TITUS SERIES, WEEK 5: A CHURCH FOCUSED ON WHAT MATTERS

 “We need to understand the tone of the text to understand the heart of the writer.” Dale Ralph Davis

• Setting the Church in Order includes:
  • Titus 1:1–4 The Gospel Foundation: The church must first be grounded in the before it can be properly ordered.
  • Titus 1:5–9 Godly Leadership: A healthy church requires leaders whose lives and teaching are .
  • Titus 1:10–16 Protecting the Truth: Church leaders don’t merely teach truth; they God’s people from what destroys truth.
  • Titus 2:1–10Truth That Shapes People: Sound should create sound people.
  • Titus 2:11–14 Grace That Saves and Transforms:  us for our present and gives us for Christ’s return.
  • Titus 2:15–3:8 Grace That Produces a New People: Changes our with God, and the way we live with everybody else.
  • Titus 3:9-15 A Church Focused on What Matters: is about fruitful, not foolish.

1. A Fruitful Church Useless Disputes:

• Titus 3:9 Do not get involved in foolish discussions about spiritual pedigrees or in quarrels and fights about obedience to Jewish laws. These things are useless and a waste of time.
  • Don’t allow conversations that continually move the church away from godliness (2Tim 2:14, 16, 23, Heb 13:9).

2. A Fruitful Church Protects :

• Titus 3:10 If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them.
  • Church discipline is corrective, not vindictive (2 Thes 3:14-15, Heb 12:15).

3. A Fruitful Church Divisiveness:

• Titus 3:11 For people like that have turned away from the truth, and their own sins condemn them.
  • Separation may be necessary for the church’s health (Rom 16:17–18, 1 Cor 5:9–13).

 “A problem ignored is a growing problem; Paul’s advice: deal with it. Don’t ignore division. For the church to be strong and honor God, the church is to be one.” The Voice Bible

4. A Fruitful Church in Faithful Workers:

• Titus 3:12 I am planning to send either Artemas or Tychicus to you. As soon as one of them arrives, do your best to meet me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to stay there for the winter.
• • A church cannot fulfill its mission for Christ without capable men and women who step forward and serve (Eph 6:21, Col 1:28, Col 4:7, 2Tim 2:2, 2Tim 4:12, 2Thes 2:13, 15).

 “One is too small a number to achieve greatness. You are never designed to do it by yourself. If your dream can be accomplished alone, your dream is too small.” John C. Maxwell

5. A Fruitful Church the Needs of the Believer:

• Titus 3:13 Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos with their trip. See that they are given everything they need.
• • The ministry belongs to Christ, not to the individual minister (1 Cor. 3:5-9, Gal 5:13-14, Gal 6:2, Eph. 2:10, Eph. 4:11-12, Phil. 2:1-11, Heb 13:16).

6. A Fruitful Church Produces Works:

• Titus 3:14 Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others; then they will not be unproductive.
• • Christianity isn’t supposed to produce people who merely know biblical truth. It produces people who use their lives to benefit others. (Eph 2:8-10, Titus 3:5, Gal 6:9-10).

7. A Fruitful Church on God’s Grace:

• Titus 3:15 Everybody here sends greetings. Please give my greetings to the believers—all who love us. May God’s grace be with you all.
• • Grace is not merely what saves us; it is what sustains us and enables us to live the fruitful Christian life God has called us to. (Eph 2:8-9, Phil 4:13, 2 Tim 1:9, Titus 2:11-121, Titus 3:7, Heb 4:16).

Conclusion: The properly ordered church is not merely a church with the right structure, the right leaders, and the right doctrine. It is a church whose Gospel-shaped people produce Gospel-shaped fruit.

Lord Jesus, I admit that I am a sinner. I know that the penalty of my sin is physical, spiritual, and eternal death. I acknowledge that I can’t do anything about my situation. But I know that You came to pay the penalty for my sin. I trust in You alone as the One who died in my place. I repent of my sin and trust in You alone as the only One who can place me in an eternal relationship with the living God. I desire to be Your child. I desire to live as Your child. In Your name. Amen.