A Bird’s Eye View of Titus
Titus 2:11-15
January 26, 2025
THIS MORNING
• We are beginning our new book study,
• At the same time we are beginning our annual “Mission’s Month”, though granted we’re starting a bit late so that we could finish Isaiah.
So we’ll get started on our missions emphasis now, and in all honesty it may last a while since Titus is really a missions emphasis kind of book.
This is one of the main reasons why we are starting Titus now.
One of the main purposes and messages of the book of Titus
Is that the church must work to have a more effective witness.
Titus 3:14 “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.”
That is one of the main themes of this pastoral epistle.
You are aware of the concept.
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
THE CALL FOR US IS
Not only to constantly, faithfully, and accurately preach the gospel,
But also to live lives that are consistent with the promises of the gospel.
It’s like the old German Philosopher Heinrich Heine said:
“Show me your redeemed life and I might be inclined to believe in your Redeemer”
We are certainly aware of THE PROBLEM that he revealed.
When the lives of those who claim to have been saved
Do not differ from those who are not,
It casts great skepticism upon the work of Christ.
Paul told the Jews:
Romans 2:21-24 “you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU,” just as it is written.”
THAT IS A PROBLEM.
And it was certainly a problem for the churches on the island of Crete, where Titus was serving.
Paul pointed out:
Titus 1:10-11 “For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.”
Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”
There were professing Christians on Crete whose lives had not been changed and it caused great problems for the witness of the church.
Sadly enough, the root of the PROBLEM was PASTORAL.
They had men in the pulpit preaching but there were not helping anyone.
• Paul called them “rebellious men”
• He called them “empty talkers”
• He called them “deceivers”
And he said “they must be silenced”
They were men who talked the talk, but did not walk the walk
And they were “upsetting whole families”
In short they were wrecking the church.
Jews from the Island of Crete were represented on the day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:11 “Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.”
• No doubt some of those saved at Pentecost were Jews from Crete.
• And it is likely they went home and began to preach Jesus.
THE PROBLEM WAS THAT
Either due to a lack of sound doctrine or a lack of genuine conversion
The gospel that was being proclaimed in Crete
Was a self-serving carnal gospel and it did more harm than good.
When the behavior of the one preaching the gospel
Does not testify to the effectiveness of the gospel
Then the preacher does more harm than good.
The simple fact is, Christ changes lives.
• He sets men free from sin.
• He sanctifies them entirely.
• He gives them a Spirit of obedience and love for God.
And this salvation should be evident in everyone who professes Christ,
From those in the pulpit to those in the pew.
And this is why you see Paul continually make a repetitive point throughout the book.
Let me show you:
(2:7) “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,”
(2:12) “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,”
(2:14) “who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
(3:1) “Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed,”
(3:8) “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.”
(3:14) “Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.”
Get the point?
Paul understood that preaching the gospel to a lost and dying world
Will be completely undermined if it is not accompanied by good deeds.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
But such practical obedience was LACKING ON CRETE.
It was a place not known for its virtue.
Look at what Paul said about them:
Titus 1:12-13 “One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith,”
I think that helps the picture become a little clearer even.
1. You have an Island of carnal men full of lying, laziness, and gluttony.
2. On this island you have a church that preaches a message of salvation,
3. But who doesn’t live any different than those it preaches to.
THAT IS A PROBLEM.
Paul left Titus in Crete to fix that problem.
Titus 1:5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,”
• Titus had to put things in order.
• Titus had to clean up the leadership of the church.
• Titus had to change the church’s thinking.
• Titus had to teach them of the importance of good works.
We are calling our study of Titus: “Adorning the Gospel”
THAT IS WHAT GOOD WORKS DO.
Our good works demonstrate the power and beauty of the gospel
To truly redeem.
Those good works are essential to support the gospel we preach.
So Paul would tell Titus how YOUNG WOMEN should act:
Titus 2:5 “to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”
Paul understood that
• A young woman can proclaim the gospel to her friend, or her children,
• But if her lifestyle does not support what she preaches
• Then God’s word will be “dishonored”.
Paul would tell Titus that YOUNG MEN need to live righteously too:
Titus 2:8 “sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.”
In the same way,
• If a young man preaches the gospel to the lost,
• But he has a filthy mouth
• He’ll only give the enemy ground to discredit everything he says.
Paul even spoke about SLAVES and their behavior:
Titus 2:10 “not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.”
In the same manner,
• A slave may proclaim the gospel to other slaves or even his master,
• But if he is a thief
• He will discredit the gospel he preaches.
