Transcript

In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. According to Leon Jaroff in Time magazine, the satellite’s primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph it and its moons, and beam data to earth about the planet’s magnetic field, radiation belts, and atmosphere.

Scientists regarded this as a bold plan, because up until then no satellite had gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target.

But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and much, much more. Swinging past Jupiter in November 1973, the space probe was hurled at a higher rate of speed toward the edge of the solar system by the planet’s immense gravity.

At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; Neptune, at nearly three billion miles; Pluto, at almost four billion miles.

By 1997, 25 years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than six billion miles from the sun. And despite that immense distance, Pioneer 10 continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth.

And it kept going. Then at nearly 8 billion miles from the sun, the satellite continued to send signals; received in 2002, 30 years after its launch.

“Perhaps most remarkable,” writes Jaroff, “is the fact that those signals emanate from an eight-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night-light, and take more than nine hours to reach Earth.”

“The Little Satellite That Could” was not qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of only three years. But it has kept going and going and going. By simple longevity, its tiny eight-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible.

So it is when we offer ourselves to serve the Lord. God desires faithfulness in the Christian life.

He wants us to “be careful to maintain good works,” to be full of care for others, and to do good in this world, and demonstrate Christ’s love and care to those around us.

And like that satellite, to keep going and going and going, to not stop, and by our faithfulness and God working through our lives, we can accomplish for Christ more than anyone thought possible.

Titus 3:8: “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”

Verses 4-7 reminds us how that as believers we have been saved from our sins by such a great salvation and such kindness, and this also reminds us how in response to that grace we should be people of kindness and good works for the Lord out of our gratitude.

We are not saved by good works, but unto good works, to do good works after we have been saved and trusted Christ as Savior.

This was also part of the faithful saying that Titus was to stress and affirm constantly also, that the recipients of grace are to be people of grace, that grace received is to be grace given away. In grace, Christ gave Himself and His life for others, for all men, in purchasing our salvation.

And we, in grace, are to give of ourselves to others and people of good works for the Lord’s glory. And our giving, godly life, filled with good works and care for others is a testimony to the unsaved world that we belong to Christ.

Bill White tells the following true story: During a Saturday afternoon community service day, I was walking down a narrow side street in the city of Compton, California, heading towards one of the worksites sponsored by a local church.

It was towards the end of the work day, and dozens of yellow-shirted church volunteers, maybe 50 in all, were streaming out of the site, getting ready to head off to lunch after finishing a complete makeover of a local house.

I was six or eight houses away when I passed a married couple working in their own yard. I paused to compliment the woman on her roses, and she asked me what we were doing down the street.

I replied that we represented a band of churches who were serving the city. Then we continued chatting about the neighborhood transformation she had witnessed by our simple acts of goodness.

During my conversation with this woman her husband had been weed-whacking the other side of the front yard. But when he saw my yellow “volunteer shirt,” he turned off his weed-whacker, set it down, and started walking straight towards me and his wife. I will never forget his words.

After looking into my eyes, he nodded approvingly towards the renovated house down the street and then said, “Where can I get a heart like yours?”

Flabbergasted, I simply said, “We got our hearts from Christ, from knowing Him, and He would be glad to give you one like His, too.”

Before I had to head off, we had a great conversation about the unparalleled gospel of Jesus Christ and His power to change hearts, homes, neighborhoods, and cities.

The local church is a powerful witness to the world through its acts of kindness and the sacrificial service of its members. I Timothy 6:18 says that God desires that we “do good [and] be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share.”

But what are good works? I Timothy 5:10 describes the good works of a widow as such practical things as raising children, showing hospitality, serving the saints, and relieving the afflicted.

When we give devotion to our marriages, children, and families, and work hard at our jobs as a testimony for Christ, those are good works.

When we pray for others, visit someone in need, send a card or note to encourage someone, when we serve in the local church’s ministries, share the gospel with the lost, those are all good works and show the goodness of God and the selfless love of Christ.

It’s been said of good works in the Christian life, that “Work is love made visible.” Our good works make visible our love for the Lord in wanting to serve Him by grace, and it makes visible our love for other people.

To “be careful” means “to ponder” to consider carefully, to be diligent and devoted. We need to give careful thought that we are serving Christ faithfully.

