The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 2 (Titus 1:5-9)

What A Bishop Must Be – Pt. 2Sunday, August 10th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:5-9
Prayer
Father, we thank you for your Son Christ Jesus, our Chief Shepherd and the Supreme Bishop of our souls. Thank you for the example of Christ, through which we are taught how to pattern our own lives, so that we may arrive safely into the harbor of your heavenly kingdom. Help us now by your Holy Spirit, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
Last week we began our study of what a man must be if he desires the work of a bishop. Recall that the word bishop (ἐπίσκοπος) means literally to oversee, or to look out from above, andit is the duty of the presbyters/elders of the church to keep watch over God’s house, not as owners or lords of God’s heritage, but as stewards who set a good example for the flock (1 Pet 5:3).
Paul describes what this spiritual authority ought to look like in 2 Corinthians 1:24, Not that we have dominion over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.
He says likewise in Hebrews 13:7, 17, Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end [outcome] of their conversation…for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Notice that the relationship between the elders and the congregation, between shepherds and sheep, ought to be marked by joy. Our ministry to you should be a kind of cooperative effort to help you find your joy in God.
Now ask yourself, what gets in the way of you finding your supreme joy in God? There are many temptations in this world, many counterfeit joys and attractions. There are also many trials and difficulties that assault us. And what all these diverse attacks upon your joy reduce to are two basic obstacles. There are: 1) your sins that kill your joy, and there are 2) your sufferings that obscure it. Shame and Pain. Guilt and Infirmity, these are the most common hindrances to us finding our joy in God.
Therefore, our words to you should be most frequently calling you to repent of your individual particular sins, and then also comforting you with the blessed hope of God’s promises, the hope of eternal life.
If your soul is never afflicted with conviction for your sins, either you, or us, or both of us, are doing something wrong. Our job is to speak the truth of God’s word to you from love, and your job is to receive that word of truth with faith and obey it. It is not much more complicated than that.
Paul says, we are workers (co-laborers) with you for your joy, and it is only by faith in Christ that you stand.
So what is our ambition and aspiration as elders, as bishops? It is to be able to say to you with a clean conscience, what Paul says to the Corinthians, Follow me, as I follow Christ. Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ (1 Cor 11:1). And furthermore, woe to us, if we become as the scribes and Pharisees, of whom Jesus says in Matthew 23:3, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.
So unlike the scribes and Pharisees who were hypocrites, we want our living to be in harmony with our speaking. Preaching is hard, but preaching is actually really easy compared to living up to what we preach. And therefore, we want to have high standards for ourselves, high standards for you, but that high standard must God’s standard, and we find that standard here in our sermon text.
Context
Now this morning as we focus our attention on verse 7, remember the context of this letter.
Paul has left Titus in Crete to, “set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city.” And he has set down 16 distinct qualifications by which every Christian ought to judge and examine himself or herself, and which Titus is to use a rubric/ questionnaire as he searches for qualified presbyters.
The basic principle of church government is that if a man cannot govern his own passions and desires, and if a man cannot rule his own household well, then he is not qualified to rule and govern in Christ’s church.
And so we find in this list of 16 qualifications, what is really the whole theme of this letter, and that is, the marriage of sound doctrine with good living. Or as Paul will summarize a few verses later in Titus 1:15, To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
And so what Paul wants for these Cretan Christians, is that they have both purity of doctrine and purity of life. And therefore, the only men who are qualified to lead the church, are those who have been examined and tested for their purity of doctrine and purity of life.
Last week we considered the first four of these qualifications for a what bishop must be, and this morning we are going to look at five things that a bishop must not be.
So let me read again verses 6 and 7 for us.
6If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. 7For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; [and then we get the five things a bishop must not be] not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre…
#1 – A bishop must not be selfwilled (μὴ αὐθάδη)
To be self-willed means to be stubborn, headstrong, brash, or arrogant. The self-willed man values his own opinion more than anyone else’s, including God, and therefore like the sluggard of Proverbs 26:16, he is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can answer sensibly.
The self-willed man always insists on doing things his way. He is unreasonable, he is not teachable, he is a law unto himself.
When these kinds of men get into positions of authority (and it is sad how frequently they do), they become bullies and petty tyrants. The self-willed man has a distorted sense of proportion, and because of this, everything little thing becomes a hill to die on. He treats everyone else as if its “either my way or the highway.”
The Bible likens the self-willed man to someone that is drunk on his own ego. Paul says in Romans 12:3-5, For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
So a bishop cannot be a self-willed man, because it is essential to the pastoral office, and to basic Christian living, that we consider others as more important than ourselves. And this is hard to do!
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:23, Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being.
A self-willed person is blind to the needs of others, because all he ever cares and thinks about is what he needs and what he wants. He does not regard himself as one member and a part of the whole, but as wholly sufficient in himself. And this is exactly contrary to the spirit of Christ, which is the spirit of charity and unity.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, charity does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not have behave rudely, does not seek its own.
So in contrast to the self-willed man, a bishop must be good-willed. That is to say, a bishop wills the good that is God for himself and his people. He is most concerned with what God’s will is for the church, and he is zealous to study and search out that will in the Scriptures and in prayer, so that he mighy say with the Lord Jesus, not my will, but Yours be done.
Further, the good-willed bishop is not intimidated or threatened by people who are smarter than he is, or more talented than he is, or even more godly than he is. Indeed, the good-willed bishop wishes he was the least saintly in all the church, and he rejoices to be surrounded by holy creatures. A good-willed bishop says with the Apostle John in 3 John 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
So just as godly parents desire and delight in their children far surpassing them in virtue, so also the goodwilled bishop desires that his spiritual offspring (his disciples) far surpass him in virtue and praise before God.
Another important aspect of being goodwilled rather than selfwilled, is that a man of goodwill seeks out and pursues other wise counselors.
It says in Proverbs 1:5, A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.
Likewise in Proverbs 20:18 it says, Every purpose is established by counsel: And with good advice make war.
It is a foolish king who wages war without counsel, and how much more foolish for those who wage holy war against the spiritual forces of darkness and sin?
It says in Proverbs 24:6, For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety.
This safety in a multitude of wise counselors is another reason why God has ordained that the church by governed not by any one man, but by a plurality of qualified men of equal rank. This is the beauty of good presbyterian government, when we have a multitude of wise counselors with which we may consult. Meanwhile, the self-willed man thinks he can do it all on his own. And this a bishop must not be!
#2 – A bishop must not be soon angry (μὴ ὀργίλον)
Other translations say he must not be quick-tempered, or irascible, given to wrath.
The reasons for this are quite obvious. It says in James 1:20, For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And in 1 Corinthians 13, the first quality of love/charity is that it is patient and long suffering.
Paul says that the preachers of the gospel are ambassadors and representatives of Christ. And when we look at Christ, when we study God’s character, we discover that He is exceedingly patient with us, gentle in his correction, and that when his wrath and punishment is poured out in this life, it is always for our healing and correction. Even God’s anger is as coming from His love.
It says in Psalm 86:15, But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
Likewise in Psalm 103:8 it says, The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
So a bishop and pastor as God’s ambassador must be patient like God is patient. A man who is easily angered is a man who lacks love. And to be a Christian that is easily angered by the sins of others, is really to be blind and ignorant of just how far you daily fall short of the glory of God.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:3-4, And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
And Paul says in Galatians 6:1, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
So if you struggle with bitterness, resentment, and anger issues, the place you must go is to the cross of Christ. Look in the mirror and then look at the cross. Look in the mirror and behold your wretchedness. Acknowledge to God the grossness of your sins, your ingratitude, your whining, your blame shifting, your bad attitude, your lack of love, your lack of patience, your lack of all that God commands that you be.
As it says in James 4:9, Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
The place that anger issues go to die is the cross of Jesus Christ. You must see that your sins are so great, so great that the Son of God had to die for them, and that God has been exceedingly patient and kind to lead you to repentance.
By constantly looking not merely at your sins, but at your sins nailed to the cross and forgiven, a person learns meekness. A person learns gentleness in how he corrects others. Because he knows the infinite debt that God has forgiven, and how apart from grace, he would be the worst of all sinners.
It says of the priest in Hebrews 5:2-3, He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness. Because of this he is required as for the people, so also for himself, to offer sacrifices for sins.
So God requires that the pastors and elders in the church be constant in their confession of their own sins to God, so that they will be gentle, wise, and patient when they help others confess their sins to God. This confession Christ does perfectly as our High Priest, and because of His mediation, we can have assurance of God’s pardon, a good conscience that, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
So because God is very patient, His bishops must not be easily angered. For anger clouds the judgment, and bishops must be wise men of justice.
#3 – A bishop must not be given to wine (μὴ πάροινον)
The idea here is that a bishop must not be a drunkard or given to excess with alcoholic beverages. He should not need a beer every day to unwind, but should rather be moderate in his use of God’s gifts.
It says in Psalm 104:15 that God gave us wine to make glad the heart of man. And Paul explicitly tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 5:23, Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.
And so there is a time and a place and due proportion for using wine (the Lord’s Supper for example). And a bishop needs to know what those times, places, and proportions are, for that belongs to the work of justice, of giving to others (especially the sheep) what is their due.
It says in Proverbs 31:4-5, It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; Nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, And pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
And so the danger of going to excess in wine, is that a bishop loses or diminishes his powers of discernment. And it is this power of discernment that an overseer especially needs.
Paul says in Ephesians 5:16-18, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.
So a bishop must not be given to wine, instead he should be pursuing the excess of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
#4 – A bishop must not be a striker (μὴ πλήκτην)
Other translations say, he must not be violent, or pugnacious.
A violent man or striker is like a doctor who uses a hammer when a band aid and a good night of sleep would do the trick. That is to say, a striker misdiagnoses the problems in the church, and thinks that force of arms, intimidation and threats, are how you get the job done.
The man who resorts to violence, whether physical or emotional, does not understand how the gospel triumphs.
It is true we are soldiers, it is true we are waging warfare, but as Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Christians need a martial spirit. Christians need a backbone and courage. But when it comes to spiritual problems, a bishop needs spiritual solutions. And therefore the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
The violent man must learn the meekness of Jesus and the self-denial of the cross. Our crusade and holy war as Christians is to rescue our enemies from the devil’s army. And so while there is a place for just wars, and the civil sword to execute God’s wrath, the church is not an earthly kingdom, but rather a spiritual kingdom with many earthly consequences. The striker confuses these two kingdoms and conflates them as one, and for this reason, amongst many others, the violent men cannot be a bishop.
#5 – A bishop must not be given to filthy lucre (μὴ αἰσχροκερδῆ)
What is filthy lucre? It is unjust or ill-gotten gain. The man given to filthy lucre commits the sins of greed and avarice. He inverts the created order by using spiritual goods (like the truth of the gospel) to gain earthly goods (money, status, fame, fortune).
Paul warns of this temptation in 1 Timothy 6:6-10 saying, But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
A man who pursues ministry for self-serving motives is called a hireling.
Jesus speaks of such men in John 10:11-13 saying, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.
