Titus 3:12-15

March 22nd, 2026

At River Oak Church, we are a welcoming family of imperfect people who share a passion for God, a passion for others, and a passion for graciously sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We enjoy an informal environment and Christ-exalting modern worship, and we are committed to following the truth of God’s Word. We welcome you to come as you are, from wherever you’ve been, and join us!

Transcript

Titus 3:12-15

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So I'm gonna just jump right in it. If you look at verse 12, you look at verse 12, he gives two names. He says, When I send uh Artemis and Tychicus, not a recommended name for your children in 2026. They will mispronounce that. These are two men that we don't really know a whole lot about, but uh they are other believers. These are believers, these are men that are capable of leading. And we know that because of what he says next. He says, When I send them to you, I want you to make every effort to come to me in Nicopolis, which is not next door, because I have decided to spend the winter there. Here's what he tells Titus. He says, Hey, when these capable men come to you, I want you to leave the church. I want you to leave what you are doing, and I want you to continue to minister elsewhere. Like, can you imagine uh what that would look like in our church? Right? If I came up here and I was like, hey man, Billy Graham's son just sent me an email and he said, leave Chesapeake and come to wherever Billy Graham's son lives and do ministry there. You might be like, I'm going full Jesus mode. I'm flipping tables in the temple. Like, no, you're not going to Billy Graham's son, man. God's called you here. Like you're not leaving. Like, why could Paul call Titus away and the church not fail? Why wouldn't the church not fail, even though Titus, who's established all of these things, still continue on? The reason the church would not fail is because the church was not about a pastor. The church was not about the person standing on stage, it was not about a personality. Like the advertisement of a church should never be, hey, come here, Caleb, preach. Come here, something dumb that man's gonna say. Like there's nothing. It's usually what comes out of my mouth. It's not like, hey, come here, Titus, preach. The church in Crete, that wasn't their billboard, man. Like, hey, no, the church is a group of people who have found life in Christ. The reason that the church in Crete would stand is because it was a group of people who believed Matthew 20, which says, where two or more are gathered, there God is also. That the church is a group of people that were pursuing Jesus together. It wasn't about a person, it wasn't about a single leader. See, if the church is living every day captivated and changed by Jesus, then leaders can come and go, and it doesn't change the church's mission. That the church can still stand. That we should have that attitude as a church. You know, our heart is that we would be a church that plants. If we go plant a church, that means we're going to send a church planting pastor. And if we send a church planting pastor, that means one of the pastors will not be here. And we need the church to recognize and understand we can plant a church and it doesn't break the church because the church is not about a person, it's about the gospel of Jesus Christ being preached and proclaimed in the place the church exists. We've got to walk in that. We've got to know that. We've got to understand it. This was the heart of the biblical church. He goes on, he says in verse 13, and diligently help Zenus the lawyer, which is good news. Because that means even lawyers can follow Jesus. And Apollos on their journey, so that they will lack nothing. Now, here's the thing, uh, we don't really know a lot about Artemis or Tychus or Zenus. We know a little bit about Apollos because it's um because he's in Acts a little bit. But like if you go to a commentary and there might be 50 pages written on the three chapters in Titus, there is literally a half page written on these verses. Like, yep, don't know those guys, but they're probably good because Paul sent them. He says, But would you help these men who are obviously doing the work of ministry so that they will lack nothing? That these are probably also the two men who are carried the letter. Like the book of Titus, we turned it into a book in the Bible, but really it was a letter, and there wasn't chapters and there wasn't verses, that it was something that Paul wrote. Like today's day, it would have been a virtual call or an email. Paul would have sent an email to Titus and been like, high importance, not spam. Read that. And he would have read it, he may have printed it out, and he would have told the church, hey, I got this email from Paul, here's what it says. Like that's what it is. And he says, but but the people who are gonna carry this letter were likely these two men. And here's what he says. In other words, he says, help these fellow ministers so that they lack nothing, having nothing that would hinder them from doing the things the Lord has called them to do. He says, help these ministers in such