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Titus 1:5-9 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: 6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. 7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; 8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; 9 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.

Our Recap

The last couple of weeks we have started studying the Pastoral Epistles of Titus and Timothy. Though we’re focusing on Titus, we took a brief journey into Timothy last week. The Apostle Paul left Timothy in Ephesus and Titus in the Greek Isle of Crete to establish local churches there. Timothy worked with the Jewish congregations, Titus with the Gentiles. Yet whether they were Jewish or Gentile congregations, the same rules applied to both.

Titus was given the responsibility of “ORDAINING ELDERS IN EVERY CITY” in Crete. We found out last week that the office of Elder (Greek presbyteros), the spiritual leader of the Church, were also called “OVERSEERS” (Acts 20:17; Acts 20:28, Greek episkopos) or “BISHOPS” (1 Timothy 3:1), or “PASTORS” (Ephesians 4:11, Greek poimēn) which means “Shepherds”. Neither Timothy nor Titus were to just ordain anyone to this very important calling of God.

Over the past 30 years I have been privileged to be on the Ordination Council for a number of men who felt God calling them to be Pastors/ Overseers/ Elders. I was privileged to be included in the examination of Jarrett Scott, a fine young man and a great Pastor. There were several others on various councils I attended who did not meet the qualifications.

Why is it important that you know the qualifications of the Pastor? Because the Pastor is to spiritually feed the Church of God. The spiritual truths you are fed, that you digest, will determine your continued walk with God.

The Elder/ Pastor Must Be BLAMELESS

Titus 1:6, 7 If any be BLAMELESS … 7 For a bishop must be BLAMELESS, as the steward of God;

The very first quality the Apostle tells Titis to look for is that the Elder/ Pastor be “BLAMELESS”. This is the Greek anegklētos, which means “to be above reproach or unaccused”. Does this mean that the Pastor should always please the people? No! It has nothing to do with pleasing the people. Paul tells us what he means by “BLAMELESS” when he writes,

as the steward of God

The Pastor does not own the Church. The spiritual needs of the Church are entrusted to the Pastor, but the Church belongs to Jesus Christ. Every believer is purchased with the Blood of Christ. The Steward, the Pastor, the Shepherd oversees the flock, and

Acts 20:28 … feeds the church of God, which JESUS HAS PURCHASED with His own blood.

To be “BLAMELESS” means that the Pastor must NECESSARILY OFFEND the people who will not do as God directs. He is to please God, not man.

The Apostle Paul was an Elder, a leader in the Church. Paul wrote:

Galatians 1:10 (NKJV) … do I seek to please men? For IF I STILL PLEASED MEN, I WOULD NOT BE A BOND SERVANT OF CHRIST.

Illustrate Paul vs Peter: The Pastor should not preach or lead so as to please the Church, but to please the Lord Jesus. No Christian should be a “manpleaser, but a servant of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6). Even more so should the spiritual leader of the Church live so as to glorify God. There is a good illustration of this in the Book of Galatians. As Apostles, leaders in the Church, they were called to be “BLAMELESS”. We read:

Galatians 2:11-16 (NKJV) Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I WITHSTOOD HIM TO HIS FACE, because HE WAS TO BE BLAMED; 12 for before certain men came from James (these are Jerusalem Jewish Christians), he would eat with the Gentiles; but WHEN THEY CAME, he withdrew and separated himself, FEARING THOSE WHO WERE OF THE CIRCUMCISION. 13 And the REST OF THE JEWS ALSO PLAYED THE HYPOCRITE WITH HIM, so that even BARNABAS WAS CARRIED AWAY BY THEIR HYPOCRISY. 14 But when I saw that THEY WERE NOT STRAIGHT FORWARD ABOUT THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL I said to Peter before [them] all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 “We [who are] Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

When the Apostle Peter was with Paul on the mission field, as long as he dealt with only Gentiles, then he received them with open arms as Christians. But when Jewish Christians from Jerusalem came down to visit, Peter shunned the Gentiles. Why? Because he was not being a good steward of the Church. He FEARED THE JEWISH BELIEVERS. Paul stood up to Peter and called him on it. He said “I WITHSTOOD HIM TO HIS FACE, because HE WAS TO BE BLAMED”.

