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Titus, Chapter one.
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.
And hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie promised before the world began, but half in due time manifested His word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior, to Titus, my own Son, after the common faith.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
So this caused left eye the increase the Tau should set an order the things that are wanting and ordained elders in every city as I had appointed they. Can he be blameless? The husband of one wife having faithful children, not accused of right or unruly. For a Bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self will not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker.
Not given to filthy lucre.
But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, separate, holding fast the faithful word, as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the game's fairest.
But there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers. Especially they have the circumcision.
Whose mouths must be stopped? This avert whole houses teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
One of them sells even a profit of their own, said Lucretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true.
Wherefore reduce them sharply, as they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. But unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defile.
They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient.
And unto every good work reprobate.
There's a verse in Colossians chapter 2 That.
Would summarize pretty much, uh, what the apostle?
I was thinking of apparently when he wrote the book of Titus Colossians 2.
Uh, and five.
So I'd be absent in the flesh. Am I with you in the spirit?
Are joying and beholding.
Your order.
And the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
We think that the latter, the second part, would be first, steadfast enough to your faith in Christ and your order. But it's not.
When Paul wrote to Timothy, it was.
To teach him the to give him instructions as to.
The teaching of the truth, whereas in Titus was more.
The order to set in order, and so we see all through the epistle.
Of order rather than the doctrine.
I understand that Titus means nurse or rearer Rearer, one who rears. Very interesting thing to note that because as our brother is saying, that joy is what the Paul is seeking to bring out Titus in a very, uh, as we read through here, we see the condition of things where we're not good. They were, they were umm.
Says they were. There are many that were evil beasts, always liars, among many things there that would turn aside. So it's nice to see that Paul writes this to Titus to rear them, or to nurse them, or to bring them to the joy of the Lord.
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He wrote this just before between the two epistles of Timothy.
Before he wrote his last book, which was Second Timothy, this was apparently a year before that. So it's very suitable. Our day in which we live.
Where order is.
Just not considered at all. They're boys and girls at school.
Everything is disorder and no one cares about authority and that.
Order and proper discipline and so on. Kind of a.
A word that nobody bothers about today. But your order. In an assembly. Order is so important. The authority of the Lord vowed to in every detail. The answer is in the assembly as to order.
Thou to the assembly, the Lord in the midst, and that is how He keeps everything in order.
It really flows from that. We have the expression the joy of the Lord will be your strength. And just even thinking of the construction of the Word, it's not the Lord's joy, but it's the joy that flows from owning a large ship of Christ. And the reason why there's so much anxiety in the world today and no real sense of love and security and children and so on in the Word world in general, is that there's disorder and there can be love there, and we've all experienced it, but if there's not order, the love cannot be enjoyed.
And so when things are in confusion.
There's a problem and so I pointed out that Titus addressed these things while there was still umm, if I may put it that way, before things were in the state that we find them in Second Timothy, and we have guidance as to that and they certainly are living in those days. But as those that enjoy the truth of being gathered to the Lord's name there. Nevertheless, this correction to draw us back whether perhaps the departure from these principles.
That's the joy of their soul.
In light of their conscience.
Our understanding and then of course, the sustenance of their hearts. So we find it all here recorded for us in this little epistle of Titus. So how beautiful it is to see, because it's already been said, there's an order. God has an order in his Word, doesn't He? And if we follow that order, if we're aware of it, if we're on to it, if we study it out, we find that there's a real joy. Our souls are are joyful. We have an understanding of the word and our hearts are kept.
By the will and power of God.
Some of these Grecians were at Jerusalem's Pentecost. Weren't they noticing that in the book of Acts, the 1St chapter and verse 10 that come from about Cyrene and there's 11 creations in Arabians? They heard the wonderful works of God. I suppose the gospel was carried back to that little Mediterranean island and the Apostle Paul well knew who to address there.
