Proclaiming God's Trustworthy Word | Under the Chief Shepherd | Titus 1:5-9 | Ep.3

Welcome to Preaching from Bryanston Bible Church, located in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa.

It is our prayer that this teaching would bless you, deepen your love for God's word, and encourage you as you follow Jesus.

And if you are not a Christian, we pray that this message would encourage you as you explore the Christian faith.

Good morning.

I have a fond recollection of my days as a young boy, totally captivated by the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, one of the most famous myths from ancient Greece.

And the story takes place on an island of Crete, exactly the same place that the Apostle Paul has sent Titus to.

But in this uh island of Crete, or on this island of Crete, Crete was overshadowed by a terrifying creature called a minotaur.

And the minotaur was a half man and half bull.

And he lived in a vast maze called a labyrinth, so complex that anyone that ventured into the labyrinth almost never made it out.

And as punishment after a war, Princess Ariadna of Crete runs into Theseus, hopelessly in love in Afrikaans Smuerlif.

She gives him a sword and a ball of thread.

And Theseus fastens the ball of thread at the entrance of the labyrinth, and then he makes his way deeper and deeper into the maze, where he finally confronts the minotaur and he kills it.

And then he uses the thread to make his way back out to the entrance, setting all of those young people that were captive free.

Now let me make an immediate disclaimer.

BBC, nor I, and in any way promoting any belief whatsoever in Greek mythology.

I'm simply using the story and the Cretan context to illustrate courage, truth, and finding one's way through confusion and danger.

And because when Paul sent Titus to Crete in real history, he encountered a very different kind of labyrinth, not one made of stone, but one made of false teaching, moral compromise, and spiritual confusion.

And the churches in Crete were facing a very serious threat from false teachers who were teaching, uh, whose teaching was upsetting entire households and misbelieving believers by promoting myths and belief in human instruction, also undermining the gospel.

And as a result, Titus was not only charged with appointing qualified elders to teach sound doctrine and healthy teaching, he was also tasked with ensuring that those who opposed the truth were confronted, rebuked, and opposed.

And we can safely assume that if there's healthy teaching, there's also sick teaching, weak teaching, and even deadly teaching.

Have you ever felt as if you were living in a maze?

Surrounded by so many competing thoughts and voices and ideologies that you no longer knew which direction was true in your life.

So we see similar pressures in Johannesburg today.

If you look around, you'll see an amazing city with innovation and opportunity.

But you also get to see the consequences of sin in our city.

And stories of corruption and fraud and dishonesty, greed, abuse of power, and self-enrichment dominate many of the headlines that we read.

And success is often wrongly measured by things like wealth and status and influence and personal advancement rather than godly integrity, character, and holiness.

And in the pursuit of success at all costs, the accuracy and the truth of God's word can be miscommunicated, it can be misinterpreted, and it can be distorted.

And just as in Crete, we see a culture that celebrates self-indulgence over self-control.

It celebrates personal truth over God's truth and immediate gratification over holy living.

And through godly living, teaching God's truth and confronting false doctrine, Paul actually calls Titus to guide the church in Crete out of confusion and into the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And Paul was, in a sense, calling Titus to direct the church in Crete to find its way out of a spiritual maze, not by holding on to Ariadna's thread, but by the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

His answer is clear.

It's not human wisdom or popular opinion or cultural trends or religious traditions.

The church would find its way out of confusion by holding firmly to the truth of the gospel and the trustworthy word of God.

And that is why when Paul talks about the qualifications of elders, he ultimately brings us to define their primary responsibility, which is to be men who cling to the truth of God's word and faithfully proclaim it to others.

And in Titus 1:9, in many ways, it becomes the Ariadna's thread of the Christian life.

Titus 1:9

Not a thread spun by human hands, but by the trustworthy gospel of Jesus that leads people safely through a maze of error and into God's glorious truth.

It brings me to my first point this morning, which talks about why an elder's role in proclaiming God's word must, must be anchored in the trustworthiness of Scripture.

I'll repeat that.

If people are to be led through a world that is full of spiritual confusion by holding firmly to the trustworthy word of God, then those entrusted with shepherding the flock of God, they themselves must be firmly anchored in God's truth.

And that is precisely where Paul directs Titus to in Titus 1.9.

And speaking of the qualifications of elders, Paul writes, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.

And the words holding firm, it really talks to the very heart of Paul's concern for the church in Crete.

It was a culture that is marked with the false teaching and moral compromise and spiritual confusion.

So Titus is therefore instructing uh elders who are not merely called to possess godly character, but they're also called to be steadfast guardians and faithful proclaimers of God's truth.

And so he lists 11 qualifications of elders, which you heard earlier.

