This is part of a series of lessons on the book of Titus. In this lesson I’m going to look at chapter one verses five through nine and talk about whether your elders are well-qualified or just well-connected.
There are two passages in the New Testament that list the requirements to be an elder: 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. For the most part, the requirements focus on character. Basically, someone has to be a godly man in order to be an elder.
When we think about the qualifications to be an elder in a church, we generally start with those two passages, and in many ways that’s legitimate. However, this concept of having to be a godly man in order to be a leader is something we see throughout the Bible. Furthermore, in the Old Testament we also have some illustrations of what happens when you don’t have godly leaders. Before I look at these verses in Titus, I’m going to go to the Old Testament and look at some of those passages that talk about the requirements for leadership. I’ll also talk about the consequences of not having Godly leaders. Then I’ll look at these verses in Titus 1 to see what we learn from this passage, and at the end I’ll discuss how all of this affects us as members of churches in the 21st century.
Watch the video or scroll down to read a transcript.
Transcript:
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This is part of a series of lessons on the book of Titus. In this lesson I’m going to look at chapter one verses five through nine and talk about whether your elders are well-qualified or just well-connected.
There are two passages in the New Testament that list the requirements to be an elder: 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. For the most part, the requirements focus on character. Basically, someone has to be a godly man in order to be an elder.
When we think about the qualifications to be an elder in a church, we generally start with those two passages, and in many ways that’s legitimate. However, this concept of having to be a godly man in order to be a leader is something we see throughout the Bible. Furthermore, in the Old Testament we also have some illustrations of what happens when you don’t have godly leaders.
Before I look at these verses in Titus, I’m going to go to the Old Testament and look at some of those passages that talk about the requirements for leadership. I’ll also talk about the consequences of not having Godly leaders. Then I’ll look at these verses in Titus 1 to see what we learn from this passage, and at the end I’ll discuss how all of this affects us as members of churches in the 21st century.
Let me set some context. Creation happened roughly 4000 BC. Then the flood happened roughly 2500 BC. Abraham lived around 2000 BC. Abraham had a son named Isaac. Isaac had a son named Jacob. Jacob and his descendants became the Israelites. The Israelites went to Egypt, were made slaves, and then around 1500 BC God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery and out of Egypt.
When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt he took them first to Mount Sinai to give them the Mosaic law. On the way to Mount Sinai, a man named Jethro joined up with the Israelites. Jethro was the father-in-law of Moses. Jethro saw that Moses spent a lot of time every day settling disputes amongst the Israelites. Jethro told Moses that was not good because he couldn’t bear the burden alone and he was going to wear himself out. Jethro had a suggestion for Moses, and we see this suggestion in Exodus 18, starting at verse 21.
Ex. 18:21 “Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. 22 “Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge.
So this was Jethro’s suggestion for how Moses could distribute the burden of these people. All the minor disputes would be handled by all these leaders and Moses would just handle the major disputes.
Notice the requirements for the leaders. They had to be able men. In other words they had to have the ability to lead. They also had to be men who feared God, men of truth, and men who hated dishonest gain. In other words they had to be godly men, men who were honest and had good character.
Moses took Jethro’s advice and appointed leaders. Then they spent a year at Mount Sinai receiving the law. Finally, it was time to leave Mount Sinai and enter the Promised Land. However, before they entered the Promised Land, God told Moses to send some spies into the Promised Land to spy out the land. We read about this in Numbers 13. Notice who God told Moses to use as spies.
Num. 13:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 2 “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.”
Moses was told to take a leader from each tribe and send them as spies, and that is what Moses did. The spies were leaders of the Israelites.
You probably know the story. The spies went and spied out the land. The land was wonderful. Unfortunately, when the spies came back, ten of the spies convinced the Israelites that the inhabitants of the land were too great and too mighty, and that the Israelites could not conquer them. Therefore, the Israelites did not go up to possess the Promised Land. As a result of this, the Israelites had to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness.
The point is it was leaders who went to spy out the land, but the leaders did not trust God. They did not have faith that God could conquer the land for them. The leaders caused the whole Israelite nation not to trust God. This illustrates the importance of having Godly leaders. The consequence of having the wrong leaders was that the entire nation went astray.
At the end of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites arrived on the east side of the Jordan River. Moses reviewed with the Israelites the Mosaic law. As part of that review, Moses gave the Israelites instructions in the event they ever appointed a king over them. In Deuteronomy 17 we see a command addressed to the future king.
Deut. 17:18 “Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 “It shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.
The king was supposed to read the law all the days of his life. The reason for reading the law was to learn to fear God and observe all the commandments. There is also the reason in verse 20. The heart of the king should “not be lifted up above his countrymen”. Once again the emphasis for leaders focused on character. The kings needed to be godly men who feared God and obeyed God’s commandments.
The Israelites entered the Promised Land. Roughly 500 years later, around 1000 BC, the Israelites demanded a king. Samuel was appointed by God to choose a king for Israel. He anointed Saul as the first king of Israel. 1 Samuel 9 describes Saul.
