The Need for Trustworthy Elders – Titus 1:5–9 (Part One)

PRAY & INTRO: Scripture never lets us get lazy. (… if we keep reading and studying it to submit to it) Because the Bible is God’s own revelation, this word from God doesn’t allow us to be complacent. It creates in us a holy discontent with how things are and generates a growing desire to admire and adore God as he deserves. We long to believe the gospel of Jesus more and to live the gospel better and to proclaim the gospel more faithfully.

Such is most certainly the case when we come to a passage like the one we’re in today, where Paul instructs Titus about establishing healthy churches in Crete by first of all appointing godly men to be servant leaders in the church. At the very least, we are deeply challenged to consider the health of our own church in terms of the kinds of men we have asked and might ask to shepherd us. Besides that, passages about servant leaders setting an example for us to follow most certainly challenges us to consider whether we are faithfully following Christ as the pattern of our lives.

Titus 1:5–9 ESV

⁵ This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— ⁶ 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. ⁷ 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, ⁸ but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. ⁹ 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.

To be healthy, local churches must have godly elders.

Churches Cannot Be Healthy Without healthy Stewards, healthy under-shepherds.

Paul’s Instruction to Titus (v. 5)

…is to first of all ensure that these local churches will have servant leaders who are worthy of people trusting them.

This is why I left you in Crete. We have a pretty clear purpose statement for why Paul writes this letter and what his expectation is for Titus.

-We discussed in an introduction that Paul’s purpose in this letter is for the churches in Crete to be healthy for ongoing gospel advance, making and maturing disciples of Jesus. To that end, they must have healthy leaders who serve by setting an example, and who hold firmly to what the apostles have taught concerning Christ, in order to themselves give sound instruction and rebuke those who are contradicting that gospel truth in their teaching and conduct.

Otherwise, false teachers will wreak havoc, and households will be leading ungodly lives that will not support the gospel of Jesus that they claim and profess to others.

Finish the task of setting these younger church families on more solid foundation.

-There was more work to be done. Paul evidently needed to, or decided to, leave before he was able to dot all his i’s and cross his t’s in terms of preparing and appointing elders who would carry on the teaching and setting an example.

-And he didn’t intend for Titus to stay permanently (3:12), but to take the necessary steps and care to see these churches established on more healthy footing and heading in the right direction.

Two implications:

1. Church planting isn’t done until the church can be healthy in your absence.
2. A truly healthy church can and should thrive even without any one influential and gifted personality.

That isn’t to say that we’re excited about the prospect of losing any one of us who is fervently involved in serving faithfully in God’s church. - Even though a church takes on the personality of the pastor—the lead elder, the primary speaker—we must not be too dependent on that individual. We have to train ourselves and one another that we trust in Christ, the Chief Shepherd, and that we trust in the authority and power of God’s word rightly taught. See, even John MacArthur and John Piper believe this: that although they are humbled at how greatly God has and does use them as expositors, the work is not dependent on them, but on God, who uses faithful proclamation. That means it can and should be carried on in many places through local pastors/shepherds/elders.

The point I am making is that God, in his wisdom, has set up the church such that we depend on Christ and his gospel (his word) and not on any other single individual, but instead on a local group of elders who will together maintain faithfulness to Christ and his word.

(So besides churches having and teaching the true gospel from God’s word…) One of the chief ways to set churches on healthy footing is to…

Establish a (mutually accountable) plurality of godly elders.

-Clearly here in Titus 1 the term elder is used interchangeably with the term overseer (bishop) in v.7, and in other NT texts these terms are applied synonymously with the term shepherds and corresponding responsibilities (what we colloquially call pastors). - Two quick comments of clarification, then.

1. Although some denominations do have hierarchy above local church elders, it is indeed difficult to defend these separate offices specifically from the text of Scripture. (I’m not saying they don’t try; I’m only saying that it’s hard to do so without explaining away the most simple or plain reading of the text.)
2. While it is culturally accepted in Christian circles to designate only certain staff elders as “pastor,” I hope you can see why that is misleading. Your “pastor” is really a co-pastor, co-shepherd, co-elder with the other men who together serve the church as elders/pastors. - Even though there will always be a leader among leaders [we think of Peter, as an example], “the pastor” not above the other shepherds in any way. Together we share the responsibility of being chief servants to shepherd the local church under the Great Shepherd, Jesus, who is the head of His church. I, and each other elder, submit to the leadership of the group. That’s what a plurality of elders is and does. I trust you find the explanation helpful if you hadn’t given this much thought.

- Now because one or more elder/shepherd might be supported by the church to serve full-time, it is understandable that such men carry a greater share of the load and certain kinds of responsibilities, and therefore also feel the weight of it uniquely. But the fact is, these other men are presently also your pastors: Rich Toliver, Craig Cogdill, Paul Griffis, Steve Trauth, Aaron Boldman, and Ryan Toliver. And when we as fellow leaders and members of this church are considering new elders, such is the responsibility we are considering them for.

