Titus: An Introduction

When we read the New Testament we see the early church was marked by both moral and doctrinal confusion. Does that sound familiar? Sounds like the 21st century church as well.

Today on Truth for Life we're beginning a new series called Get It Right. We'll discover key principles that should set the church apart from the prevailing culture. Alistair Begg is teaching from Titus chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. Titus, the letter of Titus, was probably written in the sixties. Oh, says one of our young people, I didn't realize it was as old as that. No, not those sixties.

The sixties. It was written probably in the sixth decade of the first century. And there is no way that you can read the Acts of the Apostles and make a determination as to where the letter of Titus fits into that chronology. And the best estimate is that Titus was written in between Paul's first and second imprisonments. His first imprisonment, which is referenced in Acts chapter 28, ended in his being released.

His second imprisonment, from which he writes, for example, 2 Timothy, ended in his death. And in that interim period, between being re-imprisoned and finally dying, Paul did what he always did—that is, he moved around, telling people this glorious good news of the gospel, that Jesus Christ, the risen Jesus, had met him, had changed him, that he is alive, and that the reason for his death is because he had made an atoning sacrifice for the sins of all who would come to trust in him. And in the course of that evangelism explosion, if you like, people were then turning to Jesus, and having done so, they were then established in congregations. And so that is why there were congregations scattered throughout the island of Crete. And so these churches were established, and Paul is now writing to Titus, his coworker, in order that he might encourage him to give the kind of oversight to these believers that will be beneficial for them to be able to withstand the peculiar challenges that are part and parcel of their everyday lives. And so it is that within a relatively short period of time, these believers in Crete were confronted by people who were springing up and teaching false doctrine.

And because of this, it was imperative that Titus was not only alert to it, but he knew what to do about it. So, for example—and I'll just give you an overview here for a while, for those of you who are worried about the progress of things. This is really the introduction to the introduction, and we won't get much beyond introductions this morning. I say that so you won't be disappointed or encouraged, whichever way you choose to look at it. But verse 16 of chapter 1, here are these individuals that are disrupting the fellowship, potentially in Crete. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.

They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. Now, you might read that and say, Well, I wonder why you don't just tell us exactly how you feel about these characters, Paul. But you will see that he's not about to play footsie, as it were, with this difficult and devilish activity. And so he tells Titus, as the pastor of these congregations, what it is that he must stress, what it is that he must insist upon, so as to establish in the hearts and minds of the congregation the link that exists between, if you like, Christian doctrine—the truth of the Bible, the truth about God, the truth about man, the truth about salvation, just the truth of God—so that they might understand that there is a direct link between that belief, if you like, and the behavior which is then to be an emblem of that belief, so that people have a legitimate right to say, Well, if that is what you believe, surely isn't this how you ought to behave?

And so it is that Titus 2 is then to teach what accords with sound doctrine. What is the pastor to do? He's not to entertain.

He's not to build a crowd. He is to teach. He's first of all and primarily a pastor-teacher. There really is no raison d'être apart from the provision of God's Word granted to him which he then is responsible to pass on so that faithful men will teach others and that those who are edified will then do the works of ministry. It's really quite straightforward when you read the New Testament.

It's amazing how easy it is for us to get it wrong. They are to be told what kind of character is going to emerge from sound teaching. Now, you see, what makes it, again, quite dramatic is the fact that—and you'll get this when you read the letter through on your own and think about it—is that they are living in a culture in Crete which was marked by immoral excess. The Cretans, you will see, were described by one of their own poets in a not very flattering way. Verse 12 of chapter 1, one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This doesn't describe them all. This is just characteristics. And many of them would have been looking at one another when this is read out and said, Yeah!

Yes! Because they had emerged out of this background. Their lives were formerly like this, but now their lives were being ordered by an entirely different manual, they were being directed by an entirely different power, they were now moving according to an entirely different strategy and agenda, because they were now in Christ. So the framework is moral and doctrinal confusion.

That's really what it is. And into that moral turpitude, they are to live lives of self-control, and into this doctrinal morass, they are to come with absolute clarity in their understanding of Christian doctrine. Now, that is not just going to happen by hanging around for one sermon a Sunday.

Nobody is ever going to get ahold of this on that basis. It's going to take far more than that. And that's why Titus must labor, and they're going to have to labor as well in order that they might understand these things. And at the very heart of it, you find that goodness is to prevail. Goodness is to prevail. Let me just point it out to you, give you a flavor of it.