Because when he wanted to know the state of, uh, sole of the Corinthians, who would be sending me Besides, remember, he found no rest in his spirit there in the Second Corinthians, the 2nd chapter, verse 13, I found out Titus, my brother and umm, finally Titus. Titus does arrive in the 7th chapter of Second Corinthians. And Paul was pretty much discouraged. But when Titus came, it says that he was comforted by the coming of Titus. And so as he said, he had that nurse like spirit, you know, Paul knew who to send, you know, to encourage.
These, uh, believers out in that island, perhaps, uh, their, their behavior was not conforming to the doctrine that they had heard.
We had that in theater first theater that, umm, there was a time when they rocked the will of the Gentiles. What is the difference between the will of the Gentiles and the place of the Jews? The Jew had a law.
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And Paul warned about the condition of the circumcision in this chapter especially they have the circumcision that was but that was the Jew. They had a persist an exact prescribed order according to laws. Now everything was to be conducted. It was a rule and a a.
Down to the minutest detail as to the garments of the priest order and so on that they were to follow. And yet it didn't really require divine light that required obedience.
Required it with without space there was no God took no pleasure in it. But here were the Gentiles saved and they were without law.
And, umm, because the law was committed to the Jew and they were saved, so the tendency was that they would go on a lawless way. But it's righteousness now reigning through grace. And so we see man Gentile brought and the two and the Christian representative of that, uh, lawless being brought into an orderly way before God.
And, uh, very lovely to see how he's taken up with us. Those of us were without hope and without God in the world.
And dealt with us to bring us to do and settle us in a way of life that is pleasing to God.
Now the valid basis and foundation of it is according to the faith of God select and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness and.
So there's a doctrinal foundation for everything, and that it's the faith of God's elect.
It really has to do with the truth that we have in our hands that will really be the foundation and basis of that and not only that but the acknowledging of that which is after godliness that produces God likeness.
From the court first we learned that.
Titus has been being saved through the Apostle Paul to Titus my own son, after the common faith.
Beautiful words and that follow.
Alright, Mercy.
Piece from the Gospel has revived in the Reformation.
The end of the 17th 1700s.
It was mainly mercy never went beyond mercy. Mercy is God keeping us from getting what we deserve.
And this is Martin Luther never really got beyond that.
Whereas when the truth was brought before the world in 1832.
And the brethren.
Through the Holy Spirit.
Why? Then they learn what the word grace is. Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve.
Mercy is one of our beds and mercy has never referred to in an assembly address to an assembly, only to the individuals of mercy is.
God keeping us from getting what we do deserve.
And grace is giving us heaven what we don't don't deserve. Grace is a wonderful opening up of what is ahead of us in the hope of eternal life. Beautiful.
Open Scripture refers to deferred certainty.
That is something that is certain but has not yet come to pass. We hope for things, and I think we've all heard this adequately explained, but we hope that such and such will happen. And uh, there's a degree of uncertainty, but when God revealed something, it's just deferred certainty. But he's bringing this before their hearts because He wants us to enjoy eternal life now. And so on the 1St chapter of a third chapter of Colossians, he says when Christ, who is our life shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory.
So he wants us to be good in the good of this light.
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And the enjoyment of it now. But how is it that this we came to came? You mentioned that Paul hepatitis was saved for the preaching of Paul. How was that? It was to the preaching of this gospel. And so it was the communication of the truth that brought the gospel before our lost souls and brought us into blessing. And so the epistle starts here with the according to the face of God's elect, acknowledging the truth which is after godliness.
And perhaps it is this lighter that you is trying to bring before them here. It is the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness was to bring them into the practical good of the faith of God collection. So he uses another expression here.
To Titus, my own son, after the common faith.
So could we say this in connection with this expression of common faith, that it is the Spirit of God that has formed every believer into one body, but that what lets us go on in practical fellowship is the acknowledging of the truth of our common state? So if you meet a real believer and they may be in a very bad situation, in a very bad way.
And going on with something with which you couldn't go on with.
You're still a member of the same body. We're still a member of the same body. So what let's just go on practically, is the acknowledging of the truth and umm, this common faith that we have.
