Sermon Tone Analysis

By Pastor Glenn Pease

Somebody has to do the dirty work in life, and so all leaders need men who

are trouble shooters.

George Washington needed one when Benedict Arnold betrayed the colonies and escaped to the British forces.

Washington was angry and was determined to get him back.

He choose Sargent Major John Champe for the secret and sensitive mission of deserting to the British and kidnapping Arnold.

Only Washington and Colonel Lighthouse Harry knew of the plot.

On Oct. 19, 1780 Champe deserted his company and fled.

It was very risky in that he could have been shot by his own men.

The British accepted him and put him in the Loyalist Legion made up of other Americans who chose to be loyal to England in the war.

Benedict Arnold was its leader.

Everything seemed to be going smooth until the Loyalist Legion was ordered into battle in Virginia.

Champe was from Virginia and he refused to fight his own people, and so he deserted again.

Now he was a hunted man by both sides.

He eventually got back to Washington's headquarters and explained the whole mess.

Washington had no choice but to send him, his wife, and his four children to a hideout in the wilderness.

When the war ended it was still not safe for him to return, for he was considered a traitor by both sides, and could easily have been murdered.

He was moved to Kentucky, and it was not until long after his death that congress in 1847 voted Champe a promotion for, "One of the most courageous acts of the American Revolution."

As Champe was a champion who got little credit, so Titus was a Titan, that is a giant of the faith, in the revolutionary march of Christianity in the first century.

Titus was a trouble shooter in the war to prevent traitors from dividing the forces of the church, and weakening their ability to win the world out of darkness into light.

Like Champe, he does not get much recognition because his courageous acts of service are somewhat suppressed in the New Testament record.

In spite of the fact that he was one of Paul's greatest friends and travelling companions, and in spite of the fact that he is the most successful trouble shooter in the New Testament, he is not even once referred to in the book of Acts.

Some are convinced that Titus was Luke's brother, and family modesty kept Luke from recording the acts of his own brother.

This, of course, is merely a theory.

Had he not played a major role in solving the problems of the church of Corinth we would hardly know who he was at all.

The church at Corinth was in great distress.

There was strong division and harsh criticism against Paul.

The situation called for a trouble shooter with gifts of wisdom and tact.

It was a delicate mission and Paul chose his friend Titus to tackle the job.

He had earlier sent Timothy, but he was young and lacked experience, so he next chose Titus.

He sent him with his first letter to the Corinthians, and he was able to calm the troubled waters and bring back to Paul a good report.

Paul wrote II Cor. and sent Titus back with it.

In that letter we learn most everything we know about Titus.

Paul refers to him 8 times in that letter.

Here is an example from II Cor.

2:12-13.

"When I came to Troas to preach the Gospel of Christ a door was opened for me in the Lord; but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there.

So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia."

No where do we find the Apostle Paul so troubled and restless that he cannot stand still and preach the Gospel.

He had to hear from Titus, and until he did he could not concentrate on his ministry.

This is the only record we have of Paul failing to go through an open door.

When he got to Macedonia he received one of the greatest blessings he ever recorded, for Titus was there, and he had good news that was desperately needed.

We read in II Cor.

4:5-6, "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."

His coming was a great comfort because he had succeeded in getting the Corinthians to repent and change their attitudes, and become friendly with Paul again.

Titus had been a successful trouble shooter, for that was his gift to be a peacemaker.

The Speaker's Bible says of him, "He was much more a man of affairs than Timothy was.

He settled many a quarrel, allayed many a trouble, averted many a split.

He was the conciliator and peacemaker of the early church."

He was able to do what others could not because it was his gift to be a trouble shooter.

If everyone could do it there would be no need for those who are gifted trouble shooter.

Paul wrote II Cor. in response to this good report, and it is as positive as I Cor. is negative.

Paul was so comforted by the coming of Titus that it has become a part of the language of comfort.

James Smetham wrote to a friend to thank him for the letter he received which came at a time when he was depressed and in it he wrote, "Glad to get your friendly letter.

It was like the coming of Titus.

I think providence in these days often sends Titus by mail."

George Ensor, the first English missionary to Japan said he baptized his first convert and gave him the name Titus.

He said, "For God who comforts the downcast comforted me by the coming of Titus."

It was discouraging work, and, like Paul, he was down, but then all was changed by the coming of this friend.

Oh, gift of God, my friend!

Who face has brought the Eternal nigh.

No sermon like thy life doth tend

To turn my gaze toward the sky.

All of us need the ministry and comfort of Titus.

We need that friend who will come into our darkness with light.

We need good news when all we hear is bad news, and that things seem to be getting worse.

What a blessing to have the downward trend reversed, and hear that God is at work, and the good does triumph over the evil.

May God grant us all the comfort of the coming of Titus, and may we all strive to be a Titus in bringing to others the good news of life's joyful realities.

Being a trouble shooter is not one of the gifts listed in the New Testament, but it is nevertheless a gift, and a needed one, for trouble is inevitable in a fallen world, and there is no such thing as working with people without trouble.

Since the church is people oriented, there can be escape from trouble, and so the trouble shooter is a vital person in the army of the Lord.

No where was this true than on the island of Crete.

It was the largest island in the Mediterranean.

It was 250 miles long and 50 miles wide.

It was a big place to work, but it was as bad as it was big.

It was not the kind of place a seminary student would want to take for his first church.

Most veterans would even do anything to avoid getting assigned to such a place.

Paul had a lot of confidence in Titus to leave him there.

He was the only one who could handle the job like this.

There were Jews from Crete at Pentecost and they carried the Gospel back home, and that is likely how the church got started on this great island.

The seed was sown and it was growing, but the weeds were thick.

Paul visited the island and was impressed with the depravity of the people.

In verse 12 he quotes one of their own poets named Epimenides who lived in 600B.C.

He said of the Cretans that they are, "Always liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons."

They were obviously something less than the creme of the crop.

That was 600 years back from Paul's time and you would think there would be some progress, but in the next verse Paul says this testimony is true.

Things have not changed at all, for they are a crude crowd held in contempt by all people.

Imagine going to a people with such a rotten reputation.

Nobody but a tough-minded trouble shooter would have any business trying to organize a church in such a place.

Titus did it, and the churches there to this day honor the name of Titus by naming their churches after him.

He was buried in Crete for centuries before the Venetians carried his body away.

The life an labors of Titus make it clear that the road may be rough, and the circumstances intolerable, and the odds overwhelmingly against you.

But it is still possible to plant and grow the church of Christ in the worse possible settings.

No place is hopeless if you have the right personal.

In 1850 as many as 30 thousand children were abandoned in New York City.

Their immigrant parents died on the trip to America, or shortly after arriving.

These children had no family or relatives, and nowhere to go.

They lived in the streets and ate out of the garbage cans.

It was a terrible problem and all people could do is say that it was a shame.

But then Charles L. Brace a 26 year old pastor with the gift for trouble shooting got concerned.

He started what came to be known as the orphan train.