Ministry in Christ's church was never easy, even from the start. As we open Paul's letter to Pastor Titus we look at the description of the cultural background of the congregation Titus served two thousand years ago.
Titus 1:12-13 One of them, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith (NKJV)
Wow! Just think of what a miracle it was to find a group of believers saved out of such a godless society. They came from centuries of culture dominated by total untrustworthiness, and the total undisciplined pursuit of personal lust-filled appetites.
Again we see from these two verses that when the Gospel of Jesus Christ entered the Roman world of the New Testament the landscape was very bleak. Christ's church was born into a sin-warped, sin-darkened world of mixed-up marriages, sin-scarred lives, and confused families.
But men and women who were gloriously saved did not automatically become great wives and mothers or husbands and fathers. When they came to Christ and were forgiven, God graciously gave them everything they needed to become godly wives, mothers, husbands, and fathers. But, they needed something else. They needed worship services that taught them to believe correctly, and then they needed small group discipleship times to learn how to behave correctly. Correct behavior is behavior energized by grace.
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Pastor John Barnett has been devouring the Word of God for over 30 years. John, now the teaching pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan has served congregations in Oklahoma, New England, Georgia and California. He also served on the Faculty of the Master's College...
