Be Fruitful
The Church: Standards and Leadership • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 43:30
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Be Fruitful
Be Fruitful
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We started the book of Titus back on January 9th of this year. And we’ve been working through it, bit by bit. As we walk away from this letter, we should remember the reason why Paul wrote the book of Titus: which is to move the church toward godliness and good works. To move the church toward godliness and good works.
I believe the end of this book highlights that instruction. Titus and those working with Paul are carrying out the work of the church in love and in full support. And Titus is to help guide the church to do the same.
But what happens if you do good works? What does it look like? What is the end result?
Well, let me answer that question by asking you: What happens when you plant an apple tree, and you water it, and you give it good sunlight, and you take care of it throughout its various seasons- it grows leaves, then flowers, then enters into August or September ... What should happen? It should bear fruit, right?
Okay, let me ask you this question: What happens when you plant a seed in the ground, and the plant grows up and is tended and cared for, and the flowers come and are pollinated, and it continues to get water and the nutrients it needs? It should bear fruit, yes?
Alright, just one more. Say you’re trying to grow a tomato plant at home, and you’ve planted the vine and you kept it safe from the cold and from hail, and you have allowed it to grow, it should produce what? Tomatoes! Fruit!
Well just like these plants, if the Christian is planted well and he or she has sufficient factors in their environment to grow developmentally, and they offer themselves to the Lord, He will yield increase and the result- fruit.
And so, if the church is living in godliness and good works, we should arrive at fruit. And that’s exactly what we see here at the end of Titus. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Titus chapter 3 verses 12 and following. Titus chapter 3 verse 12.
In this section, Paul is sending his final greetings. It was customary of that time to conclude letters in this way, since you don’t have the internet or phones to reach people long distances. Rather greetings and instructions were all grouped together. But intermixed in these final greetings are examples of what a life transformed by the gospel of Christ looks like: what the fruit of the gospel of Christ is. These verses set an example for us as believers to follow and encourage us toward good works of our own. So without further ado, let us read and jump headfirst into God’s word:
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.
So let’s just walk through these verses for a little bit.
Paul writes in verse 12- “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.
Artemas and Tychicus are two persons Paul has trained up to send on his behalf. They’re trusted individuals who Paul believes will help further the work of the gospel. Notice how Paul delegates his work and doesn’t try to do everything himself, but trains up others to take on the work of the ministry.
“Do your best to come to me at Nicopolis”
For all you visual learners out there, I found a helpful map that shows where Nicopolis is at.
So here is the region of the Mediterranean. You can see Crete there as the island in the middle … that’s where Titus is at. Rome is in the top left of this map, in Italy. And Nicopolis is in Greece, a little ways North and West of Crete. So Titus wouldn’t have had very far to travel to get to Paul if he was staying there for the winter.
And in the ancient world, it wasn’t safe to travel during winter time … that’s when the storms would pick up, and if you just have a wooden boat instead of a modern transport ship, the odds are your boat might just break apart. So it was best to finish traveling before winter.
Paul has further work for Titus to do after he’s done his part in Crete. And as we’ll see in 2 Timothy, he’s later reassigned to the church in Ephesus, which is in Asia Minor. It’s also on this Map. And Tychicus, who is also mentioned, is sent to Miletus, which is close to Ephesus.
Then Paul writes “Do your best to speed Zenas the Lawyer and Apollos on their way”
We don’t have any other mentions of Zenas the lawyer in scripture, but it seems that Paul recognized him as a person who could present and defend the gospel clearly. Lawyers were usually good at talking and presenting logical arguments, so perhaps Zenas was more of a passing preacher, as compared to the close pastoral work that Titus may have been doing. The Apollos here is also mentioned elsewhere in scripture. We know that he was a good teacher, as there were those who loved to listen to his preaching. Rather than seeing these individuals as rivals, the Apostle Paul sees them as part of the church universal, and partners with them. So he writes to Titus letting him know who is to be trusted and how the local church in Crete can partner with others for the sake of God’s kingdom.
