Good Works Meet Urgent Needs

Please turn your Bible to Titus chapter 3. Preaching day will be on Titus chapter 3. If you remember not too long ago, we started a series on motivations for good works. We are going to continue that series with a second portion.

That first set of sermons were on how salvation enables us and empowers us for good works. This next set of sermons will be on how good works help your neighbor. The last set of sermons were about, it was ten sermons.

This one will likely be about five. Please stand when you have that for the reading of God's Word. Also, I will mention that I will read from verses 12 to 15 and our preaching text today will be the first half of the verse and not be unfruitful will be a phrase that I will say for a later sermon.

Titus 3 beginning in verse 12. When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I've decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenus, a 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. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that today you would bless the proclamation of your Word. We pray that you would soften our spirits, be receptive to it. We pray that you would fill us more with the work of your Spirit in us.

Joy and peace and patience and all good things. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Good Works as the Theme of the Series

So as I said,.

The name of the series is Motivations for Good Works. Many people struggle with good works. They struggle with good works for various reasons. Maybe they don't know how God has empowered them. Maybe they do not know the good effects that good works bring about.

So today I'd like you to consider the fact that this verse gives us that good works meet urgent needs. If you understood the effect that your good works could have, would you not pursue them more faithfully?

Would you not pursue them more joyfully? These are matters that should be before our mind frequently in order that we would not be slack in the things that God has called us to, but that we would understand our purposes and then joyfully go forward doing what God has given us to accomplish.

There are all kinds of activities in this world where if you don't know the good effects that come from them, you just don't even bother.

Right?

There are all kinds of activities that you don't do, for example, as a child. As a child, you don't bother tying your shoe because not only is it difficult, but you don't really realize that it's important until you finally trip and you realize, oh, this keeps me from tripping.

Right? There are just all kinds of good effects that come from tying your shoe. There's all kinds of good effects that come from all sorts of things that you don't do until you learn that. It is important that we understand the effects of good works.

Good works in order that we might be encouraged to pursue them. So consider this verse here in Titus, written by Paul to the elder Titus. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful.

It says, let our people, speaks of our people. Who is this talking about? Well, it's important to see the connection back to verse 8. It says, this saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things so that all who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

These things are excellent and profitable for people. And here it talks about important devotion to good works so that people would not be unprofitable. So who is it that are the our people in verse 8?

Those who have believed in God. It speaks particularly of Christians. Now, why does he use the phrase our people? I cannot be 100 certain. Perhaps he is distinguishing Christians from Jews. Perhaps he's distinguishing them from the world.

Perhaps he's speaking in a possessive way to one who is an elder who should care for his particular sheep. But I'm inclined to think that this is largely drawing the contrast between those who are God's people versus the people of the world.

Let our people, those who belong to God's people, let them devote themselves to good works and not be like those who are in the world. Consider the previous context here. Describe certain things as being worthless.

Describes people being self-condemned who have not pursued good things. In verse 3, it says,. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, and hating one another.

This is describing what they were like before they had been transformed in order to be, as it describes in Titus 2 .14, people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. So the contrast in the previous context has been to what the people were like before as they were part of the world.

I believe that's the same contrast that is happening here when he says, let our people devote themselves to good works. I think I've mentioned this a couple of times recently, but in Greek there's the notion of a third-person imperative.

In English, the only way that you can have an imperative is to speak in second person, which is to the person you are speaking to. In Greek, there's a way to make it imperative, a command that belongs to another party, a third party.

This is what is going on here. Let our people devote themselves to good works. This is a command, even though it's not a command addressed to Titus, or it's addressed to Titus, but the command is for God's church.

Let our people devote themselves to good works. So as to help cases of urgent need, when it says cases of urgent need, literally this is necessary needs, to help necessary needs. This is describing all sorts of things that would be necessary, and I believe that our modern translations are right in describing this as urgent needs, things that are more needed than others, things that are very urgent.

Some have taken this to refer particularly to the poor. I think more often than not, it does refer to the poor, but it can refer to many different situations. Also, in older translations, it talks about necessary uses, and for some reason, many have taken this to refer to the work that you are to dedicate yourself being, simply manual labor or your secular employment, so that you can be ready to help people in other cases.

I don't think that that is the primary emphasis here. I think this is all talking about all kinds of good works that you should do in order to be able to meet all kinds of important needs, and I think that the context, once again, indicates this for us.

Urgent Need in Winter Travel and Gospel Ministry

Consider the previous two verses. When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. There is a special need that it has to do with the winter.