Common faith.
Means that it is universal.
And it was designed speaking reverently before the foundation of the world.
In the jewel in the Old Testament, the Jews were never told to go out to them to proselytize, try to get other people in.
Jewish.
The truth of the Old Testament is an illustration.
For the believer for every true believer because every you in the Old Testament, when he was born into the the family, he was a Hebrew just like a person that is born again while we're in the family of God. So we can learn lessons when we realize that all the Old Testament is a picture for us. How they to deliver that is so important for us to realize that.
Not that some might have been.
Through Hebrews and or not, they were many other failures like Saul, but they were all redeemed under the blood of the Lamb.
OK, that's a gospel now is a common it goes out the.
The number four is applicable of it. Of it NE W said it's to all a common.
Truth.
The two of the expression in the second verse in hope of eternal life, as our brother has already been saying that hope is deferred certainty. But when was this promise to us?
Very beautiful here to think of it as to the the believers of this inflation. Of course this is Titus is an individual writing to this individual that he might be able to help and nurse and rear and help the people of God. But just notice in hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began.
Well, do they have, did they have these, uh, these believers that that Paul is writing through to the believers have eternal, I guess they have eternal life. But here eternal life is looked at the end of the pathway when they leave this world because it's promised, the promise of God is made before they were born.
As someone who said that we're going to be in a world that, umm, we were. It was designed for us before we were born.
And it's going to go and continue. It will continue on after we're gone. It will ever be there eternal life. So how beautiful it is to think that it says which God that cannot lie promised before the world again. So I've read in these last in these two or three 2-3 versus two or three. We have in a way the purpose of God here for us, don't we? It's God's purpose that we might be there with him in glory.
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Because it's been said that in verse three, this, this was in God's plan of purpose before the world began. And then in verse three, it says, uh, well, let's read verse two in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, You're going to go back on his promise. Never. You will never go back on that promise. It's sure. It's just as sure as all We were there already.
As our brother said, us hopefully deferred certainty, but this is according to it says, but bursary, but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching. How did we get this? We heard the word of God preached someone gave us the word and we heard it, But did we know, uh, was this one? Was he aware of all this before time? The gospel? Really, we can't get up and preach the gospel and say well.
Uh, in the purposes of God, his purpose is eternal life, but we have to put man in his responsibility, don't we? That's the responsibility of man. So it says, but half in these due times manifested his word through preaching. The word came, we believed it, and then we find out we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. What a glorious truth this is. And it's brought out here very clearly, which was committed onto me according to the commandment of God our Savior.
Paul says it was commanded to him to preach the gospel to.
Bring this truth before them that God had them in mind before the world began. They didn't know it before, but now they know it.
This is quite an antidote to the disorder that we saw at 3:00, because God had a plan and he's sort of laying out the plan and he's telling us where we fit into that plan. The way you could liken it is sometimes you drive up to a new subdivision and the builder had a plan in mind. He's got plans for roads and so on. And you look at it and it looks just like a great sea of confusion, piles and great piles of earth and and bulldozers working and so on.
And then right out in the middle of somewhere, somebody's building a house and you think, well, what is going on here? They're building a house out in the middle of a field and so on. But they have a view of the builders plan of the end of the thing in view. And if there's just a simple, if I may put it this way, what the world calls a knee jerk reaction to things, there is no order, but God is revealing his plan and his order. And he has a much larger picture that precedes eternity that is from an eternity past. And we are brought into that. And so we're not just trying to, if I may put it this way.
Fixed problems and correct things in the immediate presence with simply a view to the present. But God has a much larger picture in view. And I believe that the apostles trying to communicate that to them and give them a sense of that, that we are part of it. If I may put it, part of a much larger picture of God. And that there's an order state of things to settle it down. Because people will often rush around and they're concerned about maybe things that are not important and get lose sight of what is really important and what God is really trying to accomplish.