And so because bad motives are invisible, and often hard to discern, it is usually not until a wolf comes into the church, that a pastor is revealed for who he is. If the pastor is a hireling, only there for the paycheck and not the honor of Christ, he runs or is negligent when trouble comes. However, the faithful under shepherd imitates the Good Shepherd, and he stays and he fights so that God’s sheep are not scattered, and it is by this act of love that hirelings are distinguished from the true bishops.
Paul tells us in Philippians 1:15-18 how we should feel and think about hirelings in the church. And it might surprise you what he says. He says, Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.
Conclusion
St. Augustine once said that “The shepherd is to be loved, the hireling is to be tolerated, and of the robber we must beware.” This captures Paul’s sentiment that while men will preach Christ from all different kinds of motives (good, bad, and mixed), our focus should be that our own heart and our own motives are right in the sight of God.
For this is the only safe path to take, and it is God who will ultimately judge and separate the sheep from the goats, the shepherds from the hirelings, the bishops who are true bishops from those who are bishops in name only.
Your concern must ever be that you are a true sheep, that you hear and recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd, and you follow him to the green pastures and still waters of heavenly glory.
Jesus says in John 10:15-16, As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
May God call and gather and keep your soul under his watchful eye, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: What A Bishop Must Be - Part 1 (Titus 1:5-9)

What A Bishop Must Be – Pt. 1Sunday, August 3rd, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:5-9
Prayer
Father, we thank you for our fathers and mothers in the faith. Those who begat spiritual life into us by telling us the truth, that we are sinners, that we need Jesus, and that Jesus loves to forgive and transform sinners into saints. And so holy Savior, make us to aspire now to imitate the lives of the faithful, especially those bishops, those overseers, who have kept watch and keep watch over our very souls. Teach us now by thy Holy Spirit, in Jesus name, Amen.
Introduction
The title of my sermon this morning is What A Bishop Must Be – Part 1. And I have broken this sermon into multiple parts because here the Apostle Paul gives to us 16 distinct qualifications by which a man must be judged if he would become a Presbyter/Bishop. And so this morning we are going to consider the first 4 of these qualifications, and then the rest in future sermons.
Now recall the occasion of this letter from Paul to Titus. Paul had visited the Island of Crete and preached the gospel there. That gospel had taken root, baby churches had been planted, but they lacked leadership, they lacked church government, and so Paul leaves Titus on Crete to “set in order the things that are wanting/lacking, and ordain elders/presbyters in every city.”
So Titus’s job is establish what we call a presbytery on the Island of Crete. What is a presbytery? A presbytery is a gathering of 3 or more qualified men of equal rank, who together govern the church in obedience to God’s Word.
The apostolic pattern was to establish a local presbytery over each congregation, which today we call an elder session, and then above that congregation’s local presbytery was a larger regional presbytery, and then above that various synods or church councils where all the church would come together and be represented. Acts 15 is the first example of such a synod, where multiple churches send delegates to Jerusalem to deliberate, and then that decision is written down and circulated amongst the broader church.
This is what we call Presbyterian church government, and it was Titus’s task to establish this form of government on the Island of Crete.
Now to give you a little portrait of what the Island of Crete is like, just imagine white sandy beaches everywhere, crystal blue water that you can snorkel in, palm trees, mountains, beautiful landscapes everywhere you look, and all that on an Island that is just a little bigger than King County and Thurston County combined (about 3,200 square miles).
And so if you are Titus, this is a beautiful environment in which to work. But with that beautiful vacation-like atmosphere comes also the challenge of arousing these Cretan Christians to live not for the pleasures of this world, but for the surpassing pleasures of the world to come.
We learn in verse 12 that it was a distinct vice of these islanders to be lazy, liars, and given to sensuality. Paul says in verses 12-13, One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.
And so Titus has his work cut out for him. On top of the sounds of waves lapping at the shore, and birds chirping cheerfully in the palm trees, there is Titus rebuking the Cretans. “Stop lying! Get up and do some work! Put down that third mojito and become sober minded!” This is what Titus was left in paradise to do.
Now amongst those Christians in Crete who do not need such a sharp rebuke, Titus must examine and assess the men in each congregation so that he can identify and ordain elders/bishops in each city. And Paul has set down these 16 qualifications for an elder/bishop, which are to be read in every church. And this is the bar for morality that every Christian man of every age and stage of life should aspire to, even if he is not called to be an elder.
In other words, these 16 qualifications are a universal standard for godliness and the whole church should desire this for themselves and their leadership.
And so while the focus is on what a bishop must be, these character traits are what every Christian ought to desire to become in his or her unique way. And so as we go through the first 4 of these traits, I want you to examine yourself. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:5, Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. As to whether Christ is really living in you.
If Titus were to visit our church, and sit each of us down for a 1 on 1 personal interview, and this was the rubric, how would you do?
So with that in mind, let us consider now the first 4 of these qualifications for a bishop.
#1 – A Bishop must be blameless (ἀνέγκλητος)
This quality is repeated in verse 6 and 7. And in the parallel passage of 1 Timothy 3, this quality of being blameless is also put first in the order of qualifications. So this is a big deal and of utmost important to Paul.
What does it mean to be blameless? Other translations say, “above reproach.” And the idea is that you must not be chargeable with any notorious crime, or heinous sin. Or to put it positively, you are a law-abiding citizen, and you keep the ten commandments. You do not have a reputation for being a thief, or a liar, or a cheat, and therefore your blameless character will not bring any reproach upon Christ and the ministry of the Word.
We are told in Luke 1:6 that John the Baptist’s parents were of blameless character. Zacharias and Elizabeth, were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
So we are not talking about imputed righteousness here, we are talking about actual and inherent righteousness. Zacharias and Elizabeth were such people, and so also a bishop must be.
In Philippians 2:13-15 Paul gives us some practical advice for how to become blameless. He says, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. [that is, grace is always available to you, so use it!] Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
So if you would like to make progress in becoming blameless, start by doing all things without murmuring and arguing. Not complaining is always a good place to start if we would grow in godliness.
And lest this seems like an unreasonably high standard, consider the promise of 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
#2 – A Bishop must be the husband of one wife (μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ)
This could also be translated more literally as a bishop must be a one-woman man. Here monogamy is set forth as essential to a married man’s character, and by this qualification, polygamists, fornicators, and adulterers are excluded from the pastoral office.
An elder must be content in his marriage, faithful to the wife of his youth, and he must shun in himself every temptation to let his mind and thoughts wander.
Blameless Job says in Job 31:1, I made a covenant with mine eyes; Why then should I think upon a maid?
And it says in Psalm 119:9, How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
And so this quality of being a one-woman man, is about fidelity, chastity, purity, and contentment.
If a man is not faithful to the wife of his youth, how can he be faithful to God’s bride, the church?
If a man is willing to violate the covenant of marriage, how can he be trusted to keep his ordination vows?
For the pastor who is married, his marriage is a constant proving ground to first love his wife the way Christ loves the church, so that he can love the church the way Christ loves the church.
Husbandry is the art of caring for and cultivating something, so that it becomes fruitful. In marriage, a husband must show tender care to study and cultivate, to nourish and to cherish his wife, so that she bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
And it is this school of marital husbandry that teaches a man to nourish and cherish also the bride of Christ, so that she can become fruitful for God.
And so a bishop must be a one-woman man, just like he ought to be a one-church pastor. He must be content to love and serve in the first instance the unique and particular congregation God has called him to, and to not covet his neighbor’s church. A man who is content in his marriage, and being faithful and attentive there, has the qualities of someone who can also be a husbandman in God’s vineyard.
Like Adam in the Garden, a Bishop must guard and keep the bride of Christ. He must be jealous for the purity and chastity of God’s people, even as he is jealous for the purity and chastity of his own wife.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The serpent’s lies still resound in our world. He still tempts us with forbidden fruit and provokes us to ask, “Did God really say?” and “Ye shall not surely die.”
And therefore, a pastor must study to refute these lies with truth and be jealous for the chastity of the church to remain intact.This is all part of being a one-woman man, and a faithful husband.
#3 – A Bishop (if he has children) must have faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
I should note that both this qualification and the previous one do not require that every pastor must be married and must have children, but rather if he is married, or if he has children, these principles apply to him. And we know this because the Apostle Paul was himself unmarried (likely a widower) and without children under his roof. Moreover, the apostles considered it a matter of liberty as to whether they could bring a wife along with them in their work.
For example, Peter had a wife (Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law), and she accompanied him for at least some parts of his apostolic work. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:5-6, Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? Or I only and Barnabas.
So these are not absolute qualifications, they are relative to a man’s station in life, otherwise a pastor would be disqualified if his wife suddenly died, or when his children graduate and leave the house.
I should also note that the language here applies to children still living under their parent’s authority, not to grown children who have been emancipated and are off living as adults.
It is true that the lives and character of grown children still matters, and can reflect poorly on an elder (for wisdom is justified by her children), but the focus of this qualification is on those under the immediate authority of their father.
So for those who do have children living under their roof, those children must not be little demons. They must not be bullies on the playground, giving kids wedgies and robbing them of their lunch money. They aren’t being called to the principal’s office every week for stuffing the redhead into the locker.
In the parallel of 1 Timothy 3:4-5, Paul expands on this saying, a bishop must be One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?).
So the idea here is that his children are professing believers. They love Jesus. They go to church. They are baptized. They are little disciples, not worldlings, not Taylor Swift fans, they do not follow every new fad.
This language of not being accused of riot or unruly implies the sins of drunkenness,sensuality, and irreverent partying. What is most likely in view here are teenaged children who shun their father’s authority. But this can also apply to grown children like Eli’s sons who were sleeping with the women at the tabernacle, and Eli allowed them to remain as priests.
For Eli’s lack of discipline as both father and priest, he was supernaturally judged and deposed from office by death.
It says in 1 Samuel 2:29-30, Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?’ Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
The logic of this qualification is that a pastor’s children are his first ministry of discipleship. And if they are without discipline, then something’s off in that home. And when something is off in an elder’s home, it hinders his effectiveness and his confidence to minister to others. We don’t want to be hypocrites, and so we must take heed that our children are faithful children, not rioters and unruly.
I should also add that Paul is not requiring here anything above and beyond what he requires of ALL Christian parents and children.
Ephesians 6:4 applies to all Christian fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
A father who has failed his own children is not qualified to be the pastor of other people’s children.
#4 – A Bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God (ἀνέγκλητον εἶναι, ὡς Θεοῦ οἰκονόμον)
This word for steward is οἰκονόμος, which literally means a household manager. And the idea is that a steward has real authority, but it is a authority over what belongs to God, and his authority is regulated by the bounds God has set.
To be a pastor and a bishop is to steward the most precious possessions in the world: 1) immortal souls and 2) God’s truth.
This means a pastor must genuinely love people, because they are the people Christ died to purchase for Himself. And if Jesus thought you were valuable enough to die for, then a pastor must value them in that same way. He is stewarding God’s possessions.
Jesus says in Luke 16:10-12, He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?
So a bishop must be faithful in stewarding first his own soul, his own gifts, his own person. And if he has kept well his own soul, entrusting it to our faithful Creator, then to him may be trusted the true riches, other souls, other people, the mysteries of the faith which are as life to the soul.
To be called as a pastor is to be called to steward the most important things in the world. And because this is such a grave and daunting task, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16, Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
And so an elder must keep a close watch on himself and his doctrine. And he must continue in this with vigilance, because his own salvation, and the salvation of others depends on it.
