+Points to ponder

1. Why is it important that the Church recognize feasts, festivals, and commemoration of various Saint throughout the Church year?
2. Why are ‘overseers’ (pastors) held to such a high standard by God? Since they are sinners how can they possibly live up to it?
3. What is the Church’s role (both clergy and laity) in broadcasting God’s message of salvation?

+Sermon Transcript

**Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Let us pray:** Almighty God, You called Titus to the work of pastor and teacher. Make all shepherds of Your flock diligent in preaching Your Holy Word so that the whole world may know the immeasurable riches of our Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

When I was at Seminary it was just a moving experience to participate in the chapel services while on campus. There was nothing like hearing/participating with a bunch of men boldly singing Lutheran hymns. And the messages delivered mostly by our professors always seemed to hit home. Our chapel was called the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus. This, an homage to the idea of training up pastors as Paul trained Timothy and Titus. Less officially, our class sort of lined up as Timothys – young guys almost directly out of college and Tituses – the more seasoned second career guys, some wondering how they got there in the first place.

Our commemoration of St. Titus today is, along with the commemoration of St. Timothy, clustered “around the Festival of St. Paul’s conversion. Unlike Timothy’s Jewish background (on his mother’s side), Titus was a Gentile convert to Christianity. The little we know of him comes from almost incidental mentions in Acts and in Paul’s epistles.

From Galatians 2, we learn that Titus accompanied Paul and Barnabas on a trip up to Jerusalem and he became a famous case in point. The Gospel Paul proclaimed did no require that those turning to Christ from the Gentiles should first become Jews and accept circumcision. Rather, by Baptism they were given all that was Christ’s and were adopted into the family of God. Paul pointed out that the apostles in Jerusalem so concurred with this approach that Titus was not compelled to receive circumcision ‘though he was a Greek’ (a Gentile).

Though it is not clear from Acts if Titus came along on the earlier missionary journeys, he is mentioned by name as being part of the third great missionary journey. Paul used him to help in the gathering of the offering from the Corinthians and gave him high praise. “As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit.” Paul rejoices that God had put into Titus’ heart “the same earnest care I have for you.” Paul speaks of being distressed when he came to Troas because he didn’t find Titus there and how when Titus finally arrived, he was comforted. In the letter that bears Titus’ name, Paul affectionately calls him, “Titus my true child in a common faith.” At the end of 2nd Timothy, St. Paul longingly speaks of the absence of his dear friend who has gone to Dalmatia. In Titus chapter 3, as Titus was setting things in order in the Church on Crete, Paul entreats him: “When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.” All in all, the portrait that emerges here is of an energetic pastor and missionary. Titus was a true kindred spirit to St. Paul in zeal for spreading the Gospel and loving the people of God. According to early tradition, after the death of Paul, St. Titus returned to Crete. There he finished his ministry, serving as bishop of the Church where he had labored in earlier years. Like his great mentor, he is said to have sealed his ministry with his own martyr’s death around AD 96.”

So, here I would like us to take a look at our reading from the book of Titus. Paul’s letter to Titus opens as does his other epistles with a sort of introduction and purpose statement. He writes: “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior …”

As with all of St. Paul’s writings, this is just pregnant with meaning. Paul belonged to God and the Spirit directed his efforts. He is an apostle, handpicked and commissioned by Jesus Himself – truly Paul (and his proteges Timothy and Titus) were/are a gift to the Church as they ministered for the ‘sake of the faith’ to establish and strengthen the faith of God’s people that their – our faith in Christ and knowledge of God’s truth would, in our lives, bear fruit in godly living.

In verse 2 Paul reminds us that God never lies – He is the author and final arbiter of truth. God is fully trustworthy and so we can confidently believe, teach, and confess that “God’s Word cannot err.” And more, as we pondered just a few weeks ago God’s plan for our salvation came before the cosmos and time was brought into being.

Thus, God being the Lord over all time and history, He revealed Himself and His promised plan of salvation in Jesus Christ at just the right and proper time. And, beloved, He introduces Himself and His promise to each one of us at just the right time to meet our need for forgiveness, healing, and salvation.

Therefore, Paul and his proteges were not preaching so to pass the time as he traipsed around the Roman Empire; the preaching was in obedience to God’s direction. They put everything – their skills, energy, time, and devotion into their work as God’s servants.

Paul closes out his introduction first affectionately addressing Titus as “my true child in a common faith …” Paul may have led Titus, a Gentile, to faith in Christ, in effect becoming his spiritual father.

Next, Paul uses what Pastors today often use as a sort of preamble to their sermons. Yes, I use it with every sermon – “Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you …” This is not merely to imitate Paul, but to remind the listeners that God’s Word is being preached – both Law and Gospel – as Paul puts it, “to their, to your benefit.”

Paul then gets right to business exhorting Titus to appoint elders and what qualifications are needful to be an elder. He says, “if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 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.”

Now, the lists of qualification in 1st Timothy and Titus are not identical, but they cover the same central themes. These standards in the list reflect God’s expectations for those who serve as leaders in His Church.

This is important as the ‘overseer’ is to hold on to the trustworthy word as taught – not veering in one direction or another but holding fast to teach the true doctrine of the faith regardless of its popularity or lack thereof. A pastor “must cling to the Word, not only for his own person, but also – and that is the point to be noted here – ‘in order that he may be able to exhort in the teaching that is healthful and (in order that he may be able) to convict those speaking to the contrary.’”

Dr. Luther is purported to have said, “Even if I preach correctly and shepherd the flock with sound doctrine, I neglect my duty if I do not warn the sheep against the wolves. For what kind of builder would I be if I were to pile up masonry and then stand by while another tears it down? The wolf does not object to our leading the sheep to good pastures. The sheep that have been fattened are the more eagerly sought by him. What he cannot tolerate is that the watchdogs stand on guard, ready to give him battle.”

For Titus, consistent sound doctrine at Crete would provide a starting point for their growth in discipleship. Steady solid doctrine promotes growth in faith and in discipleship for me and you because “Faith must have something that it believes, that is, of which it takes hold.”

Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 4: “And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to-and-fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” As stewards or guardians of the Church, leaders must identify, stop, and correct false teaching. The Church in turn then points the world to Christ who is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” May the Lord bless our every effort to do that very thing. Amen. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

To learn more about the saints we commemorate in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, check out Pastor Will Weedon's book Celebrating the Saints: The Feasts, Festivals, and Commemoration of the Lutheran Service Book.