One of the most wonderful privileges of being a Christian is that God uses us to do his work.
If you were here last week, we looked at the opening few verses of Paul’s letter to Titus. There we saw that God is regularly called “God our Saviour” in this little letter. God is a rescuing God. His favourite work is rescuing people out of hell, for heaven, for all eternity.
And he could do it all by himself. Indeed, you could argue that if God cared so much about seeing people saved, he’d be better off doing it on his own. But he doesn’t. He uses us, his church, Christian people, to spread the good news about Jesus. What a wonderful privilege, that God shares his work with us.
But if the Christian church is going to be effective in this, what kind of church do we need to be? Well, that’s what Titus will unfold for us. And it starts in a slightly unexpected place: Church leadership.
The first thing that needs to be in place, if a church is to be an effective partner in God’s great work to save his people, is the right kind of leaders.
There’s a particular reason why this was important for Titus. Verse 5 starts like this: The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. We don’t know anything about Paul’s visit to Crete. Elsewhere, whenever he started a church, he’d appoint elders, local church leaders, before he left. For some reason he didn’t have time to do this in Crete. So he left Titus behind to finish the job.
But it’s important everywhere. Not just having leaders. But having the right kind of leaders. The church in Crete needs elders in every town as I directed you. That’s a strong phrase. Titus is not just to appoint anyone. He’s to follow his orders. Maybe even there’ll be a shortage of candidates in some towns. “Don’t be tempted to take the short-cut, Titus. Elders — as I directed you.”
And it’s the first thing to get in place if the saving God is to use his church effectively as a partner in his saving work.
So what are the right kind of leaders? They need to be people who are governed by the gospel. The message of good news that Jesus died and rose again, that God wants all people to trust and follow Jesus, to be saved. The announcement that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, and wants us to bow to his mastery in this life. That gospel is to govern and rule the lives of those who are appointed to leadership in the local church.
And there are 3 areas of life where this needs to be so:
The gospel governs their family
Firstly, the gospel governs their family. Governs their family.
Here’s verse 6: An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
The thinking here is really simple. The family is like a miniature church. You can tell what kind of Christian leader someone might be by looking at how they lead their family.
We must never confuse the church and the family. They’re different institutions, and they demand our loyalty in different ways. But they also have a lot in common. In many ways the church is like a huge family. And the leaders in the local church are like, …. what?
Not like the father of the household. That post is occupied. God is not only the Father of the Lord Jesus; he’s also the Father of his church. Jesus was quite clear: In the church, we are not to call any man “father”, because we have one Father and he is in heaven.
No: Not the father of the house, but the steward of the house. Look on into verse 7: Since an overseer manages God’s household. It’s all there in that phrase. It’s God’s household. The moment a human leader in the church starts to think of it as their household, their flock, there’s trouble not far down the road. It’s God’s family, not theirs.
But the church leaders manage it. It’s the word for the steward that the head of the house would leave in charge. A little bit like the butler in an ancient English house, but not exactly. Trusted to make sure that there’s food on the table, that guests are welcomed, that any relationships in the household are OK.
Which means that if you want to see how they’ll do in that responsibility, how they lead their family is pretty key. Now, maybe they’re single, haven’t got kids – you can only look at what’s there.
But Titus is to make sure that the gospel governs their family.
Which means someone who is faithful to his wife. And whose children haven’t gone off the rails, abandoning the faith, or living as though they had.
The gospel governs their family.
The gospel governs their behaviour
Second, Titus must make sure that the gospel governs their behaviour.
The headline requirement is that they must be blameless. Verse 7: Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless.
That’s not the same thing as flawless. Perfect. But free of blame. No mud sticks. No loop holes.
Then we get 5 negatives, and 6 positives.
The negatives first. There are particular temptations that those in Christian leadership must be able to resist. Power. Temper. Drink. Bullying. Greed.
Power: Not overbearing. You can’t have someone who simply has to have their own way all the time. If the idea of being the one in charge is over alluring, that’s a big red light.
Temper: Not quick-tempered. Pastoral ministry requires great patience. You need people who have that.
Drink: Not given to drunkenness. Social gatherings involve alcohol – you need someone who knows when to stop. Leadership carries great pressures – you need someone who doesn’t turn to the bottle to unwind. Alcohol does so much damage in our day and age. It did in their culture too. You can’t have leaders who are in its grip.
Bullying: Not violent. It’s related to the lust for power, but this one’s about how they get their own way. There’s no room for bullies.
Greed. Not pursuing dishonest gain. Church leaders have to handle money and be dependable. And they mustn’t be motivated by what they can get out of it.
