I didn’t want to preach this sermon. I told Aidan it was going to be a hard sermon to write. Not because the Greek was so difficult to translate or the doctrine so hard to understand. The Greek turned out to be rather straight forward and the doctrine is crystal clear. In Titus 1:5-9 God tells us what He expects from those who serve in the public ministry. This text is about the qualifications of a pastor; it is about what God expects of people like me. I don’t want to preach a sermon about me or any other pastor for that matter. I feel like we kind of did that last week when I told you about Ezekiel’s call to serve the disobedient Israelites in Babylonian captivity. Plus, next week Professor Keith Wessel is going to be our guest preacher. Professor Wessel is going to be talking about the prophet Elisha’s call into the public ministry and I honestly think he is going to do a better job talking about pastors then me, so I really don’t want to talk about pastors today.
What I really want to do today is tell you how much God loves you. I would very much like to preach a sermon about God’s love for you rather than a sermon about God’s expectations of me. But instead, I have before me a text about the qualifications of a pastor. I thought about picking a different text to preach on. I could have preached on our first reading, but that reading is about the ministry of a pastor named Amos. I could have preached on our gospel lesson, but in our gospel lesson Jesus is equipping, instructing, and sending out pastors in groups of two. All of these readings are about pastors! Now, I could have changed the readings. Just because these readings are in the worship plan doesn’t mean I have to preach on them. It is my worship plan, I created it, I can change it… but I wrote the worship plan for this Sunday months ago and let’s be honest, I’m not some go with the flow hippie that changes his plans on a whim. So, instead of talking about how much God loves you, it looks like today we will be taking about the expectations God has for me.
Titus 1:5-9 is part of a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a young pastor by the name of Titus. Paul and Titus had done ministry together on several occasions and it seems Paul considered Titus to be a bit of a protégé. Paul addresses this letter “4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith”.
The ship that Paul had taken to Rome briefly stopped on the Island of Crete and after his release from Rome Paul seems to have visited the Island of Crete on his way to Ephesus. Apparently, Paul had done some mission work on the Island of Crete because groups of Christians could be found in every town on the island. But for whatever reason Paul needed to leave the Island of Crete before the churches were established. In verse 5 Paul tells Titus, “5 The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.” Titus was to appoint “elders” over the Christian congregations on the Island of Crete. In verse seven Paul uses the word “overseer” instead of “elder” to describe the people that Titus is to appoint over the congregations. The term “elder” and “overseer” seem to be describing different aspects of the same job. The term “elder” seems to focus on the spiritual maturity of the individual and the term “overseer” seems to focus on the leadership responsibilities of the individual. Both terms are describing different aspects of the same office. Today we use the term pastor to describe this office.
The reason Paul left Titus behind on the Island of Crete was to appoint pastors over the churches, but Titus wasn’t to appoint just anybody to the position of pastor. God had great expectations of the men Titus was to appoint. Twice (in verse 6 and again in verse 7) Paul tells Titus that God expects a pastor to be “blameless”. That is not to say the pastor is to be perfect for then there would be no man, save Jesus himself, qualified to be a pastor. Neither does this mean that the pastor cannot be falsely accused by an enemy for even Jesus was blamed by the Pharisees and Sadducees. Rather, to be blameless means the pastor is to have a good reputation as a relatively decent fellow. Having mentioned this most basic of qualifications, Paul then tells Titus that God has a couple expectations of the pastor’s personal life.
First, God expects a pastor to be “the husband of but one wife”. This is not to say that a man must have a wife. Paul himself exercised his freedom to remain celibate. However, should a pastor choose to get married he is to be married to a member of the opposite sex and only one member of the opposite sex at a time. Further, he is not permitted to have a mistress on the side that he treats as an unofficial wife. Quite simply, the pastor is to be devoted to his wife.
Second, God expects a pastor to have children who “believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.” For an example of a wild child think of the prodigal son who spent his father’s inheritance on parties and ended up living in a pig pen. For an example of disobedient children think of Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli who kept having sex with the girls in the Ladies Aid. As long as they are under his authority, the pastor’s children are to be neither wild nor disobedient. Rather, they are to be believers who submit to the will of God and obey his commands for such children are a reflection of the father’s faithfulness to train a child in the way they should go.