Verse 16—we've already seen it. The reason that these false teachers are such a detestable nuisance is in part because they're unfit for any good work. Why are they unfit for any good work? Because it is the good news which provides the basis for the good deeds. They don't understand or believe the good news, and therefore they are unable to live out the good news. In the same way, you will notice in verse 7 that the pastor himself—how challenging is this?—Titus, show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. A model of good works. The people are supposed to be able to look at Titus and say, Well, if we didn't know what good works looked like, at least we can find out if we just see what Titus is doing. Verse 14, that God has transformed the lives of these individuals, redeeming them—verse 14 of chapter 2—from lawlessness—you notice, out of the context from which they've come—insubordination and lawlessness, anarchy, chaos—and he's purifying for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Verse 1 of chapter 3, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

Verse 8, devoted to good works. Verse 14, remind them, make sure that you let our people learn—notice—learn to devote themselves to good works. In other words, there is a learning process in this.

The congregations in Crete are gonna have to learn this, and I think we've got to learn it too. Learn it. In the same way that the wives are gonna have to learn how to love their husbands. You mean that you can have a class for loving your husbands? No, not a class. But if you find a lady who's loved her husband for thirty, forty, fifty years, just go and spend time with her. That's your class. She'll teach you how to love that rascal, because she'd been doing it for fifty years.

Not your rascal, her rascal. But you gotta learn it. You have to learn how to love your children. Oh, but don't you just love your children just with a surge of emotion? Emotion can only last you for a little while. But emotion won't keep you in the middle of the night. Emotion won't keep you when the chips hit it.

No! You have to learn it. And these good deeds, it is learned behavior.

Learned behavior. Now, interestingly, Paul also points out—and this is, of course, of vital importance—that they have been brought to God, they have come to know God, not as a result, he says, of works or deeds done in righteousness. You haven't come to know God because of things that you have done.

That has not been the case. That's verse 4 of chapter 3. If you're looking for it, I'm looking for it myself. But when the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us—now, here's the phrase—"not because of works done by us in righteousness." Well, you say, well, wait a minute. You've just showed us all these things that say, Good works, do good works, do good works, do good works.

Yes, but here's the distinction. Religion says, Do good works, and God will accept you. The Christian gospel says, You are accepted through the one securing work of Jesus.

Therefore, because you're accepted, do these things. So we are not accepted by these good things, but we are accepted in order that we might be doing these good things. So, Ephesians—Paul puts it in a pithy way, doesn't he? In Ephesians 2, everybody knows 8 and 9, often forgets, verse 10, for by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing.

It's the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast. And then he immediately goes on, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. So there we have it. That's the introduction to the introduction. Now let's come to the introduction. And notice that Paul introduces himself. Isn't that a little strange?

No, of course it's not strange. He needs to know when he opens up the letter who it's from. So he puts it there at the beginning. Unlike us, we put our names at the end.

Or I don't know what we really do anymore in communicating by way of all the other social mechanisms to communicate. But in a normal letter, we say, Dear George, and at the end we say, Your friend Alistair. In these letters it starts off, Hi, this is Alistair.

I'm writing to you, my dear friend George. There's nothing really surprising in that. What is surprising is the length to which he goes by way of introduction. Does Titus not know all this stuff? This apostle of Jesus Christ, a servant of God, and so on? No, Titus knew this.

Well, what's the answer? Well, it's always good to be reminded of what we know—that's one. But the other is that these pastoral epistles, which is how we refer to 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, each of these letters are personal insofar as they're written to an individual, but they're not private. They are written in such a way not only to be read by the recipient but to be read by all who are under the care of the recipient. And when you read each of them, you realize that the impact of God's word would be both to Titus and then, as Paul intends, through Titus. So in writing in this way, especially by means of this introduction, he is not only reinforcing for Titus, if you like, what the central truths of the gospel are, but he is also laying out his case—a case that will then be worked through in the balance of his letter.

I think it is, in some senses, similar to what a lawyer does in trial proceedings, where the lawyer will have in his introductory statement the opportunity to give indication to the members of the jury and all who are in attendance the way in which he's going to proceed with this case. And so he lays out the facts that are salient, in order that he might register them in the minds of his listeners, so that then, when he returns to them, they will at least have been alerted to that which is the framework of his case. And if you think of this introduction in that way, you realize that that would be meaningful not only to those who were believers, but it would also be significant to those who were these detestable, disobedient, insubordinate characters who were unsettling the households of faith. And they would be on the receiving end of this instruction, and they would be forced to recognize in listening to it that what Paul was saying and what he was going on to say absolutely set what they were saying back on its heels.

Indeed, it contradicted it and confuted it. Because Paul, by this stage, is beyond the founding of these congregations. That has happened earlier, when he'd made the visit, when people had been converted. And it is some time—not a very long time, but a significant enough time—since they had been assembled, began to gather, introduced themselves to one another, and so on. The days now had long passed when Paul would have been able to identify them, many of them by name.

