St. Matthew’s Ev. Lutheran Church + Benton Harbor, Michigan
Festival of St. Titus,
January 30, 2000
Titus 1:1-9
"God wants us to find servants for him!"
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness--a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior, To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of
but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of
being wild and disobedient. Since an
overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless-- not overbearing,
not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing
dishonest gain. Rather he must be
hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy
and disciplined. He must hold firmly to
the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others
by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
What
does it take to be a good car mechanic?
I could guess what the qualifications are, but if I really wanted to
know, I might ask John Freehling or Paul Ropke who are good mechanics. What makes you a good musician? I don’t know, but I am sure Mrs. Buelow,
Mrs. Thorson, and Mrs. Kremmer could answer that one. I think it’s clear. If
you want to know something about a job, you ask an expert.
In
our Epistle reading for today we heard one of the greatest experts of all time
tell us about his occupation. We
listened as the apostle Paul told Titus what it takes to be a public minister
of the Gospel. We would do well to pay
careful attention to his words.
Why? Because God wants us to find Servants for Him. He
wants us to find servants who cling to His Word, live according to His will,
and he wants us to encourage them to do so!
1)
Servants
who cling His Word
Titus,
the minister to whom Paul wrote this letter, was a disciple, or apprentice, of
Paul. This is what it means when Paul
calls him a “true son in our common faith.” Paul viewed Titus as a gifted pastor and a
hard worker. He trusted Titus so much, that
he left him in Crete to look for and appoint Church leaders on that
Island. To briefly summarize Paul’s
advice to Titus for finding Church leaders, he basically says, “look for
servants who cling to God’s Word and live according to God’s will.”
A
public minister is a servant of God; literally a slave. Just as a slave does not have a will of his
own, but does His master’s bidding, so also a minister of the Gospel does not
preach what he thinks, but only what God’s Word says. His whole life follows God’s will as it is revealed in the
Bible. Though a minister of the Gospel
is a slave to God’s Word, he is also an ambassador, sent out by God to
represent Him. As an ambassador, a
minister is in a position of high honor because of him whom he represents. It is important for us, therefore, to look
for faithful men who can fulfill this high calling: to be God’s slave and
ambassador, because, as with Titus, God wants us to find faithful servants for
Him.
The
first thing we should look for in a faithful servant is faithfulness to God’s
Word. It is not only important that a
minister knows the Gospel, but that he also applies it to himself. What does this mean? A minister of the Gospel will realize his
complete sinfulness and be deeply sorry for his sins. He will confess them to God daily and trust that Jesus has
forgiven him, and that he is now at peace with God. All this only because Jesus gave up his heavenly home, was damned
in our place, and gave us His righteousness. Only after a minister is crushed by
the Law himself, and then raised back to life through the wonderful Gospel
promise of sins forgiven, will he be able to faithfully apply the law and the
Gospel to others.
Paul
writes that a minister must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it
has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute
those who oppose it. God certainly wants all of us to study and
witness God’s Word, but God also sees the need for experts, to lead and
comfort God’s people with His Word, so that we all may grow in faith. Remember the time when your loved one was
sick and you didn’t know what to do or where to find comfort? Your pastor was able to direct you to God’s comfort. When he spoke it was like hearing God
himself. Remember the time you were
plagued with doubts and fears? Your
pastor was able to show you from God’s Word that there is nothing to fear, and
he got rid of all your doubts. Do you
remember the time you were on the wrong path and your pastor showed you God’s
Law? After being crushed by that Law
and repenting of your sin, he, in less than a heart beat, comforted you with
the forgiveness Jesus won for you. All
these things he was able to do because he held firmly to that trustworthy message.
It
is important that we encourage our youth to hold firmly to God’s Word so that
we won’t run out of ministers who can encourage us. Imagine what it would be like not having someone who could direct
you in God’s word and comfort you with it.
Imagine having a Pastor, who spent more time talking about the world
than the Word. What comfort could he
give you? For those in Bible class,
imagine studying Revelation with out someone there to guide you in its interpretation. What a dreadful thought: not having an
expert of God’s Word to guide, encourage and comfort us. This is why God wants us to look for
faithful servants: Servants who cling to the Word, and servants who live
according to the Word.
2) Servants who live according to his will
Paul
gave Titus a list of qualities to look for while considering men for the
ministry. Because neither Titus nor we
can look at the heart, it is important that we look at the life of an
individual to see if he is faithful to God and His Word. A servant of God should not only talk the
talk, but he should also walk the walk.
First
of all Paul says that a public minister should be blameless. This certainly
doesn’t mean that he should be perfect.
No one is perfect other than God.
This word actually means to be free from any public accusation. A public minister of the Gospel should not
be accusable of any great sin that would bring dishonor to the office of the
ministry.
A
minister should be the husband of but one wife. Notice that Paul doesn’t say
celibate. God wants his servants to be
an example, a light, showing the blessings and benefits of marriage to this
world plagued with sexual immorality.
It is good if a minister is married so he can deal with the marital
problems of his flock, having experience to help him. He will also not be as easily tempted into sexual immorality as a
man trying to remain celibate who do not have that gift.
A minister of the Gospel should be a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being
wild and disobedient. This reasoning for this is clear. In his letter to Timothy, Paul writes: If anyone does not know how to manage his
own family, how can he take care of God's church?