a way that there is nothing earthly or physical that will hinder them from doing what God has called them to do. Now you should understand, in that culture, that would have been extreme generosity. The same way it was in our culture. That if we helped somebody do ministry, that they lacked nothing. You know, we've sent out a couple of missionaries. And in the missionary world, because of the generosity of River Oak, they lack nothing physically. Because, man, y'all have been so generous in that. He says that it is radical to our world. That's a radical generosity to our world. However, it was not out of the ordinary for the church. It was the regular amount of generosity that characterized the church. An extraordinary amount of generosity in our culture is the regular amount of generosity for the church. You should hear that. And the way that they were generous was done through tithes, through gifts, and through offerings. That when the people of church of the church began to give worshipfully, generous generously, and sacrificially, then the church was able to accomplish the kingdom things regularly. Don't you hear that? When the church in Crete, the people began to tithe and to give and to be really generous and really sacrificial, it enabled the church in Crete to then do kingdom things really regularly. Now here's the kicker. That's the same for River Oak. I don't know if you went outside, but what you did not see on the trees was money. Our trees don't grow money. We would be out there picking them, God, they'd be leafless. In fact, our church runs and depends on the people of the church worshipfully, sacrificially, and generously giving to the church that we would go and be able to do kingdom things. That it is what that looks like. Now, here's the thing the Bible describes tithing in the church. And the way they describe tithing is a worshipful experience. That tithing comes from the believer. Now, if you're new here and you're like, man, they're talking about money, they always talk about you should know I never talk about money. It is just your bad day. Congratulations. What tithing is in God's word is it is an act of the believer saying and recognizing, man, I look at my bank account, God, and I recognize that every single dollar, every penny, every part of that money came from you. God, that you provided all of that. God, you gave me the skills to have the job that would employ me, that would pay me, that would provide for me, that I paid all my bills and I still have some extra. God, that you gave me all of that. And so, God, here's what I can do. Lord, you are the God of a uh of a of cattle on a thousand hills. And yet you have given me some to steward. And so, God, my act of worship is that I'm not gonna hold it tight and say, This is mine for my pleasure and my goodwill and my kingdom, but God, I'll hold it open and say, God, would you use it for your pleasure and your will and your kingdom? And God, I trust that I could give you some back and you will give me everything I need. That you will bless me in that. See, the tithe not only affects the church that you tithe to, but it also affects the person that is tithing. See, when we're called to obedience in God's word, he says there is always a blessing in that. That it is always a blessing to the soul of the believer who would follow Jesus in obedience. Now hear me. Tithing is not gonna make you rich. Don't get mistaken where you're like, dang, I'm gonna write a check now. No, you're not. It's not gonna make you rich physically, but it will enrich your life greatly with joy and with blessing, with understanding that you're doing and being a part of the work of Jesus in the local ministry. That it is a call for the believer to say, man, this is an act of worship. This is an act of worship that that I would tithe, Lord, that I would give back to you. And in here, I just want to I just want you to know, like, I'm not asking for your money, and I'm not telling you, hey, you need to you need to tithe. Now, God's word says you should tithe to the church you attend, but here's my challenge for you. If you are not a regular tither, tithe to any church. You don't tithe to this one, go tithe to a different church. That's not necessarily what God called you to do, but I just would encourage you. Would you live generously with your money and say, okay, God, let me test you. You know, the only thing that God tells us to test them in is that he says, test me and see if I won't provide for every need you have. Go tithe to any church and then come see me in a year from now. And tell me you're not blessed by the Lord. Tell me God hasn't provided for every need you have. You won't be able to because it goes against the promise of the Lord. That we should live this way, open-handed. He says, Man, this is what the church is called to do is to say, man, my focus is not on my own kingdom, but on the ministry for you. And you're like, but man, how do we even do that? That's hard. Hey, you know you can just tap the seat of the of the chair in front of you. Don't tap it too hard. They're getting annoyed. But there's a little sticker. You just tap it, you can give it so easily that it could be your act