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: 6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
As an aside, but important, is a report that came out yesterday from Ontario. The premier and one of his ministers stood before the cameras to announce that Ontario was going to allow local corner stores to sell liquor. Both of these men talked of how good a change this would be. With summer coming up, they declared that people need to have greater access to this poison. I know in our town you can walk into the local hardware store and there is a wall at the back that is covered in liquor bottles. You can go to the local hotel and get your fix of marijuana. We think we are such a progressive society. We think things are so great in our society today. In the book of the Revelation we read:
Revelation 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
That is talking of a future time known as the Tribulation time. Babylon, which was a city in the Old Testament, as well as a nation, fell to the Medo/Persian empire. However, the philosophy of Babylon never fell. It just morphed into another culture. Today that philosophy is still alive and well. It will be greatly increased during the short but deadly reign of the antichrist. The world will be so engulfed in that wicked ideology that it will be shocked when God destroys it. Our world today is largely permeated with the Babylonian philosophy. Most people pay no attention to this at all. Most people see our world as quite normal. There are changes taking place, but most people just take it all in stride. The increase in violence and the increase in mental instability, etc. is all just accepted as part of life. There is a constant cry for more mental health workers, but those who enter that field are trained in evolution and paganism. They have nothing to offer mankind. In our text, God directed the apostle Paul to address a very serious need in Crete. Titus was the man God assigned to be the pastor in that city. He was one man against the society of that city. However, he was one man who was chosen by God and equipped by God to provide the only hope for that city. Today, God is also looking for a man to move into the cities and towns of our country to be the light in a dark society. We see in verse 5 that Titus was left in Crete by the apostle Paul for a specific purpose. There were things that needed to be set in order. There was a great lack of truth in that city. Titus was not to be a one man show. He was not to set himself up as the man to go to. He was to ordain elders in every city as he had been appointed by Paul. These elders needed to be God-fearing men who were trained and understood the need to draw their strength from the Lord. The difference between the apostle Paul and Titus and others of that day was that Paul and Titus were saved but they also were filled with the Holy Spirit. The man of God must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Today we have an arm of “Christianity ” known as the “Charismatic movement.” This heresy is infiltrating many religions. It promotes a holy spirit, that is not holy at all. They promote lies that are readily accepted by undiscerning “Christians”. There is a need for men who are truly saved and who are then willing to subject themselves to the careful and sober study of God’s Word. Titus was a man well grounded in truth. He needed to be reminded that he must choose men who were also well grounded in truth. Jesus Christ spent 3 1/2 years training twelve men. One of those men was a devil. Jesus knew that. He showed us that a man can give of his time to act like a saint. The eleven did not suspect Judas of being a thief. Jesus knew he was, but they were oblivious to it. When Jesus warned them that one of them would betray Him, none of them suspected it might be Judas. They wondered if any one of them would be the guilty one. When Peter declared that he would never deny Jesus, he needed to be rebuked and exposed for what was actually going on in his heart. Unless those who are called to be pastors, are walking humbly with the Lord and truly engaged in real Bible study, they will not have the needed discernment to choose other men who can be used of God as Titus needed to be and do. In verse 6 we see the high standard that God has set for an elder. It is important to note that a Biblical elder is the same as a pastor or a bishop. It is the same office, but speaks of a different aspect of that office. The term “elder” refers to the spiritual maturity of the man. A woman is never referred to as an elder. Spiritual maturity requires some time to achieve. An elder cannot be a novice. He cannot be someone who was saved last week and now is assigned as an elder. He needs to be someone who has been saved and then committed to spend quality time in training in the Word of God. Timothy was a younger man than Paul, and Paul was directed to write:
I Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Timothy was not what we would call a “teenager”, but he was not an old man either. He was a young man who had been trained by the apostle Paul. He was a genuinely saved man who had taken his training seriously. He was equipped for the ministry and he needed to be reminded of the importance of acting on what he knew to be right and not to allow older men to intimidate him. In verse 6 of our text we see that the elder needs to be blameless. He needs to be someone who cannot be brought before the church and accused of being a thief or immoral or any other stain. He is not a sinless man, but he cannot be known for practising any sin. One of the key factors mentioned of a blameless man is “the husband of one wife”. A divorced and remarried man would certainly not fit this description. There are pastors who are very good at “parsing” words. They ignore the Biblical truth and they claim that even a man that is remarried is only married to one wife. They reject the fact that God declares that a man is to leave his father and his mother and he is to cleave unto his wife. He is to be married to that woman until death parts them. It is not until they have a falling out of some sort. Then there are those who misquote verses like Ephesians 2:1 and they claim that their wife is spiritually dead and thus they can marry another woman. That too is twisting God’s Word for personal convenience. A man that is going to be called upon by God to teach other men how to be faithful followers of God cannot be a divorced and remarried man. This man also needs to be able to demonstrate that his children are obedient to his rule. Now I know there are those who will have a huge red flag because of the word “rule”. We cannot rule over our children, they claim. The fact that many men do not know how to lead by godly example has led to a mess among many younger men. Most no longer understand the importance of absolutes. Everything must be in flux. Nothing can be settled. That philosophy is quite common, but it certainly is not Biblical. Children of an elder cannot be accused of riot or unruly. Children have more energy than older men. That energy needs to be directed. We cannot accept the definition of a child as given to us by society. We need to look at the Bible and see what God expects of a child. We know that there were children in the days of Elisha that were riotous and unruly. People get quite upset when they read the account in II Kings 2. Forty two little children were torn apart by a she bear. They had been mocking Elisha and God dealt with that attitude very clearly. We see as well that the mothers brought their children to Jesus and He took them and blessed them. They were not running around and screaming and fussing. They were children but they were children that were manageable. Parents know that it is a lot of work to train a child properly. Today many parents have abandoned that need and during the day the children are taken to a “day care” where they are brainwashed in the socialism of our governments. In the evening they sit in front of their electronic devices and play worthless games. We wonder why children have such a short attention span and we cannot get them to slow down for a minute. Even in most churches, they have resorted to “children’s church” because the children would be too much of a distraction if left with their parents during the service. There is something very wrong with that picture, but most people see nothing wrong with that. Titus needed to train men who would be true elders who could be directed by God to set things in order. A person first has to know what order is, before he can set things in order. I realize that I may sound “old fashioned” to some and that is ok. Read your Bible. Take off your modern glasses and read the Bible as it is written. Ask God to guide you in purging the socialist mindset that we have all be subjected to. Ask Him to replace that with His truth. Of course you need to be saved first of all. When a person is saved the Holy Spirit indwells them. He is not a socialist. He is the third person of the Godhead. He will guide you into all truth. Pastor Bartel
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