Titus 1:5-7 - Elders for Gospel Order: Christlike Character Part I

Take your Bible and go to the book of Titus.

The book of Titus.

We're in our second message through this book that we just started.

We'll be in it for about three or four months together.

It's a glorious book.

As I said last week, it falls in line with the flow of our messages and series over the past few years.

As we looked at the servant prophesied in Isaiah and the pro the servant revealed in Matthew, and here we're seeing in Titus the servant embodied in gospel order in the life of his people.

And we'll be looking at a passage particularly that shows what that gospel order looks like as we begin to think about how to set leadership within a church.

But before we open up Titus together, I just want to bring ourselves to a remembrance of things that several of us have witnessed in recent years, things that have been painful and difficult and even sobering to experience.

We've seen on the public stage what happens when a ministry fails because giftedness is given a higher priority than godliness.

And when charisma is given far greater significance than character, and when the appearance of strength or the seductive view of expertise covers over a complete absence of holiness.

Some of you might have heard of the name Mark Driscoll, who was a pastor in the Pacific Northwest.

He was in the papers in a lot of places, national papers, and drew attention to his bold, energetic, and even brash manner.

People came there in droves.

But eventually that ministry collapsed.

It collapsed under the weight of anger and intimidation and the strength and pattern of bullying in the leadership rather than the gentleness and humility that scripture requires.

Others have sat back shocked when they heard about uh Bill Hybels and the allegations against him and Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago area.

A church where polished leadership models took the precedence, where expertise was a key word.

All of it masked deep fractures of integrity.

And closer to our home and within more of our circles, I would say, were men like Steve Lawson and Art Arzudia.

These are men who preached Christ with passion, who seemed to hold the Bible up with high regard, but whose lives contradicted the holiness that they proclaimed.

I don't mention these things simply to cast stones, but to remind us that truth, there is a truth in this that we dare not ignore.

That charisma cannot overshadow character, that giftedness cannot be elevated above godliness, that the appearance of success cannot be a cloak over the absence of holiness.

Because every time it is, eventually the church is going to be harmed, people are going to be wounded, trust is going to be broken, the gospel of Christ is going to be shadowed, and the name of Christ is going to be dishonored.

Paul understood this danger.

And so he's speaking to Titus, to these young, vulnerable churches that are surrounded by a culture that admires strength and rhetoric and influence, and he's telling them here's the answer for gospel order in the middle of this church.

And so he writes to Titus, look at verse 5, with this urgency.

The reason I left you in Crete was to set things right and to set right what was left undone.

And as I directed you to appoint elders in every town.

What is important here is gospel order.

What is here is God's appointed means of leadership to bring about that gospel order.

And as we'll see today, as we look at this passage of scripture, Paul is not calling Titus to find impressive men, powerful men, men who can draw a crowd.

No, what he's prescribing are godly men.

Men who have been shaped by the gospel, shaped by what they proclaim.

And what Paul is giving here is not a leadership manual.

We're not to read this like this is some sort of text manual for leadership, but rather as a pastoral safeguard for us as God's people.

Because God is giving us this order in order that we might be free from the dangers that surround us in the culture that's in this world.

That we would be able to shine, because we're protected people from those things, the beauty of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

That we might have godly leadership that anchors us in truth and love and holiness and peace.

And so as we walk through Titus, particularly these verses that we'll be looking at five to seven this morning and eight next week, I want us to hear Paul's words.

They're not just ancient wisdom from a distant culture, but they are wisdom for us right where we are, right now, in our moment.

So let's take a look at what Christ does to safeguard his people as he gives us leaders who are marked by Christ's holiness and Christ's humility and Christ's grace.

Because if we want to be a church that continues to stand for truth and to grow in holiness and to display the beauty of Christ, we must be the kind of church that's shaped by this gospel order.

And so with this vision before us, let's step into it and see how Paul unpacks Christ's orders for his household.

And the first thing I want us to notice is just that.