of worship. Like, it is that easy to say, like, okay, God, I want to do this. Like, I want to, I want to be on mission with you. I want to join you in that. But that we would be people who would say, Man, let me be about the mission of God in our life. Let me let me let me believe your promises, Lord. Let me not believe that all my security comes from how tight I can hold my things. Let me recognize it comes from you and you alone. He says, and then verse 14, let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs so that they will not be unfruitful. He says, Man, remind the people of what the gospel has done in your life. And then instruct them to treat people the same way that Jesus has treated them. He says, Would you remind them? Don't be unfruitful. Remind them. And here's the thing the book of Titus gives us direction on what fruitful living looks like. And so I'm just gonna run us through it real quick. And there's three words. If I was to sum up the book of Titus, I would sum it up in three words. That he says, you should dedicate, you should elevate, and you should demonstrate. Dedicate, elevate, and demonstrate. He says, man, you should in chapter one, you should dedicate men to lead the church. That should be something you do. He says in verse five, the reason I left you in Crete was that you would set right what was left undone as I directed you, and you would appoint elders in every town. He says, Man, you should appoint men to lead the church. And then he would go on to give the characteristics of these men, that they are blameless, that they are the husband of one wife, that they are not giving in to alcoholism, that they are not hot-tempered, but they are patient. He says, Man, these men should be godly men who love the church and love people. Charles Spurgeon once said to young pastors, if you know who Charles Spurgeon is, uh, he was an old uh theologian. He is not alive anymore. Um, it says, it is itself with our hears as it is with watches in the public clock. So just so you know, for everyone under the age of 25, you used to have to pull out this thing on your watch and you would have to adjust it. And it would like set a time, and like daylight savings was like the worst thing on earth because you're like, what time is it? I don't know. And uh and you would have to set it to a clock that you trusted, right? So, like, generally not your mother's oven, but like something more stable, and and you would you would adjust it to some clock and now like it all does it supernaturally. I don't know how it works. But he says at this time everyone would come to the town center and they would see the main clock. And he says, if our watches are wrong, if we change our watches and we adjust it to the central clock and it's wrong, very little will be affected. But if the Greenwich Observatory, which is the clock that everyone would set their watches to, is wrong, he said half of London would lose its reckoning. That if we all set our watches but that clock was wrong, we're all in trouble. He says, and it is like that with our ministers, that the minister is the parish clock, and many take their time from him. And if he is incorrect, then they will go wrongly. He says, the healthy church will dedicate men to help the church stay in step with the will of God. He says, that's what that looks like. That we would dedicate men to do that. And then he says in verse 10 and 11 that then the church would also dedicate themselves to the work of the Lord. That we dedicate men to lead, and then we would dedicate ourselves to the work of the Lord, he says, for there are many rebellious people. Verse 11 he says, and it's necessary for you to silence them. And then verse 13 he says, But this testimony is true. For this reason, rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in faith and may not pay attention to Jewish myths and the commands of the people who reject the truth. He says, Commit people to lead the church and commit the church to the work of the Lord. And he uses this word elder. He says, Commit, mark these elders, put these elders in place. That word elder or pastor, it describes function and gifting, but it's synonymous with its meaning. And the meaning is men who would feed the flock, men who would shepherd the church. Here at River Oak, we have a council of elders. We have a group of men who are following Jesus well, who are wise and who are committed. These group of men, and I say this from a personal experience, these group of men, they care deeply, they pray deeply, and they thank God deeply for you and for the staff. That they shepherd well and they help to shepherd and lead this church. And we should continue to be a church that dedicates men to do this. And that as the church, we should continue to dedicate ourselves to the work of the Lord individually and corporately. That it should be something we come in here doing, like, man, we want to we want to pursue the Lord. But then corporately together, we should be doing that. That we should, in our jobs or in our families, or in your spirit sphere of influence, that you should aspire to live self-controlled and patient and in love with Jesus and loving the people around you. He