A
minister must be must be blameless-- not overbearing , and not quick-tempered – A
minister of the Gospel is to do just that: minister the Gospel. He is a servant to God and God’s
people. A minister, then, will not try
to get his way all the time, or push people around. He will not fly off the handle when attack personally, rather he
will humbly put his pride away from him.
He will imitate Christ’s patience and point to Christ in everything.
Paul
says that a minister should not be given to drunkenness, not violent, and pursue
dishonest gain. A sad fact in the
Church is that the biggest two reasons why a pastor has to resign from the
ministry are sex and money. It really
shouldn’t surprise us when we consider that these are the two greatest
motivating forces behind our society!
Every Christian (especially pastors and teachers) must be very aware of
these temptations. Don’t ever think
that it can’t happen to you. It
can! Our only refuge is at the cross of
Jesus.
He
must be hospitable love what is good, be self-controlled, holy, and
disciplined. Having been
justified, that is, having been declared a citizen of heaven, a minister will
act like one. He will go out of his way
to help people. He will keep himself in
check and not let any sin master him.
I hope I didn’t scare you young people. You are probably thinking, “I have to do
what to be a public minister? There is
no way I can keep this list perfectly.”
Well, every
time I read this list, it scares me too.
It scares me because I know that I have not nor can keep this list
perfectly. No one can. But thank God
for Jesus. Only because of him and his
forgiveness alone do I qualify as a public minister. Only because God made me
his child, do I act like it. Jesus is
the power behind godly living
This
list here for the public minister is not an all-inclusive list. There are many other things we could
add. These qualities are also not only
things that God desires of a Pastor.
They are things that God desires of all Christians. In Ephesians Paul tells all Christian: Be imitators of God,
therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved
us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Yes,
even if you aren’t planning on becoming a minister of the Gospel, God still
wants you to imitate Him. Not just
pastors have this privilege, but all Christians do. Why do we do it? Because,
Christ loved us and gave himself for us.
3) Servants who are encouraged by us.
We
have just finished looking at the two qualities God wants us to look for in a
minister as we look for servants for him: 1) that he clings to God’s Word. 2)
That he lives according to God’s Word.
But where does ministers come from and how does God provide them? When
God provides for us, he usually does it through a means. For example, my daily bread he provides
through my job. My health he provides
through exercise and proper eating. My
knowledge through studying . . . God
also provides public ministers for us through a means.
There
is an old African saying: It takes a village to raise a child. How much truer is that adage when you apply
it to raising a public minister. It
takes a lot of time, work and encouragement. Allow me to use myself as an
example.
I
started the process of becoming a public minister on Sunday morning June 1,
1975, when my parents presented me to God.
On that day He washed away all my sins in the waters of Baptism, sealed
me with the Holy Spirit and made me His child.
My first professors training me to be a pastor were my parents, and my
siblings. Not only did they teach me
God’s Word, they lived it. Every Sunday
School teaches, Elder, professor, pastor and Christian I ever met , whether it was in Canada, Europe,
Northwestern College, Martin Luther College and at the Seminary, all of them, right up to now, are responsible from helping me become a
minister of the Gospel. Even all of you
here at St. Matthew’s have influenced me and encouraged me in my desire to be a
public minister.
How
did they and you encourage me? Through
two simple ways: 1) By teaching me God’s Word.
2) By living the God’s Word.
Promotion
of the ministry doesn’t just end with saying how neat it is being a pastor or
teacher. Let me illustrate it thus: For
14 years a father taught his son hat he shouldn’t lie. One day they went to a movie together and
the father told his short teenaged son to say that he was 12 so that they could
get a discount. That child learned more
about lying during that one event, than from all the teaching his father ever
did about lying. The same applies to
us. We can do all the encouraging we
want, but it doesn’t do a bit of good unless we live the way we talk. Ask yourself then, “Do I practice what a
preach?” Do I slander even though I encourage others not to? Do I show honor
and respect to the ministry, as I encourage these youth to be ministers? Do I put God, his Word and Sacraments first
in my life, as I encourage others?”
Only by practicing what you preach do you encourage someone to enter the
public ministry. Only then do you
become his teacher, mentor, and means through which God trains a servant.
I
must say that when I look at the track record of St. Matthews, I see that you
have been faithfully preparing ministers.
You have helped produced many a pastor in your history: Pastor
Wendland’s sons, Pastor Biedenbender’s sons, and Mr. Herman’s son. Your support of the vicar program has
greatly influenced many a pastor; so much that I am even a second-generation
vicar here. I have experienced first
hand your love and encouragement. You are
faithfully doing your duty and I praise God for this.
Now
continue and grow in this work of looking for servants for Him. Keep on encouraging all the young men and
women here, and all your believing relatives.
Be an example to them.
Encourage them with God’s Word, and by living it. Don’t be afraid to consider the ministry yourself
either. I have 3 classmates over the
age of 40 who, with the support of their family, left jobs of being an EMT, a
dentist and a small business owner to study for the ministry. You are never too old to start. Even if you decide not to become a minister,
remember that those who have a desire for ministry themselves, make the best
teachers and encouragers.
And
finally you, Titus, Josh, Sean, and Jason, consider being a pastor. Let me tell you, nothing is more rewarding
than being God’s faithful servant. No
other occupation is so graciously rewarded by God himself as feeding his flock
with his Word. Jesus said it himself in
our Gospel reading, "Who then is the faithful and wise servant,
whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them
their food at the proper time? It will
be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I
tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” Amen.