back to indexBerean Community Church: Wednesday Night Bible Study | Titus 1:7-9
Chapters
0:0
4:29 Titus 1:7 Inductive Questions & Observations
5:3 Church Leadership
11:13 Titus 1:9 Inductive Questions & Observations
20:30 Qualifications of Elders / Overseers
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>> All right, let's, let me pray for us and then we'll go 00:00:37.120 |
Lord, would you help us to understand your truths well 00:00:47.360 |
so that every single one of us really would be able to exhort 00:00:52.480 |
and reprove for the purposes of the building up of your church. 00:00:59.900 |
We pray that you would help us to have a fruitful time 00:01:02.540 |
of gleaning and learning over the next few minutes 00:01:06.260 |
So I read this in the beginning and I'll take this passage 00:01:16.920 |
So if you've noticed, I've categorized verses five 00:01:22.940 |
and six as more private life and then seven to nine as kind 00:01:30.180 |
And in the middle, that for, it's a Greek word, gar. 00:01:47.860 |
For, this kind of a person is supposed to do A, B, C, and D, 00:02:04.680 |
So that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine 00:02:09.740 |
So basically, if you're ministering in the flesh 00:02:16.600 |
you're going to corrupt everything you teach. 00:02:31.980 |
the holding fast isn't the part that hinges upon 00:02:39.560 |
so that he will be able to exhort and reprove, okay? 00:02:43.600 |
So that's visually and grammatically, I dug deeper 00:02:54.600 |
And it's interesting, I just immediately thought like, 00:02:59.200 |
especially as they become more successful, become tempted. 00:03:07.580 |
But these are ways that this leader can be easily tempted. 00:03:11.240 |
As the church grows, this leader might have his own agenda. 00:03:16.480 |
As the church grows and there's people who cause problems, 00:03:20.580 |
we might lose patience and be like, let's squash that. 00:03:23.500 |
Let's expunge that because that's what God wants us to do 00:03:27.320 |
There's also a temptation to just get my mind off 00:03:32.240 |
of the busyness of ministry and just indulge in things 00:03:42.560 |
and attacks my character, I might want to fight. 00:03:56.860 |
And if you guys have thought it was seven, okay, 00:04:15.320 |
If you look at the Greek, it's adjective, adjective, adjective, 00:04:29.160 |
Now, some of you guys might have discussed this. 00:04:32.640 |
It's like, well, is elder and overseer the same thing? 00:05:00.040 |
But here, I'm going to go a little bit further just 00:05:06.800 |
which is actually the most frequently used term 00:05:14.760 |
And if you guys think, oh, it's Episcopalian church, 00:05:26.460 |
It's usually used in the verb form, not the noun form. 00:05:29.820 |
Okay, you're shepherding, you're pastoring, okay? 00:05:41.940 |
and these are all things that pop up as church leader, 00:05:53.220 |
I'm going to make all of these slides available 00:05:59.300 |
these are one in the same New Testament office. 00:06:01.640 |
And I'm just going to read two verses out of Acts 00:06:04.980 |
that will show you where it's all used, okay? 00:06:08.120 |
From Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and -- this is Paul -- 00:06:12.820 |
and call to him the presbuteroi of the church, the elders. 00:06:19.680 |
And then he has instructions, and in verse 28, 00:06:22.300 |
"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among 00:06:26.980 |
which the Holy Spirit has made you episkopoi," bishops, 00:06:31.280 |
overseers, "to shepherd poimen," the church of God, 00:06:39.140 |
So if you're like, "Well, what's all the difference? 00:06:41.380 |
How come our church has elders and we don't have overseers? 00:06:46.780 |
It's -- the lines are fuzzy in modern-day practice 00:06:52.720 |
So what you expect of me should be expected of the elder, 00:06:57.040 |
should be expected of the small group leader, 00:06:59.440 |
possibly to a lesser degree, expected of every Christian, 00:07:10.160 |
And I'm going to just talk about a couple more things 00:07:16.020 |
This holding fast, remember, it's not the seventh adjective 00:07:23.080 |
So it literally means holding fast, holding firm, 00:07:29.940 |
and this is a very important word, because this is -- 00:07:33.000 |
this man of God who does all of these things, 00:07:36.820 |
husband of one wife, having children who are faithful, 00:07:39.920 |
believe, right, self-controlled, loving what is good, hospitable, 00:07:49.700 |
So this is actually a very important hinge word, okay? 00:07:55.100 |
like is extremely important, I might do a word study. 00:07:57.920 |
I will compare translations, I will compare usages 00:08:03.620 |
