Come back to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1. I titled this
message Qualifications for the Pastoring. Qualifications for
the Pastoring. I started to go ahead to chapter
2. And after reading over this a
few times, I thought, we need this. We need to look at this
and learn this. And whenever it comes time, now
I know there'll be a time when God will put another man here.
And we have an outline. We have an outline to go by when
calling a man. I like to think of it as God
calling him and the church recognizing it. You know, I don't call people. God calls men. He calls pastors. He equips them. But the church
does recognize the man. This is the man. And we have
an outline. You know, I got working on this. There are 16 points of interest. It's just like You know, how
can you miss it? You got 16 points of interest.
And you'll notice that not one of them has to say anything about
his ability to preach. He has everything to do about
his character. This is what caught my attention.
You know, we'll get to this. But it caught my attention that
it starts out with this man's character. It doesn't start out
with his ability to preach. See, that's what you and I get
hung up on. And honestly, we get hung up on the man's ability
in the pulpit and his pulpit presence and we totally forget
about his character. I mean, you may have a real sleeper
on your hands. Then it's too late. Then it's
too late. But let's look at this. I just
want to look at this just for a little while. I'm more in a
teaching mode tonight than I am a preaching mode. And you know
what? I honestly believe there's a difference. There is a difference,
I think, in preaching and teaching. I think there's a difference.
Well, let's look at this. Paul spent some time there in
Crete. And the Lord raised up some churches
there in those different cities. The Lord raised up some churches. And so Paul was not going to
stay there. His ministry was not to stay in one place. The
Lord used him to go all over the place planting churches.
So Paul left Titus in Crete to ordain pastors, he says, in every
city where there was a church. He says there in verse 4, to
Titus, he's writing this to Titus, my own son, that's not his son
after the flesh, but after his spiritual son, after the faith.
That's what he's saying. My own son after the common faith.
grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ our Savior. Now, for this cause left I thee
in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that
are wanting, lacking, things that are left undone." You've
got to realize this is an infant church, and they need a lot of
guidance. They're Gentiles that were in
idolatry, and so Paul left Titus there, and he had a real I mean,
he had a real task on his hands teaching and instructing this
church in the ordinances, how to conduct a service. I'm sure
he knew how to conduct a worship service and just all that that
goes with it. And he said, I left you there
to set in order the things that are wanted, and I want you to
notice something here. And I was talking to someone
here some time ago. And he and I both agreed that
the way we call pastors is probably not the way we should be doing
it. But listen here. He said, I left
you there in Crete to ordain elders. It doesn't say a word
about, and I'm not going to try to make something out of this,
but it doesn't say a word about people coming through and voting
on them. And he said, Titus, you ordain
them. You ordain them. And you ordain
the pastors of this church, and of this church, and of this one,
and this city, and you do it. God's given you wisdom, God's
given you insight, God's given you knowledge and understanding,
and those men who are apt to teach, and this is a given, they
have to be called of God, right? They've got to be called of God.
And Titus knows that, Paul knows that. These men have to be called
of God, equipped of God. As he says over here in, he gives
Timothy the same orders. Look over in Timothy, let me
see where that's at. In 1 Timothy chapter 3. This
is a true saying. If a man desire the office of
a bishop, I would, you know, if a man's going to stand behind
the pulpit and preach to me, I want someone that desires to
do it. I don't want somebody to say, I wish I didn't have
to do this. But he desires, he has a desire to, he desires a
good work. A bishop then must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, good behavior, given to
hospitality, apt to teach, that goes, that comes way down in
there, doesn't it? Apt to teach, not given to whining, but he
gives. He gives to Timothy the same exact outline he gives to
Titus. And if he says, now, when you
find these men, and it's evident, the Lord reveals a man, you ordained
that man to be the pastor of that church. So that's what he
does. So Paul left Titus there to do
that. God has ordained men whom he's
called and sent to preach the gospel to pastor his churches. That's the way it is. It's the
way it's set up. Pastors are not just Service
conductors, they're not just service conductors. They're not
little preacher boys. They are God's men, sent of God,
equipped of God. They are teachers. They are under
shepherds. They are men who watch out for
the souls of God's flock. Look over in Hebrews chapter
13. In Hebrews chapter 13, look in verse 17. Obey them that have the rule
over you, or God, and submit yourselves, for they watch for
your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do
it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for
you. But they must give account of their ministry. I have to
give, this is how sobering this is, I have to give an account
before God of my ministering here to you, feeding the sheep. That's, the weight of that is
just, I mean, that's, I can't put that into words. The weight
of that you can't put into words. But they are God's under shepherds
and God's given them to the church. They are a gift to the church.
