Book of Titus - Ch. 1, v. 4

I'm going to go ahead and get started so that we can finally finish this salutation and hand it back to Dave who's been prepping for Psalm 25 for months. It's going to be the deepest verse-by-verse study we've ever experienced.

He's had so much prep time. All right, well, we started, we briefly touched on verse 4 of chapter 1 last time. I'm going to do a little bit of review today since it's been a couple of weeks or maybe three weeks, but we will get this done.

Let's start by reading the first four verses one more time for the full context, at least of the salutation itself, and then we will round out verse 4. It says in chapter 1, verse 1 of Titus, Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God, our Savior, to Titus, my own son after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior.

That is all one sentence. It all flows together. One idea, but touching, alluding to, and implying a number of massively deep doctrines, all right there in the first four verses. All of that makes sense, of course, given what Titus was up against.

We've talked about it a number of times, kind of teased the false teachers that he's going to be up against, which we'll get to eventually later on in this letter, but it makes sense that Paul was so meticulous in this introduction.

Now in verse four specifically, let's hone in on that. That is our final verse of this opening salutation of Titus before moving into some of the material that Paul had for this young pastor that he was writing to.

Verse four one more time says to Titus, my own son after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Now just to do a little bit of review, we covered some of this last time.

But last time I mentioned that the idea that Paul had zero issues duplicating himself. We talked about the idea of duplicating and delegating all the time, and it is a very prominent idea in the world of business, but it originates from the Bible.

And Paul knew of the importance that that played in the succession of God's leaders. I think I said it last time, but when we introduced this book, we actually went to the Old Testament. We looked at three specific examples of the succession plan from one man of God to the next, from Moses to Joshua, from David to Solomon, from Elijah to Elisha.

And so here, as we dive into the pastoral epistles, we find that Paul is doing the same thing. All of the apostles did this to some degree, but Paul was very intentional with his succession plan, and he's preparing Titus to be one of his successors.

So Paul had zero issue duplicating himself. That is what you do when you plan out a succession plan. But one thing that we talked about is the reason that Paul had no issue doing this is because he also had no issue being a people person.

He had no issue pouring into all of the people around him, discipling the people around him, obviously witnessing the people around him first, then discipling them after they came to saving faith. We had an example of that in Philemon, which we just finished up a couple of months ago with Onesimus, and then we learned a little bit about Philemon as well in their history with Paul.

We learn about this with Titus right here in verse four. But one of the reasons, again, that Paul had no issue having these strong men and women around him that were so faithful to the word of God themselves and were they were disciplers themselves is because of what they learn from Paul.

And we briefly just mentioned Romans 16 last time. It's an interesting chapter. You get to the very end of a book of the Bible that is so steeped with some of the deepest doctrines we have. And then the final closing chapter is just Paul commending person after person, all these people, all of his friends that he cared deeply about.

And that was yet another example of the types of relationships that Paul had and how much he cared about people. You had Barnabas, you had Luke, Timothy, obviously Titus, a number of guys that he cared a lot about and poured a lot into.

But Titus and Timothy were kind of at the top to some degree, because even though Paul's life was filled with people, we get the most distinct and the most meticulous, as I put it a couple of weeks ago, instruction manuals for life, for godly living, for Christian living and for how to start a church and for how to operate a church.

We get those to Titus and to Timothy. So Paul cared a great deal about these two young guys. Now. In verse four, we're going to recognize some familiar phrasing here that Paul has used before. In fact, he used it, we saw in our last study in Philemon, but he uses physical mental pictures to describe the spiritual bond between himself and Titus.

And so when he says in verse four, my own son, after the common faith, what he's doing is he's telling us that Titus, much like Philemon, much like Onesimus, a couple of guys we recently learned about, Titus owes his spiritual life to God through Paul.

Paul is claiming Titus as his own, as his own convert, as his own spiritual son, because he was the one that had converted him at some point in the past. Now, interestingly, we don't find Titus in the book of Acts.

And the reason that's interesting is because we learn a lot about the guys that walked with Paul and were part of Paul's ministry throughout Acts as we see Paul throughout his missionary journeys and his missionary trips and things like that.