of that Greek word in other verses or passages, 00:08:14.860 |
If I, as a pastor, am supposed to hold fast to this thing, 00:08:19.400 |
how strong is that word, and how fiercely am I supposed 00:08:26.320 |
So I'm going to -- so I do a little bit of a -- 00:08:30.800 |
it's hard to see from there, but I will look at all the ways 00:08:36.420 |
that it's used, I will look at all the different translations, 00:08:39.000 |
and then I'm going to notice that it's only used 00:08:57.260 |
for either he will hate the one and love the other, 00:09:01.180 |
or he will be antecho to the one and despise the other. 00:09:15.060 |
So this holding fast, antecho, is a very, very strong word. 00:09:32.560 |
First Thessalonians, now we appeal to you, brothers, 00:09:35.200 |
admonish the disorderly, comfort the discouraged, 00:09:39.520 |
and antechesthe the weak, cleave yourself to them 00:09:44.900 |
and do not leave their side so that they can be helped. 00:09:52.040 |
So is this a strong word just from this word study? 00:10:02.160 |
which is in accordance with the teaching then, 00:10:09.580 |
As a church leader, there are many voices in this world, 00:10:26.460 |
I need to be the first to speak out against racial issues. 00:10:30.360 |
I need to be a resource for political agendas. 00:10:36.260 |
I need to be well-read in all the theological things. 00:10:40.440 |
I need to be an expert in all of these things. 00:10:43.560 |
There are many voices that are around Christendom 00:10:47.600 |
that are telling church leaders that they need 00:11:03.160 |
So this isn't just another virtue in a list of virtues. 00:11:06.380 |
This is something that I need to devote myself to doing. 00:11:12.560 |
Holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance 00:11:18.100 |
with the teaching so that he will be able both to exhort 00:11:22.540 |
in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. 00:11:37.040 |
But this is something that the leader needs to visibly 00:11:45.660 |
So the conclusion that I draw from this is one 00:11:52.780 |
and especially the chief duty of those who lead the church. 00:11:59.300 |
This verse might give me an insight into that. 00:12:03.460 |
My job as a representative of God, as a mouthpiece 00:12:13.540 |
for the creator of the universe, the faithful teaching 00:12:19.040 |
of his word, the faithful dispensation of his word needs 00:12:29.140 |
Right? All authority in heaven and earth have been given to me. 00:12:31.340 |
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name 00:12:33.680 |
of the father and the son of the holy spirit. 00:12:34.920 |
Teaching them to do everything that I commanded you. 00:12:41.300 |
How long will it take for me to teach you everything 00:12:46.080 |
I can't waste my time focusing on many other things. 00:12:49.980 |
My primary thing has to be teaching every Berean to do, 00:12:56.120 |
not just to know, but to do everything that I commanded you. 00:13:13.460 |
Watch your life and doctrine very closely, and I'm going to go 00:13:16.120 |
to that verse later, second Timothy 3, 16 to 17. 00:13:20.740 |
Right? And it's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, 00:13:25.040 |
and training in righteousness so that you may be equipped 00:13:32.400 |
So this holding fast is a very strong word, which the pastors 00:13:43.200 |
that has to be one of our primary aims to guard the pulpit, 00:13:55.020 |
and the culture around us does not dictate what we teach. 00:13:57.640 |
Obviously, if we're teaching everything correctly, 00:14:02.360 |
Right? Not perfectly, but it will address a lot of things, 00:14:09.560 |
Okay? So that's the chief aim, primary aim of every Christian 00:14:14.260 |
to know God and to make him known through his word, 00:14:17.380 |
and especially for those who are in the front. 00:14:33.240 |
The faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching. 00:14:47.660 |
of the circumcision say that they were the ones holding fast 00:14:54.900 |
What about like the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, 00:15:06.020 |
What about the Wesleyan churches, Methodist churches? 00:15:13.140 |
It's every person who says that they're a child of God, 00:15:18.300 |
every church that represents Jesus Christ must dig deep 00:15:24.180 |
into the scriptures and pour over every page of it 00:15:27.800 |
to make sure what they're proclaiming is accurate 00:15:36.100 |
And obviously, we are limited in our understanding, 00:15:40.980 |
So we need to hold fast scriptures cover to cover 00:15:47.020 |
in the way that God wanted it to be dispensed. 00:15:54.500 |
So this is where we get the word sufficiency of scripture. 00:16:06.160 |
