Titus: Introduction

Well, the answer to the question, who should you admire the most of anyone who has lived from the first century A.D. to the present, apart from Jesus Christ, is without a doubt the Apostle Paul. If that's not your answer, come talk with me and I will persuade you that you should change your answer to the Apostle Paul.

In all seriousness, I'm going to press us that for those of us of Christian faith, we owe a debt of gratitude to this apostle that is almost beyond description. He is the author of the two books that we will be studying over the next several weeks, Titus and 2 Timothy. Before I talk about Paul for a moment, let me press one point. I enjoy doing topical studies where we will take a particular topic, like the gifts of the Spirit, or so forth, and then we will study that topic. But I'm going to press us that we ought to, as a regular part of our study, be studying books of the Bible.

And starting at the beginning of the book and going straight through the book. Not jumping over those parts we don't like. Not jumping over those parts that are difficult, but dealing with the whole book. There's a reason we need to do book studies. If we just always do topics that we're interested in, we often miss hearing what God is interested in.

And we will gravitate just toward those things that tickle our fancy, but sometimes we need to hear those things we don't much want to hear or to understand. So that's why we're going, over the next several weeks, to be looking at several different books. And then we may go back, we're going to do a topical thing about the apostles and what happened to them, going to look at some books. Well, let me just say a little about the Apostle Paul. In your outline for today, I've given you a brief summary of some of his life.

If you want to get a real dose of what happened in his life, go read the book of Acts. Starting really about Acts chapter 8, and just read to the end of the book.

Acts ends with Paul's first Roman imprisonment so it doesn't give you the whole story of his life but that's a good place to start most scholars believe Paul was born at the beginning of the first century AD probably around AD 5 he was converted to Christian faith you remember the Damascus Road most scholars believe that was around the years AD 33 to 35 He then had a period of ministry before he started his famous missionary journeys. But there are three missionary journeys that are recorded in the book of Acts.

And at the end of the book of Acts, he is imprisoned. After he finished his third missionary journey, Paul returns to Jerusalem. And there he gets thrown in prison by the Jews that hate him and his message have to become a circumcised Jew to be a Christian. And he's thrown in prison first in Caesarea, and then he goes to Rome where he has his first Roman imprisonment.

By the time of Paul's first Roman imprisonment, which was probably around A.D. 60 or A.D. 61, he has suffered much for the gospel. I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians 11 for just a moment and let me just read you. And this is one reason I admire the Apostle Paul so much.

It's because he suffered so much, but he never quit.

Just look at 2 Corinthians 11 and see what we learn about what he suffered for the faith. This is about A.D. 56, so this is before some of his imprisonments. But 2 Corinthians 11, starting at verse 24, says, and this is Paul writing, Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one. He was flogged five times.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned, and they stoned him so badly they thought he was dead. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brothers.

I have labored, toiled, gone without sleep. I have known hunger, thirst, and gone without food. I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face the daily pressures of my concern for all the churches. And so we get a glimpse of all he suffered for the faith.

And then he suffers more even after he writes this. Ultimately, he will die around A.D. 64 or 67 under the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero. But it is before his death and after his first Roman imprisonment that many scholars believe, and I think rightly so, that Paul had a fourth missionary journey that is not recorded for us in the Scriptures. and it's probably during that fourth missionary journey that he goes to a little island called Crete with a younger pastor named Titus and there on this fourth missionary journey which is not the only place he goes on this fourth journey but on this fourth journey he spreads the gospel in Crete and then as he leaves Crete he leaves Titus, this younger pastor, there to oversee the church at Crete.

And after Paul leaves Crete, he writes a letter to this young pastor named Titus to help him know how to manage the church for which he is responsible in Crete. Not only do I admire Paul so much for his sufferings for the faith,

13 of our New Testament books. 13 New Testament epistles written by Paul. I've given you those epistles there. They're the epistles from Romans to Philemon. They're all collected together in the New Testament. So a significant portion of the New Testament comes through the writing of Paul, including what are called the pastoral epistles. If you hear that term, the pastoral Timothy and Titus. Why are they called the pastoral epistles? Paul is writing to two young pastors to give them pastoral advice or pastoral counsel. So 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus are called the pastoral epistles. That's a short summary of Paul. I always like to give a description of what Paul looked like physically.