Illustrate Moses: When the Pastor is more concerned about pleasing others than he is about pleasing the Lord, he is a BAD STEWARD and IS TO BE BLAMED. One of the finest believers in the Bible was a man called MOSES. Moses wasn’t perfect. Moses killed a man, murdered him, and hid his body. But God called Moses at the burning bush in Midian. Moses led God’s people out of Egypt. Moses stood up to Pharaoh. Moses stood up to worst. The people he led constantly murmured against him and Aaron. Nothing Moses did was right. Before Moses came down the mountain at Sinai God tested him. We read:

Exodus 32:7-10 (ESV) And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for YOUR people, whom YOU brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!'” 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore LET ME ALONE, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I MAY CONSUME THEM, in order that I MAY MAKE A GREAT NATION OF YOU.”

This is a test. God said, “these are YOUR people”. He doesn’t say they belong to Him, but to Moses. God says, “Let Me destroy them – and I’ll make a GREAT NATION OF YOU”. But Moses – a great Elder – prays to God. “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” (vs 11). Moses told the Lord that this would not bring glory TO HIM, but allow the Egyptians to mock Him. Moses prayed and reminded God of the covenants He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (vs 12-14). And God withdrew his anger.

Moses was blameless.
He remembered that Israel belonged to God.
Moses glorified the Lord in his stewardship.

Yet after 40 years of dealing with Israel, Moses led Israel to Kadesh. First his sister Miriam died (Numbers 20:1), then the people rose up against Moses and Aaron because there was no water. Moses goes to the Lord in prayer, and tells him:

Numbers 20:8 (ESV) Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and TELL THE ROCK BEFORE THEIR EYES TO YIELD ITS WATER. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.

Moses let his temper take control. The Bible says:

Numbers 20:10-11 (ESV) Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “HEAR NOW, YOU REBELS, SHALL WE BRING WATER FOR YOU OUT OF THIS ROCK?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.

Moses – the Elder – did not speak to the Rock. He spoke to the crowd. He did not give God the glory, but claimed that HE AND AARON were the Source of the water. God in His grace allowed the water to flow, but He told Moses and Aaron:

Numbers 20:12 (ESV) … Because YOU DID NOT BELIEVE IN ME, to UPHOLD ME AS HOLY IN THE EYES OF THE PEOPLE of Israel, therefore YOU SHALL NOT BRING THIS ASSEMBLY INTO THE LAND that I have given them.

Moses was to be blamed. Less that one year passed before Joshua led Israel into the Promised Land, but Moses lost out because he put his glory above the glory of God.

I see this quite often in the Church of America. I heard of a Pastor, an Elder whose son “came out” as a homosexual, and then this Pastor began to preach that the Scripture is in error on homosexuality. The Pastor Charles Stanley (now with the Lord) has a son named Andy Stanley, who leads North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. Though Charles was a God fearing, conservative Pastor, his son has gone in a different direction. In 2018 Andy Stanley preached,

“We need to unhitch the Christian faith from the Old Testament”

This is foolish, because the Bible the Apostles and Jesus used WAS THE OLD TESTAMENT. Jesus repeatedly quoted the Old Testament, as did the Apostles. Stanley has also said strange things like,

“Christians need to stop saying, ‘The Bible says.’
We need to start saying, ‘Jesus says.’”

Stanley is a far cry from Billy Graham, who said:

“The Bible is the only book whose Author is always present when one reads it. … The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible. … The Bible is God-breathed—it is God’s revelation to man”

The Pastor who begins to teach “laying aside the commandment of God for the traditions of men” (Mark 7:8-9; Colossians 2:8) is not to be praised nor followed. He is to be blamed!

