Titus 1:1-16

Paul begins this book with a greeting of gratefulness for the hope of salvation that he has in Christ as well as the blessing that both he and Titus have of serving the Lord and spreading the message of the Gospel.  He then paints a stark contrast between two types of people that Titus must be keenly aware of.  These two types of people are unusually represented in every group and they require vastly different treatments.  We must also be aware of and seek to identify these people so we can take the proper actions towards them.

LOVING LEADERS: Paul tells Titus to be on the lookout for godly men that will faithfully lead the church with integrity and a loving spirit.  These are the men that must be the focus of our ministry and we should invest time in training them and helping them to grow in their character as well as their service for the Lord.  Unfortunately, since these people rarely cause any trouble they are often ignored.  Sometimes only the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  We must not allow this to happen these godly men are vital to the growth of the rest of the body.  They should be recognized, accompanied and trained to carry out the work of the church.  These characteristics of being faithful to our families, patient with people, responsible with resources, sensitive to strangers and Christ like in Character are qualities to which each of us should aspire.  These are the type of leaders that we desperately need today and a wise minister will be faithful to discover and develop such men.

LAZY LIARS: By way of contrast there are also many people who are destructive and disruptive to the cause of Christ.  These are people who spread false teachings in the name of Christ but with impure motives.  They lead people astray for the purpose of gaining a large following, power and financial advantage.  Their mouths are full of lies and they are lazy deceivers.  These people must be stopped.  They must not be allowed to continue to destroy the work of the body of Christ.  The godly minister’s job is to exhort, expose and if necessary expel them if they do not repent and turn to the truth of God’s Word.  These are worthless workers of wickedness from which we must work to protect those who are weak.  The problem is that they can easily become very popular and exercise great influence over many unsuspecting people.  We must never become jealous of their followings or we may easily find ourselves being tempted to follow their tactics.  Our job is to be and raise up loving leaders that will be able to confront and correct the lazy liars that may appear.