Will you please turn to Galatians? Galatians chapter 2. We will read the first five verses.
Then after a lapse of fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
And I went up according to revelation, and I laid before them the glad tidings which I preach among the nations, but privately to those conspicuous among them, lest in any way I ran or had run in vain.
But neither was Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, compelled to be circumcised;
and this on account of the false brethren brought in surreptitiously, who came in surreptitiously to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage;
to whom we yielded in subjection not even for an hour, that the truth of the glad tidings might remain with you.
Please turn to Titus, the Epistle to Titus, chapter 1. The first five verses.
Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and knowledge of the truth which is according to piety,
in the hope of eternal life, which God, Who cannot lie, promised before the ages of time,
but has manifested in His own due season His word in the proclamation with which I have been entrusted, according to the commandment of our Saviour God;
to Titus, my own child according to the faith common to us: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.
For this cause I left thee in Crete, that thou mightest go on to set right what remained unordered, and establish elders in each city, as I had ordered thee.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, our hearts are full of thanks and gratitude, seeing what Thou hast done for us at the Lord’s table. We thank Thee for giving Thyself to us in such a way that we might be saved, and saved to the uttermost.
Dear Lord, we owe everything to Thee, and we are Thy debtors. As we continue in Thy presence, may Thy Spirit open Thy Word to us, touch our hearts, and bring us into that which will satisfy Thy heart. We want to give Thee all the glory. In Thy precious name, Amen.
First of all, I want to make an apology. Last Sunday, I was told after the meeting that I had unconsciously made a mistake in the year.
I think we all know that this company of people began to meet together in 1973, but I a few times said it was 1943. Now, in 1943, I was still in China because the war between China and Japan was not over yet, and I was in the war capital, Chungking.
The war was over in 1945, later than those in Europe. So it cannot be that this company began in 1943. I hope many of you have not caught this mistake.
This morning, we are willing to go to another young man, Titus. We know of Paul that, when he was travelling and serving the Lord, he gathered around him some young people whom he would use at appropriate times.
Aside from Timothy, whom we considered last Sunday, we find that he had Titus with him. We do not know much about the background of Titus, but Paul told us that Titus was his son in the gospel. In other words, Titus came to the Lord through Paul.
Most likely, it was when Paul was in Antioch. So, most likely, Titus was saved in Antioch.
We come to know him because, when Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem for that Jerusalem conference, Paul took Titus with him. Why? Because Titus was a Gentile, and he was never circumcised.
So Paul took him as a case to prove that the Gentiles who believe in the Lord Jesus need not be circumcised. Titus was a proof case.
Now, we did not hear much of what happened in Jerusalem. We only know that the Gentiles were not forced to be circumcised.
Why was it that Paul should take Titus with him? I think because Titus had a strong character and temperament. We mentioned that Timothy had a weak temperament, but Titus, that young man, was strong.
So that is the reason why Paul could take Titus with him to Jerusalem as a test case.
So, brothers and sisters, we thank God that God makes every one of us different. We are not only all different physically. I often say, this head is such a small area, and there are only a few items in the face, but no two persons are exactly alike. Now, that is the wonder of God’s creation.
Not only that, but God created each and every one of us with a different temperament. Now, what is temperament? I think temperament is the shape of our soul.
We have a physical shape, and everyone is different. God loves variety. At the same time, we all have our soul, and our soul also has a shape. The shape of our soul is our temperament.
Temperament will never completely change. That is you. The temperament must be moderated and be put under the control of Christ. Why? Because our temperament represents us, and it is our soul life that uses our temperament because it expresses us.
But after we believe in the Lord Jesus, there will be some change in our temperament. Our temperament will never completely change, but it will be moderated because it will be put under the control of Christ instead of self.
Here you find God using different temperaments for different purposes.
Paul could not take Timothy with him to Jerusalem as a test case, because Timothy was timid and he might change under pressure. So you find the wisdom of Paul.
He had around him some young people, and he used them according to their temperament as well as their ability.
Here we find another young man with a strong temperament. He was not easily persuaded. He was steadfast in his faith, and you could put him under any pressure and that would not change him.
So that is the reason why Paul used Titus in Jerusalem. Here is the wisdom of Paul.
Because if we use young people unwisely—that is, if we put Timothy in the work of Titus, or Titus in the work of Timothy—you will find it does not work right. Paul had the wisdom to know whom to use and at what time.
You know that Paul had a big problem with the church in Corinth. How he wrote letters to them with tears. We understand that at first he sent Timothy there, but Timothy could not solve the problem. Timothy was too timid.
The problem in Corinth was very firm. So finally, we find that he sent Titus there. He sent the right person.
But you can see the difficulty of the case in Corinth. Paul and Titus agreed that they would meet together in Troas, but when Paul arrived in Troas, Titus was not there.
In other words, the difficult condition in Corinth kept Titus longer than usual. So Paul did not know what actually had happened in Corinth—whether Titus was able to solve the problem and bring the Corinthians back to the Lord, or whether he was not successful.
So Paul had no heart to preach there in Troas, even though the door was open.
But later, Paul met Titus. He came back and told Paul how the people in Corinth repented. Even though there were still some who were stubborn and were not repentant, as far as the church was concerned, the church had repented.