How Christ declares who we are, his order for his household.

Now we read verse 5.

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you could put into place the things that are lacking here.

But you'll notice Paul isn't reaching into the language of business or organizational strategy.

He's speaking about something in a metaphor that we need to anchor our hearts in.

Look at verse 7.

As an overseer of God's household.

That's a key word.

The basic social relational structure of the ancient world.

God's household.

And we need to slow down for just a minute here because if we gloss past this word, we're going to miss the weight of what Paul is saying.

Metaphors matter.

Metaphors do two things for us, especially when we see this metaphor in relationship to who we are.

We are God's household.

And what that does is it gives us an identity in which we can understand who we are.

And it also projects for us a course of action so that we might know how to conduct ourselves and live out our lives.

Metaphors matter.

And this metaphor is extremely important for us to be able to understand how we are supposed to be as God's people.

And in the Greco-Roman world, they would have understood this completely.

They would have understood exactly what Paul was talking about when they read these words to Titus in order to conduct themselves in a particular way among God's household.

What is a household in the Greco-Roman world?

Well, it was more than just a nuclear family like we understand it.

Yes, it included parents and children, but it also included extended relatives, it also included the servants, it also included apprentices, it also included laborers who were all within the context of one particular household.

It was a place where people were fed, where they were taught, where they were corrected, where they were protected, where they were formed.

A household in the Greco-Roman world had an order and it had oversight, and it had someone responsible for ensuring that the life of that household held value for the society at large.

And for Jewish people, the household carried an even deeper meaning.

Because it was within the center of the household life where the scriptures were taught, where the children learned the fear of the Lord, where hospitality was practiced, and where the rhythms of a life of faith in God were lived out day after day.

Now think about that for just a second, in the contrast to how we understand a household.

Lived in England for many years, and in England they say every man's house is his castle.

And if you're English, you put a moat around that castle.

And inside that castle, it's your domain.

And we think about it as a place of privacy rather than responsibility.

We think of it as a place of retreat rather than formation and shaping.

And so when Paul calls the church God's household, we don't immediately grab hold of it, and we lose the ability to understand the category that he's referring to here when he says that we are God's household.

And if we gloss over this metaphor, we're going to look for the metaphors that we're accustomed to seeing and perhaps even experiencing in our culture today.

We'll misunderstand them to such a degree that we'll pull in other metaphors to shape who we are, ignoring God's metaphor.

And so we'll assume that elders must be the most winsome of people, the most charismatic, the most business savvy, the most assertive, the most visionary, or perhaps just the strongest personality in the room.

Why?

Because we've taken a metaphor of the business world or of celebrities and have said that's what a pastor should be and that's what an elder ought to be.

But God says no.

Because God's not building a co a corporation.

God is building a spiritual family, He's building a household.

And what do families need?

They need a shepherd, not an executive.

They need a counselor, not a celebrity.

What does a family need?

They need a father with character, not just a person of charisma.

And how often have we seen the brokenness of families in Hollywood?

How often have we seen the shattered lives of those who are in the C-suites?

How often have we felt the reverberating effect of families whose fathers are led by giftedness rather than character?

And they feel like they can never ever attain the place of that charismatic father.

So Paul here is taking household imagery, and he's saying, This is who we are.

We're a household.

And he's giving Titus this radical understanding of leadership within that metaphor, that context.

And so, elders here, we're not here to build a brand, and we're not to be using God's word as a platform.

We're here to help God's family grow and take up their responsibilities, shaped by the word, ordered by God's decrees, led by his spirit, to be a display of the beauty of the gospel in this world.

And so, before Titus gets into the deeper meaning of what it means to strengthen this church or to call people to godly life and living, he wants us to have set in place what it means for us to have the right kind of leadership.

It's important.

I learned a valuable lesson one day in the middle of one of the most difficult days of my life, where I was in the middle of a meeting in which my character was besmirched and where people were visibly and vocally opposing me as a pastor.

