MPC 5th February 2006.February 5 - Titus 1 - "How to Build a church: Part 1"
Phil Campbell MPC 5th February 2006.
If you're a keen and observant TV watcher you'll notice that this was the week that Channel 9 re-launched their image. Everything was new and fresh. Jessica Rowe on the Today Show, Tracey to the night-time; a new streamlined channel 9 logo without the nine little dots.
All of which means it's the time of year for new beginnings. Time for re-starting. Time for re-building. Time for the ratings season.
Likewise here at MPC. It's a good time as the year grinds into gear to re-establish old friendships. To launch new Growthgroups. And to re-think the why and the how of our life as a church.
Which we've done in a small way in our series over the last two weeks. And we're continuing as we launch this morning our new Bible Teaching Series on Titus. Which I've called - on the cover of the Study booklets at least - How to Build a Church.
Not so much in the sense of the bricks and the mortar that make up our building. But in the much more important terms of the people who we are. And the way we do business with one another. In the much more important terms of how we work at building one another up as the people of God.
Titus is a letter. A short letter. From the Apostle Paul, to one of his key assistants. It's the third in the little collection that Bible scholars like to call the pastoral epistles. On the grounds that it's an epistle... a letter. Written in a sense to a pastor. A church leader.
And it's very much about what Titus has to do. As the pastor of this fledgling church in Crete.
Now being a pastoral epistle, I guess there's a temptation to say, well, it's just written to pastors. So I could just read it myself. And not bother sharing it with those of you who aren't pastors.
But the beauty of it is, Paul paints such a vivid picture of what a church is meant to look like, such a vivid picture of how a church should be led, such a vivid picture of what ought to be taught... that it's only fair that everyone gets to read it. Just in case the leaders are getting it wrong.
Because you've got to realize these days, the experts aren't always right. Like the south-side school teacher mentioned in the newspaper the other day; an 8 year old grade 3 kid had to correct his spelling on the blackboard. Where he wrote, "Welcolm to grade 3"... spelt w e l c o l m.
The Federal education minister Brendon Nelson said parents should be shocked by that stuff. And he blamed the way Bachelor of Education students have been taught for the last generation.
Can I say, how much worse it would be, how much more dangerous for the future, if we're missing out on the basics as a church. Because there's much more at stake than simple spelling.
And so I want to say to you that it's up to everyone that this pastoral epistle is an open letter. Which invites you to be vigilant. To be ever watchful. Over the way our church is being built. Over the workmanship. Most especially over the leadership. Over the things that are taught. All of which we're going to see unfolding over the next couple of weeks.
This morning we're briefly going to touch on three key planks for building a church. Three key things that Paul wants Titus to make sure are in place on the island of Crete.
First and foremost, you can see on the outline, Paul wants to make sure this is going to be a church that gets the message. That's built firmly on the basis of what he calls sound doctrine. Second, Paul tells Titus to make sure he appoints as leaders... men who match the message. And third, the men who match the message need to make sure they keep watch. That they watch the message. To make sure it isn't derailed. Or turned into something else.
So take a look. Here's the foundation. In the first two sentences that come off Paul's pen. Paul says very clearly to Titus, the first thing you need is a firm grip on the truth... that leads to Godliness. He's reminding Titus right from his very first words of the shape of his own ministry. And for Titus, it needs to be the same.
Paul has always been in simplest terms a messenger. An apostle. A messenger boy of Jesus.
And so what he's always been on about has been passing on what he calls in verse 1, the knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness. Verse 3, he puts it this way. God brought his word to light... through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our saviour.
Knowledge of the truth. A word from God. A message, fundamentally as we're going to see, that leads to changed lives. That leads to what Paul calls Godliness. That shows itself in a whole list of ways he's going to detail in the letter.
And one thing I want us to notice over these next few weeks, is that the kind of knowledge he's talking about, the kind of message he's talking about - it's more like a practical knowledge than just theoretical. I've sometimes had people say to me, there's no way I could go to a growth group and do the bible studies... because I don't know enough. As if it's like a uni subject where you get examined on the technical details and the genealogies of who begat who, and the 327 Old Testament food rules and what comes after the book of Zephaniah... Haggai, by the way. I checked.
Then I get the other people who know all that stuff and want to say to me, ah, I can't be bothered going to a growth group. Because I know it all.