So, in other words, Titus had succeeded in his mission. Titus had such love for the Corinthian believers that he was willing to go back again and finish the work that Paul began there—that is, to collect contributions for the needy people in Jerusalem.
So you can see that Titus had a very strong temperament, and he was able to persuade the Corinthians. He was steadfast instead of being persuaded by the Corinthians.
Each young person has his or her different temperament. But remember, God can use each and every one if we will put ourselves in the hands of the Lord.
So Titus went back, and he was successful in making the Corinthians ready for the collection to help the poor in Jerusalem.
We do not know much about Titus. When Paul was released from the first Roman imprisonment, we find Titus was with him.
So Paul, with these young people, continued to revisit the places that he had visited before. You remember how he came to Ephesus and found that the situation was not right. So he left Timothy there to help with the situation.
Then he went to Crete, and they found in Crete there was more problem. Paul went there, tried to establish them, and tried to find elders for them. So he left Titus there to complete the work.
But if you read Titus, you will find that the people of Crete were very difficult people. Why, even their own prophet said:
Cretans are always liars, evil wild beasts, lazy gluttons.
I cannot know anything worse than that. The Cretans—their own prophet said—were always liars. They were not truthful. They were evil wild beasts, uncontrolled, and lazy gluttons. Now, how can you find anything worse than that?
With such a temperament, of course it would be very difficult to deal with that kind of situation. So that is the reason why you find Paul left Titus there, because he knew that Titus was able. He was patient, firm, insistent, and consistent.
So Paul left Titus in Crete. But he also said, toward the end of that letter, in chapter 3, verse 12:
When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, use diligence to come unto me to Nicopolis; for I have decided to winter there.
In other words, Paul asked Titus to meet him in Nicopolis.
Of course, we know things began to change. Nero, the Roman emperor, burned the city of Rome. He was thinking of rebuilding the city, but because of the burning of the city, people lost their homes, and there were rumours going around.
So Nero tried to put the blame upon Christians, and the Christians began to be persecuted. Paul was recaptured.
We know that in the second imprisonment in Rome, Paul was finally beheaded because he was a Roman. He could not be crucified. To a Roman, the heaviest punishment was beheading. So Paul was beheaded.
But you can see, even when Paul was in that situation, he was ready for his death. He did not keep the young people around him. He was more concerned with the Lord’s work.
So you remember how he sent Titus to Dalmatia. But, of course, he asked Timothy to come. We do not know whether Timothy saw him or not, but anyway, we know that Paul was martyred.
Now, we do not know much about Titus afterwards, unlike Timothy. We find in Hebrews that the writer mentions how Timothy was freed from prison, so it shows Timothy was faithful to the very end. But with Titus, we have no news. Only we believe that Titus must have been faithful to the Lord to the very end.
In this case, you find Paul surrounded himself with young people. He trained these young people, and he used these young people for different errands. Thank God for these young people.
So this is our hope, our prayer. You know, if we began this meeting in 1973, now it is just over forty years, and forty years is a generation.
So this is our prayer and hope: that our young people will rise up. This is the time for the young people to come up and take responsibility.
I hope our young people will hear this and will give themselves over to the Lord, that the Lord will use them.
You know, as I think of our generation, Brother Watchman Nee was saved in 1920, when he was seventeen years old. He and others began the work of God in their school.
Before he had been saved for ten years, he had already written The Spiritual Man. So we can see how the Lord used a young brother such as Watchman Nee.
I joined Brother Nee when I was twenty. After me, there was another young brother, Brother Chang, a little older than I, who also joined.
But unfortunately, for ten years afterwards, there was no new worker in China. Why? Because, if you know the situation in China, China was not favourable to Christianity.
The Chinese looked upon those who served the Lord as foreigner people. That is because when the foreigners came to preach the gospel in China, they used some Chinese and paid them.
So, with the Chinese, our mentality concerning those so-called servants of God was very poor. We thought they were just foreigner people. So it was very difficult among my fellow workers at that time.
We never talked to each other about finance. We looked to the Lord for our livelihood. One of my fellow workers died of starvation.
For ten years, no new workers were produced. So you can see the difficult situation at that time. But thank God, I think that is the way it should be: those who serve the Lord should look to the Lord alone, and not look to man, not to be provided for by man.
I find that even when private provision was made, actually, to me, I think it was a mistake. For then God’s workers would look to men instead of God.
So, brothers and sisters, my heart is burdened for the young people here. May the Lord touch your heart and lead you to offer yourself completely to Him. You will find He is worthy to be served, and He is faithful to us.
So this is the burden of my heart. May the Lord put that burden upon all of us, that we pray for our young people. May the young people rise up and offer themselves to the Lord, that the Lord may use them as He sees fit.
So that is all that I have to say this morning. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, if our hearts are burdened, we believe that Your heart is even more burdened.
Lord, forgive us if in any way we stand in the way of the young people and hinder them from coming up and taking their responsibility in Thy house.
Now, Lord, we pray that Thou wilt burden us with our young people. Give us prayer, that we may pray for them earnestly.
And, Lord, we know Thou wilt touch the hearts of the young people in our midst and call them to Thyself, that our testimony of Jesus may be continued in our midst, if Thou shalt tarry.
We ask in Thy precious name.