(Pastoral advice on running a church) “Living in an evil society”
“But speak
thou
the things which become
sound
doctrine:” (Titus 2:1)
Background
Our
interest is aroused, that in only two of Paul’s books,
Timothy 
and Titus, he gives them instructions on what to look for in
an elder.
The state
of play is that Paul has been
released from his house arrest of two years
while at Rome. He writes some instructions for Timothy and Titus on
how to
pick elders for the churches, with Timothy
in charge at Ephesus and Titus at Crete.
Now to you
and me, it would seem totally
obvious that elders should (licence has been taken with the following)
1. Have only one wife
2.
Have
children who aren’t robbing houses and throwing stones
3.
Not
be an angry man (who wants a Pastor you’ll be frightened of)
4.
Not
a drunk
5.
Not
have a drunk wife
6.
Not
a young bloke who could be pushed around
7.
Not
be a brawler and street fighter
8.
Not
betting at the racetrack most week-ends coveting more money (Titus
1:5-7; 1Tim
3:1-8).
It seems a
strange
set of qualifications till you realise that the churches at Ephesus and
Crete
were the equivalent of early American towns in the wild, wild West (as
depicted
on TV) – being full of booze, prostitutes, brawling and gambling, and
every
vice in between.
Ephesus was the
city of the great harlot Diana with
lots of temple prostitution (Acts 19:28). If you go on a modern day
trip there,
there are statues for sale, of all shapes and sizes, emphasizing male
genitalia. Oh yes, they were very proud of that then and still are
today. It
was, and is, a thoroughly evil city with all the attendant sins and
evils.
Now
similarly, Crete was the centre of an ancient and
powerful civilization with a very, very, very bad moral reputation. The
highest
mountain in Crete, Mt Ida, is famous for being the legendary
birth-place of the
Greek god Zeus. Similarly, Crete is where all the myths and legends of
all the
gods that came down from heaven. But here’s the thing – they
were not legends, they were actually real. Wow! Yes, these
were the sons of God that co-habitated with women (Gen 6:2) whose
offspring were
giants (Gen 6:4).
Crete was
a small
island of a thousand cities, crammed full of shiftless drunks, evil
fornicating
beasts and lazy, heavy indolent gluttons (slow bellies Titus 1:12)
often all
rolled into one. We can now see, that just raising the bar a little
with a few
basic qualifications, would certainly be a bonus in choosing elders,
from a
population that didn’t have much going for it.
Now these
gods from
heaven came and went at will, and the people just took it as a natural
thing
that the ‘gods are come down to us in the form of men’ (Acts 14:11).
Why do you
think the modern newspapers of the world would makes us think it was a
fantasy
belonging to another time of make-believe? Correct, so we wouldn’t
believe the
Bible. Similar to Noah’s flood.
This is
why Paul
would write to them, via Titus, that they were to look for that blessed
hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our saviour Jesus
Christ out of
heaven (Titus 2:13), not the appearances of these other gods.
Chapter 1
Choosing elders
Paul
reminds them that truth and godliness
(v1) is something they maybe lacking considering the evils that are
trying to
intrude into the church, as discussed above. These other gods coming
out of
heaven were giving foundation to the lie that they would have eternal
life, but
Paul says the opposite (v2).
He then
outlines elder qualifications (v5-9)
and a not so flattering description of the populace (v10-16). We must
remember
that 30 years earlier, Jews from Crete were at Pentecost and had
returned to
establish the church. Now of course over time, they were slipping back
into
Jewish traditions (v14) and needed a ‘good kick up the pants’ to get
them back
on line (v13). Like a lot of churches today, they didn’t know how bad
they had
become (v16).
Chapter 2
Christian behaviour in
an evil world
So Paul
runs through a few basic
characteristics that aged men and women should have (v1-4) and like
today, for
young women, looking after their husbands is a lost art (v4-5). Young
men are
urged to be sober minded, which you can’t be if you are stoned or drunk
all the
time (v6), while servants are exhorted not to keep pinching things from
their
master’s house hoping he won’t miss the items (v9-10). All are told to
stop
swearing and telling lies (v8).
Paul ends
on a positive note on living
righteously and godly in an evil world (v12), looking for Christ and
the
rapture (v13) and speaking firmly and authoritatively - zealous with
good works
(v14-15).
Chapter 3
Civil obedience
Good works &
doctrine
Reminding
them of their being renewed by the
Holy Ghost (v5), Paul wants them to be law abiding citizens, as a
contrast to the
society around them (v1-3). To those of Jewish heritage, who had been
at
Pentecost, and indeed, their descendants, he urges them to stop
dwelling on the
things of Moses (v9) and they are warned that if they persist with this
nonsense they will be out on their ear (v10).
He
finishes up asking Titus to bring Zenas the lawyer (always good to have one around especially with
the on-going
prospect of tangling with civil authorities), and Apollos
(he needed a bold,
strong and fervent man around him
for a bit of encouragement Acts 18:24-26) (v13).
Furthermore,
Titus was to make sure they
would be looked after as well (v13).
To those
in the faith, he esteems highly
(salutes) and sends his love asking God that his grace be with them all
(v15).
By
Harley Hitchcock.
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
The servant mind of Christ
This article (TITUS
CHAPTER SUMMARIES)
is on this website for your kindle,
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BIBLE MINISTRIES
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