But Paul moves us from character to doctrine, and we know that character without truth can be very superficial.

But we also know that truth without character can be very, very harsh.

And that is why we are committed to developing elders in this church that are men of character, but are also men who can share the word of God seasoned with grace.

So there are some interesting observations from verse 9 that can be made.

Elders must hold firmly to God's word.

As I prepared the sermon, I've also been deeply challenged with what does this holding firm really mean to me?

And Paul doesn't call elders just to know the truth of God, he calls us to cling to it like Klingons.

And if I'm honest, there are days when I need a reminder of this myself, because it's so easy to preach scripture, to teach scripture, and to study scripture, but depending on your own interpretation, on your own experience, on your own confidence and your own preferences instead of God's truth.

And note that Paul doesn't say be familiar with the truth.

What does he say?

He says, Hold firm.

And now the image I get in my mind when I think of hold firm is some is gripping onto something that's precious and never letting go, refusing to let it go.

And so the latter verses of chapter 1, 10 to 16, Paul tells us that in Crete, false teachers were actively distorting scripture for personal gain.

And Titus therefore needed elders that didn't have a sale price.

They weren't refusing to compromise the biblical truth, but they gripped it and held on to it dearly as precious and refused to let it go.

God's word is trustworthy, isn't it?

It is the trustworthy word of God instead of human wisdom that is meant to be the thread that guides us and the churches in Crete out of the maze of error.

Why is God's word trustworthy?

Paul assumes the trustworthiness of Scripture because it originates from a God who cannot lie.

God's word is trustworthy because the God who gave it is trustworthy.

So we might see governments changing, we see philosophies changing, we see social norms changing.

But God's word and his truth remains constant as he himself is constant.

And so BBC elders can faithfully proclaim scripture because it stands beyond the shifting opinions of human beings.

We don't need any new truth, we just need a renewed commitment to God's eternal truth.

And that is why the faithful ministry of a BBC elder begins when he refuses to let go of scripture.

He's faithfully taught and he's teaching scripture well enough to discern truth from error.

And then he's also willing to be um held accountable to the truth that he proclaims.

God's word must be taught.

So Paul does not call elders to invent new messages and follow cultural trends or adjust the truth according to public opinion.

They're called to hold firm to what has already been taught and to what has already been revealed.

And this automatically presumes that elders themselves have been taught and schooled before they can teach anybody else.

And at BBC, our current and future elders go through a very rigorous eldership development program that lasts about 18 months, and it involves some rigorous self-study, some group dialogue, and we submit ourselves to doctrinal alignment through the broader ministry team at BBC before we can even function effectively as an elder, not just as an elder in title, but as an elder who can rightly handle the word of truth.

So, what then, may we ask, is the intended purpose of the word being taught and proclaimed?

Paul tells us in this verse 9, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.

And secondly, also rebuke those who contradict this gospel.

And so those two purposes remind us that sound doctrine is both constructive and protective.

And so it builds up the faithful while at the same time guarding the Church of God against error.

Let's explore this first purpose in more detail, which is my point too.

Faithfully proclaiming God's word builds up the faithful.

And Paul says that an elder must be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.

This involves communicating more than merely biblical information.

Elders are called to teach God's truth in a way that builds up, strengthens, and matures God's people while also authenticating the messages through our lives that reflect the very truth that we proclaim.

And so to appreciate the significance of this task, we must understand what Paul is meaning when he says sound doctrine.

And so we go to the Greek word, the word sound, for sound in verse 9, the Greek word hugieno.

It carries the idea of being healthy, wholesome, and free of corruption.

It refers to teaching that promotes spiritual health and remains firmly aligned with the truth of God's word.

And Paul's concern was not simply that believers possess knowledge, but that they are shaped and strengthened by teaching that is spiritually healthy and life-giving.

So building up the faithful is first and foremost rooted in the truth of Scripture.

And Paul wants Titus to instruct believers in what is true so that their faith would be grounded in God's revelation rather than in human opinion, human tradition, or speculation.

And I want us to hear this.

A church that is nourished by sound doctrine develops a firm foundation and is less vulnerable to error and deception.

At the same time, building up the faithful is not merely a matter of intellectual correctness.

According to Titus, healthy doctrine produces healthy Christians.

And it leads to self-control and faithfulness and love and integrity and reverence and all of these other qualities that really reflect the character of Christ.

And the truth of the gospel is intended to change and transform lives, not just inform you intellectually.

And for this reason, sound teaching and sound living can never be separated.

When a teacher's life contradicts the messages that he's proclaiming, the credibility of that message is undermined.

And throughout this letter, Paul emphasizes that those who teach the gospel of Jesus must demonstrate in their very own lives the very truths that they proclaim.

