 You're welcome back after the break. So before the break, we were looking at, you know, Paul's command to Titus to appoint leaders and now he gives him the qualifications of the leaders and he is basically can be divided in four categories, general qualification, domestic qualification, personal qualification and doctrinal qualifications. Okay. So we look at the domestic qualifications in verse six. He says that he must be a blameless man. Blameless means one without we already look at this in, in when Paul writes to Timothy, Timothy, and so blameless means the man who is without accusations, he has no charges against him both in the church and in the world as well. And he must be a man who lives a righteous life and who can, you know, who can be seen in a righteous living. His righteous living is something that will show to everybody that he's living a righteous life and he can be chosen as a leader. Okay. And we see that this word blameless stands ahead of the list of the qualities that covers the whole of a leader's life. So those qualifications and follow give the details which will test his blamelessness. So he should be the husband of one wife. That means he must be faithful to his wife and his objections should be centered exclusively on his wife, you know, must be having faithful children in the Greek here. It can have a passive meaning, which means children who are trustworthy and dependable, but it also has an active meaning, which means children who are believing and trusting. So Paul is saying that the elders of the church must have children who believe in, in Jesus. And if it's his ability to lead the family, his own family in Christ ways, in them living in Christ likeness, each one of them believing in Christ and walking according to his righteous standards or living according to his righteous standards, then he will definitely be able to lead the church of God or he'll be able to lead the family of God. And so first, his ability to lead the church can only be seen or demonstrated in his ability to lead his own children. And he says that, you know, faithful children are not accused of dissipation or insubordination. Insubordination means, you know, the Greek word, the meaning for this word means, you know, those children were not wild, self-indulgent and living life in a wasteful manner. So that is the meaning of the word dissipation. So they should not be accused of living wild, wasteful lives or lives that are self-indulging. And this word we see mentioned in Luke chapter 15 was 13 for how the prodigal son lived. He lived a righteous life, a righteous living of the prodigal son. So he says that they should not live this kind of life, the children of the elders should not live this kind of life. And also they must not be guilty of rebellion. That means they must, you know, submit to parental authority. And if a man is able to train and govern his children, you know, he will be able to train and lead the flock of God. But if he's not able to lead and govern his own children, then it raise up a question or bring into question his ability to train and lead the flock of God. And in verse seven, he talks about the personal qualification of elders. He says, for a bishop must be blameless, a steward of God, not self-will, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money. Now we see in this verse, there is a switch from the term elder to that of bishop. So the Greek word is for bishop is epic pause, which means a superintendent, guardian and an overseer. So the apostle is basically talking about someone in the same office as an elder. But now he moves to this term because it stresses the work or the function of elders or overseers. Now why is he using this word bishop here? Even though bishop elders, pastors, I said terms that I use interchangeably, but he's using it here because it stresses the work or function of elders and overseers. So while there is dignity and honor in this office as an elder or as a bishop or being appointed as a leader of God's flock, the focus is on their work of the certain qualities of maturity, which are important for one's ability to be effective towards what God has entrusted to them. So even as we are in leadership position, even as some of us are leaders, pastors, whole key leadership positions in the church, yes, it is a place of dignity, a place of honor, but it also is a place of responsibility. And we need to live a life that is blameless, a life that is holy, a life that is righteous, which can be seen by people. And also we need to have the qualities of maturity, which will be able to help us to steward the responsibility that God has given to us effectively and in a way that God wants us to use the responsibilities of the position that he's given to us and also bring him glory and honor in the position that we are. Now Paul continues with a list of qualifications. He says he must be a steward of God, steward, the Greek word is oikonomos, which refers to somebody who's manager of a household or somebody who's managing household affairs. So this word gives us an idea of appointment or the accountability and the responsibility and privileges of people who are in a position to, you know, are given the blessings of God and who are, you know, in a place where they share their blessings or the good things that God has given to others. So even as, you know, God has blessed us with spiritual blessings, material blessings, physical blessings and God has showered his goodness and his favor on us, you know, he wants us to use it to share it with others and we learn this in Timothy as well. When Paul writes it to Timothy, he says, you know, he's talking about money matters. He says, you know, godliness with contentment