says, This is the call. That we would dedicate men and then we would be dedicated. And then he says, and then we would elevate. That we would dedicate, we'd elevate, and we'd demonstrate. And he says, Man, and we would elevate the next generation, that we would encourage those who are in the church, walking with Jesus to live in a way worthy of respect, to seek the next generation of men and women to love and to leave. Titus 2, 1 says, but you are to proclaim things consistent with sound teaching. What are these things? He says in 2 through 4, older men are to be self-controlled, worthy of respect, sensible, sound in faith, love and endurance. And then older women, he says, You are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders, not slaves to excessive drinking. He says, and then what are you supposed to do? You're supposed to invest in the younger women and teach them how to love the people around the world, how to live in a marriage, how to love their husband, how to raise their children, how to care for the family. And the older men in verse 6 and 7 are to encourage the young men to be self-controlled, to not be victims of their own pride, but in everything be self-controlled, making yourself an example of good works and integrity and dignity in your teaching. He says that you should elevate the next generation, that you should dedicate yourself to the work of the Lord, and then you should look around and you should elevate. You should look at the people who may be a step or two behind you. And you should begin to teach them all that you know about Jesus. He doesn't say all that there is to know about Jesus. But you should teach them all that you know about Jesus. That you should be dedicating yourself to the work of the Lord and to the knowledge of Christ, and then you should be teaching that to other people around you. You should be looking at the next generation. For some of you, for some of you, that just needs to start with your children. That you should stop looking at your children as just kids you have to raise and be looking for other people to minister to. That for some of you, instead, you should begin to see your children as a monumental part of what God will do for his kingdom. That you should stop looking at them as children and start seeing them as young men and young women that God is gonna raise up to serve his kingdom in far-reaching ways. Like, can you imagine if you began to see your kids in that way? Like every day, all day.

unknown 19:15

Right?

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Where you're like, well, little Johnny, he's kind of a brat. And the Lord was like, hey, that brat, man, I'm gonna use him in monumental ways for my kingdom. How would you start to feed him physically, spiritually, and emotionally to say, Man, I'm preparing you for war. Bro, I'm raising you up because you're gonna do great things for the Lord. So I'm gonna make you physically strong, and I'm gonna make you emotionally strong, and I'm gonna make you spiritually strong. That when God calls you to the monumental work, man, you're coming in with a sword and you know how to use it. That you're not just that little kid that I have to deal with, but you're a young man that God is gonna use to do remarkable things in our world. Man, how would that change your parenting? How would that change the way you treat your kids every day? How would that change the way you're like, yo, we're getting into the Bible? Because you're gonna need this truth when I'm not here to minister to you. When life hits you in the face, you're gonna need this. Like, you've gotta live on this. You've got to eat and sleep and breathe this if you want any hope in this lost world. He says that starts with you committing yourself, dedicating yourself to the work of the Lord, and then looking at the people around you, and with that kind of enthusiasm saying, you have to have this if you want anything good in life. And we begin to see the people around us differently. The thing about elevating the next generation is recognizing that there's a generation older and over you. And so it's not not only are you looking around and saying, God, who is it that you're calling me to invest in? Who is it that I need to be praying for and pouring into and sharing the truth of God with? But then, God, who should I be looking up to that might be a step or two ahead of me that's saying, Man, hey, I got a hand you want to help up? Let me raise you up. See, if all of us are looking at the next generation, then there really is only one of us. And it ain't me. There's only one of us who is the oldest, the wisest, the smartest in this room, the most uh mature in their faith in this room. There's like looking to Jesus and being like, Jesus, you're my hand up. Like, I don't know. Everyone else should be looking down and saying, Jesus, how can I help? They should be looking up and saying, Who can help me? Who can take hold? Who can mentor? Who can disciple? Who can walk with us? Now, here's the problem uh men, we believe we got it all together. We believe we got it. Man, I don't need help from nobody, I'm not asking for help. Like I will be lost in downtown New York and I will