And so qualities such as self-control and righteousness and uprightness and blameliness and holy living and discipline serve as evidence that sound doctrine is actually bearing fruit in your life.

I want you to ponder this question with me.

If someone knew nothing, absolutely nothing, about Christianity, except by observing your life, what would they conclude about Christ?

Furthermore, sound teaching is centered on the preaching of the grace of God.

And Paul later in his letter to Titus explains that grace brings salvation not only, but it also trains believers to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions while also living an upright and godly life.

And grace is therefore much more than just God's forgiveness for sin, it is his transforming work in the life of his people, shaping us into the very likeness of Christ.

And sound teaching results in good works that also adorns the gospel.

Throughout Titus, good works are presented as a natural fruit of genuine faith and healthy doctrine.

And when believers embrace the truth of God's word, that truth really becomes visible in your own conduct.

And it brings honor to God and provides a living testimony to the power of the gospel of Jesus.

And in this way, sound doctrine is not merely what Christians think that Christians believe, it's something we live.

And doing so leads to spiritual maturity, godly living, and ultimately a healthy church.

And Paul doesn't stop there.

So while sound doctrine certainly serves to build up, strengthen, and establish believers in the faith, it also serves another equally important purpose.

The same truth that nourishes God's people and builds us up must also protect us from error.

And according to Paul, elders were not only required to teach what is true, but is also required to confront that which was false.

And sound doctrine was both to be a means of edification and a safeguard against deception, which provides a segue to my third point.

That faithfully proclaiming God's word against error, faithfully repeated, faithfully proclaiming God's word guards against error.

And as I mentioned earlier, the churches in Crete were facing a serious threat from false teachers.

And Paul understood that faithful shepherding was more than just teaching what is right.

It actively required them to identify what was wrong and confront what was wrong.

The New Testament church was a fledgling church, just beginning, starting out, and very, very quickly became the target for scammers, scam artists and con artists, scammers and con artists.

And therefore, elders were called to hold firmly to the trustworthy word of God so that they could both encourage believers, but also at the same time to refute those who contradict the gospel that they were proclaiming.

And by exposing and rebuking error and those who spread error, church leaders were actually protecting the flock of God and preserving the purity of the gospel and helping believers remain steadfast in the faith.

Our Lord Jesus and the apostles, they didn't shun away from denouncing people that were spreading uh false teaching.

They denounced them too.

And as elders in our church, we must not shy back or hold back from that too.

We are also called, and widespread failure of us to do that may well be the cause of doctrinal confusion that we see everywhere in the world today.

Truth and error simply cannot peacefully coexist in Christ's church.

I'll repeat that.

Truth and error simply cannot peacefully coexist within Christ's Church.

And John Calvin clearly understood this, and he understood the double nature of our teaching ministry.

And here in part of his comment on verse 9, he says, A pastor needs two voices, one for gathering the sheep and the other for driving away wolves and thieves.

The scripture supplies him with the means of doing both.

And he who has been rightly instructed in it will be able both to shepherd those who are teachable and to refute the enemies of the truth.

Now imagine an archer standing a hundred meters away from his target.

At the moment the arrow leaves the bow, the aim is only slightly off, perhaps by a fraction of a degree.

And to the naked eye, this error seems marginal and insignificant.

Yet, as the arrow flies its course, that tiny deviation becomes magnified.

And what began as a barely noticeable misalignment causes the arrow first to miss the bull's eye, then to miss the target.

And eventually it goes nowhere near its intended original destination.

So the same thing can happen to Christian doctrine too.

Sound doctrine is like aligning the bow with the target of God's word and his truth.

And a marginally inaccurate doctrine, it might appear harmless to you because the error is small and minute.

It's often difficult to detect.

But this might involve a subtle misunderstanding, like doubting the authority of Christ, the nature of salvation, the authority of scripture, or even questioning the person of Christ.

And initially, the difference between truth and error might seem negligible to you and I.

However, like an arrow's trajectory, a conclusion built upon an initially faulty premise may carry a believer further and further away from the original truth of God's word.

And that is why in our day we need to be super vigilant when it comes to media.

So social media, for example, can be a powerful tool for evangelizing the world and sharing biblical truth.

However, it's also increasingly being used to disseminate false biblical teaching.

Why?

Because of its reach.

Because of its speed and its lack of accountability to faithful biblical teaching.

In many ways, social media also presents us with countless threads to follow.

I mean, look at the number of voices we hear, the number of messages that we listen to, voices that compete for your attention, they're offering advice and opinions and supposedly masked as new revelation.

Yet, not all of these threads lead us out of the maze.

Some of them lead us deeper into confusion.

And that is why, as a congregation, we need elders who can rightly handle the word of God and faithfully explain scripture and guard us from error and deception.