This last point is particularly emphasized in Paul’s words: “See that they lack nothing.” It was quite difficult to travel back in those days, especially when going to a place where you might not know anyone. Christians were known for their hospitality in the early centuries, welcoming travelers into their homes and hosting them with all generosity. For Zenas and Apollos, even though they might be strangers at first, they are also fellow Christians and should be greeted with all the warmth and love that God has for his people.
Then Paul writes: “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works so as to help the cases of urgent need and not prove unfruitful.”
This is probably the most specific command to Titus for the church in Crete, and it’s the one we’ll focus in on today. This is the final takeaway, the whole argument that Paul has been presenting in this book, summed up in one sentence: “Let our people devote themselves to good works”. The church is to live out godly lives as those who have been transformed by the gospel. Their resources are to be spent wisely - helping the cases of urgent need. And their good works will result in spiritual fruit. We’ll return to this point in a little bit.
But first let’s take a brief look at Paul’s final words: “All who are with me send greetings to you.” So Paul is not alone at this point in his journey. He has a group of others with him. Perhaps he’s sending greetings from those who are traveling with him, who are also learning. Perhaps he’s spending time at a church, and the believers there are sending greetings and well-wishings in the Lord. Whatever the case, what is clearly expressed is the love believers have for one another. This love is extended toward those who “love us in the faith”. Believers share a particular kind of love for one another above and beyond what others in the world express. They are one in the bond of love, in the gospel of Christ, in the struggle of life and in the work of the ministry.
Paul reminds them of the thing that binds them together when he says “Grace be with you all.” At the root of Christian love and goodness is God’s transforming work in and through the person of Christ. It’s God’s forbearance with us that even though we are sinful, God helps us learn how to live godly lives in this present age.
And so these verses are a display of Christian love in the work of the ministry.
But there’s one key word that I want to highlight for us today, and that word is “fruitful”
Fruitful
Fruitful
Paul’s use is a warning against unfruitfulness. But sometimes we can see the encouragement toward something by contrasting it with the warnings against another thing. And so Paul’s impetus, the driving point behind his argument, is toward fruitfulness. The church is to carry out good works so that they prove to be fruitful before the Lord.
So what is fruitfulness? What does it mean to be fruitful?
Well, there’s a lot from the Bible that we can learn about fruitfulness.
Fruitfulness isn’t just something that’s been on God’s mind only for the early church, or for you and me. It’s been on his mind throughout all of human history. Let’s take a brief look at God’s plan for mankind and fruitfulness throughout scripture.
To Adam and Eve
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
To Noah
And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.”
To Abraham
I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.
To Jacob
And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.
To Israel
I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you.
In the Old Testament, this fruitfulness was a future promise of things yet to come. But this all comes to a head upon the arrival of Jesus
Jesus
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Jesus is the one who died, but whose seed was planted and who sprung up to vibrant life, bearing more fruit. So through Jesus the fruitfulness of God’s kingdom is realized. Through Jesus, the instructions given to Adam, the promise to Abraham and Jacob, the words spoken to Israel through the prophets and from God, are fully realized. The fruit are those of the earth who are gathered together for God’s kingdom. And not only is the fruit the people who are saved, but the good works accompanying those people.
In the Apostles
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
In the Church
so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
The church is to carry forth completing every good work so that what? We may bear fruit.
Remember Jesus’ teaching?
“You shall know a tree by its fruit.” By this one is proven to be a disciple of Jesus. One day your life will be set before the Lord, and he will inspect what kind of plant you are. If he has granted you good soil, plenty of water, the opportunity to dig deep roots and you have rejected all that he has set before you and you do not produce fruit, then the Lord has every right to throw you away because you did not fulfill his command to mankind to be fruitful.
But if you have come to know Christ, then your roots are drawn to the wells of living water, and you begin to naturally produce good works that are the result of spending time with the Lord and of a transformed life … then you show signs of salvation, of God’s mighty hand at work, and you are welcomed into the eternal kingdom.