If you consider the very end of 1 Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 16, Paul speaks of him spending the winter somewhere. If you're not familiar with the importance of the winter in the New Testament, it affects a lot of the narratives, because Paul cannot travel in the winter, and the winter, the problem isn't so much that it's too cold, the problem is that it's too windy, and so it blows the ships around, and the ships have to dock somewhere all winter long, and they only sail outside of the winter.

So he has to spend a whole winter somewhere, and that has implications for his own needs, because it's harder to get supplies, etc. So, for example, in 1 Corinthians 16, 5, it says, I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter so that you may help me on my journey wherever I go.

So he will spend the winter with them in order that they can help him. In the winter, he has particular needs. This is describing them meeting his needs here in the winter, when it speaks of Titus coming to him in winter.

Now, in the very next verse, it says, Do your best to speed Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their way, seeing that they lack nothing. The word that's used for speeding them on their way is a word that implies financially supplying them in order that they be sent.

You know, when you send someone on your way, sometimes you just give them a greeting, but a lot of time you will give them food for the road, etc.

Right?

This is the kind of thing that that word is talking about here, and he even clarifies at the end, seeing that they lack nothing. These are cases of special need that have arisen. Paul's special need has arisen as he is spending the winter in Nicopolis, and Zenos and Apollos have a special need to be sent out.

These are things that have arisen, and so this is what our mind should be thinking about when we're thinking about necessary needs or urgent needs. Things that come up suddenly, things that are very pressing for the sake of God's purposes, and what could be more important for God's purposes than Paul, the apostle, these missionaries, Zenos and Apollos, etc.

And this is all an important part of our purpose. This is our goal is to aid others. It's interesting, the transition that you see here, because in verse 8, when it said, this saying is trustworthy, I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.

What's going on? Good teaching is motivating good works. But now what happens here in this verse? And let our people learn to devote themselves to good work so as to help cases of urgent need. Good works are motivating helping cases of urgent need.

You do one for the other, and then you do that one. So having moved from teaching to good works, and why good works? For the cases of urgent needs. And these are his final instructions. Of all the things that he could say at the end of this book, he says this, and it has been frequently a command throughout this book.

Consider that 2 .14 has told them that their purpose is to be a people for his own possession, zealous for good works, his own possession being Jesus' own possession. And then he tells them to be ready for every good work, the beginning of chapter three.

This is their purpose before God. Now, consider the nature of urgent needs. There are many needs that are all the time. Just as we read in Deuteronomy 15, there will always be the poor in the land. As Jesus said, there will be always the poor among you.

There are needs that exist at all times, yet sometimes there are special needs, as we see with Paul, or as we see with Zenos and Apollos. There are special needs. It is important to be ready for these kinds of things.

And if you think about how this verse is instructing us to this, this is not just saying be ready to do good works, but devote yourself to good works that you would be ready to meet urgent needs. A lot of people think of the good works themselves as being that thing that at the time of the urgent need is meeting the urgent need.

But the point of this verse is that devoting yourself to good works beforehand is what is meeting urgent needs. And if you think about how this happens, this happens both materially and spiritually. It happens both in possession and in skill.

And if you take the cross product of those things, material and spiritually, and possession and skill, you can consider all of them. We are materially equipped by doing good works, right? The one who has really given themselves to those things that God has told him to devote himself to.

And remember, when we are... I'll just give you our definition of good works again. Sincere obedience, just sincere obedience before the Lord. This is not just talking about the exceptional kinds of things.

This is talking about all sorts of sincere obedience. The person who devotes himself to the things that God has called him to devote himself to tends to be a hard worker, one who is storing up, as the Bible commands in the Proverbs and elsewhere, for times of need.

And so he is materially equipped with possessions to meet urgent needs. In addition, he has the skill to meet urgent needs. Consider hosting, right? The one who devotes themselves to hospitality, as the Bible requires of Christians, is equipped with the ability to be hospitable when a special need of hospitality comes up.

For example, a missionary, etc. Some traveling pastor that's described in these passages. Let me take back that phrase. Saying traveling pastor suggests that a pastor is divorced from the notion of a congregation.

I'm not trying to suggest that. But there may be special needs that arise in God's kingdom where if you have not devoted yourself to good works beforehand, you will not be materially equipped with the skills in order to meet them later.

Oh, this is true spiritually as well. Spiritually, the one who has devoted himself to obedience to the Lord will be equipped with the Word of God, possessing it in order that he might give it to others in times of need.

And then the one who has devoted himself to prayer is going to be equipped with the skill to pray well when there are special needs in order to pray well.

Right?

So the point of this passage is not that good works meet needs when good works arise, or when urgent needs arise. That in itself is somewhat obvious. Rather, the point is that devoting yourself to good works beforehand ensure that good works, ensure that urgent needs are met when they arise.

