Now, I have thoroughly enjoyed
my time studying these verses this week. I just thoroughly
enjoyed it on the qualifications of pastors and elders. I hope
that same blessing comes across to everybody this morning. My
hope is to give us some good instruction so that we understand
what the qualifications of pastors and elders are. And then to give
our heart a real blessing concerning our Lord and Savior. So that's
kind of my goal this morning. And our lesson begins in verse
5 of Titus 1. For this cause left I thee in
Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are
wanting, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed
thee. Now Paul spent some time in Crete as a missionary. Crete
is an island apparently of some size. It has a number of cities
in it. And some churches had sprung
up in the different cities on this island. And when Paul left,
he left Titus there on that island to continue the work that was
already begun in some of the various churches on that island.
He left Titus there as a missionary, just like Walter and Cody Groover.
You know, they go to different cities, they preach in these
different cities and different churches, but now they're not
the pastors there. They ordained pastors for those local churches
out of those local communities, and that's what Paul left Titus
in Crete to do. He left him there to continue
to teach. These are babes in Christ in
the various churches on this island, and they need to be taught.
They need to be instructed in the doctrines of grace. They
need to be taught Christ. They need to be taught the proper
ordinances. They need to be taught the believers
conduct in our walk through this world. And one of the most important
jobs that Titus had was to ordain pastors and elders in these local
churches. Now, these men had to be men
who are called of God to the ministry. And Titus had to be
able to recognize that. And then, just like Walter and
Cody do, he had to teach them. Just like Walter and Cody do
at the preacher school, they had to be taught. And here's
why this job is so important. The local church, without exception,
will flounder and fail without a pastor to lead them and teach
them and preach the word to them. This is how God feeds his people. It's through the ministry of
a pastor. This is how he blesses the church. This is how the church
is led through the leadership of a pastor. And it's important
that the right man be called to this position. And it's important
that that man be taught of God. He must be taught of God. Because
I tell you this, when there's error in the congregation that
continues, I'm not talking about how we, you know, sin and I'm
talking about an error that just continues. The fault lies in
the pulpit. That man must be taught of God
and called of God. And Paul here gives us the qualifications
of a pastor. And he uses the word bishop and
elder here and those words in the New Testament. are used interchangeably,
a bishop or an elder, they mean a pastor. The actual definition
of the word is an overseer. That's what the pastor is. He's
an overseer, an under shepherd of the flock, whose job it is
to teach the word and oversee and protect the flock. And just,
you know, in a sentence, the summary of these qualifications,
as we'll go down through here and read, is this man is a pastor. has to be what men would call
a good man. Just like scarcely for a righteous
man would one die, yet for adventure, for a good man, some would even
dare to die. Well, same thing applies to a
preacher. For scarcely will anybody listen
to a self-righteous man, a man who's full of just himself. They're
not going to listen to that. They're just not going to dare
do it. But for a good man, Some might dare listen to him. If
they see that the Lord he preaches has made a difference in him,
they might listen to him. But if they see that the Lord
he preaches hasn't made a difference in him, then they're not going
to waste their time. It didn't make a difference to
him, it's not going to make a difference to me. It won't do me any good.
So here's these qualifications that Paul lists. First, he says
in verse 6, if any, be blameless. Now, of course, you're not going
to find a man without sin not to be blamed, you know, for anything.
What this means is that his reputation among men is excellent. They're
not, they can't lay, you know, serious charges to his blame.
He's known to be a man of honesty and integrity and good conduct
in the community. He's blameless in that regard.
Second, Paul says he's the husband of one wife. Now this doesn't
mean a pastor must be married. Doesn't mean that. And it doesn't
mean that he can't be remarried. What it means is that he's only
married to one wife at a time. Now, a man's insane if he wants
more than one wife at a time. I mean, that's just so. You just
look at the trouble that caused Jacob. And I think it's a given
if a man's going to be a pastor, sanity is a requirement. And this isn't something, you
know, we can kind of make light of that. We don't know anybody. We've never heard of anybody,
practically, that has more than one wife. It's illegal in this
country. But I have a cousin who's a missionary to Africa.
