A lover of good men

"For a bishop must be... a lover of good men." -Titus 1:7, 8-
When I read through the requirements for a proper biblical pastor in I Timothy 3 and Titus 1, I see a great number of things that make me uncomfortable because I know I have a lot of work to do if I'm to fully match the description. However, this qualification is not one that is difficult or uncomfortable for me, because I love good men. I recently heard Dr. Michael (my fellow pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church) explain this passage while teaching his theology class, and his definition here of "good men" was eye-opening. We know that according to scripture, in our natural state there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Rom. 3:12) but the "good men" here refers to men who love good things. I have gleaned several applications from this particular requirement as I mulled it over the past few days and would like to share them here with you.
First, the obvious and clearly stated principle, I should love men who love, live and teach good things, and I do! In my personal life I love men who personify the love of good things, I love conversing with them, watching how they live life, and following their example. I love being around them, goofing off with them and learning from them. A few "good men" that fall into this category would be my dad, Dr. Michael, the deacons at Emmanuel, Paul Washer, several other local pastors that preach truth and a few of the congregants at Emmanuel that match this description of men who are truly in love with good things. Beyond that, I love some "good men" that I've never met before, but whose sermons, ministries, books and public lives have blessed and taught me. Men whom I love as fathers in the faith and brothers in Christ even never having met them in the flesh. These are men who I would have no problem endorsing or recommending to my own flock. Included in this number are men like John Piper, Mark Driscoll, R. Kent Hughes and John MacArthur. Then in a third category I would say there are "good men" that I love although they are not even alive any longer, but I know of them and love them through their writings. This list is probably the longest of the three considering I have 6000 years of dead guys vs. the other two categories being limited to my short time here on earth. However, it would be headed by names like, C.S. Lewis, C.H. Spurgeon, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and Martin Luther.
In my contemplation of what it is to love men who love good things and who some of those men are, I was struck with another thought. Many times a truth is seen most clearly when we understand it's antithesis, yet in this particular situation I thought it compelling that we are never told to be haters, refuters or debunkers of evil men. While Titus does tell us to sharply rebuke the deceivers, it does not say that we are to spend a great amount of time ranting to everyone else about them. Understand, I do not deny that we are to warn our flocks of false teachers and false prophets, but here are my reasons for not making this a focal point of my teaching. One, if I boldly and consistently teach truth, my congregation will know error when they hear it. Two, those who are constantly looking for a new preacher to rail against, will inevitably make a godly man the brunt of their wrath, based either on a comment they heard out of context or perhaps even a legitimate (but minor) error in their theology. The fact of the matter is, every one of the "good men" I listed in three lists above, have/had their holes in their theology. As I often say, "The best of men are men at best", but to be an accuser of our brethren is not my job, in fact it is one job that is ascribed to Satan (Rev. 12:10).
So, I'm going to continue to love good men and look for more of them to love, understanding they are not perfect, simply error-prone men being sanctified daily, just like me. I'm also going to continue to try to walk the fine line of warning God's church of those who really are wolves in sheep's clothing, without attacking a true sheep who simply has some spots in his wool.

A stumbling block and foolishness.