That's what it says over in, Ephesians, I believe, chapter
3 or 4, that God had kept him, and he kept him, and he gave
some apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers, who were
the edifying of the Church, the perfecting of the saints. That's
why he gave them. They are to study and labor in
the Word and prayer, and they are stewards of the grace of
God. They have committed to them the
gospel of God's glory. I really think that if a man
really has any understanding of the responsibility of this,
God has to put him in the ministry because he's not going to go
any other way because of the responsibility of it. Paul said
God put him into the ministry. Put him into it. That's the only
way a man wants to be in it is if God puts him into it. Hedges
him up. Takes away everything else, and
that's what he does. Now we know that a man must be
called to this office, as I've already said. He must be gifted
in communicating the gospel. He must be able to rightly divide
the word of truth. But as I said, I want you to
notice the Holy Spirit moves Paul to start with the man's
character, not with his gifts. We have a strong tendency, I
believe this is why, We have a strong tendency to pick a person
who speaks well, who handles himself well in the pulpit. He
has good pulpit presence. You know, he's not going to be
someone that you're going to be embarrassed to bring somebody
in and, you know, he's going to embarrass you. Remember what Samuel did? Remember
what he did? When he went to anoint the king,
he went to Jesse's house, he went to the tallest, he went
to the tall, dark, and handsome. I know, I know that the people
will listen to him. He was attracted, and I tell
you, that's still with us today. It's still with us. We still
have a real problem of judging things by sight. Old Samuel looked
at that one that was tall, dark, and handsome, and he said, surely
this is the Lord's King. My, so look at this man. He's
got the whole package. And that was not the one. And
he went one by one by one by one, and he said, isn't there
anybody else? Is there anybody else? Do you
have any more sons left? Because I know God sent me down
here to anoint a king out of your sons. He said, yes, I've
got one more left. He's out there keeping the sheep
where he ought to be keeping the sheep, sitting back there
in the desert. Nobody knows who he is. He's
just a little lad. He's just a lad. I bet he was a scrawny little lad
at that time. He probably looked at him and
had probably a foot and a half difference between him and the
one Samuel picked. We have a real tendency to do
that, don't we? We are easily impressed with the outward appearance.
Now look here. The Holy Spirit now is moving
Paul as he writes to Titus. In verse 6, he starts with this. Blameless. Blameless. This does not mean that this
man doesn't have any faults. It doesn't mean that. Because we've all seen, the Scriptures
say we've all seen to come short of the glory of God. He's still
a sinner. The man that stands in this pulpit,
he's still a sinner saved by grace. And he's going to have
his faults. He's going to have that. But
he must have an excellent reputation in his home as well as out of
his home. I traveled a lot. Many of you know how much we
traveled back in the 80s, especially the 80s there and 90s. And there
were several times, there were several times that I went to
places that were looking for a pastor. You know, I don't recall
not one of them. Not one of them ever checking
my background, ever asking me anything about my background.
And Paul says here, you make sure, you make sure this man
is blameless, that he has an excellent reputation in the community,
in his home, in his workplace. I worked for a man one time.