is great gain. And then he talks about how important it is for us to share also the resources that God has given with others. And so it here's the word steward is, gives us the idea very strongly gives us the idea of that we are accountable, we are responsible to God for the privileges that he has given to us. And he has appointed us not just to enjoy all of these benefits or blessings or his goodness for ourselves, but also share it with others, okay. And the bishop should not be somebody who is self-willed, quick tempered, not given to wine, should not be violent or greedy for money. Now in all of these personal qualifications, you know, he's talking about negative things, the personal qualifications fall into the negative. So what the elders must not do. And then he talks about the positives, what they should do in verses eight and nine, okay. So, so we see that in a Christian life, you know, when we have accepted Jesus Christ as a person savior, we are under the power of the Holy Spirit or the Holy Spirit comes and lives in us, his power operates in our life. It's not just a matter of positive and negative things, but it is about a fruitful ministry to others. It's how fruitful and how effective our lives are in fulfilling God's purpose, fulfilling God's call, and how we serve him, okay. So the person should not, the elder, the bishop should not be self-willed, which means not self-pleasing or arrogant, refusing to listen to others. It basically talks about that the person should not be self-centered or somebody who's not wanting to have their way in everything or also self-focused and being very proud. That quick tempered, which means that, you know, somebody who's not just gets angry once in a moment, once in a while once, you know, for some basic some occasions, but it's not about that kind of a person who rarely gets angry, but you know, you can just see his anger flare up in one or two occasions, but it's talking about somebody who is constantly, you know, throwing up its rage or anger for every little thing. So even if you don't have to react in a very angry way, this person can, you know, get angry. Okay. So it's like a settled state of anger. It's not just flash of occasional bad temper, but somebody who's constantly getting angry and somebody who's using every occasion to, you know, get back at or use his anger to get back at people who have wronged them or who have kind of, you know, come against them. So using every opportunity to get back at them. So it is basically talking about somebody who is constantly angry and who feeds his anger against others and not given to wine. So he's not should not be addicted to wine or the heavy drinker. The Greek word is para onios para means alongside and onios means wine. So it means here basically somebody who does not sit along with his wine and gets drunk and but is under the control of the spirit. It's not under the control of wine, but it's under the control of the holy spirit. That we read in Ephesians chapter five verse eight, it should not be violent. Violent means, you know, refers to somebody who's quick at using his hand or his fist to strike somebody or is prone to violence very quickly. So the term looks at anger, which is totally out of control and goes beyond just verbal or saying things, verbal abuse to physical abuse or somebody who is not just getting angry with, you know, by using his words, but also somebody who's physically abusing the other person and goes totally out of control and goes beyond what he or she should be doing by just getting physical and, you know, striking their opponent, not greedy for money. We, you know, Paul also talks about this in 1st Timothy chapter three, where he says, or he's telling Timothy that the elders are to be free from the love of money. And we, we learned there that, you know, making money in the right means or earning money in the right way is not wrong. And having money is also not evil, but it's a love for money that is a root of all kind of evil that we saw in read in 1st Timothy chapter six, verses nine and 10. So, you know, those who love money are those who are always thinking about how to make more and more. And they're concerned about laying up treasures on earth rather than laying up treasures in heaven, rather than working for the kingdom of God. And then he moves on to talk about the positive qualifications in verse eight. He says they should be hospitable. You know, why is hospitality mentioned here is because, you know, those times when in Paul's times, you know, believers, they used to travel and they could not stay in the homes of unbelievers or inns because they would be exposed to insult, danger and persecution because of their faith. So it was important for fellow believers to offer them hospitality even as these believers traveled. And it was also further necessary because Christians were often persecuted and they were rendered homeless. And so, you know, the other believers would have to take them into their homes, give them shelter, provide them food and all their basic needs. But we see that that's not the case today. But, you know, we do have people who are persecuted. We are living in a world where things are changing. You know, if you look at the current scenario, we also see the war in Ukraine. There's so many millions of them who are going to be refugees. No homes, no place to go, no jobs. So, you know, it's important that, you know, as a body of Christ demonstrates hospitality and care for people at the times of need. And it talks about a bishop or an elder should be somebody who's a lover of what is good. They're devoted to things that are good, that is beneficial. It should be good or beneficial either in word or deeds or in