The sermon, based on Titus 1:5, explores the purpose of Paul's instruction for Titus to set in order the churches in Crete by appointing elders. The speaker discusses the geographical and historical significance of Crete in Paul's missionary journeys, noting that Paul finally reached Crete as a prisoner. The sermon draws a parallel between the 40 years of wilderness for Israel and the 40-year period from Jesus' ascension to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, emphasizing the transition from the Jewish age to the Church age. The importance of church order, governance, and the appointment of elders is highlighted as being crucial for the church's health and adherence to God's will. Elders are described as shepherds, overseers, and pastors responsible for teaching, administering sacraments, and caring for the congregation. The sermon concludes with a call to pray for the appointment of more elders and deacons to ensure effective church leadership and governance.

Titus chapter 1 verse 5. If you would please stand as we hear now directly from God. Paul writes to Titus, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains, and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. May God bless the reading of his word. Amen.

Amen. You may be seated. Titus. The author is Paul. The audience is Titus and the church by extension.

And the aim of this letter is verse 5. And so to that aim we now turn. First, continuing with our alliteration, the area Paul left Titus in Crete. Look again at verse 5, For this reason I left you in Crete. Crete, Crete.

Where is that in the Bible? What kind of place is Crete? Well, the first time that the nation and the people of Crete turn up in the Bible is in Acts chapter 2 where there are Cretans in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost where the apostles begin to speak in tongues and proclaim the gospel and a multitude of people, Cretans included by name, hear the good news in their own tongue. Cretans are mentioned at the beginning of Acts, but the actual place of Crete is not mentioned until you get all the way to the end of Acts, Acts 27. So first things first, where was Crete?

Well, Crete was, and still is today, a Greek island in the Mediterranean Sea. And so there's a picture of its location. And I put a red arrow so you know exactly where it is. There's Crete. This is a chart of Paul's first missionary journey.

That covers the span of Acts 13 all the way to the end of chapter 14 of Acts. And again, Crete is that island far off to the left. Paul has been traveling, he's been preaching and proclaiming the gospel of repentance away from sin towards God and faith in Christ Jesus. And so let it just be clearly stated this morning at the very outset of our time together. We've declared it through the order of our worship service, the holiness of God, our need to confess our sins because we have fallen short of the glory of God.

And then the wonderful sufficiency of the Savior Jesus who died to be the propitiation, the satisfaction for your sins in your place at His cross. He was raised up so that all who believe, their sins are forgiven and they are raised up with Him. That's what He's proclaiming. That's what we proclaim every Lord's Day, the death and wonderful resurrection of Jesus Christ who is Lord and Savior. So, this morning, if you do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I urge you, I plead with you, I exhort you, God says to you, repent and believe the gospel of His Son.

If you do, you should, you'll be baptized and be a part of his church. Well, that's the message that Paul is proclaiming all the way back in AD 47 through 49. And that's the message that your pastor right now is proclaiming in AD 2025. That's Paul's first missionary journey. This is Paul's second missionary journey, described in Acts 15 all the way through Acts 18.

You'll notice that the journey has expanded some. There's a big difference between the first and the second, but he still doesn't get to Crete. Crete's still untouched. There's the red arrow again, to let you know where Crete is. Here's his third missionary journey.

Still, it's almost like he kind of retraces most of his steps in his third missionary journey, And that takes you all the way through Acts 21, but still, I'm sorry, Acts 21, but still Crete is untouched. And so you should be asking, there's first missionary journey, second missionary journey, third missionary journey, when does Paul get to Crete? Well it's not until you get to the very end of Acts, Acts 27, that Paul finally lands in Crete. And if you'll recall, Paul lands in Crete not because he's on a missionary journey necessarily, but because actually he's been placed under arrest. I'm going to show you a map there.

In Acts 25, Paul is arrested, he's in Caesarea, he's preaching Christ, same message that I just preached a minute ago, and he ultimately, as he's under arrest, he ultimately appeals to Caesar to hear his case. Caesar's all the way in Rome. And so you can see Rome on the far left over there in Italy, and you can see Caesarea on the far right. So he's got to go from Caesarea to Rome, and so he does. And so Paul is put on a ship in Acts chapter 27, and in Acts chapter 27 Paul finally gets to Crete, finally makes it as a prisoner.

