Under Orders from His Father

St. Titus

Pastor and Confessor

January 26, 2014

The Epistle to Titus

Under Orders from His Father

In the name of Jesus.

Titus was a pastor. He was trained by one of the original batch of pastors, the Apostle Paul. Titus was sent out under orders from his father Paul. Paul addressed his letter to Titus like this:

To Titus, my true son in our common faith. (Titus 1:4)

This father-son relationship was a spiritual relationship in Christ Jesus, their common Savior. Father and son both trusted in the promises of the heavenly Father and Son and Spirit. And our one true God sent Pastor Titus out under orders from Paul, his father in the faith. He was under orders

I. to rebuke rebels

II. to care for souls in their life's work

III. to preach Christ crucified.

I.

Paul left his fellow pastor in Crete, an island in the Mediterranean Sea to deal with some unfinished business within this Christian congregation.

The reason I [Paul] left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone (Titus 1:5)

And it started with Pastor Titus rebuking rebellious souls within the church. They were rebels because they were posing as authorities within the church. They were under orders from themselves, not from Christ. They came with a message that was interested in earthly things rather than in things above (Colossians 3:2).

They overthrow whole households by teaching what they shouldn't in order to get money dishonestly. (Titus 1:11)

There are lots of preachers who are interested in being a pastor because it is an easy way for them to steal. Against the Second Commandment, they use the name of Jesus to pump money into their own pockets.

Noisy television preachers are easy to spot as they fleece their flocks by check and money order. But there is also the danger, on the other hand, of the preacher who repeatedly refuses to speak the truth in love to his flock for fear of rocking the boat and upsetting souls that actually need to be called to repentance.

Let all congregations and pastors listen carefully to Paul's command to Titus to be courageous in his dealings and in his preaching, so that the Word of God might visit souls in the congregation who want to listen.

So, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith and may not pay attention to . . . the commands of men who reject the truth. (Titus 1:13-14)

Titus and all pastors are under orders to rebuke rebels, without allowing the earthly consequences to compromise the truth. Titus and all pastors are also under orders to guide the souls under their care in Christian living.

II.

Living as little Christs begins with submission. This submission begins in your Baptism, as you die to your selfish desires and live with the crosses that Jesus had laid on you.

Old men grow bitter and cranky; Titus is under orders to call them to be level headed. Old women talk, sometimes carelessly; Titus is under orders to call them to speak with care and reverence.

Young women can resent the burden of husbands and children; Titus is under orders to call them to sacrifice for their families. Young men act like fools to impress their peers; Titus is under orders to call them to control themselves.

Paul summed up his orders for Titus like this.

For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:11-13)

III.

Above all Titus is under orders to preach Christ and the foolishness of the cross and of the baptismal font.

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love

for mankind appeared,

He saved us—

not by works of righteousness that we had done,

but according to His mercy,

through the washing of regeneration

and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

He poured out this Spirit on us abundantly

through Jesus Christ our Savior,

so that having been justified by His grace,

we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

(Titus 3:4-7)

Jesus saved us, not according to how merciful we've been, but according to His mercy. And this mercy is seen most clearly in Titus' preaching of the cross and every time he baptized a sinner at the baptismal font and offered the Body and Blood of Christ to a sinner at the altar.

IV.

Paul spoke highly of Titus on several occasions in his other letters. His joy in his son in the faith came from Titus' faithfulness to his Savior and to the saved.

Thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. (2 Corinthians 8:16)

Titus cared about the souls his Savior came to save and who had been placed under his care. So he followed his orders and rebuked the stubborn, guided his flcok in Christian living, and above all preached and washed the mercy of Christ into dying souls, so that they might live into eternal life.

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.