How is it that two people
who call themselves Christians can believe two totally opposite
understandings of the word of God? As we study the book of Titus,
Paul the apostle addresses the reason for this problem. Paul has been
giving Titus some of the qualifications required for elders or
overseers of the church of Crete, and along with the list have been
many challenging traits that one must have if he is going to be over
others. Today's verse adds to that list in chapter one and verse nine
where Paul wrote:
Holding fast the
faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound
doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
Paul
knew it was imperative that the bishop or elder be a person who is,
“Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught.” The
overseer must “withstand, endure, hold to him firmly, cleave to”
“the faithful word.” Compromise of the Holy Scriptures is
never good, and those who loosely allow the philosophies of men to
override the faithful word of God should never be overseers in a
church. Too often men have strayed from the “faithful word” and
led many off course in a congregation. One of the reasons that we
study the Bible together verse by verse, line upon line, phrase upon
phrase, and sometimes word upon word is because there is a less
likely opportunity to stray from the faithful word of God. One of the
most important characteristics of a bishop, elder, overseer or pastor
of a church is to be a man who clings to the faithful word of God.
Notice
too that the bishop is to hold to the faithful word, “as he has
been taught.” In other words the elder must be a student. He
must hold to the word he has been taught. Paul the apostle wrote to
Timothy in Second Timothy chapter two and verse fifteen:
Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not
to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
An overseer must study God's
faithful word and be a student of God's faithful word if he is going
to preside in leadership over God's children. If a man doesn't become
a perpetual student of the faithful word, he should not be an
overseer of people.
Paul next conveys the reason
that the bishop must be one who holds to the faithful word, “that
he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the
gainsayers.” We find two
reasons to hold fast to the faithful word in this part of the verse.
One, “that he may be able by sound doctrine”
(which is sound teaching or instruction) “both to exhort”
(which is to call to one's side, call for or summon, console,
encourage, strengthen or instruct) and “convince”
(which is to convict, refute, find fault with, reprehend, or call
into account) “the gainsayers”.
The “gainsayers”
are those people within a church who contradict, oppose, or refuse to
heed the word of God and seek rather to fulfill their own doctrine.
They seek to get “gain” for themselves by their “sayings” so
to speak. The overseer must be a man who will be so entrenched in the
faithful word of God that he can easily refute the gainsayers'
selfish teachings and beliefs. Many ideas have been birthed into the
hearts and minds of people that are contrary to the word of God, and
it is critically important that the bishop not only be continually a
student, but constantly one who is ready to correct wrong teachings
and doctrine that people originate from their own selfish positions.
We
also must be students of God's faithful word. By studying the
scriptures we discover areas in our lives that are in error,
off-base, and sometimes even lies. The beauty of studying God's
faithful word is that we continually are reproved, corrected, and
aligning with God. Paul the apostle stated the faithful word's
importance in the Second book of Timothy in chapter three and verse
sixteen:
All scripture [is]
given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the
man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
May
Paul's instruction to Titus about the qualifications of an overseer
become our instruction today as we continue to study the faithful
word of God together.
Next
time we will discover more reasons why these qualifications given by
Paul are so important, so read ahead, and we shall join together
then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the new devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation” in all major bookstore sites,
www.amazon.com
; www.barnesandnobles.com
; download
to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
No comments:
Post a Comment