Holding Fast the Faithful Word
The entire New Testament is, in effect, our church-planting manual. But the Pastoral Epistles are especially significant to the church planter as they contain specific counsel for one of the first New Testament church-planting teams. The gospel came to Crete, souls were saved and a strong nucleus of believers has been developed. The bases are loaded, and Titus is sent in as the cleanup hitter (Titus 1:5).
The Apostle counsels the church planter about how to move the work forward to completion, and God sees to it that this inspired instruction is recorded for His servants throughout the church age. One of the priorities in establishing churches is identifying, training and installing God-gifted servant-leaders in local congregations so they can continue and multiply. In listing the qualities needed in the lives of these pastors, God insists that they must be men who “hold fast the faithful Word” (Titus 1:9). What exactly does that mean? We hold fast the faithful Word by:
Standing firmly on the precepts of Scripture
We must know what God says in His Word, “rightly dividing” it with a literal hermeneutic (2 Timothy 2:15) and interpreting each part in light of the whole (Acts 20:27). We must submit to the authority of divine revelation (James 1:21) and not insist that it must harmonize with our understanding (Proverbs 3:5).
When we know what God has said, they we must not move away from it. Paul encouraged his teammates to hold fast “sound words” they had heard from him (2 Timothy 1:13), not because they were his words, but because the truth had been learned from the Scripture itself (2 Timothy 3:14-17). Even when others are moving away from sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3), the N.T. church planters were to stand on and defend it (see Jude v. 3).
Many involved in establishing churches today find it far too easy to move away from what they have learned. One seminary professor, commenting on the doctrinal deviation of some of God’s servants, used to say, “I don’t know where that came from, but I don’t think they learned it on their knees with the Bible open in front of them.” As we work to establish churches in obedience to Christ’s command, we must stand firm and stay on a doctrinal foundation that is biblical.
Stepping faithfully in the pattern of Scripture
Scripture is not designed to add to our intellect but to alter our lives as it convicts the sinner, corrects our thinking and our actions, works to conform us to the image of Christ and conditions us to live like Him (2 Tim 3:16-17; James 1:22). We should always seek to understand it practically rather than philosophically. We should be applying it personally in our lives so that others can see that it works and how it works to make us more like the Savior. One of the church planters greatest tools to reach others for Christ and raise them up in His image is the living example of his own life (Titus 2:7).
In the young, developing church, our preaching and teaching needs to reflect the practical nature of Scripture. We must teach Bible doctrine, and we must always teach it with helpful application, showing them the kind of living that is becoming to Christ and will adorn His truth (Titus 2:1, 10).
Sharing freely the message of Scripture
We cannot hold fast the faithful Word by keeping it to ourselves – we must “hold it forth” as a light in the dark world around us (Philippians 2:15-16). The Word of God is exactly what men everywhere desperately need for this life and the next. It is all they need! They need it to be convinced of their own sinfulness and of God’s salvation. They need it in order to know what is right, to do what is right and to continue on in the right path (2 Timothy 3:16).
We must preach the Word powerfully but patiently so that its sound teaching can convince and counsel the listeners (Titus 1:9; 2 Timothy 4:1-5). We should not be content to just teach a class or deliver a sermon. The church planter must strive to have a message that has worked through his own heart and is delivered from his heart. When we do, it powerfully reaches the heart of the hearer and there does its transforming work (Hebrews 4:12).
If we would successfully emulate the New Testament pattern in church planting, we, and those we enlist to serve, must hold fast the faithful Word!