• Rather Paul told him to show “all good faith that [he] will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.”
THE POINT IS CLEAR.
So what we have here in Titus is a VERY PRACTICAL LETTER.
There is doctrine to be sure, but this letter is primarily application.
It calls God’s people to live godly lives
So that the gospel they proclaim will be adorned and not discredited.
And Paul gets specific in his application.
• In chapter 1 he talks to elders.
• In chapter 2 he talks to old men, old women, young women, young men, & slaves.
• In chapter 3 he talks to citizens of the kingdom.
He lays out criteria and expectations of godliness for all of these groups
And in every one of them it is so that the gospel they proclaim
Will be adorned and not blasphemed.
THAT IS PRACTICAL MISSIONS STUFF.
That is practical evangelistic stuff.
So as we kick of “Missions Month”
We’re going to study the book of Titus
So that God may encourage us and challenge us
To make our “walk” match our “talk”.
But that is only one of the reasons we are going to study Titus.
There is another reason.
Titus is one of 3 “Pastoral Epistles” in the New Testament.
Along with 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus is a book written by Paul to a pastor
In order to outline how the church should function.
We read it a moment ago, but:
Titus 1:5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,”
Titus had many jobs to do in Crete, but none was bigger
Than setting the leadership in order among the churches.
Leadership matters in the church.
• Bad leadership…
• Unqualified leadership…
• Worldly leadership…
• These things affect the church and hurt the church’s mission.
Titus was charged with addressing the leadership
Of all the churches on Crete.
Paul outlines for him the qualifications for the elders of the churches.
This is something WE NEED TO STUDY in our congregation.
It is no secret that the men who have served our church for years as deacons are getting a little older.
I am certainly not desiring to push them aside, as I greatly value them and their years of service and leadership in the church.
• But it has been mentioned on more than one occasion
• And by more than a few people
• That as they get older we may need to ordain some additional men into the roles of leadership.
So we need to take a look at the roles of such men.
• We need to take a look at the duty of such men.
• We need to take a look at the qualifications of such men.
We’ll probably venture beyond Titus even a little and examine
1 Timothy and 1 Peter as well, but it is something we need to study.
We already have a handful of men in the church who for the past year have been studying in regard to leadership.
• That doesn’t mean they will all be in leadership roles.
• It doesn’t mean they are all qualified for all roles.
• But they are studying.
But the church needs to know too what is required of a leader.
The church needs to know God’s model for leadership.
The church needs to know the qualifications of a leader.
So that the church will rightly select those who do lead.
That makes Titus a great study and a timely one for us.
And there is still another reason why we are going to study Titus. BACK ON THE MISSIONS THEME. (Africa)
Last summer Zech and I were fortunate to go to Kenya and to participate in a pastoral training conference with 6 men from Tanzania and Kenya.
These are pastors in their rural areas
• Who have no training and no education and very few resources.
• They are hungry for someone to come and teach them
• And help them to lead their congregations properly.
I want to go and go and go and go.
I am eager to host more trainings for more pastors at Brackenhurst
And I am eager to visit their churches in their villages.
So I find the information given here to be of the utmost importance.
Paul is writing to Titus on HOW TO “set in order” the churches
And HOW TO straighten out the leadership crisis there.
I can’t think of a more relevant study for me
As I hope to go to them and encourage them to do the same thing.
So I think this study is going to be VERY IMPORTANT
And VERY TIMELY for us on a number of levels.
I want to encourage you at the outset to begin reading Titus over and over.
• It is only 3 chapters, you can read the whole book in less than 10 minutes.
I would encourage you to saturate yourself with it for a while so that we will have a great time studying all that God would teach us here.
Let’s give a little bit of the backstory here.
WHO IS TITUS?
We don’t know where Titus came from (except that he was Greek),
Nor do we have a record of his conversion.
Since Paul calls him (4) “my true child in a common faith”
Paul likely personally led Titus to the Lord and discipled him closely.
And we know that Titus was very important to Paul
Titus first shows up for us in the book of Galatians.
• If you will remember Paul had been appointed as the apostle to the Gentiles and he was witnessing Gentile conversion
• The Judaizers tried to ambush his ministry by declaring that all of these new Gentile converts had to be circumcised.
• The controversy resulted in the Jerusalem council which we read about in Acts 15.
In Galatians 2 as Paul instructs the Galatians about the dangers of legalism he references the issue at hand and Titus’ name emerges.
Galatians 2:1-5 “Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.”