We're trying to see a quick solution to a situation and then you see that it's the time passes and the and the, if I can use that, continue with that illustration. The builder carries out his plan in an ordered way, losing sight of the particular annoyances and things that come up that you see this thing developing that he had in his mind. And so in tight and creep, they were very the whole character of creep was that they were living for the present moment.
And so.
At this moment, but when we're dealing with each other, when we're dealing in the assembly, do we have eternity in view or do we just have the present instant moment in view of what, of what we, what we're seeing and, or do we really have God's view? Are we looking at the situation at the top of the rock and to see what God's view of the situation is? And I think that that's why he's bringing this in, is to try to bring a sense or by the Spirit of God to bring a sense of what God is doing here.
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You have that brought out in Colossians chapter one, don't you? In, uh, verse 26, in Colossians one in 26, that even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations.
But now as we manifest to this thing to whom God would make known. What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory whom we preach. And so all truth exalts Christ, doesn't it? And this is the IT was a mystery. These purposes of God were hidden to Israel and they were revealed now to the Gentiles. These are God's purposes. This is why he was doing what he was doing. This is why the land had to be sacrificed and.
These are the purposes of God. I just make a comment too about the common faith. Sometimes we hear the, the, uh, statement made you have your faith and I'll have mine. And uh, we, we hear somebody say the Christian faith or the Jewish faith. Well, God doesn't see it that way. There's only one faith. And it says that in Ephesians chapter 4.
Verse five there I believe there are seven things from verse 4:00 to 5:00.
4-5 and six. There's only one of them.
There's only in 1St 41 body and one spirit, even if you are called in one hope of your calling, 1 Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. So even the faith that we have exalts Christ. The truth of God would exalt Christ.
Speaking of the purpose of God, I was just looking at Second Timothy chapter one and verse 9 where he speaks there who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling.
Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace.
Which was given us in Christ Jesus.
When before the world began?
What a beautiful thing this is. We're going to go into the presence of the Lord, see the one who knew us before we were born. What a glorious thought thing we have. A God who knows the end from the beginning, who knew me before I was ever born, who knew what I was going to do, who knew what he was going to do, has done it. Just so beautiful when we think of those things and just rejoice in the Lord to know that if you're a believer here, every believer here.
Was known to God before he was ever born.
Can you understand it? You'll never understand it, but you better believe it. Good thing to believe it, isn't it? You never understand it.
That's how we get it, by faith.
He lays the foundation.
Uh, for Titus in the first, really the four, four first four verses and oh, he just lays out the glorious, uh, plan of God from a past eternity. And then he says arthritis. I want you to go, uh, to, uh, Crete, Crete.
Oh, nothing but trouble there. Why send me to creep?
Well, it was the purpose of God through the apostle Paul for this cause. What cause? Oh the glorious foundation that was laid in the 1St 3 verses. You go there and you set in order. Oh water difficult thing and some of us might feel my I've got a hard road to hold as they say.
Well, the Lord is sending you. They're sending each one of us. We all have a.
Purpose that God has in his heart for every one of us here. And if we say, oh, why does God make it so hard? Oh, we read Titus discover why it was in order to set things in order so that they would enjoy the glorious eternal life that is ahead. But they couldn't just when they there was disorder.
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It had to be set in first, set in order, and then he was going to, uh, to teach them or Paul would teach them.
So it's very important, I believe, to do what the Lord sends us to do, and we do it well because he has equipped as far as.
There may be a question about the ordaining of elders, but I think it's quite clear from Paul's charge, the elders and emphasis that it was the Holy Ghost that had made them overseers. And so there was a charge committed to those to keep watch over the flock of God and what they were to keep watch for. And we know from Matthew 13 that good seed was sown, and while men slept at His men and responsibility, the enemy came in.
And he sold chairs in the field that the elders fell asleep. And that's an exercise to those that have oversight in the assembly as to right from the very beginning that grievous wolves came in fearing not to flock. That was ones that were not real believers. But we're just going to take the lab. And then there were perverse men of their own number that were going to rise up to draw away disciples after themselves.
