In Titus 1, Paul leaves Titus with the challenging task of helping bring order to the churches in Crete. As Paul describes the character expected of church leaders, we discover a larger lesson about the Christian life: we are called to live under the authority of God rather than simply follow our own desires. From Scripture study and worship to accountability and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Andy reflects on how God shapes us into people marked by self-control, goodness, and faithfulness. In a world that often feels out of control, submitting ourselves to Jesus isn’t a loss of freedom—it’s how we discover a deeper, more purposeful life.
Join us for our daily reflections. In 10 short minutes, we’ll dig a little deeper into Scripture and help us better understand God’s Word.
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Good morning! Scooby with you on this Thursday morning. I hope you’re doing well and that all is well with you.
You know how the first robin of spring appears, and everybody gets excited because spring is finally here? Well, consider this the first sweater vest of Andy. It’s cold! My feet are cold. I’ve got to get my little space heater out in my office because I’m freezing.
And that’s okay. I’ll survive. I’ll complain, but I’ll survive. So you can document that if you’re keeping a scorecard at home: yes, it is officially sweater vest weather.
I hope you’re doing well, staying warm, and enjoying life. It’s good to be with you this morning.
Today, we’re beginning the book of Titus. Titus is a small book in the New Testament and another one of Paul’s pastoral epistles. It’s a letter written to Titus, one of Paul’s companions and ministry partners.
We don’t see Titus mentioned in the book of Acts, as we do Timothy and some of Paul’s other companions. But we do see him mentioned in Galatians. In Galatians 2, Paul describes going to Jerusalem with Barnabas and taking Titus along with him. Titus was a Gentile, a Greek, and Paul explains that Titus wasn’t compelled to be circumcised.
That’s an important detail because Paul was working through a significant question in the early church: Did Gentile Christians have to follow the Jewish law, including circumcision, to be fully included in the people of God? Paul’s answer was no. Our salvation and our belonging to God are found in Jesus Christ, not in our ability to fulfill every requirement of the law.
Titus was one of Paul’s companions, but he was also someone Paul had invested in and prepared for ministry. Paul entrusted him with important responsibilities in the church.
So today, we’re going to read all of Titus chapter 1. We may not get all the way through it, but I think we probably will.
As we read, we discover that Paul has left Titus on the island of Crete to help put things in order and appoint leaders in the churches there. Paul gives Titus a description of the kind of character those leaders should have. They should not be arrogant, quick-tempered, violent, addicted to wine, or greedy for gain. Instead, they should be hospitable, lovers of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled. They should also have a firm grasp of the trustworthy message of the gospel so that they can teach sound doctrine and respond to those who contradict it.
Paul then addresses some of the problems Titus is facing. He describes people who are misleading others and disrupting households. He even quotes a harsh saying about the people of Crete, attributed to one of their own prophets, describing them as liars, vicious brutes, and lazy gluttons.
To put it in our Methodist language, Titus doesn’t seem to have received an easy appointment!
He has a challenging place to serve, and Paul is telling him, in effect, “There’s a lot of work to do here. You’ve got to help put things in order, and you need to make sure the people leading these churches are equipped for the work.”
There are a couple of things I want us to notice.
First, I love what Paul says at the beginning of the letter. He describes how God has revealed the divine word through the proclamation entrusted to him. That brings to mind something we’ve talked about before from the theologian Karl Barth: the distinction between Jesus Christ as the revealed Word of God, Scripture as the written Word of God, and the proclamation of the Word as we preach and teach the gospel.
When we proclaim the gospel faithfully, we point people toward Jesus. That’s what preaching is supposed to do. It isn’t ultimately about pointing people toward the preacher or showing off how much the preacher knows. The sermon should point to Jesus.
There’s a word we learn in seminary for the work of preaching: homiletics. But whatever fancy words we use, the basic idea is that our proclamation should faithfully communicate the message of Scripture and point us toward Jesus.
That’s what we’re called to do.
