Gtcotr/ws090413
Key
Scripture:
2
Timothy 2:2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many
witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.
(NIV)
2
Timothy 2:2 And entrust what you
heard me say in the presence of many others as witnesses to faithful people who
will be competent to teach others as well. (NET)
2
Timothy 2:2and
what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to
faithful
men who will be able to teach others also. (ESV)
men who will be able to teach others also. (ESV)
1) Disciples were first called Christians at Antioch – Acts 11:26
So
Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and
when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with
the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were
first called Christians. (Acts 11:25-26,
ESV)
2)
The word disciple… means
“learner” or “student”
3)
Personal
anecdote: For the last few years I have
been pressed to understand what produces real disciples – and about the need to
make them – to raise up the next generation.
a.
What
teaching from the Word of God and what methodology actually produces a life
change in God’s people?
b.
Why do some people grow in their Christian
faith to the point where they become disciplers
themselves?
4)
In
his book, Discipleship Essentials, Greg Ogden lists 3 primary ingredients as being
necessary to produce maturity in Christ:
i. Relational
Vulnerability –
meaning honest, self disclosing and confessional relationships that give the
Holy Spirit permission to remake us.
ii. The
Centrality of Truth –
is emphasized when people open their lives to one another around the truth of
God’s Word and the Lord begins to rebuild our lives from the inside
out.
a.
NOTE: Many of us live our lives having developed
certain mechanisms that help us by protecting ourselves or to enable us to get what we
need or want by manipulation of facts and circumstances or the emotions of
people. While some of these aspects of basic human interaction are
positive, we do bring with us the
‘baggage’ of how we USED to LIVE into the Christian life and think,
subconsciously perhaps, that we are saved, but my basic life skills and coping
mechanisms should remain basically the same.
I WOULD SUBMIT THAT IT IS NECESSARY THAT WE CHANGE OUR BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO LIVE LIFE – THAT ONLY HAPPENS THROUGH REAL AND PERSONAL DISCIPLESHIP.
I WOULD SUBMIT THAT IT IS NECESSARY THAT WE CHANGE OUR BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO LIVE LIFE – THAT ONLY HAPPENS THROUGH REAL AND PERSONAL DISCIPLESHIP.
iii. Mutual
Accountability –
meaning authority given to others to hold us accountable to mutually agreeable
standards – “Iron sharpening Iron.”
Jesus
stayed on earth to raise up runners for the next lap.
·
Unbelievers become Believers
·
Believers become Disciples
·
Disciples become Leaders
·
Leaders become
Fathers
·
Fathers become Leaders of Leaders
Pastor
Ron:
-
The
Lord impressed this to our Senior Pastor some time ago:
He
said, I have shown you my Son that you may know ME.
Now
you show me YOUR SONS so that I may know you
We
must make disciples.
The
Great Commission Mandate – Matt. 28.19
- the primary verb here is “MAKE
DISCIPLES”
TO
DISCIPLE AND BE DISCIPLED MEANS YOU NEED RELATIONSHIPS WITH the LORD AND OTHER PEOPLE!
Mark
3:14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be
WITH HIM and he might SEND THEM out to preach
(ESV)
BACK
TO OUR KEY SCRIPTURE
2
Timothy 2:2 And entrust what you
heard me say in the presence of many others as witnesses to faithful people who
will be competent to teach others as well. (NET)
In
2 Timothy 2:2 we have at least 4 main concepts relative to
discipleship:
1)
COMMITMENT
– “entrust” -
a.
Consistent
& Personal Entrusting over time. This
intimates a consistent, persistent entrusting – a period of time
b.
To
RELIABLE people –
people that will show up and are consistently willing to be entrusted with the
Content
2)
CONNECTION
– TO CHRIST AND ONE ANOTHER – “MANY OTHERS AS WITNESSES”
3)
CONTENT
– “and the things…” –
this content is:
a.
The
Word of God
b.
Reliable
understanding and interpretation of God’s ways and
His expectations
2
Thessalonians 2:15 – BOTH ORAL AND TEXTUAL
ORALITY
AND TEXTUALITY
2
Thess. 2:15 So
then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. (ESV)
4)
CONTINUANCE
– (Reproduction) - Give it and Teach it to the next
generation.
The
reliable people who received what was given now turn around and do the very same
thing to the next generation of Reliable/faithful
believers.
Important Points:
Jesus
told us to go and make disciples.
Disciples
are disciplined followers of Jesus and His disciples.
To
make disciples, we must BE disciples.
We
must raise up the next generation to follow Jesus.
