Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Titus 3:14-15 NAS
LET IT GLOW
How are y'all doing today? I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday with family as you celebrated the birth of our awesome Savior. I certainly did.
One of the things I enjoy about Christmastime is receiving cards from friends living in other cities and states. These were friends that we made in another time and place in our lives. (Mostly due to my husband pastoring so many churches.) I like catching up on what's happened to them during the year. Why do I only write once a year to them?
Don't y'all know everyone in the church at Crete was excited to hear from their friend Paul.
What united Paul and Titus as brothers and united all of the believers on Crete? It was faith and grace, which are found in verse 15. The "you" is plural in his benedicion. Here in the South, we say "y'all."
All of Paul's bothers and sisters in Christ on this island received his personal greeting. I know that I would have, if I had received a letter from Paul.
I think I should send thank you cards to people next year as a part of my New Year's resolution. So I say thank y'all for walking with me this year through the New Testament. You have become special friends to me.
LET IT GROW
Paul had a large circle of close friends, which included ministry partners in whom Paul invested time, energy, and affection. This passage forms a tiny crack in time that offers us a glimpse into his inner circle of ministry trainees. We see his personal and professional interaction with men who served alongside this great man of God and benefitted from his personal instruction.
Swindoll's New Testament Insights on 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus gives us some insights:
From these last four verses of Paul's letter, there are three priorities of ministry that every minister of the gospel (and us ordinary folks) must keep in perspective:
- being together: God made us to need others.
- helping others: Life is enriched by giving aid to others.
- doing good: God redeemed us to do good.
Artemas could have been the masculine form of the feminine name Artemis, a goddess of fertility worshiped in Ephesus. More likely, his name is a contraction of a compound Greek word meaning "gift of Artemis." Either way, his parents obviously venerated the pagan goddess, suggestiong he came to faith in Christ from a typical Greek upbringing.
Tychicus had a name that meant "fortune." After the uproar in Ephesus, Tychicus and other members of Paul's entourage evangelized Macedonia (Acts 20:1-4). Early in Paul's first imprisonment in Rome, he sent Tychicus with letter in hand to the church of Ephesus, commending him as "beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord" (Eph. 6:21), and then on to Colossae (Col 4:7). During his second imprisonment in Rome, as the apostle summoned Timothy to be with him during his last days, he explained that all of his younger colleagues were gone, including Tychicus, whom he had sent to Ephesus.
We don't know for certain which man Paul sent to replace Titus, but he trusted them both to complete the work on Crete.
Paul directed Titus to meet him in Nicopolis, where he planned to spend the winter. It was a Roman colony on the western shore of Greece, across the Ionian Sea from the southern tip of Italy. What an ideal place to rest and then continue his visit to Rome in the spring as a part of his missionary journey to Spain
(Rom. 15:24-25). However, Paul arrived in chains instead (Acts 28:16, 30-31). After his release and a visit to Crete and other trouble spots, he apparently hoped to resume his mission to the western frontier. Paul was arrested and sent to Rome again, only this time for execution.
Paul encouraged Titus to provide for Zenas and Apollos, who may have carried the letter to Titus on their way to Crete. Traveling in ancient days depended on the hospitality of trusted friends (no hotels then).
Zenas was a lawyer, which meant he either was an expert in Jewish law or represented clients in Roman courts. (Swindoll writes that he doubts that Zenas was trained among the Pharisees; therefore a converted Greek.)
Apollos was the orator and evangelist whom Priscilla and Aquila mentored in Ephesus (Acts 18:24-28). This Jew was educated in the Alexandrian libraries and had a unique ministry. (Swindoll wonders if Paul asked Apollos to visit Crete.)
Looking at verse 14, Paul said, in effect, "Use this opportunity as a means of teaching the believers on Crete how to engage in good deeds." He wants them to be fruitful. Isn't the same expected of us?
Can y'all believe we have finished this small book of Titus already? Our next lesson will will be a summary, so be sure to join me.
LET IT GO
Write more letters and thank-you cards next year.
Aid others and do good.
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