That was the work of an overseer to watch and to keep that sort of thing back. And we've seen that happen, come right in, in among the tanks, that there have been those that have not been real and they've done great damage. And that there are those that have risen up among us that have taken away ones in division. And it's a very serious thing. We can blame them, but there is a responsibility for those that were in a place of oversight to stop that from happening because that was the charge that was committed to them.
Now there's another thing in connection with oversight, and I enjoyed what a brother said. Somebody came.
And they said you have elders at your church, Do you have overseers at your church? That's the way people talk, you know, because among the Gentiles, even the first Lord's Supper there, when the Lord, he said in the Gentiles, you know, they desire to exercise lordship, but it's not going to be that way among you. There's a pecking order in the world, no matter which, where, where you go and there's a certain order and then crave to actually stay lordship. And so you see a great deal about leadership and leading and so on in the world. But it's so lucky so among you. But I enjoyed what a brother said when somebody came into the assembly where they were and he said, where are the overseers? I don't. Do you have overseers here? He said, yes, we have overseers.
He said I don't see them. He said, oh, we take that as a compliment. He said you come here and act up and they'll find out who they are.
And I think that that's really was God's purpose. But you see, it was never in the intention or mind of God that we should pick our leaders, that it was a work of God to do that. And so in this particular case and in the days of the apostles that he sent those that were spiritually qualified to name those. But if it were to be done today.
I don't believe that, uh, that there, there is anyone has authority to do that. And it would be just mischief. And it has been mischief when some have set certain ones up as overseers or leaders or so on, because the flesh craves that. But it's the Holy Ghost, which if they do overseers and you see that by the work that is done, there's a care for the flock of God and, uh, that, uh, as to what was committed, the work that was committed to overseers.
MMM, there's a good verse in the last chapter of Hebrews, Hebrews 13 and verse 17. I think it's good to read in his connection.
To obey them and have the rule over you and submit yourself.
Or they what for your tone?
And they that must give in count, but they may do it with joy if they're not in free.
And that is on property.
So it is the responsibility of an overseer, isn't it? And watch the dispose. It's only thing that's done here and you may not be popular sometimes you seek to do that.
Perfect.
Someone approved everything. It was lost for your soul. I think it must give an account. I think it doesn't love though.
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The overseer wouldn't be responsible for what ha happened to that person. Followers every every one of us here our disciples. If we're following the Lord, we're we're referred to as disciples, but an apostle.
Is another matter. Apostle was one who saw the Lord and Paul was one who could delegate this authority to Titus. But there's no one today that has that authority to delegate anyone. It's good to remember that because that's not according to as we had earlier, which is according to truth, the truth of God, not the truth of God. It's the error of man's ways and his wisdom.
We're built upon the foundation of the apostles and the Prophet and the.
There's no other on this rock. I will build my church. But the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And so we have the apostles and the prophets who wrote the New Testament. All the writers of the New Testament were, were apostles, but they were prophet. And so we're built upon that foundation and the foundation is not laid twice. And so many churches will go back to the church fathers. But umm, if you read the Church Fathers that you find that they were mixed up lots, a whole lot of them. They had very strange ideas. They quickly departed from the apostles teaching. And so we have to get right back to the apostles doctrine.
And we see that and to the question of our gaming, our brother Dan Anderson, as you know, maybe some of many in this room are too young to remember him, but he was, uh, he was an ordained Baptist minister when he was in Africa. And the Lord began to exercise about, about his position. And in Speaking of his ordination, he said they laid their empty hands upon my empty head is that they had no authority to ordain anybody. I don't have the authority to appoint a mayor and vessel.
And, uh, and nobody here has the authority to ordain elders in a, in a local assemblies who are finding out, but the apostles were given the credentials of the apostles. We get that at the beginning of Hebrews with signs and wonders, uh, they were given, uh, identification that they were apostles. They had seen the Lord, that they had the power and authority to do what they did to establish things in the beginning. And once that was passed, we now have the word of God. We have the full instruction from the word of God.
As to how to carry on?