Look again. Verse 1. It's not about a knowledge that leads to a final exam. It's about a knowledge that leads to Godliness.
"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to Godliness.
And will you notice as well, it's actually the essence of the message... that leads to Godliness. And we're going to see under point "C" that this is hugely important. It's the message itself that brings change.
Because generations of Israelites had lived under the Old Testament Law, generations of Israelites had been told what righteousness looked like. And because of their hearts, they'd never been able to live it.
And now at last, there's good news. That God, through Jesus Christ, and by the spirit... is changing hearts.
Take a look over at chapter 3 verse 4 to 7. Because it's a great summary of what Paul's message is all about. The message that God has at last entrusted to him. Here's what he's talking about. And again, see the practicality.
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Paul's message is the message of mercy. Paul's carrying an offer from God not just of forgiveness; but of a whole new start. Rebirth. Renewal. New attitudes. An offer that God's spirit will start renovating our spirits. In a way that's going to make Godliness flow from within.
Now, if that message is fundamental to building a church, in a practical sense Paul says to Titus you've got to build the church on leaders. Who are committed to matching the message.
He says here's what you've got to do. He says I've left you there in Crete to finish the job I started. I've left you there to appoint some men who match the message.
He calls them elders. Or overseers. Guys who look at the big picture. And give leadership. With integrity.
Nothing worse, is there, than leaders who are fakes? Who say, do what I say, but don't do what I do.
A few years back there was a cult leader out near Toowoomba; her name was Debra Geileskey; and Debra Geileskey was saying she had visions of the virgin Mary. Which sustained her. So she says she had to eat only 33 times a year.
And the rest of the time, she said, she lived on holy water. And communion wafers. And the crowds flocked to her in droves.
Until someone from the local corner shop let on that Debra used to sneak in and gorge herself on fried chicken and chocolate bars.
The trouble is, what Debra Gieleskey was saying was something very different to what Debra Gieleskey was doing.
Verse 5, Paul says to Timothy, when we're building a church we need to do better than that.
Paul says, the reason I left you in Crete, was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished... and appoint elders in every town. As I directed you.
But whatever you do, choose carefully. Paul says, you need to choose Elders who are the real thing. We're talking about God's offer to forgive and to change hearts by his spirit. We're talking about God's offer to transform out attitudes and our desires. We're talking about a message that produces Godliness.
So make sure you're choosing men who match the message
Not perfect. Just prepared to live as followers of Jesus: live as if they mean it.
And so you'll see as you read through verses 6 to 8; elders and overseers, they need to have this combination of right lives. And verse 9, they need to have right doctrine as well.
Pick it up in verse 6. And we need to listen to this stuff. Especially if you're an elder or a leader. "An elder must be blameless - not open to any accusation that he's not living out his faith." And he's got to get things right at home in his own family before you can expect him to get things right in the church family - "the husband of but one wife, faithful to her; a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient."
It's the toughest test of leadership, isn't it? The age we live in seems to say kids do what they like, and it's not the parents' problem. But Paul says, the way you bring up your family shows something very real about the way you'll lead the church. Verse 7; the reason it's important is that this is God's work. That's why he needs to be blameless. And then a whole string of nots. Not overbearing; not quick tempered; not given to drunkenness; not violent; not pursuing dishonest gain. Which may or may not rule out members of the Australian Wheat Board.
But you know, it's no joke. Because years ago I used to go to church with a guy who not long ago I saw on TV. Facing court over the collapse of HiH. He was just a bit part player. But the point is, even in business, especially in business, we Christians should be known as the ones who refuse to chase after dishonest gain. And most especially... if you're going to call yourself a Christian leader. An elder among God's people.
Paul says to Titus, when you're looking for elders, verse 8, look for someone like someone hospitable; with an open heart and an open home. Look for someone - and this one sums it up - look for someone who loves what is good; because that's sure evidence God's spirit is at work isn't it? Someone self controlled; upright; holy and disciplined.
You know, sometimes people say, he sets the bar too high. Which I reckon is rubbish. I reckon he's talking about what anyone should start to look like... if the spirit of God is at work.
Paul says find some of in every town... and appoint them as leaders. Who'll show people in Crete how real Christians live.
But there's more to it than that. Which brings us to the third key ingredient. You've got the message. You've got the men who match the message. Paul says, make sure you get the men who match the message... to watch the message.
