Titus 1:1-4[1]
As preached at Rolling Hills Church on Sunday, January 9th, 2010
There is a connection between believing the gospel and doing good works. In Titus, Paul tends to teach it this way; Sound Doctrine Brings Good Works. Genuine faith in Christ leads to obedience. Belief in Christ brings a different behavior.
When the gospel is preached and people repent of their sin and turn to Christ to be saved from God's wrath, God calls those people out of our godless behavior! To profess faith in Christ and remain in your sin is not how one is saved from God's wrath; it is not enough to profess faith, for one must also possess faith. The behavior, the works, the choices and actions of this person give testimony either of faith in Christ or of the lack of it. Simply put, when believe the gospel, righteousness will begin to bleed out of their lives, because the Holy Spirit of God has come to dwell in them! Could we tell the difference, we who are in church with this professing Christian? Their lives give evidence! We could see the light of their faith in Christ through their actions. Jesus worded it this way in His Sermon on the Mount, Matt 5:14-16. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
The situation here in this letter is that Paul is writing to Titus to give this young pastor instruction on leading and establishing the churches on the island of Crete. Paul was writing to equip and encourage young Titus to equip the saints for the work of ministry. In Paul's brief letter to Titus, he gives him instructions about…
- Leadership in the churches
- False teachers in the churches
- Godly living to adorn the gospel
- Things that are excellent and profitable for people
- Being devoted to good works
Of course there is the greeting and the closing on either end of these brief but direct instructions, and that is where we are today, in Titus 1:1-4. Here's the message I see in this greeting text: The authority, motivation, hope, and leadership of the apostle Paul was based in the grace of God; and the grace of God comes through the knowledge of the truth. Let's read this text, Titus 1:1-4
1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,
2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;
4 To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. Shall we pray?
So; authority, purpose, hope, and leadership. Let's begin with…
Paul's Authority. Paul was this man's Greek name; his Jewish given name was Saul, and he was of the same tribe as the earlier Saul, king of Israel. But his mission was to Gentiles, so early on in his work he began going by Paul. This first line is like handing us his business card: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ". Servant in some of our translations is rendered bondservant. This was the lowest, most menial serving person in Paul's culture and time, and was often rendered 'slave'. Now when Paul puts it as bondservant of God, he is introducing himself as one who was in complete, willing, submission to God, His master. He had no will, purpose, or plan of his own; he lived for God. As for apostle of Jesus Christ, it simply means one sent out by Christ to preach the gospel. But when Christ sent the apostles out he prefaced it with "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore…" Jesus sent His apostles out with His authority to preach HIS gospel message. An apostle is like an ambassador of a sovereign nation; our ambassador to Ireland is the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mr. Daniel Rooney. As President Obama's ambassador, he doesn't tell the Irish government what he desires and requires; he communicates the desires, positions, and policies of the President of the United States of America. His role is simply to represent, to speak the message of the President. Paul's role was to speak the message of Jesus Christ, and specifically to the Gentiles. He is the willing servant of God and he is sent out by and to preach of Jesus Christ. That is Paul's authority; serving, humble representative authority.
Paul's Motivation. Paul describes it here as being "for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness". As Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, God would, through this preaching, call men and women to faith in Jesus Christ. These people he calls, "God's elect". He said a similar thing to Timothy in 2 Tim 2:10: "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory". What Paul is saying is that he preaches the gospel of jesus Christ knowing that God will, through the preaching of the cross, call men and women to Himself, those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. God's work is to save people; Paul's work was to preach the gospel. Here is how that works…
1) The gospel has saving power. Rom 1:16 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
2) The gospel preached gives faith to those God is calling. Rom 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
3) Not all who hear the gospel believe, but only those God has chosen. Here is an example of this from Acts 13:44-48 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, "'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'" And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
You see, Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel; those whom God called through this gospel responded in faith; they believed in their sinfulness, their need of Christ, and that He paid the price for their sin on that cross! Their election happened long ago, before times eternal, Ephesians teaches us. Eph 1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Those who did not simply weren't called to faith in Christ – they rejected Him. Beautifully, we aren't privilege to knowledge of who God's elect are; we simply preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God. This election is God's work, as is the regeneration, the bringing of dead sinners to life to see their sinfulness and God's holiness. When people reject God's word that doesn't guarantee that they're not called to Christ; we only know that for sure when people die rejecting Christ. But do you see what motivated Paul – that God would, by His grace, call people to faith in Christ through the preaching of the gospel. He gave the knowledge of the truth, and God did the work. He preached in the authority and power of God. And his motivation was to see God save people through the message. Next we have
Paul's Hope. Quite simply, eternal life with God in heaven. "in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;" Paul preached knowing that all who repent of sin and believe in Christ will avoid the wrath of God – death and hell, for eternity – and live forever with God, counted righteous through the blood of Christ shed on that cross. For himself, and for the elect God saved, that they would live forever with God in heaven, according to His promise! This promise was first spoken between God the Father and God the Son before creation; it is plan A. And it was fulfilled when Jesus came, died, rose, ascended, and sent the apostles to tell the good news of eternal life through faith in Christ. Jn 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
So, authority, motivation, and hope. Now briefly, for we'll see more of this as we go along, we see
Paul's Leadership. This man went around preaching the gospel, but he always took faithful young men along with him, training them to preach and teach God's gospel. Titus was one such young man. "To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior". We're not sure when Paul picked him up and took him along, but we know from this letter that he is a trusted, faithful representative of Paul just as Paul is a representative of Christ; same gospel. This is what he means by 'my true child in a common faith'. Titus believed and was trained, taught, equipped, and mentored in gospel ministry on an 'as we go' basis. Timothy was similar, and told to do the same thing himself. 2 Tim 2:1-2 "You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." Paul was always equipping the next generation of gospel preachers, and he looked ahead even further (four generations).
And all of this by grace, church. Grace and peace to you, Titus – and to all of the church of God in Jesus Christ. Paul knew that He was saved and called by God's grace, He was empowered to preach by the grace of God, and he was fully confident that this grace which has called him to faith would see him safely to be with God! GRACE: God's good power and love, giving us what we never deserve; life, love, and adoption as sons and daughters.
So we see the authority, purpose, hope, and leadership of the apostle Paul. And all of what Paul did centered around the knowledge of the truth.
Have you received God's grace? Have you believed in Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins and grant you eternal life with Him in heaven? This isn't a game; this is life. Church, how many miles would you walk to preach Christ and get the response Paul got? Let's pray.
[1] All Scriptures, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (via E-Sword Software) © 2001 Crossway Publishing. All Rights Reserved. I paste them in red for distinction.
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