Sunday, September 27 · Harris Creek Baptist Church
Leader Worth Following
Paul sends Titus to Crete to appoint godly leaders in every church, and the same call lands on everyone: lead well at home, lead with character, and lead from the truth, because everything rises and falls with leadership.
The passages
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began; but in his own time revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior, to Titus, my true child according to a common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.
Titus 1:1–4
I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you— if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior. For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain; but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled, holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.
Titus 1:5–9
This is a faithful saying: someone who seeks to be an overseer desires a good work. The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence; (for how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule his own house take care of God’s assembly?) not a new convert, lest being puffed up he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
1 Timothy 3:1–7
Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:7
So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man doesn’t produce the righteousness of God.
James 1:19–20
Abstain from every form of evil.
1 Thessalonians 5:22
Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16–17
Go deeper
Does the way I live at home actually matter to God, or is it just my private business?
The sermon says the home is the first place leadership is tested. Paul tells Titus that an elder must be blameless and faithful at home before anything else, and the same standard is held up to everyone. It is not a private matter because the people closest to you see what you really believe.
I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you— if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.
Titus 1:5–6
…one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence; (for how could someone who doesn’t know how to rule his own house take care of God’s assembly?)
1 Timothy 3:4–5
These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:6–7
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
What does it actually look like to lead with character when nobody is watching?
Paul lists the things an overseer must not be and the things he must be, and none of them are talents. The sermon pointed to ordinary obedience as the measure God uses. Joseph ran from Potiphar's wife when no one but God was in the room.
For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain; but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled,…
Titus 1:7–8
The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching; not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;…
1 Timothy 3:2–3
No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?”
Genesis 39:9
I will be careful to live a blameless life. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a blameless heart. I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
Psalms 101:2–3
How do I hold on to the truth without becoming harsh or arrogant about it?
Paul tells Titus to hold firmly to the trustworthy message so he can encourage others and refute those who oppose it. The sermon described that as a dance between encouragement and correction. Apollos was corrected gently by Priscilla and Aquila and became more useful because of it.
…holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.
Titus 1:9
The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but be gentle toward all, able to teach, patient, in gentleness correcting those who oppose him. Perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,…
2 Timothy 2:24–25
Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Acts 18:24–26
…but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ,…
Ephesians 4:15
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear, having a good conscience. Thus, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.
1 Peter 3:15–16
Can God actually use ordinary obedience, or does he need something more from me?
The sermon said God measures maturity by ordinary obedience and can do extraordinary things with it. David was anointed king long before he did anything impressive. The widow who fed Elijah gave what she had and it was enough.
But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
Luke 16:10
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son. For Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’”
1 Kings 17:13–14
Why should I follow a leader when leaders keep failing?
The sermon named pastors who finished well and pastors who did not, and pointed to the one who never fails. The same tension runs through Scripture: leaders fall, and the people who trust God are not abandoned. David's failure did not cancel God's promise to his people.
Don’t put your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish. Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Yahweh, his God,…
Psalms 146:3–5
Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:7
Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against Yahweh.” Nathan said to David, “Yahweh also has put away your sin. You will not die.
2 Samuel 12:13