Sun 18 Nov

There are three letters written by Paul commonly called the Pastoral Letters. They are called pastoral because they are written to pastors – Timothy and Titus. The letters provide teaching on how the church functions and operates. Over the next three Sundays we will study the letter Paul writes to Titus. Chapter One examines the leadership of the church through the lens of appointing elders. Chapter Two examines how members treat and respond to one another. Chapter Three examines the gospel, the good news given to the Church to proclaim.

Elders are charged with the responsibility of overseeing the Church. What then would you look for if we are to appoint elders? Paul provides a list of characteristics. A list which is also found in I Timothy Three and to a lesser extent in I Peter 5.

One challenge we find with the characteristics is that one would have to be perfect in order to have any of those traits. Take the first trait which is mentioned twice – “blameless”. For those seeking to be appointed as an elder who among us could lay claim to being blameless? Not one of us could claim to be blameless. This is where we need to look to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is the One who enables us to be blameless. He lives the blameless life. So anyone seeking to take on leadership needs first of all to look to the One who is blameless. Jesus enables us to live the life required.