Titus 1:5-9

“I left you on the island of Crete so you could complete our work there and appoint elders in each town as I instructed you. An elder must live a blameless life. He must be faithful to his wife, and his children must be believers who don’t have a reputation for being wild or rebellious. A church leader is a manager of God’s household, so he must live a blameless life. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered; he must not be a heavy drinker, violent, or dishonest with money. Rather, he must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must love what is good. He must live wisely and be just. He must live a devout and disciplined life. He must have a strong belief in the trustworthy message he was taught; then he will be able to encourage others with wholesome teaching and show those who oppose it where they are wrong.”

2.         Hospitable instead of Hostile – Vs 8

This is the coming together of your Father and family focus, because its seeing your home not just as a house but as a hospital for the hurting. Many of us are very selfish with our homes we don’t see them as ministry centers we see them as MINE. Who are you opening your home to? Some of you are tempted to say yeh but I’m not a very gifted host, but I want you to notice that this is not about your ability it’s about attitude. We are called to enjoy providing a place for people to feel loved.

3.         Love what is good instead of being a lover of Greed – Vs 7-8

Our world values money but the Word values morality. It’s not about riches it’s about doing what is right. In America we judge the health of our nation by our economy instead of our empathy. Why because we are looking to Wall street instead of the Word to gauge our success. Look our success as a society is not dependent on the Dow its dependent on doing what’s right. It’s not about the riches it’s about our relationships and doing what is right. Your success is not found in your salary but in your service to the Savior. So stop looking to a pay check as proof of a productive life because if you make it about the money you are going to have a miserable ministry. Don’t look for a church with lots of benefits look for a church where you can be a blessing. Are you controlled by caring or converting? Are you in it for the people or the paycheck?

4. Devoted and Disciplined instead of drunk – Vs 7-8

What you put into your life will be what ultimately propels your life. The point here is that leaders should be controlled by the Lord not liquor. We need to talk about alcohol today because we are living in a community that is caught up in alcohol. Now for those of you who do drink can I ask you this question, when was the last time drinking a beer made you feel more Christlike? One of the problems with the church is that Christians have become more concerned with defending their wine than their witness. Look do you really think that the world associate beer with Christian behavior? Why are we fighting so hard for something that doesn’t point people to Jesus, has the potential to poison our lives and doesn’t enhance our testimony? Several years ago I got a call at 1 am on a Saturday night from a desperate dad, his son was drunk and he had a gun. So I drove over to his house and hauled him back to my home. He slept on my couch and then went to church with me after church we went back to my house where he ate dinner with my family. As he looked at my family and listened to us laughing together and loving each other he realized he wanted what we had. Never underestimate the power of hospitality. He sobered up surrendered his life to Jesus and started to serve. Since then he has helped many others stuck in alcohol come to freedom.

Titus 1:1-4

“This letter is from Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. I have been sent to proclaim faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know the truth that shows them how to live godly lives. This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who does not lie—promised them before the world began. And now at just the right time he has revealed this message, which we announce to everyone. It is by the command of God our Savior that I have been entrusted with this work for him. I am writing to Titus, my true son in the faith that we share. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace.”

It’s here that Paul reminds us of three critical points, first he points to our:

1. Position in Christ – Vs 1

Paul reminds us that we are not just slaves, rather we are slaves of the Savior. This is significant because if he had just referred to himself as a slave he would have been pointing out his place but a slave of the Savior speaks to a position. Many of us are trying to find our identity in our place instead of our position. We are letting society instead of scripture define us, and when that happens we start making it about our place, and we start put all of our energy into promoting self. Life becomes about self-promotion and building our kingdom instead of serving the King of Kings. Instead of participating in God’s eternal work life is reduced to worldly work where we submit to a pecking order instead of submitting to the Savior. We spend our lives stacking our resumes for recognition, where all the effort we put in to being noticed leads to one thing, narcissism. Is it any wonder that our society has shifted from one driven by service to one that’s driven by selfishness. A society that used to say “don’t ask what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country” to one that votes based on what’s in it for me. When we allow ourselves to be defined by the culture instead of Christ we start finding our security and significance in who we are instead of in whose we are. This leads to running instead of relying, trying instead of trusting. Is it any wonder that we are worn out? So we think, I just need to priorities and become more efficient, I just need to work harder. But you don’t need to work harder you need to start working for Him. You want to change your priorities you need to change your position. I am a servant of the Savior, a child of the creator, an ambassador of the Almighty, a royal priest of the prince. Who are you? If you let yourself become defined by society instead of the Savior you will squander your life on a system that is constantly shifting and moving the bar. A system that perpetuates a performance based life of effort and exhaustion instead of a position based one of exhilaration. We start basing our happiness on how things are going instead of basing our happiness on holiness in Him. The focus will become self instead of serving, and because we make it about our place in society instead of our position in the Savior we end up putting people down in an effort to elevate self instead of building people up in an effort to give glory to God. Why are so many people not living out their position as slaves of the Savior, because they have let themselves become slaves to sin, slaves to self, or slaves to society. Are you living to serve and satisfy the flesh, or are you living to please the Father? Truth protects us from getting trapped and frees us from trying to measure up to the worlds standards instead of standing on the Word. Notice that Paul begins with his name which means little or in Latin humble. He went from having a mighty Hebrew name (Saul) before his converted to a name that knocked him down a notch. Amazing how changing one letter can change our whole outlook. If we want to stand for truth then first we need to understand our identity. Paul describes himself as “a servant of God.” He could have pulled out his resume and referred to his religious heritage, his authorship of so many books of the Bible, or His experiences of being brought up to the third heaven, but he didn’t. Paul chose the word slave, “one whose will is swallowed up in the will of another.” This word “slave speaks of a “bondservant” and echoes back to the Old Testament, where a person who got into debt and was unable to pay back what they owed became the property of his creditor for seven years. At the seventh year, these slaves were liberated but some decided to voluntarily remain as slaves because of the kindness of their Masters. Those who wanted to be slaves for life would be taken to the priest who would pierce the earlobe, thus indicating that he was marked for life to serve his master permanently (see Exodus 21:1-6). A bondservant freely serves because He loves the Savior. So let me ask you are you serving out of obligation or out of obedience? If your service to the Savior becomes based on the law instead of on love it won’t be long before service becomes a job instead of a joy and we become miserable ministers. Paul was a servant of God and “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” He is first a slave and second a “sent one,” which is what the word apostle literally means. The order here is significant, Paul was sent because he was a servant. As an apostle he had authority, but it was only because his will was swallowed up in the will of God. Your obedience as a called one in Christ flows from your submission as a bondservant. You will never say yes to being sent until you learn to submit. It is imperative that we keep these words in the right order. We’re slaves first, and second, we’re sent out. Do you know who you are? You are a servant and you’ve been sent to Crete.