Making Disciples

2 Timothy 3:10 - 4:5

Intro: We are currently walking through a series of topics on the church. Last week and this week is what the church’s purpose is, the Great Commission. Last week, Adam focused on evangelism, our call to be ambassadors for Christ. Today, we will focus on the discipleship call of the Great Commission. Next week, Lonnie is going to show us what the church is to be devoted to.

Evangelism was the focus of last week in the Great Commission. But evangelism is not the end, but rather, the beginning of discipleship. That phrase in the Great Commission is important. Go and make disciples. You cannot divorce evangelism from discipleship. Today, I want us to see the importance from Paul’s final letter before his death, written to Timothy his son in the faith. Paul was a faithful disciplemaker, and Timothy is one of the evidences of this. READ THE TEXT

CTS: The church fulfills the Great Commission by making disciples that are equipped for every good work.

I. Model of Discipleship (10-13)

Paul spends time contrasting from the false teachers and Timothy, and even himself. Timothy has dedicated himself to following Paul. This isn’t mere observance, but rather, emulation. That is the key of discipleship. There is a two-fold aspect of discipleship that is required.

A. Teaching

First, teaching doctrine is essential to discipleship. We’ll get to the content of this here later in the text, but Timothy followed the teaching of Paul. Paul as an apostle, whom Christ delegated after his resurrection and ascension to be the ones that would proclaim the teachings of Christ. These teachings would then be formulated into what we now know as the NT. The focus of this teaching is the Gospel, which all of Scripture points to, the grand redemptive narrative of God’s redeeming work of saving man from their sin and giving them life that they might glorify Him.

B. Life

Second, Paul spoke about how Timothy followed the lifestyle of Paul. This is where the teaching (doctrine) makes its application. Where the head and heart meet. Where the rubber meets the road if you will. You can watch all of the instructional videos on YouTube of how to do something, fix something, or make a recipe, but it isn’t until the actual act of doing it is when it becomes effective. The Gospel is not just head knowledge, but rather, life transforming. The Gospel affects every aspect of our being, our purpose, and our status in the world.

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Conduct: the way we live our life and how we behave as God’s people. The Gospel changes our attitudes. Humility, kindness, and more.

Aim in life: The Gospel changes our purpose. Now our aim is not for ourselves and our increase, but the increase of the fame of Jesus Christ across the world. And it’s not just a Sunday morning aim, but a whole life aim. Jesus now gives Paul and every disciple true meaning.

Faith: here most likely means his fidelity to Jesus. That constant trust in Jesus, even when it doesn’t make sense or when it’s hard. I think we can all think of some people in our lives that exude faith in all circumstances, good and bad.

Patience: Paul cmeans here patience with people. Tolerance and longsuffering with aggravating people as John Stott says.

Love: Love for God and love for man, fulfilling the Law and Prophets as Jesus taught us. Sacrificial in its giving, looking out for the good of others.

Steadfastness: Patient endurance of trying circumstances. Those that keep the faith in the midst of great difficulties of life.

Persecutions: And that leads directly into the reality that those that desire to live godly lives, as Jesus intends for us to, will face hardships, adversities, and opposition. Jesus made it clear in the Gospels of this truth.

John 15:18–20 ESV

18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Matthew 5:11–12 ESV

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Timothy observed Paul’s persecutions, yet it established and emboldened Timothy. That’s the work of the Gospel. And it’s worth it. Paul quoting from the OT Psalms.

Psalm 34:19 ESV

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

The false teachers will continue on in their heresies and wickedness. That’s the danger of “moving on” to what they would say is better things. “We have evolved and have put aside old ways and morals. This is what Jesus really means now.” But Paul would encourage his disciple to stand firm and continue in that which was steady and true. He didn’t need anything new. He needed the firm Gospel.

Application:

Home: Teaching and leading by example. Family devotions and prayer together. Insistence on that which is most important, relationship to God and honoring Him with our time and dedication to His work and purposes.

Personal discipleship relationships: Teaching and leading by example with lost people and new believers. Discipleship is not divorced from evangelism. True evangelism involves discipleship. So, its sharing the Gospel and investing our lives into others. Having coffee with someone over Scripture. Praying. Emulating the Christian life.

Church discipleship: Discipleship of the Word. Ordinances. Fellowship. Corporate prayer. The Christian is not left on an island. The Christian is expected to be united together with the local church. Even the personal discipleship relationships are done within the equipping work of the church itself.

II. Content of Discipleship (14-17)

A. The whole Scripture (14-15a)

The command is in contrast to the moving on. The disciple is to abide in the teachings of the Gospel, found in the Scriptures. Verses 14 and 15 show two aspects that are important.

Timothy was to abide in the teachings that he learned from Paul. (NT) Paul again was an apostle, given responsibility and command to teach the Gospel as taught by Christ, empowered by the Spirit, to Gentiles. For us, we now stand on these same teachings in what we call the New Testament. And here we have some indication that Paul understood that in some form and fashion that this teaching he had was authoritative, on par with OT Scripture. He wanted Timothy to be dedicated to them.

Paul also reminds Timothy of the salvation he learned from the OT as well. Earlier in this book, 2 Tim 1:5 tells us already how he came to learn this faith from infancy.

2 Timothy 1:5 ESV

5 I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.

His mother and grandmother taught him the Scriptures. This was Law and Prophets of the OT, every page revealing the purposes of God.