1Sam. 9:1 Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. 2 He had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man, and there was not a more handsome person than he among the sons of Israel; from his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people.
Saul was a head taller than anyone else. He looked like he was strong and mighty. He looked like a good leader. He looked like a good king. However, he turned out to be a bad king because he did not completely follow God. He sinned and made many mistakes.
Then God told Samuel to anoint a replacement for Saul. God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse the Bethlehemite to anoint a king. When Samuel entered Jesse’s house he saw Jesse’s firstborn and thought he was the one. However, notice what God said to Samuel. This is 1 Samuel 16, starting in verse 7.
1Sam. 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Yahweh specifically told Samuel not to look at the outward appearance because God looks at the heart. God was looking for someone who was godly.
David became king. He was a good king. Then his son Solomon reigned after him. Solomon was partly a good king. After the death of Solomon the kingdom split into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Between 1000 BC and 600 BC there were many kings who reigned over the two kingdoms. Some of them were good kings. Most were not. The bad kings led the Israelites astray. Several times the Old Testament tells us very specifically that it was the king who led Israel astray and made Israel sin. Let’s look at a couple of these starting in 1 Kings.
1Kings 14:15 “For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; …
16 “He will give up Israel on account of the sins of Jeroboam, which he committed and with which he made Israel to sin.”
1Kings 16:12 Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which He spoke against Baasha through Jehu the prophet, 13 for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned and which they made Israel sin, provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their idols.
2Kings 21:10 Now the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, 11 “ Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, having done wickedly more than all the Amorites did who were before him, and has also made Judah sin with his idols;
These statements from the Old Testament tell us specifically that the kings caused the Israelites to sin. As a result of that sin, eventually the Israelites were punished. They were exiled. It was the leaders who led the Israelites into the sin. This illustrates the importance of having godly men as leaders, and the consequences of not having godly men as leaders.
It was roughly 600 BC when the Israelites were exiled. The Old Testament time period ended roughly 500 BC. God came to earth as a man named Jesus around 0 AD. In the mid 30s AD Jesus did His ministry. He was crucified, buried, and rose again from the dead. He went back to heaven and left behind 12 apostles who were instructed to make disciples of all the nations and build the church.
The apostles began to do that. Many of the things they did were recorded in the Book of Acts. Acts tells us about events that took place between the mid-30s AD and the mid-60s AD. Most of the rest of the books in the New Testament were written around that same time period. Titus was one of those books.
During that time period, as the apostles were fulfilling the Great Commission, building the church, and establishing local churches, they established God’s plan for church structure. God’s plan is that each local church will be led by a group of elders. The New Testament also specifies the criteria to be an elder. There are two main passages which list the qualifications to be an elder. Let’s look at the one in Titus.
Titus 1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete, in order that you might set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in each city as I commanded you, 6 if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, and having faithful children who are not under charge of debauchery or rebellion. 7 For it is necessary for the overseer to be blameless as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, and not greedy, 8 but hospitable, loving the good, wise, fair, pious, self-controlled, 9 and adhering to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, so that he might be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute those who are contradicting.
We see here a list of requirements to be an elder. Basically, they focus mostly on a man’s character. In order to be an elder, a man must be godly. He must have good character.
There’s also a brief statement in verse 9 that part of the role of elders is to adhere to the faithful word. Again, that’s a matter of character. Part of the reason the elders had to have good character was so that they could exhort with sound doctrine and refute those who were contradicting sound doctrine.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see examples of the consequences of not having godly leaders. We see similar examples in the history of the church. Throughout the history of the church, there have been denominations that started out well. They were led by Godly men and they preached the gospel. But then over time they began to go astray. Eventually they became denominations that were not preaching a true gospel, and they were not obeying God’s commandments. That has happened again and again over the last 2,000 years.
Ultimately, what happened in all those cases was is it was the leaders of the denomination that led the denomination astray. That illustrates the importance of having godly elders. Men who have the ability to lead and who also know the Bible. Men who exhort with sound doctrine and refute those who contradict sound doctrine.
Think about your church, the men in your congregation, and the men who serve as your elders. As you think about all those men, ask yourself a question. Are the elders of your church well-qualified or just well-connected?
It is very easy for humans to be taken in by appearances. It is very easy for humans to choose leaders because they look like a leader. They might be tall, handsome, wealthy, powerful, or successful according to the world.
It is also easy for humans to choose leaders based on who they know. Some men are chosen to be elders because they are out-going and know a lot of people. Other men are chosen to be elders because they happen to be friends with the right people. These men are chosen to be leaders because of who they know, not because they are qualified.
However, that is not how leaders of the church should be chosen. God looks at the heart. This is important because if your church does not have godly elders, eventually your church will go astray, just as the Israelites went astray, and just as many churches and denominations went astray over the past 2,000 years.
Ask yourself the following questions. Are the elders of your church truly the most godly men in your congregation? Do they truly meet the qualifications listed in Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3. It’s not enough just to look like a leader. It’s not enough just to be well-connected. Elders have to be godly men who know the Bible and have the ability to lead. Are the elders of your congregation well-qualified or just well-connected?
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