So it’s the gospel that is at the center of this transformation. This is what Paul wrote about at the beginning of Titus chapter 3. It’s what he hinted at in chapter 2. It’s been layered into this whole entire book: that spending time under God’s word and in his gospel will move you toward godliness and good works, which are the fruit of the Christian life.
So what then is the command for us?
Be Fruitful
Be Fruitful
Be fruitful here and now. Be fruitful here and now
How do we get to a place where we can bear fruit?
I have five specific applications for us.
Application:
Be Fruitful By ...
Be Fruitful By ...
1. Abiding in Christ
1. Abiding in Christ
Abiding in Christ. Remember Jesus’ words?
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Our first and foremost task is the same great commandment that God has given all along: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
How do we express our love toward God? Jesus says
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
If we love God with everything that we have, then we will live according to what he has commanded. And how do we know what he has commanded? Through his word. By spending time reading and reflecting and reciting and memorizing and sitting at Jesus’ feet so that we can know God’s word and his instructions to us and that we can live by them.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Our roots must reach toward the things of God. The well of all fruitfulness is God himself. If your roots reach toward things of this world they are reaching toward a dry and parched land.
If you want to meditate more on following the word of God, I highly recommend working through Psalm 119. It’s the longest Psalm in the Bible, and every verse has to do with keeping and treasuring God’s word and living according to God’s ways. Psalm 119 has much value for the life of the believer, and can help strengthen you in your faith.
So in order to bear fruit, we must first abide in Christ. We must sit at his feet and learn from his ways. Then and only then will we have enough energy to produce fruit.
Secondly, we are to bear fruit by looking for opportunities to serve.
2. Looking for Opportunities to Serve
2. Looking for Opportunities to Serve
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.
Paul, Artemas, Tychicus, Titus … all of these men are examples of those who used their gifts and abilities for the sake of the Lord.
So are you?
Are you using your gifts and abilities to contribute to the Body of Christ? The Church?
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
All in the church have a particular purpose and reason to be here. No part of the body can function without the others.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
If all were a single member, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
The foot should recognize that it is a foot, and be happy living as it was made to live. So should the ear. Each part in the church has its own individual role to play. And there’s a point at which each of us needs to recognize our own spiritual gifting from the Lord and know how to contribute to the overall health of the body.
So we can bear fruit by finding opportunities to serve. Thirdly, we can bear fruit by
3. Working Together
3. Working Together
And this point ties in closely with the last one. There’s just one slightly different nuance. Our last point was about recognizing our own individual ability to contribute to the body of Christ. It is one thing to recognize that you have a gift and to exercise it, but an altogether different matter to learn how to work as a team and not an individual. So this point is about working together to yield fruit. Paul continues discussing the body of Christ:
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,
that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
All of the parts of the body of Christ are indispensible. They are all equitable in the requirement for function. It may look like greater honor is given to some, such as leaders, but if the body is functioning well that honor is bestowed upon all who are contributing. One’s life is to be interwoven in such a way as to be indispensible without the other believers in the church.
So let me ask you: Are we all contributing to the health and life of each other? Are we leaning into each other, sharing in life with one another, or do we live separate lives? Is the church a home where we are sharing life on life, or just a weekly meeting place where we gather once or twice a week and then depart to live alone? How closely are we tied together and acting as one, as compared to acting as individuals? When the church works together and supports each other, the body acts as a whole and things are able to get done. But if the foot sits alone, what use is it? If the ear is sitting off to the side and disconnected from the rest of the body, how is the church supposed to hear? Because we are all needed and necessary in the life of the church, one person cannot do it all. This is why a pastor cannot do everything for a church. A board member cannot do everything for the church. Or a deacon, or an elder, or a children’s teacher. But all who are in Christ are gifted with spiritual things. So let us exercise those gifts, which lead us into good works, so that we may prove our fruitfulness before the Lord when he comes to inspect the work that we are doing here. This truth is recognized in Paul’s words here:
Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing.