He goes from Crete then to being shipwrecked on the island of Malta, and then finally at the very end of Acts, Paul makes it to Rome. Now, that's the progression of Paul in the book of Acts. Just wanted to show you that briefly so you have an idea of what's going on here. He finally makes it to Crete by way of being a prisoner. Which means that this visit to Crete in Acts 27 is not what Paul is referring to in Titus chapter 1 verse 5 of our passage this morning when he reminds Titus why he left him in Crete.

It's very difficult to suggest that as Paul was a prisoner, he left Titus and Crete in that journey. It's very difficult. I guess it's possible. Not very probable. I don't believe it to be so.

Paul was a prisoner under guard in Crete. That's not when Titus was left to keep the work going. Paul hadn't got the work going in Crete yet. And so the question then should be in your mind, okay, he finally makes it to Crete, but the work in Crete hasn't really started yet. And so when did Paul get to Creek?

When did Paul lay the foundation of the work for the church there that then he would leave Titus to then finish, to build upon when that happened? The answer I think is pretty simple. The answer is well all of this happened after Acts 28. After Paul was released from his first Roman imprisonment. You might not know this, you might not, but most scholars agree Paul was imprisoned twice.

His first imprisonment was recorded in the book of Acts, and his second imprisonment resulted in his death. He was martyred, I think, very, very likely by Nero during his second imprisonment. But in between his first and second imprisonments, Paul was doing something. Paul was hard at work. Paul was preaching the gospel.

Paul was laying the foundations of the church in the world, including Crete, until he was arrested a second time and then we have some of his last letters from when he was in prison right before he died and so most theologians myself included believe that Paul did his work in Crete and left Titus in Crete and wrote this letter to Titus in Crete sometime between his first and second imprisonment. You got that? Okay. Why? Why spend any time on that?

Why does that matter? Maybe it doesn't matter. Come on. Why show you the maps? Why talk about Crete and Paul's journeys?

Why does it even matter? Well it matters because it has everything to do with Titus' assignment. Showing these maps, getting a feel for the gospel triumph in the world matters as we understand Titus' assignment. What was his assignment? Well, verse 5 tells us he was to put in order that which remained not yet put in order.

So let's move there. We've talked about the area, now the assignment. Paul writes to Titus, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you the Christian standard Bible the CSB renders verse 5 this way the reason I left you in Crete was to set right what was left undone. Okay, so what was left undone? Well, little congregations had been started all around Crete.

Crete was an island full of cities. It's full of cities, which we're gonna talk more about this in subsequent weeks but when Titus is told put elders in every city that's a big deal in Crete. That's a big deal. A lot of cities in Crete. That's what Crete was known for, an island full of cities.

And so now because it's an island full of cities, it's now an island full of little congregations. Little churches started by the labors of the apostle Paul and his companions. And so, Paul is telling Titus, set right what remains undone. Finish what I started. In a sentence, Paul is telling Titus this, build healthy churches.

Build healthy churches. See to it that God's will for his church is to be put into effect in all the cities, in all the congregations. God has a will for his church, so order the church according to God's will. Right here. So Paul is telling Titus, here's God's will for the church in his letter to Titus.

Crossroad, here is God's will for his church, and at the top of the list, raise up and appoint elders and pastors over each of those congregations. We're going to take that up in just a moment. But before we get to elders, pastors, shepherds, overseers, all the titles, before we get there I want you to understand why I had you look at those maps. I want you to understand while we spent the past ten minutes thinking about what Paul had been up to in the lead up to this letter to Titus. So listen carefully here.

I want you to think on this with me. This might be a new thought for some of you. This is not a new thought in biblical, historical, orthodox theology. In the Old Testament, the Israelites were in the wilderness for how many years? Forty years.

For forty years Israel with Moses in the wilderness. Then what happened? After the 40 years they entered into the promised land. They entered into promise. In the New Testament, Jesus, the fulfillment of Moses, also goes into the wilderness for how long?