We get busy. Sometimes we need to step back and ponder and examine our lives to make sure we are maintaining and sustaining a life full of care and good works for others.

God’s grace gives and it teaches us to be a giving people who look out for other’s highest good; it teaches us to live with Christ’s heart and to be used by Him to serve others.

Titus 3:9-11: “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”

The teaching that good works by believers are good and profitable to all men as verse 8 says, are in contrast to “foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law,” that are “unprofitable,” and a profit to no one, as verse 9 says.

Titus was to teach others that in the Christian life there are good things to pursue and useless things to run away from.

The word “avoid” here means to “be a bystander, to keep oneself away, to turn your back.” It is an imperative in the original Greek, meaning it’s a command by God, not a suggestion.

Paul is not saying that we shouldn’t discuss or defend the truth. Rather, he is warning against “foolish” controversies. The word “foolish” comes from the word we get “moron” from. We are to move away from moronic, empty, pointless arguments.

There were those in Paul’s day who loved to ask hypothetical questions of doctrine (if this were true, if that were true), or get into discussions about Jewish genealogies, or contend or quarrel and strive or fight over the fine points of the Law.

Today, there are still people today who argue and quibble over things that don’t build up or help believers, and that are empty, pointless questions and discussions that are of no profit.

And today, we still need to heed this instruction to “avoid” these things, and keep ourselves away from them. These are time wasters. God does not want us to waste our time, He wants us to use our time for Him being “careful to maintain good works.”

Wasting the gift of time grieves the Giver of time. And God has created a lifetime of opportunities in serving Him.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Paul shows here that as to the “heretick” or the people who are advocating these useless things and exerting a divisive and destructive influence in the church, “after the first and second admonition reject.”

The term “heretick” here speaks of a divisive person, or one who creates divisions, factions or schisms, it has the idea of someone who makes a resolute decision to be obstinate and cause dissension.

This kind of person prefers to major on the minors as verse 9 speaks of.

And Paul shows here that divisive people must be dealt with decisively, because of the damage that can be done within the local church and because of the damage to the church’s testimony to the lost.

Paul’s instruction is warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, he is to be rejected.

These two admonitions and warnings are for the purpose of restoration, with the hope that they will come back after being admonished, and understand the error of their ways or the error of their teaching.

But if nothing changes after these two admonitions, that person shows themselves to be “subverted” (v. 11), or literally twisted in character or “turned inside out,” having turned from what is right.

And they show themselves to be sinful and sinning, but refuse to stop, and thus they are self-condemned by their actions. And as it’s been said, “You can’t reason with an unreasonable person,” and this kind of person is to be rejected, refused, avoided.

The church leadership must consider the good of the church and have the factious person leave, to protect the church.

Titus 3:12-13: “When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter. Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.”

In verse 12, Paul tells Titus that he intends to send Artemas or Tychicus to take over the tasks of Titus on Crete and when one of them arrived, Titus was to join Paul at Nicopolis, where Paul was determined to stay for the winter.

By his words “be diligent,” Paul was telling Titus to do his best. The command has a sense of urgency that Titus was to do his utmost to come to him at Nicopolis.

Paul was not a lone ranger. Paul partnered with people. Even though Paul was an apostle, he worked in tandem with believers with all kinds of different backgrounds, from different countries, and different levels of education.

Paul worked with both a doctor and a runaway slave. He served with those from a Jewish background and with those from a pagan background.

Artemas who is mentioned here, his name means “gift of Artemis,” the goddess of fertility worshipped in Ephesus, as his parents obviously venerated the pagan goddess, and tells us he came to faith in Christ from a typical Greek upbringing.

Zenas means “Zeus given,” and was another converted Greek.

But all these different people Paul served with reminds us how the church was created by Christ to be a community and organism of interdependent people, Jew and Gentile being one in one body, with all members needed and needing one another.

In Christ there are no barriers of nationality, race, education, social standing, wealth, gender, religion, or power. The gospel of grace breaks down all walls.

Barriers which separate men in this world are not present in Christ and differences among men in this world have no meaning in Him. Christ dwells in all who believe, and we’re all one in Him.

As Romans 12:5 says, “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”

Paul had not yet made up his mind what man he wanted to send to Crete to replace Titus, whether Artemas or Tychicus. Artemas is not known to us, other than what we glean from the meaning of his name. But Tychicus is well known to us in Scripture.

