What a privilege it is to remember the Lord and to worship Him. Sometimes we may think that, by doing so, the Lord is privileged by us. But that is a wrong concept.
Just think: the great Creator is mindful of us. We are nothing but dust, yet through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, through the mercy of God, and through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we have become children of God. What a privilege it is to remember Him and to worship Him.
I would like to read a few passages in the New Testament. Please turn to Galatians 2.
Then after the space of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
But not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
— Galatians 2:1, 3
Please turn also to 2 Corinthians 2.
Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened unto me in the Lord,
I had no relief for my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went forth into Macedonia.
— 2 Corinthians 2:12-13
In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul tells us that God comforts those who are cast down, and He comforted him by the coming of Titus.
Therefore we have been comforted: and in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all.
For if in anything I have gloried to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spake unto you all things in truth, so our glorying also, which I made before Titus, was found to be truth.
— 2 Corinthians 7:13-14
In 2 Corinthians 8, we read:
Insomuch that we exhorted Titus, that as he had made a beginning before, so he would also complete in you this grace also.
But thanks be to God, who putteth the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus.
— 2 Corinthians 8:6, 16
Whether any inquire about Titus, he is my partner and fellow-worker to you-ward; or our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, they are the glory of Christ.
— 2 Corinthians 8:23
And in 2 Corinthians 12:
I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps?
— 2 Corinthians 12:18
Finally, in 2 Timothy 4:
For Demas forsook me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
— 2 Timothy 4:10
And from the opening of the Epistle to Titus:
To Titus, my true child after a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
— Titus 1:4
I have read these passages so that we may know a little of Titus tonight.
Last time, when we were together, we mentioned that these letters written by Paul have a very unique place in the Word of God. The three letters of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus were most probably written after Paul’s first Roman imprisonment and before he was taken into prison again.
These three letters were among the latest letters written by Paul that we have in the New Testament. Even though they were addressed to his associates, to those who worked with him—Timothy and Titus—you find in all three letters that Paul deals with the practical matter of the house of God.
The Lord has revealed the truth concerning His Body in many places in the New Testament. Now we are told how we ought to behave ourselves in the house of God. We are members of the Body of Christ. How should we live as members of the Body? What is acceptable before God?
For this reason, these three letters are very practical. They are very relevant to us today.
Before we consider this matter of Titus, we must first know a little of the life of Titus. It is very interesting that, in the whole book of Acts, Paul had a number of companions and fellow-workers whose names are mentioned one after another. Yet you cannot find the name of Titus in the book of Acts.
And yet, without doubt, he was there. His name was simply not mentioned.
We are told that Titus was a Greek. He was not like Timothy. Timothy had a Greek father and a Jewish mother. Because of that, when Paul took Timothy with him on his missionary journey, he circumcised him.
But with Titus it was different. Why? Because both his father and mother were Gentiles. Titus was a Gentile, a pure Gentile, a Greek.
The first appearance of Titus in the Bible, so far as time is concerned, is in relation to the church at Antioch.
During the persecution in Jerusalem, many believers began to scatter everywhere. Some went to Antioch, and there the Lord began saving many Gentiles.
Finally, Barnabas went to visit them. When he saw what the Lord was doing there, he was full of consolation. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. He was joyful, stayed with them, laboured among them, and strengthened them.
Then he realised that the work was too much for him alone. So he went to find Saul in Tarsus, brought him to Antioch, and together they laboured there for a whole year.
The world began to realise that these people were different from anything they had ever seen. They were not Jews, and they were not Gentiles in the ordinary sense. Finally, people said, “These are Christians.” That was the beginning of the name.
Evidently, Titus was brought to the Lord in Antioch. In the letter to Titus, Paul addresses him as “my true child after a common faith.” Titus was brought to the Lord through Paul’s ministry.
Then a very serious problem happened in the church at Antioch. Certain men came from Jerusalem and began to tell the believers in Antioch that they must be circumcised.
They said that unless the Gentile believers were circumcised as the Jews were circumcised, they could not be saved. In other words, they taught that one had to become a Jew before becoming a Christian.
This was the Judaizing error. The problem became very serious, and there was argument among the believers. Finally, the brethren decided that, since the teaching had come from Jerusalem, the matter had to be settled in Jerusalem.
So Paul, Barnabas, and some of the brethren went up to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and elders concerning this matter: whether Gentile believers had to become Jews before they could be saved.
When you read Galatians 2, you find that Paul said he went to Jerusalem by revelation. God gave him revelation. God told him to go to Jerusalem in order to preserve the purity of the gospel, so that the gospel might not be adulterated or altered.
He went to Jerusalem by revelation, and he said, “I took Titus along with me.” Why did Paul and Barnabas take Titus with them?