Not 40 years, 40 days. What does he do in the wilderness? He triumphs in his perfect life, substitutionary death, justifying resurrection, his authoritative ascension, Jesus then fulfills the promise. Israel with Moses, 40 years in the wilderness, Jesus, the true and better Moses, 40 days in the wilderness. Moses at the end of the 40 years, Israel enters into the promise.

Jesus, 40 years after he dies, the Israel of God, His church, she enters her promised land, the world that Christ died for. Try to get this. Try to get this. I just said that last line and everyone's... So I don't think anybody's getting this.

I'm going to say it again. From Jesus' death and resurrection, okay, so... From His death, resurrection, ascension, to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD how long is that period about 40 years that's significant This is not some kind of random detail. There's a big deal for 40 years in the Old Testament, big deal for 40 years in the New Covenant. And so from the ascension of Jesus, the death resurrection, ascension of Jesus, to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, you have a 40 year period, a transition period away from the Jewish age.

And the transition to the age of the church. It's sort of like a relay race around the track. Have you ever seen a relay race around the track? Anybody ever been to a track meet? Oh man, this illustration is going to really be bad.

There's like three hands. I'm gonna do my best to illustrate this without you have any concept of what a track looks like so a track looks like this And if you're in a four by 100 meter relay you have four exchange or three exchange zone someone starts the race and every time they run a hundred meters they hand off a baton to someone else, right? And if you were running a race and there was no exchange zone, you would just run and run into the next person and somehow get the baton and run off. Well, that wouldn't work. In a race, you want to run to such a degree that as you're handing off the baton to the next guy he's already almost up to full speed right it's just this is there's this these zones on the track that allow you for both runners to exist in at the same time you have the start of the They have the start of the exchange zone and the end of the exchange zone, and in that zone, both runners exist, but the baton is being passed off.

And by the end of the exchange zone, the baton better be in the other person's hands. Okay, that's an exchange zone. And I think that illustration points exactly what's going on here at 70 AD, the end of the Jewish age. Sort of what it's like in Paul's day. Jesus had promised in the Gospels, listen to this, we just did this in Mark's Gospel, Jesus had promised in Mark, I'm taking the vineyard away from the Jews, and I'm giving it to the others.

I'm giving it to the nations. The Jewish age would come to an end. The old covenant is going to be swallowed up in the new covenant, and there would be a decisive end to the Jewish age, And when would that be? That would be 70 AD when the temple was destroyed. There was no confusion in that day that age is over.

But in between the ascension of Jesus and the destruction of that temple in 70 AD, there was an exchange zone where the end of the Jewish age and the beginning of the church age both existed. And so the end of the Jewish age is upon Paul and the apostles. The end of the age is upon Titus. And so that meant that what Paul is telling Titus to do here in verse 5 is massively important. Why was it important?

Why was it important for Titus to set in order what remained undone? Why was it important for Titus to set things in order? Because what had happened in the 40 years with Moses in the wilderness, the government of Israel took shape. There were elders in Israel. There were challenges to those elders.

There were challenges to that government of Israel set up in the wilderness. Just think of Korah's rebellion. It was a government ordained by God. It was a government perfected by God. It was from God.

And that government endured great hardship. Some people I think think that if you just have the right, just get all the details right, there'll be smooth sailing. Brothers and sisters, you can have every detail according to the Bible, and there's going to be chorus. There's going to be things that happen. That was really important to Israel, to the Israel of God, in the wilderness to develop the government of Israel.

And so in those 40 years before entering the promised land, Moses was tasked with forming Israel's government of elders, withstanding evil leaders. Those 40 years had to do with the Church of Israel in the Old Testament, her government, and her rulers. That all had to be established before she could enter into promise. And now here in Paul's day, They're coming up on the end of their 40-year time span of the Church of Israel under the new covenant. And what is Paul tasked?

What is Paul tasking Titus with? It's the same thing as Moses. Forming the government and rulers of the church. And withstanding evil leaders, establishing the church so that she could enter into promise you see all that in the book of Titus just like you see that with Moses If you just read Titus over and over and over again, you see it's the same kinds of things. So just try to get this.

Moses, Paul. Old covenant church, new covenant church. 40 years, 40 years. Elders, elders. Church government, Church government.

