Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 1 (Titus 1:5-9)

What A Bishop Must Be – Pt. 1 Sunday, August 3rd, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Titus 1:5-9

Prayer

Father, we thank you for our fathers and mothers in the faith. Those who begat spiritual life into us by telling us the truth, that we are sinners, that we need Jesus, and that Jesus loves to forgive and transform sinners into saints. And so holy Savior, make us to aspire now to imitate the lives of the faithful, especially those bishops, those overseers, who have kept watch and keep watch over our very souls. Teach us now by thy Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen.

Introduction

The title of my sermon this morning is What A Bishop Must Be – Part 1. And I have broken this sermon into multiple parts because here the Apostle Paul gives to us 16 distinct qualifications by which a man must be judged if he would become a Presbyter/Bishop. And so this morning we are going to consider the first 4 of these qualifications, and then the rest in future sermons.

• Now recall the occasion of this letter from Paul to Titus. Paul had visited the Island of Crete and preached the gospel there. That gospel had taken root, baby churches had been planted, but they lacked leadership, they lacked church government, and so Paul leaves Titus on Crete to “set in order the things that are wanting/lacking, and ordain elders/presbyters in every city.”
  • So Titus’s job is establish what we call a presbytery on the Island of Crete. What is a presbytery? A presbytery is a gathering of 3 or more qualified men of equal rank, who together govern the church in obedience to God’s Word.
  • The apostolic pattern was to establish a local presbytery over each congregation, which today we call an elder session, and then above that congregation’s local presbytery was a larger regional presbytery, and then above that various synods or church councils where all the church would come together and be represented. Acts 15 is the first example of such a synod, where multiple churches send delegates to Jerusalem to deliberate, and then that decision is written down and circulated amongst the broader church.
  • This is what we call Presbyterian church government, and it was Titus’s task to establish this form of government on the Island of Crete.
• Now to give you a little portrait of what the Island of Crete is like, just imagine white sandy beaches everywhere, crystal blue water that you can snorkel in, palm trees, mountains, beautiful landscapes everywhere you look, and all that on an Island that is just a little bigger than King County and Thurston County combined (about 3,200 square miles).
  • And so if you are Titus, this is a beautiful environment in which to work. But with that beautiful vacation-like atmosphere comes also the challenge of arousing these Cretan Christians to live not for the pleasures of this world, but for the surpassing pleasures of the world to come.
  • We learn in verse 12 that it was a distinct vice of these islanders to be lazy, liars, and given to sensuality. Paul says in verses 12-13, One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.
  • And so Titus has his work cut out for him. On top of the sounds of waves lapping at the shore, and birds chirping cheerfully in the palm trees, there is Titus rebuking the Cretans. “Stop lying! Get up and do some work! Put down that third mojito and become sober minded!” This is what Titus was left in paradise to do.
• Now amongst those Christians in Crete who do not need such a sharp rebuke, Titus must examine and assess the men in each congregation so that he can identify and ordain elders/bishops in each city. And Paul has set down these 16 qualifications for an elder/bishop, which are to be read in every church. And this is the bar for morality that every Christian man of every age and stage of life should aspire to, even if he is not called to be an elder.
  • In other words, these 16 qualifications are a universal standard for godliness and the whole church should desire this for themselves and their leadership.
  • And so while the focus is on what a bishop must be, these character traits are what every Christian ought to desire to become in his or her unique way. And so as we go through the first 4 of these traits, I want you to examine yourself. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. As to whether Christ is really living in you.
  • If Titus were to visit our church, and sit each