Sermon for St Titus, Pastor and Confessor

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In the name of Jesus, amen. Dear Aidan and Francis and all of the Lord’s children, we give thanks to God today that even though the flower fades and the grass withers, the word of the Lord endures forever. And we rejoice in that word now.

Especially, we want to take up the problem that I think all of our texts are addressing, and that is, how is it that the church goes from age to age? From one generation to the next. This verse of our first lesson, Acts chapter 20, Paul’s preaching in Miletus, we’ll come back to the context a little bit later, and he’s telling these pastors, or these maybe new seminary graduates, he’s sending them off and saying, “Hey, pay careful attention to yourself and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.”

First, now, this doesn’t look like a big deal. This is what the Bible talks about all the time. The blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. And that blood is the price that was paid for us to set us free from sin and cleanse our conscience from all guilt and shame and to give us eternal life. It’s a wonderful promise, but what’s so special about this? The special thing is when we notice to whom the blood belongs. It doesn’t just say the blood of Christ. It says the blood of Christ. Or the blood of Jesus, or the blood of the Lamb.

It says, “And in this phrase, I think the Bible teaches us how we rightly confess this great mystery of the Christian faith, that Christ is God and man joined together in the personal union of the Lord.” In the hypostatic union is what the old theologians call it, well, I guess even the young theologians call it that, the union of the two natures of Christ into the one person so that the things that we can speak of Christ, we can also now speak of God. So that we, Christians, can say things of God that you never would think could be spoken of them, but now, in fact, not only can they, but must they. Right?

So that now, according to the pattern of sound words given to us in the Sermon of St. Paul, we can talk about the blood of God and so much more. We can talk about the birth of God. Can you imagine it? The mother of God. The suffering of God. The death of God. Because all the things that happened to Christ didn’t just happen to his humanity, but also to the whole person, divinity and humanity united as one.

So that we confess here in this text that Jesus Christ, Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, and true God, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. It’s amazing. And really, I mean, we could probably spend eternity meditating on this text and thinking about all these things, and we’ll never get to the bottom of it, the idea that we can speak of the blood of God. But just imagine also this, that that blood is what was paid for you.

My dad always used to say, something is, I remember I was bragging about this baseball card that I had at one time. I think I told you guys this story. I had this very, some sort of rare rookie baseball card, and I brought it to my dad, and I said, “Dad, look, the magazine says that this card is worth $28.” And my dad said, “Only if you can find someone who will pay you for it.” Which is really a great lesson, actually, that something is only as valuable as someone will pay for it.

But now listen to this. This is what the text is saying: that you are purchased with God’s blood. That was the price that was paid for each and every one of us. Now, that’s a stunning text. Okay, so you’ve underlined that and you’ll study it this week.

Now, to the main thrust of all of the text… There is a problem that always comes up in the church. It was in the scriptures and it comes up constantly, and that is how will the church survive? We see it perhaps acutely when Jesus is telling the disciples, “In a little while you’ll see me no more.” And they were sad because he said to them, “In a little while you’ll see me no more. Where are you going? How are we going to make it? What are we going to do when Jesus is gone?”

What are we going to do when Jesus is gone? We see what the answer is in the text from Luke chapter 10 when the Lord Jesus sends out the 72 to go on ahead of them and to preach peace and the kingdom of God. In other words, even though Jesus wasn’t there, his preaching was there and his word was there and through that the church would go on.

The same problem comes up in Acts chapter 20. This is the Miletus sermon that we were just thinking about. The context is this. Paul had been in Ephesus for three years helping evangelize the whole region, setting up a… I think a seminary there, or training guys in the scripture, setting them to be pastors in all these places. And then Paul had gone around Greece and visited back in Corinth, and he was coming back down, and he didn’t want to go back to Ephesus because he knew he would get stuck there. They wouldn’t let him leave because there were all these prophecies about when Paul ends up in Jerusalem, he’s going to be beaten and arrested and everything. And plus they loved him. He would have gotten stuck in Ephesus. So he met him down the road in Miletus. Maybe 20 miles down the coast.

And they all come there. And he preaches this great sermon. This most beautiful sermon. It’s the only sermon that we have from Paul to Christians. It’s just absolutely wonderful. And then when the sermon is done, just right after our first lesson here, it says that they fell on his neck and they were weeping because they knew that they wouldn’t see him any longer. They loved him. And Paul loved them. And they’re worried.

You have to see what they’re worried about. Paul, if you’re gone, if you’re arrested, if you’re in jail, how’s the church going to survive? How are we going to make it? And he says, “You take care of the Lord’s people. You preach the word. You give instruction. You rebuke the false teachers. You look out for the false doctrine and false living.” And now it’s passed on from Paul to all those he puts in place there. And especially in Titus.

This book of Titus is written really right towards the end of Paul’s ministry. It’s after the book of Acts. So Paul’s in prison and he’s out and he travels around, maybe to Spain, then maybe back to Jerusalem and all around. And in all these places, he’s putting men there and he’s dropping them off and he says, “All right, you’re in charge now.” So he goes to Crete with Titus and he puts him there and he says, “You’re in charge.” You’re in charge.

And there is Titus, Bishop of Crete, and he goes up to Ephesus. He puts Timothy there and says, “You’re in charge.” And all over Troas and all these different spots, “You’re in charge.” He’s dropping people. I mean, you have to wonder what’s going on now as Titus is trying to serve the people there in Crete and to be a pastor and to preach the word and thinking, “What’s going to happen when Paul dies, when Paul’s beheaded?” That’s what happens a few years later in Rome.