Dealing with rebellious leaders like Korah in the old covenant church. Dealing with rebellious leaders like Paul mentions in Titus 1 verse 10 in the new covenant church. Are you seeing at all why we looked at Paul's work? I want you to see the church work in the wilderness for the 40 years leading up to 70 AD. And I want you to compare that to the work that God gave Moses to do in the wilderness with His church, so that they would enter into promise.

I want you to see that if church governance and church leadership getting put into order was God's will for His church in the Old Covenant during that 40-year period, then how much more so is it important for the church in this 40-year period leading up to the promise? It's massive. And how much more important than is it for us that we might inherit the promises of Christ as a church? I think that when you put all of this together implicit in verse 5 of our passage is Paul telling Titus, we're nearing the end of the exchange zone. The baton is about to be passed.

Jesus has made promises to His church. So put things in order so that when this 40-year period is over, she'll be ready for the promise. The order of the church mattered to God in the Old Covenant. It mattered to God very much with Moses, and God is unchanging. He's immutable.

And so how much more does the order of the Church of Jesus Christ matter to God who is unchanging and the new covenant is real? It matters a lot is what I'm trying to say. Crossroad Church, The order in our church matters very much to God. There are promises, so put things in order. If there was any kind of like, man I don't know, is Titus really worth studying?

That ought to seal the deal for you if you did at all And I'm sorry if it's confusing. I'm trying my best Put things in order there's promises Look at the victory that God gave his church in the old covenant who formed themselves according to God's will for His church. Look at their victory. Titus, Paul is saying, Titus, that victory is ours a hundredfold if we give ourselves to God's will for his church in the New Covenant. That victory is ours, a hundred fold Crossroad Church, if we order ourselves according to God's will contained herein.

God's will for his church matters. The promises hold true. So I said this last week, I'll say it again this Lord's Day. Let us give ourselves to those promises here in this book. Let us order our church according to this book.

There are promises for us who do. Saints of Crossroad, you need to hear this. Until Christ returns, His church will always need elders. His church will always be up against rebels. It will always be up against rebels.

It will always be up against dangerous modern day chorus. We will always be up against the tendency to slide in the wrong direction, to drift. We will always be up against the church falling into some kind of disorder. That is why we must, we must be anchored to this, the Word of knowledge, the Word of God which accords with govenance. That's verse one of Titus.

This is why we must anchor ourselves to this word that will keep us steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Why? Because if we're anchored to this word, this Word is steadfast and immovable. It's the only thing that's going to keep us from drifting. And so even if you disagree about the order in our church, if our decisions as elders, if our decisions as a church are anchored to this Book, rejoice and be glad.

This is why we must, we just must, never approach our worship of God and our practices in this church flippantly or casually, starting with how we think things should be practiced. Starting with what we think, how we think the church should be ordered. But instead, we must start here. We must be reforming the church according to the instruction herein. We should be regulated by what is in God's perfect Word.

So it begins with elders, pastors, who themselves Seek to put in order what remains. It begins with the shepherds of God's church setting right what does not accord With God's will for his church. So that's what Titus was called to do That's what we as your shepherds are called to do in this church to put things in order to put things in order so you need to hear this brothers and sisters God is a God of order he takes things from disorder and he gives them order He's been doing this from disorder to order from the beginning. Do you remember Genesis chapter 1 verse 2? The second verse in the Bible, the earth was formless and void, Darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.

The earth was formless and void. And what happens in the following verses? God puts order to it. God puts order to it. We are following the example of our Heavenly Father.

We are obeying our Creator as we put things in order in His Church, in this Church. God is a God of order. Paul says so in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 33. 1 Corinthians 14, 33. For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

And so our call as your pastors and our call as a church is to be rightly ordered. To not be willy-nilly in whatever floats your boat. Let's see what happens kind of people. But to say, God, here is how you desire to be worshiped. Here is how you desire for us as a church to be structured.

Here is how we are to live. Here's your order of things. And we will conform ourselves to this Your Word. That's easy. We should all agree on that, right?

But I have heard so many times, well-intentioned saints, and I mean this with all my heart, they are so well-intentioned. But well-intentioned saints will say something along the lines of, well, our church, the church universal, the church visible, our church just needs to be more organic. We just need to be more led by His Spirit. We just need to be less structured, a little less order, so that the Spirit can do a work. Well, I agree with the first part.