And all of this is important, too, to devote yourself to good works in order that you would have the right attitude. One who spends his time not in obedience, but rather in disobedience, is not mortifying the flesh, is not developing an attitude that's ready to deny themself.

Why would they think that when that time arises where there's an urgent need, where there's a greater need, that they would be ready to do that thing? You spend your life serving yourself, not serving others.

Why do you think that when that time arises serve others, that you would be ready? There are a lot of people who tell themselves, you know, on that day when I'm being held at gunpoint and asked whether or not I trust in Jesus Christ, I would definitely say that.

But then, in all the small situations that have led up to that, where they have the opportunity to share their faith with a coworker, admit that they're a Christian before others, and they haven't done that, and yet they think that they will be ready at that great time when it arises.

Do not fool yourself in this way. Do not fool yourself to say, well, when a real urgent need arises, I'll be ready to meet it then, but I don't need to devote myself to good works in the meantime. No, you should devote yourself to good works in order that you would be able to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful.

You know, the soldier does not sit around just waiting for a war to happen. He trains, he is devoting himself to warfare so that he is ready for war. You should devote yourself to good works so that you are ready for good works.

And that is an important part, is devotion. We are to devote ourselves. Many people are surprised when urgent needs arrive. They are not ready for it. Like the person who,.

You know,.

Lives for themself, and then they have an opportunity to take an excellent vacation, but none of the funds are there in order to take the vacation, so they miss out on the greater thing because they spent their time on lesser things.

Not only are people surprised often by urgent needs, but they often enjoy not being prepared for them. In fact, they do not want to be prepared for them at all. Consider a couple of cases that you may be familiar with.

What is one of the top reasons that people do not want to buy a pickup truck? I am not saying you need to buy a pickup truck, but some of you know what I am getting at. What is one of the reasons people do not want to buy a pickup truck?

Then they have to help all their friends move, right? Some people like not being ready for good works, so they do not have to do the good works. Have you ever encountered a homeless person asking for cash, and you are glad to find that you do not have any cash on you?

Because that is your excuse. You do not have to give cash if you are not ready, right? You do not have to do the good work if you are not ready for good works, right?

A lot of people enjoy.

Not being ready, not being devoted, because it means that they do not have to meet those cases. We should desire to meet those cases of urgent need so that we would desire to devote ourselves to good works, to be ready to do these things.

This is our whole purpose. This is what God has called us to. We are not a people for his own possession to sit still and do nothing, to sit still and look pretty. We are a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Chapter 2, verse 14. This is the purpose that he has given us, as verse 1 said of this chapter, that we are to be ready for good works. Have you ever heard the idiom, and I've seen people use this a number of times, a lot of times ironically, but they say, well, I did my good deed for the day, right?

The idea being that you do it once, you do some good thing once during the day, and that is really enough. That is about all the amount of devotion that is required when it comes to good deeds. We are not to do our good deed for the day.

We are to be devoted every moment of every hour to good works, to sincere obedience to the Lord. This is our purpose. This is where we will be most happy. And by happy, I don't mean this in the most superficial sense of gladness.

I mean it in the sense of being blessed and fulfilled. This is the nature of fulfillment so that even as you are pouring your own life out on the altar, you can be satisfied and joyful, even as you were to lose your own life for the sake of Jesus Christ, that you would be fulfilled and happy, blessed, knowing that your purpose is completed.

Many people are very selfish in their outlook in the world. And it is ironic because a lot of times their focus on the self is not for their own good. It's actually to their own harm. Consider all the cases where people, because they are living for themselves, are not able to have the most fulfilling and happy sort of life.

A lot of people, because they aren't thinking about how they might need to counsel others, they don't study the Word, they don't memorize the Word, anything like that. But then they don't have that Word for the sake of themselves.

So because they aren't living for others, they aren't even really living for themselves the way they ought to be. A lot of people, singles, are not living in mind with a future family that they might have, so they're not saving up for the things that they ought to be saving up for, thinking of how that might be needed by others.

And so because they're not saving up, they don't even have money for themselves as they ought to have. Many people aren't thinking about hospitality, so they don't have their home in order. They've let it go to shambles.

But then this only affects their own life, so that their own life is in disorder because they aren't living for others. Many people think that by living for themselves, they will bless themselves more at the expense of others.

The reality is that they end up having a less enjoyable, less fulfilling life,.

And they are only.

Self-sabotaging by not having the mindset that would live for others. Consider the mindset that God has called us to. Philippians 2 verse 3 says,. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

This is the mind of Christ that is described here. This is what we are to be emulating. He has poured out his life for us. We should have his mind and his ear to pour out our lives for each other. But notice that it doesn't end there.

