Titus 1:7-9 ESV
“For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”
An overseer in the church is like a pastor or an elder,
someone who oversees the affairs of the church in a supervisory position of
spiritual leadership over the people. He is to be a shepherd to the people of
God, giving them biblical guidance and watching over them spiritually to
counsel and assist them in their walks of faith in Jesus Christ. He is to care
for them and to look out for them like a shepherd cares for his sheep. And he
is also to lead them by example and to not lord it over them (1 Peter 5:1-4).
Now these overseers are to be chosen according to spiritual
qualifications set down by God and not by other humans. And they are to be “above
reproach,” meaning they should be free from all sinful practices, for such
practices would interfere with them being able to lead by example, following
the standards for godly living taught in the Scriptures. So, they should not be
convictable of any wrongdoing. But they should be those who are living upright,
holy, self-controlled, and spiritually disciplined lives for Christ.
And an overseer is to be someone who must hold firm to the
trustworthy word as taught by Jesus Christ and by his New Testament apostles.
He is not to swerve from this, and he is not to add to or take away from the
teachings of the Scriptures, the gospel of our salvation. And he is to be
someone who is able to give instruction in sound doctrine, and he should not be
someone who is altering and twisting the Scriptures to make them more
acceptable and appealing to the ungodly and to human flesh.
And he is to be someone who is able spiritually to rebuke
those who contradict sound doctrine. So, he must be well versed in the
Scriptures and be taught to study them and to teach them in the proper context.
And he must be someone who makes it his practice to test what he reads and
hears against the Scriptures in their context so that he is not taken in by
false doctrines himself, and thus he spreads those false doctrines to his people.
And so he must be someone who is listening to and who follows the Spirit.
Titus
1:10-13a ESV
“For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true.”
Now what was described in the section above does not appear
to be the norm these days in the church (or in what is falsely called “church”)
here in America. This section here seems to be more the norm rather than the
exception to the rule. Now this was in the context of Judaizers who were trying
to convince Christians that they had to be circumcised and that they had to
obey some of the Old Covenant liturgical and ceremonial and dietary laws and
restrictions. But we can apply it more broadly than just that.
For the larger message here is that of making certain that
those who are chosen to be overseers in the church are godly men who care for
the Lord’s sheep and who are setting the right example in godly living and that
they are instructing us sheep in sound doctrine and that they are rebuking
those who contradict sound doctrine. And those who contradict sound doctrine
today are mostly not those insisting on circumcision, but they are those who
are altering the gospel to make it more acceptable to human flesh.
So, we have many overseers in today’s “churches” here in
America who do not at all meet these spiritual qualifications but who are chosen
according to their personalities and their talents and their ability to draw in
large crowds of people from the world into the gatherings of what is called “church.”
They are chosen a lot by their ability to smooth talk and to crack jokes and to
be entertaining and to not be longwinded and to not be judgmental but to say
what itching ears want to hear, and for their charm, too.
And they are diluting and altering the gospel of our salvation
so that the people of the world will want to come to their gatherings, and so
they will feel at home there, and so they will come back. But the true church
is the body of Christ comprised of those who by faith in Jesus Christ are
walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and who are
following the Lord Jesus in obedience to his ways, and who are worshiping the
Lord in spirit and in truth, in the surrendering of their lives to Jesus
Christ.
Titus
1:15-16 ESV
“To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”
Now there are believers in Jesus Christ who are following
the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands in walks of holiness and in
righteousness. Sin is not their practice, but righteousness and obedience to
Jesus Christ are what they practice. Now they are not perfect people, but they
are not walking in sin using lack of perfection as an excuse for continuing in
deliberate and habitual sin. But they are living holy lives pleasing to the
Lord, doing what he says to do, and they are serving him with their lives.
But then there are many professers of faith in Jesus Christ
who are believing a false gospel which is telling them that they can believe
(undefined) in Jesus Christ, have all their sins forgiven, be on their way to
heaven, but regardless of how they live or despite the fact that they continue
in deliberate and habitual sin and not in walks of holiness and righteousness,
in obedience to the Lord. And some of them are being told that they don’t have
to repent of their sins nor obey the Lord, or that these are optional.
So, even though they profess to know God and to be in
relationship with Jesus Christ, they deny the Lord by their deeds (by their
actions, their works). And truly they are detestable, disobedient, and unfit
for any good work. And many of them are serving in positions of overseers and
as pastors of church congregations because biblical requirements are not being
upheld much at all these days, but rather fleshly desires are being given
precedence over holiness and godliness.
So, what we need to understand is that the true gospel
teaches us that we must deny self, daily die to sin and to self, and follow our
Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands. For Jesus died on that cross, and he
was resurrected from the dead, so that we might die with him to sin and live to
him and to his righteousness. But if we do not, but we go our own way, and so
we live to please the flesh, and we walk in sin, and we don’t obey the Lord,
then we will not enter the kingdom of heaven but we will die in our sins, and
we will face the wrath of God.
An
Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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