TITUS

A Field Manual For the Infantryman in the Army of the LORD

AUTHOR:    Paul

THEME:      A Field Manual For the Infantryman in the Army of the LORD

KEY WORD:           GOOD WORKS        6x

KEY VERSE:    Titus 1:5   “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:”

WRITTEN:  To: Titus        (A gentile Greek) at Crete. (Acts 27:7-9; Galatians 2:1-3)

From: Rome (End of 3^rd Missionary Journey. One of Paul’s last letters.)

DATE:           65 A.D.  Between first and second imprisonments.

Between I and II Timothy

INTRODUCTION:

Two young preachers who greatly helped the apostle Paul in his ministry were Timothy and Titus. Both were converts of Paul and were companions and fellow laborers with him.

As we saw in I Timothy, Paul had traveled to Ephesus and left Timothy behind in order to correct the church and get it back on track. Paul followed the identical course of action with Titus. Apparently, Paul and Titus had journeyed to Crete and discovered a church in a very sad condition. Paul appointed this “dirty job” to his most trusted and able assistant – Titus. Titus was left on Crete in the Mediterranean Sea by Paul to complete his work of planting churches and organizing them into self-governing, self-supporting churches. This letter is to instruct Titus concerning qualifications for elders in the church, to warn against false teachers and to fortify Titus in his work.

Crete is a large island off of the north coast of Africa. The Cretians were descendants of Ham (Ezek. 25:16; Zeph. 2:5; Amos 9:7).

Titus 1:12 is a quote from Epimenides of Knossos (Crete) in the 6^th Century BC from his poem, “Minos.”

The book of Titus is much like the book of II Timothy in that it was written to a young preacher admonishing him concerning the work of a pastor in the church. Titus was a Gentile and was one of Paul’s converts.  We know very little else about him. In II Corinthians he is mentioned several times; he is also mentioned in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians.  It was Titus who brought to Paul the manner in which the Corinthians received his first epistle, and it was Titus who carried back to that church the second epistle.

Paul had no doubt visited the church on the island of Crete where Titus pastored.  See Titus 1:5.  Paul returned to Asia and left Titus to pastor the church there.  Many of the members were converts who had been saved on the day of Pentecost and had returned to Crete to found a church.

Titus had become discouraged in the work.  He had supposedly asked Paul if he could help him get located somewhere else and consequently wanted to leave Crete.  His reasons for this are given in Titus 1:12, 13.  He did have a hard field.  It was a difficult place to stay, and Titus was very discouraged.  All of this was true.  The discouragement would be natural.

The book of Titus, consequently, is written to admonish Titus to stay in Crete, and then Paul tells him why he should stay in Crete by explaining to him the different things the people in the church needed from him.

DIVISION OF TITUS:

1. Good works in the House of God (Ch 1)
   1. Look to Make Disciples and train other Pastors
   2. Sharply rebuke gainsayers
2. The Pattern of Good Works (Ch 2)
   1. The Older Teach the Younger
   2. Employees should work hard for their employers
   3. God’s Grace teaches us to live separated, holy lives.
3. Maintain Good Works (Ch 3)
   1. Be Glad your saved
   2. Choose your battles carefully
   3. Reject heritics

 

Individual Truths from Titus

Titus 1:2-3    In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

3 But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;

The Lord Jesus Christ our Savior is God (Isaiah 45:15; John 4:22; 1 Tim. 4:10; Titus 2:13).

 

Titus 1:8    But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

The perverted minds of sodomites privately interpret this phrase according to their lusts. A good man according to the queers is a bigoted, drunken, incontinent faggot like them.

 

Titus 2:2    That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

The aged men and women provide the wisdom of training for the young people. The aged women are the best qualified to teach the young women how to love their husbands and their children. A diligent wife and mother maintains a good household by being a submissive helpmeet to her husband and an industrious, sincere, and spiritual mother to her children. Young mothers with children are keepers at home, but this does not mean that they are to be confined to the house as many of the new bibles advise (1 Sam. 17:22; 2 Kings 22:14; Acts 16:27).

