Titus 3:14

Titus 3:14 (ESV)

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

 

This verse has at least four implications. First, as believers we ought to support missionaries and gospel workers. The verse just before this instructed Titus to “speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way.” In doing that Titus was to see that they lack nothing.” In other words he was to make sure that they were fully provisioned for their travel and ministry. Then he says “let our people learn … to help.” One commentary suggested that Titus has funds available to him to help Zenas and Apollos but that Paul wanted the Cretan believers to contribute rather than dipping into Titus’s account. Whatever the case, this statement about helping is connected to sending these two men on their way with full provisions. It is the responsibility of the church to make sure that their missionaries, gospel workers, and ministers are fully funded and not hindered in their ministry by need.

 

The second implication is that believers need to learn to be helpers of the needy. Paul writes, “Let our people learn…” “Our people” is a reference to believers, not unbelievers. The truth is that unbelievers are often better at helping and quicker to respond to needs than believers are. A group sitting in a bar find out that someone in the community is struggling and before their drinks are gone they have a benefit planned. Believers hear that someone in the community is struggling and we have to think about it, pray about it, talk about it, figure out if we really should help, find a convenient time to help, decide whether it is appropriate to hold a benefit or should we just take up an offering, and finally plan a way to actually help. Paul says we need to learn to devote ourselves to good works so as to help.

 

The third implication of this verse is that believers ought to be working. We are to “devote (ourselves) to good works.” That phrase could be translated “devote yourselves to a trade.” Believers ought to be workers. We ought never to be accused of just sitting around waiting for the Lord to come. We ought never be accused of living off the good will of others. We are to take responsibility for ourselves. In Galatians 6:2 we are instructed to “bear one another’s burdens.” Yet, three verses later we are told that each one should “bear his own load.” This is a balancing act. On the one hand we need to take responsibility for our lives, work hard, and provide for our families. On the other hand, circumstances sometimes arise in which we need help. In that case we need to learn to receive graciously. It’s not easy, but that is how the church ought to function. Notice, however, that in this verse working is not for the purpose of meeting our needs, or fulfilling our wants. It is for the purpose of being ready and able to help those in need. Too often our mentality is that what we have earned belongs to us, or what we have earned after tithing to the church belongs to us. But the truth is that what we have earned is a gift from God that ought to be used for the purpose of helping others. We are to “devote (ourselves) to good works, so as to help.”

 

The fourth implication is that we must never become over-functioning in the lives of those who need help. He says that we are to “help cases of urgent need.” It is easy for those who are naturally helpers to begin to find their significance in helping. We can easily make people dependent on us, and begin to over-function in their lives. That is exactly what the welfare system has done. Rather than helping people get out of need, it has produced a generation of people who know no other life than dependence on the government. They have come to believe that they are entitled to the help they are receiving. We can see that in government systems, but we often totally blind to it in our own lives. Helping makes us feel needed. It makes us feel important. It makes us feel indispensable. It is easy for us to begin to smother people with our help, and actually hurt them by making them dependent on us, rather than helping them become independent again. So Paul writes, “help cases of urgent need.”

 

Titus 3:14 is a simple little verse with huge implications. We ought to be fully and completely supporting missionaries and gospel workers. We ought to be quick to help those in need. We ought to be working hard in order to be ready and capable of helping others. We ought never help in a way that cripples people and makes them dependent on us. Our money, our time, and our resources are not our own. They are to be used for the glory of God and the good of those in need.