Commitment – A Tough Word Today
Adapted from John MacArthur by Dr. Roger G. Ford, Ph.D., P.E.
June 2018

The office of Deacon (“diakonos”) in the Bible is a sacred one, a privilege for those chosen and ordained, as well as a responsible duty not to be taken casually or lightly. Being a servant of the Most High God is something all Christians are by definition. But a Deacon is especially singled out for service to not only God but to the Church body as a whole. It should be noted that a Deacon as God’s special servant is not to be looked at like the world looks at special position. Being a Deacon is a humble position, one that does not seek recognition, does not expect accolades, and labors joyfully yet anonymously.

In order to understand this concept of a “special” but “anonymous” office, we should look to the Apostle Paul and what he had to say about his special position in service to God.

The book of Titus is the next to the last letter that Paul wrote. As in the case of 1 and 2 Timothy, it has a somewhat similar purpose. When Paul wrote 1 and 2 Timothy he was passing the baton to Timothy, and those two epistles were to give him a strong hand in ministry to equip him for the future. And the same is true in the case of Titus. Here is another young man, a very important young man who is close to Paul, beloved by Paul, and who has the responsibility of carrying on after Paul is gone. Both of these young men, Timothy and Titus, have certain similarities.

It is also true that as it was in the case of Timothy, Titus had a very difficult task. He was in a different place than Timothy. Timothy was in Ephesus trying to straighten out the decaying Ephesian church. Titus was on the island of Crete. He had the responsibility there of straightening out the church and of establishing leadership in the church. In both Timothy and Titus’ case there was strong opposition. There was opposition inside the church; there was opposition outside. Both of these young men had been properly and amply trained by the apostle Paul; both of them were gifted by the Holy Spirit; both of them had served faithfully and proven themselves; both of them had very difficult tasks at hand; both of them faced opposition. Consequently, both of them needed this kind of letter from Paul to strengthen them, also to give them some apostolic authority for the task that they faced.

Let’s look at the first four verses of Titus that are all one sentence (typical of Paul). “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested, even His word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior; to Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.”

There is good reason for this rather technical, rather formal, rather lengthy approach, sort of cataloguing apostolic data in regard to writing Titus. And the good reason is this: the letter is intended to delegate to Titus apostolic authority.

Also, the purpose of this letter is not to give Titus the information that is contained in it. He already knew what the standards for leadership were, because he had been with Paul long enough to see Paul in action and to see the kind of leaders that Paul put into place. He was very involved in Paul’s interaction with the Corinthian church. He knew what Paul expected in terms of church leadership.

He also was very well aware of what the apostle’s expectations were for membership and service. He also knew full well how the people of Christ, especially Deacons and Elders, were to conduct themselves in the face of a watching world. This is not primarily information for Titus; but what it is to do is to arm Titus with an apostolic document by which he can lead the church and his leadership not be questioned. The letter, then, with its formidable opening and strong teaching, should give Titus the necessary clout to lead the church and overcome the resistance of the obstinate detractors and false teachers.

As we look at Paul’s opening statement about himself, it is again a model of ministry. What we see that is true of Paul becomes the pattern for us. From these opening verses we can learn what could be simply stated as the commitments of a great leader. What makes a great leader? We have certainly a major leadership gap in America in the church today. The continual defaulting of leadership is of grave concern to me, and I think to all of us who name the name of Christ and love His truth and put our confidence in His representatives.

When we come to a passage like this (which we often just read over and pay little attention to), it is very instructive for us because it again gives us the characteristics of a man who was a leader, who was blameless and above reproach and without fault and who was powerful and effective and useful and fruitful. Whenever we hear Paul talk about himself and about his ministry and about the nature of it or the authority of it or the quality of it or the character of it, or the emphasis of it, we should listen carefully because we are hearing in those words a model for our own lives.

What commitments in Paul’s life made him the great leader that he was? What was it that made him such a useful, powerful, effective and fruitful leader? Why was he so respected and so honored and so loved? The answer is bound up in these four verses. There are several obvious components that come out of these four verses that identify the features of his spiritual commitment.

Anyone who is effective in life in terms of spiritual ministry or in service to God makes commitments and then sticks with those commitments. The aspect of leadership that we see, or the level of leadership that we see in Paul, doesn’t happen by accident; you don’t back into it. It is the result of a resolute mind and a resolute heart and a strong determination to walk in the power of the Spirit of God and in obedience to the Word. You learn to make commitments and to keep them. And Paul made such commitments. And they became the benchmarks of his leadership. In this greeting those commitments surface and they then become for us transferable principles that we can apply in our own life, commitments which we ourselves can and must make. These commitments provide the framework for the greatness of his ministry. He made strong commitments. He made unwavering commitments. And by the power of God, he kept them.

First of all, he was committed to God’s mastery. He says, “Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” In that very introduction, you can clearly see that he saw himself as a man under sovereign authority.
He was an unusually gifted man. He was a Jew. He was trained by the best Jewish teacher, Gamaliel; yet he was raised in the Greek world, so he was sufficiently Hellenized to understand his culture very well. He was fiercely loyal, however, and unaffected, as it were, by Gentile religion – fiercely loyal to Judaism and dutifully zealous as a Pharisee. So zealous was he as a Pharisee that he was a persecutor of Christians until the day he was confronted by Jesus Christ Himself. He was converted and became a preacher of the gospel. He had a brilliant mind. He was a powerful and forceful person in terms of his abilities to reason and to proclaim truth. He became God’s instrument for thirteen books of the New Testament. His spiritual credentials were endless; his achievements legendary; his miracles recorded for us; his virtues exemplary. But none of those formed the basis of his authority.

