Well, good evening, everyone. Our sermon text this evening is from the book of Titus in the New Testament. Titus chapter one, verse five, gonna begin in verse five, really just the first half of verse five this evening as we begin to walk through this book together. Hear now this, the word of the living God. For this reason, I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking. This is the word of the living God, and we say, thanks be to God, amen. Please be seated, let's pray together. Asking the Lord's blessing. Our Father, thank you for this, your word, this, the book of Titus. We thank you for the Apostle Paul who wrote it, and we thank you for the Holy Spirit who inspired him, who worked through him. It's your words on this page. It's your spirit that works among us this evening, and we pray that will happen in an increasing measure, that we may be an edified people, pure in your sight, abounding in good works. We pray this evening also that we will see Jesus Christ as worthwhile, as Lord, as Savior, as Christ, as worthy of all of our devotion. May he be magnified. Tonight we pray in Christ's name, amen. We'll begin with a question. How do you feel about the local church, do you have an affection for this local body? Do you have an affection? Is that how you would describe your thoughts, your feelings towards this local church? If someone were to speak slanderously about this body, what would that do within you? How do you feel? about the local church. This morning we brought in another member and there were three questions. And one of the questions we asked, I think is noteworthy, we asked this to every member who joins, do you seek this day to strive to be devoted to Christ? I think that's Straightforward, that's something to be expected, but we're also asking members to be devoted to something else. Listen to this. Do you seek this day to strive to be devoted to Christ and devoted to this body? It's a twofold question. Working to minister, using the gifts, talents, and resources that God has given. And if you say yes to that, well, that's, That's your yes, let your yes be yes. And the next question is this, and do you covenant this day to submit yourself to the governance of this local assembly and to work for the purity and peace of this bride of Christ? So every member who comes in answers those questions, so I'm assuming for the members in here, You are striving daily for the purity, for the peace of this church. You are striving to use what God has given you, the gifts, talents, resources. You are striving to use those things increasingly for the good of this body. So, do you have an affection? Do your feelings match your work? We can pray that you have an increasing affection, that I have an increasing affection for this local body because I think that's appropriate. We should love the local assembly. We should love where God has placed us. And that may sound a bit odd in our culture to say, I love my local church. It's not just that I love some individuals in the local church. I love the body, this particular body. Can you say that? Because some may say, Well, I like that we do this. I like to hang out with these people. But can you say, I love Grace Baptist Chapel. I strive to pray for her. I strive to use what I have to build her up. I want to see her peace. I want to see her purity. I want to see it grow into the likeness of Christ. That when Christ comes back, Christ may be pleased with what he sees as he looks down on Grace Baptist Chapel. Do you pray for that? Do you want that? Well, tonight begins a new series through the book of Titus. I'm beginning here with just verse five as an overview of the book. I do plan to circle back to verses one through four in another sermon, but by looking at verse five, I want to draw your attention to what I believe is the primary concern of this pastoral letter. The Apostle Paul is concerned with the health of local churches. And by way of implication, and herein is my main point this evening, the health of our local church should be one of the central concerns of your life. The health of this local body should be one of the main concerns of your life. I plan to make this clear from our text, as brief as our text may be, but I also, I want you to see this truth as a thread, as a theme that runs throughout the New Testament. Christ loves the church, he died for the church. The local church is heaven's outpost. It is the blessed, sacred habitation of God's people on earth, and I hope we can see that as we walk through this book together. So to begin now with some background, the first thing I want to do is draw your attention to the setting. Titus is on Crete. Crete is an island, a large island, 3,000 or so square miles, lots of cities. Crete is in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Greece. And the apostle Paul writes this letter to Titus. While on his missionary journeys, he stopped in Crete, and Titus and Paul did ministry there. Even before Paul got to the island, Christians had heard the gospel. Some were likely already Christians. They heard the gospel at Pentecost, actually. It was there that they heard, miraculously, in their own language, as Peter preached, they heard the gospel. Well, Paul leaves Titus on Crete after some time so that he, so that Paul could carry on his gospel apostolic work elsewhere. Paul moves on to preach in new places and Titus is left that he should set in order the things that are lacking, and that is our text this evening. For this reason, I left you in Crete. Paul left Titus in Crete, that you, Titus, should set in order the things that are lacking. So let's break that down