Introduction.

1. Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit introduced himself as a bondservant of God emphasising that he had given himself over to doing the will of God. Paul was totally committed to the will of God and would rather have died than not do the will of God. Paul put maximum effort into being a faithful, diligent and humble servant of the Lord. Paul wants us to know that his life is God-centred and God must receive all the glory. This letter comes from a servant of God and is written to Titus a fellow servant and to all God servants to encourage them to give excellent service to the King of glory.
   
   
2. The second thing Paul says about himself is that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. When we think of the apostles we usually think of them as men who exercised great authority in the church, our focus is mainly on apostolic authority. Paul wants us not to think of him primarily as a man with authority, but as a servant of God. If Paul did not have the mind and heart of a servant he would have put the fact that he was an apostle first. Paul was first a servant and then a man with authority, his emphasis was on being a servant who did the will of God. Paul adopted this attitude because he saw it in the example of Jesus. The King of Kings during his earthly ministry said, ‘the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.' God incarnate took on the role of the lowest servant stooping to wash the feet of his disciples. Jesus is the perfect example of a servant with authority. The fact that Elders of the church are servants of God ought to be the most dominant aspect of their function in ruling over the Lord's people. Elders are first servants of God and then men who exercise authority.
   
   
3. While Paul's life was marked by his strong sense of being a servant, he did not fail in the responsibilities Christ gave when he was called to be an apostle. Paul was a servant with authority and was not afraid to use his authority to establish true doctrine and fitting behaviour for those redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's calling to be an apostle influenced his relationship with fellow-believers. Paul was in everyway a loving brother in the Lord, but he was also a fellow-servant who led by example. He was a ruler in Christ's Church who used his authority not to lord it over his brothers and sisters, but to be faithful to the King and head of the Church. Paul exercised authority to exalt the name of Jesus Christ in the churches. Paul not only reminds Titus that he is a fellow-servant, but also that he is an apostle exercising authority on Christ's behalf. How we respond to authority is an extremely important issue as it touches on the nature of our servanthood to Christ.

1. Authority is the forgotten foundation of the Christian life.

1. When Paul says that he is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ he declares that he is a man under authority. He was not his own authority, God ruled over him. Paul was not promoting his own ideas, he was doing his masters business. The word apostle has the general meaning of a person who has been sent by one in authority. The word translated apostle would be used of a messenger sent by a general to deliver orders to a captain. In the New Testament the word develops a technical sense which describes a unique office. Paul in Ephesians 4:11-12 says, ‘And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to  a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.' The highest office ever established by God to serve the church is that of Apostle. The men who held that office had the following qualification:  
1. A divine calling to the work. (Romans 1:1 1 Corinthians 1:1)
   
   
2. A witness to the truth of the resurrection. No human being witnessed the actual resurrection, but many saw, heard and handled the Lord Jesus after he rose from the dead. Having met the resurrected Jesus in the ‘flesh' made them witnesses to the truth of the resurrection. Listen to Paul's words to those in the church at Corinth who doubted his qualifications as an apostle, ‘Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?' (1 Corinthians 9:1)
   
   
3. A commissioning by the Lord Jesus Christ and not from men.
   This is made clear in Galatians 1:1-2 which says, ‘Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia.' An apostle was a man selected, called and personally commissioned by the risen Lord Jesus Christ face to face. In 1 Corinthians 15:8 Paul says, ‘Then last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of due time.' Paul was chronologically the last person to be appointed to the office of an Apostle by the Head of the Church. The Lord in his wisdom did not appoint another Apostle after Paul. The office of Apostle ceased to exist in the church.
   
   
2. An Apostle was the highest ranking office established in the church by Christ. Being an Apostle meant that the Lord Jesus Christ delegated his authority to the Apostles. When Paul speaks or writes to the church he does so with Christ's full authority. Paul was clothed with Christ's authority. We need to remember that the office of Apostle was higher ranking than that of a Prophet. The Prophet was the mouth-piece of God and when he declared ‘This is what God says' he spoke the words of God. To disagree with the Prophets means you disagree with the Almighty who is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. The Apostles had more authority as they were given the task of building the foundation of the church. Listen to Paul in Ephesians 2:20 ‘Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a  dwelling place of God in the Spirit.' The foundation is the most important aspect of a building. The apostles were appointed to make sure that the foundation was truth, truth which had not yet been committed to writing. Apostles were custodians of the truth that formed the very foundation of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the truth, it is given to us in God's Word and we are to proclaim it, protect it, and promote it to the glory of God. False teaching plagued the churches and God gave the task and authority to the Apostles to separate the truth from error and establish believers firmly in the ways of God. The Apostles separated the opinions of men from God given truth; they determined, defined and established truth using the authority God gave them.
   