And then we get the 6 positives: Hospitable. Loving anything good whenever they find it. Self-controlled, with their mind seeing the world with clarity. Upright, so that ordinary people would see that they’re a decent, upstanding citizen. Holy, rightly orientated towards God as well. And disciplined, with mind over body, fully in control of themselves.
The gospel must govern their behaviour.
What strikes me about these lists is how very ordinary they are. We don’t need leaders who are saints. We just need leaders who have the basics in place. Not perfect. But in the grip of the gospel enough that they’re free of those obvious temptations, and with a developing Christlike character.
And yet for all it’s obvious, basic stuff, sadly it’s not always in place. Many church leaders are bullies. The lure of a bit of extra cash proves too much for some. I applied for about 5 posts before I finally came here. In not one interview was I asked how many units of alcohol I drink. It sounds too basic to ask. And yet that’s the point.
There’s a myth doing the rounds at the moment that it doesn’t really matter how someone lives. As long as they can toe the line from the front, they’re suitable leadership material. But remember that Paul’s gospel is a life-changing gospel. Which means that if someone’s life is gripped by the gospel, it will shape how they live. And if it doesn’t, they’re not really gospel people.
The gospel governs their behaviour.
The gospel governs their beliefs.
Third, the gospel governs their beliefs. The gospel governs their beliefs.
Verse 9: He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Part of the elders’ jobs will involve teaching. Teaching the Christian message. Encouraging people to live it out. Successfully replying to those within the church who would oppose it.
Paul’s going to talk more about this part of their job later in Titus. For today, they’ll only be able to do that if the gospel governs their beliefs.
Notice 3 little details about the gospel that they are to hold firmly to.
First, it is the trustworthy message. It can be depended on. We thought last time about the fact that God cannot lie. Everything he says can be trusted absolutely. Because it won’t let us down, we need leaders who won’t stray from the dependable word of God to the unreliable ideas of other people.
Second, it’s the message “as it has been taught”. There is a body of Christian teaching, that has been held for thousands of years. It’s not my job to say anything new. My job is simply to pass the ball. To pass on what’s been given to me. Yes, there’s mileage in studying to understand things more deeply. There have been new insights in every generation. But what we don’t do is innovate, tear up what went before, and reinvent the Christian message for our own day. Hoe Holy Spirit enabled Jesus’ first disciples, the apostles, to remember everything he taught them. Our job is to pass that on, and not to reinvent the wheel.
And then third, it’s what our Bible calls “sound doctrine”, literally healthy teaching. It’s good for you. It’s life-giving. Listening to this, and living it out, is the way to be more fully human, never less. Why would you move away from that?
And yet people do, so we need leaders who will host on very tightly indeed to the trustworthy, healthy, life-giving, dependable, message, as taught for centuries and generations.
Only then will they be able to teach, to encourage, and to refute.
So once again, it’s a nonsense to appoint people who promise to uphold the official teaching publicly, whilst disagreeing with it in private. Our private convictions are what will enable us to teach the authentic Christian gospel to others. Deny it in private, it won’t be long before you find yourself secretly agreeing with those who oppose it, at which point you won’t’ keep refuting them for long.
So Titus must appoint leaders for whom the gospel governs their beliefs.
Application
Those are the kinds of leaders Titus must appoint: They must have lives totally gripped by the gospel. This has to be evidenced in their family life, in their behaviour, and in their beliefs.
All very interesting. But where does this leave us? Most of us aren’t Titus. I’m guessing that none of us will be appointing the very first leaders in a brand new church. Not this week, anyway.
But some of us are leaders. Many of us share in the pastoral ministry of the church. Or you’re on the PCC. Or you help lead a home group, or a children’s group. Then you’re in leadership in the church, and those of us who are should strive to be this kind of leader. Gospel-driven leaders.
Even those of us who aren’t leaders, have leaders. We should pray for our leaders. Pray we would be gripped by the gospel. Pray that we would resist those temptations of power, temper, drink, bullying and money. Pray that we would hold tightly to original Christianity as it’s been handed down. Pray for our families.
Some of us occasionally get to appoint leaders. One day, we might have an election for PCC places. Or you get to vote for people on various church synods. I hope to stay here for a nice long time, but one day I’ll need replacing. If you have a hand in that at any level, make sure you choose leaders who are governed by the gospel, as seen in their family life, their behaviour and their beliefs.
And lastly, we all have gifts. We may not all be leaders, but God uses the whole church living out the gospel to reach out and save the world. Our leaders equip us for this, but that’s their part in what God’s doing through his people.
Because God is God our Saviour. Jesus is Christ Jesus our Saviour. And we are the way he does it.