Since an overseer manages God‘s household,
he must be blameless-not overbearing,
not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent,
not pursuing dishonest gain.
Titus 1:7 - P23
[NIV] 1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God‘s elect and theirknowledge of the truth that leads to godliness-2 inthe hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie,
promised before the beginning of time, 3 and whichnow at his appointed season he has brought to lightthrough the preaching entrusted to me by the commandof God our Savior, - P25
11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupt-ing whole households by teaching things they oughtnot to teach-and that for the sake of dishonest gain.
12 One of Crete‘s own prophets has said it: "Cretans arealways liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." 13 This saying istrue. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will besound in the faith 14 and will pay no attention to Jewishmyths or to the merely human commands of those whoreject the truth. - P25
Paul writes a letter to his son in the faith, Titus, to remind him of why he lefthim in Crete. Titus is to appoint godly elders who are spiritually mature andshow it in the way they live out their faith and relate with their family. - P25
Thosewho are ungodly are to be opposed and rebuked because their actions clearlydeny God. - P25
Paul begins his letter by introducing himself and addressing his younger friend and coworker Titus. - P26
The purpose of Paul‘s letter is to provideTitus with pastoral counsel and guidance on how to organize and leadthe church in Crete. - P26
To help Titus appoint church elders, Paul instructshim on the minimum standard for biblical eldership. These godly val-ues and patterns of behavior are essential in churchand elderspastorsbut are important for everyday believers, as well. - P26
Let us all strive to behospitable, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined-loving whatis good and avoiding the sinful patterns of this world. - P26
If we want an example of what this kind
of life looks like, we need look no further thanJesus Christ, who is the ultimate model of God-honoring leadership. - P26
After Paul outlines his standard for church eldership, he describes theungodly disrupters who need to be silenced. - P26
These people are falseteachers who are misleading entire households within the church. Fam-ilies are being deceived into living by manmade rules that run counterto the gospel. - P26
In our churches today, there remain people who pose asChristians but believe things that have nothing to do with the Bible.
They try to earn their salvation by following rules. - P26
But anyone who triesto save themselves with good works trusts in a false gospel. The Biblemakes clear that our salvation is by God‘s grace through faith in Jesus‘
work on the cross. Let us hold fast to the truth of the gospel. - P26
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