The church should act together as one body. Whenever believers are gathered, they are to be supported, encouraged, renewed, strengthened. It should be the Christ in me greeting the Christ in you. If we are the physical representation of Christ on earth, are we carrying that forward to others with how we treat one another?
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So not only will God see your outward fruit when you work together as one body, but those who are not believers will see fruit in your life because of the love which stems from the gospel of Christ.
So produce fruit by learning how to work together. Learn how to work together as one body.
Fourthly, be fruitful by being good stewards. By being good stewards.
4. Being Good Stewards
4. Being Good Stewards
And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.
So as to help the cases of urgent need. There’s a prioritizing of needs verses wants. There’s management involved. We must be faithful stewards with what God has entrusted us with.
Remember the parable of the men with the money that was entrusted to them by the master? The master gave each man money and went away. When he returned, he checked to see what each man did with the money … whether they produced more and yielded increase. The one who buried his coin in the ground and did not set out to use it was chastised by the master once he returned.
So when our life is required before the Lord, or when he returns to us … what will he see? Will he find us being good stewards of the resources that we have? Of our time, our energy, our wisdom, our spiritual gifts? Or will he find us asleep at the wheel? A barren tree that is barren because it has not allocated its resources well?
Good management, good stewardship, over what God has given us will help us produce good fruit. When God comes to inspect our tree, he will see the effort of management or lack of effort in management, and award works according to the job done. Let our church strive to show good fruit before the Lord by how we manage our time and our resources given to us.
Fifthly, be fruitful by living for the eternal treasure. By
5. Living for the Eternal Treasure
5. Living for the Eternal Treasure
Remember the beginning of the letter: Paul is writing this because of the hope that you have in eternity
in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
It might be one thing to look only for fruit here in this life. But sometimes our fruit isn’t here in this life. Think of the prophets in Israel. They were holy before God, they dedicated everything. They went out of their way to proclaim God’s truth! But they were in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. And few, if any, turned to believe in God. Do you think that the prophets had no fruit simply because they didn’t see the numbers as a result of their ministry?
No. Rather than seeing the fruit here in this life, the fruit of the prophets is stored up in heaven and is seen before the Lord. Their fruit reached beyond their lifetimes, showing the necessity of Christ and working as encouragement for the church.
So remember that our hope is not set here on earth, but in heaven. And it is to the Lord that we seek to present the fruit of our ministry, rather than to other humans.
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
If we are working solely to be fruitful to impress one another, or to be better than another church or to be just as good as them, what use is it? That’s a trivial thing that doesn’t have good standing in the long run. But what does matter? That your heart is set on eternity. On being with the Lord forever. And because of that, you are working to please the Lord and strengthen your kinship with him.
You have the kingdom which is to come. Why should things here presently be your satisfaction? Why should you only look for the fruit of your faith here and now?
It is like the child who sits and plays in a puddle, when just on the other side of the hill next to him lies the entirety of the ocean. The child is missing out on one of the greatest things in the world because it is content to sit and make mudpies.
Let us not settle down and find contentment with the things here and now when God’s plan, his vision, is greater beyond anything we can imagine.
It is the hope of heaven that drives us further toward good works
because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,
which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth,
When we understand God’s grace in his gospel toward us, we are propelled toward good works and we can rest and abide in his peace.
All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.
These are the words of a man who has learned to live and abide in God’s peace. Because of God’s grace, he is able to go and carry forth good works for the sake of God’s kingdom. And he is not alone in his mission, but is accompanied by the entirety of God’s people: the church.
So let us go forth and do the same. Let us bear fruit for the sake of God’s kingdom. Let us fulfill the commission God gave to mankind at the very beginning: to be fruitful and multiply. Let us be faithful to carry on the mission that has been handed down to us throughout all of human history, by those many who have come before. And let us continue to bear fruit so that more may continue to do so until the return of Christ. Be fruitful, church, be fruitful.
Let us pray.