Here is the next section of my thesis as I work through Titus chapter one.
“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
Blameless is something that we all are not. There is no man that is completely blameless accept Jesus Christ. You have failed, that is a fact. You are failing and you will fail. This is the place to leave behind your fear of failure. Draw your line in the sand here – on this very page if you must. If your fear of failure keeps you from doing what you need to do than you are the biggest failure ever. Christ doesn’t expect you to succeed on your own. He already knows you are a failure. He simply wants you to put your trust in Him and take the first step of faith and watch Him do the greatest miracle and work through you. All the Christian men around me are probably held up by this more than anything else. I hear things like: “Well, once I get more of my life straightened out then I will serve God.” You might as well be telling God: “I am sorry I love my sin right now more than you and I do not want to give it up.” It is not until we simply yield to Christ and admit that we are a sinner in need of redemption that we are going to accomplish anything for Him.
How do I become blameless? Surrender! Yeah, that is right, only this one little word. Ok, now I can end this chapter, and probably this entire book. You may be saying, “Easier said than done. What does surrender actually entail?” You may also being saying, I have already ruined my reputation.” You may be already well known for not being blameless, but when you surrender to Christ you get to rebuild your reputation on His great reputation. Get over the idea that building a good reputation is going to happen over night. There is no microwave fix here. Building a good reputation is something that takes a lot of hard work and when you think you are getting close there is lots of maintenance to do.
The Greek word for blameless is ἀνέγκλητος
which can also be interpreted as unaccused or irreproachable. If you think you
are going to get here by covering up your sins, forget it! The guy that is the
most irreproachable is the guy that has laid His sins bare in repentance. How
can you accuse a person who has already exposed his own sin? I am sure you are
familiar with the passage in 1 John 1:8-9: “If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.”[1]
As John is saying in this passage, the key to becoming blameless is to confess
your sins. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book Life
Together shows us clearly that confession is the glue that holds a Christian
community together. Confession is the way to build lasting relationships
between believers. Think about it as church members our favorite thing to do is
gossip. You can imagine if everyone had already laid bare their sins what that
would do to the church gossip. This is especially true for us men. I know it is
difficult to get past the weather and sports in our conversations, but the true
lasting male friendships in my life have had confession at the base. To some
men letting others know what they have done wrong is the last thing on earth
that they would want to do, but as we practice openness and brokenness God
blesses us in ways you would never imagine.
Paul is exhorting Titus in the above passage (Titus 1:5-6) that when he goes out recruiting leaders for his church he needs to look for men who are repentant, humble men, not the air brushed “clean” (or two-faced) looking guys. Do you want to be powerful? Be humble. The proud mans existence is the fragile one. Let’s look at the story of the Publican and the Pharisee:
Paul is exhorting Titus in the above passage (Titus 1:5-6) that when he goes out recruiting leaders for his church he needs to look for men who are repentant, humble men, not the air brushed “clean” (or two-faced) looking guys. Do you want to be powerful? Be humble. The proud mans existence is the fragile one. Let’s look at the story of the Publican and the Pharisee:
“Two men went up
into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The
Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not
as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not
lift up so much as his eyes
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall
be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” [2]
The word justified can also be translated as innocent. Sounds a lot like blameless, doesn’t it? Sure the Pharisee has his Master’s in Divinity. He has been in religious circles all his life. He is Mr. Clean, but Paul would say I want the publican in my church leadership. God wants men of repentance in His Church. He wants leaders that may have been extortionists, maybe even unjust, possibly adulterers, or maybe, like you and me, sinners. He wants repentant sinners that He can mold into a blameless image of Himself. When we as men begin to surrender all, God is on the verge of doing miracles.
The word justified can also be translated as innocent. Sounds a lot like blameless, doesn’t it? Sure the Pharisee has his Master’s in Divinity. He has been in religious circles all his life. He is Mr. Clean, but Paul would say I want the publican in my church leadership. God wants men of repentance in His Church. He wants leaders that may have been extortionists, maybe even unjust, possibly adulterers, or maybe, like you and me, sinners. He wants repentant sinners that He can mold into a blameless image of Himself. When we as men begin to surrender all, God is on the verge of doing miracles.
So, again, how does some one become
blameless? It is easy to say, be blameless; but, like I mentioned earlier, it
is only in Christ’s power that you are going to be successful in this. Paul
writes to the Colossians saying, “In the
body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable (blameless) and unreproveable in his sight.”[3] It
is through the death and blood of Christ that we are purified. As we make His
sacrifice ours, we allow His blood to wash us from our sins. If you are not
saved the Christian life is not going to happen for you. Salvation is
imperative if you want to be a leader in the church
of God
