God will show us people he wants us to come alongside and share what he has given to us, teaching them what we have learned, walking with them until they can walk with God as they mentor another.  Mentorship is the act of passing on to others wanting to know and learn what you know.  We need mentors in our lives to grow in our faith.  We also must mentor people who God puts in our lives so they can grow in their faith. 

Mentorship is one of the ways we obey what Jesus commanded; “Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

Mentorship is an act of service to God, in Jesus Name, for His glory.  Mentorship is a way of life for the believer who passionately wants others to know and follow Jesus who is the Way, Truth and Life.  Jesus was the Perfect Example of mentorship when he taught his rag-tag students from all walks of life in authentic, humble, servant way of living and leading others to Him, passing on what they know to others in His Name. 

Paul, “Christ’s agent”, picks up the pace of promoting the faith along with the other disciples as they develop groups of believers who mentor each other according to Jesus’ directions; “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”—Jesus, Acts 1:8 

The Good News of salvation for all who believe spreads like a wild fire!  The work of the church is going up against the enemy, who doesn’t like this attention drawn away from what he began centuries earlier—drawing people away from God completely to go their own ways.  So, troubles come, inside and outside the church, as Jesus predicted.  Paul to the Gentiles and Peter basically to the Jews are led of the Holy Spirit to mentor leaders based on what God wants—humbled holiness—in believing and in living.

Paul is passing on this holy information to the next generation who are called of God to lead the “church”—the Body of Christ with Jesus as the Head of the Church.  While Timothy was laboring in metropolitan Ephesus, Titus had his hands full on the island of Crete. Titus was a Greek believer who had served Paul well on special assignments to the church in Corinth. Apparently, Titus had been won to Christ through Paul’s personal ministry (Titus 1:4) as Timothy had been (1 Tim. 1:2). “As for Titus,” Paul wrote, “he is my partner and fellow worker among you” (2 Cor. 8:23).

We will learn more mentoring traits as we read Paul’s letter to Titus…

TITUS—CONTINUED MENTORSHIP

Titus 1, The Message

^1-4 I, Paul, am God’s slave and Christ’s agent for promoting the faith among God’s chosen people, getting out the accurate word on God and how to respond rightly to it. My aim is to raise hopes by pointing the way to life without end. This is the life God promised long ago—and he doesn’t break promises! And then when the time was ripe, he went public with his truth. I’ve been entrusted to proclaim this Message by order of our Savior, God himself. Dear Titus, legitimate son in the faith: Receive everything God our Father and Jesus our Savior give you!

A Good Grip on the Message

^5-9 I left you in charge in Crete so you could complete what I left half-done. Appoint leaders in every town according to my instructions. As you select them, ask, “Is this man well-thought-of? Is he committed to his wife? Are his children believers? Do they respect him and stay out of trouble?” It’s important that a church leader, responsible for the affairs in God’s house, be looked up to—not pushy, not short-tempered, not a drunk, not a bully, not money-hungry. He must welcome people, be helpful, wise, fair, reverent, have a good grip on himself, and have a good grip on the Message, knowing how to use the truth to either spur people on in knowledge or stop them in their tracks if they oppose it.

^10-16 For there are a lot of rebels out there, full of loose, confusing, and deceiving talk. Those who were brought up religious and ought to know better are the worst. They’ve got to be shut up. They’re disrupting entire families with their teaching, and all for the sake of a fast buck. One of their own prophets said it best:

The Cretans are liars from the womb,
    barking dogs, lazy bellies.

He certainly spoke the truth. Get on them right away. Stop that diseased talk of Jewish make-believe and made-up rules so they can recover a robust faith. Everything is clean to the clean-minded; nothing is clean to dirty-minded unbelievers. They leave their dirty fingerprints on every thought and act. They say they know God, but their actions speak louder than their words. They’re real creeps, disobedient good-for-nothings.

WHAT DO WE LEARN?

A leader serves as Christ served, laying down His own interests for the interests of others.

A humble leader knows that God equips the called because it is God’s work they are being invited to serve.  God knows hearts and is the best judge of inner character in persons growing in His ways in their walk.  God shares that knowledge with leaders seeking to train other leaders.

No one is perfect, only Jesus, but we are perfectly forgiven by Jesus.  Leaders’ belief in God, redeemed through Jesus, must match the behavior desired by God.   

Called of God leaders are responsible people.  They ask what God wants and obey God in Jesus Name, for His glory.

Called leaders serve others with loving hearts of welcoming hospitality.  They are “helpful, wise, fair, reverent, have a good grip on himself, and have a good grip on the Message, knowing how to use the truth to either spur people on in knowledge or stop them in their tracks if they oppose it.”

Called leaders have a passionate desire to mentor others to do what God teaches, choosing those who will mentor others to mentor.  Exponential leadership development—Created by Jesus! 

Called leaders encourage!

Lord,

This is a tall order! This is necessary as we strive for do all you ask in the most excellent ways…with love, hope and faith!  The greatest way to serve is to love like you love us.  Continue to transform me daily, hourly if you must, until I am all you created me to be and do.  I know you are not finished with me, yet!  Thank you for loving us the way you do. Thank you for teaching us, sending others who love you to mentor us along the way.  Thank you for showing us your ways, now help us walk in them even today.

In Jesus Name, For Your glory, Amen