Organic love it. Spirit led, love it. Second part of that. We need to be less structured, a little less ordered, a little less administration so that the Spirit can really do something. I just want you to think about what that well-intentioned saint is saying.

That to be organic is to be less ordered as a church. To be organic is to have less structure as a church. Have you ever looked at a plant? You can't get more organic than the word plant. We're growing strawberries at our house.

Isn't that right, girls? Mmm, I haven't eaten any yet and I'm big enough. Then we saw the other day that ants were eating them before us. You want to see some girls with some righteous indignation. So you take a strawberry, again it's not much more organic than a strawberry.

And that strawberry grows in a very structured pattern. It's not doing random things as a strawberry. Willy-nilly, might be a banana this day. God has designed that strawberry plant and he's made that strawberry plant in particular and ordered ways so that it flourishes in God's order of creation. Its order as a plant, its structure as a plant, results in its flourishing, not its diminishing.

To say that being organic, like a healthy and growing plant, requires less structure and less organization and less order is ignoring the very root of what it means to be organic. I also think about what that well intentioned saint is saying about the spirit. You know, we need a little less structure, we need less order, because it's the order, it's the structure, it's the organization, it's just getting in the way of the Spirit moving. Order in the church is getting in the way of the Spirit of God. Beloved, to say something like that, I know it's well intentioned, but to say something like that, that the Spirit is not a spirit of order.

Beloved, 1 Corinthians 14, 33 that I just read, God the Spirit is not a God of disorder, but order. The Spirit tells us that through God's Word, that it is primarily through ordered church life that He moves. The Spirit moves through the ordering of the church. The Spirit moves through the faithful, ordered proclamation of the Word of God. The Spirit moves through the ordered singing of psalms and hymns on the Lord's Day.

The Spirit moves through the ordered gathering of God's people on the Lord's Day. The Spirit moves through the ordered singing of Psalms and hymns on the Lord's Day. The Spirit moves through the ordered gathering of God's people on the Lord's Day. The Spirit moves through the ordered administration of the sacraments. The Spirit moves through the ordered shepherding of God's people.

Far from being a hindrance to the work of the Spirit of God, God tells us that a healthy structure, a healthy order in the worship service and in His church is the way that the Spirit abundantly moves. Abundantly moves. Do not take your definition of what it means to be filled with the Spirit. Do not take your definition of what it means for the Spirit to be living and active and working inside of you. Don't take your cues from the world.

What I see a lot is someone looking at a rock concert and the feelings that they experience at a rock concert and equating them with legitimate movement of the spirit on the Lord's Day. Nobody's being convicted of sin at that concert. But on the Lord's Day, through the faithful proclamation of God's Word, through the faithful administration of God's Word, through the faithful singing of God's Word, through the faithful praying of God's Word, through the faithful ordering of God's church. The spirit does move. Baptism after baptism demonstrates that.

Testimony after testimony demonstrates that. Worship, structured and order worship in the church is the way in which the Spirit abundantly moves. And so That's why you have an ordered service in your worship guide. That's why we do things in certain ordered ways in this church. That's why we have elders and deacons.

That's why we make the decisions that we make. Because Paul says to Titus, and God says to you, us as a church, put things in order. And so the natural question, I think, that arises from all that I just said, is that okay, good. I want to do that. That's the right thing to do.

How do I start? Where do we start? To put things in order, where do we start? What's Step number one on God's will for His church. And that's the question that Paul addresses at the end of verse five.

What's step number one to putting things in order? Answer, appoint elders in every city as I directed you. The appointment of elders. Step number one in putting things in order, appoint elders. Why is that step number one?

Might be that would be the first thing, and Paul tells Titus, got to get this done. Why is that step number one? Because elders are the ones who administer order. If there is one summary statement to summarize how Titus is to set in order what remains. It is to appoint elders who will pray for the flock and administer the word to the flock and administer the sacraments to the flock.