 

Titus 2:8    Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

Sounds speech is an organized and understandable presentation of the sound words of God (Ps. 119:80; Prov. 2:7; 3:21; 8:14; 2 Cor. 3:12; Titus 1:13; 1 Peter 4:11). The sound doctrines of the Scriptures on the authoritative and consistent truths of the Lord God (Matt. 7:28). An honest and humble student with a sound mind studies the preserved the words of God in order to obtain sound doctrine (2 Cor. 4:1-2; Phil. 2:16; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:7, 13; 2:15). The apostate will condemn the believer of sound doctrine, but he cannot honestly condemn the belief.

 

Titus 2:10    Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

Theft is commonly committed by the employees of the business. Fidelity is a careful, exact, and honest performance of service. Professional thieves commit extortion and fraud from the people through inflation, taxation, and usery (Prov. 28:8; Luke 2:1-5; 1 Cor. 5:9-11).

 

Titus 2:11-12    For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

The law is good, holy, and just for outward conduct (Rom. 7:12), but Grace teaches in word holiness of the spirit (2 Cor. 7:1). True grace teaches higher standards of righteousness than the law (Matt. 5:27-28; Rom. 6:14-15; Gal. 3:23-25).

 

Titus 3:10-11    A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

11 Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

Heresy always contradicts itself. A Bible-believer may personally expose the bold face lies of the heretic on two occasions. After the two confrontations the Bible-believer is to reject the heretic (Matt. 15:14; Rom. 16:17; 1 Tim. 6:5). The heretic and his heresy serve a great benefit for the vigilant teacher because truth is easier understood by its contrast to error (Lev. 10:10; Ezek. 44:23). The genuine is revealed by its contrast to the counterfeit (1 John 4:6).

 

PAUL TOLD TITUS TO STAY IN CRETE BECAUSE HE NEEDED CRETE. This is one of the most important reasons why any of us ought to face the tough places in life; we need the tough places.

Psalm 119:71          It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Psalm 119:67          Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

1 Peter 4:1‑2         Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

2          That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Check the great men in history, and you will find that almost all of them had a difficult place with same hard knocks.  This was a training ground for them for great things in the future.  Paul is saying to Titus, “You need the tough places.”  Martin Luther had his problem with the Catholic church.  John Huss was persecuted by the church.  Charles Spurgeon was voted out of the Baptist Association in London and his own brother led the vote.  Jonathan Edwards was voted out of his first pastorate.  Dr. John Rice lost his mother when he was six years of age.  Dr. Bill Rice saw his baby daughter lose her hearing.  Harold Sightler’s nine-year-old girl was killed by a drunken driver.  Dr. Monroe Parker’s wife was killed in an accident caused by a drunken driver.  George Truitt accidently killed his best friend on a hunting trip. These are just a few examples, but great men must be prepared for greatness by staying in Crete and having difficult times.

 

PAUL TOLD TITUS TO STAY IN CRETE BECAUSE CRETE NEEDED TITUS.

He proceeded to tell who needs Titus.

There are six groups admonished in Titus 2.

1. The aged men. Titus 2:2.
2. The aged women. Titus 2:3.
3. The young men. Titus 2:6.
4. The young women. Titus 2:4.
5. The servants. Titus 2:9.
6. All believers in general. Titus 2:11, 12.

The tough place needs us.  The difficult places need a Titus more than do the easy places.  Far too many preachers settle in the “Bible belts,” and far too many Christians want to shirk the battles and the hard times in life.  Many would like to go to the easy places and shirk the burdens, the trials, the heartaches and the battles.  The poor need us, the lonely need us, the discouraged need us, the sinful need us, the deaf need us, the blind need us, the retarded need us, the downtrodden need us, the sick need us, the invalids need us, the rest home patients need us, Crete needs us.  Paul admonished Titus to stay there because Crete needed him so badly.