The mindset of a steward is to say, “Jesus died for these precious souls, and what is precious to Jesus is precious to me.”
A steward knows and trembles at Hebrews 13:17 which says, Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account.
And our only response is to say with the Apostle, And who is sufficient for these things? (2 Cor 2:16), And But he gives more grace. (James 4:6).
Much grace and much fearand trembling attend the pastoral office.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:1,This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work.
It is work that a man should aspire to, not to honors or status or position.
Many people aspire to be pastors and elders out of misguided zeal, or out of frustration from their own bad experiences under bad leadership. But the one who God truly calls to this office, knows that he desires a good work. Work that will demand his entire life and being, and that comes with it the warning of James 3:1, not many of you should become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
And so if you would desire a stricter judgment, and a good work, then you must be blameless as a steward of God’s household. You must have the mind of Christ, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. (Phil 2:7).
A bishop, like Christ, seeks to be all things to all men, not to please men for their own sake, but for God’s sake and to win them to salvation.
Conclusion
It is a high standard to meet these qualifications. And yet they are not so unreasonably high that no man can attain to them. What is certain is that God so love the church, and He so cares for your soul as the Chief Shepherd and Supreme Bishop of the church, that he tells us exactly what an under shepherd and bishop must be.
So if you are challenged by these four qualifications or feel that you may never make progress in your sanctification, remember who the original twelve apostles used to be. Some of them were fishermen, tax collectors, unlearned and ignorant men (Acts 4:13). And yet they made the Jews marvel at their boldness because they had spent time with Jesus.
Remember who the Apostle Paul used to be. He was a persecutor of Christians, breathing out threatening’s and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1). And yet God visited Saul in such an evil state, and converted him, and changed him into the kind of man who says things like, But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our very own souls, because ye were dear unto us. (1 Thess 2:7-8).
If God can turn a proud, self-righteous and haughty Saul, into a sweet and gentle nursing mother Paul, He can change you from who you are right now, to who God created you to be.
The wonderful thing about knowing Jesus, and following Jesus, and doing what Jesus says, is that when you trust Him, He gives you beauty in exchange for your ashes.
If you give Him your sins, your shortcomings, your shame, your story, your brokenness, the ugliness, all the imperfections, then He will say back to you, “I know, and I love you. I know who you are, I know your past, I know your pain, and I died to forgive you and heal you from all of it. I have abundant life waiting for you, if you will trust me and follow me until the end.”
This is the glory of the gospel. That God hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor 5:21). And that means if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Cor 5:17).
The promise of Jesus is that eternal life can begin here and now through repentance and faith. So cast aside your half-hearted commitments, renew your covenant with Jesus to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
If the gospel could go to the Island of Crete, and change Cretans into Christians, the gospel can do the same for Centralians, for Washingtonians, for Americans, for anyone. And so may God bring this transformation about, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: Everything Beautiful (Ron Vernon Memorial)

Everything BeautifulSaturday, July 19th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WAEcclesiastes 3:1–11
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the life of your servant Ron Vernon. We thank you for giving him a long life, a life within the church, a life amongst friends, a life of seeking to follow Jesus, even unto death. We thank you for the promise of Revelation 14:13, which says, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” We thank you for giving Ron rest in Your peace. And now we ask that we who still labor in this world, may take heed to our own death, to the state of our own soul, and so we ask in the words of Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Grant us such wisdom now, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
For the 2.5 years that I was privileged to be Ron’s pastor, I had many opportunities to ask him, “Ron, are you ready to meet the Lord?” Sometimes I would ask him what books he was reading, or how his prayer life was going, but as his health started to wane, I increased the frequency of this question whenever I saw him, “Ron, are you ready to meet the Lord?”
Most of the time, he would answer with something like, “I’m not sure,” or I’m not quite ready yet,” or “I’m trying but I’m struggling to pray,” or “I’m not where I ought to be.” On one occasion, he expressed that he was reading some books by the puritans, and he observed that their relationship with God seemed a lot more intimate and familiar than what he was presently experiencing. And so Ron, like most authentic Christians, desired greater assurance that he was forgiven, that he belonged to Jesus, so that he could be ready to meet the Lord.
And so this morning as we remember Ron’s life and celebrate that he now has rest from his labors, and full assurance of God’s love for him, I want to pose this same question to you: Are you ready to meet the Lord?
However ready or not you feel, the truth is that God wants you to be ready at all times to enter His glorious presence. And He has given you in His word many truths to help prepare you for judgment day, whenever the day may be. And so this morning I want to consider briefly just three of those truths, so that you might have greater assurance that you belong to Jesus. Or if you do not yet know Jesus, may receive Him from all that He wants to give you.
Truth #1 – You are going to die, and you don’t know when.
We see here in Ecclesiastes 3:2, that there is a time to be born, and a time to die. And then in verse 11, we see that those times of birth and death and everything in between belongs to God.
It says later in Ecclesiastes 8:8, No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, And no one has power in the day of death.
That is to say, no man is a self-sufficient being who gives life to himself. All of us are on divine life-support, and God is the one supplying oxygen to our soul, breath by breath, and we have not power over our soul to retain it or remove it. Even those who have attempted to end their life, sometimes find that God’s mercy does not permit them.
For God says in Deuteronomy 32:39, I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
And in 1 Samuel 2:6, Hannah prays, The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.
So just as you did not choose the moment or day of your birth, God chose it. So also, with the day of your death. No man knows with any absolute certainty, the day or the hour.
Jesus says of the rich fool in Luke 12:20-21, But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have stored up?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
The Apostle James warns likewise of such presumption, as if life will go on as usual saying, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (James 4:13-17).
What is the good that God has told you to do?
In the words of Jesus, it is to repent and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15)
Or in the words of Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
And so God’s Word to you today is, Have you confessed all your sins to Him? Have you repented of all the evil you have ever done? Have you forsaken the old and unhappy way of living in sin, and committed yourself to following Jesus come what may. That is what it means to repent and to believe the gospel, to fear God and keep His commands.
David models for us what such repentance looks like in Psalm 51, For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me…Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Jesus says likewise in Luke 15:7, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
And so if you would become ready to meet the Lord today, you must first bring joy to heaven by your repentance. You must name your sins and forsake your sins and follow Jesus instead.
Jesus says in Luke 9:62, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
This means that repentance is not just a one-time decision at the beginning of your Christian life, but is also an ongoing commitment (we call faith) to forsake what will drag you to hell, and by the grace of God get back up whenever you stumble.
Paul describes this resolve in Philippians 3:13-14, 12 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended [perfection]; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus… I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
Jesus wants you. He has laid hold of you even now by putting this word into your ears. And if you would become ready to die, ready to meet him face to face, then you must take hold of him with both hands. That means releasing, letting go of all the other things you treasure more than Him. You must let go of your grudges, your bitterness, your anger, your envy, your pride, your hatred. You must no be obstinate to the grace God wants to give you. Only then, with empty hands, can you with Paul lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
That is truth number 1. You are going to die, and you do not know when, and therefore you must make ready by repenting and embracing Jesus.
Truth #2 – Jesus died so that when you die, you may rise again.
The Apostle Paul says in Romans 14:7-9, For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
None of us knows how sinful we really are. Jeremiah 17:9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
And so what the death of Jesus crucified on the cross reveals is that we are so sinful, and so deceived about our true state, that the Creator God himself had to come down, He assumed our humanity, and then He suffered and died in our humanity, to satisfy what we owe to Divine justice.
If you want to know what your sins deserve, look at the cross. We all deserve crucifixion. If you want to know how disordered and screwed up your soul is, look at the cross. Jesus died so that you could receive a new nature, a soul renewed by grace.
And lest you be too discouraged by how great your sins are and how desperately wicked your heart is, look at the cross. For this is how much God loves you. That with arms outstretched, Jesus invites you with his dying breath to be forgiven and to enter his kingdom. For where sin has abounded (and it has abounded a lot!), the grace of Christ has abounded all the more.
It says in Romans 5:6-11,For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And what gives us assurance that we shall rise again with Him, is that He died for us before we did anything good. He died for us when we were still potheads, fornicators, hypocrites, and liars. He died for us when were still hating God and hating one another. And if He died for us then, to reconcile us to God, how can anything now or in the future separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?
This is the hope we have as Christians. It is a living hope and the source of our assurance. We believe the word of promise, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6).
Or as Jesus says in John 10:27-29, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
When Jesus Christ lays hold on you, he places you in His Father’s hand. And His sheep hear this, they believe this, and they are comforted by the Good Shepherd.
Truth #3 – God makes everything, even death, beautiful in His time.
It is easy to see the beauty in the time to be born, it is not as easy to see it in the time to die.
When a baby is safely delivered, we rejoice because a new life has entered this world. An immortal soul, joined to a little 8lb body is a marvel to behold.
Jesus himself says in John 16:21, A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
It is not hard to see the beauty of a woman’s sorrow that suddenly turns into joy with the birth of her child. Few things compare to that moment of relief, of deliverance, when a mother survives the birth and then holds her baby for the first time. This is beautiful. This is what poetry is for.
However, when someone dies, the death itself is a great evil. There is nothing good or beautiful about the separation of soul from body. The Bible calls death a great enemy, an evil for which Jesus Christ came into this world to conquer. And so we may wonder, How is it that God can make death beautiful in His time?
The answer is that death can become beautiful, not for the evil that it is, but for the good that God brings about through it.
As Joseph says to his brothers who attempted to murder him, But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
So also does God work the greatest good through the greatest evil, for nothing is more evil than the unjust crucifixion of the perfect man Jesus, and yet this became God’s instrument to raise the whole world from the dead.
It says in Hebrews 2:14-15, Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself [Christ Jesus] likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
The death of Jesus is the most beautiful thing the world has ever known. That God would so love us who are so unlovely, and then make us lovely by His grace. That is the beauty of Christ’s death which conquers death, and which makes Ron’s death (and our death), not the end of the story, but the beginning of a new chapter which is life eternal, resurrection life, life without death, life without pain, life without sorrow.
This is why God says in Psalm 116:15, Precious (beautiful) in the sight of the Lord Is the death of his saints. Because our God makes death blossom into resurrection, and this is how He makes everything beautiful in His time. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: What is a Presbyterian? (Titus 1:5)

What is a Presbyterian?Sunday, July 13th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:5
Prayer
Father, we thank you for this letter of the Apostle Paul to Titus, through which we are taught the truths necessary for our salvation, and the kind of life we must live if we would see the kingdom of heaven. We ask for your blessing now as we hear this word preached, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
After the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, it says in Acts 1:3, he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
Now just as every kingdom has a king, so also every kingdom has some form of government. We call a government a monarchy when there is one supreme ruler at the top. And in God’s kingdom, Jesus is that monarch who is called King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev 19:16). That is to say, Jesus is that monarch from which all other lesser monarchs and lords, receive some delegated power to govern.
Paul puts it this way in Romans 13:1-2, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
Now just as Christ rules as King in the civil realmthrough various lesser magistrates, so also does he rule in the church.
And we said in our first sermon on Titus that the primary purpose of this letter is to teach us how Jesus wants the church (which is his garden and vineyard) to be governed and cared for, and by whom.