Other Qualities Of The Leader/ Pastor

Titus 1:7 For a BISHOP {episkopos} must be blameless, as the steward of God; NOT SELF-WILLED {authadēs}, NOT SOON ANGRY {orgilos}, not given to wine, no STRIKER {plēktēs}, not GIVEN TO FILTHY LUCRE” {aischrokerdēs};

Word Study: In verse 5 the Pastor is called “ELDER” (presbyteros), and in verse 7 “BISHOP” (episkopos) or “OVERSEER” (Acts 20:28). The Pastor is to be “NOT SELF WILLED”, the Greek authadēs which means “arrogant, self-pleasing”. This same word is used humorously in the Septuagint, in

Proverbs 21:24 (BES) A bold and SELF-WILLED {authadēs} and insolent [man] is called a pest …

When Israel lay dying, he prophesied of his firstborn son Ruben, “hard to be endured, hard and self-willed”, that his people would be scattered. Because Ruben was “unstable as water”, his father said “you shall not excel”. Rather than be the leader of Israel, the leadership passed to Judah (Genesis 49:8-10). The Bishop or Leader is to be God oriented, not self oriented.

Word Study: The Pastor must not be prone to anger (orgilos). Again, this word is found in the Septuagint in:

Proverbs 22:24 (BES) Be not companion to a FURIOUS (orgilos) man …

Word Study: When Moses lost his temper, he lost the Promised Land. The Pastor may get angry, but it needs to be a controlled anger and a godly anger. He is not to love to drink. Nor is to be a “STRIKER”, the Greek plēktēs which means “someone always ready to punch out another, a quarrelsome or contentious person”. Nor is the Overseer to be greedy, “GIVEN TO FILTHY LUCRE” {aischrokerdēs}.

Titus 1:8 (KJV) But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, SOBER, JUST, HOLY, TEMPERATE;

The Pastor/ Elder/ Overseer should care for people. He should like to be around people. But even around people he should model:

SOBER = sōphrōn “Of a sound mind, sane”
JUST = dikaios “Keeping the commands of God” (Micah 6:8)
HOLY = hosios “unenslaved by sin” (Galatians 5:1; Romans 6:6-7)
TEMPERATE = egkratēs “to be strong, self controlled”

Above All, The Elder/ Overseer/ Pastor
Must Cling To God’s Word

Titus 1:9-11 (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. 10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: 11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.

The most important thing for the Pastor is that he “HOLD FAST THE FAITHFUL WORD”. Paul was not only giving Titus directions for the choosing of God called men to be Pastors, but he was reminding Titus that he was going into a mess.

The Godly Leader must keep His eyes on Jesus, and cling to the Bible as God’s true written Word.

There was a lot of charlatans in Crete, just as there are a lot of charlatans in America today. The Apostle said “there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision”. Titus was going into a battle ground, where the enemy was already entrenched. There were many Gentiles who hated Christianity, for it claimed that Jesus is the only Way to God (John 14:6). The Pagan religion does not care if you bring your own version of god with you, as long as you make allowances for their false gods.

There were many “ Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for FILTHY LUCRE’S sake”. These people do not care about the Kingdom of God nor its advance. They just are about “FILTHY LUCRE”, about making money. They don’t care about souls being saved. They just want to fill their pockets. As it was in Crete, so it is in America today:

Kenneth Copeland has a net worth of $300 million, and lives in a $10 million mansion. Joel Osteen has a net worth of $100 million+ and lives in a $10 million mansion. T.D. Jakes has a net worth of $60 million, and lives in a $5.5 million mansion. Joyce Meyer has a net worth of $15 million, and lives in a $2 million mansion. Creflo Dollar has a net worth of $30 million, and owns multiple homes worth millions. Steven Furtick has a net worth of $60 million. Andy Stanley a net worth of $45 million. Rick Warren a net worth of $25 million. Pat Robertson a net worth of $100 million. Is it a sin to have money? No. But Jesus told the rich young ruler:

Matthew 19:21 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, SELL WHAT YOU POSSESS AND GIVE IT TO THE POOR, and you will have treasure in heaven; and COME, FOLLOW ME.”

I’m not saying these people are doing anything wrong. Only God knows the heart. But how much house do you need to live in? How much money do you need to feed yourself and your family? How many cars, trucks, boats do you own? Is your treasure in Heaven, or on this earth? Each one of us will have to give an account one day to the Lord God Almighty.