Tychicus was Paul’s personal FedEx man. He delivered Paul’s letters to the Ephesians, Colossians and to Philemon, from Rome, which was a long, difficult trip.

And upon delivering the letters, his job was to tell the churches how Paul was holding up, and then he was to give Paul info about how the churches were doing.

He is commended in Scripture as being a beloved brother, a faithful minister in the Lord, and a fellow servant. He was a man who was “careful to maintain good works.”

Zenas and Apollos were in Crete at this writing and Paul asked that the believers support them as they went about ministering to the various churches. It’s probable that they carried this letter to Titus. And now Titus was to aid them all he could as they continued on their missionary journey.

Titus 3:14-15: “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.”

Through this need to take care of Zenas and Apollos, Paul desired that the believers in Crete “learn to maintain good works for necessary uses,” such as providing Zenas and Apollos with places to stay and funds for their journey.

We learn from this that maintaining good works is something which must be learned and worked at in the Christian life. We must be “careful” to maintain them, careful to consider the importance of serving the Lord and careful to be faithful.

And we also must “learn” to maintain good works, as God and His grace teaches us to live for the Lord and to serve Him by grace and lead fruitful lives for Him.

Paul writes, “All that are with me salute thee.” So what happened to Titus?

In 2 Timothy 4:9-12, Paul writes Timothy, “Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus.”

Paul greatly desired to see Timothy before his death, and he tells him “to come before winter.” Then Paul reminds Timothy of those who for sure wouldn’t be coming to see him: Demas, Crescens, and Titus.

Attracted by the temporal and influenced by the present world, Demas turned away from the eternal, from the ministry, and from the Apostle Paul.

Demas had been Paul’s “fellow-laborer” as he called him in Philemon, but now he labored after worldly pleasures instead of laboring for the eternal.

And lumped in with Demas who had forsaken him is Crescens and Titus, who evidently had gone off by themselves as well leaving Paul in his hour of need.

After writing of the departure of Demas, Crescens, and Titus, Paul writes, “Only Luke is with me.” With Demas and Crescens, Titus unfortunately had not remained faithful, he had left Paul and left the faith.

These saints had become unprofitable, then Paul moves on to speak of those who were profitable to him, such as Luke, Mark, and Tychicus. Paul sent Tychicus to Ephesus, but Paul had not sent Titus to Dalmatia, because he had left the ministry.

Timothy needed to know that even those closest to him in the ministry had the possibility of faltering in their stand with him, as Demas, Crescens, and Titus had done to Paul. We too need to be aware of this in our lives as well, that those who stand for the truth, sometimes falter, leave the ministry, depart from the truth.

But we must not allow these things, that happen more often than we think, to cause us to falter. We’re not to be keeping our focus on spiritual leaders who may disappoint us, rather we need to keep our eyes on the Lord who will never disappoint us. And keeping our eyes on Him, we need to fight a good fight, finish our course, and keep the faith.

With Paul’s characteristic closing, Paul completes his letter to Titus: “Grace be with you all. Amen.”

Each of Paul’s 13 epistles, begin and end with grace. They begin with declarations of grace from God the Father and God the Son.

At the end, Paul closes with “Grace be with you.” In between, Paul’s letters are filled with instruction, correction, and encouragement for how to be saved by grace alone and how the Church is to live and serve by grace today in this present dispensation of grace.

Roger Staubach, who led the Dallas Cowboys to an NFL championship after the 1971 season and was voted Super Bowl MVP, admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn’t call his own signals was a source of frustration for him.

Coach Tom Landry sent in every play from the sidelines. The coach told Roger when to pass and when to run.

Even though Staubach considered coach Landry to have a “genius mind” when it came to football strategy, his pride said that he should be able to run his own team.

When asked how he resolved this tension, Staubach said, “I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory.”

As you and I learn to obey God’s Word, and yield our wills to His, and humble our hearts to follow Him, we will experience harmony, fulfillment and victory in life as well.

The Book of Titus has tough and challenging instruction. But it’s God’s Word. And it’s what’s best for each of us. And as we yield to it and obey it, the church will be stronger, and our individual Christian lives will be better for it as well.