The Truth About Preaching (Titus 1:1–4)
Paul wrote to Titus so that he would organize Christians into congregations through sound preaching that produces sound living. His opening greeting reveals the truth about preaching: it is based in God's eternal plan, it is the means through which that plan is revealed, and it serves those God saves in their faith, knowledge, and hope of eternal life.
Introduction
We’ve spent ten Sundays in 2 Peter on the Second Coming of Jesus. After a lot of eschatological talk, we transition this morning to a more down-to-earth letter of Paul: Titus. Paul (v. 1) wrote to Titus (v. 4) so that he’d organize Christians into congregations through sound preaching that produces sounds living.
In 1:5 Paul speaks to Titus about organizing Christians into congregations: “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order.”
Look at how Paul speaks to Titus about sound or healthy preaching. In 1:9 he speaks of the kind of overseer Titus was to appoint: “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.” Look at 2:1: “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine.”
Look at how Paul speaks to Titus about sound preaching that leads to sound living. In our passage he says the truth…accords with godliness (v. 1). In 2:10 he speaks of slaves “adorn[ing] the doctrine of God our Savior.” In 3:8 he says “those who have believed in God” are to be “careful to devote themselves to good works.”
Titus is an important letter for us to take to heart, beloved. We need to come to a greater appreciation for the church universal and also our local manifestation of the Lord’s Body. All of us are products of the culture we live in so we live life on our own terms, we don’t want others “indoctrinating” us, and we want to define our own reality. So, we end up living in isolation from the church expect for an hour or two a week. Do you ever think, “How is this decision going to affect my brothers and sisters at OURC?” Can you say to the Lord,
I love thy church, O God:
her walls before thee stand,
dear as the apple of thine eye
and graven on thy hand.
For her my tears shall fall,
for her my prayers ascend;
to her my cares and toils be giv’n,
‘til toils and cares shall end.
So, Paul (v. 1) wrote to Titus (v. 4) so that he’d organize Christians into congregations through sound preaching that produces sounds living.
Note that he writes as a servantof God (v. 1) like the ancient servants Moses, Joshua, and Jeremiah. He uses the term doulos, which can be translated as “slave” or “bondservant.”Paul exemplifies to us Jesus’ words: “whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must beyour slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:26–28). He also writes as an apostle of Jesus Christ (v. 1). This comes from the Old Testament were a shaliach was a commissioned representative of a king. Paul comes to Titus and through him to the believers on Crete as King Jesus’ representative.
Theme
Let’s dive into Paul’s opening greeting where the Spirit’s voice teaches us some of the truth about preaching.
It is Based in God’s Eternal Plan
First and foremost, the truth about preaching is that it’s based in God’s eternal plan. Look at verse 1, where he says he was appointed as an apostle for the sake of the faith of God’s elect (v. 1). What do you notice? He just assumes that God elects. This is how it was in the Old Testament. Why did the Lord choose Abram out of a house of idolaters? We’re never told. Why did the Lord choose Israel? Turn back to Deuteronomy 7 with me. Here is one of the fundamental texts on election in the Bible
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (7:6–8)
Why did God elect Israel? Because he loved them. Was it because of something he saw in Israel? No. He loved them. Why did he love them? Ask him when you get to heaven!
The big point Paul is making here to Titus is that God has an eternal plan and his preaching played a part in it. Look at verse 2 where he connects the believers hope of [future] eternal life with God, whom he says never lies and promised eternal life before the ages began (v. 2). Again, God has an eternal plan. He is “eternal,” meaning, his life has existed before anything or even the ages of time existed. But note also that “eternal” also means the kind of life God has. Our hope is not just that we’ll exist in timelessness or outside the boundaries of time; but that we’ll live with God and share in his life. Paul’s connecting his apostolic ministry of preaching to this future hope we have of living with and enjoying life with God.
This means several things for us, beloved.