And so you say, well, no elders are ordained. Is there anybody that can do that work? Yes. And that's why we're told that, uh, if a man desires that work, he desires a good work. And so the work can be done without the naming of the position, but the qualifications don't change. And so he lifts qualifications here, and they're not to be taken lightly. And so we see what these qualifications are. They're in the word of God for a reason.
Was that they are to umm, we see this here, that umm, they are to have the husband of one wife to be blameless, the husband of one wife having faithful children, not accused of riot or unruly.
I think these things are quite plain.
And so, uh, the, the reason that the household is brought in here is, uh, because, umm.
It is in this natural sphere that we.
Man learns to govern his own children, and then he learns to exercise that authority in the House of God.
Thank you. Good to just turn to Matthew chapter 10 to get the, the, uh, the little Jesus there.
The how he uh, had those 12 disciples and 12 to the 12Th disciples in chapter 10 of masculine verse one when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power to cast them out as you feel a little manner of sickness, manner of disease. Now the name of the 12 apostles are these the first time it was called Peter and then go through.
Your name and then in verse five, these 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them. I believe that the word apostle being sent forth and really sent forth of God. And so, umm, there were those that were false apostles that call themselves apostles and the apostle Paul state and they weren't sent forth of God. They exalted themselves, but these apostles were set up of God that they might exalt Christ and that they might lay the foundation.
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Christianity and so we have these bishops and these elders that are mentioned. A Bishop really is an overseer. Uh, he overseas the administrative affairs perhaps in an assembly and, uh, maintain order in an assembly. Then you have an elder really speaks as one that, umm, is mature in the truth of God. And uh, so he's, uh, perhaps, uh, it does mention those that are, uh, that ought to be respected in a double honor. I can't remember where that scripture is, but.
Uh, those that are a double honor, uh, are those that not only are business overseers in the assembly, but those perhaps that are elders and, uh, mature in the truth of God and can give the truth out to the Saints. And so the Saints are fed and the experience good order. And, uh, so the, really the apostle desires that Titus would set, uh, things in order in this assembly that there might be liberty of the Spirit of God now to take up the things of Christ, to magnify Christ, to, uh, have the heart occupied with the Lord Jesus. But if there's disorder in an assembly.
Or disorder in our homes, or disorder in, uh, other, uh, spheres of responsibility that we, uh, we uh, are in, then there's no peace to experience, uh, uh, for the Spirit of God to take the, the precious things of Christ, to make them precious to us, to occupy us with Christ. And so there has to be that order.
That night that the Spirit of God raises up those in assembly to be overseers and to be elders.
It's the work of the Spirit of God. It's not a work of man. And if we just would recognize that there is a work of the Spirit of God in love and grace to raise up those for the blessing of the Saints, it would be, uh, a blessed thing to go on peace with them.
On the uh, Spirit of God came down on United.
OK. It's changed into one body and the assembly was established. I think it's important for the younger ones to realize this, that this was unique, it was exclusive.
Assembly, gather to the name of the Lord Jesus. Can't be duplicated, OK?
Count of the two gathering centers to Christ. But what is happening, and has happened for a considerable time now, groups of Christians, how can they operate and not gather to the Lord's name? They must. They must have those in authority to make the decisions.
It's either an elder or it's a laboring brother. It's not justifying groups, but there has to be.
Authority to make decisions. Or else a group of Christians get together and they decide on a lot of different points, and when they all agree about that, then they form that group. But if somebody wants to come into it, they must adhere to those ideas and decisions.
So in the assembly the Lord is the Head and.
We vow to his authority, he is final authority in the assembly has that authority very important for you to younger ones to realize that the Lord is in the midst and he is the one that we are the final authority like a Supreme Court, United States and Canada, they are the final judges and when they make that decision, why that's final. The assembly is the same.
And so this Bishop or this overseer, that's really neat, perhaps more correct rendering, must be blameless as the steward of God. I may be a steward of money. You may entrust money to me and I may be careless with it, and therefore you wouldn't trust me with it anymore, or you'd be cautious about trusting me with money. But here the overseer had to be faithful as a steward of God that is has been committed to us, the truth of God, to be faithful with it in its application in the assembly.