that scripture contained all the words of God he intended his 00:16:10.480 |
people to have at each stage of redemptive history 00:16:13.540 |
and that it now contains all the words of God we need 00:16:35.800 |
It can do away with the very fleshly weaknesses 00:16:40.660 |
It can answer all the questions that are difficult to answer 00:16:46.800 |
whether it's racial things, political things, 00:16:50.620 |
ethical moral things, even to who shall I marry? 00:17:07.200 |
And we're going to look at that in a few weeks. 00:17:08.680 |
Every single thing that God intended us to know 00:17:14.180 |
of his heart are in the 66 books that we have. 00:17:18.580 |
And our job, not to hold on to like our opinion 00:17:26.600 |
We're supposed to scrutinize the verses and do our best 00:17:32.980 |
And it's enough to change our lives, to feed our souls, 00:17:37.280 |
and to move us in the direction that he would have us go. 00:17:42.160 |
So that's what the sufficiency of scripture means is. 00:17:51.560 |
And this is to be one of our chief responsibilities. 00:17:59.140 |
like this is the only Bible intake that you have. 00:18:04.360 |
But preparing for our Wednesday night Bible study, 00:18:09.120 |
It's kind of like saying, well, I ate once this week. 00:18:11.940 |
Yeah, you try that, you're going to physically like collapse. 00:18:19.920 |
the word of God is filling your spiritual body. 00:18:27.560 |
Okay? So that's just what I'm gleaning from this. 00:18:32.900 |
And this is consistent with Paul's exhortation 00:18:39.180 |
And I mean, obviously, to Christians as well. 00:18:41.400 |
Why do we need to hold fast to faithful word, 00:18:46.320 |
and have all of these moral characters line up, 00:18:56.240 |
We need to feed the sheep and fight off the wolves. 00:19:01.060 |
Okay? So that we can feed the sheep, fight off the wolves, 00:19:04.920 |
we need to make sure not only are we intaking the word 00:19:08.560 |
of God regularly, we need to make sure our lives are living 00:19:23.620 |
Are you getting in your own way of evangelism? 00:19:27.300 |
It's something I can hold your feet to the fire in. 00:19:29.440 |
Right? At work, everyone knows you go to church, 00:19:33.240 |
everyone knows you're a Christian, but are you lazy? 00:19:38.480 |
We're going to look at in Titus chapter 2, as a bond slave, 00:19:42.780 |
Right? So 1 Timothy 4, 16, pay close attention to yourself 00:19:49.800 |
Persevere in these things, for as you do this, 00:19:56.580 |
Watch your life and doctrine closely for the rest 00:20:01.880 |
Scrutinize every single aspect of your theology 00:20:05.960 |
and your doctrine and the way you practice that in your life. 00:20:13.340 |
the more humble you should become, the more gracious 00:20:17.260 |
That's a natural byproduct of being near Christ. 00:20:19.760 |
Right? So watch your life and doctrine closely. 00:20:30.720 |
I'm going to wrap this up with just a brief thought 00:20:35.600 |
This was a slide that was up here two weeks ago. 00:20:38.300 |
So we're looking at what does Titus 1, 4 through 9 have to say? 00:20:42.500 |
What do the other pastoral epistles have to say? 00:20:44.740 |
What does the whole Bible have to say about what kinds 00:20:51.100 |
And again, this will be accessible to you online. 00:21:05.200 |
Okay? So if you notice, first Timothy and Titus, 00:21:10.160 |
it's almost like very parallel, very similar. 00:21:23.540 |
Out of all of these things, only one skill is mentioned, 00:21:28.660 |
But even that can also be interpreted as a character, 00:21:35.680 |
So out of all of these things, only one word that is skill-based. 00:21:43.000 |
And like I said, even that one skill is also a character thing. 00:21:54.240 |
There are a lot of passionate, gifted people who just came 00:21:58.120 |
to faith, you should never put them up in the front, 00:22:08.260 |
So deacons are supposed to be tested in chapter 3, verse 10. 00:22:13.340 |
So if a service position, that person should be tested 00:22:18.400 |
so should a pastor, elder, et cetera, et cetera. 00:22:33.320 |
Right? That first negative comment that they hear, 00:22:35.640 |
the first drama that they have to face, how do they respond? 00:22:42.940 |
worthy of double honor, and you're not supposed 00:22:54.920 |
but shepherding voluntarily, shepherding according 00:23:08.200 |
Nowhere does it say their resume, their degree, 00:23:13.160 |
their ability to engage you with clever stories and gimmicks. 00:23:17.540 |
Nowhere does it say how much money they give to the church. 00:23:20.600 |
Nowhere does it say their personality strengths. 00:23:26.600 |
It doesn't say what seminate that they graduated from, 00:23:36.400 |