Why would a Pastor need a million dollar home to live in?
Paul was a tent maker by trade.
And Peter a fisherman.

Paul tells Titus:

Titus 1:12-14 (KJV) One of themselves, [even] a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians [are] alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. 13 This witness is true. Wherefore REBUKE THEM SHARPLY, THAT THEY MAY BE SOUND IN THE FAITH; 14 Not giving heed to JEWISH FABLES, and COMMANDMENTS OF MEN, that TURN FROM THE TRUTH.

When confronted by the culture – as Titus was in Crete – the Pastor/ Overseer must not compromise with the darkness.

The only way that light can compromise with darkness is by becoming darkness itself.

The world will never agree with the Church – nor should it. Paul says of the Cretian culture, “REBUKE THEM SHARPLY”. Don’t go along with them. Tell them NO! Set an example so that the Flock of Christ can see what to do.

I was reading an article the other day by Christian author Pierce Taylor Hibbs entitled “The Bad News We Still Need”. In that article, Brother Hibbs compared sin to cancer. Listen to this:

“sin takes something good away from us and actively introduces defects and distortions. Just as cancer both destroys tissue and multiplies abnormal cell growth, sin kills holy motivations and compounds unholy ones. Unlike cancer, sin is not a substance, a thing we can examine and measure with a microscope. It is a nothingness that eats away at us until we are so weak that we cave in on ourselves. … sin is moral heart-sickness, any desire, thought, or action that turns us away from God and his revealed will for our lives. ”

Sin kills. Sin erodes. Sin spreads like cancer.

In Michigan, a man rams a truck into a Jewish Synagogue and a preschool. In Virginia, at Old Dominion University a man opens fire in a classroom, killing one and injuring others. In California, two are killed by gunfire at a bar, and several others wounded. The world looks at it and demands that guns be outlawed. Guns are not the problem. Sin is.

People want to fix sin with “JEWISH FABLES, and COMMANDMENTS OF MEN” which do absolutely NOTHING but “TURN FROM THE TRUTH”. All the while, people pretending to be Pastors preach nothings and compromise from fancy pulpits, filling their pockets with money and living luxuriously while the flock suffers.

You cannot compromise with the culture.

Titus 1:15-16 (KJV) UNTO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving [is] nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They PROFESS THAT THEY KNOW GOD; but in works they deny [Him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

Who are the “PURE”? It’s certainly not the worldly. Those who “PROFESS THAT THEY KNOW GOD” but who deny Him by their works – the things they do – they are not pure. Those who are “PURE” refer to those who are Christ followers – those who love the Lord and have received the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Those who are “PURE” are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, and who seek to honor the Jesus Who saved them by their lives. The article that I cited earlier goes on to say this:

“The good news is that while sin is moral heart-sickness, God offers moral heart-healing through his Son. That’s why in Christ God gives us new hearts (Ezekiel 36:26). And that’s exactly what we need. … Grace means a new heart, and new hearts have restored and holy motivations, desires, and thoughts. Why? Because of Jesus. “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). A new heart is guarded in Christ. Because of him, God’s grace-given goodness combats the deprivation and active corruption of sin. Through the Spirit and by Christ’s person and work, we respond with faith and repentance, trust and turning — movements in the heart enabled and executed by God himself.”

The Pastor must “REBUKE THEM SHARPLY”, not whisper sweet nothings in your ears. You need to know that – if you do not have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior – your life will be miserable. The cancer of sin will slowly erode all the blessings of living, and replace it with misery. You need to know that – if you die in your sins – you will continue on to a hell that will never end. There is no joy, no rest beyond the grave for those without Christ. Only torment, forever torment, because you rejected the only means by which you can come into a right relationship with God.

You rejected the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible is clear:

John 3:16-18 (KJV) For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but He that believeth not is condemned already, because He hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

If your Pastor soft pedals sin, and preaches to make you feel good, you need to find another Pastor. The only solution for sin and its destructive force is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Once you have received Him, you are to follow Him daily, to do as He has said. A Christian is a member of God’s Kingdom, and Jesus is your King. Amen.