One of the first things he did when he got there, they have
a preacher school. He went to it and he found there's men in
this preacher school who have multiple wives. Now, this can't
be, but that's part of that culture in that country. Well, regardless
of the culture, that man is not qualified for the ministry. He's
just a husband of one wife at a time. Then Paul says, having
faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly. Now, this
doesn't mean that the man who's a pastor's children must be believers,
that they must be saved. You can't hold him accountable
for that. That's not in his power, is it? That's not his power to
give. But what this means is that his
children, have they been raised in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord? While they're under his rule,
did they behave themselves appropriately and not perfectly appropriately? You know, just just watch this
man and his children. Does he have their respect? Did
he have their obedience? And just let me give you a word
of warning on this. This is I've seen this happen. Don't put too
high of a standard on a man's children just because he's a
preacher. Their children don't put too high of a standard on
them. they won't be able to take it. They just won't be able to
take it. They won't be able to live up to it. And just be awful
careful now. People take this, you know, about
a man's children, and they judge the children. They just put the
microscope on the children. And that's not what Paul is saying
here. You don't have to put the microscope on the children. What
you're looking at is, does this man, does he know how to rule
his own home? Look back a couple of pages at
1 Timothy chapter 3. You're not putting this great
big burden on the children. What you're seeing is, does this
man know how to rule his own home? 1 Timothy 3 verse 4. Here's Paul again, giving the
qualifications of a bishop. He says, one that rules well
his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.
For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall
he take care of the church of God? And that's what Paul's telling
Titus over here. Same thing. Does a man know how
to rule his own home? Then he says, for a bishop must
be blameless as the steward of God. Now, he already mentioned
blameless. That's the first qualification
they listed. But now he's talking about not as a man out in the
world, but blameless as the steward of God. He's talking about a
man's faithfulness in whatever offices he's held in the church
in the past. You know, if he's being called
to the pastorate, he should have been preaching and teaching for
some time, holding some other offices in the church as a elder,
as Janet says, a filler inner. You know, you've seen his preaching
for a time. And over that time, has he been
faithful? Has he been faithful to God's
word? Has he been faithful to teach and take care of the people?
who are under his care for whatever time, whatever office he might
have been in. Has he been faithful? Has he
been faithful to Christ in those other offices before you call
him to this office with more responsibility? Next, he says,
not self-willed. Now, this is not self-pleasing. A man who's going to fulfill
the ministry cannot be seeking his own agenda. His own will,
his own fame, his own well-being will not work. What you want
to know is, does this man seek the Lord's will in everything
he does? Does he truly seek the Lord's
will or his own will in matters that face him? Does he seek to
make himself the center of attention or does he seek to make Christ
the focus? You can see that. You know, is
this man, is he stubborn and inflexible? Or is he willing
to bow to the will of God? You know, is he a man who's proud
and haughty, despising others because he's so full of himself?
Well, he better not be in the ministry then, because you can't
teach those that you despise. Can't be done. So not self-willed. Then Paul says, not soon angry.
Does he have a quick temper? Or is he slow to rap? Now, everybody's
got a quick temper. I mean, people do. And people
will do things to make you angry. They just will. Well, now, when
they do, can you act with a little bit of restraint? Can you show
that the Lord's given you a little bit of wisdom and have a little
bit of patience with people? Because this is true. If you
can't govern yourself, you can't govern God's church. That's why
you are not soon angry. Then he says, not given to whine.
Now this means not that he never takes a drink of alcohol, but
not addicted to wine. That he's not in the habit of
doing anything to excess, but particularly drinking alcohol.
If the man's in the habit of drinking alcohol to excess, he's
going to make bad decisions, just bad decisions. And especially,
and this applies to all of us, but especially the pastor. When
you make those bad decisions publicly, that doesn't just affect
you. It affects the whole church and brings reproach on the gospel.
So is he careful in these matters? What decisions that he makes,
how it affects everyone else, and particularly how it affects
the reputation of the gospel. Then Paul says, no striker. And
this goes with not being soon angry. And Henry had a statement,
his outline is excellent. He says, not a striker, either
with his hands Or his tongue. You know, when I first read that
about a striker, you know, I thought about a man just hauling off
and smacking somebody. But that's not just what it means.
Or with his tongue. You know, the pastor's got the
pulpit. He's got the ears of people.