also their giving of their resources, their money, their blessings and their things. Should be sober-minded. Now, what is the meaning of sober-minded? Somebody who's able to think clearly, think with clarity. And here it's somebody who values the things of God and does not cheapen the ministry or the gospel message by foolish behavior. So when we act foolishly, behave foolishly, making the wrong choices or, you know, we do things to get, you know, because we can get benefits of people, favor of church people, you know, be under their good books, so to say, or their good thoughts. We can live or we can do things according to what they want and what appeases them or what pleases them. But then, you know, we will be cheapening the ministry or the gospel message by our foolish behavior. The soundness of mind and sound mind thinking comes from knowing and living in the light of the word of God. Okay. So the more that we abide in the mind, the more that we, you know, feed on God's word, the more our thinking is sound and we know what is right, what is wrong, we will do the right things and it will be seen in the right choices, the right attitudes, the right behavior patterns that we are living. So it affects our values, our attitudes, our pursuits. It also helps us to live or bring ourselves under self-control and this is all to the work of the spirit, even as we read God's word, even as we commune in fellowship with God and his word daily. Okay. And in the mind of the Apostle Paul, this was an important quality in a leader, okay. And then he says that he should be just holy and self-control. So a pastor, a teacher, an elder, a bishop must be just. That means just is towards men in their justice, being just, treating everyone with fairness, with justice. Holy means right towards God, living holy and pleasing lives, acceptable and honoring in God's sight. Self-control means right towards themselves or himself. Okay. So just is just right toward men, holy is right towards God and self-control is right towards himself. Now this word self-control in Greek refers to strength or power that is needed to restrain or control one's passion and we know that this is one of the fruit of the spirit and is to be the result and the fruit of the spirit will be evident in our lives only when we are under the spirit's control or we're walking under the control of the Holy Spirit. We're living under control of the Holy Spirit, we are abiding in the wine, we are feeding on God's word, we are consecrating our lives daily on the altar for God to sanctify us, for the Holy Spirit to sanctify us, to that extent, we are sanctified to that extent we see the fruit of the spirit evident in our lives. So self-control life is really the life that we live under the control or under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and it is equipped with a life filled with the word, okay and so it's living under the guidance and the control of the Holy Spirit and under, you know, a life that is living according to God's word that means when we are filled with God's word we will automatically know what to do and we will be walking and living according to God's word, okay. The doctoral qualification in verse 9 says hold fast the faithful word. So like we looked in the previous verse, it says we will be equipped with life filled with the word, like we see it here now demonstrated for us, it says like holding fast the faithful word and this means to study, to know and to live by what the scripture tells us. It is to study, know and live by the Bible which is God's faithful message to his people and it is also to defend God's word or to defend the Bible against attacks that will be waged against it because we know that in the past we have seen people have, you know, spoken against God's student's word, tried to destroy God's word, the many attacks will come against God's word, false doctrines, false teachers, but we need to be good stewards of God's word, thoroughly equipped so that we can, you know, defend God's word, defend the special revelation that God has given to man. So a leader must be sure, you know, make sure that they are faithfully studying God's word for themselves, growing in God's word, growing the revelation that comes out of God's word and so when he teaches or teaches God's word to people, he can do this with great confidence and authority and not just do it, you know, with doubts, with some theological guesswork, with doubts that he might be having, but first studying God's word, knowing the truth for themselves, having clarity so that they can explain the truth, the revelation, the doctrines, the theology in God's word to people in a confident and an authoritative way and not just do some guesswork or, you know, have some doubts but just teach what you know, okay, and it also means that a leader should stick to God's word instead of just focusing on the current trends or what people, what messages people want to hear, prosperity, gospel, blessings, all of those things are based on the program to the church but teach them the solid truth from God's word even as Paul, you know, encourages Timothy to the same thing he's telling Titus as well, okay, and he's saying hold fast the faithful word as he has been taught so it means that the elder, you know, should be under the teaching of someone else who sound in their doctrine, sound in their faith, sound in God's word, in the theology of God's word, it does not necessarily mean here that the leader has to go to a Bible college or a cemetery to learn or study but they do need to be taught and discipled by someone and not just themselves but they need to be taught by somebody who is a good steward of God's word, sound in the doctrine, sound in