Putting the Church in Order (Titus 1:5-6)
We often complain about how slowly the church moves sometimes. And I agree, sometimes it takes way too long for things to get done, especially when it comes to things that we know the Bible requires. Our traditions or our personal preferences can often get in the way of needed and necessary change. But often it is wise for the church to move slowly and to work through the issues. We need to plan and research. We need to be careful not to change for change’s sake but for good and biblical reasons. For example, when we changed the by-laws of the church. The serious discussions concerning the changes began at least as far back as 2013 when the first changes were completed. When the most recent updates were made there were hours of discussion and debate. After 6 months and 20 different versions, we came to a draft that the leadership felt ready to present to the congregation. Often when we see decisions being made by people we believe it was done hastily or without thought. Sometimes and, frankly, some people are like that. But other times the decision has come at the end of a long process that we may not have seen. For some people, a decision is made only after hours of contemplation and research. The early church was a mixture of both. We might assume that the church just formed haphazardly. Just a bunch of Jesus followers getting together and doing whatever came to mind. But in our text today we will see that a lot of the work flowed from a hierarchy of authority. There were strategic and deliberate plans. There were collaborative efforts. And when circumstances prevented one person to fulfill their mission an another picked up the work and completed it. This is what we have described here in Titus 1:5-6.