And the best I could, I tried to be as kind and generous and gracious as I could be in the midst of that moment.

And there was a man from the church, and some of you have heard me tell this uh by the name of Cody.

Now, Cody was a medical doctor, he was an anesthesiologist.

In fact, he was the head of anesthesiology at the hospital.

And his email address will give you an understanding of how he thought about himself.

Commander Cody was his was his email address.

So he, you know, your typical doctor, right?

You know, he thought he was the smartest guy in the room in every room he went into.

And he probably was, actually.

And he came up to me and he looked at me with this quizzical look for about 10 seconds.

And it's a little uncomfortable when somebody looks at you kind of sideways, you know, for 10 seconds without saying anything.

And like, hi, Cody.

And he said, You're gracious.

Cody, we're all supposed to be gracious.

He said, No, no, no, no, no, no.

You're you're gracious.

I never knew what gracious looked like, but now I know.

Now I know what it means.

That is much, much more important than any other leadership statement or action or decision I could have made.

Because it radically altered this man's life to be shaped like Jesus.

This is what leadership's meant to do, and this is why Titus is meant to start here.

Paul says, appoint elders who will bring gospel order to God's household.

Because it's not about hierarchy, it's not about control, it's not about authority, it's about making sure that through this ministry of care and protection and nurturing of holiness, Jesus Christ is on display by all of his people.

That's what to ensure that the church reflects the character of the one who bought it by his own blood.

So let's take a look at how he gets into this.

And where he begins shouldn't surprise us.

He begins with the elder's household.

Makes sense, right?

If God's people are God's household, then those who are going to be in a place of influence in God's household must have already shown a consistency in their own household.

It starts there.

Take a look at verse 6.

An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness or rebellion, as an overseer of God's household.

So when Paul digs into this for Titus and says, this is what you're to look for in these men that you're to put in place, he doesn't start with preaching ability, he doesn't start with theological training or acumen, he doesn't start with leadership gifts, he starts with a house.

He starts with their home.

And that's not accidental.

Because everything that Paul is saying here is rooted in this household terminology.

Because the church is God's household, and the first place you want to look to see if a man is fit to be in a place of influence in God's household, you look at his household.

Take a look at it.

Because this is where his character is exposed.

This is where his authority has been exercised in all the little decisions.

This is where relationships have been nurtured, and this is where order has been maintained.

The home is the man's proving ground.

It reveals who he truly is, not what he appears to be in public.

What he's like when nobody's there to applaud, but everybody sees him as he is.

So let's take a look at this.

First of all, he must be above reproach.

No, we'll spend a little more time with this in just a moment because it's repeated.

But it doesn't mean, first of all, that if a man is above reproach, that he is perfect.

Perfect.

What does it mean though?

It means that there's no glaring contradiction between his private life and his public life.

It means that there's not a tangible way of grabbing a hold of him and saying he lacks integrity.

And it's in contradiction to how he presents himself.

That he's the same person in the living room as he is in the pulpit.

The household.

Take a look at the next phrase there.

The husband of one wife.

Now, literally, a one-woman man.

This is not about marital status.

It's not like he's saying, Um, are you married?

Yes?

Good.

Got that one ticked off.

Let's let's go to the next one.

It's it's about faithfulness of heart rather than status of marriage.

Single married.

Those things might be part of it, but the core focus is on this.

The man must be faithful in heart, faithful in mind, faithful in conduct.

His marriage must not be a performance, but a place where he lives his life in such a way that his wife is secure, and that women in the church know that they are not the object of this man's seduction, and therefore they too can be secure, because that man is a one woman man.

Now he moves deeper into the household.

And here he says this blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who are not accused of wildness, rebellion.

An earlier version of the CSB and other translations translate this word as believing, that an elder must have believing children.

And in this revision in the CSB, they've made it faithful children.

And I think that's probably the better translation.