Now, somebody crosses him, makes him mad. Worse than with his
hands, he can use his tongue to absolutely just strike through
people. Not a striker. You know, a pastor. Must be a kind, compassionate
man. He can't be giving. He can't
be willing to just compromise on the gospel. But he's got to
be a kind, compassionate man. Understanding. We preach to sinners. That's what we are. He can't
be a bully. Can't be looking for a fight
all the time. But gentle and kind and meek. That's what he
means there. Then he says not given to filthy
lucre. You know, just not greedy over
money and possessions. Everybody likes things that make
you comfortable in this life, but not greedy for these things. He won't let these things ruling
because if he does, he'll change his message for a large donor.
If he'll change his message in order to attract someone that
will give more money. And that's why covetousness is
so dangerous in the pulpit. This is the place to speak for
God. This is the place. to minister
to God's people and feed the sheep, not get something for
yourself, whatever it is, whether it's fame or riches or whatever
it is, this is the place to feed God's sheep, not get glory to
yourself. It's to get glory to the Savior.
Next, Paul says, a lover of hospitality. You know, pastors, they don't
just get up a couple of times a week and preach at people.
and go home and forget about them. That's not what a pastor
is. A pastor ministers to people. Ministers to them. In order to
just to minister to people, you've got to love them. And you don't
just open your house to them. The reason you open your house
to them is you open your heart to people. A lover of hospitality
so that you'll be like Abraham. and entertain strangers unawares.
Just open your heart to people. That hospitality. Then he says,
a lover of good men. And that means a lover of good
things. Just a lover of goodness. Good, wholesome things. He doesn't
always point out the negativity in things and how awful things
are and how awful people are and ugly things that people have
done and do and think. But a lover of good things. points
out the good things, the good things of God's Word to the people
and shows just the goodness of his character. Then he says sober. And that doesn't just mean, you
know, sober in a sense, not drunk with alcohol, it means self-controlled. Moderate in everything, not just
alcohol, but moderate in everything so that he's able to govern himself
and control himself. He doesn't let Other things control
him. He's in control of them. He's
self-controlled. Then he says just. Is a man honest
in his dealings, in his business dealings with people? Is he honest
with them? Is he fair with them? That's what he means. They're
just, honest and fair. Then holy. Now, you know he's
not talking about holy before God. None of us are ever going
to be holy in ourselves. Although it is obvious that a
man must be made holy and righteous in Christ before he can ever
preach Christ. That's obvious, isn't it? But
what he's talking about is before men. Do men recognize this man
as a devout man? A man who's devout towards God
and devout and faithful towards people. Holy. And then temperate. Just in everything he does, does
he do it in temperance? Whether it's eating or drinking
or hobbies. is does he exercise some temperance
in those things and can control himself so that he can give himself
to the ministry of the word, to the ministry, to God's sheep.
The ministry is not a part time job. It's not even a job at all. It's a calling. Does he temperate
in these other things so that he can give himself to the ministry
of the word? Then verse nine, here's the most
important qualification of a pastor in verse nine. holding fast the
faithful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by
sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers."
Now this is the most important qualification of a pastor, does
he hold fast the faithful word. This is the job of the pastor,
to preach the word, to teach God's word, because the church
can only be fed by God's word. They can, the church can only
be governed by God's word. So is he faithful to teach the
faithful word of God? You know, God's word is the faithful
word. It's to be believed. God's word
is not to be debated. It's not to be presented like,
well, you know, you can believe this if you want to, or, well,
we just believe the parts we understand. No. It's not take
it or leave it or take some parts of it and leave other parts of
it. It's the faithful word. It's to be believed. And we're
to preach it to people. So you believe it. This is what
you're to believe. This is God's truth. This is
the faithful word of the faithful God. He is faithful that promised. Now you believe his word. Is
this man faithful to preach that word? And I'm telling you, a
pastor must hold to the word. faithfully. I don't care what
changes in time or season it is, from Paul's day to our day
to how many ever days it's going to be to the Lord's return. The
pastor must hold to God's word faithfully. Look back here at
page 2 Timothy chapter 4. This is what Paul charged Timothy
with. In 2 Timothy 4 verse 1. I charge
thee, therefore, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
judge the quick and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom.
Timothy, you preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of
season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. Timothy, you preach the word. That's the job of the pastor.
At the end of Paul's ministry, what was he thankful for? What
did he tell the Ephesian elders? I've kept the faith. I kept the
faith. I kept faithful to God's Word.
