Today we’re going to revisit the chapter on investments from the book Titus Ten.
The author starts out, describing a man by the name of Barnabas, who saw potential in a man named Paul.
It was Barnabas that first believed in Paul, invested in him, encouraged him, and brought him into the church. Without Barnabas speaking on his behalf, there’s no indication the church would have ever believed Paul. Says a lot about the man Barnabas and his reputation. And together they did a lot of ministry and planted many churches. And of course, Paul ends up writing a big chunk of the New Testament.
And it all started with Barnabas’s decision to make a risky investment.
So, from the very beginning of his Christian life, Paul learned from Barnabas the power of investing in others and continued doing that throughout the rest of his life and ministry. It became Paul’s spiritual DNA.
Timothy is a perfect example of the type of investment Paul made in others.
This is what he wrote to Timothy:
“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”
2 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV
So as Barnabas had invested heavily in Paul, Paul turned around and invested heavily in Timothy, and now Timothy was instructed to take that investment and invest it in others.
This is how God builds men: investments. We need people to invest in us, and then we’re called to turn around and likewise invest in others.
Titus is another man Paul invested in. He tells Titus to give specific instructions to those in the church:
“But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.”
Titus 2:1-8 ESV
Now, Paul tells Titus not only to teach these things, but he was also to model these things. He left Titus in the church at Crete, because there was a lot of dysfunction going on, and they needed someone to model for them what it looked like to be a man of God.
They needed to hear the truth declared, and they needed to see the truth worked out in real life.
Now let’s take a look at Jesus’s ministry.
The author quotes Robert Coleman’s book on discipleship:
“ it all started with Jesus calling a few men to follow him. This revealed immediately the direction his evangelistic strategy would take. His concern was not with programs to teach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow. Remarkable as it may seem, Jesus started to gather these men before he ever organized an evangelistic campaign, or even preached a sermon in public. Men were to be his method of winning the world to God”.
So Jesus' primary method was people. Jesus invested in men who would then lead other men, who would go on to lead families, churches, and communities for the glory of God.
So, people are the mission, and people are the method.
The local church and groups like Upward Men are places where relationships form and this kind of investment happens.
God’s plan for the church is to be a place where multi-generational investments are made.
We as men tend towards isolation but we must resist that, and actively seek out other men to invest in, or someone to invest in us, because isolation kills manhood. We need community.
As Solomon said:
“Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.”
Proverbs 18:1 ESV
So what can we do?
1- Find an investor
Just like new start-up companies need investors, new and young Christians need people to invest in them as well. (Discipleship) You need people who believe in you, see potential in you, affirm God’s gifting in your life, and want to invest in your future.
Don’t wait for a man to invite you into that process. You can take the initiative as well.
2- Make an investment
The things that God has invested in your heart, turn around, and invest those things into others. What has been invested in you, give it away to others.
We can’t be like a stagnant pond that only has water coming into it but does not have an outlet. The water gets stale and mossy and smelly.
And don’t think that you just don’t have much to offer. Every man has had something invested in him, and so therefore, every man has something to invest.
Don’t overcomplicate it or feel like you’re inadequate. God has invested much in you. Your responsibility is simply to take what God has invested in you and invest it into the lives of others.
God wants to use you to make an investment that will long outlive your own life.
As the author states:
“Today is the day for the man, where is the man for the day?”
“In our lives, in our church, in our workplace, and in our family, we are the man for the day, and we’re part of that next generation of faithful men, that not only influence their generation, but the generation to come. Your life matters more than you can ever imagine. Not just for this generation, but for the next one.”
“Every chapter of this book has challenged individual men to become the man God has called them to become. It has been a call to action. A call to be a faithful doer. But, if along the way, we do not become faithful investors, we will fail to leave the church with a new generation of men they so desperately need.
Our responsibility is not just to our generation, but to the generation that comes after us. May God help us to become the men God has called us to become, and intentionally raise up another generation of men to do the same.”
And to that, I say, Amen!
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