St. Titus, Pastor and Confessor, 2025

Texts: Acts 20:28-35, Titus 1:1-9, Luke 10:1-9

Title: Sheep or Wolf

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Would you rather be a sheep or a wolf?

Given the choice, I think most people would choose to be a wolf.

Wolves are strong.  Wolves are aggressive.  Wolves are cunning.  They can work together as a pack to take down much larger animals.

We name our hockey team and our basketball teams after wolves.  Not after sheep.

Sheep are weak.  Sheep are dumb.  Sheep are followers.  If you call someone a sheep, that’s usually an insult.

And yet, over and over in scripture, you, the people of God are called “sheep.”

Remember the parable of the lost sheep, when the shepherd left 99 sheep behind to go and find the one that had wandered?

Remember how Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd and says that you are His sheep whom He calls by name?

Just look right there in the window.

Every single week you look up and see a bunch of sheep staring back at you. 

You are a sheep.

You were made a sheep in Holy Baptism. There’s a reason why there’s a lamb on the cover of the baptismal font.

Ephrem the Syrian says that in Holy Baptism, you are changed from a wolf into a sheep and made like Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Today, a new lamb is added to the fold.  Maria will be / has been transformed, made to be a lamb in Jesus’ flock.

But there are still wolves out there.  And there are wolves in here.

Did you catch that?

In his address to the Ephesian elders in the first reading from Acts, St. Paul says, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

The church is not a perfect sanctuary from the evils of the world. 

[Maria, your life has not become safer by being baptized today.] 

As a sheep you are a target for wolves. Some will come from outside the church and use pressure and persecution to cause you harm.  You may be teased, ridiculed and attacked for belonging to Christ.

Some of the wolves will even come from within the church and will use and abuse you for their own benefit.  They will twist and distort God’s Word and try to draw you to follow them.

So, what’s a sheep to do when the wolves come calling?

Thankfully, you have been given a shepherd, and that is where St. Titus comes in.

We call St. Titus a pastor.

Pastor is the Latin word for “Shepherd.”

Titus is one of many men whom the Lord has used as shepherds, as pastors to care for His sheep.

He doesn’t leave the sheep to their own devices. He doesn’t abandon them to fight off the wolves on their own.

But He puts shepherds in place to lead, tend, and defend the flock.

Notice again what Paul says to the pastors of Ephesus, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” 

Who made these men overseers and shepherds over the flock?

That’s the Holy Spirit’s work. 

You have a pastor, not because I decided it was what I wanted to do.

You have a pastor, not because a call committee and the voters assembly thought I’d be a good man for the job.

You have a pastor because the Holy Spirit has put me here.  And that’s important for both me and you to remember.  This is not just another job, but a holy calling.

To be sure, the Holy Spirit uses people to put pastors in place.  He used Paul to appoint Titus to oversee the work in Crete.  And He used Titus to choose men to serve as elders in the church there.  And He used the call committee and the voters assembly to put me here.

But, through it all, the Holy Spirit was at work.

And the Holy Spirit continues to direct and empower the work of the pastor.

I don’t come to you with my own ideas of what’s good and bad, right or wrong.  If this church is built on me, on my education or experience or personality, it will surely fall apart.

All I have to offer you is the Word of God.

Doesn’t seem like much, does it?  Wouldn’t you rather have a grand business plan or flashy performance or something guaranteed to create a successful church?

But that Word of God is filled with the Holy Spirit.  And that word of God is what will call people to faith, it will strengthen and uphold you, and it will be your defense against the wolves.

Paul tells Titus that the pastors he appoints, “must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that [they] may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

Pastors may need to rebuke people from time to time, to tell them that they’re wrong, and that what they are saying and doing goes against the word of God.  And that rebuke is not just for the evil people out there.  And that rebuke is not just for the folks in here that you don’t get along with.  That rebuke might be for you.

Pastors do not rebuke because they are mean or hateful or unloving.  They rebuke because they are doing what God has placed them there to do.

Trust me, it’s easier to just let things go. It’s easier to keep your mouth shut and ignore sinful behavior or false teaching.

But when that happens, the wolves get their way and the flock is destroyed.

Now it may seem self-serving for me to preach a sermon like this on the pastoral ministry. 

But keep in mind that the office, the position is more important than the person who fills it.  If I counted right, I am the 18th regularly called pastor in Zion’s 170 year history, plus there have been many more who have served in retirement or times of vacancy.  Lord willing, there will be many, many more who come after me.

Over and over again the Lord has provided you and those in other congregations across the globe, with men who will bring you that good news of salvation, who will speak words of comfort and hope in a hostile world, who will teach you the truth from God’s Word, and who will defend you against the wolves who seek to destroy you.

You see, in the end, it’s good to be a sheep.

You have a Lord who became a sheep like you, who was led as a Lamb to the slaughter, to whom we will soon sing, “O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.”

Jesus became vulnerable like you.  Jesus was thrown to the wolves for you.

And on a dark Friday afternoon, it looked as though the wolves had conquered and won the day.

But if you look at the altar, if you see what’s in the center of that white parament, you notice one more lamb. There is Jesus, the Lamb of God. 

And He’s holding a flag.  That flag is a sign of victory.  And there’s a cross on the flag.  Through the cross, through His death, Jesus won the victory over Satan, the biggest and baddest of all the wolves.

Your sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ, and you are washed clean.

And Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, proving that He has conquered the power of death forever.

And no matter what the wolves of this life do to you, Jesus will bring you through to joy of life everlasting, where “The Lamb in the midst of the throne will be [your] shepherd,
    and he will guide [you] to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

That’s the good news that the Lord entrusted to Paul and Titus and to me and to you.  For pastors to proclaim publicly, and for you to share privately with the people whom God has put in your life.

And who knows, before long he might even transform one of these wolves into a sheep like you.

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