But we don't we don't learn about Titus in Acts, regardless of the fact that so many others are there. A lot of significant names. But we do find Titus in some other areas throughout the New Testament that are very, very significant.

I'd like to look at one of them now. Let's take a look at Galatians chapter two. We're just going to read the first few verses of that chapter. And outside of this little letter to Titus that's written directly to him, we see Titus again playing a significant part in Paul's ministry.

Among a few other things, let me turn there really quick, because I only have a couple of verses in my notes that I might want to read a little bit more than that. Galatians chapter two, let's just look at verse one for a second.

And we learn something interesting right off the bat. It says, Then 14 years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also. So there's Titus. There's the guy, the young guy that were that Paul is writing this letter to of Titus.

Here he is in this scene in Galatians. And what is significant about this particular scene? What is significant about Titus being included in this journey that Paul took to Jerusalem? Well, the context for this time period that Paul is speaking about is really interesting.

It's when Paul was actually traveling to Jerusalem, to the Jerusalem council. This is after over a decade of Paul out preaching to Gentiles, preaching the gospel to Gentiles after having spent some three years with the Lord.

In fact, I believe it's here in Galatians where he talks about that. I can't remember which verse it's some point later on in chapter two, I believe, where he talks about the time that he spent with the Lord.

And so Paul did that and then he goes out and he starts his ministry and he's doing it for over a decade. And after 14 years of that, he goes to Jerusalem to a particular council that was called together with all of the elders and apostles.

So you have James, Peter, John, all of the elders of the Jerusalem church. And now you have Paul coming to take part in it. And what were they going to do there? He was going to be a part of essentially.

And I think if we have enough time, we may even read the passage just because it's a very. Amazing story, but he was going to be a part of the deliberations that they were going to be doing regarding the gospel, defining the gospel in what what part the law of Moses played in the gospel, you had believing Pharisees that were there, they were Pharisees that actually converted to Christianity, but they still had what vestiges of Judaism were left, a part of their religious system or a part of their their routine, for lack of a better term.

And so they were saying that Gentiles post conversion to Christ still needed to be circumcised. And so all of the elders, the apostles were like, let's get together and let's talk about this. So they call Paul from from where he was.

And Paul goes to take part in the conversation and in the dialogue that would take place. And again, one of the main items that was up for discussion that are part of that council was whether or not saved Gentiles needed to be circumcised.

I'll continue a little bit more here, it says in verse two, and I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that that gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them, which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain.

And this is really this is really fascinating for a lot of reasons, because here we are reading an inspired letter. We know that Paul was commissioned by the Lord himself, and he goes out on his own with some men around him that he discipled and he's preaching the gospel to the Gentiles.

And yet he tells us here in verse two that, you know, I'm going to this council. I'm an apostle. I'm going to go be a part of this, but I'm going to meet with those of reputation first. Presumably that would be Peter, John, James, the first elders of the Jerusalem church, some of the other apostles, maybe even some of the other saved Jews that were more prominent that time.

He said, I'm going to meet with them first. I'm going to tell them what I've been preaching just to make sure I haven't been running in vain. It's really, really interesting stuff. But look at verse three, Titus comes back into the picture here.

He says, but neither Titus. And this is where we learn why it's so significant that Titus is in this little story here. And the key role that he played as a young Christian, it says, but neither Titus, who was with me being a Greek.

So he's a Gentile. He's not a Jew. Being a Greek was compelled to be circumcised. He was not compelled to be circumcised. So Titus, he was a Gentile convert. He was redeemed by Christ and he was not compelled to be circumcised.

Now, Paul hand selected Titus as the essentially as the exemplary saved Gentile. He wanted Titus to be a model for all of these Jews. In fact, some Pharisees that are going to be at this council, he wanted them to look at Titus as a prime example of what a saved Gentile looks like.

And he wanted his great passion for the Lord, that being Titus, he wanted Titus as a great passion for the Lord and whose life at this point exuded the transformation that only true salvation can bring through faith.

He wanted the Pharisees to see all this. And in fact, he wanted the other apostles and elders to see it as well, because this was a big this was one of the biggest parts of the discussion they were going to be having.