And to confront and expose erroneous teaching will not make elders popular.

To expose and rebuke false teachings, half-gospels, and deceptive messages that, like I said, under the cloak of new revelation, will not win us the applause of man.

So John Piper, in an article on false teachers, says, Let your teaching be so powerful in clarifying the greatness and the beauty and the worth of God's truth that your people will smell error before it infects their lives.

The shape of error is always changing.

You can't preach enough negative sermons to stay ahead of it.

And you don't have to.

The best protection against the darkness of error is the light of truth.

And so it brings us to a point after everything that we've just heard.

How do we actually apply this in our lives today?

The call to Titus is both simple and profound.

God's people must hold firmly to the truth of God's word.

And for a BBC elder, this means that every aspect of our ministry needs to be subject to the authority of Scripture.

Whether you're a leader, whether you're a counselor, whether you're a preacher or a teacher, rather than personal opinion, cultural trends, or popular sentiment.

We are called to lead both with godly character and sound doctrine.

And that demonstrates that in our private lives, the very truths that we play proclaim publicly keep us congruent.

As shepherds of God's flock, elders must also diligently teach the whole counsel of God.

Not part of it, the whole counsel of God.

We need to equip believers to understand and apply scripture, to guard the church against false teaching, and courageously confront erroneous teaching when it threatens the health of the body of Christ.

So I'm going to ask you another question.

If an elder's responsibility is to guard and teach the truth, how seriously should each of us be praying for those that shoulder that kind of responsibility?

And for you here this morning, the challenge is equally clear.

If someone looked at your life this week, would they say that you're holding on firmly to the word of God?

Or do they say that you're holding on loosely when it's becoming too inconvenient?

And every believer is called to be a devoted student of the word of God.

Because growing in biblical knowledge and discernment helps us distinguish truth from error.

So we are to support and pray for faithful elders and joyfully receive biblical instruction from them and live in a way that reflects the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus.

And sound doctrine is not merely to be understood intellectually, it is intended to shape our attitudes, our beliefs, our choices, our relationships, and our conduct.

And producing a life that is full of the integrity of Christ, the holiness of Christ, and brings us into Christ-likeness.

Together as a church, we are called to navigate the spiritual confusion of our age by clinging on to the trustworthy word of God.

In a world filled with competing voices, like we've heard, cultural presses, pressures, false teaching, and moral compromise, the church must remain firmly anchored in Scripture.

And by each of us faithfully proclaiming the truth, visibly living the truth, courageously defending the truth, and helping one another grow in the truth, our whole church can remain steadfast in the gospel of Jesus Christ and serve as a faithful witness to the world that's out there.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, this morning I want you to think about the way you feel.

And if you are caught in a grip of confusion, if you're facing a labyrinth of fear, of pressure, of uncertainty, when the maze of life becomes too much, becomes too confusing, will you trust in your own sense of direction?

Or will you trust the one who holds the other end of the thread?

Remember Ariadna's thread that I started out with that guided Theseus safely through the maze and brought him out on the other side?

Well, think about it.

Our God has given us a thread that is far stronger than that, far more reliable.

He's given us his holy word.

So when the path seems unclear, when the pressures of this life seem to overwhelm you, don't let go on the thread of God's word.

Hold fast to his promises, stay anchored in the faith.

Keep following his voice one step at a time.

And as remember, as long as you remain connected to him, he will guide you, he will sustain you, and he will lead you through every single twist and turn of this life.

So take heart today.

Hang in there, hold on to the thread.

Trust the one who holds the other end.

And now I invite you to close your eyes and bow your heads in prayer as I pray a prayer of conviction and proclamation this morning.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your trustworthy word, the unchanging truth that guides us through a world of confusion, compromise, and deception.

Forgive us, Lord, for the times that we have listened more closely to the voices of culture and opinion and self-interest than to your voice that's revealed in your holy scripture.

Convict our hearts, Lord, to stay firmly rooted and anchored in your word, to love it, to obey it, to put our trust in it and never to let it go.

Strengthen our elders to proclaim your truth faithfully, live it with integrity and to defend it with courage, Lord, and protect our church from error and deepen our commitment to sound doctrine that leads to godly living.

And now, Lord, we proclaim together your word is true, your gospel is sufficient, and Jesus Christ is our only hope and salvation.

By your spirit, help us to proclaim your truth faithfully, live your truth boldly, and defend your truth courageously for the glory of Christ and the advancement of the kingdom of God.

May we leave here today anchored even more in the truth of your word, strengthened in our faith and committed to following Jesus wherever he leads.

We ask this all in the precious, mighty, and holy name of Jesus.

And everybody said amen.

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God bless you.