not stop for directions. I will run out of gas. I will walk. I will not stop and ask. Why? Because I got it together. Yet we stand in this room and we we sing about the gift of Jesus and we praise him, and yet we're too insecure to even raise a hand or vocally use our voices. Like we won't make an audible sound around it because we're too insecure to even do that. But we got it all together. We should assume that if the guy who wrote most of the New Testament wasn't walking with Jesus alone, then men, no matter how much we got it together, we shouldn't either. That we need other brothers in Christ who are saying, Man, are you being a good husband? And are you being a good father? And are you walking with Jesus well? And are you are are you are you being faithful to who God has called you to be? That we need those people. And I would encourage you, if you're like, man, I have no idea who I should be investing in and who should be investing in me. Then you know where it starts? It starts with you saying, Jesus, I have no idea. Will you please bring those people into my life? Will you please show me and open my eyes to who those people are? And would you help me not to be prideful? But would I be humble in that? He says, Man, would you dedicate your life to Christ and then would you look to elevate the next generation? He says, and then would you demonstrate who you are in Christ, all that Jesus has done to the lost world around you? He says, Would you demonstrate the life-changing power of Jesus in the places Jesus has put us as we submit to the authority over us while simultaneously fighting for the common good of all the people around us? He says, Will we demonstrate that? Will we demonstrate a heart-level submission to the authority around us, but yet also deeper heart-level conviction of what is right and what is good for all people, what is pleasing to the Lord. Titus 2.9 says, slaves are to submit to their masters and everything, to be well pleasing and not talking back. He says, Man, you might be in a terrible job, you might have a terrible boss, but man, you should represent Christ in that. The more terrible the boss is, the more opportunity you have to be gracious, to be merciful, to not act viscerally. He says in Titus chapter 3, verses 1 and 2, and then remind them to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to slander no one, to avoid fighting, to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people. He says, Why? For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy and hateful, detesting one another. That we would be known, he says, the way you demonstrate the work of Jesus in your life is that we would be known for our self-control, our love for others, and our convictions. That we're not a weak people, we're not a soft people, we're not a flippant people. He says, you are salt of the earth. That you preserve because of the way you bring the gospel to the situation, that you cause thirst in people because the fruitfulness of your life. They say, Man, I want more of whatever that is. You call flavor. You cause flavor in our world. And it is not a monotonous, hopeless world. But the Lord would use you to bring light into the darkness. He says, man, that you would be submissive and kind, but yet you would fight for the next generation. You would fight for the sanctity of marriage. You would fight for life. You would fight for the gospel to be known by all. For why? It is the hope of the world that we would fight for those things. That you would dedicate, that you would elevate, and that you would demonstrate. He says, this is what the healthy church looks like. And this is what the healthy church has people that are doing. He says, the people are doing this, and then therefore the church is doing this. They're about dedicating, they're about elevating, they're about demonstrating. And then he closes with verse 15. He says, All those who are with me send you greetings. Greet those who love us in the faith. And you just see this unity of the gospel. That any life-giving, gospel-preaching church is on the same team as us. That we are all a part of the same team. That there is this thing that happens in churches with pastors who like, we call it sheep stealing. It's like your church didn't actually grow because you reached the lost. Your church grew because you took sheep from another church. The greater flock never grew. Like we shouldn't be a church that's like that. We should be a church that we grow because the lost are reached with the gospel. And you see that, man, this is, he says, man, we're on the same team. We're not trying to rob sheep from one another. He says, but we greet each other in love for those in the faith. And then he says, Grace, which we talked about, is the gift of God you don't deserve. He says, Grace be with all of you. So there's there's a little Greek uh translation that needs to be made here. There's like a few ways to call a person. I could be like, you come here. Um I could be like, y'all come here. Y'all don't know that. Some of y'all don't know that. If you think we don't have a spring, you're one of those people. You don't know that. Y'all come here. And then and then and then there's