For The Good of the Fellowship

For The Good of the Fellowship

Titus 1:4&5
4 To Titus, a true son in our common faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—

   In the Epistle to Titus, Paul greets him warmly as “a true son in the faith.”  Paul always has a warm greeting for those are true believers.  He supports the need for a common faith, and not an isolated faith.  He founded churches and left the roots of leadership and leadership training everywhere he traveled.
   We don’t know a lot about Titus, he’s not mentioned in the Book of Acts at all, but in Galatians we know he traveled with Paul to Jerusalem.  Now Paul is calling on him to become a missionary and take on a huge task.
   For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you;
   Paul had had a successful evangelistic trip to Crete, an island of Greece; he wanted to have someone there to help the new churches establish themselves both in the faith and under proper leadership.  Paul did not want the new churches to have to stumble around trying to figure things out on their own; he knew they would grow faster and stronger with the right kind of leadership.  This problem was made worse by the nature of the Cretans themselves.  One of their own prophets called them “liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons” – verse 12.
   Titus’ first job was to find and train great pastors for the Christians of this island.  The church needs order and leadership.  Titus was commanded to set in order the churches, and to do it by appointing Godly leaders.  I’ve been in churches that were between pastors and when an experienced pastor helped out as Interim Pastor, we got along well.  But when the congregation chose to “just wing it” on their own, it has never gone well.  Even with the best of intentions, church boards are not adequate for the task.  (Boy, am I stepping on toes here.)  I believe it is simply that the Pastor, if he (or she) is a Godly Pastor, will have the support of the Holy Spirit in their work.  They will be dedicated to praying for their congregation in a way others won’t be.  They will have the call of God in their lives and He will lead them to make decisions and to preach the right words when they are needed.
   Note:  I use the word “Pastors” but the Book of Titus calls them “Bishops” and others have used the “Shepherds.”  For our purposes here I’ll use Pastors to mean any of these.
   Also note that Paul uses the word “Elders” a lot in his writings, but if you read the Books of Timothy you’ll note that Timothy was not elder in an age sense.  Paul is referring to an Elder as someone who is mature in the faith, but not necessarily an elder in age.  In some people, age and wisdom do not always go together.
   Paul tells Titus to appoint the new leaders.  They were not to be put in positions of authority by popular vote nor be self-promotion.  Titus was to pray and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit and make the best choices for the churches.  It was Titus’ job to look for men of the kind of character Paul described in the following passage of his letter to Titus.
   Time to drag out my soapbox.  Now I’ll climb up and get standing on it.  There!  All set.
   I’ve been part of, if I remember rightly, 2 churches/ fellowships where we didn’t make use of an Interim Pastor while looking for a new pastor.  I’ve also been in at least 4 studies / prayer groups where the pastor was not asked to be involved.  The group just decided to meet on our own.  None of these attempts were successful in any way you chose to measure.  Indeed, one prayer group actually led to the two leaders beginning a feud and one went off to join a leaderless church and failed again, the other stopped going to church for over a year before finding another to attend.   One of the churches looking for a pastor voted down the three men sent to us by the District leadership before electing a man by popular vote who proved to be unprepared for being a pastor and finally quit after two years of frustration.  I confess to aiding this situation and deeply regret my actions.
   Off the soapbox and putting it away now.
   If you are not part of a church or fellowship and do not have a church family to associate with you are in a dangerous place.  You need the strength and support of others and should find a church and settle in as soon as possible.  Good, Godly leaders are necessary to the health of a church and the growth of the saints in the church.  Listening to your Pastor and seeking his advice is always a good idea.  Cultivating a good relationship with your pastor and others in your church will be a good investment on your part.


Stephen Cram                               July 22, 2012                     Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8