Titus 3:12  When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.
13  Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.
14  And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
15  All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.

God’s men are not angry old men who got up on the wrong side of the bed. They are bold men who are submitted to God and they seek to help others to know His peace and blessing. They function under the authority of the love of God. The world does not need wet noodles as leaders. It does not need ruthless dictators as leaders. Yet, those are the type of people the world chooses. The Antichrist will come on the scene as a problem solver. He will speak of peace but the Bible tells us he is called the “man of sin”. He will be a vile man, but the world will embrace him.
Canada has faced ten years of vile leadership by a team of individuals who hate God and despise anyone with a different view than they have. They do not want people who think for themselves. They certainly do not want people who love the Lord and seek to exalt His name. This country has signed its death warrant long ago. We are on life support and it is the longsuffering of God that is allowing this country to function at this time. God is still giving us the opportunity to preach the word in season and out of season. It is up to Godly men to walk humbly with God and make His name known in this dark time in which we live.
The apostle Paul lived in a time when the Gospel of Christ was not popular. The Judaizers were busy trying to destroy the truth. They were licensed to use violence as they saw fit. The Roman government allowed them to do what they wanted. It was God that created an environment where men like Paul and others mentioned in these verses were able to proclaim the truth to a lost people. Paul and his friends were not intimidated by the ungodly environment of their time. They were motivated by the love of God to make the name of the Lord Jesus Christ known to the people. They exemplify what the walk of faith looks like.
Artemas is an unknown person. We have no information on him. All we know is that he was obviously a trusted brother in the Lord. Tychicus is mentioned several times by the apostle Paul. He too was a trustworthy servant of the Lord. He was sent to Ephesus to further the work there.
In our text he was being sent to Crete to help with the work there so that Titus could meet the apostle Paul at Nicopolis. We do not know which Nicopolis this is. There were several places in Rome with that name.
The apostle Paul was a busy man and he sought to find help from any source God provided him with. In verse 13 we see a few more names mentioned. We have mentioned before that most lawyers cannot be trusted. There were lawyers in Jesus’ time that were part of the corrupt false religion of the Pharisees. Obviously Zenas was not one of those corrupt lawyers. He was a man who had humbled himself and trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord. Anyone can be saved. It is just that certain “professions” tend to breed a hatred for truth more than others do.
Apollos was an eloquent speaker. He was a humble servant of the Lord. Earlier he needed to be corrected in his doctrine and he was willing to receive correction. The apostle Paul was thankful for all the men who were willing to serve the Lord faithfully. It was up to others to supply their needs so they could do the work that God had called them to do.
We see in verse 14 that there was a need to encourage the local churches to be willing to give so that the evangelists could do their work. It hinders the work when a pastor or evangelist needs to do tent-making work to meet his material needs. Godly men are not deceivers. They are not looking to get rich. They are worthy servants of God who should be looked after by the saints.
We find too often that evangelists tend to take a compromised approach to their calling and they do not exercise good discernment as to where they get their support. Evangelists need to walk by faith and trust God to meet their needs through churches that will hold to the Word of God. A man who seeks support from compromised churches will be a compromiser himself. That kind of man is not needed at home, nor on the foreign field.
Titus was given clear instructions of the needs that were in Crete. It would require good men to meet those needs. They would need the support of others to be able to meet those necessary needs. Their labours needed to be fruitful. Those who gave also needed to be sure their gifts were used effectively. As we have mentioned before, pastors and evangelists are not called to live a life of ease. They are called to labour in the Word. That is an important task that only certain men can do effectively. Those who are involved in that work need to be called of God and if they are they need to remain faithful to Him in all things.
In verse 15 we see the unity among the saints. The work of God cannot go forward when there is distrust among those who are called to labour in the work. Biblical unity comes when God’s people walk humbly with Him. There needs to be a submission to sound doctrine.
We see that there is a love for those who are of the same faith. That is important. We do not need many men with us, but we need men who are in the faith. Paul had a few such men. They were able to do a great work in the first century because they trusted in the Lord and were bold in His service. That is what is needed today as well.
Again we see the importance of having God’s grace with us. That grace is that help that we need in time of need. We need that help to encourage us and to strengthen us in the work. The challenges are great but never greater than we can handle with the Lord as our Shepherd.
The final word here is Amen. The Greek word so translated means “trustworthy and firm.” God’s Word is trustworthy. God will never let His child down. God’s Word is also firm. It is not open to human manipulation. It is established and those who walk by faith can know they are going the right way even if others do not want to follow. As we have noted, there will be a few who will follow. That is all we need. God wants all to be saved, but we know that Jesus chose twelve disciples of which one was a devil. He later replaced Judas with the apostle Paul. Those twelve men were very effective in the work that Jesus chose them for. Jesus had many other disciples in John 6 but as He taught them the truth they left Him and He was left with the twelve. Those few were of great importance. The work of God is not accomplished by human effort. It is accomplished by the work of the Holy Ghost in the life of the lost as the servant of the Lord faithfully preaches and teaches the infallible Word of God.
John the Baptist understood that “He must increase and I must decrease.” It is Jesus Christ that needs to be made known. He is the Saviour of mankind.
Pastor Bartel