for in a spiritual leader, and what the Bible says we need 00:23:51.560 |
Because if your character is flawed, you get in the way 00:23:56.020 |
of adorning the gospel, adorning the doctrine of God. 00:24:09.800 |
Not a new convert so that he will not become conceited 00:24:13.700 |
and fall into condemnation incurred by the devil. 00:24:15.660 |
He must have a good reputation with those outside the church 00:24:22.400 |
So some churches, whoever seems like they have the most fire lit 00:24:28.620 |
under their like just spiritual wings, you try to put them 00:24:35.220 |
Because they can become very arrogant and conceited. 00:24:38.080 |
So if you guys are sitting here like, "How come I wasn't asked 00:24:43.280 |
"How come that person was asked but I didn't get asked?" 00:24:46.220 |
Ooh. That's one attitude that you should really examine. 00:25:00.800 |
Do you want this for yourself and for your recognition 00:25:03.640 |
or do you really want to do that to serve the kingdom of God 00:25:08.960 |
So one of the things that we do is we don't just hastily put 00:25:13.580 |
And sometimes, you know, like even if that person was a pastor 00:25:17.780 |
and elder or this and that at some other church, 00:25:20.100 |
they come in here, we make them do all the membership 00:25:27.940 |
to see how they respond when they're not in the front. 00:25:40.480 |
And First Timothy 5.22, do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily 00:25:44.800 |
and thereby share responsibility for the sin of others. 00:25:47.660 |
So one of the reasons we're very slow to put people 00:25:50.640 |
up into positions is so that we protect our flock. 00:26:05.620 |
Like we want to be very slow because it's easier to wait 00:26:09.620 |
for the right person than to hastily put someone in place 00:26:19.020 |
So in the meantime, when our numbers are growing fast, 00:26:24.060 |
we have few leaders, everyone needs to do their best 00:26:27.180 |
to just help build this church in the way that, 00:26:37.720 |
These characteristics should be true of all Christians. 00:26:45.240 |
that your small group members can keep you accountable in? 00:27:08.900 |
Are you involved in very shady things for financial gain? 00:27:14.180 |
These are things that you shouldn't just hold the elders 00:27:23.280 |
And secondly, how fast are you holding to the faithful word? 00:27:27.280 |
Is the word of God, the intake of the word of God, 00:27:35.440 |
are you studying the word of God so you can be known 00:27:42.500 |
OK? There are a lot of people at Bible churches. 00:27:45.840 |
It's very -- sometimes it's multifaceted, difficult to tell. 00:27:48.980 |
It's easier to fit in when you're actively memorizing, 00:27:56.480 |
Right? And what can you practically do to grow 00:28:02.040 |
Is Wednesday the only thing you do for spiritual meat? 00:28:08.620 |
And you're going to have a hard time spiritually fighting your 00:28:13.200 |
spiritual battles if you haven't been eating much. 00:28:15.740 |
OK? So let that be just an encouragement to you guys. 00:28:19.080 |
And that's what we'll wrap up with in our group. 00:28:26.500 |
And over the weeks, it's going to be the same stuff. 00:28:35.160 |
So someone asked me, someone from home group, 00:28:40.040 |
I was like -- and I was about to say it's the same ones 00:28:42.840 |
But because there's a lot of new people, I forgot to put it up. 00:28:48.960 |
OK? So if you don't see it up, email me like a snob. 00:28:51.780 |
And then I'll respond in a gracious way as possible. 00:29:05.600 |
And then how do these verses fit into the context of the rest 00:29:12.100 |
And three weeks in a row, I've gone shorter and shorter. 00:29:21.060 |
But right now, there's a lot more instructive how-tos 00:29:25.040 |
But more and more, the Bible studies are going to be 00:29:29.940 |
OK? So wrap up with this in your small groups. 00:29:36.900 |
And then if you guys can, help clean up your area. 00:29:39.340 |
And then help us to get ready for Sunday worship. 00:29:50.100 |
Father, we want all of these things to be characteristic 00:30:01.800 |
So in the areas of our weakness, in our areas 00:30:08.180 |
that are we -- are easily corrupted and sidetracked, 00:30:10.820 |
I pray that your grace would sustain us, strengthen us, 00:30:14.700 |
and feed us, Lord God, over the course of this next week 00:30:19.260 |
until we meet again with your truth, with your word. 00:30:21.620 |
We pray for your blessing over the rest of the Bible studies 00:30:26.540 |
We pray that you would use Pastor Peter in a mighty way 00:30:32.300 |
So that every step of just our lives, every day of the week, 00:30:38.000 |
we would engage just in feasting off the word of God.