Sermon Tone Analysis

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:

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

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

To Noah

To Abraham

To Jacob

To Israel

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