There's no record in Scripture of what he looked like. But there's a second century book called the Acts of Paul where a physical description for the apostle is given. Now we must say, we don't know for certain that this is accurate, but it's the earliest recorded glimpse of what this guy looked like physically. And here's what it says. He was a man of middling size.

Is that clear? His hair was scanty. His legs were a little crooked, and his knees were far apart. He had large eyes, and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long. This guy was ugly.

He was bald. He was bow-legged. He had a big nose.

And if you read in some of the accounts in his letters, people do say Paul as a speaker was not that impressive. And part of his not being that impressive may have been his physical appearance. But this guy loved Jesus Christ, and he would not stop. And it is for that reason that Paul is the most important human being next to Jesus Christ that has lived from the first century to the present. And as we begin our study today of Titus, let's begin in prayer.

Lord, this day I pray that as we turn to your word, you will help us to see how we can be a servant for the master. I pray that you will open our hearts and minds to examine ourselves, to see how we measure up when we look at the light of your word, and seeing where we fall short, as we all do, I pray that you will give us a hunger and a desire and a passion to be all that you want us to be. Let us not be people simply of head knowledge, penetrate our hearts and penetrate our hearts in a way that we give everything in your service. For it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Let's begin Titus chapter 1. We're going to deal with the first three verses today. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the fate of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.

A faith and a knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life which God who does not lie promised before the beginning of time and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior. Paul begins his letter as most letters in the first century were written. When we write letters today, we sign our name as author at the end, don't we? Sincerely, David Rogers. In New Testament letters and in letters written outside the New Testament in the first century AD, the common practice was you identified yourself up front.

And Paul does that. You identify yourself and then you identify to whom you're writing. And Paul follows this standard practice. That first word in verse 1, Paul, has been the subject of much debate, a debate we're not going to deal with much this morning. But many critical scholars of the New Testament have argued that the Apostle Paul did not write either 1 or 2 Timothy or Titus.

They have formulated that opinion for a variety of reasons. used by Paul in the pastoral epistles and say, well, he uses a lot of words he doesn't use in other parts of his writings. They will argue that some of the matters he addresses in his writings in the pastoral epistles seem to be something that really occurred later in history, not in the first century A.D. And they will fashion all these arguments. All of the early church writers and church historians, I'm talking about people going going back to the early 2nd century AD, people like Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, who was the first really big church historian, all of them attribute these pastoral epistles to the Apostle Paul.

And the Apostle Paul, his letters here, I agree, are a little different in content from some of his other letters, but there's a reason for that. These are his pastoral epistles. He's writing them to pastors to try to help them know how to deal with his church and with the churches that they are leading at Crete and in Ephesus. So if you do much reading, just understand there's some very critical scholars out there who attack whether or not Paul wrote these. But I think when you look at the evidence of history and the evidence of why Paul was writing these letters and the subjects he was dealing with, we can say with great assurance that Paul was indeed the author.

to write up front. He is a servant of God, and he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, he says. He identifies himself by these terms so that people will know when they read his writings that he writes as one to whom they should listen. Team Doulas.

This is where we get Team Doulas. The word doulos means servant. There are two different words in the New Testament that we translate servant. Anybody know what the other word is?

What are deacons? Deacons are servants, right? There's a Greek word diakonos, but then there's the word doulos. What's the distinction between those two Greek words for servant? well you know I can serve you without you being my master I can help you without you being my master and the diakonos is someone who serves another person but that service does not necessarily mean that that other person is the master of the one serving so diakonos is the idea of a person who serves but it doesn't have necessarily the connotation is the master. But the word doulos is different. The doulos is a servant in the sense that he has a master. The doulos is one whose will is always subordinate to the master. The doulos is the one who is always obedient to the master. And Paul says, I'm a doulos. I am subordinate subject to the will of my master, who is God himself.

And it is he that I serve in my mission. He is also an apostle of Jesus Christ. An apostle is one who is sent on a mission by another.

The apostle is the representative of the one who has sent him or commissioned him. and Paul says I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. I have been sent by him. I am his representative to speak to you. In the strictest sense when we use the word apostle we mean those people who were sent and commissioned directly by Jesus Christ.

Matthew. John the son of Zebedee. James the son of Zebedee, and the apostle Paul who got his commission to carry the gospel directly from Jesus Christ. Where did he get that commission?