 

GOD NEEDED TITUS IN CRETE.

God needs a Titus.  He needs someone who can take it, someone who can shepherd the flock, someone who can teach the class, someone who can superintend the department even when the going gets rough.  Anybody can teach a class of perfect little angels.  God needs someone to stay with the hoodlums and the tough kids.  Anyone can captain a bus route in the nice section of town.  God needs someone to go “across the tracks” and help the ones who don’t know how to behave in church, the ones who are unruly.  The Gospel of Christ has always been “going where we are needed the most.”  It is not the sanctified sitting together and learning more about sanctification; it is the sanctified going out to the unsanctified, the unsaved, the rough people, and leading them to know Christ and teaching them how to follow Him.

 

CONCLUSION:     Every person is going through a trial. Sometimes we want to shrink from doing God’s will when He puts us in the hard place.   God wants us to have the hard place for our own sake, for the sake of those in the hard place, and for His sake.

 

OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF TITUS

In this letter, Paul is advising Titus on how to rekindle a nearly dead church by discussing in detail 3 vital characteristics of a New Testament church.

IT MUST HAVE ORGANIZATION. (Titus 1)

1. Many churches have compounded their spiritual sickness by tying the hands, binding the feet and muzzling the mouth of the only human agent God has chosen to lead His church – the Pastor.
2. Paul provides sound qualifications for the office of pastor. Titus is commissioned by Paul to seek out and ordain men who meet these qualifications and train them in the ministry.

Titus 1:5 – 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:

2. In order to qualify for the office of a pastor, a man must meet 3 primary requirements:

 

1. They must be blameless.

Titus 1:7-8 – For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;

1. They must be bold in the Word of God.

(1)       They need to cling to sound doctrine.

Titus 1:9 – Holding fast the faithful word.

(2)       They need to know how to use the Bible to silence the enemy.

Titus 1:9 – that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

1. They must be bold in behavior.

Titus 1:13 – This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;

1. Notice the complete absence of a reliance upon deacons, committees or any other device which churches use to hogtie God’s man. Paul’s solution to church organization was simple – God’s man allowed to preach God’s Word!

 

IT MUST HAVE DOCTRINE. (Titus 2)

1. Paul next points Titus as to the 2 major topics for his preaching and teaching.
2. Sound doctrine.

Titus 2:1 – But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:

2. Grace of God.

Titus 2:11 – For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

1. Paul then listed the various people that Titus was to exhort in his preaching of sound doctrine and the results he should expect.
2. Aged men would become “solid” in their Christianity.

Titus 2:2 – That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

2. Aged women would become examples of godliness.

Titus 2:3 – The aged woman likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

3. Young women would become better wives by following the example of the aged women.

Titus 2:4-5 – That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

4. Young men should become spiritually minded.

Titus 2:6 – Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

1. Notice Paul’s emphasis following the expected results from the preaching of sound doctrine – it must be followed by sound living! Titus 2:7 – In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works:
2. Paul then encouraged Titus to preach much on the grace of God – salvation!
3. God’s grace should cause us to live a godly life.

Titus 2:12 – Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

2. God’s grace should increase our hope for the Second Coming of Christ.

Titus 2:13 – Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

1. Following such a strong encouraging to Titus to “preach the Book,” Paul then concludes this section with a strong challenge.

Titus 2:15 – These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

III.     IT MUST HAVE GOOD WORKS.  (Titus 3)

1. Paul in this final chapter places great emphasis on the necessity of God’s people to be performing “good works.”
2. To subject themselves.

Titus 3:1 – Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

2. To hold their tongues.

Titus 3:2 – To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

3. To avoid trouble-makers.

Titus 3:9 – But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

4. To reject heretics.

Titus 3:10 – A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

1. Paul, in his closing, further emphasizes the importance of leading God’s people in their good works by doing good works ourselves.

Titus 3:14 – And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

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