Moreover, we read in Ephesians 4:11, that after those 40 days of speaking about the kingdom with his disciples, He ascended to heaven and gave gifts to man.
What were those gifts? It says, And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Paul says likewise in 1 Corinthians 12:28, And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, varieties of tongues.
Notice that of all the gifts Jesus could have given at his heavenly coronation ceremony, he thought that what we most needed was church officers. And if that surprises you, just imagine a church without the apostles, the prophets, and the four evangelists. Imagine you have no New Testament scriptures and no pastors or teachers to explain those writings you do not have. It turns out that without church officers, there is no church.
Paul puts it this way in Romans 10:13-14, How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
So the gifts that King Jesus gives at his ascension are people. And these people, full of the Holy Spirit, preach and write and evangelize and start churches, and then they appoint successors to care for those churches after they die. And this is what the book of Titus is all about.It is about giving us the particulars, the details, of how Jesus governs his church.
We call this government of Christ over the church his ecclesiastical hierarchy. It is a form of government with Jesus at the top, then the twelve apostles, then prophets, then pastors and teachers, and down the line.
And why does this ecclesiastical hierarchy exist?
Paul goes on in Ephesians 4:12-16 to explain. He says they are, 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; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
That is why church government exists: For the unity of the faith, for the health of the body, for the building up in love. This is why Jesus has given you elders, pastors, teachers, and deacons.
Now I begin with this overview of Jesus’ monarchical rule over the world and the church because this morning in our text, we have a specific form of church government under that monarchy, described by the Apostle Paul. And it is a form of government that today we call Presbyterian Church Government.
Now if we were to look around at these United States, and surveyed all the different churches, and denominations, and the many networks and tribes and governmental structures that exist, we would discover that there is a lot of confusion in our day about how the church is to be governed, and by whom.
And so this morning I want to explain from the Scriptures, why our form of government is called Presbyterian, and why God commands the church to be ruled this way, and not the way that many other churches today are governed.
There are three questions I want to answer this morning.
Outline
1. Where does this name Presbyterian come from?
2. What is essential to Presbyterian church government?
3. Why does this form of Presbyterian government matter for the health of the church?
Q#1 – Where does this name Presbyterian come from?
Surprise surprise, it comes from the Bible, and we have an example of it right here in Titus 1:5.
Verse 5For 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:
That word elders in Greek is πρεσβυτέρους, from which we get the English word presbyters.
What is a πρεσβύτερος/presbyter?
There are two main senses in which this word is used in Scripture.
1. In the first sense, a presbyter/elder can refer to any man who is of older/elder age.
And because Proverbs 16:31 says, The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, If it is found in the way of righteousness, it became customary for those who were older and wiser men to also govern and rule the community.
2. Therefore, this word presbyter/elder also came to be used in a second sense to refer the office of government in Israel.
So a presbyter can be any elderly or older man. Or it can refer to the office of presbyter/elder which is for those who are more mature and older in knowledge and wisdom.
To give you just one example of this from the Old Testament, when Moses feels that leading the nation is a burden too heavy for him to carry alone, God says to him in Number 11:16-17, Gather (Συνάγαγέ) unto me seventy men of the elders (presbyters) of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.
First observe that an elder is an officer who carries a heavy burden. In Scripture, leadership and government is akin to carrying something heavy. What is that heavy thing? It is the responsibility to act justly towards those under your care. And therefore, the qualifications to be a presbyter in Israel, are that you must be wise, understanding, knowledgeable and without partiality in your judgment (Deut 1:13-17).
Second, observe that these presbyters function as representatives of the people. In Deuteronomy 33:5 Moses says, And he [referring to himself] was king in Jeshurun, When the heads of the people And the tribes of Israel were gathered together. So in Israel, the hierarchy of God’s government was that God speaks to Moses, Moses speaks to the presbyters, and then the presbyters speak to their respective tribal heads, and so forth.
We see that Moses father-in-law, Jethro the Midianite advised this presbyterian form of government in Exodus 18. There we read, So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves (Ex 18:24-27).
This is the original Israelite form of presbyterian government, and it becomes the pattern for the nation of Israel, the pattern for the Jewish synagogue, from which the apostolic church sprang forth.
Summary: We call our form of church government Presbyterian, because it is presbyters who rule the church. Presbyters represent the people before God, and they represent God towards the people.
So returning to Titus 1:5 we see that Paul has left Titus in Crete, because the church lacked presbyters, and it was Titus’ job to oversee the appointment/ordination of presbyters in every city.
This brings us to question 2.
Q#2 – What is essential to Presbyterian church government?
I should flag here that within and amongst Presbyterians, there are a bunch of variations in our polities are organized. And that is because God has given us a measure of liberty to organize, for better or worse, according to the light of nature and general Chrisian wisdom. But what I am asking here is, What is essential to Presbyterianism that distinguishes it from Independent Churches and Episcopal Churches?
Of the three major forms of church government, Independents have no authoritative rulers outside of their individual and local congregation. There is no higher court of appeal beyond the pastor or elder session that hold them accountable. That is called Congregationalism or Independent Church Government. You can hear it in the name Independent, they depend on no outside pastors or churches to govern their church.
On the other side of the spectrum is Episcopal church government, which also has many variations within itself, and some are very close to Presbyterianism, while some variations are quite different.But for example, the Roman Catholic church has an episcopal form of government where there is a pyramid of authority with a single bishop, the Pope at the top who claims to have universal jurisdiction over the whole church.
So against the Roman Catholics, Presbyterians deny that any one man can possess such jurisdiction over other elders and churches. And then against the Independents, Presbyterians deny that any one church can be disconnected from the broader church and without accountability.
And so what is essential to Presbyterian government, is that the church is only a complete church, when it is governed by a plurality of qualified presbyters of equal rank.
Let me now prove this to you from the Scriptures.
First observe in verse 5 of our text, what Paul commands Titus to do. He says, ordain elders in every city. In that sentence is virtually contained the essence of Presbyterian government. Let me draw this out for us.
Notice that Paul says presbyters in the plural. Nowhere will you find in the New Testament any church that has only one person who governs it. Even when a region is newly evangelized, like the church in Crete, not even the Apostle Paul is a sole ruler of the churches he plants.
Instead, what we find universally, in every instance in the New Testament, is that a church is only a complete church, when it is governed by a plurality of qualified men called presbyters, who when they convene together constitute a presbytery. Every single church in the New Testament was under the authority of a presbytery, and it is the presbytery that ordains and sends men to preach and minister.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:14, Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Notice, Timothy was not ordained by Paul alone, but by the laying on of hands of the presbytery.
In Acts 14:23 we are told how Paul and Barnabas organized the churches they had planted, And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Observe again that the while the church is in the singular, elders is plural.
It says in Hebrews 13:17, Obey them (plural) that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
See that God commands members in the church to submit to church government, but it is not to a solo senior pastor but rather to a plurality of male rulers.
He says a few verses earlier in Hebrews 13:7, Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
The Apostle James says likewise in James 5:14, Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders (presbyters plural) of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Many other examples could be given. But I want you to see that the essence of Presbyterian government is that the church must be ruled by a plurality of qualified presbyters.
No one man, except the God-man Jesus Christ, has absolute power in the church. And therefore, any church that lacks this plurality of qualified presbyters who are held accountable for their life and doctrine, is a deficient church, or in Paul’s words a church that is wanting/lacking/incomplete.
Sadly, there are many many deficient, diseased, and disordered churches in our land today, and what is worse, they don’t even know it.
We wonder why our nation is such a mess. Why abortion and adultery and divorce are so rampant. Why drugs and homelessness and crime are on the rise. We have to look in the mirror. We have not obeyed God in how we govern the church and who we ordain to office. And so God is giving us a taste of our folly so that we will repent!
God says in Jeremiah 5:30-31, An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?
God’s warning to the American church, is that unless you repent and kick out all the wolves, these self-ordained teachers who are accountable to no one, these gay and lesbian bishops, unless you return to the biblical standards for elders/presbyters, your churches and nation shall continue to degrade.
Once upon a time in America we had sabbath laws. Murderers were executed for their crimes. School children were taught the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Magistrates had to be Christian men. But now today we have pedophiles and transexuals openly promoting vice.
God says in Hosea 4:6-9, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: Therefore will I change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people, And they set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall be, like people, like priest: And I will punish them for their ways, And reward them their doings.
As the shepherds go, so go the sheep. And our Chief Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, has not told us plainly in His Word what his under-shepherds (pastors) must be. In a future sermon we will look at those qualifications for elders, but for now let us consider our third and final question.
Q#3 – Why does this form of Presbyterian government matter for the health of the church?
I have three reasons, but before I give them, let me just warn you by saying that no mere form of government can in itself prevent apostasy, corruption, and abuse in the church. Presbyterian government could not save the nation of Israel from crucifying the Messiah. In fact, it was their highest court, their Sanhedrin, the passed the death sentence, and later persecuted the apostles. So unless you have good and godly men in that government, the form hardly matters.
To take just one modern example, consider the so-called Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUSA). Once upon time they were actually presbyterian. But then they abandoned (amongst other things) the biblical standards for who may be a presbyter, and so today something like half of the pastors under age 50 are women. They are flying rainbow flags outside of their church, and not as a sign of God’s promise to never flood the earth.
And so as “Bible Believing Presbyterians,” we must not pretend that just because our form of government is apostolic, therefore presbyters and presbyteries always get it right. Any honest and experienced presbyter will tell you, we don’t always see clearly and do justly. Which is why we like the checks and balances that good presbyterian government provides.
So in closing let me give you three reasons why Presbyterian government matters for the health of the church:
1. Because presbyters are sinful and fallible men. And therefore, we need to be held accountable to our ordination vows, and to the biblical qualifications to continue in our office. And so we need a higher power than us, presbytery, to keep watch over us.
2. Because the members of every church deserve a higher court of appeal in the event that their pastor or local presbytery (elder session) sins against them.
For example, if a church discipline case comes up, and we excommunicate someone, but that person thinks we judged unjustly. They have a right to appeal to Anselm Presbytery, to our Presiding Minister Michael Kloss, and then a committee would be formed to investigate how we handled that discipline. And if there was a miscarriage of justice, they have the power to correct that.
So Presbytery is an added layer of protection for the sheep, if a shepherd goes astray, the Presbytery can call him back. And then above Presbytery there is a Council, so if an entire presbytery goes astray, Council can correct them. And if Council goes astray, then there are other Presbyterian denominations who you may join.
3. Third and finally, Presbyterian church government acknowledges in practice, that Christ’s body is far bigger than any one congregation. What’s more, we believe that we are better and stronger when we work together, when we acknowledge the validity of other church’s discipline. When we pray for one another. When we stand united against evil in the public square together with one voice.
It says in Psalm 122:3-6, Jerusalem is built As a city that is compact together, Where the tribes go up, The tribes of the Lord, To the Testimony of Israel, To give thanks to the name of the Lord. For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.
What is this psalm about but the church of Christ. The many tribes of Christendom who go up and are allied together for the testimony of Jesus.