the faith and the theology in God's word and why should he be taught so that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict so a godly leader if he has sound foundation in God's word, you know, he can use God's word to exhort that means encourage, strengthen, build, mature people in the faith and also refute those who are bringing those refute false teachers, false doctrines that are coming up okay so we see that this is the elder's responsibility, they need to have the ability to, you know, use the sound foundation, solid foundation they have received in God's word to both teach and preach and to exhort and to build up people in the faith and also to refute those who are, you know, bringing about false doctrines and false teachings that is against the God's word okay and he says here that to exhort and convict he says that he may be able by sound doctrine okay sound doctrine is, you know, a doctrine that is correct and according to the doctrine that is in God's word so a godly leader deals with those who contradict and he does it with sound doctrine, he does not use his own authority and not in an arrogant way, he does not use his position or his authority in an arrogant way to bring correction but in a humble way he uses the teachings the truth of God's word to refute those who are, you know, teaching or propagating the false doctrines so to convict he says means you know to convince to reprove to rebuke which means it is to convince or rebuke someone in such a powerful and effective way with the truth in God's word which will lead them either to confess or at least be convicted of sin so the main reason to convict a person is to, you know, convince them to prove them of the wrong so that, you know, they would know it will lead them to know the truth and confess the truth and, you know, or at least be convicted of their sin of believing the lies and the false teachings and then he says that, you know, the elder must be able to teach the sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict, okay, so the Greek word here means those who refuse who answer again who deny and speak against the truth in God's word now there always be people who stand up against and oppose the sound teaching of scripture and, you know, the church leaders, elders, pastors, who are not able to teach or defend the truth of, you know, the scripture against those who attack it, you know, would then leave their people under the care or the flock under the care open to the false teaching and so it is very important that a pastor and elder is able to not only teach the truth but also defend the truth of the scripture against those who attack it, okay, and Paul says even as you do this tithes you need to do this with the gentleness and reverence so the times that we are living now we would have we are having a lot of false teachings, people who propagate these false teachings but, you know, we need to defend the truth in God's word, we do this with the hope that they will be convicted of their sin, they will come to realize the truth but we need to do it in a gentle way and with a reverence, okay, then he talks about the characteristics of false teachers in verses 10 to 16, can one of you please read 10 to 16 please and one of you please read 10 to 16. Thomas, can you read 10 to 16? Is anyone in class? Yeah, thank you Siddharth. For there are many rebellious people, meritakers and deceivers especially those of the circumcision group, they must be silenced because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach and that for the sake of dishonest gain, even one of the own prophets has said, so freedoms are always liars, evil groups, lazy gluttonies, this testimony is true, therefore rebuke them sharply so that they will, they will be sound in the faith and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the commands of those who reject the truth, to the pure all things are pure but to those who are corrupted and do not believe nothing is pure, in fact both their minds and conscience are corrupted, they claim to know God but their actions they deny him, they are the festival disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. Thank you Siddharth, so here he's talking about you know the characteristics of the false teachers, so they're just like the church at Ephesus, there were a lot of false teachers, here also at Crete there were false teachers and so he says that these false teachers are many, you know the apostle Paul is saying that there are many who stand opposed to the truth in verse 9 and in verse 14, he says there are many who stand opposed to the truth and he says these false teachers are insubordinate, that means they're not willing to submit to God's order of authority, you know God has established an order of authority in several different areas of our life, there's an order of authority in the home, the church, the workplace and in the community, so we all know who is you know the authoritative figure at home, in the church, in our workplace, in our community and God wants us not only to recognize the authority that he's placed in our lives but he also wants to submit us to submit to that authority, okay, and so here we see that these false teachers firstly are insubordinate, they don't submit to the authoritative structure that God has placed in the church, then secondly he says that they're idle talkers, that means they all they do is empty talking because their talk is basically about pictures tales you know tales about Adam, Moses, Elijah and other Old Testament saints which are not true stories made up stories, they also want to follow you know legalistic and acidic that means very severe rules and regulations like Old Testament you know food that