And so it is the sphere starts in connection with the home and then it carries on to faithfulness in connection with the truth in the assembly. It's not ours. This is not brethren, truth, brothers have been pointing out this is not our truth. It is the common faith. And so, uh, people say, well, I'm on this and I, our church holds this. Well, it doesn't work that way, but there is a common state, as you say, a group named farming form the rules of their organization.
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But what we have is the word of God, and that rules. And so, umm, there has to be faithfulness in the home, but there has to be faithfulness in connection with that truth and not the giving up of it. A steward must be found faithful.
And so in connection, that is why Paul made that exhortation to the elders and Ephesus that they were not to flee, that they were to watch.
Scripture that I was looking for was in First Timothy chapter 5 verse 17.
As the bearing on what you see, let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. So oftentimes you have a Bishop, an overseer in the assembly. Maybe he doesn't take an active part in teaching in the assembly, but he is an overseer. He has a sense of God's order and and the purposes of God in connection with his people in heaven. He has oversight in the assembly, but then that same one can also be raised up of God to.
Bring forth a teaching of the truth of God, the doctrine, the teaching of God and the Word, and bring that before the same. Well, then that's a double honor. He's worthy of a double honor in that respect. God makes that clear. I'd say this too about the book that must be blameless as a steward of God. There's some qualifications that are optional, you might say, in some positions of responsibility in this world and perhaps.
Even amongst the Lord's people, but this it says in verse 7, the Bishop must be blindly. There's no option here. He must be language before God before.
That the people of God as well must be, otherwise he's not fitted for that responsibility.
OK, fine, the opposite now. And all the governments of the world.
Could you say that the heads of the government are blameless men in their personal life?
Anything but, but in God's order it is required.
Great stuff. Mischief is caused in the assembly when assembly matters are turned over to the hands of those who do not meet these qualifications.
And we see it time and time again where the advice and oversight is thought of those that do not meet these qualifications.
And this is not to set up a hierarchy, but it is to honor. We may well humble ourselves if we find ourselves, and we may well find ourselves in a situation where there is no one in the assembly that makes these requirements but the Lord. He is the Ancient of Days, and He is he will take that work up in the assembly if there is none there but the pretend to. To put this into the hands of those that are not scripturally qualified to do this work is the very cause of disorder in the assembly.
And that is why we have the precious Word of God to guide us in these things.
Is it in Canada there's something called a Class A mechanic and I cannot hang up a sign and fix cars unless as a mechanic, unless I am licensed by the province of Ontario to do that work. And so it is for the protection. So there's qualifications here. So if a matter comes for to the attention of the assembly is it is really it may. And I say again that we may find ourselves in a situation where no one these qualifications in the assembly and we can take great comfort in the fact that the Lord, he's the Ancient of Days and he will take up and he will do that work. His presence is sufficient.
But to relegate this work to those that are not scripturally qualified is mischief. And it's just as much mischief as it would be for me to take my car to apartment to get fixed. It's, it's, uh, if there was a serious matter. And so God can use weak instruments. So we should not pretend to that which where we're not at. And so it would be far better to go on and just look to the Lord in this situation then to make pretenses to things.
Because brother, so and so is this or that or the other thing. But if we look at these qualifications here, we're going to be guided as God and it will bring about the order that we desire. And so, yeah, I just say this in connection with the younger brothers is that when, uh, there is a scriptural order even as to the age and as to the role in which we take these things. And it does speak in scripture to, of taking the oversight willingly, but not a constraint.
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And so there, there is a taking of the oversight in the assembly. It's not seizing control, but there is a pattern here that we are developing for God's good and for the blessing of the same. I'm thinking too, uh, very solemn thing here in verse 7 again.
For a Bishop, or really an overseer, must be blameless as the steward of God. I think you already mentioned that, Neil.