You may also remember that in Galatians 2
• Paul tells the story of Peter’s inconsistency when the Judaizers arrived,
• How he formerly ate with the Gentiles,
• But when those men arrived Peter pulled away and started separating himself from the Gentile believers.
To that end Paul also wrote:
Galatians 2:13 “The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.”
THE POINT I am making is simply this.
The controversy regarding Gentile conversion
Was a massive issue in the early church.
There were many Jewish believers
• Who had a very difficult time getting past their prejudices
There were many Gentiles
• Who succumbed to the legalistic error of coming under the Law through circumcision.
There was a time when it felt like
• There was really only 1 man who stood for the truth of the gospel and that was Paul.
He was a relentless warrior for the truth.
He fought for the purity of the gospel.
He fought for justification by faith alone.
HE WOULD NOT YIELD.
And in Galatians chapter 2 we find that he had 1 ally.
While at times even men like Peter and Barnabas
Stumbled in the controversy
Paul had one man who stood with him without wavering.
He wrote, “But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”
Titus stood strong, and we imagine that he must have been quite an encouragement to Paul in his defense of the gospel.
Titus also shows up in another famous fight for Paul.
When you’ve read the book of 2 Corinthians you know that it is one of the most personal and vulnerable letters Paul ever wrote.
• He was under attack.
• He was under false accusation personally,
• Even his gospel and apostolic credentials were being questioned.
It must have been a very difficult time in the life of the apostle.
In fact, Paul even refers to the battle as a “thorn in the flesh”
Which he asked God to remove 3 times and God told him, “No”.
But once again we find that in the lowest points and in the most difficult ministries there was one man whom Paul leaned on, and that was Titus.
In fact, it was Titus who carried the letter of 2 Corinthians to them.
2 Corinthians 8:16-17 “But thanks be to God who puts the same earnestness on your behalf in the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to you of his own accord.”
And it is clear in the letter that Paul leaned heavily upon this faithful brother.
2 Corinthians 8:23 “As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ.”
Titus was also responsible for collecting the offering from the Corinthians that would be delivered to the saints in Jerusalem.
2 Corinthians 8:6 “So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well.”
Obviously Titus had to have been a trustworthy man.
Clearly Titus was a man upon whom Paul greatly depended and needed.
2 Corinthians 2:12-13 “Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia.”
And here we find that Paul has taken him to this island called Crete and has left him there with a difficult mission.
Titus 1:5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you,”
• In 1:13 he is told to “reprove them severely”
• In 2:1 he is told to “speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine”
• In 2:15 Paul says, “these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
• In 3:1 he is told to “Remind them to be subject to rulers…”
• In 3:8 Paul says “concerning these things I want you to speak confidently…”
• In 3:9 he is told to “avoid foolish controversies”
• In 3:10 he is told to “Reject a factious man…”
Clearly he is on a difficult mission.
The island of Crete is in the middle of the Mediterranean sea.
It is directly south of Greece and south west of Turkey.
And as already noted it is an island of
(12) “liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons”
AND THAT IS THE MINISTRY.
Stay there, set things in order, clean up the leadership structure,
Preach the truth, and put those churches back on the right track.
Paul assigned this difficult mission
To one of his most reliable and dearest ministry partners.
A faithful man who has proven himself through thick and thin.
That is the “birds-eye” view of the book of Titus.
It is certainly my prayer that as we study
• We will be convicted regarding both our leadership and our mission.
• That we will grab the encouragement of Paul and apply it in our own lives.
But before we get into the exposition of the text of Titus,
In the few moments we have left this morning,
I just want to encourage you as to the application of this book in our lives.
We don’t live in Crete, we live in Spur.
I don’t know that I would make some pointed statement about Spur
Like Paul did about Crete.
I’m not sure I would say something as direct as “Spur people are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
Though I’m sure that Spur, like every town,
Has its fair share of those things.
But I would make this point.
Never lose sight of the mission field that is right under your nose and right across the street.
Look, I love foreign missions as much as the next guy.
• It would be a complete fallacy for me to say that I don’t enjoy going to Africa,
• I absolutely love it
• I hope God continues to open the door for me to participate there.
But I also know regarding Africa we are talking about 2 weeks a year.
The other 50 weeks are spent right here in west Texas.
Any time we talk about missions
It is common for your mind to jump to some location thousands of miles away, but that is NOT the encouragement we find in Titus.
If anything Titus teaches us that
OUR MISSION IS THE PLACE WHERE GOD HAS PLANTED US.