The point isn't just Christ was self-sacrificial, Christ cared about others, therefore you should too. Listen to the implications of the end of this passage. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

He has become much greater and highly exalted because of how he has served others, because of his mindset for others. He would not have been so exalted apart from this. Now as the Son of God, eternally he sits in the heavens, he is above all things.

But as man, having been born in this state of humiliation, if he were in theory, now I know it's impossible for Christ to sin, but in theory, if he were to have lived for himself, there would be no exaltation at the end of that that God has promised.

And so we should not think that we can live for ourselves and then receive some kind of exaltation out of that. Self-exaltation leads nowhere. It is in following the pattern of Christ where he has sacrificed for others that we are assured that we will experience a similar, an analogous sort of exaltation.

He is the great husband who cares for the bride. It is worth considering how this plays out oftentimes in marriage. Many men become much more excellent men through marriage. And I'm not just talking about how their wife helps them and upholds them.

You see in Proverbs 31 that he's well-respected in the gate. And the implication is that because of her, he is well-respected. I mean that many in serving others become greater men, right? In having a wife, in having children, they become much greater men as they learn to live for others and they have to do greater things, right?

You can spend a lot of your time on the couch if there's no one else who needs you. When there are others who need you, you have to do a lot more. You have to better yourself. And so you become a much greater person.

Just as Christ is highly exalted in being the great husband of the bride, so we are called to follow that similar pattern. This is the kind of happiness that Titus is calling us to. It's not calling us to sacrifice for the sake of others with no kind of hope at the end of it.

But the hope here that is implied throughout Titus is in the fulfillment of fulfilling our purpose, being happy, doing what God has called us to do so that we would enjoy everything that God has prepared for us in that.

And this is how we are to be devoted to Christ. The point here is not just you are to be devoted to good works for good work's sake, but if Christ has offered His own life for us, if the blessing of the gospel is that He has made us His own people, then part of the blessing of the gospel is that He has given us a purpose for Him so that we do not have to live for nothing.

We don't have to live without any purpose greater than ourself. We can live with a great purpose, devoting ourselves to good works, devoting ourselves to Him. Now, consider also the implications here for unity.

He said, let ours or let our people, and the original language basically just says let ours. It doesn't use the word people. Let our people devote themselves to good works. There's an implication that it is through the devotion, through the devotion to good works that one is more identified with that people.

This is what the people of God are supposed to be. They're supposed to be a people devoted to good works. And in fulfilling that, one becomes more naturally or more fittingly identified with the people of God.

And God has arranged things, even miraculously so, so that all the needs of His people would be met. Consider what it says in 2 Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 8 verse 12, it says, for if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

This is talking about the Jerusalem collection. Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to gather their funds together to give to the poor in Jerusalem. This is an urgent need that has arisen because of famine.

He continues, for I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness, your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness.

As it is written, whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack. And so Paul is not saying that those in Jerusalem ought to be favored over those in Corinth. Rather, God has equipped the whole body so that there would be a taking care of one another for the health of the body.

And he relates this to this quote, whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack. What is that speaking of? That's speaking of the manna in the wilderness. God gave the manna miraculously, but not only did he give it miraculously, he also miraculously ensured that the distribution was proper so that those who gathered much didn't have any left over.

There were no leftovers at the end. Those who gathered little did not feel that they had gathered too little. And so he was supplying miraculously, not just the manna itself, but also the distribution of it.

Same thing is true in the body of Christ. God has supplied us with our needs. He has everything that you have is a gift from him. He has given it to you. He has ordered things so that even though if by your own effort, that has been the means by which you have acquired these things, it has only been with his blessing that you should have them.

And so that is from his grace. But then not only is that from his grace, but also him working within us to make sure that it is distributed properly so that everyone has enough. Now with the manna, that happened miraculously within each household.

Within each household, those who had gathered much didn't have any leftover. Those who had gathered little didn't have any lack. The way God works through his people is not frequently in that way, though it can be where he allows your needs to be met by little, or even if you have a lot, that it wouldn't be too much.

But many times God works through his spirit.

In his people.

So that it would be distributed. That is the point here in 2 Corinthians 8 is that God has given parts of the body different quantities of things, not so that one would have more than the other, but rather so that they would be able to help each other.

Consider God could have made it so that each person in his body had equal needs and we didn't need each other,.

Right?

Or had equal, not only equal needs, but equal possessions so that we didn't need each other. But he has made us with needs. He has made some with extra possessions and extra skills, extra ability and time in order that we can meet each other's needs.