like the greater. If I need to call all of you, I would say, all y'all come here. Right? Some of you are like, no, no, it's you all. I'm like, no, that's what you put your furniture in when you're moving. And here's what he's saying. He's saying, Grace be with all of y'all. The gift you don't deserve. Grace be with all of y'all. See, this is the thing that fueled the church. Paul, over and over and over again, he says, you will be the church that God has called you to be because you recognize the grace that God has given you daily. He says, Man, it's what fuels you. In Titus chapter 3, he he really like lines it out. And we talked about last week. He says, Man, here is the gospel. But when the kindness of God, our Savior, and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us. Not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy through the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. And the way that you can live a life that's dedicated, that seeks to elevate others and not yourself, where your main concern is, let me demonstrate the grace and the hope and the peace of Jesus and other people, is because you understand that you have been saved by grace. That you were dead in your sin. Yet God, in his great love for you, looked at you and said, I am willing to rescue you from your sin. I am holy, I am righteous, I don't need you, but I love you. And so then he sent Jesus and said, And I will pay the price. Your sin deserves death, but I will pay the price by sending my son to die in your place. That your sin isn't free, but rather Jesus just pays it for you. See, what grace does is it makes us feel like sin is free. That we often think it gives us permission to sin. No, no, no. It doesn't give us permission to sin, it gives us freedom from sin. He says, and that's what Jesus has done. For you were dead in your sin, but it is a gift of God that Jesus sent. And Jesus lived. He was a real person who lived on this earth, who really walked in the shoes that you walked in. He really had the temptations and the trials and the struggles and the splinters and the cuts and the scrapes and the and the hunger pains that you and I feel. And yet he did it all sinlessly. And then he went to the cross for you and for me. He said, I will take the sin of the world on myself, no sin of my own to take to the cross, but I will take your sin and I will die on the cross for you. I will be the payment, the propitiation for your sin, that you may have life. And then he rose again, proving that he is God over sin and death. And he looked back at you and me and said, Will you follow me? Will you trust me as Lord and as Savior? See, many of these people, their testimony that were baptized was, I knew Jesus could save, but I didn't know him as my king. And the testimony happened when they learned, no, Jesus wants to be the king of my life. And he says, and it is grace that you've been invited into his kingdom. A gift you didn't deserve. And so if you're in here and this is the first time you've heard the gospel, we're about to worship in a second, and you from your seat can simply say, Jesus, I am a sinner and I am in need of a savior, and you are that savior. And so would you forgive me of my sin? Would you make me new? And would you be the king of my life? But you can do that. And I encourage you, you tell somebody because you need people to walk with you. But we also have our spiritual response team that's going to be right up here to my left, your right. And they're here just to walk with you and talk with you through the things that God is doing and to pray with you about those things. And so my encouragement with you is like if you are someone who says, Yeah, I have always been saved. No, no, you may have always known about who Jesus was, but can you point to a place in your life where you say, no, this is the moment, this is the time, this is the season where my understanding of Jesus began to grow. And I understood he wants to be the king of my life. And I submitted to his lordship. And if not, I would challenge you to evaluate where am I with Jesus? But would we be a church who says, because of the gospel, let me dedicate my life, let me elevate those around me, and let me demonstrate that in my walk with Jesus. Will you pray with me? God, we love you and we thank you for all you're doing and all you are. God, we thank you for your plan and your provision. God, we thank you for your love and your kindness. God, thank you for salvation. God, would you help us to live a life that is dedicated to your calling and your leading? God, would you give us wisdom on those around us that you've put there that we would elevate? And would you give us a humility to look to those uh that might be around us that you've put there that might elevate us? And Lord, as we go, as we live our lives, as we get into the places we're in, as we're in our relationships, our families, our workspaces, Lord, would you help us to demonstrate your kindness? Would you help us uh to permeate the aroma of Christ in all of those spaces, all of those places? And would you do it in your power and in your strength? And we pray all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.