After talking about the expectations God has of the pastor’s personal life, Paul tells Titus there are several things God expects of the pastor’s professional life. Paul starts with a list of things God expects that a pastor will NOT be. God expects that the pastor will not be “overbearing”. A pastor is not to be so arrogant as to believe his way of running and organizing a church is the only way things can be done. Rather, when it comes to matters not explicitly stated in scripture a pastor is to accept constructive criticism and entertain the suggestions of others. God expects that the pastor will not be “quick-tempered”. A pastor ought not fly off the handle over any and every little thing as though rage were bubbling like lava beneath the surface of a volcano ready to explode. God expects that the pastor will not be “given to drunkenness”. God has no issue with the pastor who chooses to partake of alcoholic beverages. In fact, Paul even encouraged young Timothy to drink a little wine in order to settle his nerves. However, the pastor is not to drink so much that his faculties become impaired, and he no longer has control over his inhibitions. God expects that the pastor will not be “violent”. The typical pastor does not have a physic that would permit him to gain a reputation as a brawler. However, that does not mean that the pastor is incapable of violence. The pastor may not brawl with his body, but he can bully with his words and wound a person’s very soul. The pastor is to refrain from both physical and psychological violence. God expects that the pastor will not “pursue dishonest gain”. Nothing is more unbecoming of a pastor, who is supposed to be directing the eyes of his people to the treasures that await them in the ever after, but is instead constantly fantasizing about the trinkets of the here and now.
In contrast to the list of things God expects that the pastor will not be, Paul now gives Titus a list of things God expects that a pastor will be. And I am going to try to speed up here because this list of expectations is getting exhausting. God expects a pastor be “hospitable”, that is that he be a lover of strangers and that he be willing and eager to help them in their time of need. God expects that a pastor “loves what is good”. The pastor is to do what he can to support worthy causes in his community and peace, harmony, and friendship among his neighbors. God expects a pastor be “self-controlled”. The pastor is not to entertain the latest conspiracy theories, maintain radical political affiliations, or blindly follow fads. Rather, he is to calmly and rationally examine the evidence available to him and make sensible choices based on careful contemplation. God expects a pastor be “upright”. The pastor is to walk the walk, talk the talk, and most importantly he is to practice what he preaches. God expects a pastor be “holy”. The pastor is not here called upon to have the sort of holiness required for salvation. That is a gift that has already been given to the pastor by Jesus, just as it has been given to all who believe. The pastor is to be a man who abstains from crude speech and crass behavior; he is to be a man who reflects the holiness of his savior in his thought’s words and actions. God expects a pastor to be “disciplined”. A pastor must manage his time so that his work gets done, he must manage his resources so that he can meet his obligations, and he must manage his responsibilities so that neither his family nor his members fall through the cracks. Finally, Paul concludes the list of qualifications with what must be considered the most important qualification for the pastoral office. God expects a pastor to “hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught.” The pastor is to know what he is talking about. He is to have studied the scriptures, placed his confidence in them, and be unwilling to compromise them regardless of the opposition he might face.
These are some of the great expectations God has for a pastor. What do you think? I’ll tell you what I think. I think I should have preached a different sermon. When I see what God expects of a pastor, I feel a profound sense of failure. You don’t have to look very closely, and you will see that the man standing before you does not meet God’s great expectations. Part of you should be thinking right now that you need a new pastor. I don’t necessarily disagree with you, but I will tell you, I know a lot of pastors and while some of them might do a better job of measuring up to this list than I do, none of them meet God’s great expectations. That is probably the reason I really didn’t want to talk to you today about what God expects of me and my fellow pastors.
I almost didn’t preach this sermon. But the more I thought about this text, the more I realized that it is not so much about me and my fellow pastors as it is about you. Why is it, do you think, that God has such great expectations of His pastors? It is certainly not because we are so superior to you. If anything, God’s great expectations make it clear that we pastors need a savior from sin every but as much as the rest of you. So, why? Why does God have such great expectations of a pastor? The reason why God has such great expectations of your pastor is because God loves you. Think about it, why else would God have such great expectations of a pastor?
Paul tells Titus the reason why God has such great expectations of a pastor is so that he can “9 encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” I have been appointed to share the Word of God with you so that you may be encouraged. I have been appointed to tell you the universe was created so that you would have purpose. I have been appointed to tell you when that purpose became tainted with sin, history was written so that you would have forgiveness. I have been appointed to tell you that God sent His Son, His one and only Son to satisfy the demands of the law for you. I have been appointed to tell you that God sent His Son, His one and only Son to be the sacrifice for your sins. I have been appointed to tell you that even now, because of that Son, a place in eternity is being prepared for you. I have been appointed to tell you that God loves you. Of course, God is going to have great expectations of the man who has been appointed to be the pastor of the people He loves.
Paul gave Titus a rather exhaustive list of qualifications for the men that are to be appointed as pastors. But this sermon is not really about the great expectations God has for me and my fellow pastors. This sermon is about how much God loves you. God has great expectations of me because God loves you. Amen.