they have to eat, the way they have to eat it, circumcision rituals and all other rituals that they want the people or believers in the church to follow and if anyone rejects or stands a post the grace message of God's truth as it's revealed in Christ and it's found for us in the scripture you know their words will be without power just futile discussions that cannot lead to any spiritual growth, freedom, peace or deliverance that God gives to us in Christ Jesus, okay, so if anyone speaks anything other than you know the the truth in God's word or revealed to us in Christ then we see their words or their teachings are without power, it's basically idle empty talk which will not benefit anyone which will not strengthen them spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically and will also not help them inherit any blessings so it's important for elders, pastors all of us as stewards of God's word who have been entrusted with the treasure of God's word you know to hold fast the faithful message in God's word and this alone has the power to change life, it's God's word, God's word is power, God's word is truth and Jesus says in John chapter 17 that your word which is truth will sanctify them okay so the word of God sanctifies and cleanses us it also gives us the power to speak things in the natural and we can see the supernatural happen, we can see things in we can speak things in the natural and we can see miracles and we can see the promises of God become a reality in our lives and he says that these false teachers you know are deceivers talks about them as deceivers they are those who very craftily because you know it's the work of satan so very very subtly very craftily very nicely they deceive the mind of others as well as their own minds themselves they are deceived and you know they are empty talkers but they you know appear to be very clear very impressive in the way they say things but all they are saying is just empty because it's not the power of God does not have the the power the power of God destined to it it's not the source is not from God and hence it is empty words okay and also he says that these people are deceivers because they are only people who merely talk but don't do they only tell others what to do but they don't do it themselves and and the greatest tragedy is that people get easily deceived by their false doctrines because it is you know so sweet so nice to listen so pleasing to the ears and they appear to be so clear and impressive they impress people's hearts and minds but actually that you know they are far away from the truth and they are people who are peddlers of error because you know they themselves are deceived by satan they deceive others themselves and so Paul is telling them telling Timothy teaching things they ought not to teach these people these false teachers are ones who teach things that they are not supposed to be teaching and he says he who are these so-called false teachers he says these especially those of the circumcision now the ESV easy standard version says there's some Jewish followers the passion translation says those who are converts from Judaism so here it's giving us a clue or identity about who these false teachers were who were troubling the believers at Crete they were basically the Jewish Christians those who are Jews who put their faith in Jesus who you know now became part of the church they insisted that circumcision was necessary for salvation so they were bringing in all of these Jewish mythologies fables genealogies things that were not real teaching it to people and also you know bringing about all these legalistic rituals and laws that they required people to keep and one of them was circumcision and in verse 11 Paul says you know them these people's mouth must be stopped so he says just as there's a moral necessity for elders to be men who firmly hold the truth in God's word like we read in verse 10 and also there is a moral necessity for these men to silence the false teachers that means they need to keep them quiet don't give them an opportunity to preach or teach in the church or to the people in the church so he's saying that the elders responsibility is to silence false teachers and then he says that they must be stopped the Greek word here means to cover the mouth with something or to silence so there are two at least two responsibilities here the offenders must be refused opportunity to spread their teachings in the churches and it also this word stopped also means that they must be silenced by you know teaching them or opposing their views by you know by teaching them the right doctrines and also silencing them by making them spread or denying them you know the opportunity to spread this their false teaching with other people in the church otherwise it will weaken the church it will weaken the house of God and it will weaken family life and then he says that these false teachers they do not convert people to the truth but they subvert now this means this word word means turn okay so subvert means to overturn or to overthrow so the stress here is on the disastrous effects on the families or on the house churches so Paul is saying if you just give this people the opportunity you know to teach or preach or if they're not silenced or if they're not stopped from spreading their false teaching you know it will be it will have disastrous effects on the families or you know the house churches so when he's talking about households here it could refer to the house churches because in those days people met in the houses of various members of the church so they were house churches or families of the church so any which ways it would have a disastrous influence on the on the church or on