This is what our form of government is aimed at. To make Jesus known through our unity of love, our unity of judgment, even upon a plurality of thrones. For it is in this unity that the church has peace and prosperity, and for this we do pray. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: How To Govern The Church (Titus 1:1-5)

How To Govern The ChurchSunday, June 22nd, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WATitus 1:1–5
Prayer
Father, we thank you for manifesting your Word through preaching, and as we now hear Your Word proclaimed, we ask that you would subdue us by Your sweet mercy, rule us by your awesome power, and teach us by Your Holy Spirit of Truth, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
If you have ever tried to plant a garden, you know that it is not enough to just toss some seed in the soil and then come back three months later to a beautiful and abundant harvest. Ever since Adam’s sin in God’s garden, our lot has been that of Genesis 3:17-18 where God says to man, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.”
Because of our sin, fruit no longer comes easily. This is true in the natural world, and it is also true in the supernatural world.
In proof of this consider Galatians 5:22-23, where Paul says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Now ask yourself, does that supernatural fruit come easily and without effort? Do you find it easy to be gentle with obstinate and dishonest people? Do you find it easy to be joyful when your car breaks down, or when a steady stream of medical bills continue to arrive in the mail? Do you find it easy to be patient when you have a migraine, and a fussy baby, and you still have to cook dinner for your ungrateful husband?
We all know the answer is No, fruit of the spirit does not come easy. And Paul himself acknowledges this by saying in the very next verse (vs. 24), “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
That is to say, if you are the hard ground where you want a fruitful garden to grow, you have to constantly tend the soil of your heart by crucifying selfish and sinful desires. You have to pull up bad habits at the root. You have to mow down and burn the thorns and the thistles, and only after that soil has been prepared are you ready in the words of James 1:21 to, “receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
Jesus himself speak of the Word preached as seed that falls into many different kinds of soil. But it is only in the soil that has been made ready and fertile by grace, that any true and lasting fruit comes forth.
Now this morning we are beginning Paul’s letter to Titus. And the whole purpose of this letter is to instruct the church in how she can become a fruitful and pleasant garden for God.
The Apostle Paul had worked hard to plant the church on the Island of Crete, but he did not have time to ordain and test elders, organize the leadership, and give the church the protection and teaching she would need to become a healthy garden for years to come.
And therefore, he leaves behind his coworker Titus, “to set in order the things that are wanting (lacking) and ordain elders in every city.”
So just as after you prepare the soil and plant the seed, you still need to water and tend, guard and keep your garden from birds and pests, weeds and disease, so also it is in the church. And in God’s Garden elders are His appointed gardeners.
Yes, every individual Christian is responsible to tend and keep his own soul, but because we are often irresponsible and inexperienced, God commands that certain qualified men, keep watch, oversee, and protect His garden.
And so this letter from Paul to Titus, which is ultimately a letter from Christ to His church, are detailed instructions in how the church is to be governed.
And because many people do not like to be governed, Paul has written to Titus in the form of an open letter. So that as Titus is making changes, rebuking heretics, installing qualified pastors, and telling everyone else in the church how they must live in accord with Christ, they all can see and hear that Titus is not just making things up on the fly. Titus is not being legalistic or arbitrary in what he commands, he is simply commanding what God has commanded.
And so as we study this letter in the months to come, we are all going to receive some very pointed and at times uncomfortably specific instructions. And it will be good for us!
This letter to Titus is one of the most practical letters in the New Testament. Luther calls it “an epitome and summary of Paul’s wordier epistles.” And William Tyndale says that “in this letter is contained all that is needful for a Christian to know.”
For in it, Paul teaches us both good doctrine, true theology, and how to live a holy life.
We might say that a major theme of this book is the marriage of truth with practice, right doctrine with good living.
He is going to tell us how pastors must conduct themselves, and then how older men, older women, younger women, and younger men must behave, at the same connecting good behavior with the grace of the gospel.
So with that by way of introduction, let us consider these opening verses together.
Outline of the Text
In verses 1-3 Paul establishes his authority as descending from God through Christ to himself (that is the hierarchy).
In verses 4-5 Paul communicates that authority to Titus and explains the reason/cause for leaving him in Crete.
Verse 1
1Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
Paul identifies himself first as a servant of God.
What is a servant? A servant is someone who lives not for their own sake but for someone else’s sake. A servant does not do his own will and desire, he does the will and desire of his superior.
And therefore, a servant of God is a person who lives entirely for God. He has relinquished his will and says with the Lord Jesus, “Not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42).” Can you say that?
Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Can you say that? If not, then you are not yet a servant of God.
A good servant from love does the will of his master. And this is who Paul is.
Next, he identifies himself as “an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
What is an apostle? An apostle is the highest human authority in the church,and he is appointed directly and personally by Jesus Christ, and therefore has authority with Christ to lay the foundation of the church.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
So Apostles are founders of the church who preach Christ as the cornerstone. And then on top of that foundation they charge lesser men, like Timothy and Titus, pastors and teachers, to build on that foundation taking heed how they build.
How should Titus build?
Paul models for Titus how to wield divine authority. He says it is, “according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;”
That is to say, his ministry is in harmony with and for the sake of teaching and protecting God’s people. Titus must water, weed, and guard the faith of God’s elect.
This includes both the act of faith, and the content/articles of faith.
The act of faith is simply believing whatever God has spoken and acknowledging it as true. This faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God (Rom. 10:17), and therefore the word of God must be proclaimed.
The articles of faith are the guiding first principles which every true Christian holds in his heart (some more explicitly and some more implicitly). This is the contents of our faith, sometimes called “the faith of Jesus Christ,” (Gal. 3:22-25) and Paul’s apostleship and Titus’ ministry in Crete was to be in accord with this faith, keeping in step with the gospel.
Moreover, the sign that the true gospel has been preached and believed, is that godliness follows from it. This is what he means by, “the acknowledging of the truth which is after (kata/according to) godliness.”
He says essentially the same thing in 1 Timothy 1:5, “Now the end/telos of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.”
In other words, pure doctrine should lead to pure living. Your acknowledgment of Christ’s lordship should lead to Christ-like treatment of others, which is charity.
And as Jesus says in Matthew 7:20, “by their fruits ye shall know them.”
This leads us to verse 2 where Paul states the objective/purpose for Christ calling him as an apostle.
Verse 2
2In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Paul was given divine authority, not for his own ego or puffing up, but in order to lead the Gentiles from darkness to light.
It says in Acts 13:46-48, “Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said [to the envious Jews], “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us [quoting Isaiah 49:6]: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
So the fact that Christ ascended and gave to the church a government: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers (Eph. 4:11), was all in hope of eternal life.
Paul says in Romans 8:24, “For we are saved by hope.”
And in Romans 5:5, “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
And so when the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, we believe in hope that his resurrection is our resurrection. “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Cor. 15:23).
Further we do hope that our sins which are many shall not be counted against us. But having been justified by faith we have peace with God in this life, and the next. Therefore,we hope for eternal life because God, who cannot lie, promised this before the world began.
What does this mean?
It means that before Genesis 1:1, before God created the heavens and the earth, He had you in mind and He wanted you. The Father set his love upon you in His Son, and the Spirit together with Father and Son chose to write your name in The Book of Life never to be blotted out. And then having predestined you for salvation, the world was spoken into existence.
This is how Paul can say in Ephesians 1:4-6, “He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
What makes you acceptable to God? It is that you are found in His beloved Son. And this brings us to verse 3 which explains how the elect are united to the Son. How does this promise of God in eternity past become known to the saints such that we can believe?
Verse 3
But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
This word preached (logos) can refer either to the Divine Word, the person of Christ, the eternal Word made flesh. Or it can refer to the word about Christ Jesus which is the good news of forgiveness in Him.
Whatever the case, this Word is made known through preaching, and that preaching of the Word was given to Paul by “the commandment of God our Saviour.”
Meaning, this religion we call Christianity, is not of human invention. It is the result of the Creator God commanding apostles and preachers to declare forgiveness in Christ with divine authority. Jesus Christ is Lord, and salvation is found by faith in Him.
Peter says in Acts 4:12, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
And as the Philippian Jailer asked in Acts 16:30-31, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
This is the preaching of the Word that God commanded. And if God commanded it, no man can stop it.
Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:9, that while the world may lockup and chain the him in prison, “the word of God is not bound.”
Even the Pharisee Gamaliel knew this was true. For he tells the Jews in Acts 5:38-39, “Refrain from these men [referring to the apostles], and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest ye even be found to fight against God.”
Here we are 2,000 years later, and Paul was right, and Gamaliel was right. Many enemies have tried to overthrow Christ, to fight against God, but they have not succeeded. Yes, there have been setbacks, yes, the church stumbles at times and needs to be reformed, but Jesus has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church.
And so if we are His people, the sheep of his pasture, the garden in which he walks and resides, then we can be assured of His love and protection, His discipline and care. And the way Christ manifests that care is by calling and equipping elders to be his shepherds, his servants, his tenants, his gardeners who carry the water can (or a hose) and a pruning knife.
And so we find in verses 4-5 that this job is assigned to Titus. To exercise apostolic authority in finding those men who can do that work faithfully.
Verse 4
4To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.
By this salutation Paul hands to Titus a three-fold shield in the Trinity.
Grace, mercy and peace are all effects of the Holy Spirit.
God the Father is the author and source of these graces.
And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one we call Savior.
Paul also adds that Titus is his own son after the common faith, because unlike Timothy who was circumcised, he says in Galatians 2:3, “But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”
And so if there was any doubt about the unity of faith between Jews and Gentiles, Paul goes out of his way to emphasize this is a common/catholic faith. There is only “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Eph. 4:5-6).
Therefore, the faith that Paul preaches is the same faith Titus preaches, and this is the same faith of all God’s elect.
Finally in verse 5, he explains the cause for Titus being in Crete.
Verse 5
5For 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:
Next week we will dedicate a full sermon to this one verse because it describes what we call Presbyterian church government. But for now I want you to observe just one thing, and that is: see how important church government is to Paul, and therefore to Christ.
According to this verse, a church without a qualified pastor that is answerable to a plurality of fellow pastors, is a church that is wanting/lacking/deficient. And this was such a big deal to Paul, that he left Titus, his own son in the faith, there in Crete until that work was accomplished.
It was not enough to simply evangelize and start a church. It was essential to ordain qualified elders/presbyters to guard and keep it.
Because what is the church? It is God’s most precious possession. It is His temple, His sanctuary, His bride, His glory, His new garden of Eden.
Conclusion
God so loves the church, and every member within it, that He has prescribed in His Word how he wants it to be governed and who he wants to govern it. We’ll see in future weeks that he commands a plurality of qualified men, a pastor together with what we call ruling elders, who tend and keep, water and weed God’s garden, so that it will be fruitful.
Jesus speaks of this government in the parable of tenants where the Jewish elders who kill him, are kicked out and replaced by faithful tenants.
Jesus says in Matthew 21:40-41, “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants [who killed the owner’s son]?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
Those new tenants are the apostles and their successors. And as elders and ministers of Christ we want you to be fruitful for your sake and God’s sake. Because the one who owns you, wants that spiritual fruit in every season.