a bit. Firstly, for this reason, Titus, it's for no other reason you were there. I didn't leave you there because you like the weather. I'm sure the weather's good, actually. It's not there because it's a great place to retire. I think that's no surprise to us that Titus would stay for no such reason. But Paul did not leave Titus on Crete because Crete was a strategic place to start churches. It's an island. It's kind of off the beaten path. It's not a place either. that's free from persecution, just because it's an island. Nor is it free from false teachers, as we will see later on in this book. In fact, Crete has a poor reputation. If you look down further in Titus 1, we read this, verses 12 and 13. A prophet from Crete, describing his own people, says this, Cretans are always liars. Always liars? That's what it says, always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. So that's their reputation, and when Paul hears of their reputation, Paul actually says, yeah, that's true. That's pretty clear, isn't it? There's no qualification, they're always liars, gluttons, they're lazy, they're evil beasts. There's some talk in our day about going to certain places to start churches because they are strategic places to go. But that's not what's happening here. It's rough. And it sounds like the sort of place that maybe you would not want to be left at. If you're looking for a comfortable life of ministry, don't go to Crete. So Paul does not leave Titus on Crete because it's strategic. He leaves him on Crete because Crete has Christians. And the Christians do not have healthy churches. But Crete matters. So Titus stays because Crete matters. And think of another implication from this short phrase. This is proof that Paul is not after converts. Converts is not the point of Paul's ministry. Establishing churches is the goal, and there's quite a difference. Looking again at the verse, Paul tells Titus, you should set in order the things that are lacking. This could be set things in their proper place, arrange, organize, order matters properly, Now what things does he have in mind? What things are lacking? I take this to mean every church-related matter that is listed in this letter. And if you just walk through the book of Titus, if you turn the page, you're gonna see a number of things that Titus is to set in order. Of foremost importance, elders must be established in every city. Titus needs to identify, train, and establish elders in every city and church. But Titus needs to do more than that. There are false teachers on Crete, seeking to sway the converts away from the true gospel. and Titus must help the churches resist such theology. You'll see that later on in chapter one. In chapter two, Titus is told to help the churches relate to one another with love, kindness. Older men and women are given instructions. Younger men and women, bond servants, are given particular instructions that they all may play their role well in serving the body. And Titus is also supposed to help the Christians look towards Christ's second coming, encouraging them to place their hope and that in time reality. And if you read this book, you will see more than these things that Titus must sort out. There are other matters as well. But like so many other things in our world, churches must be organized. They must be maintained. It must be maintained properly, lest they fail to function. To illustrate this, think for a moment about automobiles. On Friday, Elizabeth called me, I was here, and she noticed, as she drove by, the tire was flat. I had no idea I'd come here, and I would have walked out, I probably would have driven away on the rim. But she called it to my attention, the tire is flat. Think of cars though for a moment. They only work when all of the parts, when all of the machinery are set in their proper place. If a car or truck is not set in order, if it's not put together properly, it will not run. And furthermore, an automobile must have all of its components in order to work. Your car is not going to run if it does not have a battery. It will not roll down the highway if it does not have wheels. And it will not run, at least for long, if it does not have oil. Cars need all of their parts. And the parts need to be properly placed within the vehicle's frame. Cars need maintaining. New tires, oil. Occasionally, they need major work. And the same is true for churches. And in this letter, we see that churches, well, they don't quite have all their parts yet. Titus must supply the parts that are lacking. And elsewhere in this letter, Titus is called to do church maintenance, if you will. Paul writes because he wants the Christians on Crete to be a part of healthy churches. And that's what this letter is all about. Healthy church, Titus. We don't want to leave these Christians stranded. Many have been converted, but do not let them flail. We cannot leave them on their own, Titus. Put them into bodies, gather them together, that the church may build them up increasingly into the image of Christ. We see this same desire in Paul elsewhere in the New Testament. I wanna draw your attention to just a few places before getting on to some application. Paul, the apostle, he had an aim to preach where no one else had been preaching yet. He did more, though, than evangelize. Sometimes we get it in our mind that Paul would just, he would just preach and evangelize and then move on. Preach, evangelize, move on. But he did more than that. He established churches, he trained leaders. He even stayed in certain cities for years at a time, working with his own hands to provide his way that he may be an example to these