B. The origin of Scripture (16a)

The origin of Scripture is clear. God-breathed. There are some that debate the Greek in this line that it means all God-breathed Scripture is profitable. This would be the argument from progressive Christianity, that only parts of the Bible are profitable, particularly the ones that we are comfortable with. But there is word in the Greek that makes this unlikely. A simple “and.” Notice that it says that it says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable.” That then moves the description of all to Scripture and the and connects God-breathed listed with profitable. So the indication is origin. All Scripture is God-breathed. And if God has inspired the Bible, through the work of the Holy Spirit through men (2 Peter 1:21) to reveal Himself and His redemptive work.

2 Peter 1:21 ESV

21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

You can be confident in your Bible today, because all of has its origin in our perfect and holy God. Perfectly truthful in every aspect and gives us all we need for salvation and the life we live in light of that salvation.

C. The purpose of Scripture (15b, 16b-17)

Every page reveals God’s redemptive plan of salvation. These teachings in culmination are able to make you wise for salvation. The Scriptures don’t save us, but they do show us the salvation we need. God has revealed in clarity salvation. The Bible is means by which we understand the Gospel, both our sin and our need for a Savior.

Every page teaches and shows us how to live: The Bible teaches us truth, what is right and what is wrong. That is the idea behind teaching and reproof. The Bible tells us what is true about who God is, who we are as man, and our need for salvation. It tells us how to worship, how to do church, how to live. It also reveals what is wrong. False teaching and to watch out for it.

The Bible also shows us how we are to live. It corrects our sin. The Bible convicts us of what is wrong, shows us that we’ve done wrong, and then trains us to live rightly. The Bible reveals disciples how to live a life that is no longer in sin, but a life of righteousness for His glory. It equips us to do the work God has called us all to do. The work of ministry.

John Stott summarizes the Bible in this way: The Bible is essentially a handbook of salvation. Its over-arching purpose is to teach not facts of science (e.g. the nature of moon rock) which men can discover by their own empirical investigation, but facts of salvation, which no space exploration can discover but only God can reveal. The whole Bible unfolds the divine scheme of salvation—man’s creation in God’s image, his fall through disobedience into sin and under judgment, God’s continuing love for him in spite of his rebellion, God’s eternal plan to save him through his covenant of grace with a chosen people, culminating in Christ; the coming of Christ as the Saviour, who died to bear man’s sin, was raised from death, was exalted to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit; and man’s rescue first from guilt and alienation, then from bondage, and finally from mortality in his progressive experience of the liberty of God’s children. None of this would be known apart from the biblical revelation. ‘Scripture contains the perfect rule of a good and happy life.’

Application:

So, as disciplemakers, the content of our discipleship needs to be God’s Word. In the home, the Bible should be central in teaching and leading. It needs to the basis of our lives. We should also be striving to understand the Bible as a whole, not piecemeal life verses taken out of context. We need to learn how to read the Bible well and to teach our children to read it well. It’s not a bunch of stories of morals, but one grand story that points us to Jesus Christ, to make us wise for salvation. In discipleship relationships, the Bible should be central in how we grow and lead others to follow Jesus. Not self-help books, but rather, Bible teaching and Bible living. In the church, the Bible must be central. The church has been aptly called a “creature of the Word.” The Bible must inform us and inform us. It must be the guiding centrality of all that we do. Preaching, singing, praying, evangelism, ministries.

III. Purpose of Discipleship (4:1-5)

I could have ended with that, but I don’t want to forget the charge of discipleship, which I think the charge of Paul to TImothy, his final words to his son in the faith, is a reminder for us all. These words sustained me often these last few months. In the hardest of days as a pastor, in reminded me of that call to which I was called. But I don’t believe that this is just a text for pastors or elders. This is the call of all Christians. We are called and charged to do this. I won’t spend a lot of time, but I want to make these five verses our concluding application.

Because of who God is and His charge to us in the Great Commission and because Jesus is coming again soon, preach the Word. God has commanded us. Jesus is also coming again soon in judgment, in which all things will be reconciled unto him. But the time is short. Imminent.

In season and out of season: At every moment, good and bad, remember the call. When its popular, when its not. When everything is going well or when persecutions come. Be ready to preach at all times, convenient or not.

Preaching the Gospel means application to every aspect of life: Reprove when the doubts arise among those around you. Give them confidence that this Word is the truth, that Jesus is worthy to be followed. Rebuke when sin is real. God calls us to correct where sin is. This is unpopular today, even in evangelical churches. We must be faithful to accountability. We must be willing to say the hard things for the good of others. It is the most loving thing we can do. Exhort when people are discouraged.The Word also is a balm to the soul. When the hurt and broken need hope, the Bible gives us hope in Christ. Encourage them to stand firm and stay strong. Encourage them that Jesus is with us in the storm and in the hardest of times.

Complete patience and teaching: Patiently and slowly. A long obedience in the same direction. We live in a society that is wants results now. The word often slowly works. Some people get saved the first time they hear the gospel. Sometimes it takes many times. Sometimes truths don’t click the first time they hear it. Patience is key when we minister. I know God has been patient with me, and many others that have taught me had to be patient with me as well.

The Word won’t itch the ears of many: The reality is that the Bible and the Gospel won’t itch the ears of those that want prosperity or assurance that they aren’t really that bad. It won’t itch the ears of those that don’t want to deal with sin. Those that proclaim the Gospel and make the Bible central in their mission and discipleship often won’t have many people clamoring for their teaching. Some may start off positively, but some will fall away.

Be faithful: But as for you, be steadfast. Sober-minded, singularly focused on God and His call. Endure suffering. Its coming. Do the work of evangelism, proclaiming the Gospel to the lost. Fulfill the ministry of where God has you.