We're going to Titus chapter
3. And just a few verses from the
end of the chapter. Verse 12. When I shall send Artemis
unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis,
for I have determined there to winter. Bring Zenos the lawyer
and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting
unto them. And let ours also learn to maintain
good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
All that are with me salute thee, greet them that love us in the
faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. Amen. May the Lord bless that
reading to us. There's something I think very
endearing in the common touch way that the Apostle ends this
letter to Titus. with some simple, practical messages
concerning his future plans and his travels and his gospel labours. And we're always blessed by Paul's
gospel writings, his doctrine, his spiritual applications, the
high view that he has of the Lord Jesus Christ. the way that
he opens up the Old Testament to reveal New Testament truths. But at the same time, we ought
not to forget that he was just a man like us, making plans,
arranging activities, coordinating his life and his ministry, valuing
the support of friends and fellow labourers, often indebted to
people in his own ministry and eager to support the ministries
of others. And the apostle we have learned
from this little epistle to Titus was burdened for the spiritual
condition of the churches. And we discover that that's not
just the churches on Crete, it's the churches wherever his ministry
led him. But he had a burden for the well-being
of these churches. And we've seen that in the instructions
that the Apostle gave to Titus for the organisation of the churches
in Crete. And even as he writes here, we
see that that burden is already moving him on. He's writing to
Titus about the things that need to be done to set the churches
in order on the island of Crete. But then by the time he gets
to the end of his letter, his epistle, he's already talking
about what he wants Titus to do in the future to come to him
that they might be able to go on and labour together in the
gospel, in another sphere, in another place. And he wishes
Titus to perform quickly his duty and then be reunited with
him, that Titus might be of further use in the work that still lay
ahead. And these may simply be closing
remarks that we have in this little passage of a rather practical
nature. But let's not forget that these
words are likewise inspired and preserved by the Holy Spirit
in Holy Scripture for our instruction as any of the great doctrinal
lessons from either earlier in this epistle or any other writing
from the Apostles' pen. So I just want to take these
verses for a few minutes and pick out three little headings
that kind of occurred to me in reflecting upon them. And I want just to leave those
with you in the same spirit I trust of practical encouragement that
the Apostle is writing or with which the Apostle is writing
to Titus. And here's the first one, that
we should be diligent in service. Paul is giving Titus some final
instructions concerning future plans and When Titus has fulfilled
the tasks contained in this epistle, he should expect the arrival
of another brother. Now this, says the apostle, will
either be Artemis or Tychicus, and they will relieve him of
his responsibilities on the island and free him up to come to Paul. Now both of these brothers appear
to be gospel ministers who perhaps would take over some of the further
duties for the churches in Crete. There's no record of who Artemis
was or anything else that he did in the New Testament. He's not mentioned anywhere else
in the scriptures. So really we can say very little
about him. except to note that the Lord
provides ministers for his people and he gives preachers according
to the need of his churches. And that's something that we
should just perhaps note in passing. Who was this man Artemis? We
don't know, but here he was provided, providentially, to the Apostle
Paul to be used and employed in order to accomplish the needs
of the churches in Crete and that's all we need to know the
Lord has provided. Tychicus, on the other hand,
was a friend and companion of Paul, who, together with another
man called Trophimus, had accompanied the Apostle on several journeys. And Tychicus was highly regarded
by the Apostle, who calls him a beloved brother and faithful
minister in the Lord. And as well as Artemis and Tychicus,
two others are also mentioned here. One is called Zenos, the
lawyer, and the other is Apollos. Now, Zenos may have been a religious
lawyer, such as the scribes were sometimes called. When we talk
about the scribes and the Pharisees, the scribes there were also called
lawyers. So maybe Zenos was a scribe and
a convert from the Jewish faith. Or perhaps he was a civil lawyer
in business and the court system. We don't know. Apollos, we do
know, was a Jew from Alexandria. Alexandria was a large city on
the Mediterranean coast in Egypt. So he was a Jew from Egypt. And we're told that he was an
eloquent man, which might mean that he was an educated man,
and that he was mighty in the scriptures. One that was instructed
in the way of the Lord according to the understanding of the disciples
of John the Baptist. And we find a little narrative
about Apollos in Acts chapter 18. We discover that coming to
Ephesus he was more perfectly taught the gospel by Aquila and
Priscilla and later he had a reputation as a powerful public speaker
who was able to show by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. And these last two, Zenos, the
lawyer, and Apollos, they actually may well have been the carriers
of this letter from Paul to Titus. They may have been bringing this
letter. They didn't have a postal system like we have these days. So it may be that these two men
carried this letter to Titus. And Titus is encouraged to care
for them on their arrival, to provide for all that they need