people. When the church was established, he moved on. But as he moved on, he did not cease to remember them day and night in his prayers. The church's welfare was of utmost importance to him. It was the single greatest burden, you might say, on his shoulders. In 2 Corinthians, he lists a series of his sufferings. Great labors, imprisonments, countless beatings, often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes less one, beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was drifted at sea. Frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, robbers, from my own people, Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers, And after all of this list and the list goes on, he says, apart from all of these other things, and it's as if he's trying to press this into the Corinthians, there is the daily pressure of the anxiety that I have for the health of all my churches. Paul cared about specific local churches. Not long ago, I was explaining the realities of heaven to one of my children, and as we talked together, I described how heaven is much greater than earth. When we're there, we are in paradise. There is peace forevermore. And this particular child, after I described heaven's reality to him, well, he said, I wanna die. That's a good response, isn't it? When you think about the reality of heaven, what is earth compared to heaven? Well, Paul had that same childlike faith, didn't he? He actually writes in one of his letters, it is far better to depart and be with the Lord. Paul had that faith. But what does he say right after that? I desire to be in heaven with the Lord, but I'll stay. Why does Paul stay? For the churches. It's better for me to stay for your faith. Trust me, I would love to be in heaven, but I know it's good for me to stay that I may build you up. Paul had an affection for the local church. He says this in 1 Thessalonians, we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children, so affectionately longing for you. Think about that language there. Like a mother, I had an affection for you. I did not want to depart from you. You had become dear to us. Remember, brethren, our labor and toil, laboring night and day. We didn't want to burden you, so we worked with our own hands. I have an affection for you. Remember my affection for you. That's part of his pastoral duty, actually. Paul loved the local church. He met with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, and he makes a similar appeal. And after he appeals to the Ephesian elders to remember his work among them, and as he exhorted them, the whole group, the Ephesian elders, and the people that were with them, and Paul himself, they kneel down on the beach, and it says they wept freely. That's not a single goodbye tear. This is weeping freely. And they fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. They wouldn't see Paul again. And there was an affection there that the church had for the apostle. But could we have that here increasingly? And this again is gonna push against some of our American sensibilities a bit, and keep our distance from one another. But when we read the New Testament, what we see is this corporate identity. When Paul writes his letters, he writes to everyone. Occasionally he'll single out certain people, that could be good, that could be bad. But he writes to the Ephesians, he writes to the Philippians, he writes to the Corinthians, and he says, I have an affection for you, plural. So can we say that? Can you say that about Grace Baptist Chapel? I have an affection for you, all of you. I think our tendency sometimes is to put the church in parts, right? Well, I like this part, not so much this. I like this group, maybe not this. Thankfully, I do not think that happens very often, at least in this body, but let us pray for the bond of peace, an increasing measure in this body, because it is the New Testament pattern. We are a corporate unit, yes, but we are a body. We are the bride of Christ, and it's okay to see ourselves as one. And we should see ourselves as one. When we pray for each other, it's good to pray for individuals, but it's also good to think of the single unity that we are in God's sight. The church matters to Paul, and not just the church universal, not just every church in Virginia, for instance, not just the church all over America, but he loved particular churches. Christ, too, loves the local church. Christ said he would build the church, and the kingdom of Satan would not prevail against it. So that's my argument this evening. Now why does the centrality, why does loving your local church matter so much? Why should you be concerned with the help of this local church? of the health of this local church? Well, that's a question I wanna spend the rest of our time on, because if we understand the answer to this question, I think we will understand the weightiness of this book. And in some ways, this book will answer that question as we move through it, but tonight I do want to give a bit of a preview here, and I also want to zoom out a little bit, broadly speaking. and give you several ways that the church's health should matter to us. And as I go through these, we can think of the church universal, but I encourage you, as much as you can, think about this particular local body. Why does the health of this body matter to me? All right, first reason. The church is a mother to all who are believing. The church is a mother to all who are believing, and the health of your mother should matter to you. Now that analogy may seem like a bit of a stretch to call this church your mother, to call the church universal your mother, but this