Paul and Barnabas were fully able to contend for the faith. There was no need for anyone else to help them argue their case before the apostles and elders. Why, then, did they take Titus in particular?
Very often, no matter how well you argue, if you do not have good evidence, you will not win the case. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem well prepared—not only to present the purity of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also to present evidence of its power.
A Gentile does not need first to become a Jew in order to be saved. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of grace, is such that a person can be saved as a Gentile.
Titus was one of the best evidences they could bring. By all indications, Titus was a rather young man. He was probably older than Timothy, but still a young man. Within a few years, the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ had transformed him. There was absolutely no doubt about it.
Here was a man who was a perfect witness to the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was worthy to be presented as evidence.
At the council in Jerusalem, there were the apostles who had followed the Lord Jesus while He was on earth. There was a great council, where this tremendous problem was argued—a problem whose effect reaches even to us today.
Think of it. Here was a young Gentile believer, not there to speak or argue, but there as living evidence that, without becoming a Jew, he could be a true Christian. He was accepted by the apostles and elders as a testimony to the power of the gospel.
Thank God for the faithfulness of Paul and Barnabas. Thank God for the testimony of Titus. Suppose Paul and Barnabas had argued very well, but the evidence had failed. What would have happened?
Dear brothers and sisters, I think there are many lessons for us to learn. Do not despise anyone because he is young or because he may have known the Lord only a few years.
It is true that growth requires time. There is no such thing as instant spirituality. People today like everything to be instant. You can have instant coffee, and when I first discovered instant coffee, I was amazed.
In Christianity today, you find many recipes for instant spirituality. People often go after such things. But, on the other hand, because the return of the Lord is so imminent, we do not have too much time.
Growth does not mean slowing down. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said that after a few years they ought to have grown up, but they were still babes. The writer of Hebrews said the same thing: according to the time, they ought to be teachers, but they still needed milk because their spiritual senses had not been exercised to discern good and evil.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is not that time alone is enough; it is a matter of not slowing down in growth. We have too many retarded Christians. That is the problem.
If we have known the Lord for a few years, we ought to be growing into Christlikeness. We need to allow the grace of God to work in our lives.
It is one thing to know the doctrine. It is another thing to be a testimony to the power of that doctrine. Many times we can speak of the gospel of Jesus Christ—how marvellous, how wonderful it is. We can talk about the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
But, dear brothers and sisters, if we do not live before others as a testimony to that doctrine, who will believe us?
When the grace of God works upon us, we are supposed to be the evidence of the doctrine. In our lives, people ought to be able to see what the Lord has done and the power by which He has transformed us.
No matter how eloquent we are in arguing our case, if we fail to show the transforming power of God in our lives, we have failed the Lord.
If only we can give ourselves to the Lord in such a way and allow the grace of God to have free course in our lives, allowing the Spirit of God to have His free way with us, then within a few years Christian character can be developed in us.
Then we can stand before the world without fear. This is what is needed.
Later, you find the usefulness of Titus. First, God worked in the life of this man a Christian character—firmness, faithfulness, practicality. God first worked all these things in him, and later God used him in those very areas.
Do we wish that God would do that in us? God cannot use us in an area where we have not allowed Him to work.
Moses had to be delivered out of Egypt before he could be used by God to deliver the children of Israel. No one who remains in Egypt is able to deliver anybody else.
God has to work into us what He wants to use through us. Brothers and sisters, your life is your ministry.
Oftentimes, we think that we want to serve the Lord. We think that if we can do this, go there, receive training, know this, or know that, then we can be used by God. No, that is not the way.
Allow God to work His work in you. Whatever area you allow Him to work in you, that will be the area in which He will use you. This is the only way to serve the church.
After Titus appeared in Jerusalem, we do not hear much about him for a number of years. When Paul went out on his missionary journeys, evidently Titus returned from Jerusalem and remained at Antioch.
He was needed there to help strengthen the church. He needed to stay in Antioch, to be built up with the brothers and sisters.
When Paul went out on his third missionary journey, Titus was not with him. In other words, the way God brings a young man into usefulness is often by putting him back into the assembly. Let him be strengthened by the assembly, and let him also become a strength to the assembly.
Naturally, after having been chosen to be such a testimony at Jerusalem, a person might think, “Now I am fully qualified. If I could stand as a testimony in Jerusalem, surely I can stand as a testimony anywhere. Antioch is too small. I am ordained for a greater work.”
Is that not natural? But God’s way is higher than that. Titus was used by God in a tremendous way, and even today we read the benefit of it. Yet he was willing to remain in the local church, hidden and unknown.
Amazing, unsung, wonderful. Probably that testimony was more difficult than standing before the council in Jerusalem.
Young brothers and sisters, can you stand the test of being unknown? Everyone wants to be known.
