Titus 3:12-15

¹²As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there. ¹³Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they have everything they need. ¹⁴Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives. ¹⁵Everyone with me sends you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.

Paul wants Titus to come to visit him in Nicopolis (v12), but not until replacements (Tychicus or Artemas – perhaps even as bearers of this letter, though some say the letter arrived earlier with Apollos or Zenas, as v13 implies) arrive in Crete. Paul knows the importance of pastoral care. Every congregation needs leadership. Churches are vulnerable; they’re being disturbed from within and tugged from without. We need accountability to our elders in the church, shepherds who are inspiring us to love and good deeds, calling us to live rightly the Christian life in light of God’s grace and mercy.

In v13, Apollos was known for his eloquence and ministry in Corinth. Paul tells Titus to help him and Zenas on their way, making sure they have everything they need. It is suggested that they had perhaps come to Crete as the bearers of this letter and were nearly immediately prepared to move on to another location.

In v14, he speaks of “our people,” Christians, and how they “must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good.” This “doing what is good is a recurring them for Paul in this letter.” And he gives a reason – “in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.” V9 speaks of “unprofitable and useless” teaching, and v14 speaks of learning to do good deeds as fruitful teaching. Plainly put, false teaching cannot produce fruitfulness; it only drives at outward behavior. Only sound doctrine produces fruitfulness, because it instills truth, true knowledge, deep into the heart and mind; the natural outflow of heart and mind knowledge is behavioral.

Ligon Duncan says, “Paul is saying to [Titus about] these Christians, ‘You’ve got false teachers troubling them, you’ve got an immoral culture. Let me give you [and them] something to do. Throw yourself [have them immerse themselves] into the work of the kingdom! Make it a priority! Sacrifice, give of yourself, determined that you’re not going to let the work of the kingdom be hampered.’” How do we accomplish v9-11? We keep active in service and growth. Idleness is the way to fall asleep and fall behind. The Kingdom of God is moving forward, always advancing. Are you with it?

Finally, in v15, Paul and his friends in ministry who are with him (he’s never alone) send their greetings to Titus. Paul tells Titus to greet those who love them (Paul and those with him) in the faith. Paul wants Titus to greet everybody who shares faith in Christ with him. Do you share Paul’s faith? Then he greets you as one of his dearest friends, a gospel friend, a brother in Christ, with this closing. There you have it, a greeting from the apostle Paul. This message to Titus is a message to you. And he closes with, “Grace be with you all.” Titus will need grace to fulfill the commands Paul gives him; but the Cretan Christians will need grace to obey Titus’ commands. And so Paul desires the grace of God to be with all of them. Live rightly in light of and by God’s grace, for His glory and the good of the brothers.