important. The menu was the same. Virtually everything was the same except for leadership. And so today as we begin Titus, we're going to be looking at leadership in the church. And so we'll begin by looking at who the author is, who the recipient is, the task that's given to him, and the God who gives grace that unites them. And so the first point is the author. He is someone who is very well known to those familiar with the New Testament to the Apostle Paul, Paul Tarsus, who wrote many of the New Testament letters. But notice how he identifies himself in this letter. There are two descriptions. The first is a servant or a bondservant or literally it's a slave of God. And then the second description is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And each one of these titles points to something significant about his humble service, but also about his authority that has been given to him. Slave of God is a title that was used in the Old Testament for many of God's prominent servants, leaders in the Old Testament. Moses was given that title. Joshua, various other prophets. And most notably, as we would look at the Old Testament, we'd see the suffering servant of Isaiah 52 and 53. By nature, it's a title of great humility, as it expresses the idea of someone who has been purchased, owned, and directed by another. In this case, that one who has purchased us, owns us, and directs us, just as the Apostle Paul is the living God. Of course, he was purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. The second term that's used is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And this is a title that carries great authority. He is one of the apostles in the full sense of the word, one of the twelve leaders of the church alongside of them, persons who were eyewitnesses of the resurrection, but also had a unique personal call or commission by Jesus Christ himself. And thus they were authorized and equipped by Jesus Christ to be his inspired messengers. He was given to them was the good news to proclaim. They were given to establish the church. They were the foundation, their teaching, the apostolic teaching was the foundation for the church. And it remains so today. And whenever the apostle mentions the fact that he was called to be an apostle, it causes great wonder that he is a former persecutor of the church, was called to such a position in the church. Thus, he's mindful of his authority and yet he comes with humility. That's something, as we think about leaders in the church, we would desire that same understanding of humility and yet know that if they're placed in leadership, they are given a certain authority by God. The second is the recipient. In verse four, it's Titus. And it is described here as, my true child in a common faith. And now the word child here implies a spiritual child, one who became a Christian through the ministry and the preaching of the Apostle Paul. And from the New Testament, we can glean two things. First, that he was a Greek, an associate of Paul. And Galatians 2, 1-3, he's mentioned as a co-worker. And there it describes and says that, after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them the gospel I proclaimed among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running or had run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek." And the point to see from that passage is that Titus was a close associate, a Gentile co-worker with Paul, and he was not even circumcised. The second thing is we look at 2 Corinthians, if you look at the whole epistle, Titus is mentioned nine times. And you may remember that Corinth was a church that had a number of problems, and so he has gone there. There's a very difficult situation to be handled. And the situation, as Paul sends him there and sends a letter there, could backfire or could be good things could come. And so he sent somebody who he thought was very able to go and administer in that situation. And as it turns out as we read 2 Corinthians, Titus administered very effectively at Corinth. so that the apostle was greatly relieved that the problems were headed off. And the point to see is that he was a trusted associate, someone who could handle an important task, and that Paul knew he could trust him. We should also make note of this elaborate opening, the person writing and the person receiving the letter. As I already said, they closely knew each other. They worked side by side. Why such an elaborate opening? You know, if I got a letter from a good friend who happened to be the president of the seminary and worked together on various committees and commissions over the years, began pastoring alongside each other in congregations that weren't too far apart, I would be surprised if he wrote to me and he said, from Dr. So-and-so, president of and pastor for 36 years, Chief Bill Roberts, church planner in Terre Haute, long-time pastor, faithful friend. I immediately wonder, what's going on? What's happening? Why would he address me in that way? I would more think he would send an email just saying, hi Bill, I have something to talk to you about, and just do it that way. Why would he do something so different? Well, we see, I think, here, the Apostle and Titus, to whom he writes, isn't writing for Titus' sake. Titus knows who Paul is. But as he's commending Titus to the believers of Crete, as you look down at verse 5, to whom he's going to be sent on a mission, so that they would know that as Titus is there, he has the full support and confidence of the Apostle Paul. Indeed, his authority, his apostolic authority is standing behind Titus. And so the people are not to disregard Titus and who he is and what he says and the things that he would arrange. This should make us realize two things. First is that the mission of Titus is vitally important. Paul sent one of his best associates, one of his best helpers, And he desires a good result. He wants to give him all the support that he can have. And the second thing is, although this is addressed to one individual, there's a sense in which this letter is really for a wider audience, so that the believers in Crete, and even the believers today, would know its contents and be able to act on them. Well the third point is what was the task that was so important that was given to Titus. Well we see that in verse 5. To put what remains into order. and in particular to appoint elders in every place, in every town. Every