Faithful, trustworthy, well-ordered, even obedient children is the idea.

And the context is unmistakable when you see it.

Because Paul is not telling Titus to try to discern the regenerate heart of every child of every elder that's going to be appointed.

Something none of us can see.

Instead, he gives an explanation of it here.

Take a look at the verse.

Faithful children who are.

Not accused of wildness or rebellion that are not marked by debauchery or insubordination.

And this little phrase is what is an exploit explanatory phrase that gives us an understanding of the definition of this term.

And so Paul is talking about conduct here, not conversion.

He's talking about order, not regeneration.

He's talking about the fruit of a father's shepherding presence, not the secret work of the spirit in the heart of a child.

And this becomes even clearer.

My watch is talking to me, so better tell it to be quiet.

There we go.

What he's saying here is that the Father's presence in the home should be such that his children, though they may not have the faith of the Father, they have the respect of the Father.

They live a life that's within the context of the Father's leadership, so that they are not standing in flagrant disregard of it, a life of debauchery, and they're not living in angry conflict with it by way of rebellion.

So Paul is saying that if a man knows how to bring this kind of order, this kind of dignity, this kind of respect, this kind of responsiveness within his home, then he's going to be suitable to be in a place where he can do the same thing among the larger household of faith.

So the children are glad, willing, submissive parts of the household that this man oversees, where his leadership is marked by love, where it's marked by consistency, where it's marked by care, where it's marked by wisdom.

And so this is why Paul begins at the home.

This is where the man's leadership is tested.

This is where his character is revealed.

This is where his ability to shepherd is put on display.

And it's important, as I said, because if there are leaders whose homes are in disarray, the church is going to be in disarray.

If there's leaders where their homes are neglected, the church is going to be neglected.

If there are homes where the homes are spiritually barren, the church is going to feel the reverberations of that kind of leadership, and they too are eventually going to be spiritually barren.

And so he says, look at the home.

This is for every single one of us.

Why?

Because the gospel is meant to shape our homes.

Right?

The gospel is meant to shape our marriages.

The gospel is meant to shape our parenting.

The gospel is meant to shape our character so that we might live out our lives with love and constancy and dignity and wisdom.

That we are to be who we say we are, that we are to be consistent, so that no one could grab a hold of us and say you're living a contradictory life to what you proclaim yourself to be.

Because the beauty of Christ is meant to be displayed not just in the elders, but all of us.

As we'll see later in the book of Titus, adorn the gospel, beautify the gospel by the way you conduct yourself in your daily activity at work, for instance.

So Paul begins here, not with gifting, but with a witness of character, not with ability, but with faithfulness.

Not with this public ministry of charisma, but with private, constant, consistent character.

Now let's see what that looks like.

Let's dig in just a little bit different, a little more deeply here.

Take a look at verse 7.

An overseer of God's household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money.

So he moves from the observable character of the household to now the observable character of the heart.

And again, he's not looking for perfection here, but for patterns of behavior.

And therefore, he starts with this idea that in God's household he must be blameless.

But before we get to the blameless term again, let me reiterate this term God's household.

This is not the elder's household.

This is not the pastor's household.

This is not the TV preacher's household.

This is not the radio ministry's speaker's household.

Whose household is it?

God's household.

This is not his ministry, his platform, his agenda, his name, his bank account.

It's God's household.

Which means that those who are in leadership must recognize that they are under a greater leader.

They are under the chief shepherd under whom they serve.

And that it is his household and his will and his agenda and his glory and his purposes that are to be enacted.

Which means in every way this they must be guided by the revealed word of God.

And ensure that what God once done is what is done.

And that those things that lie outside of God's express word are places for wisdom and humility as they seek to operate within this context that it is God's household.

So who do we look for?

When we look for people who will do that, well, they must be blameless or above reproach.

Again, free from those kind of patterns that would lead them to a public call of a lack of integrity that would bring confusion to the church.

A life that is whole and consistent.