This is no small responsibility, so we are reminded of how much Paul was here entrusting to Titus (his true child in a common faith), and why Paul desires to ground Titus’s authority in Paul’s own apostolic authority as commissioned by God (vv. 1-3).

Appoint elders in every town as I directed you: While one might try to argue that in this text there doesn’t necessarily have to be plural elders in each town (or in each house where they at this time were likely holding their corporate gatherings), one must do so to the neglect of other passages and the most likely common sense meaning there. (In Acts 20:17, when Paul calls the church elders from Ephesus to come meet with him at Miletus, the reference is plural. In the opening of his letter to the church at Philippi, he references the overseers and deacons as two offices, and both are plural (Phil 1:1). Again, it is highly unlikely that he simply means a collection of individual pastors over house churches who are not functioning together in shepherding the church in that town or city.

Suffice to say that we believe firmly that there is strong evidence from Scripture that the healthiest model of local church leadership is a plurality of elders in that specific local church.

The particular process for how elders are selected after these first appointments also isn’t perfectly clear. Titus was to examine their lives and appoint qualified men, but then he was leaving. How and when would they choose additional elders? How many were advisable? It seems best to understand that this responsibility would then be up the present plurality of elders.

Again, I hope this is helpful to encourage you to think about why and how we do what we do in terms of servant leadership in the local church. It should be noted that this text, and the other texts about shepherds, seem to especially emphasize what kind of men they ought to be in order to be considered for eldership.

What kind of servant leaders are to be entrusted with this responsibility (eldership)? (vv. 6-9)

Well, here’s a first point of clarification that is understood plainly in these contexts but can’t just be taken for granted.

Elders must be men.

The overall testimony of NT passages concerning church leadership are so clear on this that arguments to the contrary are unequivocally weak and contrived. I don’t mean that to be funny. Unless you are deliberately trying to ignore the plain meaning of what God has ordained for order in the church and in the home, it really is obvious. And I don’t say this callously or proudly, as if I am somehow special because the God of the universe ordained that I should be a male. It just is, and it’s as clearly stated as nearly any argument that Scripture makes about what God has established in his own eternal wisdom.

Around here we aim to honor you women as equal image bearers of the triune God, and to honor you for the unique contribution God makes to society and to the church through women in particular, and to encourage you to thrive in any and all service to God that honors him (through the guidelines that he has set). To that end, you ladies can continue to help us make sure that we are empowering and not hindering you from ministry within God’s parameters. And we all can follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ that submission is not a bad thing but a beautiful, God-honoring obedience that is central to the gospel itself.

Men of all ages, this means that you should aspire to have the kind of character that Paul describes here of men who are trustworthy husbands and models of following Christ.Ladies, while this does mean that you shouldn’t aspire to be an elder, you should still aspire to grow in and model the same kind of character that is faithful to Jesus in a way that is consistent with your God-given gender.

And young ladies especially, this also means that you should only consider for marriage a man whom you can tell is laser-focused on growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Even though its nice if a guy pays attention to you and treats you special, don’t give him serious consideration unless it’s clear that he ultimately prioritizes his relationship to God even over chasing after you. Young men who aspire to marriage, I hope that puts you on notice. … And you should be looking for a young lady who loves Jesus and wants to obey him with all that she is and has, and who knows the difference we just described about men.

Back to the overall point: The people entrusted with this kind of servant leadership…

They must be mature, godly men.

Above reproach/blameless is the overarching description of his character. (v. 6 in home life & again in v. 7 that goes into greater detail with examples of no’s and yes’s about being marked by godly attitudes and actions)  - Of course this doesn’t mean that he’s sinless (that would limit the pool of candidates to zero).

It does mean that it is difficult to bring a legitimate charge against a major pattern of his character. You might find a crack, but upon closer examination, you find that the foundation is really solid. - This man is not eroding from underneath or corroding from the inside out. You might smell his stink sometimes, but you don’t find him to be a person who isn’t also quick to make things right with God and right with others when he fails.

I like the way a note in the ESV Study Bible summarizes this point: “There should be no legitimate accusation that could be brought against the elder that would bring disrepute on the gospel or the church; his life should be seen as worthy of imitation.”

Just so, in finishing out the first sentence of instruction to Titus into what kind of men they ought to be, the emphasis is that they should be…

1. Above reproach in home life

If you want to know what a person is like, find out how they treat the people in closest relationship to them. We know this to be true. [repeat]

So there is an emphasis on the fact that he be… A faithful husband and father, who trains his family in the same gospel that changes him, managing his household well. 

First, a one-woman man means that he is faithful to his spouse (this relationship where the two have now become one flesh): he is devoted only to her in terms of sexual, spiritual, and emotional intimacy. (Not that a man can’t have spiritual closeness and accountability with other men, but certainly not with other women in the way he does only with his wife.)

