Have You Found Your People?

Focusing on Titust 3:12-15, last week I wrote about those who have come alongside us in our ministries, those precious few who are especially close to us on this journey, and those that we have the opportunity to fellowship with on a daily or weekly basis. I found this story, which I think illustrates well how significant it is when we find our people.

We shall remain here with our people.

In 1773, a young pastor of a poor church in Wainsgate, England, was called to a larger church in London. It's the kind of opportunity that many ministers dream of and John Fawcett had earned it through his powerful preacher and skillful writing. But as the Fawcett's wagons were being loaded with their few belongings, their people came for a tearful farewell.

During the good-byes, Mary Fawcett cried, “John, I cannot bear to leave!” “Nor can I,” he replied. “We shall remain here with our people.” The wagons were unloaded, and John Fawcett spent his entire fifty-four-year ministry in Wainsgate with his people.

Out of that experience, Fawcett wrote the hymn, “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.”

Here's the first verse:

Blest be the tie that binds

Our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship of kindred minds

Is like to that above

Verse 2 mentions prayers, fears, hopes, aims, and comforts and cares. Verse 3 mentions woes, burdens, and the sympathy we find in the body of Christ.

And then we read in verse 4:

When we asunder part,

It gives us inward pain;

But we shall still be joined in heart,

And hope to meet again.

This is how we feel when we find our people. This is how I think the Apostle Paul felt about Titus, Timothy, and others.

Have you found your people?

Have you found your people? I can tell you this, they are in the body of Christ!

In the body of Christ, we need one another because of our burdens.

Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (NASB95)

In the body of Christ, we need one another for prayer.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. (NASB95)

In the body of Christ, we need one another for encouragement.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing. (NASB95)

In the body of Christ, we need one another for acceptance.

Romans 15:7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. (NASB95)

In the body of Christ, we need one another for love.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (NASB95)

In the body of Christ, we need one another for peace.

Mark 9:50 Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another. (NASB95)

In the body of Christ, we need one another for truth.

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. (NASB95)

In the body of Christ, we need one another for comfort.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. (NASB95)

In the body of Christ, we need one another for hospitality.

1 Peter 4:9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. (NASB95)

We really do need one another!

Of course, Scripture gives us many other reasons we need one another, but from this short list its clear that we really do need one another!

Perhaps this week you could text, call, or even (and I know this is old school) write someone telling them that you are glad to be in this ministry, in this walk with Jesus together.

Or maybe you could just take them to lunch and tell them.

No matter how we do it, I think it’s important that we do it.

The Greeting - Titus 3:15

Titus 3:15 says, "All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all." (NASB95)

Paul is sending people to Titus, some to replace him and some that he is to help. He is asking Titus to come to him. But even as he makes his request, Paul is not alone. He has others with him. Those who are with him greet Titus. Paul understood the essential nature of fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ.

Beginning, building, and maintaining relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ is something we practice in the present.

Beginning, building, and maintaining these relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ is something we practice in the present even more than it is something we plan for in the future. Titus was to come to Paul at some point in the near future, but until then Paul would be practicing fellowship with those who were already with him.

We might long to have face-to-face fellowship with a brother or sister in Christ who has moved across the country, but the Lord has placed brothers and sisters in our immediate vicinity. It’s not wrong to long to fellowship with believers half a world away, but it is wrong to neglect fellowship here and now because we long for a fellowship still off in the future.

Pause for a moment and pray, who is it that’s around you in your week-to-week life or even your day-to-day life that you could fellowship with as a brother or sister in Christ?

More on Monday.

The Request - Titus 3:12

We are continuing to think about those that come alongside us in our ministries. Every believer has a ministry. The husband ministers to his wife. The father ministers to his family. Wives and mothers do the same. We all have ministries to our neighbors and fellow church members. And we all have helpers, those that encourage, and confidants who come alongside us as we fulfill these ministries.

Yesterday we looked at the names Paul includes in these last few lines to Titus. These were people who came alongside Paul to help and encourage him. Today, however, we want to notice the request that Paul makes to Titus. We see it in Titus 3:12...

Titus 3:12 When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. (NASB95)

Paul planned to spend the winter in Nicopolis, a city northwest of Crete in northwestern Greece, but Paul wants to have Titus there with him.

Although Paul had concern for all the churches and, thus, all the believers in those churches, there were some who were closer to Paul than others. Of course, Timothy, Luke, and Titus come to mind as those who seem to be closer companions of the Apostle Paul.

Here he tells Titus to come to him, and in 2 Timothy 4:11, he says that only Luke remains with him. Others had deserted him, gotten ill, or be sent on to other ministry assignments, but Luke remained. In 2 Timothy 4:21, he also tells Timothy to do his best to come to him before winter. Paul seems closer to these men.

As I said, everyone of us has a ministry and there are likely many who have come alongside us in that ministry, but there are likely a few who have been especially supportive, especially encouraging, especially helpful. These are the people that you would want close to you as endure a long winter.

Pause for a moment and pray, out of all those who have come alongside you in your ministry, who would be your few that you're especially close to?

More tomorrow.