Doing God’s Work Together
Titus 3:12-15
At the risk of over-stereotyping, please allow me to suggest that typical Midwestern Americans (and Americans in general) tend to function in an individualistic way. We keep to ourselves, rely on ourselves, and interact with other people to a limited degree.
This individualistic lifestyle contrasts with the more social, relational, and community-oriented lifestyle practiced by many cultures in the Far East. In such cultures, people rely on and interact with one another to a much greater degree.
Though we certainly need to take personal responsibility for our lives, we have much to learn from a more social, relational, and community-oriented culture. In fact, the end of Paul’s letter to Titus brings this out. His closing comments to Titus reveal that a church is more than a group of people who follow Christ. It is a group of people who should share their life and service for Christ together. This close connection to one another in the church is a necessary way to live with grace, working out God’s grace in our lives together.
In these closing instructions, we see three ways that we should draw closer together as a church. We should cooperate together (Tit 3:12), contribute to one another (Tit 3:13-14), and communicate with each another (Tit 3:15). We can call these principles the 3 C’s of Church Teamwork.
- Cooperation requires giving our effort.
- Contribution requires giving our resources.
- Communication requires giving our words.
Christian author and speaker, John C. Maxwell, has rightly observed, “It takes teamwork to make the dream work.” Any church who desires to help people take their next steps in following Christ must put God’s grace to work together. The key word here is together. So many of the good works that grace enables are the works we do together as a church.
We must cooperate with one another.
When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
Titus 3:12
Here Paul names two people and a place. The people are Artemas and Tychicus. These are Greek names which indicates that they had left a pagan lifestyle to follow Christ. These were first-generation followers of God.
- We don’t much about Artemas. This is the only time he’s mentioned in the NT.
- We know more about Tychicus. He traveled with Paul to Jerusalem when Paul went to prison in Rome for the first time (Acts 20:4). Then he carried NT letters to Ephesus and Colossae while Paul was in prison at Rome (Eph 6:21; Col 4:7). Then he later served as Paul’s personal representative to churches (2 Tim 4:12).
Why did Paul mention these men to Titus? Because he telling Titus know that one of these men would replace him on Crete soon. Since we know that Paul would later send Tychicus to Ephesus (2 Tim 4:12), it seems probable that Artemas was the man whom Paul ended up sending to replace Titus – though we can’t say for sure.
What’s clear is that at the time Paul sent this letter to Titus, he himself was unsure which man he would eventually send. This uncertainty reveals the humanity of Paul while giving two names reveals his diligent planning.
Why did Paul plan to send one of these men to replace Titus on Crete? Because he wanted to reconnect with Titus and spend more time together in Nicopolis. Nicopolis was located approx. 500 mi. from Crete, half of which Titus would need to venture by boat and the other half on foot. Such a journey would require days if not weeks.
“Be diligent” means to “be quick.” Once Titus’s replacement had arrived, why must be go to Paul quickly? Because winter would feature cooler, less comfortable conditions for travel, especially on the water. Paul had not yet arrived at Nicopolis either, but he planned to arrive before winter and he wanted to spend that season reconnecting and serving the church together with Titus, as his mentor.
This instance of friendship, partnership, and teamwork is just one of many examples in Paul’s life as a Christian in which he worked together closely with other people to serve and strengthen the church. Not even the most capable Christian leader can serve Christ effectively by himself. To do the good works that God’s grace enables us to do for him, we must do them together.
We must contribute to one another.
Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing. And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.
Titus 3:13-14
Here Paul names two more of his Christian friends, Zenas and Apollos. The first name, Zenas, is Greek which indicates that he had also left a pagan lifestyle to follow Christ. The second name, Apollos, is also Greek, but he had been born as a Jew (Acts 18:24).
- We don’t know much about Zenas, except for that he was a lawyer. To be a lawyer meant one of two things. Either he was (a) an expert in Jewish civil and religious law or (b) an expert in Roman civil law. His Greek name strongly indicates the latter.
That Zenas was a lawyer reminds us that to accomplish our mission as a church requires more than pastors and missionaries. Paul partnered with lawyers (as here), doctors (like Luke, Col 4:14), accountants (like Erastus, Rom 16:23), and school administrators (like Jason, Acts 19:9). Whatever your occupation may be as a follower of Christ, you have a necessary and strategic role in bringing God’s grace to the world.
- We know much more about Apollos. He was an eloquent speaker whom Paul, Aquila, and Priscilla had mentored in Ephesus (Acts 18:24-28). He who would go on to serve as an effective pastor for the church at Corinth for a while (1 Cor 3:4-6).
We don’t know exactly what these two men were doing on Crete, but Paul indicates that they had already arrived. It’s very possible that they had carried this letter to Titus from Paul, but it’s also very possible that they had done so as part of a bigger plan, a larger trip to somewhere else to do more for the church elsewhere.
Whatever the case, Paul told Titus to “send them on their journey,” which means to make the rest of they’re journey and mission possible. “With haste” meant to do so eagerly and efficiently.
But how was Titus to do this? “That they may lack nothing.” This phrase tells us that Titus was supposed to make their journey possible by meeting their material needs. He was to arrange housing for them, feed them, and provide travel money and whatever else they needed to conduct the next leg of their journey.
By doing so, Titus would not only share God’s grace with Christian friends who were doing a good work for the church and needed assistance, he would show the many new believers in the churches on Crete how to do the same for each another.
When believers in the church assist one another when various members face financial hardship and need help in serving the Lord, we should band together to meet those needs. That’s one of the crucial ways that we live with grace, being what we should be and doing what we should do. When we live this way, we will enjoy productive Christian lives. When we live selfish, stingy, isolated, and individualistic lives, we hinder God’s grace and fail to produce the fruit that God’s grace makes possible.
We must communicate with each other.
All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
Titus 3:15
This final verse provides us with a straightforward example of an especially important principle for relationships within the church. It is this – grace speaks. Or – grace talks.
- Paul told Titus that not only he but the other believers who were with Paul at the time of writing (we don’t know which church that was) wanted Titus to know that they said “hello.”
- Paul also wanted Titus to relay the same warm sentiments and expressions of support to the church members on the island of Crete as well.
It would be easy to assume such sentiments, wouldn’t it? It would also be easy to neglect expressing these sentiments knowing how distant these believers were from one another. Yet Paul shows us the importance of maintaining close relationships within the church through gracious expressions with words.
As we prepare our hearts for a new year of life and service as a church, let’s plan to live with grace. Let’s commit ourselves to doing good works and to doing them together because teamwork makes the dream work.
Thomas Overmiller is the pastor of Brookdale Baptist Church in Moorhead, MN and blogs at Shepherd Thoughts. This article first appeared at Shepherd Thoughts, used here with permission.
Photo by Chichi Onyekanne on Unsplash