Book of Titus - Ch. 1, v. 4

I'm gonna 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 gonna be the deepest verse -by -verse study we've ever experienced He's had so much prep time

Alrighty. Well, we started we briefly touched on verse 4 of chapter 1 last time

I'm gonna do a little bit of review today since it's been a couple of weeks or maybe three weeks And but we will 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 mine 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 4 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 4 one more time says to Titus mine 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 Elisha 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 to 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 few a couple of months ago

With Onesimus and then we learned a little bit about Philemon as well in their history with Paul We learned about this with Titus right here in verse 4, 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 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 he 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 4

We're gonna 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 4 mine 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 2 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. So I only have a couple of verses in my notes

That might want to read a little bit more than that Galatians chapter 2

Let's just look at verse 1 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 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 2

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 we

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 2 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 2 that you know, I'm going to this council.

I'm an apostle I'm gonna go be a part of this, but I'm gonna 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 gonna meet with them first I'm gonna 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 3 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 is 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 is 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 he 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 4 of Titus which we're in today when he says

You know a son after the common faith. We learned 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 gonna spend a lot of time in it I'm just gonna read The story of this council because It's it's an amazing.

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 we learn more of what Paul is talking about in Galatians chapter 2 this whole scene where he is talking about the some of the

Judaizers now some of them were saved but We we can gather from Galatians 2 that not all of them were because some of them as Paul tells us in Galatian 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 yet in a certain 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 what do the Apostles do about this? What did the elders do about this in verse 2? 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 gonna figure it out Duh, 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 into 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 4 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 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 Harkening to 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 is 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 Nazar Nazarene or Nazarite Val Val 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, but pretty much the full chapter all the way down to verse 35 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 here 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 2nd

Corinthians chapter 8, 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 2nd

Corinthians So we learn a little bit more about Titus here 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 if y '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 8 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 thank me 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. Yeah, 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 1st

Corinthians Paul was still ministering to them through some of that all throughout that book and even into 2nd

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 23 of that same chapter

We're still 2nd Corinthians 8 verse 23 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 gonna 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 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 this 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 first Corinthians 4 15 Paul says for though ye have 10 ,000 instructors in Christ ye have not many fathers 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 in 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 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 4 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 4 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 gonna 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 to the false teachers were wonderful as far as convincing and persuading and that is why it was such a tough battle, so Persuasion and in good talking and Any of those skill sets

Titus may have had they weren't good enough to assure these young Christians knew 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.

It's 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 this 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 3 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 in 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 2

Hebrews 1 I believe that is Paul in Hebrews. See Paul Just time and time again

Just rings 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 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 is their new pastor and so some amazing things there. So beginning next time

Probably sometime next year because Dave's gonna take the rest of the year for Psalm 25 He has had ample time to prepare

As he said yesterday, he's not gonna be going verse by verse He's gonna be going letter by letter because he's that 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 5 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 is supposed to look like? What are the qualifications? What are some things that are neglected by the modern church?

That caused 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 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

Okay, I so I've always found that to be very weird So the question is why do they do that?

I want you guys to think about that question and the next time we come back That's one of the things we're going to be talking about as we get into the qualifications of elders of bishops of pastors all synonymous overseers

Why is it that Christians are so quick to excuse the gross sin in some cases of their shepherds

The ones that are supposed to be the examples for everyone else Does anyone have any thoughts or closing comments before we finish up our study of those opening verses there?

We have a couple minutes We have one week

That's hilarious that is so that is really funny timing. Well, that's again my fault because I've dragged this out too long.

Yes, sir Didn't break the law

A lot of times they come out to say What they call restoration well

And If it's a disqualifying

Office Yes Yeah, dad's point just for anyone online that may not have heard that and this is important I'm glad you said it is it's one thing to restore them in fellowship after they perhaps and hopefully repent of whatever the sin is and Confess it to the

Lord and get right with the Lord If you're talking restoration in that regard back in fellowship back in the church family, of course

It would be it would be non -biblical not to do that What we're talking about specifically is

Restoration to the role of shepherd of pastor and a lot of people do it the dad's point and again

It's worth thinking about why where why did we ever start doing that? And so just think about a little bit

Because we are going to talk about it. There are some examples by the way where a pastor may relieve himself

From the duty to take care of some things that aren't necessarily disqualifying But that are important perhaps involving his family to get things straight so that he can then return that's different also

We're gonna flesh all of that out In fact, we're gonna spend probably a number of weeks in the first in between verses five and nine talking about the

The purpose and importance of those qualifying factors and why it's important that the

American Church has lost or neglected those by choice and The results of neglecting

God's Standards for his overseers for his shepherds. Yes, ma 'am

As their father and There is a connection there a love if you will little that I think

Engenders that desire to protect them in their sin and to see restoration so I think that's part of the reason that people do that, but also

In many of the churches today the person in the pulpit

Who remains the evangelist and isn't actually fathering his flock

May fall like that and then people still want to Protect that and restore that and I think

I'm not sure why if there's not a father ship there I'm not sure why they would want to protect that if it's just an evangelist if it's just somebody maybe they

Are really enjoying all the hype or something and then it becomes more of a world reason

I Believe it is and we will and that's exactly what we'll be talking about when we return

To your point though. I do believe there are some sincere some examples of sincere love and I believe the example we were talking about before we started reporting is

Probably an example of that where their congregation of that particular church has a genuine love for that man

And it is it is out of a heart of just love and emotion A follow -up question would be this is that enough reason to insert an extra biblical process?

And I think all of us would answer no, but that doesn't make it easy. That doesn't mean it's easy Biblical methodology is not easy.

Actually, it's very difficult And so we'll we'll touch more on your point there Mimi in the examples of that spiritual father and the love and wanting to protect

Them we'll cover that too But we're also going to be covering the worldly side of it some of the worldly reasons why they may want to protect the the defiled minister

Who is no longer qualified, but they want to keep behind their pulpit further It's a very it's it's not necessarily an easy topic

But we're in Titus. We're talking about it. We're about to go through the qualifications of the minister. They're there for good reason