The next couple of post will be from a sermons presented by Niall Balmer (Elder,Stranraer Baptist Church) over a 2 week period. I have not got the audio for the first part but Niall kindly forwarded his sermon notes. I think you will benefit from these. I particularly like the ‘qualities of Titus’, well have a good read and enjoy.
The Truth and the Church
Powerpoint - This is a picture of the remains of an ancient Christian basilica outside the village of Almyridia in Crete. I don’t know how ancient it is, there was nothing at the site to tell us. I would love to think that Titus, the man who is the recipient of the letter we are going to look at over the next 2 Sundays, possibly came to this church and preached and taught the Christians who gathered there.
Paul the apostle, it is thought, went on a 4th missionary journey after being released from prison in Rome, where he is still to be found at the end of the book of Acts. This journey is assumed from Paul’s intensions expressed in various of his pastoral letters, to visit again, or anew, places he had previously / never visited before. It is also mentioned in other ancient, non-biblical, writings.
It would seem from v5 in Titus chapter 1 that, accompanied by Titus, Crete was one of the places that he visited for the first time. There was a fledgling group of churches there and such was Paul’s concern for them that he was prepared to leave behind, for a time, a trusted friend and loved travelling companion, to help these churches. So we read “I left you (Titus) in Crete.”
Let’s read the first chapter of this letter.
Read Titus 1
In vs 1-3 we are told who the author of this letter is but also we hear from Paul, the author, what his life’s purpose is. Paul identifies himself at the start of all his letters. Usually it is along the lines of :-
Powerpoint - Paul (or Paul and) …. to the church at …
OR there is a short personal note
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1 Timothy – “an apostle by command of God” establishing his authority
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Philemon – “a prisoner for Jesus Christ” explaining his situation
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But here in Titus and in Romans we see that Paul introduces these books with an account of his purpose in life.
Powerpoint – In Romans we see him declare that one part of his purpose is to be an evangelist, especially to the gentiles. He desires to bring them to faith.
Powerpoint – In his introduction to Titus we see the other main purpose in his life, to pastor the Christians. It is to establish them in their faith and to teach them the truth. The truth of God’s love and the way He expects us to live and serve Him.
Paul recognises that he is only one man and that he cannot minister to every different congregation, never mind look after every individual believer. So he entrusts this work in Crete to his companion and close friend Titus.
Let’s look at the qualities of the man Paul leaves on Crete.
Powerpoint – Firstly he is called by Paul “my true son (child)” It is probable that this would indicate that Paul himself had been responsible for leading Titus to faith. Titus was a gentile and so he was living evidence of the effectiveness of Paul at carrying out the first part of his calling – to reach out to and lead to faith the gentiles.
Powerpoint – Secondly having been led to faith he is sound in his faith. Paul has no doubts about him, he says to him we have a common faith, you and I believe the same thing. What an endorsement of Titus and how empowering this must have been to him to hear his spiritual father say this to him. A man of Paul’s stature in the early church tells him that his faith is the same as his own. Wow.
Powerpoint – Thirdly he is a man who is able to teach and instruct. He is to “straighten out” or “amend what was defective”. As we read, in the latter part of this chapter especially, there is false teaching and people with ulterior motives in the congregations in Crete. The young believers need good leading and guiding, instruction and correction. Titus is entrusted with this task.
Powerpoint – Fourthly he is a completer. Paul recognised that in the time that he had on the island he was unable to do all that needed to be done. There was still much that was “left unfinished”. It was Titus task to see to it that there was in place the means complete or finish all that had been started. We need completers in life. There are ideas people who come up with great thoughts and schemes, but sometimes if left on their own nothing would ever get done, because they soon have another idea and move unto it. Completers take the ideas and stick with them, seeing them through to the end. It is often not spectacular work, it can be soul destroying at times, but it is vital. Paul knew this and he knew the man he could call on to see it through.
Powerpoint – Fifthly Titus is a man with authority. He also will not physically be able to spend the time with all the different congregations, but he is entrusted with the authority to appoint in the churches the people who will be able, at a local level to carry on the work, started by Paul and continued by Titus. Paul has invested time and effort in going to this island, to deal with the doctrinal problems which were there, but he has to move on. It is a mark of the confidence and trust he has in Titus that he is prepared to leave the appointing of the right men to continue the task to Titus. It also tells us that Paul knew the churches would see an authority in Titus, which would mean that they would respect and abide by his decisions in this matter.