is an analogy that a number of prominent theologians have used throughout the ages. John Calvin uses it. Hermann Bavink uses it. Spurgeon uses it. John Calvin says this in his Institutes, to those to whom God is a father, the church also must be a mother. Calvin has no problem calling the church a mother. He says this, it is within a church into whose bosom God is pleased to collect his children, not only that by her aid and ministry they may be nourished, so long as they are babes and children, but may also be guided by her maternal care until they grow up to manhood. The job of the church is to nourish, to grow children up into manhood, into womanhood. And I'm not speaking just of children, I'm speaking of all of us. We're all children of God. The job of the church is to grow us up into adulthood. Spurgeon says this, the church is a mother because it is her privilege to bring forth into the world the spiritual children of the Lord Jesus Christ. Spurgeon goes on, he says it this way, every time I give the right hand of fellowship to a new member, especially to those just brought in from the world, I think I hear Christ's voice speaking to me and saying, take these children and nurse them for me. Spurgeon goes on to say this isn't just his job, but it's actually the job of the entire church. So think of that. Do you think of yourself as a body, as a unit, with the gifts and talents that you have? Do you think of yourself as nourishing others within the body? Do you view yourself as one who helps sharpen others within the body that they may become increasingly like Christ? How often do we pray, even from this pulpit, Lord, feed us with your word. Lord, nourish us with your means of grace, the Lord's Supper. Lord, comfort us in our affliction. Lord, admonish us, and the Lord does. And he does so through the means that are within these walls, within this church, the preaching of the word, the Lord's table, the bread, the wine, and baptism. These are the means that God uses to grow us up. And we could place all sorts of other reasons for the importance of the local church under this heading. Let's move on to our next point. The local church is a city on a hill. So Christ says that the church is like a lamp that is put on a table, that it may give light to all who may see. Churches are similar. Churches are God's representatives in every city that they are established. Churches are like little cities within a city. But the church, the church is like a city that is placed on a hill. And the church is up on the hill, but as all the city is dark, the church is full of light. And all of the dark city looks up at the hill, and they see the church, and it's full of light, and what do they do? They ask themselves, what's up there? Looks like something good is going on up there. That's what we're here in Hampton for, in part. That the people of this city might see that there's light here, there's truth here, there's peace here, If anyone in our city is confused, where are they going to go for sanity? Are they going to go to the Internet? Where are they going to go if they are in our city and they are confused? We have answers to life's biggest questions. If they happen to live in this city, this is a place they can come to escape the confusion. Where else will people go for truth? Where are they gonna go? We alone have truth. This alone holds the truth. And the word is in the church. Where are they going to go? For sanity, for truth? But even justice, where are they gonna go for true justice? They don't know true justice. Some of them are making it up as they go along. You want true justice? Well, you hear about it. God is just. God is just. And every sin will be punished. And they can come here to hear that. But they can also come here to hear about the mercy the Bible talks about. There's not just justice, but there's mercy. God is just, but his wrath, for all who are in Christ, he placed it on his son. So if they come here, they'll hear biblical justice, and they'll hear biblical mercy. Jesus Christ took the wrath that the sinners out there, the sinners in here, he took the wrath that they deserve, that we deserve, and he took it on our behalf. And by faith in him, We can live forevermore because Jesus took the penalty we deserve, and he went to the grave, and then he rose from the grave. The grave could not hold him. There is resurrection in the local church. If you join this church, you have to profess that you have been born again, that you testify that there will be a resurrection from the dead. So as we're witnessing to coworkers, we can tell them, come to church. You can start over. Completely. Furthermore, it's this local church, not only that spreads light in this city, we are the entity that sends out missionaries cross-culturally. It's not missions organizations, it's not governments that sends out missionaries. It is the church that is responsible for carrying out the Great Commission. Do you care about the evangelism of the nations? Join a local church. Yes, you can join a missions organization as well. But we are the entity, we are the sending, the primary sending mechanism that God has ordained. The local church matters, and the health of the local church matters. Imagine if we were messed up. What sort of missionaries would we be sending out? The health of this church matters. Thirdly, the local church matters because your spiritual gifts are given to you for the church. In whatever way God has blessed you, he has blessed you so that you may bless this local body. This is where you are. As I look around the room, there are all sorts of gifts, all sorts of people here represented. Whatever God has given you, he has given you that gift in order to bless this people. So think and pray in light of this particular point. You can wrestle with this even. You can approach the elders. Say, look, I think this is my gifting. How then can I use it for this body? That is appropriate. That is biblical. I think that's the New Testament pattern. I think that's what God wants you to do. 1 Peter 4, 10 and 11 say this. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another. He's talking about the church. As good stewards of God's varied grace, whoever speaks is one who speaks oracles of God. Whoever serves is one who serves by the strength that God supplies, in order that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Do you wanna glorify Jesus Christ? Well then use your gifts particularly for this church. Fourthly, your local church is family. We are a covenanted people together, aren't we? Now this family, this familial language gets thrown around. I know that you're probably a part of workplaces, as I am, where they will call each other family. Hey, we're all a big family here. Are we? I hear that often, actually. But what we have done this morning, for instance, in bringing in a new member, we have covenanted with yet another person. We're making it public. And if you forsake this covenant, there's mechanisms to remove you. Or me. The local church is family, we call each other brother, we call each other sister, and that is appropriate. The brothers and sisters within this room, in many ways, are closer to us than actual family. This is the way Jesus talked. While he was still talking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and brothers stood outside seeking to speak with him. They were seeking to speak with Jesus. And then one said to him, look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak with you. But Jesus answered and said to the one who told him, who is my mother? And who are my brothers? And then he stretched out his hands. And he said, here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my mother, my brother, and sister. The local church really is your family. That's not a stretch. That's not me being overly, not overstating it, in other words. Fifthly, lastly, the local church matters because this is what God has established to serve sinners. like you. This is what he's established, to serve sinners like you. Don Carson, a prominent theologian, has taught in seminaries for decades, preacher, pastor, biblical scholar, and he has made the point that he has seen a dramatic shift in the sort of seminary students that he has witnessed come into his schools over the years. I'm paraphrasing here, it's been some time since I've read this example, but there was a time, he says, decades ago in which students who came to seminary were straight-laced from what we might call proper families, from proper backgrounds. These students went to college and then seminary without ever having divulged themselves in the lusts of the flesh. Students back then rarely had ever gotten in trouble with the law, for instance. They were from two-parent households, had good social skills and graces, and all that you would expect that grows from such a background. But he says this, but seminary students today are increasingly from broken homes. Many have done drugs. Many have indulged in other gross sin. An increasing number have been in trouble with the law. So what sort of seminary school do these students need? And Carson's answer is correct. He says this, they need more than seminary. They need the church. They need more than Bible classes. They need more than Greek, systematic theology, church history. They need a finishing school in order to prepare for the ministry. They need some place to get extra refining. I put myself in that category. Such students will need a little more polish to cover up their blemishes. This is true, isn't it? Seminary students today, they get saved, genuinely saved, and genuinely called to the ministry. And as God calls them to the ministry, they're messed up. They're blemished. They need extra work. And what they need is a mother. What they need is the church. They need us. They need you, they need me. They need for us to act as a healthy mother. The local church, nourishing, comforting, polishing. God has always been saving the most wicked of sinners. It's not new in our day and age. Well, what a tragedy it would be if God were to save such sinners and then they had no church to go to. That's the case on the island of Crete as we open the book of Titus. Crete has a number of converts from very wicked backgrounds. The description of them is that they are evil beasts, lazy gluttons, They always lie. What do the Cretans need, Titus? They need the church. I'm leaving you in Crete because there are Christians there and they need a healthy church. So let us pray increasingly that God will establish more healthy churches and we'll build this one up. more and more. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for this book of Titus, and we ask now for the bond of peace. I pray for the purity of this church, for peace to reign in this church, for purity. I thank you so much for this church. and how much I have grown here personally. I thank you for the ways you've grown so many here. I pray that you will hold us fast, for even a healthy church like ours can veer off path. May it never be, Lord. And may we be a light in Hampton. May sinners come in here to hear the word, to be saved. And may we be a light for the nations and send workers out that the nations may hear this good news we proclaim. In Christ's name we pray, amen.