   
3. The witness of the church in Crete where Titus was ministering suffered from the very common and most basic problem of having a contradiction between what they believed and the way they behaved. Paul's letter to Titus deals with the problem of living the Christian life in a short sighted self-centred culture. By declaring that he is a servant of God and an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ Paul makes it very clear that he is prepared to challenge the false fashions, fads, fancies and errors of the culture in Crete by asserting the supremacy and sovereignty of the God whom he serves. In challenging the culture that according to Titus 1:12-13 produced people who were habitual liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons, Paul exerts his authority and calls on Titus to sharply rebuke the Cretans. To challenge the sinful ways that are embedded in the culture of society you need great authority to condemn the things that are wicked and evil in the sight of God. Paul was given this authority by the Saviour and he was not afraid to use it. Today we do not have Apostles to turn to and ask them to establish truth, but we do have the authority of the Scriptures. We have Christ's authority to say to anyone, ‘If you contradict the Scriptures you are in error.' The Bible is the highest authority it has the final say on our faith and life. The Bible is the foundation on which we are built and we must build on it faithfully. In Crete the behaviour of many believers contradicted the holiness, truth, justice, and grace of Jesus Christ which is clearly stated in the Word. Paul had Christ's authority to command them to change the way they behaved in order to have a consistent witness to the truth.
   
   
4. We need to remind ourselves that God in his wisdom has given us his servants, the Bible to use to discern the truth in all matters of faith and life. The Scriptures must rule over us, we must not rule over the Scriptures. The moment we rule over the Scriptures we undermine the authority of God's Word and attack the very foundation the church is built on. As a congregation it is our responsibility to make sure that the supreme authority in our lives is the Word of God. Like the reformers we need to declare, ‘sola scriptura.' This asserts that the Bible is God's written Word which is self-authenticating, clear and self-interpreting and the absolute truth. A sure sign that a church is in decline is when the authority shifts from the Scriptures to the church officers and courts. Authority is the forgotten foundation of the church. Paul was not afraid to exercise his Christ given authority to expose false teaching and the sinful ways in the church.

2. Authority needs to be exercised by all God's servants in the times we live in.

1. The sinful nature refuses to submit to the authority of God and to accept that he has the right to rule over our whole being. By nature we are opposed to submitting to any authority. As God removes his common grace which restrains the wickedness of society so the spirit of anti-authority becomes stronger. John Benton in his commentary on Titus likens the attitude of the times we live in to that of a market place. Listen to what he says, ‘Many traditional ways of handling matters have gone. Everything from education to health is now seen in terms of products, consumers and prices. We speak of market forces, market research, and market value. This is our culture. Behind this image of the market place there is a philosophy. At the centre of the market is the idea of the sanctity of individual choice. True freedom is for the individual to stroll through life's bazaar, stopping at the different stalls and making his or her own selection. The market is therefore an image which promotes a subjective attitude to life. The philosophy behind the market place is one which idolizes the freedom of individuals to choose whatever they think is best for them. The centre of the market is really the self and its perceived needs.' The church has set up a stall in the market place situated alongside the stalls of every other religion. Accepting that life's experience is responding to different traders who are competing for the attention and custom of people the church adopts a marketing strategy that advocates making the gospel instantly attractive to everyone in the market place. Many churches have modified and rearranged themselves to compete in the market place, packaging the gospel as a means to a healthy, wealthy and trouble free life or as the means to meet any and every need you may have. Religion has also been reduced to an interaction between products and consumers. If you offer people what they want you will have a host of consumers. Many churches have bought into the philosophy that upholds the sanctity of individual choice. Individuals become their own authority and believe and behave as they please and no one has the right to challenge them. This image of the world as a market place is very real to the times in which we live, and it is very easy for us to adopt and practice a market place mentality to life.
   
   
2. The market place concept of life panders to three issues that are very appealing to the sinful nature:
1. It makes you the one who decides what you will and will not have in your life.
   