First and foremost, this should transform how those of us who speak, do so! The truth about preaching is that when we gather, something eternal is being spoken that has nothing to do with life as you know it. This past week, conservative writer Eric Metaxas tweeted out: “If you pastor doesn’t INSIST you vote in his next sermon, he may as well preach on the blessings of abortion. It’s the same thing. And if you attend a church life that, you share in the guilt.” Brothers and sisters, you know that we have civic duties and that as Christians we do all things to the glory of God. But I am not going to debase this pulpit with mere secular noise. Yes, vote; but you do not need me to tell you this or me to tell you how to do this. Vote your conscience and pray the Lord’s blessing upon the outcome. But those of us who preach have something that no other religion, philosophy, media source, politician, motivational speaker, pundit, influencer—you name it—has: we have a message from an eternal God, about eternity, to invite you and I into his eternal life. Preaching is different! As Tom Holland recently said, “Keep Christianity weird” and I intend to do just that because I believe this is what God wants from me!
Second, this should transform how those of us who listen, do so! Something eternal, mysterious, other-worldly is happening when you hear faithful preaching. You’re hearing the eternal God come near. You’re being transported out of your chaotic, disappointing, and mundane life into eternity. You need this! You need to hear something other than the drivel that floods the airwaves. You need something other-worldly to lift your eyes and hearts to something that’s worth hoping in! Amen?
It is the Means through which this Plan is Revealed
Second, the truth about preaching is that it’s the means through which this plan is revealed. Note the contrast in verses 2 and 3 between the promise of eternal life before the ages began and then at the proper time [this promise was] manifested in his word through the preaching (v. 3). God’s word or logos can mean his speech written in the Scriptures. It can also mean Christ himself, the eternal “Word” or logos made flesh (John 1:14). The logos is also used in Greek literature for a coherent thought with a purpose that will be fulfilled at the end of human history. We call this “the gospel.” Turn over to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2. Remember what he said in chapter 1: some who clamor after wisdom call the gospel foolishness. Then he says:
“…among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age…But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’ these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. (2:6, 7–9)
In other words, Paul is teaching us the truth about preaching is that it is a manifestation or revelation to this world of God’s eternal plan for the world to come. The hope of the eternal life of God that we are all waiting for is revealed through preaching. This is foolishness to the world, but it is God’s own wisdom.
This means, again, that Christianity is different from the world. We have our own vocabulary that needs to be taught and learned. We have our own view of human history that is moving towards a goal of fellowship with God, and no proposition, city council, State legislature, Congress, Supreme Court, or President is going to thwart God! Amen? We’ve gotta get our eyes and hearts out of the mud of temporal human politics. Preaching makes known “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined” concerning “what God has prepared for those who love him.” The gospel of Jesus Christ and your lives as Christians does have impact on this world for good. But don’t ever forget, even for my postmillennial brothers and sisters out there, that the most glorious age you can imagine, is still just a faint, temporal reflection of the age that is to come. And it’s to that hope, eternal life with God, that we are moving towards.
It Serves those God Saves
Third, the truth about preaching is that it serves those God saves. God’s eternal plan of eternal life manifested to you and me through the preaching of the gospel is meant to serve our well-being in this life until the life to come.
It serves our faith
Paul labored and preached for the sake of the faith of God’s elect (v. 1). All this talk about election and eternity is meant to bring us to faith and to strengthen our faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). Brothers and sisters, this age is throwing everything it can at us: trust God. Entrust yourselves to him.
It serves our knowledge
Paul labored and preached for…their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness (v. 1). As Jesus said, “this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Jesus is the truth; know him personally by knowing who he is biblically and theologically. Preaching brings us the truth about him, but also brings the truth himself to us so that we’ll know him. Note as well, that knowledge accords with godliness. That means our knowledge is not merely intellectual information that we store up in the hard drive of our minds, but that it leads to godliness. As I’ve said to you before, as a congregation we need to be known for having a big theology but just as big of a heart to anyone and everyone who walks through those doors.
It serves our hope
Paul labored and preached in hope of eternal life (v. 2). We’re battered, bombarded, bruised, and broken by the world for six days. As I said earlier, we come out of the world to hear what God has to say to us about hope of a life to come that “no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined.” That eternal life that awaits us is a place that “God has prepared for those who love him.” Heaven, and then as we recently saw in 2 Peter 3, the new heavens and new earth, is Him!
Conclusion
Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior (v. 4).
And all of God’s people say, “Amen!”