That is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, not successful exactly. You may run into real difficulties and problems trying to be, uh, do that, which is the work of God. But it's, notice it says he's a steward of God and it's been already said to steward stewardship is that which is imparted to us of God. We have it while we're here. We're only stewards of everything we have. We're to use it for him, aren't we? And so.
It's as it says, I was just looking for the verse. It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. So what's good isn't to know that this one, whoever takes this responsibility, is a steward of God and God is holy. Make no mistakes about that. He hasn't changed His Holiness because of His grace.
The 7th versus more or less the negatives of those things that should not be, but how beautiful to see the contrast in the eighth verse, those things that are to characterize.
But but.
Important, but a lover of hospitality.
Caring for those in the assembly that they have needs.
I like to look at the young people and I see sometimes young boys.
Uh, I shouldn't say young boys, young men and.
And I noticed that they're watching for the other young people to help them some ways or to help them in their life studies or so on, their little fathers. And it's so important for the young ones to develop that a lover, it's an ongoing thing, not just loving ones, a lover of hospitality.
The care is seeking out how we can help others.
A lover of good men.
How important that is to see that if you have a problem and if you're in a line of work, don't go to the brother or the sister that's an expert in that. To the most godly brother or sister, your sister, go to a sister that you consider, one who walks close to the Lord, and you'll get a proper answer from God.
The world says, well, go to the experts, but you know.
Lover. Oh good men.
Might be good to take up the, uh, even though the, the things are negative, so to speak in verse 7, they're really very instructive. Umm, we have the, the very next, uh, umm, part of this, the first seven, uh, says not self will, not self will. And really that would bring before our hearts when that, that individual is not seeking, uh, his own glory, his own purposes, his own.
Exaltation, perhaps in the assembly or seeking to impose his will or his desires, his preferences upon St. But rather his, uh, the implication is that he desires to seek the purposes of God. He desires, he has a heart for God and for God's people. He desires to see God people go on in the path of obedience and faithfulness. So it's not his will that he's seeking. He's seeking the Lord's will. And so he brings to the conscience of those that are in a disorderly state.
We're walking just assembly. He brings before their hearts the will of God in connection with a certain a certain situation that arises in the assembly or a certain condition that exists. He brings the will of God before the people. So he doesn't exert his own will. Not uh, nice that the more gifts this qualification that we could recognize those that are overseers by their desire to have us walk in the will of God, the perfect will of God.
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She's not too angry and so it's like to avoid negative things that says he angry and sin not let's not the sun go down upon your wrath and.
So there is a place for anger and there is a sense in which the man is not put on that with containers to a woman, is that there is a sense in which it is right to become angry and it's wrong not to become angry in connection with him. And I just like to maybe make two other comments about these negative things that has not given the line. And Peter says excessive wine, but the the new translation says not a wine drinker. And there is perhaps in the in the minds of some young people.
The thought that it's all right to drink wine if you don't drink a lot of it, but.
The instruction in Timothy is very clear that if you require wine for medicinal purposes.
For your stomach sake a little bit, take a little wine provides the infirmities for your stomach's sake. That is proper. But it is not characteristic of a Christian to be a wine drinker. It's not a question of oh, I only drink it with my meal. That's not characteristic of a Christian is to be a wine drinker. And endless mischief has been caused by people opening the door to that sort of thing. The ungodly people at work, they want to ask me, they said you don't drink, do you? And I said, well, and I quoted that first from Scripture. I said to take a little wine for your stomach taken for your oxygen and permanent, but that I have no need for that.
If I did, I trust God would give me wisdom how to do it. I said I do take wine on Sunday morning. They knew what I meant and they said well, I don't take it from my stomach ache and I don't take a little. That's what they said. But I believe that Scripture is clearest to that. Or to be aware of the circumcision to make a login that I know man, it wouldn't break bread because of wine was used in the breaking of bread. But that's not the thought of Scripture, nor is this the thought of Scripture that we should become wine drinkers.
Characterized by that, however moderately we do it.