And so I close with words of the Lord Jesus who tells us you exactly how to become fruitful. He says in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
May God grant you to abide by faith in Jesus, with hope for eternal life, and with genuine love for all the saints. IN the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: The Holy Trinity Pt. 3 - Faith Seeking Understanding

The Holy Trinity Pt. 3 – Faith Seeking UnderstandingSunday, June 15th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WADeuteronomy 29:29
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the mystery of our salvation, the mystery of who You are as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As we seek now to understand just a small fragment of that mystery by studying the Scriptures, we ask for light to dispel the darkness of ignorance and sin. For we believe what the Lord Jesus taught saying, ‘blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ Grant us such purity and reverence for Your Word now, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
For the last two Sundays, we have been attempting to climb the most difficult mountain in all of Christian doctrine. That is, the mystery of the Holy Trinity. How is God One, and yet Three in One? How are the three divine persons really distinct, and yet each the One Divine Essence. This has been our study and meditation for the last two weeks, and this morning since it is Trinity Sunday we shall have one more attempt at grasping this truth.
Now whenever you are attempting something difficult and strenuous, it is helpful to remind yourself why you are doing this hard thing in the first place.
I remember long ago sitting in my high school calculus class and wondering why am I here? How is calculus going to help me get a job? What do derivatives have to do with my life?
And because I did not have Professor O’Dell as my teacher, I dropped out of calculus, only to have to retake it later in college (even then I think I got a C).
I imagine most of us in this room have a similar story, perhaps not with math but in some other area of life.
If we don’t see or understand the reason why, the purpose of doing a hard thing, we are tempted to give up, or we never even try. And sadly, that is how a lot of people approach their relationship with God.
They think that God is so high up there, and I am so low down here, the Bible is such a long and big book, and my attention span and memory is so short, therefore it would be either pride or presumption, folly or fruitless to attempt to try to really get to know Him.
And indeed, there are many dangers to avoid if you want to know God. God himself warns of approaching Him without fear and reverence and humility.
And yet, that high and glorious God has come down to us in Jesus Christ so that we might know him and have a real living personal relationship with him. Moreover, he has come down and sent the Holy Spirit into our very hearts. He has bequeathed to the church the Scriptures through which He invites us, nay commands us, to search him out and know Him.
It says in Psalm 105:4, “Seek the Lord, and his strength: Seek his face evermore.”
And in Jeremiah 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
Paul prays for the church in Colossians 1:10, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
Why do people climb mountains? Why do people attempt hard, dangerous, and difficult things? They do it for the glory. For the views from the top. If they are virtuous, for the formation of character.
Even those who only do it for the thrill or the excitement or the vanity of social media have made a value judgment, that the risk is worth the reward, the pain is worth the payoff, the sacrifice is worth the investment.
And so for good and biblical reasons it is most appropriate to liken the hard work of increasing in our knowledge of God (as Paul prays that we do) to the climbing up a mountain.
When God created Adam and Eve, he placed them in a garden on a mountain from which four rivers flowed down. And we call the fall into sin a Fall, in part because we fell down that mountain of the knowledge of God and lost our intimate friendship with Him.
And so later, when by grace God reveals his name to Moses (see Exodus 3, and Exodus 33), he reveals His name on a mountain. When God reveals His law and will to Israel, He does so from the mountain. When God commands a temple to be built for worship, he commands it to be built on a mountain. Where does Christ go to reveal his glory to Peter, James, and John? The mount of transfiguration. And most importantly, where was Jesus Christ crucified? From where did Jesus commission the apostles to baptize in the Triune Name? On a mountain.
So this idea of ascending the mountain of God is a motif that runs from Genesis to Revelation. It acknowledges that we as sinners have fallen from grace, we are way down here in the valley of the shadow of death, and yet God by His grace calls us back to Himself. And therefore, this ascent to God is a most fitting theme to make your own, to explain the journey of your life.
What is your autobiography? It is carrying a cross in Jesus’ footsteps, following him from one place to another. From the place that Jesus first loved you and converted you, to the place where you shall behold him on the mountaintop face to face.
Summary: So returning to that initial question of why do a hard thing? Why climb the mountain of trying to know and understand God? Well, it should be for no other reason than that you love and value the God that came down and rescued you. You believe what Jesus says in John 17:3, that eternal life consists in knowing the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent, and have no greater desire than that.
And so this morning I want you to think of this sermon as a kind of group hike to the basecamp of Mount Rainier. I am going to give you two important rules (as your guide) so that you don’t die along the way, and then we’ll apply these two rules to a most important text on the Trinity, John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Rule #1 – Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
First observe that God makes us to distinguish two kinds of things.
There are secret things, and there are revealed things.
Secret things are for God, revealed things are for us and our children.
And so when it comes to knowing God, we need to remember where God Himself has set the boundaries, and then we need to to respect and honor those boundaries and not trespass beyond them.
Amongst the many secret things are the particulars of the final judgment, who God predestined for salvation and who God leaves to their just punishment. It is not for you or I to know and judge the unseen thoughts and deeds of men. We refer that decision to the Creator, and with fear and trembling seek mercy for ourselves.
Jesus says to Peter when he inquires about John’s destiny, “What is that to you? You follow me.”
And then Peter having learned his lesson says in 2 Peter 1:10, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.”
In other words, instead of tying yourself in knots and doubts about whether you are predestined or not, attend to what God has revealed, which is for you to make your calling and election sure by adding virtue to your faith (2 Peter 1:5).
Remember the whole purpose for which God has made things known. It is for us to do, to obey, to observe, to follow. And part of following Jesus is trusting that if He wanted you to know something, He would have told you in His Word. Moreover, if you are not presently obeying the things He has already revealed, why do you think knowing hidden things is going to help you?
Too often we deceive ourselves into thinking that more and new knowledge will help us, when what we actually need is to just do and practice what we already have been told. Confess your sins, forgive one another, love your neighbor as yourself, etc.
So that’s Rule #1. If God has not revealed it, you ought not to pry, you ought not ask (who are you O man to question God?). But if God has revealed it, then we must make it our own possession, pass it on to our children, and observe it with all our heart.
Now amongst those things that God has revealed, He has told us that in this life we cannot know what the Divine Essence is (what God is essentially in Himself), we can only know what He is not by some creaturely analogies about Him. And this brings us to Rule #2.
Rule #2 – God is always greater than what your mind can grasp.
It says in Job 36:26, “Behold, God is great, and we know him not, Neither can the number of his years be searched out.”
And in Psalm 145:3, “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And his greatness is unsearchable.”
You and I cannot grasp eternity, the finite cannot comprehend the infinite.
God says in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So whatever likeness or similitude there is between us and God, there is always an ever-greater dissimilitude.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:16, “He alone hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.”
And in Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!”
God is far greater than you presently think He is. And even when the Bible tells us something like God is love or God is good, even that falls short of the love and goodness that God actually is, because you and I have never met anyone or anything whose very being and essence is love and goodness.
What in us is a quality added to our being, that we are good sometimes and loving sometimes, is in God essentially and supereminently.
This is why Jesus says in Luke 18:19, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” That is, God has goodness in an infinitely higher mode. What we call good down here is only an analogy to God’s all surpassing goodness up there.
Paul says likewise about love in Ephesians 3:19-20, I pray that you may “know the love of Christ, which surpasseth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”
Notice, the love of Christ, the love that is God and His power to do, far surpasses our knowledge. And therefore, whenever we say any creaturely perfection of God (like God is love or goodness or unity or power), remember that God’s mode of having those things far exceeds what we can comprehend.
Just as a worm in the mud cannot understand human love or romance, or the joys of marriage, or even what a human being is, because a worm has no eyes or ability to reason, just so, the distance between God and us is even greater than that.
Compared to God, we are as blind worms in the mud. And yet God speaks to worms in Isaiah 41:14, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, And thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”
How has God helped us? He became a man in Christ. And so if you can imagine becoming a worm to help worms, that is less than the distance God crossed to become man. And it is that distance between Creator and creature that makes the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word made flesh, into the most unfathomable act of grace and self-giving. Can you believe God did that!?
Would you become a worm for worm’s sake? God became a man for man’s salvation.
One of the signs that you are starting to make progress in your knowledge of God is that you start to empty yourself out for others.
You think, If God has poured out his life to love and forgive me, when I was still a sinner, then I must certainly give my life for others; even if they don’t appreciate it or ever say thank you. In fact, it is an honor to be poured out like a drink offering upon the altar, to be identified with Christ and his sufferings.
And so the truth abouts God’s greatness and the distance He crossed to come and get us, should move us to great acts of devotion towards Him, which then spill over into the lives of others. How can we every repay such abundant grace?
The Apostle John says in 1 John 4:20-21, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
And so loving each other is part of climbing the mountain with Jesus. Some people are hard to love. But look in the mirror, you are hard to love, and yet Jesus loves you. This is the gospel. That God so loved us, that He sent His only begotten Son. Not because we were lovely, on the contrary we were anything but. And yet He came down to change us and make us worthy of being united to Him.
“He who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”
And this brings us to our third and final part of the sermon which is, How can you know and love what you cannot see?
Part #3 – Faith Seeking Understanding
The answer to this question is by faith seeking understanding.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”
And in Hebrews 11:3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
Now let’s now apply this principle of faith seeking to understand who God is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
According to our first rule, is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit a secret thing, or is it a truth He has revealed?
Obviously, we must answer that God has revealed this truth to us in Christ, and the Apostles recorded this truth for us in the New Testament. Therefore, we must believe this truth to be saved, and we ought to seek some understanding insofar as God’s Word has made this mystery known.
At the same time, we must remember Rule #2, that God is always greater than our minds can comprehend. And therefore, if we want to understand how there are three distinct persons in God and yet all the One God, we are going to need some creaturely analogy to help us see what is similar to God, while also acknowledging that ever-greater dissimilitude. That is the move that keeps us out of heresy while also giving us some imperfect analogical understanding of who it is we love.
This brings us to John 1:1, a verse that all of us believe and most are familiar with but is hard to understand. So let’s try by faith.
John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
First observe that there is both a distinction and an identity between the Word and God. Two distinct subjects, and yet both identified with each other. How can this be?
John has given us a clue by using this word Word (in Greek logos). He wants us to think about what a Word is because that is the analogy He is going to develop in his Gospel to describe three distinct persons who are all the One God.
So what is a word?
There is the external word that is spoken by our mouth and heard with the ears. But what do our external words reflect within us?
Our external words reflect some idea or concept or definition in our mind which we then communicate to others. And so before any external word comes out of our mouth, there is first some interior word that proceeds from our mind, and which we say is conceived/begotten by our intellect.
For example, if you are walking down the street and see a dog, and you look closely and identify that this dog is a Golden Retriever, what you have just done is conceived a definition in your mind by an act of understanding. And we call that definition that proceeds from an act of understanding an interior word, or the word of the heart.
Put another way, this is you talking to yourself in your head.
And it is that internal word conceived in your mind that is the beginning for John’s analogy about the Trinity.
So let’s develop this analogy further and see how it is both similar and dissimilar to the Word in God.
1. Both our word and God’s Word are invisible and immaterial. You cannot see God, and I cannot see your thoughts. You cannot touch God, I cannot touch your thoughts.
2. Both our word and God’s Word proceed from some principle. For us it is our intellect from which an interior word is generated, and in God the principle is the Father from whom this Word proceeds.