Powerpoint – Finally we see that he is prepared to do what is right even if it is hard (vs5 – straighten out, 11 – they must be silenced, 13 – rebuke them sharply, 2v1 – You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine, 15 – encourage and rebuke and 3v10 – after that have nothing to do with him.) We live in a world where many people are afraid to speak out for fear of hurting someone else, political correctness and our sensitivities mean that people are often not given any guidelines and so our society is falling apart
I find myself thinking that Titus and Paul would not beat about the bush in their defence of the truth and the rightness of God’s ways. They would not sit on the fence of political correctness. At times it cost them, as we saw on Tuesday night, when we briefly looked at the struggles that Christians, not just the apostles, but also the ordinary members of the congregation.
On Tuesday night having considered how costly it could be to be a Christian and to be part of the church, we then looked at what the function of the church is. First and foremost it is to be a support for the believers; to build them up in their faith, aid them in their worship of God, correct them when they go wrong and to meet any needs they have.
Having thought about the function of the church on Tuesday we have so far this morning looked at the role which the apostle Paul was given, by divine appointment, to pastor the growing church. He in turn delegated this role in Crete to his able deputy Titus. To help him, Paul wrote Titus this letter of support and advice. It is the considered reflections of a godly man who has had time to look back on his time and experiences on the island and, no doubt, having spent time bringing it to God, now under the guidance of God writes down his thoughts to help his protégé.
Powerpoint – I believe Paul has a very clear vision for the church, what it is and who is in it.
Powerpoint – He has a passion for the purity of the church (10 there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers .. they must be silenced because they are ruining whole households)
Powerpoint – and for sound doctrine (v13 rebuke them sharply so that they will be sound in the faith).
Powerpoint –
Powerpoint – To maintain this his desire is to rid it of false teaching (v9 hold firmly to the trustworthy message),
Powerpoint – wrong ideas (v10,11 .. the circumcision group, they must be silenced)
Powerpoint – and those who are there with wrong motives (v11 teaching .. for dishonest gain).
Powerpoint – incorrect practices (v14 pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth)
Powerpoint – and if it comes to it to expel trouble makers (3v10 after that have nothing to do with him)
All of this fits in with Pauls statement of his purpose as an apostle in v1, to give God’s elect a knowledge of the truth which leads to godliness.
God’s elect are Christians and from this letter and elsewhere in the New Testament I believe it is clear that Paul sees all Christians as belonging to a church. Nowhere can I see in the New Testament an example of, or a case being made for the lone believer.
For the rest of this morning I want to therefore briefly look at who is and who should be in the church. Then tonight we will consider a broad picture of how everyone in the church has a role to play, Paul does not envisage idle Christians, sitting around doing nothing. On Tuesday night we will try to take the principles of this and apply them to our life here in Stranraer. Then next Sunday we will see how this knowledge of the truth is to be worked out in our own lives, in the morning as we engage with the wider world around us and then in the evening as we look at how we all, like Paul are, or should be, evangelists, witnessing to those we meet day by day.
Powerpoint – So who is in the church?
I believe scripture teaches that there is one answer to this but 2 ways in which this answer is expressed.
The answer is that those who are in the church are God’s elect. Matthew 24 makes it quite clear that the elect are the people of God –
And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
And 2 Timothy2:10 shows that the elect are not only those who have currently professed faith in Christ, whether now or in the past, but also those who in the future will do so also –
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.
Paul later in this letter tells us how to become one of the elect, one of God’s people. In chapter 3v4ff we are told –
God our Savior .. saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy… through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
God the Father in His mercy saves us, not because of our actions, but rather through the action of Christ His Son on the cross; his punishment paying the penalty our sins deserved, his shed blood washing away the stain of our sin. All this is made real to us by the Holy Spirit.
In v8 we are told that the elect are those “who have trusted in God”.
If you want to be part of the church of God, you must put your trust in Him and the sacrificial death of His Son. If you have not done this then you are not in the church. If you have put your trust in God, then you are certainly part of the elect, the universal church of God. But the New Testament sees the universal church as being composed of lots of individual local churches, in Paul’s time this would usually be one in each town as we see from v5.