And then Paul gives us these knots here, these dangers that disqualify a man.

Not accused of being these kind of people.

Arrogant, hot-tempered, excessive drinker, a bully, are greedy for money.

Let's begin with the first one, not arrogant.

Not arrogant.

God wants a person to lead the church who is full of him and not of themselves.

Because pride is a poison in the household of God.

An arrogant man is going to crush weak people.

An arrogant man is going to silence hurting people.

An arrogant man is going to use compliant people.

But a humble man would never do that.

An arrogant man will make the ministry about himself rather than about Christ.

So you look for someone who is deferential, who is caring, who is humble of heart.

He goes on to say, not hot-tempered.

Not given to eruptions of anger.

The flock needs patience, not volatility.

Because a man who cannot be trusted with his temper cannot be trusted with souls.

If he can't control his temper, he certainly can't lead people.

I grew up in that kind of household.

My dad didn't control his temper a bit.

And it would flare and fire in any place at any point in time.

And it was a shameful, humbling, and fearful place to be when you're walking around in the middle of a department store, and the only voice that can be heard, even above the sound of the announcements coming from the mic the speakers in the ceiling, was my dad bellowing about something he was upset about.

And if he did that in public, he certainly did that at home.

Outbursts of anger create fear, distancing, anxiety, withdrawal, hurt.

Not the kind of openness and the growth in Christ that God intends for his church to have.

Because a man who numbs himself is not going to be keen enough to have the wisdom to bring clarity in the lives of others.

A man who lacks self-control is not going to be the kind of person you want to live among with the dignity and order that God's household needs.

And so a shepherd of God's household must be clear-minded, must be ready for action, and must be free from anything that controls his character.

So his comp he doesn't compromise his integrity and it doesn't dull his judgment.

Take a look at the next one.

Not a bully.

Not a bully.

Not because they had committed any sin whatsoever, but simply because they had not fallen, followed, fall, fallen in line.

Fallen in line?

Is that the right word?

Fallen in line with the dictates of the pastor.

And the pastor ousted them from the church.

And they came here broken and wounded people.

And they sat among us for several months.

And I said to them, It doesn't matter at all if you get to the place where this may not be the church you want to join, but if this can be simply a place where you can let go of all of that hurt and pain and simply be able to hear the word of God with a sincere and clear mind and heart until you're whole again.

And then you can move forward and maybe here, maybe somewhere else, but serve God the way you can.

They had been bruised by a bully.

They had been abruptly accosted by a man's devious strength of personality.

The shepherd's staff is meant for guarding and guiding, not striking.

Let's take a look at the last one.

Not greedy for money.

It's obvious, isn't it?

A man who's greedy for money is eventually going to use people in order to gain it.

But a man who loves Christ is going to use himself up and his resources up to serve people.

As he brought me to see Nikolai, and we spent some time in prayer with him.

And as he kindly took me to lunch and we enjoyed a meal together.

Who then joined together with Pat to visit her mother, who was on the phone more than once during the course of that time to talk to another church member in need and to try to find a way to help.

A person who's taking time and resources and energy in order to care for others.

Because greed corrupts the soul and it will destroy ministry.

And Paul is saying these things must not be in the kind of men that you put in place in a church.

These all these knots, if you will, are guardrails within which we are guided and guarded within the boundary markers here.

Not greedy, not arrogant, not full of anger, not given to excess.

This way.

It needs holy men.

It needs men whose lives are shaped by the grace of God.

Men who reflect the heart of the shepherd, Jesus Christ.

And so before he gets into the things that tell us what an elder needs to be, he needs to clear the landscape and say, this is what an elder should never be.

Never be these things.

And so next week we'll look at this.

We'll look at what it means to be hospitable and loving the good and sensible and righteous and holy and self-controlled.

Just for today, though, we want to clear that out for a little bit.

But let me make just one more point.

Because I don't want us to just focus on the elders as shepherds.