And I tell you this, those who heard Paul preach were thankful,
too, that he kept the faith, faithful to God's Word. And Paul
says here, does he hold fast the faithful word as he hath
been taught, as he hath been taught? That tells me a pastor
is not a novice. He's been around long enough.
to have been taught some things, to have been taught the word
by other faithful men. And he's been around long enough
to have been taught. Not just the head knowledge like
you got in a textbook. You know, Jan and I were visiting
our daughter Holly yesterday. We went over to her apartment.
She's got a bookcase full of nursing books, just full of them.
And I think, my goodness, does she know all that stuff that's
in all those books? God just gave us one book. And
not just with the head knowledge. Has he been around long enough
that God taught him in the heart? In the heart. Has he learned
some things through experience? Has he learned Christ in the
heart? And then, if the Lord's taught him in the heart, he can
preach sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. The Word itself. Sound doctrine is the only preaching
that will save the lost. It's the only preaching that
will do it. You cannot convince men of sin with human logic.
You cannot convince men to come to Christ with human knowledge.
It's only done through God's Word. God has to do it through
the power of God, and He'll always and only do it through the preaching
of His Word. That's the way He does it. Sinners
will never be won to Christ by our powers of persuasion. It's
only done through the pure Word of God. And it's that same word,
the preaching of that same word, that comforts and exhorts and
feeds God's people. This is the word. Now, you'd
be faithful to preach this sound doctrine. Now, all these characteristics
of a pastor, and Paul gives those in Timothy, too, and he adds
in Timothy, apt to teach. Well, all those characteristics,
with the exception probably of apt to teach, should be characteristics
of every believer here. These ought to be characteristics
of every one of us. But whether it's fair or not,
this is fact. Pastors are held to a higher
standard. They're scrutinized more carefully
and closely on these characteristics than the rest of us are. Whether
it's fair or not, that's fact. And here's the reason for it,
is the pastor leads by example. So these are important qualifications. These are not just something
now, you know, we say you have or you're not. This is what God's
word says is the characteristic of his under shepherds. And here's
the blessing. I can tell you why this is so.
Because of the example that a pastor follows. What have we heard the
term for a pastor? An under shepherd. The example
that they follow is our Lord Jesus Christ. And what did Peter
call Christ in 1 Peter chapter 2? The shepherd and bishop of
our souls. He's the bishop. The pastor is
the under bishop. The same title, the bishop. And
our Lord has all these same qualifications in perfection. I'm thankful for
an imperfect man who faithfully preaches the gospel to me. Aren't
you thankful? How much more thankful for the
perfect Savior who has every one of these qualifications in
perfection. Let's look at them quickly. Blameless. Our Lord Jesus was perfect. He knew no sin. He did no sin. There was no guile found in His
mouth. Even Pilate found no fault in Him. And it would have been
easier for Pilate if he could find fault in Him. That would
give Pilate cover to have Him crucified. But even though he
was looking for cover, he couldn't find any. He had to say, I find
no fault in this man. He's blameless. And our Savior is blameless.
So he will present his people wholly unblameable, blameless
and unreprovable in God's sight. He's blameless. Next, he's the
husband of one wife. Our Savior made himself our husband. He made himself one flesh with
his bride. He espoused himself to us when
yet we didn't love him. That's what Peter said in Ephesians.
This is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ
in the church, not just the husband and his wife. I speak concerning
Christ, our husband. And he loves his bride so much. He gave everything. gave himself
for her. He gave everything to her and
he gave everything for her. He's the husband of one wife
and he's going to have her. That marriage is going to be
consummated. He'll have her. Then, having faithful children,
not accused of riot or unruly. Now, Christ, he's our husband
and he's our father and he's taught his children well. They're
well taught. They're ruled well. And he's
made his children faithful. Not perfect now in this life.
You know, we're not perfect, but I'm looking at people. You're
faithful. You are a faithful people. And,
you know, most times that makes us a little uncomfortable for
someone to tell us how faithful you are, because we know in our
heart that, you know, we're not. We know how far short we fall,
you know, being faithful. But you're faithful. God's made
you a faithful people because He's given you faith in Christ.
And any of us who are honest would say, I don't know. Well,
I can be accused of rioting unruly. Now, I can be accused of that.
