A young man had just graduated from Bible school and wanted to be a pastor. But when he was offered a temporary job as a police officer, he accepted it, thinking it might give him some good insight into human nature that would come in handy later in the ministry. One of the questions on the police academy exam was, βWhat would you do to disperse an unruly crowd?β The aspiring pastor thought for a moment, then responded, βIβd take up a collection. Thatβll disperse any crowd!β
Speaking of unruly people, the island of Crete where Titus was stationed (Titus 1:5) had itβs share of them. We know this because after Paul told him to ordain elders in the islandβs churches, he told him the reason he needed to ordain them:
βFor there are many unruly and vain talkersβ¦β (Titus 1:10).
The dictionary defines the word βunrulyβ as people who donβt want to be ruled. Thatβs probably why the only other people in the Bible who are called βunrulyβ are people who didnβt want to be ruled by the rulers of their local church. Speaking of those spiritual leaders, Paul told the Thessalonians,
ββ¦know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; Andβ¦ esteem them very highly in love for their workβs sakeβ¦ warn them that are unrulyβ (I Thess. 5:12-14).
See the connection? After speaking about rulers, Paul told them to warn the unruly. In the context, these were obviously people who didnβt want to be ruled by the churchβs pastor and elders.
But how could Paul have known that there were unruly men who didnβt want to be ruled by leaders in Crete? Their churches didnβt have rulers yet! Remember, Paul had left Titus in Crete to ordain elders (Tit. 1:5). So how did Paul know that some of the Cretians were unruly?
Well, it was because of the way that pastors are supposed to rule. Paul explained how leaders are to rule in the dispensation of grace when he told the Corinthians,
βNot for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye standβ (II Cor. 1:24).
Pastors arenβt supposed to rule by having βdominionβ over Godβs people, that is, by dominating them. People stand by faith, and faith comes by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). That means pastors are supposed to rule by teaching people the Word, and then letting the Word rule them. Beloved, the only way you are going to have any joy in life is if you let Godβs Word rule your life!
But thatβs how Paul knew there were unruly men in Crete. When he was there among them, he had seen that there were Cretians who didnβt want to be ruled by the Word that he had taught them. So he told Titus to ordain some elders to teach those unruly men more of Godβs Word.
Perhaps you are thinking, βHow would that help? If they didnβt want to be ruled by Godβs Word, why ordain leaders to give them more of His Word?β
The answer is that God doesnβt have a βPlan Bβ when it comes to helping people with their joy! That means when people donβt want to be ruled by the Word, a pastor shouldnβt chuck the Scriptures and look around for something else to give them. Instead, he should continue to teach the Word, and ordain elders to do the same. You see, growing in the Word is a believerβs only hope of living the joyous Christian life God wants each of us to richly enjoy. source