Today we have by and large bigger towns and cities than in Paul’s day and probably also in our country more believers in each town. So we have the situation of more than one church (and not just because there is more than one denomination.) Yet I believe that Paul, reflecting the truth which God continually revealed to him, would not have envisaged believers who did not belong to a local church. For one thing it was often so dangerous to be a believer that you would want the support of other like minded people. Secondly each picture of the church in the N.T., whether a building made up of living bricks or stones, or a body made up of all it’s component parts, is a picture is of it being made up of all the Christians in the area. Thirdly as we have already noted it was a last resort and a very serious thing to expel someone out of the church, indeed Paul tells Titus in 3v11 that if you have reached this point with someone, then they will not have listened to or obeyed the truth and they are therefore “warped and sinful.”
So I believe the N.T. picture is of all the Christians being active members of the church. Even a brief look at the letters of the New Testament will show you that this does not mean everyone, or every church, is perfect, indeed as we have already seen this letter is written to correct the imperfections in the churches on Crete. But the principal seems to be that all should be together and as such should learn and grow and develop together, supporting each other and submitting to the truth as it is proclaimed.
In Titus we do not have a blueprint for how someone became a member of a local church, but there is plenty of evidence elsewhere in the N.T. which I would like us to consider now.
The pattern that we see in the N.T. was established at Pentecost when Peter, having finished preaching encouraged the crowd to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, then to be baptised and then join the church. This baptism as we will see has a threefold symbolism. Firstly as an outward, physical sign of the inward, heart repentance, secondly as an identification with the death and resurrection of our saviour and thirdly as an act of obedience, obeying the command of Christ our saviour.
Throughout Acts (and we do not have time to look now at specific examples) once someone put their trust in Christ, they were baptised as soon as possible and then became members of the local church. It is a shame, and I believe unscriptural, that today we separate often by years these 3 events, which should all be linked and rapidly follow each other. We have tended to create a sense that in some way you have to move on to another level in your Christian experience before you can be baptised and you have to meet some sort of qualification to join the church. Were the Ethiopian Eunuch or the Philippian jailer mature in their understanding? No but Philip and Paul had no hesitation in baptising them straightaway and in the case of the jailer adding him to the small fellowship in Philippi.
I know there are some denominations who will use the word “Baptise” when they celebrate the arrival of a newborn into the church family and so some will say to us, I am baptised already, why should I “get done” again? I want to try and deal with this by using the instruction that Paul gives to Titus on circumcision as a template.
Circumcision was a sign to the Jews of their covenant relationship with God. But it was a sign from the old covenant and when Christ came he did away with the old and established a new covenant. In writing to the Roman believers Paul says that now outward circumcision of the body was replaced by an inward “circumcision of the heart by the Spirit”. So there was no need for outward circumcision.
The problem on Crete and elsewhere in the early church was that some Jews were telling non-Jewish believers that they needed to have a physical circumcision to be a Christian. Paul tells Titus in v11 that this is ruining whole household and is a teaching which ought not to be taught. Yet I believe that Paul would not criticise a Jewish believer for circumcising his son as a symbol of his Jewish origins, as long as they did not believe that this meant they were now one of God’s children. I say this for 2 reasons, firstly in chapter 1v15 Paul says “to the pure all things are pure”. I believe he is saying if you are pure in heart and you do this, understanding why you do it, what it means but also what it does not mean, then that is fine. I think he would place this in the same category as eating food offered to idols which elsewhere he says is something for the individual to decide for themselves.
The second reason I say Paul would allow this is because of his own practice. In Acts 16 Paul, on his second missionary journey comes to Derbe and Lystra. There he meets Timothy a keen young disciple who he wants to take along with him on his journey. Timothy is a Greek and Paul is going to be going to the Jews in the synagogues in each of the towns he visits. Because of the Jews we are told, Paul has Timothy circumcised.
Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
This is not because he needed to be for his salvation or his faith – Paul later writes in Galatians 5:6
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Paul does it so that in bringing Timothy along with him his uncircumcised state would not be a stumbling block to the Jews he is reaching out to. If a Christian female missionary today goes to an Islamic country, she will wear clothing in keeping with the tradition of that country and culture, so that her dress is not a stumbling block to the spread of the word of God. Paul is doing no different here.