In short, appointing elders is putting things in order in his church. Without elders, there's no proper order in the church, because elders are the ones who ultimately administer order. So hear this. If you had to summarize this entire sermon in one phrase, this is what it would be. God's will for the church is to be ordered through the appointment of elders, pastors, who pray and administer the word and sacraments as they shepherd God's people.

God's will for the church is to be ordered through the appointment of elders, pastors, who pray and administer the word and sacraments as they shepherd God's people. And so if that is God's will for his church, which it is, then we need to know, okay, then what's an elder? What's an elder? Well, notice that in verse five, elders are to be appointed. And then in verses six through nine, the qualifications for those elders are listed.

And we're going to get to those qualifications next Lord's Day, Lord willing. But for our purposes this morning, within those qualifications, we can begin to understand on a basic level what an elder is from those qualifications. Look at verse 7 for just a moment. Look at verse 7. For the overseer, for the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward.

Now that word overseer in verse seven, what is that referring to? It's referring to the same thing that was mentioned in verse five. What was mentioned in verse five? Appoint who? Appoint elders.

So verse seven, overseers are referring to the same office as elders. Elders and overseers are the same. Elders are overseers. Overseers are elders. And they are what?

To be God's stewards of God's households. They're to be God's steward of God's household, the church. They're to steward the church. That word steward is another name. If you look up the gloss in the Greek, You could translate manager, you could translate administrator, or you could just simply translate it like this.

The one who is responsible. God's will for His church is for his church to be ordered through the appointment of overseers who administer the word and sacraments as they shepherd God's people. Look at verse 9. Paul goes on to describe the qualifications of elders and overseers. They are to hold fast the faithful word according to the teaching.

So you have overseers, elders, they're to be teachers and preachers so that he will be able both to exhort and sound doctrine and Refute those who contradict it. It's right there in Titus for you. The ministry of preaching, the ministry of teaching the word to the gathered assembly on the Lord's day is for elders, is for overseers. Elders and overseers are referring to the same office. And these overseers, they administer.

I want you to think about this for just a moment. I think sometimes we just think we just do things because that's the way we do them. Listen to this. Elders, overseers administer the word in teaching and preaching. And as a result of their teaching and preaching, they administer what next?

The sacraments. The table. Because it's the administration of the Word that gives these sacraments their meaning. We talked about it last week, but I have to mention it again, because I really want you to understand this. You can take grape juice and bread out of that cabinet later this afternoon, and if you eat it, all it will be is a snack.

But when the Word of God is preached on the Lord's Day by an overseer of God's household, The administration of that word, the proclamation of that word makes this bread and this juice, the putting things in order of the word, makes these elements powerful. The administration of God's word and preaching gives substance and meaning to these elements that didn't used to be there when they were in that cabin. And so if you take away overseers, Just think about this. If you take away overseers, you take away elders, you take away the administration of the Word. And if you take away the administration of the Word, you take away the administration of the sacraments.

Which means you take away all the vitality within a church. Elders are vital. Appointing elders is God's clear will for His church. I hope you see that. Well, this is vital.

This is the continual sign of the new covenant for you. It's the continual God marking you out week after week after week. You're mine. You're mine. You're part of my household.

You're part of my household. You take away the elder, you take away the proclamation of the word as God has ordered, you therefore take away the administration of the sacraments, they all flow. So elders matter. You see why Paul would say to Titus, point elders? It's where you must start.

That's what an elder is on a basic level, an overseer. But an elder is not just an overseer. He's also a shepherd and a pastor, isn't he? We won't go there, but in Acts 20 verse 28, Paul calls upon the elders of the Ephesian church and he charges them to be on guard for themselves and for their flock. And listen as Paul exhorts the elders, the elders of the Ephesian church in Acts 20 verse 28.

Listen to this. Paul says to these elders, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood. An elder is an overseer and an overseer is a shepherd, which is actually where we get the word pastor. Pastor. That word pastor means one who shepherds.

A pastor cares for the sheep. A pastor tends to the flock that God has given to him, oversight over. That's why every week, beloved, every week that's why we reach out to a number of you in this church, we work through the directory, and we ask you how can we specifically pray for you, because we are charged with caring for your immortal souls. Which is not a light thing. That's why week after week we do that, that we would care well for you, that we would intercede for you, we played on behalf of Christ for you, to the Father who loves his children.