Titus was a genuine saved Christian, as we learn in verse four of Titus, which we're in today, when he says, you know, a son after the common faith, we learn that he's genuine. And again, Paul wanted everyone else to see that.

I tell you what, turn to Acts chapter 15 for just a minute. I'm not going to spend a lot of time in it. I'm just going to read the story of this council because it's an amazing thing already. And then when you consider that Titus was brought along to this council for this reason, it really sheds a lot of light for us on who Titus was, the kind of man he was even as a young man and how faithful he was immediately after being converted.

So in Acts chapter 15, we learn more of what Paul is talking about in Galatians chapter two, this whole scene where he is talking about the some of the Judaizers. Now, some of them were saved, but we can gather from Galatians two that not all of them were because some of them, as Paul tells us in Galatians, in that same chapter, they came to try to steal our liberty.

They came to try to insert the law into the gospel through unawares. And they even and there were people that were doing this to the Galatian church. There's people doing this to the churches of Crete where Titus is.

So this was a very common issue of Judaizers coming in and trying to basically in a weird kind of way, proselytize the Gentiles who already came to know the Lord and they were trying to convince them they still needed to be circumcised and do all of these things, all these ceremonial things that had been crucified along with Christ on the cross.

They just they were leaving that part out. So Acts chapter 15, let's just read this a little bit and you'll get a little bit more of the background behind this council that Paul took Titus along with him to be at.

And in certain men, which came down from Judea, taught the brethren and said, except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. So there you go. There's the Pharisees. There's the Judaizers.

Some of them were genuinely saved. And we learned that. I can't remember if it's in this passage or maybe in Galatians. Some of them were believing Pharisees, but they still they had a lot of baggage that they needed to totally ditch, much like Paul had to.

But there were there were whether they were believing or not, the Pharisees were there and they were saying, unless you are circumcised in the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. So what do the apostles do about this?

What did the elders do about this? In verse two, it says, when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

They're going to figure it out. Is there any part that the law of Moses plays in the gospel of Christ that Paul and Barnabas and others are now preaching? And so they were going to get together and have this very important discussion and being brought on their way by the church.

They passed through Phoenix and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy and all the brethren, Paul and Barnabas, as they are traveling to Jerusalem, they continue to give testimony of the conversion of all of the Gentiles that they have met and preached to.

Titus was one of them, by the way. Verse four, and when they were come to Jerusalem and they were received of the church and of the apostles and of the elders, and they declared all the things that God had done with them.

But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed saying that this was needful to circumcise them, that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

And the apostles and the elders came together for to consider of this matter. And let's see here. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe in God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts and by faith.

Remember, we learned from Paul later on, there is neither Greek nor Jew, male nor female, slave nor free. And this is kind of the idea that Peter is bringing to light as well. Verse 10. Now, therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

If Israel was not able to bear this burden and live perfectly by the law for centuries upon for millennia, then why, after Christ had done it in our place, would you want to put that yoke upon our necks again?

But we believe, verse 11, that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name and to hit in to this degree the words of the prophets as it is written.

After this, I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. And I will build again the ruins thereof. And I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, sayeth the Lord, who doeth all these things.

Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. And then I'll end it there just for the sake of time. But basically throughout the rest of the chapter, they go on to talk about how the Gentiles are not under the law.

Then again, neither are believing Jews. It is interesting because I've said this a couple of times recently, how there was some overlap in the dispensations. Paul took the Nazarene or Nazarite vow at one point.

They were still doing some things that they felt convicted to do, even though it was not necessary for salvation. And so but what the thing that the main thing that they're talking about here and the main thing they were trying to hammer home is that these newly converted Gentiles like Titus did not have to be circumcised.

They did not need to be under the umbrella of the old covenant of the law in order to be saved. And of course, all of the apostles and the elders of Jerusalem were on that side of the argument against some of the Judaizers, against some of the Pharisees.

So they went on to conclude the Gentiles are not under the law and so on and so forth. Again, the pretty much the full chapter all the way down to verse thirty five is talking about that council. It was an amazing thing.