If the Lord has never used you before, you may long that He would use you. But suppose the Lord uses you once. Does it ever come into your mind that He may lay you aside again? Or do you assume that this is a permanent position for the whole world to see?
Titus remained in the church. There he learned how to deal with brothers and sisters, how to be a strength to the church, and how the church functions.
There are two things we need to learn. First, we need to learn what the grace of God can do. Second, we need to learn how to be built together with our brothers and sisters in the church.
If we do not learn these things, our usefulness will not be balanced. Titus learned the working of God in his life and became a testimony to the gospel. Yet there was another side: he had to learn to be unknown and unsung.
He had to learn to be one of the brothers and sisters in the church, to be dealt with among them, to learn submission, authority, divine order, and all these things together with the brothers and sisters.
Because he had stood out in Jerusalem did not mean that he no longer needed to be dealt with by others. He had to be built up with the brothers and sisters. That was another school in which God trained him.
Dear brothers and sisters, we need to know the grace of God. We need to grow in Christ. We need to develop a steady and strong Christian character that will be a testimony before the world. We need that.
But oftentimes, when a person grows in this way, he becomes too sure of himself. He may think that he is ready for everything.
There must also be the lesson of being fitted together with the brothers and sisters, learning the divine order in the family of God, and learning the practical life of the church.
The second mention of Titus is found in 2 Corinthians. On his second missionary journey, Paul made Corinth his headquarters for a year and six months. Later, after he had gone to Ephesus, he received news concerning the church at Corinth.
The Corinthian believers were very carnal. They were very gifted, but very carnal. They said, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas,” and some even said, “I am of Christ.”
There was also grave immorality among them, of a kind that was not even found among the Gentiles. Yet the church had tolerated it. Not only had the wicked man not repented; the conscience of the whole church had fallen asleep, as if nothing had happened.
At the same time, the believers in Corinth had many questions and disputes among themselves. They wrote a letter to Paul, asking him to answer their questions.
Paul could not leave the situation alone. He wanted to go to Corinth, but he could not go immediately. So he wrote a letter to the church—the letter we know as 1 Corinthians.
It was a heavy letter, a weighty letter. Paul wrote it with many tears. He did not know whether they would receive it or not. Everything seemed to hang in the balance.
Paul needed someone who could take the letter—not merely as a courier, but as one who could remain there and help the church deal with the situation. Titus was sent to Corinth.
Paul went on to Macedonia, but he had no rest in his spirit because he did not find Titus. He had left Titus at Corinth to work among the believers there.
Why did Paul leave him there? Not only to deliver the letter, but to help the Corinthians respond to the letter and to deal with the problems among them.
Titus was not a person who only looked at the dark side. Some people always look at the dark side; they see every difficulty, and they become discouraged before they begin. Titus was able to see what the Lord could do.
When Titus returned, Paul received the report that the church had been helped. The work was not completely finished, but the Corinthians had responded, and there was repentance and restoration.
Even though Titus must have had a difficult time there, he became a blessing to the Corinthian believers.
Titus was a practical man. Paul had confidence in him. When Paul asked him to do something, he was willing to go.
From that point, we hear little of Titus for a long time. Paul travelled as a prisoner to Rome and remained under guard in his own hired dwelling. Timothy was often with him, but what about Titus? Did Titus desert Paul? No, no.
Personally, I feel that Titus was probably still serving where the need was greatest—perhaps in Corinth. It is one thing to travel around as a great missionary, but it is another thing to remain where the difficult work must be done.
After Paul was released, he travelled again and came to the island of Crete. There were believers there, but there were also many things lacking. Paul could not remain there long because he had much work to do elsewhere.
So he left Titus in Crete to set in order the things that were wanting.
Titus did not seem to have an easy time. He had difficulties in Antioch, difficulties in Corinth, and now difficulties in Crete. It seemed that Paul always sent Titus to difficult places.
But that is the kind of man Titus was. Of all those who worked with Paul, apart from Paul himself, Titus was one who could be trusted to help in difficult situations and to set things in order.
Brothers and sisters, is there any assembly without problems? We cannot find one. You may find a perfect church only in the holy city, the New Jerusalem. But here on earth, you cannot find a church that is perfect.
Wherever you go, you will find problems. Thank God for all these problems, because all these problems are opportunities for the grace of God to work.
We do not ask the Lord for an easy way. We do not ask for an easy place. We ask that He will sustain us in the most difficult places and situations, because through these things He prepares us for His service.
Dear brothers and sisters, may we give ourselves to the Lord and allow His grace to work in us. May we be willing to grow in Christian character, to be built together with the brothers and sisters, and to serve wherever the Lord places us.
May the Lord make us not merely speakers of the truth, but living testimonies to the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.