in order to move on to their next duty wherever or whatever
that might be. But by all these references we
see how all these disciples, all these followers, were acting
for their Lord. They were engaged in the work
of the ministry. They were engaged in the service
of the cause of Christ, in whatever capacity they were able to be. And may we not take a lesson
from this. Whatever the Lord lays to our
hand, in the world or in the church, Let us do it diligently. Let us do it carefully, thoughtfully,
knowing that it is a privilege to be called to serve the Lord
and to support the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the
growth and the maintenance and the enlargement of his kingdom. So the first thought that I had
was that we might learn from these men to be diligent in our
service. And the second thing that I thought
about was the apostle encourages Titus to encourage the people
of Crete to be fervent in good works. And perhaps that simply
builds on what we have just said about being diligent in service
because in some respects they're much the same. We make much,
do we not, of the teaching that our good works play no part in
our justification or our sanctification or our reconciliation with God. We remind ourselves frequently
that all our righteousness is imputed and imparted and gifted
by God and all that is required of us for our spiritual standing
in Christ is freely supplied to us. And that's true. Yet, as followers of Christ,
we are not to be negligent of good works. And that doesn't
mean that we go around looking for good works to do. It means that as we go about
our affairs in this world, we are always keen to be as helpful
and as enabling and as encouraging and as useful to those around
about us as we can be. The apostle says we are to learn
to maintain good works for necessary uses and I'm sure that that includes
work and industry in the sense of employment so that we can
provide for ourselves and for our families and for the work
of the gospel. But it also includes works of
charity, caring for our neighbour, obedience to our country's laws
and rulers that have been set over us. And with a diligence
in that sphere, as there was also a diligence called for in
our service of the Lord, and it is to extend to all that we
do. We are to do good to all men
and women. We are to be careful, we are
to be conscious of our witness and our testimony for the gospel
that we might maintain or practice good works done in conformity
to the pattern and example of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as
the disciples and the apostles did, just as the scriptures which
are the revealed will of God teach us, Good works are to be
done in faith, from a principle of love, with a view to the glory
of God and the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we have
to be diligent in our service. We are to be careful to maintain
good works. And lastly, here, just drawing
again from the Apostle's final words, make common cause. for Christ with his people. What do I mean by that? Well,
simply this. These greetings that were sent
by Paul to Titus show interest and connection and awareness
amongst believers, one for another. And they speak of a common cause
between those that were with Paul and those who were with
Titus, those coming to Titus, and all those with knowledge
and concern in the ministries being pursued by these respective
people. Sometimes we do feel very isolated. We feel as if we're very few. We may even feel alone. And it
is true that we are a very small remnant as we were learning on
the Lord's Day and yet we're all connected and interconnected
in the body of Christ and we should try to maintain an awareness
with one another for our mutual encouragement and support. Jude
calls our faith the common salvation because it brings all men and
women to a common level and it makes us all one in Christ. The gospel that we preach, the
Christian ministry, it's not a platform for prima donnas or
a ladder for self-promotion or a career choice. It's not a marketplace
for large companies and corporations and organizations. It's a cause
in which individuals engage, spending our time, our resources,
our energies, our talents for the glory of God. Paul writes,
all that are with me salute thee. Why? Because they felt a unity
with Titus in the task that he had been given. They respected
his ministry, they were anxious for his well-being, they were
careful for his work, and they wanted to see that gospel work
prosper, and they wanted to see Titus prosper in it. And also Paul says, greet them
that love us in the faith. Now that at least shows that
the letter to Titus was not simply a private memo from the apostle
to Titus, but an epistle to be made public to the believers
and the churches in Crete. And brothers and sisters in Christ
are people who love one another in the faith. And that does not
mean that we are the most lovable people, but we should try to
be. And as much as we are able, we
are to love one another for the sake of the faith, for the sake
of Christ. We are to love one another as
Christ loves us, viewing ourselves as brothers and sisters in one
cause, in one family, in one body. And if a brother makes
a mistake, we forgive him. And if a sister oversteps the
mark, we make allowances and we forgive one another. And if
one is in need, we pray and we provide and we engage as we are
able with one another because we count it a privilege to be
bound in union with that brother or with that sister in the Lord. And it's a blessed thing to love
and to be loved, to care and to be cared for by one another
in the faith of Jesus Christ, and to exercise ourselves diligently
in the common cause of the gospel, with good works, one towards
another, for the sake of Jesus Christ. So may the Lord teach
us suitable lessons and make us fruitful in well-doing, even
from these few practical greetings and Paul's farewell to Titus. Lord bless these thoughts to
us. Amen.