Titus 1:5-9 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Seventh Sunday After Pentecost Sunday, July 7, 2024 “Your Pastor Has a Trustworthy Message”
How would you like to have Titus’ job? We meet Titus in the book of the Bible that bears his name. That book is a letter from the Apostle Paul to Titus, a man who came to faith through Paul’s ministry. We read five verses from that letter as our sermon text today. The first of those verses lays out what Titus’ job was. Paul had left this man on the island of Crete in order to finish work that still needed to be done there. And the specific work that is mentioned, likely the majority of what was unfinished, was to appoint elders. The congregations located in this region needed pastors. They needed leaders. And Titus would facilitate that. So, would you want that job? Some people might say yes. Among them might be those who have had questions or concerns about what we do in the WELS at call meetings and think they might have a better way. I’ve heard some of their questions at call meetings. They think about job listings and resumes and search teams and interviews, things that happen in other hiring scenarios, and they wonder if adopting some of that process might be better for our church. The reality is that the Bible doesn’t specify the method. Paul doesn’t lay out for Titus detailed instruction for how he is to do the job. We could do things in a different way. But generally as a synod, we have chosen to follow a procedure that as much as possible reflects some of the truths about the public ministry and the role of pastors that we see in these verses. Maybe those who question our call process worry about the person who ends up serving as pastor. People, maybe you, first think how much they would like to enjoy the pastor’s personality. How would you like to try to find a man who gets along with everyone and everyone gets along with him? That’s a great idea, but it might be hard to carry out. How would you like to be responsible for finding what each church needs in its own unique circumstance and situation? How would you like to try to match up the gifts that God has given with the needs of his churches? Do you get a sense of why Titus’ job might be a little more challenging then it might appear at first glance? While Paul, writing according to the direction of the Holy Spirit, does not give Titus a particular method, he does give Titus quite a bit of direction. He describes in some detail the sort of person that should be installed as an elder or overseer, a pastor. But Paul is also not writing just for Titus’ benefit. We expect that this letter would have been read by others in the churches, and we get to listen in on this instruction, too. And Paul’s words, God’s words, give us reason to rejoice. You can rejoice that your pastor has a trustworthy message. That factor, out of all the ones that Paul lists, is really the key factor. It’s our last verse for today that is really the most important. He must cling to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he will be able both to encourage people by the sound teaching and also to correct those who oppose him. That’s what Titus is to look for. That’s what the congregation is to expect. That’s what you ought to demand of your pastor. Hold on to the trustworthy message. That’s what gives a pastor authority. That’s what gives him power to encourage and power to correct. He knows what God says and is called to share it. Paul speaks at length in his letters about the trustworthy message. There are so many places we might turn to summarize it. Let’s just use today a few verses from later in this letter. Paul writes to Titus: But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared, he saved us—not by righteous works that we did ourselves, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs in keeping with the hope of eternal life (3:4–7). And we heard another example today of Jesus sending out men with this same message and this same authority. When Jesus sent out the Twelve, he gave them authority over demons. He gave them a way that people could see what was true of their message: that it came with authority. And they went out and preached that the people should repent. They should turn away from their sinful lives and turn to God and his promised mercy and grace and forgiveness. We wouldn’t want a pastor bringing any other message.