Building a Healthy Church: Introduction to Titus, 1:1-4

Today we are beginning a new study through Paul’s letter to Titus. Titus was a young pastor, very much like Timothy. It seems that Paul had led Titus to Christ and had discipled him. Titus was now leading the church on Crete. (Crete is an Island to the southeast of Italy and Greece in the Med Sea. It is 160 miles long, and 35 miles wide at its widest. There were several towns and villages as well some important ports of the island.)
The culture of Crete was known for its wickedness and the churches on Crete were unorganized and struggling with separation from the evil in the society.
Paul placed Titus in charge of organizing these congregations and developing a healthy, God-glorifying culture that could effectively worship God and draw the lost to salvation.
This short letter is all about building a healthy church in an unhealthy community. I think every Gospel-preaching church faces a similar situation. The world outside our doors is pushing and pulling us toward godlessness and we need to purposely seek to worship God and evangelize our community God’s way.
Our passage today is Paul’s greeting to Titus. This is a very long greeting (only Romans and Galatians have longer) and it’s packed with serious doctrine.
For our time today, we will look at the writer and recipient of the letter, and next time, we will dive into the message of the greeting.