He does not say, “Paul, a Jew trained by the very best Jewish teacher. Paul, raised in a Greek world understanding fully Greek culture. Paul, a fiercely loyal believer in Judaism. Paul, a zealous Pharisee who knew the Law. Paul, a persecutor. Paul, the one who saw the beauty of Jesus Christ and yielded himself to Him.” He doesn’t say, “Paul with a brilliant mind.” He doesn’t say, “Paul, the man that God used to write so many books.” He doesn’t say, “Paul whose achievements are legendary, whose virtue is exemplary. Paul whose credentials are endless. Paul, the one who performed miracles.” No. He doesn’t base his authority on any of those personal matters.

When he looks at the very essence of his ministry, he sees himself in ministry not because of anything in himself or accomplished by himself, but because of sovereign choice. He is a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. He is one who refers to himself in those two ways to demonstrate his commitment to God’s mastery over his life. He did not see himself as a loose cannon – as somebody who could act independently, as somebody who could control his own life, could call the shots, could live any way he wanted to live, could determine the direction of his ministry. He saw himself and was fully committed to the fact that he was a man under divine call, authority, and obligation. We, as Deacons, should have the same commitment.

That becomes clear in the two titles which he uses here. He often refers to himself as “a bond-servant of Christ,” but this is the only time he refers to himself as “a bond-servant of God.” James does refer to himself as “a bond-servant of God.” Even more interestingly, Moses is called “a bond-servant of God” in Revelation 15:3. So Paul here is putting himself on a level with Moses as one uniquely called to serve Yahweh, the living God.

There’s a second title here that I think is very obvious and familiar to us. He says not only is he “a slave to God” and thereby committed to God’s mastery of his life, but he is “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” This, in a sense, more narrowly and more specifically defines the very general concept of being a slave to God. He is a slave to God. So was Moses. So was Joshua. So were the prophets. And so were the apostles. But he has narrowed down in the second phrase the nature of his slavery. He has been sent by God as God’s slave to perform the task of being a messenger on behalf of Jesus Christ. Apostolos means “a messenger,” “one sent on a mission.” The specific nature then of his slavery is defined.

We think of the word “apostle,” “a messenger.” Sometimes you hear that the term “envoy,” sometimes “ambassador,” and you get the idea that this is some kind of a lofty term. The fact is, it is not. It is not an elevated term. It is simply an office of a messenger of God, under the authority of God, a slave of God.

So, Paul is not in any sense elevating himself when he calls himself an apostle. He is saying, however, “I come with authority, not my own authority, not based on my own credentials, but I am a slave of God, and God has sent me as the messenger of Jesus Christ.”

He really then becomes the model for our submission, doesn’t he? All effective, all powerful, all useful, all fruitful, all genuinely spiritual people see themselves as under divine authority. That becomes the controlling influence of their life. They say with the apostle Paul, “I don’t count my life dear unto myself, it’s of little consequence to me what happens in my own life as regards to my own comfort or my own success. I am under authority.” These kinds of people don’t fulfill a personal agenda – they aren’t building a personal empire; they aren’t pursuing personal goals; they aren’t trying to achieve personal accomplishments. They are subject to the master whose slave they are. They are subject to the master whose messenger they are and in whose will is their life and their joy.

That was Paul’s first and undying commitment, being a slave to God and God’s messenger. And that commitment sustained him through his life.

The second thing he was committed to was God’s mission – not only God’s mastery in his life, but he was committed to God’s mission. Please note verse 1 again, this man who is “the bond-servant” or the doulos, “the slave of God and the messenger of Jesus Christ,” was “for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life.”

Here he tells us what his mission was. He not only lived to do God’s will and to do Christ’s bidding, but to fulfill a very specific mission that was their will.

So, Paul says, “I know my mission. My mission is to give the elect the opportunity to hear the saving gospel, so they can believe and be redeemed. That’s my mission. That’s my purpose.”

Now, you can see in just looking at as much as we’ve looked at up to this point that here is a man whose life is very confined. He says, first of all, “I am a slave. I am a slave of God. I have no will of my own, no personal agenda, no goals, no purpose, no plan for my life but that which is God’s will and purpose. My slavery is defined as being a messenger on behalf of Jesus Christ which means I bear the Word of Christ, the message of Christ. That’s who I am. That’s why I live. Consequently, I will do nothing to cause myself to step out of my commitment to God’s mastery. I will not act independently. I will not create my own agenda. I will not set my life in its own direction.” And so, he was controlled by his commitment.

Secondly, he says, “I am a man who understands my mission. Not only the mastery of God but the mission of God, and I know that mission is that I might be the instrument by which the chosen come to faith.” What a tremendous thing that is.

Listen, Paul knew that it wasn’t his cleverness that converted people. Paul knew that it wasn’t the uniqueness of his style that converted people. It wasn’t the depth of his own ability to reason and preach that converted people. What he knew was the simple gospel, when it hit the heart of the elect, brought about conversion. And so he says to the Corinthians, “I am determined to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified. I didn’t come to you with the words of wisdom” – man’s wisdom – “I didn’t come to you with clever speech. I came determined to know nothing among you except Christ and Him crucified.” The simplicity of his message.

Yes, there’s a certain joy in being used to bless someone’s life by being the instrument of their salvation, but the greater joy is being counted useful to God Himself, to be that kind of agency.

We, as Deacons, have a job of service to God in this church, which we do very well. But, we have to maintain a clear commitment to our mission as Paul did. We are slaves to God like Paul, and our mission is to serve joyfully with full commitment to our dedication, our ordination, as Deacons. Today’s world does not place great value on commitment, but God does.