Identifying Potential Leaders

Titus 1:5-6

Paul had left Timothy at the city of Ephesus to prevent the teaching of false doctrine and to pastor the church. Titus has a somewhat different job. He is to work with the churches on the island of Crete, training them how to function properly, and helping them to choose qualified pastors for every church. Paul states Titus’ job description quite succinctly. The rest of the book is devoted to explaining how to accomplish it.

“For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.” (Titus 1:5-6)

In addition to correcting things that are not right Titus is to “ordain” elders in every city. To ordain means ‘to choose, to elect, or to appoint’. To be considered, a man must have a reputation for ethical behavior, demonstrate a sound moral standard, and have the respect and trust of his children.

Accusations of ethical misbehavior, multiple marriages, and rebellious children indicate a man who has not shown a consistent Godly life. There is an old saying, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Accusations of unethical behavior indicate a questionable attitude toward right and wrong. A business man who has several complaints about his business practices should not be considered.

I Corinthians 7:1-7 describes the marriage as a protection from fornication, but stresses that some men do not require it to stay pure. If a man can stay pure without marriage, he has an advantage of freedom in serving Christ according to I Corinthians 7:32-38. Matthew 19:9 and Luke 16:18 both stress that divorce and remarriage, on the other hand are adultery. I Corinthians 7:10-13 make it clear that a person who separates is to remain unmarried or reunite with their mate, not to find someone else. Multiple marriages may well indicate an unsound moral character, even though there are no allegations of sexual impropriety.

Rebellious children indicate a man who has not demonstrated a life that his children want to emulate. As I Timothy 3:5 asks, “(For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)” The attitudes and actions of the children away from home indicate the home life of their parents.

Failure to examine the ethical area carefully, led to one church hiring a contractor who had been sued for failure to complete jobs after being paid for them. He took advantage of the church’s trust, buying extra materials to remodel the church, then selling them and pocketing the money. He supported another man in the church who was accused of not properly completing jobs, finally resulting in the second man being sued and losing his license.

Failure to carefully examine the moral implications of marriage led to hiring a man who had been promiscuous before marriage. He later told the church that they should not expect single men to remain sexually pure. Although he had only one wife legally, I Corinthians 6:16 implies that he did not qualify. Sexual promiscuity among the teen age boys became a real problem.

A failure to examine the attitudes of his children led one church to select a pastor who was later shown to be sexually molesting his daughters. Another was physically abusive, while a third was discovered to be an alcoholic. Simply examining these areas would have indicated some underlying attitudes that were potential problems.