What a Pastor Should Do

What a Pastor Should Do

Titus 1:9 – 11
9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,
11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.


   Paul is instructing Titus, his son in the faith, in what he needs to do when he gets to Crete and meets with the churches there.  Paul founded the churches when he traveled there on one of his missionary trips, and now he wants Titus to oversee the appointment of qualified leaders over these congregations.
   He lays out general qualifications in verses 6 through 8, and then in verse 9 he gives Titus a qualification he must have felt strongly about to separate it and emphasize it.  He says to be sure the new pastor is faithful to hold fast to the Word he has been taught.  To do this, Titus must first be sure the new pastor has been taught.  There weren’t any seminaries or Bible schools yet, but Paul had left many Christians in his wake who he had had time to train himself before moving on.  Titus would need to examine the men to be sure they had received instruction in the Word and were mature enough to be able to faithfully teach the Word to others.
   Being faithful to the Word also meant that they were not to bring personal opinions to the new congregations but were to teach the Gospel as Paul taught it: Christ and Him crucified and resurrected.  When I was a new Christian, a mature man in the church “took me under his wing” to help me.  He taught the Word but then unfortunately added his personal views on what we had studied.  He was one who tried to “explain” miraculous things in the scriptures by saying that these things could have happened by – and here he would mention earthquakes, floods, coincidences, etc.  In no time at all he had me questioning everything trying to see how it could have happened by some natural means.  This placed a seed of doubt in my heart which grew up and strangled my spiritual life.  It took me a couple of years before the Holy Spirit convicted me of my doubts and I asked forgiveness and began to believe God’s Word at face value.  Had this man been faithful to share the Word with me it would have saved me years of doubts and unbelief.
   Titus was also instructed to appoint leaders who would use the Word properly.  They needed to not only be trained in the Word but had to be trained to both to exhort and convict those who would come into the congregation and spread false teachings.  Martin Luther once said, “A preacher must be both soldier and shepherd. He must nourish, defend, and teach; he must have teeth in his mouth and be able to bite and fight."  Sounds a bit extreme, but we are in a spiritual fight and we need to go into battle prepared to defend our faith.
   When a good pastor, a Godly pastor confronts someone who is contradicting the Gospel, they have a strong, reliable weapon at their disposal: sound doctrine.  When confronting untruths, the best thing to use is truth.  Not bluster or demands to respect proper authority, but the plain truth.  A pastor who does not have a basis in sound doctrine shouldn't be placed in that position.  Leaders need to stand on the foundation of the word and have the Word in their hearts before they should try to lead others into a knowledge of the truth.
   Today, as in the days of Paul and Titus, there are "problem people" among God's people who spread false doctrine and undermine the Word in our churches.  Some don’t do this for evil reasons, they do it from ignorance or because they have a strong opinion about some idea that is not a truth of the Gospel.  But a bad idea spread among a congregation is harmful whether or not it is done with evil intent.  Some do this for personal gain, either money or fame or notoriety.  Some do it “because we always did it that way.”  Whatever the reason, a false idea is still a false idea.
   A Godly pastor must be able to know the truth and be willing to stand up and call a lie a lie.  Just because an idea is popular does not make it right.  A pastor needs to know the difference and steer his flock onto the narrow path.

Stephen Cram                            July 29, 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