Read it. Verse 9. An elder, he says, must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine, and refute those who oppose it.
The elder's role is both to encourage you to hold on to the gospel message. And to refute you. If you oppose it. The elder's role is to watch over the message carefully. To make sure it's not diluted. Or changed. Or perverted. Or opposed.
Because Paul is very aware of the fact that his message is constantly being opposed. Every letter he writes, Paul has to say the same. And the problem is 99 per cent of the time coming from Jewish Christians who want everyone to be Jewish. From Jewish Christians who want gentile men who get converted to Christianity to go through the Jewish rite of circumcision. And more than that. To take on the Jewish law.
Now the way Paul talks in verse 10, you're thinking he's up against the worst kind of people in the world. I mean, verse 12, he quotes a famous Cretan poet who says Cretans are always liars and evil brutes and gluttons. And he agrees with it. Because of the terrible thing these people are doing. These talkers and deceivers. These people who are disrupting familes with their terrible teaching.
And you know who they are? Not the neo-Nazi Pro-Gay Liberation Movement. Verse 10. Look at it carefully. "For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group".
The ones who are saying that to be a Christian you've got to take on the Jewish law. That to be a Christian means to be loaded up with rules.
Can you see, Paul's message is the opposite of that. Paul's message is that all that is finished. Paul's message is that that time has finally come when God's going to write his law in our hearts with his spirit. So to go back to loading people up with rules is the exact opposite.
Pick it up in verse 13. Here's what a leader has to do. To watch over the message. So it doesn't turn back into rules. He says, "Therefore, rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth."
Because here's the point. The message isn't about commands. It's about a change of heart. It's a message that starts at the heart and works outwards. Rather than starting with a rule on the outside and working inwards. Paul says, verse 15,
To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.
They've missed the point.
So when you're looking for elders, when you're looking for leaders, look for someone who loves what is good. Who matches the message. But stands absolutely firm against anyone who wants to mess with the message. Especially by turning back to the law.
Christians haven't done so well at that over the years. In fact, we've done more like the exact opposite. So often ended up with leaders who I'm sure would make Paul turn in his grave. Leaders and elders who'll wholeheartedly turn back to the law. And lose sight of the gospel altogether.
The strange thing is, if I'm reading Paul the right way here, I think he's saying our leaders need to oppose that sort of attitude. Because to go back to being Jewish like that means you're missing the point. That you've lost the plot. That you've stopped watching over the message. That God has saved us, not because of righteous things we have done, but because of his mercy. That God has saved us not by our keeping of rules... but through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our saviour.
If our leaders aren't going to watch over that message, if our leaders aren't going to live that message, if we're not going to be clear about that message... then the fact is, we're not building a real church at all.
But I want to take it further than that. And say, what's it like with you? Because the point is, your elders are meant to live lives that match the message so you will as well.
And I wonder if you're authentically doing that?
And while I want to say to the elders and leaders in our church, let's recommit in 2006 to getting serious... I want to say the same to everyone. Paul's going to go on to say in the next section, we Christians are meant to living such thoroughly impressive lives that we're incredibly appealing to the world around us.
It's sad that the reputation we've got as Christians is as the people who only say no. Always ready with a rule and a prohibition. When we're meant to be the people brimming with life. Brimming with love. Brimming with yes. We're meant to be the people who are motivated by loving the good. Rather than looking for more and more opportunities to say no.
I wonder if you can think about that through the week. I wonder if you can think about that on your way into work tomorrow. How you can actually take a bit of that life affirming love for goodness with you. That's going to be brimming with generosity rather than jealousy or greed. Full of compassion rather than competition. I wonder if you can ponder on ways to use your skills and your time to nourish rather than diminish. Your resources and your money to somehow make more of other people. Rather than more of yourself.
The bottom line is, are you growing as a follower of Jesus to be someone who loves what's good?
To do that, you've got to start at the heart. As we launch our fresh new church year, as we launch our growth groups, I want that phrase to be in our minds. Where do we start? We start at the heart. Humble hearts of faith in our Lord Jesus. Hungry hearts. Hungry for the righteousness God's Spirit is going to work in us.
That's the promise we hold on to. That's the model you're going to hold your leaders accountable to live out so you can learn from it. As together over the next few weeks we read this pastoral epistle together. And see if we can build our church to God's design.