I want us to focus on Jesus as the shepherd.

Because we need to remember that this isn't just a checklist.

This isn't just a list of performance metrics that the elders are meant to maintain.

These qualifications are not arbitrary, they're not cultural, they're fixed and rooted in the person of Jesus Christ Himself.

Because all of these things tell us who our Savior is.

Because our Savior is the true overseer of this household.

He is the faithful shepherd of this flock.

He is the one who leads us always without arrogance, who loves us always without anger, who serves us always without self-indulgence, who protects us always without bullying, and who gives to us always without greed.

What a beautiful Savior He is, isn't he?

He's wonderful.

You can clap, you can do it.

It's like it didn't hurt, did it?

Yeah.

Because every not this, it's to clear the room for us to understand who our Savior actually is for us.

And next week we'll see that even more.

Paul is describing for Timothy a man who's shaped by Jesus, who's walked with Christ long enough and deeply enough, through enough trouble and the ebbs and flows of life for Christ to take root in him.

This is why the home matters.

This is why character matters.

And this is why integrity matters.

Because an elder is meant to be a living, breathing reminder, perhaps an imperfect one, but a reminder of who our Savior is.

The elders' lives are not the source of our hope.

Jesus is.

The faithfulness of the elders is not the foundation of our church.

His faithfulness is.

The integrity of the elders is not the anchor of this household.

It's his character and integrity that is.

But there should be a link between the two.

Next week, Paul's going to turn the corner.

What are we to do with this then?

As we step back from this passage and we ask ourselves, what is this vision of leadership that reflects the leaders' hearts and shapes and brings embodiment of Christ into the way that they conduct themselves?

Well, first of all, remember this is not just marks for the spiritual elite.

These are marks for all of us.

That's key to remember.

Also, it means that we should pray for our elders.

We should pray that God would guard them in their homes and strengthen their marriages and steady their hearts and keep them away from these patterns that Paul is warning about.

That they would lead the church with humility and patience and sobriety and gentleness and generosity and wisdom.

We should examine our own lives and ask ourselves: is my home shaped by Christ?

Is my heart guarded by Christ?

Do I display the generosity of my Savior?

Or am I filled with pride and greed or anger?

And ultimately, we need to look up and remember our Savior.

Remember, He's the one who protects us, He's the one who purifies us.

He's the one who leads us, and He's the one who sustains us.

And He's the one that deserves all our praise.

We're not finished with this passage.

We'll look at elders in part two next week, where we'll see the positive characteristics of hospitality and sensibility and righteousness and holiness and self-control.

But for today, let this truth settle in your heart.

Christ protects us by giving us the kind of leaders that look like him.

Let's pray.

Father, we come before you as your household.

We come together before you as a people bought by the blood of Christ, who've been gathered by your mercy and grace, and who are kept by your constant, faithful love.

And we thank you for Jesus Christ, our true overseer and faithful shepherd, who leads us without arrogance and loves us without anger and serves us without self-indulgence, who protects us and gives to us.

Father, we pray that Christ would be stamped upon every one of our lives.

And Lord, we do want to pray for those who are placed in positions of influence in this body.

Lord, we pray that you would protect them and guard their homes.

And Lord, you would make them one woman men, strengthen their marriages, steady their hearts, and keep them from these harmful patterns of behavior and shape them into the men who reflect the beauty of Christ.

Make them gentle men, patient men, sober-minded men, generous men.

Father, we pray for ourselves that our homes would have the same humility, that our hearts would be guarded by your spirit.

And so we pray that you would make us a household that beautifies the gospel, a place where holiness is nurtured and encouraged among us all, a place where the weak can come and find their burdens lifted.

A place where the sinful can receive and exercise forgiveness.

A place where the truth is loved, a place where Christ is seen.

Father, we pray that all of this would bring us into the place of confidence in you, who is our shepherd, the guardian of our souls, and the one who will never fail to lead his household well.

And we ask all this in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.