Sermons on Titus 1:5

… a leader, we must hear the Word from a leader's mouth, and we must see the Word in a leader's life. This is why 1 Timothy chapter 3 verse 1 through 7, Titus chapter 1 verses 5 through 9, the character qualifications of a leader, an elder in the church are high, and they must be high, and they must not be compromised. Because the church is intended to look at a leader and see faith and life that is worthy of imitation. This is why when a leader falls, there is a process in Scripture. There is a picture in Scripture of how that leader, an elder, is to be rebuked publicly. because the picture of Christ in that leader's life is extremely important. This is why the church must be extremely cautious when restoring a man to leadership in the church after he has fallen, because this is so huge. Now, I want you to catch this. You put this picture of conditional authority, teaching the Word accurately, living the Word faithfully, and think about how this affects how we understand submission. …

See full text →

I'm going to stop reading there. There's so much more that I could read. But this is what Paul is saying that a minister ought to be. Now he says, Paul, Titus, I sent you there for several reasons. Look, if you will, in verse 5, he says, For this cause I left thee in Crete. Now what reasons did he leave Titus in Crete? Well, number one, he wanted him to set things in order that were not in order. To set in order, he says. The word to set in order literally means to mend a bone, to put in place a bone that is broken. It's a metaphor that sometimes churches can be broken. Sometimes churches can have problems. One of the pastor's requirements is to be a spiritual physician in orthopedics. who can put things together. He's to be a mender of things. So he is to, with tender, loving care, care for the flock, and when things are out of order, he is to put things in order. …

Watch at 10:08 · See full text →

4. And now I will mention one other guarantee, which is especially suggested by our Lord's words in the text, for the visible unity and permanence of His Church; and that is the appointment of rulers and ministers, entrusted with the gifts of grace, and these in succession. The ministerial orders are the ties which bind together the whole body of Christians in one; they are its organs, and they are moreover its moving principle. Such an institution necessarily implies a succession, unless the appointment was always to be miraculous; for if men cannot administer to themselves the rite of regeneration, it is surely as little or much less reasonable to suppose that they could become Bishops or Priests on their own ordination. And St. Paul expressly shows his solicitude to secure such a continuity of clergy for his brethren: "I left thee in Crete," he says to Titus, "that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee." And to Timothy: "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." Now, we know that in civil matters nothing tends more powerfully to strengthen and perpetuate the body politic than hereditary rulers and nobles. The father's life, his principles and interests, are continued in the son, or rather, one life, one character, one idea, is carried on from age to age. Thus a dynasty or a nation is consolidated and secured; whereas where there is no regular succession and inheritance of this kind, there is no safeguard of stability and tranquillity; or rather, there is every risk of revolution. For what is to make a succeeding age think and act in the spirit of the foregoing, but that tradition of opinion and usage from mind to mind which a succession involves? In like manner the Christian ministry affects the unity, inward and without, of the Church to which it is attached. It is a continuous office, a standing ordinance; not, indeed, transmitted from father to son, as under the Mosaic covenant, for the vessels of the Christian election need to be more special, as the treasure committed to them is more heavenly: but still the Apostles have not left it to the mere good pleasure and piety of the Christian body whether they will have a ministry or not. Each preceding generation of clergy have it in charge to ordain the next following to their sacred office. Consider what would be sure to happen, were there no such regular transmission of the Divine gift, but each congregation were left to choose and create for itself its own minister. This would follow, among other evil consequences, that what is every one's duty would prove, as the proverb runs, to be no one's. When their minister or teacher died or left them, there would be first a delay in choosing a fresh one, then a reluctance, then a forgetfulness. At last congregations would be left without teachers; and the bond of union being gone, the Church would be broken up. If a ministry be a necessary part of the Gospel Dispensation, so must also a ministerial succession be. But the gift of grace has not thus dropped out of the hands of its All-merciful Giver. He has committed to certain of His servants to provide for the continuance of its presence and its administration after their own time. Each generation provides for the next; "the parents" lay up "for the children." And we know as a fact, that to this day the ministers of the Church universal are descended from the very Apostles. Amid all the changes of this world, the Church built upon St. Peter and the rest has continued until now in the unbroken line of the ministry. And to put other considerations out of sight, the mere fact in itself, that there has been this perpetual succession, this unforfeited inheritance, is sufficiently remarkable to attract our attention and excite our reverence. It approves itself to us as providential, and enlivens our hope and trust, that an ordinance, thus graciously protected for so many hundred years, will continue unto the end, and that "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." …

See full text →