place on the island where there were a bunch of believers, there were to be elders. It was very important for the well-being of those groups of churches. And the big question when you come to the book of Titus is, when did Paul leave Titus and Crete? Because if you look at his missionary journeys, all the way to Acts 28, there's only one time he's very briefly in Crete, on his way to Jerusalem in Acts 27. And so he wouldn't have had time to travel through the island of Crete establishing churches. He wasn't willing to stay there. So the question is when could he have been there and when would he have let Titus there? Well the supposition is that after Acts 28 Paul was released from prison and he did more missionary work including going to the island of Crete. And so it wouldn't have been very long because he would have been under this scenario, shortly arrested and put to death under Nero. But he was there enough to see multiple churches arise. And what was the need of these young churches? Well, it was for local leaders, for elders to take care of the church. And Titus, although he was a good helper to Paul, and Paul would have wanted him to go with him on to Dalmatia or the next place that he goes, would have left him there to develop and train those local leaders. And that's a regular pattern you see. As he leaves, he goes from one place to another. He'll leave Luke in one place, Titus in another, Timothy in another, Barnabas in another. And even as Titus is going to leave Crete, so that Artemis, or Tychius, in the third chapter is going to come there and take that place. And Paul understood that local leaders were so vital that these groups of believers would have leadership. That he would leave some of his best men, his right-hand men, behind to help so that they could get the good leaders. Now keep in mind these are relatively new converts. But even that, the cream, some would be seen as qualified and able, and those would be put in charge. Those who even in a couple of years had shown their faithfulness to the gospel would be in charge. And so, as you think about it, to be an elder doesn't take 20, 30, 40 years, it doesn't take a seminary degree, but it looks to those who are ready, those who have shown faithfulness in the little things. And the fourth point, it's the God who gives the grace. You know what unites Paul and Titus and the believers in Crete? It's the grace of God. That common bond that Paul and Titus and believers have. That genuine true faith that all Christians share. Faith is mentioned in verse 1 and verse 4. Verse 4 is called the common faith. There's only one faith and that is in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it unites believers in all lands and all places. Thus Titus' faith is no less than that of the apostles. It isn't that Paul had a first order faith and then Titus had a second and the ones in Crete would have even a weaker faith. No, it's a knowledge of a truth. And there's a truth that believers in all generations, male and female, young and old, trust. And part of the message is that every person has sinned. We've all sinned. The Creator, our God, is a holy God who cannot overlook the smallest of sin. And so atonement for sin requires the shedding of blood. This took place in Jesus Christ dying on a cross. To be saved, a person must repent and believe in the Savior. Jesus Christ rose victorious over sin, death, and the devil, and Jesus Christ is the only way to God. Every Christian should know this should respond to this truth, embrace these truths. And as they embrace these truths, they're in accord with godliness. And the idea here is that as you know the truth, as you follow it, as you trust in Jesus Christ, the genuineness will be seen in your life. Are you led closer and closer to God? Are you transformed by the power of God, by the Word of God, by the Spirit of God? then it's a true doctrine. It promotes godliness. And any doctrine that does not promote godliness is really manifestly wrong. If it leads to an improper lifestyle, and there's a man who shot his child, who said God told him to do it, how wrong is that? Such a doctrine is on the surface just immediately wrong because it leads to ungodliness rather than a godliness. The mention here is also the hope of eternal life. Our faith is not merely related to this life, to the things here and now. It points us to what is eternal, what transcends this life in terms of the hope. And as this relates to the idea of elders, elders need to understand these things, live according to them, and more importantly, even point the flock to these things, what it means to have genuine faith, the knowledge of the truth that leads to godly living, the sure hope of everlasting life. As we think about application, well let me just mention that in all this, as you read through these first five verses, the source of this truth, this faith, is the Triune God. Notice the actions of God throughout. In verse two, election to faith, eternal life which was promised in ages before by God. manifested now through the preaching in verse 3. Grace and peace, God our Savior in verse 3, Jesus Christ our Savior in verse 4. It all comes back to the work of God in lives to transform us into the image of His Son Jesus Christ. Well, as we think about application, let me mention a couple ones. First is that there is a common faith. There's a truth that believers down through the ages have held to, that is found in the New Testament, that promotes godliness, that promotes transformed living, it promotes hope. as we look to the future because God is in control of all things. And so there's that common faith. The believers, it doesn't matter your status in life, your age, even what denomination you belong to, there's a common faith that all true believers have. And second, the church really needs leaders who understand, who have a firm grasp on that truth, who live according to it, who are able to teach it, to model it to others. Leadership is so key that as we think about the church moving forward, who those elders are, whether they follow the Word of God, is crucial. Thank you for listening. This is Pastor Bill Roberts of the Terre Haute Reformed Presbyterian Church, 1407 North 25th Street in Terre Haute. We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 1045 a.m. Bible classes meet at 9.30 for all different ages. You can find us on the web at www.terahote.org. Thank you for listening.