1Co 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
The first century church was used in some incredible ways by God, on one occasion God used street preachers to save over three thousand people on one day, other times He used miracles and signs and wonders Men of God preached the truth regardless of their surrounding conditions and God used them for the conversion of souls and the glorifying of Himself. However Paul knew that God uses means and tools to bring about His will, and he knew that there was a great difference between the Jews and the Greeks. When Paul preached to his own people, the Jews, he was preaching to a group of people that understood the creation of the world, the fall of man, the universality of sin, the truths of God's interaction with men, and the inerrancy of the scriptures. So then when he preached Christ, and Him crucified to the Jews, they understood everything he was saying; the problem was they did not want to believe it because that would mess up their idea of getting to heaven through good works and personal sacrifices. On the other hand, when Paul preached to the Greeks he was preaching to a culture that was completely humanistic. The Greeks believed in many gods, none of them all powerful, in fact they believed that most of their gods were simply highly evolved men. So when the gospel was preached to the Greeks, it could not simply be said, "believe on Jesus, the son of God, to save you from your sins." The Greeks would throw this off as the empty babbling of unlearned men because they had no idea what the true meaning of "believe" was, they had no idea what was meant by a singular God and His son, they didn't understand what "sin" was. So Paul rightly classified the Jews as those who didn't want to believe, and the Greeks as those who could not believe.
Now what is the point of all this? How does it apply to us today? It has a great application in how we, as Christians, present the gospel. Most of us are too frightened or ashamed to ever present the gospel at all, but if and when we do, I'm afraid we go about it all wrong. We have to identify which culture we live in, not in order to pamper to it and become more like it, but so we know how to approach it with the gospel. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in the bible belt is a christian and further more not everyone in the bible belt even understands some of the most foundational truths about the bible. This used to be a largely "Jewish" culture (meaning that the majority of people understood the fundamentals of the scriptures). There was prayer not only in school but at almost every public event, the bible was taken seriously and taught as fact, most people attended church at least sporadically if not frequently. The make up of this country has changed drastically over the past 100 years. There is now no mention of anything remotely christian allowed in any public place, evolution is taught as fact in our education system, the scripture is ridiculed and quickly disposed of by anyone with any aspirations of national acclaim and recognition. We are living today in the picture of a Greek culture. If the gospel is to be heard and accepted by our culture, we must start relaying the foundations, reteaching the authority of scripture, reinforcing the truth of man's depravity and God holiness, rebuilding the fortress of salvation through Christ alone. Otherwise, our preaching will continue to be rejected as foolishness and we will be found as unwise stewards of what God has given us, holding the truth in unrighteousness.

A debtor

Rom. 1:14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and the unwise.
Paul is opening up his letter to the Romans here, and in this verse he is prefacing the statement that he is ready to preach the gospel wherever he is called upon to do so. The reason he feels so ready to preach is because he sees himself as a debtor. His debt is actually not to the Romans or Greeks, it is not the wise or unwise that he owes anything to. His debt is to God, he is indebted to Jesus Christ for the salvation of his soul. However there is no way he can repay that debt to God, it is not possible for him to make it up to God, there is no way he can give God anything God does not already have, especially something as important as the soul. Therefore if Paul wants to begin to repay this debt to God, he must be a servant to God for the rest of his life, and bring this saving gospel to all men.
We too, have been saved by the power of Christ, and have no way to repay this debt. Paul says in Rom. 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service". That "therefore" is referring to the previous chapter where he explains that we have been saved by the mercies of Christ, and therefore are to live accordingly. Please do not misunderstand me here, we work for Christ because of our salvation, not for our salvation. Paul also says "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." He is a debtor to Christ and because of this debt he preaches the gospel to all men.
Secondly, I want you to see his obligation to bring this gospel to all men. Paul says in Rom. 10:14 "How shall they believe on him whom they have not heard, and how shall they here without a preacher?" And again in I Cor. 1:21 "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Doing this will not repay God for what He has done, it will not benefit Him, God is holy and perfect and can not be benefited by the actions of mere men. However, Paul had the privilege of hearing this gospel preached and now knows he is obligated to give every man possible the same opportunity. That is not to say that everyone that hears will be saved, but that those whose spiritual ears God has opened, will believe unto salvation.
Now with these two principles in mind, let us come to the applicable conclusion. If you are saved, it is because you heard or read the gospel of Christ, and if someone went out of their way to give you that gospel, shouldn't you do the same? God has saved you regardless of who you were, or what you could give back to Him. You are now a debtor the same as Paul was, you owe it to everyone you come in contact with to proclaim the gospel and give them the chance to believe on Him of whom they have just heard. It is your reasonable service to present your bodies to God as a living sacrifice and preach His gospel, no matter how foolish it sounds to the lost. Believe me, to them it will sound foolish, Paul says in I Cor. 1:18 "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." Start paying on that debt, start preaching the gospel to every creature