THEY NEVER CHANGE
Titus 1:5-9 (KJV)
For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
The Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reminded Titus, his student in the ministry, that:
· He had commissioned him where he was and
· He had commissioned him what he was to do there
Titus did not:
· Graduate from the University of Paul and
· Receive his diploma
To go out and do as he pleased with it.
· It was not his job to go where he pleased.
· Nor was it within his authority to change the job as he pleased.
Titus received a commission exactly as Paul had.
Acts 9:5-6 (KJV)
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Acts 9:15-16 (KJV)
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
The Lord could easily have just told Paul what He would have him to do.
Instead, the Lord told him to go to town, look up one of those Christians he had come to town to arrest and ask of him what God would have him to do.
Here’s Paul now serving as the Lord’s instrument to do the very same for Titus.
He told him where to serve– he was to serve in Crete.
He told him what work to do- he was to set in order the things wanting and to ordain elders in every city.
And then
He gave him, the details of the job
Titus 1:6-8 (KJV)
If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
And then this final detail,
Titus 1:9 (KJV)
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught…
He is to teach it exactly as he was taught it.
At every ordination I have ever attended one of the final questions asked of the candidate is, “If you should ever change your doctrines from those you claimed to believe today, will you surrender your ordination papers to this council?”
It turns out that the question is more of a symbolic gesture than a real requirement.
I have witnessed numerous men who have changed their positions and never surrendered their ordination certificate.
In one case, when one of the members of the council asked a man to do it, the other members refused to back him and told him he was being a troublemaker.
Nevertheless, the expectation is that, when a man is sent out, he will hold fast the message he was given to proclaim.
Let’s take a brief look at the qualifications Paul expressed to Titus:
· Blameless
· The husband of one wife
· Well-disciplined children
· Not self-willed
· Not soon angry
· Not given to wine
· No striker
· Not given to filthy lucre (money)
· A lover of hospitality
· A lover of good men
· Sober
· Just
· Holy
· Temperate
It happens that Apostle Paul had given a similar list 1 Timothy 3:2-7
· Blameless
· The husband of one wife
· Vigilant
· Sober
· Of good behavior
· Give to hospitality
· Apt to teach
· Not give to wine
· No striker
· Not greedy of filthy lucre
· Patient
· Not a brawler
· Not covetous
· Rules well his own house
· Children well disciplined
· Not a novice
· Of good report
We do want to apply 2 Corinthians 3:6 (KJV)
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.[1]
But let me simply say that these qualifications should not be considered optional.
Rather than going through the qualifications in this message[2]I would like to compare and contrast the two lists:
· The one here and
· The one in 1 Timothy
1 Timothy 3 gives the qualifications as the one who desires the ministry
1 Timothy 3:1-7 (KJV)
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
A desire for the office is not necessarily a call into the office.
It’s admirable to desire to be in the ministry.
· The ministry is a needed work
· There are far too few in the ministry
· There are people who ought to be in the ministry but are not
All of that being true, it would be better to have no preacher than to have one who does not meet Bible qualifications.
Titus gives the same qualifications but from the view of those preachers before us
· In 1 Timothy, we have someone looking at, or desiring, the ministry
· In Titus, we have a preacher looking for someone to ordain into the ministry
And
Paul gives the qualifications to both.
What I think I see is three generations of preachers and the qualifications had not changed.
I. Paul - these are my qualifications
Nowhere does the Word of God tell us Paul met these standards, does it?
What we know is that Paul thought of himself as the chiefest of sinners.
1 Timothy 1:15 (KJV)
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
And yet he knew that God had put him in the ministry.
1 Timothy 1:12 (KJV)
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
My suggestion is that the Word of God implies that Paul was all of this before he insisted that anyone else be any of this.
I can see him, in my mind’s eye, as he wrote these standards.
· Blameless, “Oh, that’s not me. Thank God Christ enabled me.”
· Not selfwilled, “I have so often done my will. Thank God Christ enabled me.”
· Not soon angry, “I hailed men and women and put them in prison. Thank God Christ enabled me.”
Etc.
Paul would write,
Romans 7:18-19 (KJV)
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
I do not mean to say that Paul gave himself a pass from the standards God set for the office of the bishop.
What I mean to say is that he knew that the only reason he qualified was the grace of God.
He was no better than any who did not qualify.
It was only the grace of God that made the difference.
Paul having, I believe, these standards, passed them on.
II. Timothy and Titus- these are your qualifications
Timothy, reading the letter Paul had written to him and
Titus, reading the letter Paul had written to him
Both of the men must have realized that these were the standards they were to maintain.
I imagine them feeling just as Paul did – “I know I am not worthy. But I thank the Lord He counted me faithful.”
They could not teach men about the ministry and they could not ordain men into the ministry unless they had personally met the standards for the ministry.
And then to Titus he directed for the,
III. Ordained elders - these are the qualifications
Paul told Timothy
2 Timothy 2:2 (KJV)
And 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.
And to Titus he said,
Titus 1:9 (KJV)
Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
Do you see?
It’s not supposed to change.
No preacher has the right to claim that God has led him to take a path his preacher never taught him.
Conclusion
Churches that had once been great scenes of revival and Christian thought and life are now bastions of progressivism and worldliness.
One church I know of held two Christmas Concerts
· One was a completely secular version – to get the worldly into their building
· The other, a Christian version – to pacify the older members that they had tried to present the truth.
The Bible makes it quite clear that, by the time we come to the return of Jesus Christ, most of Christianity will have lost its savor.
And it’s because we are not “holding fast the faithful Word.”
We have grown careless with the truth.
We have become arrogant about our qualifications.
And, because of it, we have lost the power of God to, “exhort and convince the gainsayers.”
[1]The letter would say, for instance, that no one is blameless. But a good spirit understands the difference between the one who is recklessly at fault and the one who is of a good report though certainly not without fault.
[2]If one is interested, I have written a study of 1 Timothy which may be purchased at Amazon. That study covers the qualifications of the bishop in some detail.
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