A pastor, your pastors, are charged with the great task of watching over your souls. We are tasked with watch care of your immortal souls as an under shepherd of Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus himself being the great shepherd. And so I hope you're seeing that these titles, elder, overseer, pastor, all three of those titles refer to the same office. Same office in the Church of Jesus Christ. Elder, pastor, overseer, shepherd.

Add a few more words if you want, probably. Elders, overseers, pastors, those called to this office are responsible for shepherding the flock, putting things in order in the churches as they administer the word and sacraments, and to pray for the sheep whom they love very much. I love you very much. I do that's what an elder is least insured the long of it will come Lord willing next week will will dive into those qualifications it will take me at least two weeks I put on that I put the preaching guide up which always gets me in trouble because you know, two turns into seven. I don't think it'll turn to seven.

Okay, so that's what an elder is, but we can't be discontent with what an elder is. We need to also notice what Paul says about elders. Notice, this is huge, that elders are to be appointed. Elders are to be appointed. That's tight as his assignment, at least his first and primary task in his assignment in putting things to order.

In order to put things in order, you need to appoint elders in every city as I directed you, Paul says. Well, that word appoint is translated ordain in the King James Version. So in the KJV, we get the word ordain. That's where we get our idea of ordination. Have you ever heard that word, ordination?

Can you raise your hand if you've heard that word? Way more than the track me. It's good. Okay, so I was ordained. I was appointed to be an elder pastor overseer by the elders of my previous church prior to being sent out as your pastor.

Boulevard Baptist Church, saints that I love today. Boulevard Baptist Church this morning, this morning, texting me as they have the past 208 weeks, 52 times four. They have not missed a week since I have been your pastor. Where one elder, sometimes two, have texted me on the Lord's Day. I mean, it makes me emotional.

And they say, I am praying for you at Mass Huge. Her elders set me apart, both of our Baptist Church. They ordained me to the appointment of being your pastor. And had they not have appointed me, do you know what I would have done? I would have kept being a math teacher.

I wouldn't have come. I'd have no business coming to be your pastor because a Christian cannot appoint himself. He must be appointed by God through God's means, namely local church elders. Elders are to be appointed. Elders are to be ordained.

And You don't have to call out those words. Some people just don't like that word ordination. Ordained? It's fine with me. Cool.

You can call it anything you want. It doesn't matter what you call it, but that's how biblical eldership works. There is an appointment, there's an ordination, there's a setting apart, everyone would call it, of elders. There's an appointment, a setting apart of elders to be pastors by pastors. Paul had set Titus apart, listen to that, Paul had set Titus apart, Paul an apostle, So Titus got his authority from an apostle, and Titus had been set elders apart.

It's clear. Paul, Titus, elders. Titus was to set these men in every city apart to appoint elders in every city as he was directed. And the reason I want to make sure you understand this is because I think there could be this notion among so many of us, and we live in America, which is hyper individualistic. Like I was talking to a brother, a Dear Brother this week, and we just talked about how the word covenant even like, it's just so foreign to most Americans' ears because we just are so individualistic, right?

You know, America, which is great, I mean I love America, but We live in a covenantal world. We're not just individuals. And so I just want to make sure we get this. The call, the pursuit of being an elder, is not just some inward man, I think I can do this thing kind of calling. That might be the beginning of it.

That's not the biblical reality that like, you know what, you wake up one day, you know what? I'm going to be an elder. I mean that's a great step one. Well there's about 99 more steps. So pastors, overseers, elders, one of us, elders are appointed by other elders.

They are not self-appointed men. So young men, young men, if you believe that you are called to be an elder, if you believe you're called to be a pastor, if you think, maybe that's in my future, and I, It delights me that someone would think that. And I'm talking big tides back there. I'm talking to the boys back there. I'm talking to the men right here.

And that delights me that maybe, maybe one of you could take the baton as someone puts me in the ground. Maybe one of you could do my funeral. That would be sweet. So young men, if you aspire to the office of pastor, you do aspire to do a very noble thing. Not excited about that.

