Titus 3:12-15

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.  Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.  All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith.  Grace be with you all.

Ministry is a team sport.  Nobody can accomplish effective ministry by themselves.  Those who attempt to do so will eventually be ineffective or worse.  As believers we are all working together for the cause of Christ and the advancement of the Gospel.  The different gifts and different functions are essential to the advancement of the Gospel and reflecting the image of God to a world that desperately needs to know Him.

HELP FROM OTHERS: Paul wants to send someone to continue the work Titus is doing on Crete so he can come meet Paul and serve together for the winter.  Zenas and Apollos were other ministry colleagues who had apparently com to Crete to help serve there or were passing through the island on their way to another destination.  Certainly, they would have been of assistance while they were in town and now Paul wants Titus to assist them by supplying for them on their journey.  Paul needed the help of others in ministry and was not at all afraid to admit it or ask for it.  We are members of a body and must always remember that we need one another.

HELP FOR OTHERS: Just as Titus had received help, he was to give help and to leave instructions for the churches on Crete to be rich in good works.  There are so many needs that surround us in this fallen and broken world.  There is no way that we are going to be able to meet every need.  However, the most urgent cases of human suffering must be addressed.  There is a tendency to become overwhelmed at the needs surrounding us and think that if we can’t do everything that it becomes an excuse to not do anything.  We are called to serve the needs of the world around us and to love one another in a way that enriches our faith for the glory of God.

APPLICATION: Surround ourselves with people with whom we can go through life.  Recognize our need for relationships and partnerships and resist the tendency to be independent.  Serve the people surrounding us with the love of Jesus.  Love the body of Christ with affection.

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