Paul's Go to Guy

“To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior” (v4).

Who’s your “go to” guy? Who’s your “get it done” girl? Who’s that one person God has placed in your life that you can trust with something important and never have to worry about it? The Apostle Paul has a small team of folks he turns to for the toughest assignments. Titus is one them. The man from Tarsus addresses these instructions to the Big T. He considers Titus to be his spiritual son. The apostle also wants him to know that he doesn’t just have Paul’s support, but the grace and peace of the Father and Son for this job.

Paul has sent Titus to Crete for a very important and very specific assignment. The Good News of Jesus has impacted the island in a big way. There are believers. There are churches. But they are at a critical point. A make or break point. They need leadership. Someone needs to stuff a sock in the false teachers. They need some sort of a sustainable structure for discipleship. This is Titus’ “to do” list. He’s there for a short but intense period of time. Reinforcements are on the way. Artemas or Tychicus will be there soon (Titus 3:12). At that point, Titus will pack up and head to Nicopolis to join his mentor. It’s clear Paul has picked the perfect person for the job.

Just who is Titus? What’s the 411 on the Big T? While Dr. Luke doesn’t mention him by name in Acts, Titus apparently became a follower of the Jewish Messiah during Paul’s first missionary expedition. That in itself is a VERY big deal. There was massive racial tension and prejudice between Jews and Gentiles in the Greco-Roman world. Titus is evidence of Jesus working to reach out to non-Jews around the Mediterranean rim. He returned with Paul back to Antioch in Syria after the first tour of Asia Minor. Paul and Barnabas take Titus to the home office in Jerusalem to show church leaders what God is up to among Gentiles (Gal 2:1-2). There is a HUGE controversy among Jewish Christians about these new Gentile believers. Some insisted they become Jews before they could follow Jesus. That included being circumcised. The former Pharisee argued that they should not. Church leaders agree with Paul. “But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek” (Gal 2:3). 

Long before his Cretan assignment, Paul put Titus in the hornet’s nest of the Corinthian church. The apostle drops his name nine times in 2nd Corinthians. The Big T is such a huge part of Paul’s life and ministry that he went looking for him when he wasn’t in the seaport Troas. “When I came to Troas to preach the Gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I could not fin my brother Titus there. So I too leave or them and went on to Macedonia” (2Cor 2:12-13). Eventually, God uses Titus as a huge encouragement to the apostle and his crew when they were reunited in Macedonia. “For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you” (2Cor 7:5-7). Never underestimate the power of godly encouragement. Even the great apostle needed a reminder of who Jesus is from time to time. 

Titus is the key to collecting the offering from the folks in Corinth for the starving believers of the church in Jerusalem. “Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace” (2Cor 8:6). The Big T is clearly a closer. He’s going to make sure the job gets done. So when the situation on the island of Crete needed attention, Paul knew exactly who could get the ball across the goal line. Yup, we’re talking Titus.

Because God implanted the very same care and concern for Corinthian Christians in Titus that his mentor had, he hightailed it to see them without ever being told. “But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. For he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going to you of his own accord” (2Cor 8:16-17). Paul considers him to be a critical member of his team, if not his righthand man. “As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit” (2Cor 8:23). And the apostle knows that when his buddy rolls into Corinth, he’s looking to give not to get. “Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?” (2Cor 12:18).

Just before Paul’s execution, the apostle tells Timothy that Titus is on assignment in Dalmatia (2Tim 4:10). This is a coastal region in the modern day nation of Croatia. With own death just around the corner, the apostle had the utmost confidence in what Jesus would do through his spiritual son Titus. The Bible tells us that the Big T hit the road for three huge deployments. Corinth. Crete. Dalmatia. He’s Paul’s “go to” guy.