Jesus was dead before Paul became a believer, dead and then resurrected. But on the Damascus Road, that Damascus Road experience was not only Paul's conversion, but it was Paul's commission it was there on the Damascus Road that Christ tells him, you go into the Gentiles to take the gospel. So Paul is the servant of the master, and he is an apostle sent by Christ. Notice how the word God and the words Jesus Christ are used interchangeably. He's a servant of God.

He's an apostle of Jesus Christ. And I think in that interchangeable use, we see Paul equating Jesus Christ as being God. In other places, Paul will say, I'm a servant of Jesus Christ. Here he uses the word God, servant of God. God and Jesus Christ are one and the same.

Why is Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ? In other words, for what purposes has he become a servant, and for what purpose has God sent him as an apostle? There are four key words in the text, and I'm going to amplify on each of these. In your outline, the words are faith, that's A, B, knowledge, C, godliness, and D, hope. You're going to see these on the overhead here in a second.

The first purpose for which Paul is a servant and an apostle, he says in the text, is for the faith of God's elect. Is everybody with me? This is Roman numeral 3, A. The faith of God's elect. In other words, Paul has been sent as a missionary to take the gospel so that those who are God's elect may come to faith and be saved.

That's why he sent. He's out there to preach the message of the gospel

so that those who are God's elect will come to faith. And it is God's elect who respond in faith to the message of the gospel. It is God's elect who respond in faith to the message of the gospel. Now I've given you under this letter, this number two, several points and I want to hit these quickly. Don't we know that this doctrine of election just ties us up in knots sometimes?

When I was really struggling about the Christian faith after Joshua's death and I began to do all my reading and study, searching and I came across for the first time really in my reading this idea of election. That God is an electing God. I'd never heard that in the Baptist church growing up. The pastors always, well, sometimes they would skip over those passages that were knotty and difficult.

so let me just take a second to say a few things when you hear the word elect Paul is a servant and apostle for the faith of God's elect that word elect or election points to God's sovereign activity in the process of salvation

do you know we had someone in our church who wrote a commentary on the book of Titus for the New American Commentary put out by Broadman Press, the only lay person to write in that commentary series. And it's a great commentary. You know who wrote that? Dr. Hayne Griffin, furniture salesman, PhD in New Testament. And this is what Dr. Hayne Griffin says about this notion of God's elect.

and this is letter B. God is the source, the initiator, the implementer, and guarantor of salvation. He is the source, initiator, implementer, and guarantor of salvation. That scripture teaches the doctrine of election, I think, is beyond question.

the debate is what is the basis of the election and we're not going to spend much time on the debate but the debate is did God in his sovereignty choose without any

recognition of the merit in the one saved or any recognition of what the person would do in the future did he just choose those he would save because he's God and he chooses Or did he choose by looking down the tunnel of history and seeing those who would respond in faith, and he chose those that he saw would respond? That's the debate. So the question is not, did God elect or not? I don't think any serious study of Scripture can doubt God elected those who would be saved. The question is, what's the basis of the election?

Everybody see the point I'm making? Some tend toward the more Reformed traditions God just chose because he's God. Those who tend toward a more Arminian, do you say no? He looked down the tunnel of history. I happen to think one of those is a stronger argument than the other.

We're not going to spend time on that today. But those are the two main questions. Letter D. Is it God's fault that people fail to respond to the message of Christ? If God elects, is it people's fault when they don't respond to the message of Christ?

Is it God's fault that people fail to respond to the message? Is it? The answer is no. He's done nothing to prevent people from coming to faith in Christ. It's only the hardness of the hearts of men and women and their sinfulness that keeps them from coming to Christ.

If God elects, should we evangelize? People say, well, if he is elected, who's going to be saved? Why do we need to evangelize? Should we evangelize? The answer is, of course.

He's commanded us to evangelize, and that's how he draws in those who are the elect for salvation. F. Is it true that whosoever believes in him will be saved? The answer is yes. Whoever puts their faith and trust in Christ will be saved.

Is this a mystery? He elects, yet whosoever will be saved? Yes, I think it's a mystery when you really get down to it. And in fact, J.I. Packer calls it, and I'm giving you that big word there, an antinomy.

That's a $25 word that means the scripture teaches two truths that in our minds are hard to reconcile. God elects those who will be saved, yet we as humans are responsible for coming to faith in Christ, and whosoever will, will be saved. Those two truths will rack your brain in knots. At least it has mine. But Paul came for the sake of God's elect.