   
2. It accepts your subjective feelings as the determining criteria of your choices.
   
   
3. It establishes pleasing-self as the focus and goal of life.
   
   
3. Our culture advocates self-centredness, good feelings and personal happiness as the pathway to a full and satisfying life. It ought to be obvious that concepts such as servants and apostles are diametrically opposed to the modern view of the world. Being servants and submitting to apostles involves things like authority, responsibilities, obligations, self-denial, obedience, duties and loyalties. Our lives are lived in a fast flowing stream that is self-centred, selfish, subjective, irresponsible, materialistic, arrogant, and pleasure orientated. One of the most prominent attitudes that comes out of the fast flowing stream of our culture is ‘I am my own authority.' This attitude quickly filled the vacuum left by the philosophy that denies the existence of absolute truth and truth itself. In the ‘I am my own authority world' truth is whatever I think it is, and my opinion is on a par with any other opinion there might be in the world. We see this demonstrated most clearly in the area of morals. In our culture morals are not based on truth or authority, but on personal opinion and choice. In the ‘I am my own authority world' the conscience has been seared and anesthetised. The voice of conscience has been drowned out by the sales pitches of the market place we live in. Living in this world as a Christian is very difficult because you are swimming against the relentless tide. When this self-centred and anti-authority culture penetrates the church, the church develops a gap between what it says it believes and how it actually behaves. The lives of believers contradict what they claim to believe, and it becomes more and more apparent that members live according to their own opinions and feelings rather than according to the Lordship of Christ Jesus.
   
   
4. A church that does not insist on and practice the supreme authority of the Scriptures in all matters of faith and life is undermining the foundation. Perhaps the best way to explain this is to give you a clear example. Creation Ministries International prayer news for the first quarter of 2007 gave this report, ‘The Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Philip Aspinall, recently expressed views on homosexuality which, sadly, are just a reflection of similar views all over the world today - hand in hand with the increasing rejection of the authority of Genesis. Referring to the churches change of mind on slavery, Galileo's astronomy and other issues, the Archbishop claimed that it was likely that a similar process was now happening on homosexuality. But he said, one should not see this sort of thing as ‘the church caving in to external pressures to conform to the sinful ways of the world.' Rather, such processes were the way the Holy Spirit has led the church more and more into truth, as Jesus promised would happen. Aspinall accepted that parts of the Bible ‘seem to condemn' homosexual acts, but then said that the church needed to recognize that we now know more than the biblical authors knew in their age about homosexuality.' Five things ought to be clear from what Philip Aspinall said,
   1. The Scriptures are no longer the supreme authority of faith and life, our discovery of new knowledge is.
      
      
   2. The Scriptures are not inerrant and infallible and we expect to find errors as our knowledge increases.
      
      
   3. The Scriptures could not have come from a God who is omniscient, we now know and accept them as human documents which are the product of human minds.
      
      
   4. Accept the church's authority to tell which parts of the Scriptures are to be superseded by our new and more comprehensive knowledge.
      
      
   5. The spirit that Philip Aspinall says has led the Anglican Church into more and more truth is not the Holy Spirit of the Bible. The Holy Spirit will never, never contradict the Word of God he inspired and moved men to write. The Anglican Church has become its own authority, it rules over the Word of God.  Servants of Christ need to exercise their God given authority and say, "Dr Philip Aspinall you are wrong. Submit to the Scriptures and stop undermining the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone.' Servants of Christ Jesus are under the authority of Jesus Christ who rules over them by his royal word. 

   Conclusion.

   Paul was not afraid to use his authority as an Apostle to establish truth and expose error. The church at Crete needed to accept that they were men and women under authority and not their own authority. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but recognise that God's Word is not an opinion but the truth. Everyone is entitled to interpret the Bible according to their own opinions, but when the Bible interprets itself it is truth. Jesus described believers as being in the world and not of the world. The world is a market place focussed on the individual and his perceived needs, believers live in the world, but are citizens of a Kingdom in which their King rules sovereignly and they submit to his royal word. I challenge you to look at your life and all that you believe and practice and ask yourself whether you are a servant under authority or a consumer with a basket full of teachings bought in the market place?  Do you submit to the Word of God, or do you rule over the Word? Every servant of God is under authority, but also given authority to challenge the sinful ways in the world. Are you a faithful servant who submits to Christ's authority and exercises the authority he has given you?