Since an overseer manages God’s household, he must be blameless—not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.
Titus 1:7
For years, there was very little excitement or growth when it came to hand sanitizer and wipes. And then came the COVID pandemic. The shelves immediately emptied. There was a real shortage of these products. And when the shelves were restocked, they were immediately scooped off the shelves and hoarded in cupboards, pantries, and closets around the world.
There were a couple immediate impacts on our society and culture.
First of all, hand wipe dispensers started popping up all over the place. At the front of stores, office buildings, classrooms, meeting rooms, houses of worship, you name it. They remain a welcomed and often used service to the public.
Second, once used, all those hand wipes have to go somewhere. They started littering parking lots all across the land like so many white leaves that had fallen off trees.
Third, as people move or houses are emptied after the death of a loved one, there are all these hand wipes. There’s not a lot of demand for hand wipes at estate sales. And there’s not much you can do with a half-used box of wipes either.
Yes, hand wipes are everywhere. We don’t think about them much anymore. They’re just there. We use them and throw them away without thinking much about them. And there are certain words that we use just like hand wipes. We use them without thinking and then throw them away.
“Since” is one of those words. We use it all over the place in our daily lives, but we just race onto something more important. We throw “since” around like a disposable hand wipe and then just as quickly throw it away. We don’t stop and think about what we’re saying. But not the Apostle Paul.
Paul tells Titus to be on the lookout for certain kinds of people to be elders. This is a most serious warning to Titus. The future of the local churches where Titus appoints and installs elders is at stake. Bad leaders can hurt the cause of Jesus. Corrupt elders can all but destroy a local congregation.
But why was this so important in that day? Why does Paul keep going on about elders? Their qualifications. Their lives. Think about it for a minute. How many churches were there in a city back then? Exactly one. There was no smorgasbord of churches to choose from. There was a single church in each city. If that church failed, so did the spiritual health and eternal destiny of the people that lived there.
That’s why Paul says that elders have to be blameless. Their lives are lived so that no one can prove anything against them. Why? Because there isn’t anything there to prove. They’ve done nothing wrong and they’re not afraid for anyone to look at their finances of tax returns. They’re also not afraid to let anyone look at their cell phone. Paul then describes what a blameless life looks like through these five characteristics.
Overbearing. You know these people. They’re all about themselves. It’s all about their arrogance and opinions. They’ll do anything to make sure that they enjoy themselves. That they get the best seats. They get served first. Their main purpose in life is their own pleasure.
Quick-tempered. These are the people that just fly off the handle. If there’s an opportunity to lose control and get angry, they’ll take it. They have no control over their anger. As a matter of fact, it’s just the opposite; their anger has control over them.
Drunkenness. This sounds so simple, and it is. But there’s more to drunkenness than just booze. We should look at anything that we turn to for the kind of comfort that only God can give. It could be drugs. Pornography. Overeating.
Violent. These brutal people are not afraid to use physical force to get their way. It’s not unusual for them to slap, hit, or punch. They are physical bullies for sure. But there are other kinds of bullying. Some people use their height or size to intimidate people. To get their way.
Dishonest gain. Having money isn’t a sin, but being willing to do anything to get it is. They’re not afraid to fill their wallets through disgraceful greed. When getting money is the most important priority in life, then everything and everyone gets pushed to the side.
So, where are we in having blameless lives? When our relationship with God through Jesus is our top priority, then “the things of earth will grow strangely dim[1]” in comparison to everything else. Since we were made by God and for God, anyone and anything else will leave us empty, broken, and bitter.
Noodling Questions
Which one of the five characteristics is most important to you? Why?
Which one of the five characteristics is least important to you? Why?
How can sinners just like us live blameless lives?
[1] Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, Helen Lemmel, 1922
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