And with all its mystery, and with all its difficulties for our human minds, let's not forget that God is the initiator and the source of our salvation. He is the one who guaranteed that his elect would come to faith by sending missionaries and preachers and teachers so that they would hear the gospel. So Paul, one of his purposes for being a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ is for the faith of God's elect. Secondly, he is a servant and an apostle in order that he can teach the knowledge of the truth. In order that he may teach the knowledge of the truth, is what the text says.

The truth in this passage is the gospel in its fullest sense. It is the message about God's plan to redeem a wrecked and ruined world through Jesus Christ. The truth is God's desire and plan for humanity. How do we know this truth? we know this truth by steady ongoing application of our minds to understand God's word you want a knowledge of the truth you've got to get into the book you've got to understand the book there are a lot of ways you can get into the book you can read it for yourself you can come to Sunday school and listen to lessons you can get tapes you can go to seminars You can go to preaching services.

But we must gain a knowledge of the truth. And there's a reason that we need to know the truth, and it's Paul's third reason for being a servant and an apostle. It's so that people will be led to godliness. This is godliness that arises from a knowledge of and an application of God's truth. What is godliness?

Godliness is a way of living that honors God. It's good behavior that arises out of devotion to God. Godliness is godly living. It's right conduct that flows from right character. And it comes as we gain a knowledge of the truth.

We come initially to salvation through faith, but then we must grow in that faith through knowledge of the truth. And as we grow in our knowledge of the truth and apply it to our lives, we become more and more godly. The difficulty with this godliness is, as A.W. Tozer says, to sanctity. Gaining a knowledge of the truth and applying it to how we live each day is a process that requires energy and effort and time and self-examination. The genuineness of our profession is shown in how we live.

Do you desire to be godly?

Do you daily engage in self-examination, asking God to show you where you fall short and where do I do the same, ask God to show me where I fall short, fall short?

toward godliness, it means you are progressing from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. It means you are progressing from pride to humility. It means you're moving from saying, I'm in charge here, to saying God is in charge here.

If you are progressing in godliness, It means you're moving toward a desire for that which is pure and holy and right and good. And you're moving away from a desire for those things that are impure, unholy, unrighteous, and are evil.

You know, we record professions of faith, don't we? many churches very proudly will list how many, quote, professed faith. I wish we would develop a list for godliness. How many people who have professed faith 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago are today living godly lives that honor Jesus Christ versus those who just spoke some words that didn't penetrate their hearts?

there is a need in the church of Jesus Christ for a revival of a desire for godliness

we are so infiltrated in our culture by the ungodly and in fact that which is evil is touted as good is it not and we are immersed in the media through so many channels of communication in that which is unholy, we must develop a distaste for those things that are unholy.

Paul's fourth reason for being a servant and an apostle is for the hope of eternal life promised by God.

Christianity is always looking toward eternity. This life, the Christian faith says, is but a preparation for the next. Faith opens the door to eternity. Knowledge teaches us about eternity. And godliness prepares us for eternity.

We want to live godly lives here. So that when we face our maker there, we don't shrink back. in shame.

The hope of eternal life promised by God, Paul says, is a certain hope. In fact, he says it's a hope that was promised by God before time began.

Which is an interesting phrase. Promised by God before time began. The fact that God promised it means we can count on it. that we will have eternal life if we have faith in Christ. As Paul says in our text, God never lies.

He's not like us. He never tells anything that's untrue. And if he has promised that if we have our faith and trust in Christ, we will have eternal life, we can bank on it. And this is a promise he made, Paul says, before time began. Before time began, God had promised eternal life in Christ.

plan when he made humanity was that humanity would live eternally. But for sin entering the world, I would submit to you Adam and Eve would have lived forever, eternally. That was God's plan before time began. But God knowing what would happen before time began had a plan in place so that human beings could live eternally with him. And that plan was Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.

It's a hope that he revealed, as Paul says, at the appointed season. Why did God wait until what we call Jesus was born by our calendars about B.C., 4 B.C.? Why did God wait and wait and wait and wait to finally at just the right time to have this little baby born in Bethlehem. We could speculate why God waited, but we can say at the right time God sent forth his son. Maybe it was because it was just the right time in the history of the Roman Empire.

