We seem to have a perpetual shortage of leaders. That's really nothing new as we see today in Paul's letter to Titus. The problem isn't that we have no leaders, but the ones we have aren't very good. Paul was concerned as he looked at the small households of faith scattered over the Roman world and instead of good strong leaders, he saw the body of Christ being misled and deceived. He doesn't waste time complaining about it. Instead he gives instructions to Titus about what to look for and prioritize in good leaders for God's people.
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In season four we are praying through some of the letters in the Bible. We begin the short letter to Titus today. Besides Philemon, this is Paul's next shortest letter. It gives us a lot to reflect on, meditate about and to pray on in its 46 verses. After briefly considering the context and situation that Paul is writing to, we turn to the main theme of the first part of this letter: leadership.
Paul gives Titus specific instructions about appointing elders to guide and oversee the local churches on Crete (for more background, watch the video here). These small groups of believers were already facing the challenge of many wayward teachers coming among them and leading them astray. In Titus 1:10-16 we get a vivid picture of this "anti-leadership" or the opposite of what the body needs. Paul shares with Titus in 1:5-9 the key desirable characteristics of leaders, and it really comes down to character or virtue. These are old-fashioned words, but the need for leaders of strength never goes out of fashion.
What is the prime virtue of character trait that leaders need according to Paul? They should be "blameless" or "irreproachable" (Titus 1:6, 7). Paul paints a vivid picture of desirable leadership, and the key themes center around self-control and social conscience. In other words, leaders of the local body need to have the character of Christ and good emotional intelligence.
We are using the letters to grow closer to God in season four. We can't exhaust the riches in each part of scripture we cover, but you can go deeper into them on your own using our four step process. You can download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.
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We have a course on Philemon and Colossians for in-depth Bible study called "Christ Supreme". If you are interested in going deeper, check out the links on our website or the Facebook page.
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