And he is faithful to the covenant he has made to protect and provide (in other words, not abandoning or abusing his leadership—physically, spiritually, emotionally, verbally, or financially). When we choose to be married, there is a very real sense in which God’s protection and provision for this family unit is tied to the man’s diligence to work in a way that honors God, and to protect his wife (and children) in any way that he can. A wise and diligent Christian husband knows that these things—protection and provision—are ultimately in God’s care, but he takes responsibility, with accountability to God, for that stewardship which God has given into his care.

You see, it’s no coincidence that man’s home life is key in this conversation about elders because there is such a close correspondence to not only revealing what kind of man he is, but how he handles a stewardship from God—v. 7a.

On a related note, one might also wonder from the way this is stated if an elder has to be married. Because Paul himself is single, and encourages others to remain single if they are able, this probably doesn’t mean that single, mature, godly men are automatically excluded from eldership consideration. But, the majority of these men are certain to be married and have children.

Speaking of his children… the text also emphasizes that he should be above reproach in the kind of overall testimony that his children have. There are a couple of minor disagreements about this clause regarding his children. The two questions are: Must we be sure his children are believers, and how old are these children?

You can translate this verse as either “his children are believers” or “his children are faithful,” and I slightly prefer the latter because the parallel reference in 1 Timothy speaks of their submission but not specifically of saving faith.

1 Timothy 3:4–5 ESV

⁴ He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, ⁵ for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?

Other than the fact that they are faithful and perhaps do seem to be believers, we know we would be hard pressed to tell that for sure. But if his children are unruly and unsubmissive, then this father is not instructing in the gospel and faithfully disciplining his children to curb the foolishness that is bound up in all our hearts (apart from God’s grace to us in Jesus Christ).

As we said, it is also hard to tell what age children we are speaking of. Calling them children (Gk. teknon for child) seems most likely to lend itself to when they are living in his home under his care. But others would argue that the charge of dissipation would apply more relevantly to grown children. Dissipation tends to refer to wild and lavish living in terms of promiscuity and drinking, and of wasting money and food, and so on. Insubordination refers to that rebellious and independent attitude and demeanor that is disobedient and defiant of authority.

I have to admit that the text in Paul’s letter to Timothy sounds more like children in the home and this (to Titus) sounds like it certainly could also apply to the way grown children live as a reflection of their father’s influence on them. Not only did fathers in this culture continue to hold a greater measure of authority over their grown children than in our own, but we can think of negative examples in Scripture where the father is accountable for not instructing and rebuking his children. Eli was high priest before Samuel, and it seems plain that Eli is held accountable to God for the disreputable behavior of his sons Hophni and Phineas.

In specific situations we might face when looking for men who are above reproach in their home life, you can see why it might require discernment in the details as to the man’s level of accountability for some circumstances. We cannot actually save our children, but only instruct them about the God’s glory in his own grace to save sinners through the gospel of Jesus Christ. So if a man has four children who clearly fear and follow God with their lives, but one is exceedingly rebellious, it would be understandable if we laid blame for that on the wayward son and not on the faithful father.

(The overall point is…) A man may be considered (for eldership) if he is faithful to his wife and has faithful children (which means that he has consistently trained and corrected them with as much influence as he is given by God). If he has a clear testimony of being devoted only to his own wife, and if his children are not dishonorable in a way that he can be held accountable, he might be considered above reproach in his home life.

[Next time…] We’ll continue with Paul’s instruction to Titus that these men must also be…

2. (As a steward in God’s church) Above reproach in modeling godly attitudes and behaviors

See, there’s one angle of looking at this that rightly makes you feel like, wow, godly character is to be taken seriously and servant leadership is to be taken seriously. But then there’s another angle of looking at it that should make you realize: ok, that’s the normal call of Jesus upon our lives, that’s what he’s asking of us.

But it does especially make us realize that our elders should be men who have proven character and proven faithfulness in teaching.

They must be solid in gospel truth and equipped to instruct with sound doctrine and rebuke any contradiction of it.

We’ll try to unpack what this means and looks like as well.

For today, here’s a final emphasis we might make in conclusion.

Conclusion: Pay attention to how you live and whom you follow.

The goal is to be like Christ… set apart to him and sent on his mission of making disciples. That’s means first in our primary responsibilities and relationships.

Once you find some trustworthy elders to submit to and participate with in ministry (like I firmly believe God has graciously given in this local church), continue to hold them/us accountable, as well as to make their responsibility a joy. Do not be quick to ascribe to them what is true of those who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers. (v. 10) We must pay careful attention to ourselves and our servant leaders so that we can tell the difference, through word-centered wisdom and discernment.

Pay attention to how you live and whom you follow.

PRAY

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