"Meeting Titus" Titus 1: 1-5

I am beginning a brief, five week series on Titus.   I suspect I may have to help people find Titus -- it's in the New Testament, by the way, between 2 Timothy and Philemon.  I remember it because it finishes out the T's (1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, then Titus!).

It is attributed to Paul, but many biblical scholars do not consider it to be an authentic letter of Paul.

Here are a few tidbits about Titus.

1. Titus is never mentioned in Acts, but we read about him in letters of Paul.
   1. Titus was a Gentile who accompanied Paul on his famous conference with the Jerusalem apostles (Galatians 3: 2)
   2. Titus was the key administrator of the collection of the saints in Jerusalem that Paul collected from the church in Corinth (2 Cor. 8: 16-17, 23; 12: 18).
   3. Titus also acted as a diplomatic envoy, so to speak, from Paul to the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 2: 13; 7: 6-7, 13-16).
2. A typical opening, although other Pauline examples would have used “servant (or slave) of Jesus Christ” rather than “of God.” (1:1).
   1. In Old Testament writings, Moses and other prophets are sometimes referred to as “slaves of Yahweh.”
   2. “Slave” or “servant” stresses the completeness of the commitment to one’s master, in this case God.
3. The expected thanksgivings are left out of this letter.
   
   
   4.  Titus has been left in Crete, although there is no other indication in the biblical texts that Paul had a mission to that island.
   
   So what takes this text and this information about Titus and makes it a sermon?  What should the point of engagement be?  Next week, I will be focusing on the types of people that get called into leadership (working off the rest of Chapter 1), but what is the "hook" to these opening verses of Titus?  If you figure it out and let me know by Sunday morning, you may get to be part of the sermon!