I ran a company for him. And he told me, he said, when
you go to hire someone, The last thing you ask yourself, would
I like to have this person as my neighbor? Could he be my neighbor? He said, if you don't think you'd
really want that guy as your neighbor, he said, don't hire
him. I don't care how qualified he is. Don't hire him. He says
here, blameless. And then the husband of one wife,
not a polygamist. They practiced that a lot. at
that time, two or three wives. He said, no, the husband of one
wife. One wife, as all the writers said, one wife at a time. You
know, one could, the wife could die and then marry again. Fine,
but one at a time. The husband of one wife and having
faithful children. Having his children, listen,
having his children under control. The Scripture says if a man cannot
rule his own house, that's what it says over on Timothy, if he
can't rule his own house, how shall he rule the house of God?
If he can't take care of those little children that's six, seven,
eight years old, running around and they won't do a thing he
says, how can he handle the church of God? That's what he's saying there.
He's not saying that they all have to be saved because that's
not in his power to save them. It's not in our power to save
our children. But I tell you what it is, it is in our power
to make a sound and be quiet. That is in our power. And a man
that won't do that shows a real weakness. There's a real weakness
there in his leadership, his ability to discipline. And he'd be blameless as a steward
of God. He must faithfully, this man
must faithfully discharge his office. He must be faithful to
the Lord, faithful in the preaching of the gospel, faithful in the
preaching of Christ and Him crucified, faithful in feeding the sheep.
Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. It's required, it says in Scripture,
it's required in a steward that he be found faithful. God doesn't use unfaithful men.
I tell you what, you check his background. See how faithful
he's been to where he's been working. See how faithful he's been. I think what he's saying right
here, check the man out. Run a background check on him.
And he says here, not self-willed. Not self-willed. Headstrong. Headstrong, I mean, it's like,
not my will but thine, Lord, that's what you want. You don't
want someone that's inflexible, that won't bend at all. That's
what he's saying, a not self-willed, but one who bends to the will
of God. And then not soon angry. Everybody around a hothead, everybody gets stalled, don't
they? You don't get anything done. Not soon angry. A person who is soon angry is
a person who has no self-control. He has no self-control. And it's a person who has no
compassion. A person who's soon angry, you'll find that it's
a person who lacks compassion, who lacks long-suffering. He
lacks those things. And then, not given to wine.
That is, he's a man of temperance. He's a man of moderation. He's
a man of self-control. He's not one given to addiction. But he's a man that's temperate
in all things. He really lays that line down
here, doesn't he? He said, Titus, these men you
ordain in these cities where these churches have been raised
up, you hold them to these high standards. You hold these men
to these high standards. Because I tell you what, they're
going to have enough trouble I mean, without any of this stuff
in the background, people are going to have enough trouble. And no striker. No striker. No one that's physical, wants to get physical,
ready to fight, drop of a hat. Or no one that's not verbally
a striker. I've learned there's more people,
especially as I get older, there are a lot more people who really
slap and hit you with the tongue than they ever will a fist. He
said, you don't want that. You don't want that man. You
don't want that man. He'll cause more trouble than
you can shake his dick at. And not giving to filthy lucre,
not in it for the money, not greedy for money, not covetous. Not covetous. Paul said he counted
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. Paul
gave up everything. Often times when he could have
been a burden to the church, when he could have taken from
the church what he needed, but he didn't do it. He worked with
his own hands. He made tents. Not covetous. A lover of hospitality, open
to people. Open. I tell you, you open yourself
up when you're open to people, don't you? When you really open
yourself up, you might open yourself up to some pain and sorrow. But
you're really, you're truly a lover of hospitality. A lover, he says
here in one place, a lover of good men. Good men. You're surrounded by good men.
