Titles and Who They Belong to 8-6-25

Names and titles of God belong to Him only. He will not share or give His glory to another (Isaiah 42:8). He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: Holy and reverend is His name (Psalm 111:9); God’s name is due and deserves the highest respect. No human being sent redemption, only God did.

Holy and Reverend [Awesome] is His name!- God is to be respected above anyone else!

Jesus talked to the hypocritical pharisees about titles. If Jesus didn’t use a title why should any people of God use titles.  After all we a called to be imitators of Christ. I wonder what would these people who wear collars and robes  to distinguish them above others would do if Jesus was walking among them. Are the certificates on the wall supposed to indicate that they have more knowledge than others?

Jesus talked to the hypocritical pharisees about titles  - Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their work; for they say, and do not do.  

For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.

They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,  greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’  

But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi;’ for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  

And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be ^[e]humbled, and he who humbles himself will be ^[f]exalted (Matthew 23:1-12).

They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings (Acts 15:23).  "To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given..." To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Ephesians 3:8). 

Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone,  and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith (1 Thessalonians 3:1-2).  

 Do not rebuke an older man but exhort him as a father [father figure], younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity (1 Timothy 5:1).

The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed:  Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;  and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.

 Likewise, you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:1-5); and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,  as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures (2 Peter 3:15-16).

Just recently I heard someone say my name is pastor So and So, when the proper way to greet or address others would have been, I am pastor So, and So. I pray that leaders and their followers will take heed to what the Word of God says. Titles are not given to God’s people; the five fold ministry is office, not a title - This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the office  of a bishop, he desires a good work (1 Timothy 3:1).

His handmaiden, Betty A. Burnett ~ burnettministries.org