Titus 1:1-16
June 16, 2019
preached by Doug Cooper
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Humility is throwing oneself away in complete concentration on something or someone else.”

~ Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007), American writer of young adult fiction

“Real leadership is leaders recognizing that they serve the people that they lead.”

~ Pete Hoekstra (1953-present), Dutch-American politician presently serving as the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands

“The Church…needs to put a far greater proportion of her strength behind the work of the theologians; she needs a theology which is not the mere product of changing moods and fashions but deeply based on Scripture, stated in terms in which the world lives, relevant to the forces which are actually shaping the lives of men. It is not sufficient for the Church to attend to tactics: she must attend first to truth.”

~ Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998), British theologian, missiologist, missionary and author

“Wherever we go we see divisions among people—in families, communities, cities, countries, and continents. All these divisions are tragic reflections of our separation from God. The truth that all people belong together as members of one family under God is seldom visible. Our sacred task is to reveal that truth in the reality of everyday life.”

~ Henri Nouwen (1932-1996), Dutch Catholic priest, professor, writer and theologian

“The gospel does not hang in midair as an abstraction. By the power of God, the gospel creates something new in the world today. It creates not just a new community, but a new kind of community. Gospel-centered churches are living proof that the good news is true, that Jesus is not a theory but is real, as he gives back to us our humaneness.”

~ Ray Ortlund, contemporary pastor and author

“Our world’s history is a long story of tribal conflict where no one is closer than those who are family. That is, with one critical exception of course: the local church. When two people share Christ—even if everything else is different—they are closer than even blood ties could ever bring them. They are the family of God.”

~ Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop, contemporary pastors and co-authors of The Compelling Community

“To be always relevant, you have to say things which are eternal.”

~ Simone Weil (1909-1943), French philosopher and political activist

Sermon Passage

Titus 1:1-16 (NASB)

¹ Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, ² in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, ³ but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

⁴ To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

⁵ For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, ⁶ namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. ⁷ For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, ⁸ but hospitable, loving what is

good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, ⁹ holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

¹⁰ For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, ¹¹ who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. ¹² One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” ¹³ This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.