Roads had been built on which the gospel could be carried. The Greek language had spread through the whole world so that when the gospels were written, Everybody in the world essentially could read and understand the Gospels that were written in Greek because that language had spread throughout the whole world at that time. So there may be any number of reasons, but at just the right time, God sent forth his son and God sent a guy named the Apostle Paul to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

well this morning I want to conclude with seven lessons for life from these first three verses lesson for life number one is wake up God is shouting

have you noticed how much pain and difficulty we've experienced in the last several weeks as a body of Christ friends

[Personal prayer concern omitted.]

I know some of you have dealt in recent months with serious illness and difficulty. Worldwide, look at all the difficulties we're facing. Terrorism, SARS, economic crises. I think God is saying, wake up. Get your eyes off the things of this world and get your eyes on me.

I am the only one who is the answer for all the pain and all the difficulty. I'm the only one who can lead you through it. I'm the only one who is the good shepherd. And I think sometimes God allows difficulty to come our way so that we'll finally do what we should have done at the beginning. We'll finally get on our knees and say, God, we need your help.

You are our only hope.

So, as C.S. Lewis says, pain is God's megaphone for a deaf world. And I think he's shouting through the megaphone. Let's wake up. Secondly, have we bent the knee to the master?

Or can I ask, to whose drumbeat are you marching? It's hard for adults to bend the knee. You know, back when we were little children, some of us, and we went down front and some of us made a profession of faith, you know, that was kind of expected, wasn't it? Little children do that. How many times do you see grown adults, either literally or at least in their hearts, bend the knee?

You're my master. I'm your doulos. I'm your slave.

aside and do your will. I'm not in charge God, you're in charge. I'm going to tell you in the Christian church and maybe even in this room, sometimes outwardly we will talk about things of God, but inside our hearts we're just standing up, proud self-centered, prideful, we're going to do it our way or we're not going to do it at all. Paul would say bend the knee bend the knee thirdly look at your typical week how much time is devoted to learning more about Christ and your Christian faith I would challenge you count the number of hours that you watched TV and movies this over the last month compare the time spent on much of what was worthless and impure and unholy and compare it to how much time you spent in Bible study or prayer. I'm going to suggest that in all likelihood we will have a staggering disproportionate amount of time spent in the wrong direction.

Maybe we need to rearrange our schedules. Fourthly, get a good study Bible and read it. If you don't know where to start, I've suggested here you start with the book of Acts, then read Matthew, then read Philippians, and then go read Genesis and Exodus. And once you understand those thoroughly, we'll move on to other books. But those will keep you occupied for a while.

Fifthly, let's develop a desire for that which is pure, right, holy, and good. Let's develop a distaste for that which is not. Friday night, Louise, Caleb, Kate, and I were trying to decide what we were going to do. and we looked at several movies we could go see,

or we finally decided we were going to go to the little theater to hear the sound of music. Boy, now you talk about something uplifting and wholesome. The movies we looked at, I go to www.moviemom.com, a great place to go if you want to really find out what's in movies. All the movies we wanted to look at had bad language, sexual situations, sexual references, violence, etc.

why don't we just not like that stuff? Why doesn't it just give us a sense of distaste? Why is it that we gravitate toward that? I'm going to press us a little bit. We need to think about what is noble and pure and honorable and holy.

I'm not saying you can't ever go to a movie, even if it's got some bad stuff in it, that stuff? Why doesn't it kind of just leave a bad taste in our mouths? And after a while, you just really aren't interested. It's too expensive anyway and that popcorn costs a hundred bucks. I mean, it's you know what? We don't have enough bad taste for that which is impure and unholy.

Fifth, sixthly, and then seventhly. Sixthly, what would honor God the most? Before making

And then lastly, don't let your heart and affections be tied to the things of this earth. Do we let it? If something is taking our heart and our affections away from Christ and from his kingdom, we need to figure out a way to either change our attitude toward it or get rid of it.

please read Titus chapter 1 verses 4 through

16 for next week and we'll continue with our study of Titus let's pray Lord this day I pray that you will help us to be all that you want to be I pray for myself and I pray for the members of this class that we will desire to be your servants will gladly bend the knee to you as our master. I pray that where there is pride and self-centeredness, that you will help us to overcome it. Where there is stubborn resistance and rebellion against you, that you will help us to put it down. And that instead, we, like Paul, will take whatever journey you lead us on, we will take whatever difficulty may come our way. I pray that we will be people who will say, There is no mission, no cause in the name of Christ that we will shrink back from because he alone is our drummer and we march to his drum beat and drum beat alone.

These things we ask in Christ's name. Amen.