BTW: The name of that internal procession from the Father is called Generation, or as John 3:16 calls Jesus, “the only begotten Son.” That begetting of the Son internal to God is like your intellect begetting an interior word.
3. Both our word and God’s Word are really distinct from their principle.
The definition you conceive in your mind is a concept really distinct from yourself, and yet it is also inside of yourself.
And likewise, the Word conceived in the mind of God is really distinct and yet also internal to God.
So thus far we have an analogy for a Word that is internal, invisible, immaterial, proceeds from a principle, and is really distinct from that principle. What is left then is to find an analogy for how that Word is also of the same nature as that Principle, because John says, “the Word was God.”
Here is where we start to notice some major dissimilarities between the word in us, and the Word in God.
So to understand this, start by thinking in your mind about yourself. Who are you? What are you? Do you fully understand yourself? Can you comprehend your own essence and being, your body and soul, your unique personality such that in one word you can define and explain who you are? Can you generate an exhaustive concept of yourself (a definition) that fully expresses to others your entire being? No. But God can.
Whereas we need many words to express who we are because our knowledge of ourselves is so imperfect and fragmented, God on the other hand understands Himself perfectlyand all in one single and eternal act of understanding.
And from that perfect comprehension of His own essence, proceeds a Word that perfectly expresses that essence, so much so that it is the Divine Essence.
This is what John means when he says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” There is a real distinction of persons, and a real identify of essence.
One of the most fundamental rules of theology is the maxim whatever is in God is God. So perfections that are distinct powers and accidental qualities in us, like knowing, willing, wisdom and beauty, are in God all the one divine essence. There are no real distinction in God, only a real distinction between the three persons.
So if there is anything internal to God, like a Word in the Beginning with the Father, that Word must necessarily be the Divine Essence itself. This is how we speak of both a real distinction between persons while also affirming a real identify of essence. The relations we call Father, Son, and Spirit just are the Divine Essence, and distinct only from one another (by mutual opposition).
Conclusion
What makes the truth about this Word in God that is God even more amazing, is what John tells us about this Word in the verses that follow.
He goes on to say in verses 9-14, that this Word is also a Light, “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
The more you know and understand the greatness of God, the more you will be amazed and humbled and moved to worship by the Incarnation of that God.
So will you receive this grace and truth from the Eternal Word made flesh? For he invites you to follow him all the way up the mountain, and He promises that the views are worth it. You shall see the glory of God, and live.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: The Holy Trinity Pt. 2 - Filioque

The Holy Trinity Pt. 2 – FilioqueSunday, June 8th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WAJohn 20:19–23
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus who has power to forgive sins. And we thank you on this Pentecost Sunday for the Holy Spirit, who was given to the apostles and their successors so that the church today may bind and loose, remit and retain, as ministers of Christ on earth. We ask for your blessing now as we approach and contemplate the highest of all mysteries, who you are in yourself. Teach us now by the Spirit of Truth, in the name of Jesus, and Amen.
Introduction
Every Lord’s Day in our worship service, after we confess our sins, we arise and confess our common faith. This is an important act of worship, because it says in Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
And so from the earliest days of the Apostolic Church, it became necessary to confess the Lord Jesus, his full divinity, his perfect humanity, his death and resurrection for sinners, Jew and Gentile alike. It was necessary to confess these truths in such a way that no false Jesus or false gospel could be understood.
We find in Scripture itself various creed-like statements. Romans 10:9-10 is one example. Another is what Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:16, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”
You can hear the creed-like rhythm of that confession of faith.
So creeds became necessary in the church for two main reasons.
1) To protect and preserve the truth, and 2) to more quickly and understandably propagate the truth. Especially in a time before everyone had a personal copy of the Bible!
The earliest heresies in the church said that Jesus was either a created being and therefore not equal to the Father in divinity (what became later known as Arianism), or that he was not really a human being with a nature like ours (we call this Gnosticism or Docetism), or that the Son and Spirit were just God the Father wearing different masks, no real distinction in persons (Sabellianism).
So even in the New Testament we find various heresies popping up that need to be refuted (much of the New Testament is written to refute such errors). And as time went on, new heresies arose that required new refutations, new articulations of the common faith once received.
So the creeds did not invent or create new doctrines, they were meant to clarify and make explicit what the Word of God had always taught. The purpose of creeds is to make explicit what is implicit, that is, logically contained within that simple confession that Jesus is Lord.
And so while it might seem trivial or routine to some that we confess the Nicene Creed every Lord’s Day, it is actually a matter of salvation or damnation that we believe and confess rightly the true Jesus and none other. Because only the true Jesus can save.
Now this morning we are in part 2 of a short series on The Holy Trinity, and because it is Pentecost Sunday, I want to consider more closely the person of the Holy Spirit. Who He is, and what He does. And so the outline of my sermon is as follows.
Outline
First, I will give you a brief history lesson on what is called the Filioque controversy, which is about answering the question, Who is the Holy Spirit as unique Divine Person?
Second, we’ll consider, How is the Holy Spirit’s procession from Father and Son reflected in the life of the church?
So 1) Who is the Holy Spirit? And 2) How is the Holy Spirit manifest in the church?
#1 – A Church History Lesson
The year is 589 AD. And a church council has been called in Toledo, Spain to address the rise of Arianism and Sabellianism amongst the Spanish Goths.
Recall that Arianism teaches that Jesus is not consubstantial (of the same nature) with the Father, and it therefore introduced subordination and difference of essence within the Godhead and divided/destroyed the unity of the Trinity. Arianism was the long archenemy of true Christian faith and the reason for which the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), and the Council of Constantinople (381) had convened and written the Nicene Creed. These creeds where in large part written to exclude and refute Arianism, and later Sabellianism.
Now at this Third Council of Toledo (589), the newly converted Spanish king, King Reccared, said that the Holy Spirit is not only from the Father, but is a Patre Filioque, from the Father and the Son. And this was a doctrine that had long been taught in the Latin West, most famously by St. Augustine and later in the Athanasian Creed. However, it had never been confessed as part of the Nicene Creed.
This idea that the Holy Spirit is not only from the Father but also Filioque, from the Son, was a way of expressing two important realities: 1) the full divinity of the Son together with the Father, which rejects Arianism, and 2) the distinct identity of the Son and Spirit as really distinct persons within the Godhood, which rejects Sabellianism. We find this doctrine defended from many places of Scripture.
For example, Jesus says in John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”
And then also in John 16:15, “All things that the Father hath are mine.” And so if the Holy Spirit is from the Father, He by good and necessary consequence has to also be from the Son. Because the only real distinction between Father and Son are their distinct relations of origin. The Father is from none, and the Son is from the Father, and nothing else is really distinct between them than that.
There are what we call many rational distinctions, many ways of attributing to the Father certain actions in history, but remember because God is One, those distinctions are only in our mind and manner of speaking, they are not in God as He is in Himself.
Aside: This difference between what is really distinct within God, and what is only rationally distinct in our minds, is one of the most important distinctions in all of theology. If you get this confused, you will certainly be dividing the Godhead into different parts or turning the Trinity into three different beings.
So recall what we said last week, there is no real distinction between the Three Persons and the One Essence, the Three Persons are the One Essence. The only real distinction in God is in how the Persons are distinct in origin. The Father from none. The Son from the Father. And the Spirit from the Father and the Son. In everything else they are the One God acting inseparably.
Returning to our history lesson. Following St. Augustine and other church fathers, King Recarred used this idea of Filioque to make more explicit the truth contained within the Nicene Creed. However, the emphasis on this doctrine eventually led to a number of churches adding ex Patre Filioque (and the Son) into their recitation of the creed in their worship services. And that’s where major problems start to develop.
Up to this point in Christendom, the church was united in their confession of the Nicene Creed, both the Latin West and the Greek-speaking East. Moreover, it was agreed upon at the Council of Ephesus (431) that no one church could make additions or changes to the Creed without consent and agreement of the other churches, that is by the mechanism of an ecumenical council.
So even though the Filioque was a true doctrine and held by theologians in both East and West, still it was a violation of church law to tamper with the creed. Creeds were by definition ecumenical (representative of what the only holy catholic apostolic church believed and confessed).
Fast forward a couple hundred years and King Charlemagne (Emperor from 768-814 AD) comes to power. And under Charlemagne and what we call the Carolingian Renaissance, Pope Leo of Rome tried to crack down on the use of the Filioque in reciting the Nicene Creed, but the Frankish church basically ignored the Pope’s command and continued to recite it anyway. Especially in their missionary work to the Slavs.
Fast forward another 200 years and this conflict comes to a head in 1054 with what now call The Great Schism between East and West. And what this schism revolved around was amongst other things, Papal Authority, and whether the Filioque is true.
The Eastern Church, what we today call the Eastern Orthodox, rejected the Pope’s claim to universal sovereignty. However unfortunately, because the Filioque was a prime example of the Pope throwing his weight around, many looked upon this doctrine as suspect, if not outright heretical. So to this day, now almost 1,000 years later, the Eastern Church (of which there are some 200+ million Christians) still rejects Papal Supremacy, and largely rejects the Filioque.
Now where we do as Reformed Protestants fit in? Well because the Reformation grew out of the Latin West, the reformers agreed with the East on rejecting the Pope’s supremacy, however, we received and inherited the Western version of the Nicene Creed which has the Filioque added to it. And because this doctrine is thoroughly biblical and logically necessary to distinguish the three persons while maintaining their unity, the Reformed Church to this day confesses and teaches Filioque as the faith once received from Christ and the Apostles.
So that’s the very short version of how we came to recite every Lord’s Day this version of the Nicene Creed, and not the Eastern version. Because we trace our roots back to Christ and the Apostles through the Latin-Western tradition.
Now someone might wonder, what is the relevance of all this apparent doctrinal and ecclesiastical hairsplitting?
Well for starters, the fact that you are here today at a Reformed Presbyterian Church and not a Roman Catholic church hangs on this question of whether the Bishop of Rope has universal jurisdiction over the church. We hold that the Scripture teaches no such thing, while Rome insists on the Pope’s supremacy.
Secondarily, when it comes to the essentials of the Christian faith, what you must believe to be saved, the creeds of the church are why you take for granted that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and that He is equal to the Father in divinity, and the Holy Spirit is a fully divine person. The creeds act as guardrails to keep your soul from falling into errors and falsehood that would destroy it. And so the stakes cannot really get any higher.
We remember that warning from St. Augustine in his book on the Trinity, “in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.”
What is at stake in the Filioque controversy is not only the unity of the church and the proper form of church government, but also whether the Trinity is a logical contradiction, or as we believe a coherent mystery of faith. Many people today think of the Trinity as an illogical mixture of Oneness and Threeness. But that is not what we believe. We believe in a real distinction of persons between Father, Son, and Spirit, and a oneness of Essence which each person fully is. There is nothing contradictory in the doctrine of the Trinity.
And so if knowing the One true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent is eternal life (John 17:3), then no truth is more foundational than the Trinity. Moreover, no truth is more pleasant to contemplate than who God is in Himself.
This brings us to our second question which is…
#2 – How is the Filioque reflected in the life of the church?
Or to put it another way, How is the Holy Spirit’s procession from the Son manifest? To answer this, I want to give you 5 ways the Holy Spirit effects our salvation.
1. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Sonship.