It is a calling for the church
• To put itself in order so that it can reach the people right outside its walls.
It is a calling for the leaders of the church
• To preach with boldness and passion, not just inside the church, but outside of it.
It is a calling for the members of the church
• To purify their lives and start living the gospel they proclaim.
And it is a calling for us
• To do that for the sake of those we live with and work with and socialize with every single day.
AND YET WE KNOW THAT
“home” is often times the most difficult mission field.
After all, we know these people.
And they know us.
We know their blunders, their mistakes, and their sin.
And they know ours.
The cost for evangelism at home
Is a different kind of cost than a foreign mission field,
But in many ways it is far more costly.
It is true there are unknown dangers in foreign fields.
• There are certain anxieties associated with foreign governments and foreign customs.
• There are certain difficulties with language barriers and financial costs.
• Those things make foreign missions certainly costly and difficult.
But there are ways in which home missions
Are perhaps even more costly.
If you fly to Africa and offend a village,
• Provided you leave safely,
• You are talking about an offended people halfway around the world
• Who have no impact on your daily life.
But if you offend the people of Spur
You are talking about the people you live around every day.
Being made an outcast in Africa is one thing,
Being made an outcast in Spur is much more costly.
It is easy to go across the world
• And be bold about the sin of a church or the sin of a culture.
• And tell a man to stop sleeping with another man’s wife.
• And confront a woman for gossip or bitterness.
The social cost for such a confrontation is relatively low.
But if you do those things at home,
You will be pay that cost daily for the rest of your life,
Or as long as you live here.
WHAT IS MORE.
It is easy to go and confront the sin of a people whom you don’t live with.
• It is easy to be on your best behavior for 2 weeks while you are in their presence.
• Anyone can be a model example of godliness for 2 weeks on a mission trip.
But if you call out the sin of those you live among,
You will have to avoid that same sin in your life every day.
Godliness can be temporary on the mission field,
But if you are going to be a witness at home
Godliness must be permanent.
A slip up and a stumble into sin can wreck years of ministry.
GODLINESS MUST BE PERMANENT.
You are going to have to consistently practice what you preach forever.
There is a difficulty and cost to missions at home
That exceeds those abroad.
BUT…
• This is where God has planted you.
• This is where God has placed you.
Acts 17:26 “and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”
You were sovereignly determined by God
• To be alive in 2025
• And to live in Spur, Texas or Matador or Afton or Dickens or White River Lake, or wherever you live.
Do you think that God determined that
With no thought to you being a light in the darkness here?
CHURCH, THIS IS OUR MISSION FIELD.
• Matador is our mission field.
• Afton is our mission field.
• Dickens is our mission field.
• Spur is our mission field.
• Girard is our mission field.
• Gilpin is our mission field.
• Jayton is our mission field.
• White River Lake is our mission field.
God placed us here.
This is our Crete.
And it doesn’t matter
If the people of our region are “always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons”.
It doesn’t matter
If they are hypocritical believers, sexually immoral, drunkards, and users of foul language.
It doesn’t matter
If they are bitter, angry, unforgiving, petty, idolatrous, or apathetic about the things of God.
This place and these people need to be reached with the gospel.
And in order to reach them God placed His church here.
Matthew 5:13-16 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
And that is the message of the book of Titus.
Titus 2:11-15 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
So there is the opening exhortation as begin our study of Titus.
In Spur, TX “the grace of God has appeared”
He is offering “salvation to all men”
And in order for us to be faithful witnesses of that salvation
• God is “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires”
• He is instructing us “to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present
age”
• He is commanding us to look “for the blessed hope and the appearing of
the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus”
• We are to remember that He “gave Himself for us to redeem us from every
lawless deed”
• We are to remember that His goal is to “purify for Himself a people for His
own possession, zealous for good deeds.”
And just as Titus was to do that on Crete, we are to do that in Spur.
God inspired this letter and preserved in Scripture
So that we would hear these words, be exhorted by them,
Reproved by them and that we would not disregard them.
Are you willing to be a missionary to Spur?
• Are you willing to be used of God to shine His light where you live?
• Are you willing to be sanctified by God so that you are of use?
• Are you willing to be devoted to godly living and a bold proclamation of the gospel?
That is what it will take for us
To be faithful missionaries in our mission field.
This book will help us get our minds right to do it well.
As you study it
I would just ask you
• To apply it’s commands to your personal life
• And to pray that God would use you to save the lost here for His glory.
Titus 3:8 “This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.”
