Key Truth: The men who are faithful to their wives and bear missional fruit in their children should be elders whose exemplary character helps promote the faith in the church and the world.

Introduction:

Q: What impact does the character of the leaders of the church have on the life of the church? The life of the church’s impact in the world?

“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Philippians 2:1-11

Titus 1:5-6: Exemplars of the Faith at Home First:

“Seeing that it is required that (an elder) shall have prudence and gravity, it is proper that those qualities should be exhibited in his family; for how shall that man who cannot rule his own house – be able to govern the church!”

John Calvin, Commentary on Titus

Q: Is your family the primary focus of your faithfulness and disciple-making?

Titus 1:7-9: Exemplars and Promoters of the Faith in the Church and the World Second:

“…candidates for the pastorate must give visible evidence in their behavior that they have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, that their new birth has led to a new life, that their fallen passions are under control, and that the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit has at least begun to appear and to ripen in their lives.”

John R.W. Stott, The Message of 1 Timothy and Titus

Q: What is the ultimate purpose of these outward evidences of inward faith and knowledge?

Titus 1:5-9 teaches us that:

-a man must first be faithful to his wife and bear missional fruit in his children to be considered as an elder over the family of God

-an elder must have exemplary character in terms of his vices and virtues so as to promote the faith in the church and the world

“What the church needs is leaders whose words and deeds indicate that it is possible to live above the common constraints of the world, while at the same time being willing to make the common confession that they are as dependent on grace as any other person.”

R. Kent Hughes & Bryan Chapell, 1-2 Timothy and Titus: To Guard the Deposit