And so as you read that story and you and you picture the fact that all the while Titus is standing over here behind Paul and Barnabas is they talk about the miracles and wonders that God has wrought through them and they have Titus here, one of their converts, an example of one of their converts and how faithful and how passionate he was for the Lord.

And yet he was a Greek and he was not compelled to be circumcised. Here is living proof that salvation does not require circumcision. So that's the kind of guy Titus was. We learn a lot about Titus in a lot of these passages.

Now, turn to Second Corinthians, chapter eight, let's take a look at one other passage again. Titus is not mentioned here in Acts, but he was mentioned in Galatians and he's mentioned like nine times in Second Corinthians.

So we learn a little bit more about Titus here. Second Corinthians, chapter eight. If you all will turn with me there, we learn more about the faithfulness in the passion that Titus had for the Lord after his conversion.

It says in chapter eight, starting in verse 16, but thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. He's talking to the church in Corinth and he's saying, thanks be to God that he put an earnest in the heart of this young man for you, just as he did for me and some of the others.

Titus cares about you as much as I do.

That's what he's telling them.

For indeed, he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward of his own accord, he went into you. Isn't that interesting? So he was young, but this is how passionate he was. He was even more forward.

He was more. He had more earnest. Perhaps even some of the others that were ministering to Corinth, including Paul himself, being more forward of his own will, of his own accord, he went into you. Now, think about Corinthians for a second.

This is one of the churches that Paul wrote to that had a lot of problems on their hands, and they had a big mess that they were dealing with, bad sin problems in first Corinthians. Paul was still ministering to them through some of that all throughout that book and even in the second Corinthians to a degree, checking in on them a little bit.

There's evidence, I believe, in those letters that there was an additional letter he wrote to them, not in our inspired word, but that Paul wrote to them because he did care about them. And so this was a church that had a lot of issues, and yet even with that, Titus wasn't scared.

He wasn't scared of these guys. He wasn't scared of the issues they have, and he wasn't afraid of his own ability to go minister to them in some way. That's how faithful, that's how passionate he was.

If you skip down to verse twenty three of that same chapter, we're still second Corinthians eight, verse twenty three now, whether any do inquire of Titus, here he is again. He is my partner. He is my fellow helper concerning you or our brethren be inquired of.

They are the messengers of the churches in the glory of Christ. So Titus isn't the only person that Paul has claimed for himself regarding his spiritual sonship. He Paul had a number of people in his ministry, a number of people that were part of his work that were all helping him out.

But Titus, he points out in that last verse, being my partner and fellow helper, that says a lot because that's not just some passing comment. That's not just saying Titus is a nice guy, so I'm going to mention him really quick and then we move on.

Titus was in the trenches with Paul. He was. That's what he means by being his fellow helper, his partner. Titus was ministering in a very explicit way and was carrying the burden of minister, much like Paul and the other apostles were at this time.

He was carrying that load already, even as young as he was. Now, again, just kind of to, you know, back to this idea of Paul having these men and women in his life that he converted, that he considered his own spiritual children.

Titus, while being a preeminent one, being one of Paul's successors, being a pastor, he's going to be the bishop of all of at least some of these local churches in Crete. Paul uses the same phrasing for others as well regarding, again, spiritual sonship.

If you want to put it in those terms, you don't have to go here. I'll read it really quick. But in 1st Corinthians 4 .15, Paul says, So think about this for just a second. Go back to the day of your conversion.

Think about the person that preached the gospel that resonated in your mind and brought you to a saving knowledge of Christ for the first time. You have a ton of people, thousands of people that you will hear preached throughout our lifetimes, pastors that we respect, pastors that we admire, evangelists, revivalists, perhaps missionaries, people that are doing open air preaching on the street, maybe even some friends that we have conversation with and that disciple us through hard times.

We will have 10 ,000 instructors in Christ. Yet ye have not many fathers. Not all of them are our spiritual father or mother, maybe in some cases. For in Christ, I have begotten you through the gospel.

And what Paul was doing is he was reminding the Corinthians, I am writing to you as your spiritual father. You have 10 ,000 instructors in Christ, but not many fathers. I am your spiritual father. I am the one that brought you to a saving knowledge of Christ.

