Me Third

“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness” (Titus 1:1).

Great servant leaders realize they can’t do it alone. They understand the importance training others and eventually handing off the work to someone else. They understand they serve those in authority by serving those they shepherd. In the opening lines of his letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul gives us a classic picture of “Me Third” leadership. “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness” (v1). He’s serving God as Jesus’ official representative. The Godhead sends him to serve Jesus’ followers and build up their trust in Him. The apostle doesn’t want to be number one. He’s not looking to be ranked second. His rightful place in the polls is third. 

And now the apostle has handed off the very important project on Crete to his boy Titus. We’ll dig a little deeper into Titus’ bio and his relationship with the apostle down in verse four. At this point, just know Paul understands that he’s not only serving His Savior, the Christ followers of Crete, but also his handpicked replacement for this critical mission. It’s not about Paul. Not even close. This is about making Jesus famous on this Mediterranean island. This is about growing the faith of His followers there. This is about allowing a young gun named Titus to spread his wings as a leader. Yeah, this is NOT about Paul.

A few years back, you never would have never dreamed this kind of servant leadership from Paul. Back then everyone knew him as Saul, one of the rising stars in the Jewish faith. I mean the dude was Hebrew hot stuff (Phil 3:5-6). He was born and raised in Tarsus (Acts 22:3), a town on the southeastern coast of modern day Turkey. He eventually went off to school and studied under greatest rabbis of the day, the great Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). The young stud completely flips out when Jesus and His followers challenge much of what he believes. Saul becomes so passionate about wiping the Way off the face of the planet that he runs the coat check table at Stephen’s stoning (Acts 7:58-60). Before you know it, he begs Jewish leaders to let him go a search-and-destroy mission for the folks who actually believe the Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee is the Messiah (Acts 8:1-3). As a one-man wrecking crew, Saul doesn’t just arrest Jesus’ followers. He hunts them down and murders them (Acts 22:4). 

That all changed on one of his patented black ops missions to Damascus to rub out another pesky rebel cell. The resurrected Jesus personally blindsides Saul. He simultaneously blinds the man from Tarsus and opens his eyes to the truth of who He is (Acts 9:1-9). Christ turns Saul’s life upside down. He goes from murderer to missionary. Jesus transforms this assassin to an apostle. Just in case you think Jesus can’t turn a life around, remember what He did with Saul. When Christ gets His mighty mitts on you, anything is possible. He specializes in selecting rejects and using them in ridiculous ways (1Cor 1:27-29). He did it with Paul. He can do it with you. 

Paul describes himself as “a servant of God” (v1). In other words, he plays the God card in a very humble way. He doesn’t puff out his chest and say he’s a vice president with the company or some sort of big shot. Nope. He’s a servant. Just in case you’re unclear on just exactly what comes with that position, it does NOT include a corner office, a key to the executive wash room, and private elevator. On the other hand, Paul lets us know that he’s working for the Ultimate Authority. He may only be a servant, but he comes with some serious cred. 

The former Pharisee is also “an apostle of Jesus Christ” (v1). So just what is an apostle? This title has kind of lost its original meaning over the centuries. One reason is that we don’t exactly run into apostles at Starbucks these days. Back in the first century, this word “apostle” (Gr. apostolos) described anyone who was a handpicked delegate serving as a someone’s official representative. In other words, the person doing the sending gives them the same power and authority of the sender. So when the Apostle Paul speaks or writes, his words carry the same oomph as our Savior. He starts a lot of his letters by letting folks know he’s writing as the Lord’s official rep (Rom 1:1; 2Cor 1:1; Gal 1:1; Eph 1:1; Col 1:1; 1Tim 1:1; 2Tim 1:1). And he does it again here. Yeah, so being one of Jesus’ apostles is a pretty big deal. 

While there are no longer any living capital “A” apostles, every follower of Jesus is His official representative. Just as His Heavenly Dad sent Him into our world on the greatest rescue mission the universe has ever seen, He sends you and me. He sends us with His gracious invitation to be part of His kingdom. He sends us with the message of forgiveness and grace found only in Christ. You and I may not be apostles, but He personally sends us out into the world as shiners of His light and spreaders of His salt. 

Paul says God has given him this specific assignment “for the sake of the faith of God’s elect” (v1). In other words, the Lord is using Him to build up the trust of those who have placed their trust in Jesus. On this side of eternity, our faith is going to struggle at times. Like the dad who went running to Jesus to heal his boy, we both believe but desperately need help with our unbelief (Mk 9:23-24). The apostle’s role is to help folks grow their faith in God. Like Hans and Franz, he’s here to pump…you up! Who are those people God has placed in your life to pump up your faith in Jesus? Maybe Christ has put you in a position to build up the trust of others. Never miss a chance to point folks to who Jesus is and what He’s done. As we’ll read a little bit later, faith not backed up by action is dead as a doornail. 

We build up the faith of others by helping them with “their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness” (v1). By truth, Paul means Jesus. Christ Himself had the audacity to claim He is the personal embodiment of “the Truth” (Jn 14:6). Not just A truth. But THE Truth. So just what is the truth about the Truth? Jesus lived the perfect life we failed to live. He died the death for our disobedience and sin we should have died. He rose to a spectacular new life we don’t deserve. In other words, Jesus did for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. 

The truth of Jesus and His Gospel changes everything. It “accords with godliness” (v1). Godliness stands out. The more we trust and obey our Lord, the more we stand out from culture. Do you do what Jesus tells you to do? Does your life of obedience to Christ contrast with the world around you? Do you handle money differently than others? Do you love your family differently from others? Do you work at your job differently than your coworkers? Do you interact with your neighbors differently than the rest of the people on your cul-de-sac? If you’re trying to remember His instructions, they’re pretty simple. Love God. Love others. According to Jesus, that’s the perfect way of obeying everything in the Old Testament (Mt 22:35-40).

We see here that Paul’s bottom line has nothing to do with Paul It’s about serving god. It’s about being sent by Jesus. It’s about building up God’s people. It’s “Me Third.” In college sports, everybody is working their tails off to get to the top spot in the polls. Not Paul. He’s fine finishing third. And in God’s rankings, that’s last. God first. Others second. Me third.