Yes, I did. Amen. But ultimately, that calling to the pastorate cannot be simply something that you feel or think in a moment. That calling has to be confirmed by your pastors. 1 Timothy 3, the whole book of Titus, makes it plain.

Officers of the church should be tested. Elders and deacons should be tested. There are qualifications for both of those offices. And in order to see that those qualifications are met, men should be tested. By who?

Who should oversee that testing? I just told you the answer. Who should oversee that testing? The overseers. Those that God has ordained to be the authority of the church, namely his elders.

And so whether it be the office of pastor or deacon, full-time missionary, elder, church planner, missionaries are to be tested. They're to be set apart, appointed for the work by the overseers of God's household. Okay? So we have seen that elder means pastor, and that also means overseer, and the elders are to be appointed or ordained, again whatever word you want to use as long as we agree that they should be set apart by the authorities that God has given to set them apart in the church. And now lastly notice that the elders are to be in a plurality.

This is our final thing. Plurality of elders. Titus is to appoint elders plural. This is really crucial that if you've all checked out at all, check back in. I really, really need you to hear this.

Elders in every city. In each city there is a congregation and in each city there is a church. And a group of elders, more than one, is to be appointed for each congregation around Crete. So towards the beginning of the sermon I mentioned Moses. You remember that?

Some of you are still trying to figure out why did I mention Moses. And the Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years, they're about to enter into the promise. What did Moses require in the wilderness? He required a plurality of leaders. Moses appointed a plurality of men to oversee the Church of God in the Old Covenant.

And here now is Titus, near the end of a different 40 years, tasked with the appointment of a plurality of elders to oversee the church of God in the new. And now here we are 2, 000 years later, tasked with the same. It is God's will for His church that she be governed by a plurality of elders in a local assembly. Beloved, I am asking you to pray about this. I am asking that you would be praying.

I am asking you right now. Please look at me. I am asking that you would be praying about the need for a plurality of elders in our midst. We have over a hundred people, typically in our morning gatherings now, Over a hundred immortal souls that right now only two pastors are actively shepherding. If you do the math, it took me a little bit, but that's fifty a shepherd.

I just want to be clear and honest and forthright about my own insufficiencies, my own weaknesses. Pastor Matthew and I cannot, for many more months, be about the work that God has called us to do if we remain only two pastors. It has been seven months since David's had to step away, and I cannot tell you the number of times I am concerned particularly about my fellow pastor Matthew. The brother's working 40, 60, 70, 80, I don't know, maybe triple digit numbers to try to get the work done that God has called us to do. If we remain the only two pastors, we will be severely limited.

So please join us in praying that God would raise up more. I don't want to get burned out. I don't. I don't want Pastor Matthew to be burned out. But far more than that, I don't want to neglect you.

That's my biggest concern. I mean, if I got to be a casualty, so be it. But at the expense of you, ah! Because there's an accounting that has to happen. I don't want you to suffer for lack of pastoring.

I want you Crossroad Church, my people, God's people, to thrive. I want you to flourish. I want my household. I want my girls. I want my wife.

I want my little household to flourish. Because I only have one pastor right now, actively. So me personally, I don't have a plurality of elders. Just think about that for your main teaching pastor. He has one active shepherd over him right now.

It's not a plurality. So would you please join us. If there was one thing that you would do after this sermon, would you please pray that God would raise that man from our body for this office of pastor and by the way deacon we're going to talk about the essential and I if I could put a bubble of my head right now I would like make it essential in like 75 million font the essential and irreplaceable role of a deacon. We got one deacon right now. You don't have deacons in the plural, you will suffer as a church.

You don't have deacons in the plural. Your pastors will suffer. And so will you. And so there's one thing that you do after the sermon. I'm going to say it again.

I ask that you pray. Get on your knees this week, would you? Please pray. God raise up men who are tested, they'd be appointed to an office in the church, elders and deacons, and that God would sustain your pastors who right now are barely a plurality while we wait on God's perfect provision. Would you do that?

Would you please do that? I'm asking you. It would really make me feel better if you said yes. Thank you. I know I just coerced you.

I'm sorry. This is the will of God, First Church. For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. May God help us. And all God's people said, Amen.

Isaac, if you'd come. Thank you. Good luck.