And he would work through us to demonstrate what he is doing in a more glorious way than simply us being already at stasis. You know, there's this notion in the body of homeostasis, right? The way that the body redistributes nutrients and blood as needed in order that it would work.

If one part has enough nutrients and the other part is in need, the body will redistribute. Same thing is true in Christ's body. It's that he is working in us to accomplish that. It's a wonderful, miraculous thing the body does this.

Same is true in the body of Christ. It shows God's glory. It is a glorious thing. You know this just in your own natural experience, not in the ways that your body works automatically, but in the way that you consciously work with your body.

I used to, I only played baseball for one season, but one season I played baseball and one of the tricks I learned is when you're cold and you're sitting out there in the outfield and there's no activity going on, your hands are freezing, put your hands under your armpits, right?

Because your armpits are warm enough, your hands are not, right? You redistribute the warmth from your armpits to your hands. Same thing is true in the Christian body. God has given you ample so that you would be able to help others.

And this is the case for everyone. There's no one who is not able in some way to help others because God has given us different kinds of needs.

It's not as though there are some.

Who are unable to help in any way, okay? Even if you're a person who has many needs, you are able to help others and this is what he has called us to. And so we are to not only devote ourselves to urgent needs, what does it say in Titus 3 .14?

It says, and let our people learn to devote themselves to good works. This is something that is not natural knowledge that everyone has. It is something that needs to be learned. You need to be learning what good works are.

You need to be learning how to perform good works and you ought to be practicing these things, you know, regularly, denying yourself. Consider the surgeon, right? The surgeon is not sitting around waiting for the surgery to happen and that's when he does his deed.

Rather, he is devoting himself to medicine. He's spending all of his time studying medicine, practicing medicine in order that he can be capable. Now, what kind of doctor do you want working on you when it's your time to get surgery?

The one who's devoted himself to medicine and really learned to devote himself to medicine or the one who has not learned? In any such way. Obviously, you want the one who's learned. And so you should be learning to devote yourself to good works.

Do not think that you already know. Do not wrongly assume a knowledge that you do not have. If the command is that we must learn to devote ourselves to good works, then it is not a knowledge that is innate.

It is something you must learn. You should learn from scripture. Scripture tells you what good works are. There are many kinds of things that people think are good works that are not good works. You know, I was recalling to someone recently that I once gave a man a lot of money, a significant amount of money.

And looking back, I very much regret this because I had, at the time, thought it was a good work. And looking back, I think I was doing more harm than good and that it was not a good work. And it was because I was not prepared, because I hadn't devoted myself and learned in the way that I was supposed to learn, I ended up injuring him and myself in the process.

We are to learn also from others. You can look at more mature people in the body, see how they devote themselves to good works, and follow their example or pick up things from them. Do not think that your only learning should come from scripture.

You should be looking for examples of this. And you are to be practicing this. You are to be watching for cases where you can pitch in, where you can help. You should be looking for cases of urgent need.

And you should also be reviewing and saying, how has the Lord used me this past year, this past month, et cetera? Any kind of craft that you were to devote yourself to, you would not just learn and do, you would also review, right?

Any person who's serious about a craft also reviews the work that they have done. You should likewise, if you are learning to devote yourself to good works, review the work that God has done through you.

And you want to, one of the implications of learning is that you want to, if you are in a position to, teach others how to pursue good works. This is especially the case for leaders. Consider who the audience is here and let our people learn to devote themselves to good works.

Who is being spoken to? Titus is being spoken to. He's the one who is supposed to ensure that people are learning to devote themselves to good works. Titus is the elder of the church. He is the pastor.

I'm in a position in particular where this is my task is to ensure that you all are learning to pursue good works. You may be in a position of leadership. Perhaps it's over your home. Perhaps it's in some other situation.

Perhaps you are simply a, someone who is older and more experienced than a brother or sister. You should be teaching people good works, encouraging them in that way toward good works. And you, if you are the student who is learning good works, you should be receptive, understanding that this is part of their duty.

You know, consider that this is my duty in particular, as Titus, as a pastor, is being spoken this. I am being told this from this passage. And so if I speak to you in a particular way, I know a lot of times it's very easy to take the things I say up here and then just discount them as maybe that one doesn't apply to you.

Maybe this one does, et cetera.

Right?

But then there's a lot more room for offense if I speak to you particularly about good works that perhaps God is calling you to. There's a lot more opportunity to take offense to those things. But remember that this is what I'm called to do.

I'm called to let the people learn to devote themselves to good works. And if there be no one-on-one instruction, I may be neglecting what I've been commanded to. So be receptive when others are in a position to teach you.