Titus Sent to Corinth

Titus Sent to Corinth

 ¹⁶I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. ¹⁷For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. ¹⁸And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. ¹⁹What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. ²⁰We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. ²¹For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.

 ²²In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. ²³As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. ²⁴Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.

Pastor Micky shared at Sunday’s board meeting on this rather unfamiliar passage, based on Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church. After speaking at length about the importance of generosity and giving, Paul appealed to the Corinthians to contribute charitably to the poor saints in Jerusalem. Now, in these verses, Paul takes special effort to lay out the credentials of each of the three men tasked with collecting the offerings.

A brief description of their qualities are as follows:-

Titus:- had deep concern for the saints in Corinth, enthusiastic to meet them, Paul’s fellow partner and worker.

Second brother (thought to be Luke):- praised by all the churches for his service for the gospel, chosen by the churches, representative of the churches, an honor to Christ.

Third brother (thought to be Apollos):- zealous, had great confidence in Corinthian church, representative of the churches, an honor to Christ.

This message interestingly shows us a deep insight into Paul’s ministry, mainly that he was not alone. It was a shared ministry, and he did not consider himself superior in any way, just a fellow worker and brother! In whatever ministry or care group we are in, let us then like Paul, learn to encourage our fellow brothers & workers, and speak well of them to others.

God bless,

Jason