Listen to me. Listen to me. Help you through these issues that you're dealing with. Heed my warnings. Heed my exhortations. So that is just a quick example of the way in which Paul viewed his converts, the people that he brought to know the Lord throughout his ministry.

He cared a lot about them. He considered them his begotten in the gospel, which is a really neat idea. And it's a really neat thing that Paul emphasized time and time again. He did it with Philemon. He did it with Onesimus.

He did it for the entire Corinthian church here. And he does it back in Titus, verse four, when he calls him his son. After the common faith, let me turn back myself over there really quick. When he says to Titus, my own son, after the common faith, it's really an amazing picture.

Now, I think it's actually really important to note. And we're nearing the end of verse four here. It's really important to note that Paul. Emphasizes Titus's genuine faith, knowing that in this same letter and within just a few verses, we will get there pretty soon.

Paul is going to begin warning about the hypocrites and the false teachers that are on this island of Crete with Titus out there by his lonesome, but faithful and strong, passionate, not afraid. He is going to be having to deal with these hypocrites and with these false teachers.

Who is he dealing with them about? Or that's not that's not the best way to put it. What's the battlefield that Titus will be taking part in? It's not just him over there defending his faith. No, it's doing that, but it's also him working to establish strong, faithful churches.

So the battleground are all of these people that are brand new in the faith or maybe have not even been converted yet. And they are hearing the multitude of false teachers over here up against Titus, this young man.

So that's one of the reasons why Titus receives this epistle from Paul, because he needed that authority. That's something we've covered a number of times. And one of the things, one of the ways that Paul establishes this authority for Titus isn't just the fact that he's receiving a letter from Paul, kind of giving every giving Titus the green light, giving Titus his stamp of approval.

He does that. He gets all that. But he also establishes Titus's genuine faith. So he is he's giving all of these local churches reason to rest easy in listening to Titus, not just as a good guy, not just as a guy that can talk well or has good oratory ability, not just a good preacher, but a genuine saved person.

I mean, the hypocrites were great preachers, too. The false teachers were wonderful as far as convincing and persuading. And that is why it was such a tough battle. So persuasion and good talking and any of those skill sets Titus may have had, they weren't good enough to assure these young Christians new in the faith that he was their guy, that he was to be their pastor.

And so while Paul is giving his stamp of approval, he is emphasizing Titus's genuine faith. And he does that in a verse for when he says, my own son, after the common faith, he shares the faith that I have as an apostle, as a commissioned apostle.

He is genuine in every sense of the term. And this is Paul's way of, again, not only recommending Titus. To the churches of Crete, but just giving that that personal recommendation on on every that the absolute recommendation, I'll put it that way, to these young churches, to these young Christians as one of Paul's successors, Titus is a successor of Paul himself in faith, in life, in doctrine, and Paul wants them to know that he wants the false teachers to know it.

And I think they do know it, but he certainly wants these young, faithful churches to know it as well. And that's why he spent a lot of time emphasizing that or not necessarily a lot of time, because it's a very brief introduction.

If you think about it, we have spent a lot of time in it, but he was very intentional as kind of is the better way of putting it. It's very clear. He is very meticulous in this introduction, even though he's writing to a friend.

But he knows that this that this man is going to share this letter with everybody. And so he's very meticulous. And he pointed these things out so that everyone was on board with what Paul was talking about.

Do you guys have any thoughts or anything you'd like to share or questions up to this point? I have one other thought I'd like to share, and then that'll pretty much do it for the first four verses. The last observation we can take in looking at verse four here, let's read it one more time.

Actually, let's read verses three and four. And I want you guys to see if you notice one last very interesting thing that Paul does. Keeping in mind that he is helping Titus refute Judaizers, if they're not believing Jews, then that implies they also would would be enemies against the deity of our Lord, among other things.

So keeping that in mind, tell me if you notice something between verses three and four. But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God, our savior, to Titus, my own son, after the common faith, grace, mercy and peace from God the father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our savior.

You guys notice anything interesting? An interesting connection there. Well, it's assumed. Even by the false teachers that the father is God, what they deny is that Jesus is God and there is one title that is unique to the son.