Well, you can be. But that charge is not going
to stick. It won't stick because Christ your Redeemer already
suffered the penalty for that blame for you. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's left? God to justify. Who is
he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. That charge
will never stick because Christ bore that blame and that punishment
for his children. Then blameless as a steward of
God, the Lord Jesus was the perfect servant. He accomplished all
of his father's will. Everything that the father sent
him to do, he accomplished in perfection. And the father was
so pleased with his faithful servant, he spoke audibly from
heaven and said, this is my beloved son and whom I'm well pleased,
the perfect servant. He never said that about anyone
else, but his son, the perfect servant, perfect steward of God,
not self-willed. What our Lord say, I came not
to do my will, but the will of him that sent And the prime illustration
of that fact is when our Lord was facing being made sin. He is facing God's justice on
the cross for those sins. He said, if it be possible, let
this cut past from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thy will be done. Never self-willed. Our Lord always
did what was best for his people, not what was best for him physically,
but what was best for the glory of his father and the best for
the good of his people, not self-willed. And not soon angry. How patient
was our Lord with his disciples, you read through the Gospels
in his time, his earthly ministry, patient, all patient with his
disciples, even Judas, patient Now I know there's a day of reckoning
coming, but it's an undeniable fact. Our Lord is slow to anger
and of great mercy. Not given to wine. Now, you know,
he was accused of being a wine beaver, but that wasn't true.
Wisdom's justified of her children. The only thing our Lord was consumed
with was his father's will and the salvation of his people.
No striker. Even when provoked beyond measure,
men spit in His face. They plucked His beard out by
the handfuls. They balled up their fists and
beat Him in the face when His hands are tied behind His back.
Not only could our Lord have struck back, He could have just
vaporized them. But He didn't. Why? For the good
of His people. Bearing the punishment for His
people, He was no striker. never struck back. Not given
to filthy lucre. Isn't that one of the things
Satan tried to tempt him with? He took him up on that high mountain
and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, all the riches
of the world at the moment. He said, all these can be yours
if you just bow down to me. All our Lord said was, get thee
behind me, Satan. For it's written, thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. He
wasn't given to filthy lucre. a lover of hospitality. Our Lord
opened his heart to his people. And you can tell that because
publicans and sinners were comfortable in his presence. He was always
hospitable to a sinner. He always had time for a sinner.
He never turned a sinner away without mercy. Even at the height
of his suffering, he took the time to be merciful to that thief
on the hospitable, a lover of good men. Well, you know, that
can only possibly refer to his elect, those who've been made
good in Christ. And he's a lover of those people,
loves his people with an infinite, matchless love. Then sober, self-controlled. You think of the control, the
self-control that it took for the Holy Son of God to live in
this cesspool of sin, surrounded by sinners. Just the self-control
that it took. And just. Here's the Just One. His name is the Just One. That's
how just He is. Everything He did was just and
right. Before God and men. Before God,
He's perfect. Before men, He kept the law. He kept the law perfectly, even
paid the taxes to an unfair ruler, paid his taxes just and holy. The Holy One of Israel, the only
holy man who ever lived. And he makes his people holy
in him. That's how we're holy, is in
him, in the Holy One. That's the only way for a sinner
to ever be made holy, is in Christ. He's holy and temperate. He's always in control of himself. He was in control of every situation
that he was ever in. He was always in control. Never
just out of control. And holding fast the faithful
word. Christ came and he held fast
to that faithful word. He fulfilled every jot and tittle
of that Old Testament law. Every jot and tittle of the Old
Testament scriptures. He fulfilled it because he is
the faithful word. He didn't just hold fast to scroll.
He is the faithful word, the faithful servant, the faithful
shepherd. And you talk about teaching sound
doctrine. When our Lord taught, people
were captivated, just utterly captivated by his teaching. Even
those who, those gainsayers, those who were his enemies had
to say, Never man spake like this man. This man speaks as
one having authority, not as the scribes and Pharisees. And
he convinced gainsayers and sinners, didn't he? To come to him in
repentance and faith. You reckon you could call Zacchaeus
a gainsayer? Zacchaeus come down. He came
down and went to his house that day. Reckon that thief on the
cross was a gainsayer? Scripture said he was, wasn't
he? Just saying, oh yeah, if you can save yourself, save us
too. Come down. A gainsayer. Had mercy on him. Came to him in faith and repentance.
Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Today shalt
thou be with me in paradise. I don't know what transpired
there made that thief say that, but it's sound doctrine, I can
tell you that. Aren't you thankful for the Lord
Jesus Christ, the shepherd and bishop of our souls? That's the
qualifications of a bishop. All right, the Lord bless you.