Essential Elements of the Church
For the Sake of the Church • Sermon • Submitted
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Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness,
in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,
but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,
To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,
namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion.
For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain,
but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled,
holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,
who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith,
not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.
To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.
Intro: Today, we continue our series, “For the Sake of the Church” but we enter a new book of the Bible and are introduced to a new character, Titus. Titus was a young man whom Paul discipled, much like Timothy. We see him mentioned as Paul’s traveling companion in Galatians 2, as Paul recounts his trip into Jerusalem to tell of how he has preached the gospel to Gentiles.
Titus was a gentile himself, a Greek (Gal. 2:3) and understood that the Gospel was more than a new set of rules, as some Jews believed. He had surrendered his life to Christ and went alongside Paul as he set out to preach this Good News to the world, carried letters to the Corinthian Church,
Titus receives this letter in Crete, an island about 100 miles south of mainland Greece in the Mediterranean Sea- It’s smaller than Rhode Island if that helps you- It is supposed that Paul visited Crete in the time between his first and second Roman imprisonment and began a work to which he left Timothy to finish.
Now, as you may have noticed, the first chapter of Titus rings of familiar themes like those we studied in 1 Timothy.
Godliness
False Teaching
Elder Requirements
Necessity of Rebuke/ Correction
Idle/ Fruitless Talk
So, we won’t spend the time extrapolating these themes again this morning, not that it would be a bad idea...
Rather, we are going to look at this first chapter and study the objective that Titus was given, and what would be necessary in carrying it out. Namely, we are going to see 3 Essential Elements of the Church
If you picked up a bulletin this morning, you can open it up and use the sermon guide on the inside flap to follow along. My prayer is that we will better understand these elements and their role in our church.
The first essential element of the church is:
Divine Authority (1-4)
Divine Authority (1-4)
These first 4 verses offer us an introduction. This might seem odd to us because we know that Paul and Titus were buddies- why did Paul see the need to introduce himself this way?
Well, we must recognize that, like 1 Timothy, this letter was written to Titus, but intended for the entire church.
Paul established his role as an apostle of Jesus Christ- that he was called by Jesus for this purpose. Titus, like Timothy, was young and did not carry a lot of clout… it would be like a Billy Graham leaving a no-name preacher like me to carry out the work of establishing a church. The people in Crete would have had been much more influenced by Paul’s words than Titus’.
But, Paul does not just appeal to his apostleship, he called himself a “slave of God” first. How many of you introduce yourself that way? Yeah, well, Paul did this so that Titus and the Cretians would understand that Paul’s authority is not so much what is being relayed, but rather God’s authority.
When Jesus gave the Great Commission to the apostles in Matt. 28:18-20, He says, “All authority has been given to Me, therefore, GO....”
Paul, through this introduction, models surrender to Christ’s Lordship which is necessary for the church.
The church has no authority on it’s own. It is because of the presence of Christ in the church that there is authority over ALL things.
And this authority is coupled with a promise. (Read v. 2)
It is because of Christ’s authority that we can know we have eternal life- He has authority over sin, over death, over life! He proved it in both life and through His resurrection! Paul says, this was promised by a God who cannot lie- who cannot change because He is perfect… and you can’t improve perfect.
It is necessary that the church operate solely under the authority of JESUS CHRIST and we do that by sending forth the message of Jesus Christ. We aren’t to try and make up new things that are popular in culture and try to add them to what Christ has established. No, the churches in Crete needed to understand this as well and so we have this letter that says “We are Christ’s and we are here for His will, not our own.”
A true Christian church must be established under Jesus’ authority.
Discuss: What do you believe about Christ’s authority? How can you apply this truth in your life?
Next, we see Paul’s command to establish
Effective Order (5-9)
Effective Order (5-9)
We see in v. 5 that Paul calls Titus to ‘set in order what remains and appoint elders’
We can infer that the churches throughout Crete were somewhat disorganized and perhaps lacked effectiveness in their work due to this.
It is supposed that these churches were likely planted by Jewish converts from the time of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. The Gospel message was brought back from Jerusalem, but each church would have been ordered differently. They were likely doing the best they knew how, but when Paul went, he recognized that there needed to be order- people set aside to lead and direct the church, ways to confront sinfulness and false teaching, a system to care for one another and to encourage growth and mission.
Can you imagine if a church had no leaders? No vision? No order by which to operate? It would be like a school with no one in charge- no teachers to teach or any to direct how one might be taught. Or like a factory with no management - line workers with no specified roles… I dare say that no entity can operate without a structure.
And this is true of the church especially. We are the body of Christ and we have a mission. WE cannot accomplish that mission unless we are working as a body… orderly, cohesively, and intentionally.
The Bible gives us direction in different passages so that we can see the structure-
leaders who have godly character and are able to faithfully teach God’s Word
who can refute false teachers
who protect the flock through discipline and discernment
deacons who serve those in the care of the church
A mission by which to align the ministries
A membership uniquely gifted to do the work of the church
Friends the majority of ministries that take place in LRBC are through volunteers just like you!
And there has to be order under the authority of Jesus Christ. Titus was commanded to implement this order throughout Crete so that these churches would effectively live out the Gospel.
At LRBC, we are still working from this Biblical framework. I thank God for our leaders, deacons, teachers, and volunteers. WE are the church, and it is my prayer that we never stray from that which God has called us to.
Discuss: Can you imagine what your home or work would be like with no order? How does this principle impact your view on the structure of the church?
Is is essential for the church to operate under Christ’s authority with divine order. Finally, as we see here, it is essential for the church to model
Biblical Authenticity (10-16)
Biblical Authenticity (10-16)
This one should come at no surprise. Paul gives Titus the same evaluation of false teachers as he did Timothy- they are deceivers and must be silenced.
Here’s the thing. The church must be the epitome of truth. These false teachers twisted Scripture and caused divisions. They did not promote the Gospel truth, but instead saw the church as another avenue to exploit their neighbor.
In Crete, they would place more emphasis on certain traditions than on Jesus. They would portray themselves as “more religious” or “more saved” because they kept to certain dietary customs or man-made laws.
That would be like saying you are a better Christian than someone else because you wear the “proper” church attire on Sundays and they don’t. Or like someone boasting about how they are more righteous because they volunteer on a “more important” team… Friends, as Paul reminded the Galatians
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
No… this is not call of the church. Not in our teaching and not in our actions. Friends, when we come together, we ought not be genuine. We see the hypocritical description in v. 16- (read)
This reminds me of Jesus words to the Pharisees
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
Stop trying to impress one another and be authentic. Let your words and actions line up with one another. For example:
We say things like, “I love you” and “You are welcome here” - ok, let our actions attest to that.
We profess that we forgive one another… well, stop holding grudges!
We claim to love our Lord, well then, let us keep his commands and serve Him.
The bottom line here is that we are saying to the world that we have the greatest message that could ever be received. God has made a Way for us to be reconciled with Him. He has called us to be the light in a dark world, sharing the ONLY truth that brings about hope and freedom.
But, if we only say these things, and our actions reflect a people who live in bondage to our sins… if we live as if there is no hope.... if we live as though there is no salvation, then we cannot call ourselves the church who stands on the promises of God.
Discuss: How authentic are you when you are gathered as the church? What walls need to come down in order to be more genuine?
So, let this church be one who operates under the Authority of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Let this church reflect the proper order so that our ministry and mission are effective.
Let this church live authentic lives in the truth of God’s Holy Word.
Will you support the essential elements of this church?