Now, that doesn't mean there may not be a place somewhere where it's used in the context of the father, too. But typically speaking, there is a title that is reserved for the son throughout the New Testament, and that is the title of savior.

He is the one that saved us, that redeemed us by his blood, that paid the sacrifice, that made the sacrifice and paid in his own blood. And that is Jesus. And so when Paul in verse three says, God, our savior, he's talking about Jesus.

But he calls him God explicitly. It's worth pointing out because Paul is he actually deviates a little bit from his typical title for Jesus. And in a lot of his letters, when Paul writes, he will typically say something along the lines of Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ, our Lord, or something like that.

But here he opts for Jesus Christ, our savior. And the reason why that's interesting is because it's a callback to that previous verse where he just said, God, our savior, he's making a major point by referring to Jesus as savior.

And it's not a coincidence at all that in all three places in this little bitty letter, in fact, Titus, as we will get to later, Titus, as short as it is, barely three chapters. It's one of the greatest epistles that we have that affirms Christ's deity.

It's one of the greatest works that we have that proves it and that teaches it emphatically. And we'll talk more about that when we get to those other places. But this is one of the three places where Paul is making explicit reference to Christ as God.

And in all three places that he calls Christ the savior in this letter, he does so within just a few verses after calling God our savior. So there's a few other a few other examples as well. So according to Paul, Jesus is God.

We know that already from Colossians that we're in right now, also from Philippians chapter two, Hebrews one, I believe that is Paul in Hebrews. So Paul, just time and time again, just brings home the reality, the amazing truth that Christ is God, that Jesus is God.

He's not a limited Lord, he's not a mere personal moral guide for Paul, he's not a personal Jesus just for Paul, but he is, in fact, the Lord and the God of the entire universe himself. He is, as we learn in Colossians, the one by which all things are sustained, in which all things are consisted by his hand.

And so, isn't it amazing how much is packed into those first four verses, so many doctrinal realities, allusions to doctrines and things that Paul brings to the mind of Titus, perhaps to remind him, to ground him one more time in his own faith, but to also prove to the hypocrites, to the false teachers out there who exactly they're dealing with, and to give assurance in faithfulness of these young Christians new in the faith toward Titus as their new pastor.

And so some amazing things there. So beginning next time, probably sometime next year, because Dave is going to take the rest of the year for Psalm 25. He has had ample time to prepare, as he said yesterday, he's not going to be going verse by verse.

He's going to be going letter by letter because he's had that much time to prepare since the last time he was up here. But the next time we are together, we'll be jumping into verse five, which is where we begin to see the qualifications for pastors, for elders, and we start to see the groundwork being laid for a faithful biblical church, what it's supposed to look like.

What are the qualifications? What are some things that are neglected by the modern church that cause so many issues and why we see the rampant disrespect for the office of pastor these days? Why is it that we see here?

Think about this for a little bit and you'll have weeks to think about it. Why is it that churches? Well, let me let me before I ask my question here, let me just give you a thought that I've had before.

I have always found it odd that when a pastor does mess up and in some cases in very gross ways, I'm not talking about the little like everyone's human. I'm not talking about, you know, maybe offending somebody for the wrong reasons.

Of course, the Bible is offensive and supposed to be, but maybe offending someone for the wrong reasons, you know, or maybe just, you know, I don't know. There are every pastor fails in some area because they're a human and God loves working through imperfect humans because it is one more testament to his glory because it shows that it is that he's the reason anyone can do anything.

But I'm talking about the big stuff when pastors mess up big and it's disturbing and it happens all the time. I have always found it interesting that their congregation will be so quick to come to their defense.

You would think of all the people that that maybe a congregation of believers would want to be upset with to the point of saying, get out of here. You just messed up the testimony of our church. You lied to us.

You're up here teaching us how to be a moral people. And yet you are living like this. That's how in my mind, logically, some churches would react and maybe some do. But it seems like more often than not, what you find is a pastor messes up bad and then the church is very quick to justify it, to rationalize about it, maybe even initiate some sort of restoration process, which is not in the Bible anywhere.

And they are quick to want to make excuses for their pastor so that he can remain in office. OK, so I've always found that to be very weird. So the question is, why did they do that? I want you guys to think about that question.