It says in Romans 8:14-16, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
Notice the Trinitarian pattern of our redemption. The Father sends the Son into the world, the Son sends the Spirit at Pentecost, the Spirit indwells us and makes us adopted sons of God, and then the eternal Son of God leads us (now his brothers) back to His Father.
The internal processions of God are revealed in the external missions of Son and Spirit into the world. And the purpose of those missions is to gather us up into one body in Christ and bring us back to God. There is a coming forth and returning to pattern to our salvation, and that pattern is a participation in God’s Trinitarian life! Our perfection consists in returning to God our source.
Paul says earlier in Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
So notice who the Holy Spirit is said to be. He is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, and if you do not have that Spirit, you do not belong to Him. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit that makes us sons of God.
2. The Holy Spirit is sent at Pentecost to reprove the world.
Jesus says in John 16:7-11, prophesying of Pentecost, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
So the Son sends the Spirit into the world to reprove and convert it.
The Spirit will bear witness through the preaching of the apostles that:
1. It is sin to refuse to believe in Jesus.
2. That Jesus is the righteous one who makes us righteous.
3. That Jesus has cast down the devil, so no longer does the prince of this world hold sway.
The Son sends the Spirit to testify to the truth. And the way the Spirit testifies is through the apostles, through Christian preachers, through the lives of holy saints who have been made holy and righteous by the Spirit of the Son.
When we get down on our knees every Sunday and silently confess our sins, it is the Holy Spirit who searches our hearts and convicts us concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.
This is why we pray in confession the words of Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; And renew a right spirit within me.”
We call the Spirit of the Son Holy Spirit because he makes us holy in an invisible/spiritual way. The spirit cleanses us by moving us to confess our sins and forsake them.
David goes on in Psalm 51:11-13 to describe some of the other effects of the Holy Spirit, “Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; And uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; And sinners shall be converted unto thee.”
This brings us to a third and fourth way the Holy Spirit effects our salvation.
3. The Holy Spirit fills us with joy.
Jesus says to his disciples in John 16:22, “And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”
What is that joy but the Holy Spirit, who even after Jesus returns to heaven sustains the disciples. This is what we find in the book of Acts.
It says in Acts 5:41-42, after the apostles are beaten in Jerusalem, “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”
Joy-filled Christians cannot help but speak and testify of what Jesus has done for them. And yet because we so often forget the joy of our miraculous conversion, we have to pray again and again Psalm 51:11, “restore to me the joy of thy salvation.”
It says in Acts 13:52, right after Paul and Barnabas were beaten and kicked out Antioch in Pisidia, “And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.”
Because the Spirit lifts our mind to hope in God and in our future resurrection, and in blissful life in a new heavens and new earth, we possess joy even here amidst a world of sorrows.
It is the Spirit who gives us certainty and assurance of God’s promises, that in this life our Father gives us only good things, and at death it only gets better. This is where joy is found.
4. The Holy Spirit fills us with freedom.
After asking God to restore to us the joy of our salvation, David prays, “and uphold me with thy free spirit.”
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
And Paul says in Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
Sin is always seeking to enslave us. Sin is always trying to turn us into either legalists or lawbreakers. But Paul says in Galatians 5:4-6, “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.”
The world promises freedom while itself being enslaved. But Christ offers true freedom which is none other than faith working by love, this is the freedom the Spirit works within us.
In this life Christians have a free will to either obey God or disobey Him. However, this freedom is less than the perfect freedom we shall enjoy in heaven. For when we see God face to face, our desire will be so satisfied, our intellect so flooded with God’s beauty, that sin will become impossible, unthinkable, undoable, un-willable. And yet heaven is not a loss of free will, but the gaining of perfect liberty. Heaven is where we acquire the freedom to have and enjoy what is actually our greatest good, namely God.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, and there alone, is freedom.
Fifth and finally..
5. The Holy Spirit fills us with peace.
Jesus says in our sermon text, John 20:21-22, “Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”
Peace is the consummation of a life lived in the spirit. And how do you experience this supernatural peace?
It says in Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.”
And Paul says in Romans 8:6, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Again, notice the Holy Spirit makes us to mind, to think upon God.
St. Augustine says, “contemplation is the reward of faith.” And what is contemplation? It is the act of gazing upon truth with delight.
And so Jesus sends the Holy Spirit, he breathes upon the disciples, to make them contemplate Christ when he is no longer physically present. Because it is by the Spirit’s indwelling, that Christ the Son, together with Father, the whole Trinity of Persons makes us into their home. And where God lives and dwells, there we find peace in every season.
And so I close with words of Romans 15:13, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Sermon: CKA Graduation 2025 - The Man As City

CKA Graduation 2025Friday, June 6th, 2025Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WAProverbs 25:28
Prayer
Father, we thank you for the end of one chapter, and the beginning of another, and as these two graduates, these two young men, go forth into the world we ask you to protect them, to preserve them, and to prosper them in every way. We ask for your blessing upon the ministry of Your Word now, and we ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
As we just heard from Proverbs 25:28, every person is like a city. And this evening the question I want to pose for all of us, but especially to Ezra and Chapman is, What kind of city are you? What kind of city are you becoming? What kind of city do you want to become?
According to King Solomon, if you lack self-control, if you cannot rule your own spirit, your passions, your body, your mind, then you are like a city broken down and without walls. You are a city in ruins. A city easily invaded and overcome by others.
However, on the flipside, this also means that if you can control your spirit, if you are learning to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit which includes self-control, then imagine what you can become?
You can become a great and magnificent city, with high and majestic walls. Or as Jesus says in Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”
So what kind of city are you? A city of darkness and decay, or a city of light and refuge?
Regardless of what you think yourself presently to be, I am just going to assume that everyone here has room to grow in their ability to rule their own spirit.
Whether because of our own sin, or weakness, or ignorance, all of us have walls in need of repair, gates in need of mending. All of us have areas in our city where we lack self-control and need to be built up into mature manhood in Christ.
For example, the Apostle James warns of how difficult it is to rule your own tongue. We might liken the tongue to the media outlet or newspaper of your city. He says in James 3:2, “For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” And then he says a little later in verses 7-8, “For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”
Jesus says in Matthew 12:34-35, “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.”
So if you want to rule the tongue, first you have to rule the heart, you have to bring into the gates of your city good things (truth!), and then store them up in the treasure house of your memory, so that when you speak only good things come out.
Good words, good things, the good life, starts with receiving the Spirit of God, the spirit of Christ, so that you can rule well your own spirit.
And so this evening I want to briefly develop this idea of the person as a city, and I want to offer you three qualities of a great city, that you ought to pattern your life after, especially in this next season of life.
#1 – A Great City Is A Place of Productive Work
It says in Proverbs 12:24, “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: But the slothful shall be under tribute.”
And in Proverbs 22:29 it says, “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; He shall not stand before mean men.”
Notice what Solomon presents as the path to success.
It is not a short and quick path for one, in fact it is usually a long path that can at times feel monotonous, and yet which Scripture extols under the virtue of diligence.
What is diligence? It is doing the right thing with a good attitude, day in and day out, especially when you do not feel like it.
Diligence is that long obedience in the same direction. It is the grinding work of a young ox, who bears the yoke in his youth and yet plows in hope.
Hope is the virtue that inspires the virtue of diligence, and without hope, people procrastinate, they suffer from analysis paralysis, or sometimes they give up entirely and become sluggards. And so if you want to cultivate diligence and a productive city, you must start by cultivating hope in God.
God is the one who holds your life in His hands, and He wants you to be ambitious. He wants you to aspire to great things that will honor Him.
Sloppy work does not honor God. Half-hearted effort does not honor God. Never taking a risk does not honor God.
Hope on the other hand trusts God and then is decisive. Hope seeks out wise counsel, hears good advice, and then makes a decision and owns the consequences.
Hope remembers Proverbs 24:15, “For a righteous man may fall seven times, but rises again.”
So imagine within your city there is a central park, you could name it Hope. And what this next season of life is mainly about is planting trees, sowing seeds, pulling weeds, and doing that all of that in hope that it is God who gives the growth.
It says in Proverbs 24:27, “Prepare your outside work, Make it fit for yourself in the field; And afterward build your house.”
Meaning, there is a right order in which to do things. Before you get married, before you have children, before you build a household, there is a bunch of outside work in the field calling your name. Preparations need to be made.
That might look like working a bunch of odd jobs, it might look like going to college, but whatever you choose to do, do it in faith. Your work now is a work to prepare your city to accommodate others one day, especially a wife and children.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:6, “The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.”
And so remember, trees don’t bear fruit 15 minutes after they are planted. These things take time. And it is the diligent hand, the man diligent in his business that will stand before kings.
More importantly, you are going to stand before the King of kings and give an account for your work.And so heed the words of Colossians 3:23-23, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.”
Aspire to become the kind of city where all your work is unto the Lord.
#2 – A Great City Has Guards At The Gate
It says in 2 Chronicles 23:19, speaking of God’s city, “And [the king] set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in.”
And likewise of that heavenly city New Jerusalem we read in Revelation 21:27, “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie.”
What are the gates of your city? They are your five senses. They are how you interact and engage with the world.
What then is the guard? It is your spirit. Your mind/reason is like the porter, the gatekeeper, who has to assess and judge what to let in and what to keep out.
And so the health of your city, the air quality of your soul, is dependent upon this judgment. Are you going to indulge the flesh, and make provision for the flesh, and the lust of the eyes? Or will you pray with David in Psalm 119:37, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; And quicken thou me in thy way.” Will you pray with Solomon the words of Proverbs 30:8, “Remove far from me vanity and lies.” What does Jesus teach us to pray, “lead us not into temptation.”
And so resolve today, resolve now, to let no unclean thing enter and occupy your soul. Moreover, cast out the impure thoughts and imaginings that defile your conscience.
It says Jude 1:23, “hate even the garment defiled by the flesh.”
And Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:22, “Flee youthful lusts: but pursue righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
If you would become a great and holy city, you must pursue this “with them that call on the Lord out of pure heart.” That means choose your friends carefully. That means, turn off the garbage that is social media, worldly music, movies and shows that tempt you to sin.
If it is not entering in to build up your city, then it is coming to erode and sap your strength. Do not let them in.
#3 – A Great City Has Christ At The Center
It says of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 22:1-2, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
Who is enthroned in your heart? Who owns your affections? If you are the governor, who is the emperor of your city?
At the heart of every fruitful city is the throne of God and of the Lamb. And from His throne flows down pure water, clear as crystal, to make your central park fruitful in every season. This is how what you plant grows.
Notice there are a variety of fruits, twelve different kinds. Meaning, God wants you to be fruitful in more ways than one. He wants you to bear new and different fruit in different seasons.
But notice what is common to all this fruitfulness is that the throne of God and of the Lamb is its source.
Jesus says in John 15:5, “without me ye can do nothing.”
And in John 7:38 he says, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” And in the next verse it says this water is the Holy Spirit.
So you can do nothing good unless Christ is with you. And so make knowing Christ, obeying Christ, and loving Christ your highest ambition, your greatest aspiration. This is what it means to have Christ as the center of your city.
Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
God knows you need a job. God knows you need an education. God knows what you need before you ask Him. And so heed the words of your heavenly father who says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.