When he thought of them, he could have thought of them in the past, in terms of just little groups and clusters of people, many of whom he would perhaps be able to recall. But everything had grown beyond that now. The congregations had flourished, they'd developed, they'd spread, they were meeting in different locations, and so on. And so Paul is using his co-worker in order to convey the truth so that it might be multiplied. And at the same time, we have to recognize that Paul now is addressing these issues at the tail end of his life rather than at even the midpoint of his life, and certainly not at the beginning of his converted life. And there is a difference, is there not? I'm certainly finding that the way you view everything, the way you view your finances, the way you view a significant purchase, the way you secure a mortgage—whatever it might be—launch into an adventure or a venture that is business in its framework.

There's definitely a difference between the kind of spirit that might have attached to your early endeavors in your twenties, thirties, even your forties, but it's different in your fifties and into your sixties and into your seventies. And Paul now recognizes that his time is increasingly short, and therefore he must address these things, and Titus must address them in such a way that the people may now be edified and they may in turn be multiplied. It's a significant transition, that's what it is. Because what is about to happen here is the movement from the apostolic to the post-apostolic church. We're now approaching a point in the history of the church where the apostles, who have been the very mouthpieces of God, whose words are now becoming inscripturated, who have given to us this material, they are now being taken away by death. And the church in Ephesus and in Crete and in Corinth, and in all the places where Paul had gone on his missionary journeys, in Jerusalem itself at the very beginning—from a human perspective, the church now trembles, as it were, on the brink of annihilation. And Paul himself is exercised about the fact that when he dies, it is vital that these folks, to whom he has given himself and given his life, will actually be committed to, consumed by, convicted of the absolute necessity of bearing testimony, not only by lip but by life, of that which he has entrusted to them through his servants Titus and Timothy in relationship to these things. And that's why he says in verse 5, the reason I left you in Crete is so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town.

Because we're going to see, when we come back to this, that no church can go beyond the level of its leadership. God is a God of order. That's why there's order in the family. Society rejects that order. But it is God's order, and he invented the family.

Therefore, he gets to say how the family works. There is order in the church. It's not a democracy.

It's not a notocracy. It's a theocracy that God mediates his rule through those entrusted with the solemn responsibility of giving leadership to the congregation under the jurisdiction of the Scriptures. And Paul says to Titus, it's imperative, Titus, that you grasp this and that you convey this. This is not an aberration on the part of Paul, because you remember when he wrote to the Corinthians, and they were enjoying these amazing times. The Holy Spirit was poured out upon them.

They were into all kinds of things—the good, the bad, and the ugly. And eventually, in the end of chapter 14, he says to them, Listen, let's just lay down a principle here. All things should be done decently and in order.

What does that mean? It means that the order that God has established for his people is to be paid attention to. And when it isn't paid attention to, then chaos follows—whether it's in a family, whether it's in a sports team, whether it's in a business, or whether it's in a church.

When we're tempted to take the mentality of the prevailing culture and be so squeezed by that as to squeeze out from us the convictions necessary not only to believe but to behave, then we're on a quick slide to uselessness. It is a sobering thought, isn't it, to think about where the church is in Crete today? But I do really believe that God has purpose for us here in these studies in Titus.

Take it home. Will you read it? I tell you what, if you read Titus every day—just read the three chapters every day—if you've read it for a month, you'd virtually know it off by heart.

And then you'd be able to catch me out all over the place, which I know you love to do. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. The foundational elements of any truly effective church include solid leadership, sound doctrine, and godly living. As we've heard today in our study of Titus, the Apostle Paul's instruction to his young protege was to teach sound doctrine. That applies to pastors today as well. Throughout every generation, those who teach God's Word need the prayers and support of the congregation to contribute to the overall well-being of the local church. You can help your pastor and the faithful leaders in your church by praying for them regularly. In fact, there's a book we want to recommend to you called Love Your Church, Eight Great Things About Being a Church Member. This is a book written by Pastor Tony Morita, and he answers questions like, How can I encourage my pastor's effectiveness in a meaningful way? Or, How can I identify my gifts and stay eager to serve? The book Love Your Church presents a number of action steps any church member can take that will not only help your pastor, but will help your entire church community. Your prayers, your efforts really do make a difference for today and for eternity. Request a copy of the book Love Your Church when you give a donation. You'll find the book in the mobile app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate. I'm Bob Lapine.

Thanks for listening. Is what the Apostle Paul had to say about the local church still relevant for churches 2,000 years later? Tomorrow we'll learn about the basis for the Apostle Paul's authority to speak on these issues and why what he said mattered then and still matters today. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.