What’s going to happen to the church? And Paul says, “Now, you, Titus, are there, but you’re to put in place more pastors. More pastors. Elders, overseers, bishops, who can instruct in the Word, who can teach the Word, who can pass on the Word.”

Now, here’s the problem that presents itself: we look at, for example, just where we are right now in the life of the church, and we say, “Well, what happens? What happens when we all die? What happens when we get too old to stand up here and preach? What happens when we can’t keep things going?” And we think, “Well, is that just the end?” This is the same problem that happens over and over in every generation.

But here’s the reality: the whole point of all of the texts that the Holy Spirit puts in front of us this morning is that preachers come and go, elders come and go, overseers come and go, we come and go, all of us come and go, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Flesh is grass. It fades, but the word endures. The word is what creates and sustains faith. The word is what the church is established on. The Word is what never ends.

I want to maybe illustrate this with Matthew 28. This is where Jesus has the disciples. He’s maybe a few days before His ascension into heaven. He’s resurrected now. He’s appeared to the disciples in Jerusalem. He’s gone up to Galilee, and they’ve all come up to Galilee to see Him there. They find Him on this mountain, and they fall down and they worship Him. Some doubt, the text says.

And Jesus says, “Okay, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Now, that’s a stunning thing to say. I have to wonder what’s going through the disciples’ imaginations when they say that. I don’t know how to get to the equivalent, but could you imagine that you’re sitting down with a friend who said, “I just won the lottery.” You know what the lottery is? Like $42 billion now or whatever. Who knows? It’s a crazy amount of money.

So I just won the lottery. And your question, the thing that you’re thinking immediately is what? What are you going to do with all that money? What are you going to do? Now, I just think about that like times a thousand. When Jesus says to the disciples, “All authority, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” And the disciples have to think, “What are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with all that authority? Are you going to give some to us? All authority on heaven and earth.”

And you start to imagine what you would do if you had all authority on heaven and earth. Bring it into war or bring it into poverty or bring it into sickness or, you know, start the first colony on Mars or who knows whatever you’re going to do. What would you do with all that authority?

Now, here’s the amazing thing. After Jesus says what he has, “All authority, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. And look, I’ll be with you even to the end of the age.

The way that Jesus shows up with his divine authority in heaven and on earth is when he baptized you. The way Jesus shows up with all authority in heaven and on earth is when the scriptures are opened and read to you and you hear them and they’re preached to you and you think about them and study them and wonder about them. In the word and in the sacraments, all Jesus’ divine authority over all of heaven and over all of earth is brought to you, is given to you.

And that word and those gifts create your faith. Like Paul says, “I’m not ashamed of the gospel. It’s the power of God for those who believe.” Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So that in the teaching of the word, in the preaching of the word, in the hearing of the word, in the washing of the word, in the feeding on the word, in the forgiveness that comes from the word, the Lord brings his kingdom and it stands. It stands.

In Luke 10, he sends the 72. In Acts 20, he sends the other pastors. In Titus 1, he puts Titus in place, and he puts him in place to put the elders in place so that there would be spiritual children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and that even though Paul and Titus are dead, I’ve actually seen their skulls. Titus’s skull is there in this church in Crete, and John’s is hanging in the church in Rome. They’re dead and they’re gone, and yet the word of the Lord endures forever.

This is our confidence and this is our work. And I think when we ask what does this mean, this is what we want to think about. First, there are things for us to do. And maybe just to focus on this for just a little bit. It’s on us, from the text here, it’s on us to make sure that the doctrine is passed down to the next generation and from them to the next. This means that we teach the children in the church. This means we teach the children in the home.

I mean, parents and grandparents and friends are teaching. We cannot neglect this teaching of the word to the next generation because one day all those kids that are running around here are going to be the ones that are serving as elders and in the altar guild and going to the voters’ meetings and all that. We can just be grumpy and old and not worry about it. I can’t wait for that day. The next generation has to be trained with the Word of God. They’re going to be the ones to carry it forth.

And not just in our families and our congregation. We have to really think as a church what this means. This is why we need to have universities to train the pastors and teachers. Why we have to have seminaries to train the next generation of pastors that are going forth. Why we need to support all of these endeavors to send missionaries to different places.

Because the church does not simply exist for herself. We don’t just exist for right now, but also for tomorrow and the next week and the next day and the next decade or century or millennium until the Lord comes. We need to be thinking about these things. Like Paul says to Titus, “Put elders in every place.”

So there’s work to do. But I think maybe most importantly and finally, this gives us something to trust in. That the word of the Lord cannot be overthrown. The devil will attack the word but all of those attacks will fail. And when the Lord Jesus returns on the last day, he will find faith on earth. The church that he builds will stand, and the gates of hell itself will not even prevail against the attack of the church.

We, dear saints, can you imagine what a gift this is? We have the word of God. You have the word of God. This congregation has the Word of God. Your family has the Word of God. Our church body has the Word of God. And on this, the Lord has built His church and established His church, and it’ll stand. So it’s no problem.

It’s no problem that preachers come and go. It’s no problem that grandparents and parents come and go. It’s no problem that the people who baptized us are now waiting for us in heaven. It’s no problem that Jesus has ascended, that Paul and Titus have died. It’s no problem because the word, the Lord’s word, it endures forever. And it is our confidence, our hope, and our peace. May God grant us this confidence in the name of Jesus. Amen. And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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