Yet he doesn’t do it with every one of his companions. Titus himself we read in Galatians 2:3 was luckier than Timothy, he did not need to be circumcised
Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.
On this occasion Titus uncircumcised state was not a stumbling block.
How does this help us with baptism?
The baptism which Jesus experienced and then commanded his disciples to perform on all believers was a baptism of repentance. John the Baptist in Matthew 3 says
I baptize you with water for repentance.
And when Jesus comes to him to be baptised he initially refuses to do so because he knows and recognises Jesus as sinless and therefore not in need of baptism because he has no sin to repent of.
But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
So baptism in the new testament church is for those who have repented of their sins, it is also a public display that you are identifying with Christ, your saviour’s death and resurrection. In Colossians 2 vs 11 and 12 Paul brings together the new covenant meaning of circumcision and baptism
In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
And in doing so brings out the symbolism of baptism, buried with Christ under the water and then raised out of the water expressing our faith and trust in the power of God to raise us from the dead to enjoy our heavenly inheritance, just as he did Christ.
Again we should look at Paul’s practice. In Acts 19 he goes to Ephesus and meets a small group of believers, they tell him that they have received John’s baptism and here is Paul’s reply to them
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
Paul tells them that their baptism is incomplete. He doesn’t criticise them for what they have done or received, however, in his quest, which we have been thinking about, to ensure that the whole truth is taught to and practised by all believers, he insists that they are baptised again. Why? It is so that they identify with Christ and obey Him.
So I would say to any believer, no matter what age, who have not been baptised by immersion you should be. If you have been “baptised” as an infant, in doing so you are not saying and we are not suggesting that what was done to you as an infant was of no value. We in this church welcome new babies into the wider church family and commit to pray for them and to help lead them to a personal faith in Christ where they are able to reach a decision themselves to confess their sin and put their trust in Christ as Saviour. (Though as I prepared this I wondered how much we remember our commitment.) Instead we are asking you to publically show your repentance of sin, to identify with your saviours death and express hope in your eventual resurrection and above all obey his command. As we thought, John new Jesus didn’t need to be baptised, but Jesus went through with it, saying to John
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”
It’s the right thing to do, My Father wants me to do it and we remember what happened after
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
How great it is to know that in obeying Christ’s command at the end of His life, what is known as the great commission, that we are making God the Father “well pleased”.
Having been baptised I am glad to say that it is now our practice to at the same service welcome that person into membership. This opens up to them all the privileges and also responsibilities of belonging to a local church and ensures that they are continuing to follow the pattern of the church in the New Testament.
So I would encourage all of us who are here this morning to examine ourselves.
Are you a Christian? Have you put your trust in Christ as Saviour? If not then you are not part of his church and you do not have the assurance of all the blessings and hopes of God’s elect. Unlike others who are here and who are Christians, your eternal future is one of damnation rather than glory. My prayer and that of others here is that you would put your trust in Christ.
If you are a Christian and are not yet baptised by immersion in obedience to Christ I would ask you to consider why not? It may be that it has never been made clear to you that you ought to be baptised, it maybe that you thought it wasn’t necessary, and it is not for salvation, but it is for obedience in your Christian walk and it is a further way of bringing pleasure to God. Maybe you have just never got round to it. Whatever the reason again my prayer for you would be that you follow in your Saviour’s footsteps and ask us to arrange a baptismal service for you.
And if you are baptised and you worship here regularly, but are not yet a member of this church, again why not? You are missing out on blessing, the opportunity to serve God here and you are not living your Christian life in accord with the New Testament pattern. I would encourage you to approach myself or one of the other leaders and ask to formally join our church.
Paul wrote to Titus because he had a pastor’s heart and he wanted all believers to know the truth and to live by it. We can see from this letter that Paul desires first and foremost that the sin and wrong teaching is eliminated from the churches in Crete, then they will be able to live their lives for God and produce fruit that will lead to the advancement of His Kingdom.
Paul had harsh words for some in the churches in Crete, but he also had great practical instruction to help them support each other and live spiritual lives pleasing to God. Tonight we begin to unpack some of this practical teaching Paul asks Titus to pass on to the congregations in Crete. Come and join us as we seek to learn together, not from Paul, but rather through him, from God himself.
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