But then Paul turns to the work Titus has been left to do. He needs to appoint leaders who can teach, guide, and help the church grow. And notice what Paul emphasizes about these leaders. It isn’t simply that they need to be impressive or charismatic. It isn’t that they need to have the biggest personalities or be the most successful people in town.
Paul emphasizes their character.
They must be self-controlled. They must be hospitable. They must love what is good. They must not be violent, greedy, or quick-tempered. They must have a firm grasp of the truth they are teaching.
There’s a theme here that we see over and over again throughout Scripture: the importance of self-control and submitting ourselves to God.
One of my favorite teachings of Jesus comes when a centurion approaches him and asks for healing. The centurion understands authority. He knows what it means to be under authority himself and to exercise authority over others. He recognizes that Jesus possesses an authority unlike anything he has encountered.
And that raises an important question for us: What does it mean to live under authority?
We live in a world that often tells us that freedom means doing whatever we want. We want to be in charge of our own lives. We want to make our own decisions, follow our own desires, and answer to nobody but ourselves.
But that’s not the picture Scripture gives us of the Christian life.
We are called to submit ourselves to God. We are called to live under the authority of God’s Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Paul even describes Christians as being enslaved to righteousness. Our lives are no longer simply about doing whatever we happen to want. We are being shaped into the people God has called us to be.
And that’s especially important when we look at the situation Titus is facing in Crete. Paul describes a community marked by dishonesty, viciousness, and indulgence. The world around Titus seems to be out of control.
And Paul says that the leaders of the church must be different.
They must not be ruled by their tempers, their appetites, their greed, or their desire for power. They must be people whose lives are shaped by the goodness of God.
That’s a word we need to hear, too.
If we want to live under the authority of Jesus, we have to put ourselves in places where we can be formed and guided by him.
That’s why Scripture study matters. We read the Bible not simply to find passages that agree with us, but also to allow God’s Word to challenge us. When we encounter something in Scripture that contradicts our assumptions or calls us to change, we need to approach it with humility and a willingness to listen.
That’s why worship matters. We gather together to hear the Word proclaimed, to sing, to pray, and to remember that our lives belong to God.
That’s why accountability matters. As a pastor, I don’t serve as a Lone Ranger. I serve within a church, under the leadership of my bishop and district superintendent, and in relationship with the people entrusted to my care. I need those relationships. I need people who can encourage me, guide me, and challenge me when necessary.
None of us is meant to do this alone.
And when we talk about submitting ourselves to God, we’re not talking about simply giving up or surrendering our ability to think. We’re talking about allowing the Holy Spirit to shape our desires, our decisions, and our actions. We’re learning to recognize the difference between what we want in a given moment and what God is calling us to do.
The more we allow ourselves to be shaped by Jesus, the more we learn to discern what is good and true. We become people who are less controlled by our impulses and more guided by love, goodness, and faithfulness.
So, as we look at Titus and the challenges he faced in Crete, I want us to think about our own lives.
Our world can feel out of control, too. There is plenty of anger, dishonesty, greed, and division around us. It’s easy to get caught up in it. It’s easy to let the world’s chaos shape our attitudes and determine how we respond to other people.
But we are called to something different.
We are called to be measured. We are called to practice self-control. We are called to submit ourselves to the Spirit of God and allow Jesus to shape the way we live.
And here’s the thing: when we submit ourselves to Jesus, we don’t lose life. We find it.
When we insist on living only for ourselves, following every impulse and answering to nobody, we can easily find ourselves pulled in a hundred different directions. But when we place our lives in God’s hands, we discover a different kind of freedom—the freedom to live with purpose, to love our neighbors, and to become the people God has called us to be.
So today, let’s ask ourselves: Where do I need to allow God to have greater authority in my life? Where am I resisting the Spirit’s guidance? And what might change if I were willing to trust Jesus enough to follow where he leads?
Friends, in a world that often feels out of control, may we be people whose lives are shaped by the steady, gracious, life-giving presence of God.
Thanks for being with me today. Tomorrow, we’ll pick up with Titus chapter 2.
Thanks, and have a great day!