Men that believe the gospel is what he's saying. You are known
by the company you keep. Right? People are known by the
company they keep. And he says, Titus, these men
surround themselves with good men. I'm not talking about holier
than thou. He's talking about men who believe the gospel. That's
his companions. That's his company. Those are
the people he seeks to be with. This describes the people that
they surround themselves with. Lover of good men and sober,
self-controlled. Not out of control, but sober. Sober-minded. Not given to foolishness,
but sober-minded. in the things of God, not making
cracking jokes all the time about the Word of God. Sober minded. Handling the Word of God seriously. Handling matters of life and
death seriously. Handling the glory of God seriously. He's sober about it and he's just. He's fair in his dealings with
men, provides all things honest before all men. He's just. And holy. Devout, that's what
it means. He's devout toward God, toward
the Word of God, in his private life. He's devout. He's holy. Godly. That describes his life. That describes his walk. That's
who he is. He's temperate in everything he does. Everything
he does. Hold him fast. Hold him fast. Not letting go. Not wavering. Not getting sidetracked. But
he's holding fast the faithful word of God. It doesn't matter
what opposition comes along. And it's going to. But he's going
to hold fast the faithful Word, the Word that God gave. This
Word. He's going to hold fast to it. Grounded. Saddled. The only way the church can be
governed is by the Word of God. The only way you can do it is
hold fast to it. Hold fast to it. It's called
the faithful word because God gave it. God said his word shall
accomplish that which he sent it to accomplish. It's faithful
to do just exactly what God sent it to do. If God sends his word tonight
to instruct us, to exhort us, to edify us, it'll happen. If he sends his word tonight
to pierce the heart of a lost sinner, It'll happen. But it's His Word. It's His Word. Not my Word. Not my Word and
His Word. Not my opinion. My opinion doesn't mean anything,
really. It doesn't mean anything. But His Word means everything.
He's promised to bless His Word. That's why He said, you hold
fast. The faithful Word, the written Word, the living Word,
the spoken Word, you hold it fast. The Word, he said, you've
been taught by the Spirit of God, by the teachers whom God
has sent. God sent Paul to Titus, and he
taught him the Word. He said, that's the one you hold
forth, the one you've been taught. It's only through the faithful
word that the church can be exhorted and gang sayers shut up. He says, verse 10, here's the
reason why you hold forth the faithful word, for there are
many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially if
they have the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert
whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for money,
for money. They don't care what they're
teaching. He said they're teaching things they ought not to be teaching.
But they're doing it for the money, so it doesn't matter to
them as long as they get paid. One of themselves, even a prophet
of their own, said the Cretans, they're liars. It's a national
sin. Evil beasts, slow bellies. Paul said this witness is true.
They're telling the truth. Titus, this is what you're up
against. This is what you are up against, Titus. But you've got to hold fast that
faithful word, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
rebuke them sharply. Don't you back down. Don't you
back down. You take the Word of God and
you rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that
turn from the truth, unto the pure, all things are pure, but
unto them which are But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving,
there is nothing pure. Nothing's pure. They don't see
purity in anything. They defile everything that passes
through their mind or comes out of their mouth. Nothing's pure. Even their mind and conscience
is defiled. They profess that they know God,
but in works they deny him. They say they know him, but their
actions prove different. being abominable and disobedient,
and to every good work reprobate." Voided judgment. Voided judgment. Now, someday, someday, I get older, the Lord will move
me out and move another one in And right there is the guideline.
Right there. There's the guideline of a pastor. There's the qualifications. That's
what you look for. Don't look for how tall he is.
He might be taller than me. It wouldn't be much. But don't
look for that. Don't look for that pulpit presence. I'm not saying he's going to
be You know what I'm saying. Blameless. It's his character. His character,
because sooner or later, his character is going to shine through
out of his pulpit. That's what's going to shine
through. How many athletes do you know
or have you seen over the years? that have great talent. I mean
great talent. And they've destroyed their careers
by their character. Destroyed their careers. Drug use. A good name. It better be had
than silver or gold. That's what Solomon said. A good
name. It's better to behave. A good
character. Because I tell you what, you
lose that character, you lose it all. People are not going
to pay a bit of attention to you. Not going to listen to you. God's not going to bless it.
That's really what it comes down to. God's not going to bless
it at all.