the families and he says that these false teachers do it for dishonest gain their motive is basically not to let people know that what they're believing is a truth so the people can live by the truth the truth can change their lives they can be benefit by the truth but their main motive is to teach these false teaching is to make money okay and they did not really care what people really believed as long as they made money okay and we read in verse 11 the verse 11 points us to the nature of their seductive activities of these false teachers and why they need to be silenced because their motive is dishonest gain their method is teaching what ought not to be taught that means those false doctrines and the multiple result is misleading whole families so why is Paul using the strong word that they must be silenced or their mouths to be closed you know is because that their methods of these their motive of these false teaching teachers is for dishonest gain just to make money they don't care what the people believe what they don't believe the method is teaching what they should not be teaching and the result is that they are misleading whole families okay and in verse 12 Paul you know quotes one of a line from a poetry written by Epimandis who was a poet from Crete he was a Cretan poet and so he had written in one of his poems that Cretans are always liars evil beast and lazy glutton's so why is Paul quoting him here because he's trying to avoid being blamed as an anti Cretan or talking bad or ill about the people of Crete so when he's pointing an a person from Crete who talks about his own people like this then he says that you know you know yes people at Crete these false teachers are not just liars but they're always liars they're not beasts but evil beasts and they're not just glutton's but lazy glutton's that means they don't want to work hard to earn their money they just want to use these false teachings and doctrines and bring about these legalistic rituals so that they can earn money okay so by pointing out this basic bad character of these Cretans it was important for Titus to understand why he has to appoint leaders to lead the church and it's also important for the church to know what kind of leaders should you know be in positions of authority to lead the church if these congregations were left to themselves then you know there would be utter chaos and confusion and there would be errors or false teaching and doctrines that will dominate the church okay and in verse 13 he says this testimony is true therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith and this testimony is true he's agreeing with the poet a tremendous statement that is true and then he's telling Titus therefore rebuke them sharply that means he's saying rebuke those who are found guilty of teaching these false doctrines rebuke them and you know with this hope that they will be convinced that means they would know what they're teaching is wrong they would be able to confess their sin and walk in the truth okay so rebuke them sharply okay and do this in a serious way and this is because this is very serious because the serious nature of false teaching and the character of the false teachers this has to be done sharply okay we looked at what was the false teachers what was their teaching what are the characteristics and because this is a serious matter he says it has to be done sharply sharply means severely or regressly a sharp rebuke you know only a sharp rebuke will get the attention of these false teachers otherwise the problem will continue okay and then he says that they may be sound in the faith so when you rebuke them sharply do this with the hope that or with the results that they will be sound they will be whole healthy in the doctrine in their faith in their foundations and the goal of rebuke is to restore them and Paul's hope was to bring the cretin believers to wholeness in their faith you know they had a sick belief system they needed to be restored to the truth that would help them to you know become healthy in their faith and likewise it is a goal of each one of us whether we are preachers teachers missionaries or teaching children or youth that the people under our care that God is entrusted to us that we teach and lead and preach or minister to them so that they will come to a place of sound faith they will be grounded in their faith in their walk and they will mature in God and verse 14 he says don't give heat to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth so he says to be sound in faith demands that the cretin believers give up two belief systems Jewish fables I told you about the Jewish fables and the commandments of men that means you know following the rituals Jewish rituals and laws which is not necessary and if they follow these commandments they will be following the commandments of men rather than following the commandments of God because salvation is by grace through faith and it's not by something that we can earn by doing good works or keeping the law because the law could not save us the law could not deliver us from our sins the law could not provide us a way out for salvation but it is it is only our faith in Jesus Christ okay so he says you know don't give heat to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn people away from the truth and in verse 15 he says to pure all things are pure those who are defiled and believe unbelieving nothing is pure but even their mind and consciences are defiled okay so we stop here we look at verse 15 and verse 16 in the next class okay any questions anyone has any questions any doubts no okay if not we'll end class here thank you all for joining class and I'll see you next Wednesday okay thank you