55 Preaching/Teaching 2 Timothy 3: The Greenhouse of discipleship

The Greenhouse of Discipleship

EOT-Paul wanted Timothy to be intentional about discipleship for his entire life and gave him the ingredients for success.

EOS-Elements for Discipleship in a greenhouse.

DDS-Take a specific step in one of the elements

Mentor: Do you need a Paul? or do you need to be a Paul?

Do you need to bring your desire or lack of desire before God?

Do you need to take a step in God’s word?

I was a bench warmer in 7th grade @ Friendswood Jr. High. We were playing Seabrook Intermediate and we destroyed them. Little did I know that I would be going to Seabrook Intermediate the following year. As I tried out the coach told me you are not good enough to make our A team but your team beat us badly last year so he gave me a courtesy position on the A team. In sports you do not want a courtesy spot. I was average at best. This was a huge Failure for me. As a matter of fact if you would have looked at me in 8th grade at Seabrook intermediate you would not think that I would have ever turned out to be a basketball player. But this failure this low point was actually the perfect soil for me to become a good basketball player.

When we think about discipleship, have you ever had these thoughts.

I will get serious about my walk with Christ later in life. Maybe it is after high school, after college, after I have kids. Think about how many years have been lost in growth in Christ because of this type of mentality that so many people have had.

Life is too difficult right now to really grow in Jesus.

The Bible tells us that the circumstances of life is the one thing that does not determine if we can grow as a disciple. Look at the worlds circumstances in Paul’s final days.

2 Timothy 3:1–7 “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Does this sound like the ideal time to have growth in you relationship with God? the reality was my circumstance for basketball was the perfect breeding ground for greatness

in the same way , no matter what you are going thru today it is the perfect time for you to grow as a disciple of Jesus.

But just like I did not seem like I would ever amount to squat in basketball, and my circumstances did not look promising, today is the perfect time for growth in Jesus. And if God is the master builder picture what he can build with my life and your life.

In a greenhouse there certain things you have to have: An obvious is light. if the right elements are present you will have a beautiful greenhouse, in the same way if we have these three elements in our discipleship we will become and live out the very purposes of God.

There are three things we need to embrace green house discipleship:

1. The first element of Greenhouse discipleship is we must embrace a mentor (Paul).

In basketball I have had many mentors. The first and most influential in my basketball journey was my dad.

My Dad was my Paul in basketball. Dad played college basketball at U of Miami. He knew what it took to play college sports. Now I do not know if this is true or not but in our minds as kids, all of my siblings it was scholarship or bust.

My dad was hard on us. I remember after games, sometimes he would pick us up in his car from the dealership and he would challenge us on what we could do better. Sometimes those were not fun conversations, but dad wanted us to be the best players we could become.

Dad was tough on us, but it was because he wanted us to be great basketball players.

Why was my dad good at helping us become good basketball players, because he had actually done it before, he played at the University of Miami.

A Paul is not better than you, they have just traveled further along the journey and they can help you go further in your journey.

We have to choose who and what will disciple us!

2 Timothy 3:8–9 NASB95

Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.

Timothy could of went a way that was opposed to the truth. Just like these two men from the Old Testament who opposed Moses.

There were people who were purposely leading people away from Jesus.

Christianity is not a neutral idea we are either growing into the likeness of Christ or we are not.

Think about all the things that are taking people away from Jesus.

Notice this idea of discipleship that we talk about all the time is a reality of life. We are all being discipled or shaped into something. It could be something good or it could be something bad. One of the most dangerous things about our phones is that many people say it is what is shaping this next generation. We are raising up a whole generation of kids who are being shaped and they do not even know it.

Who is forming you?

Paul knew Timothy had a desire to follow the way of Jesus, but he also knew that to follow Jesus for a lifetime is not something you can take for granted.

The message:

2 Timothy 3:10 NASB95

Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance,

Paul’s teaching-

In the first book he said 1 Timothy 1:15

1 Timothy 1:15 NASB95

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.

We cannot change this message, we cannot add to this message, this is the foundation of of our growth in Christ.

But our teaching was always meant to impact our life.

Paul was saved because of Jesus. But notice Timothy did not just follow Paul’s teaching he watched him.

The Method

They had an authentic relationship and Timothy knew Paul was the real deal. He followed his:

Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible Exposition

3:10–11 Timothy’s past character and conduct stood in stark contrast to that of the false teachers. He had fully followed Paul’s ministry (his teaching, public conduct, and Christ-centered purpose) and his life (his faith, patience, love, and perseverance).

Our Church’s mission statement is renovating ourcity with God’s blueprint. We define his blueprint as message - the gospel and method disciplemaking.

2 Timothy 3:11 (NASB95)

2 Timothy 3:11 NASB95

persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!

Paul Knew that nothing was too great to give to Jesus.

He was all in. He had a conviction that Jesus was the way the truth and the life.

Timothy I have seen you pay a price but you are going to have to continue to pay a price.

And Timothy had seen Paul delivered by God, but now he was not going to have Paul to lean on.

But isn’t this what great discipleship was all about, that we get more dependent on God and less on man?

Application:

Always as we talk about discipleship let’s remember it always starts in our house.

This week I was talking to a lady who is now a children’s pastor. And she said I grew up at this church, and she said Doylenne Carpenter invested in my life and used to bring me to camps. Doylenne was her Paul. Notice Doylenne just loved a young lady well and invested in her life.

As I shared that story with Doylenne this week tears filled up her eyes.

Isn’t that what life is really about. Those tears symbolized to me the great joy of investing our lives in things greater than ourselves. The joy is probably as great as any other accomplishment she has had. I want to continue to be a part of discipline others.

She is a children’s director now. Can you picture the many people that may have come to Christ just because she invested in a youth.

Do you have a Paul in your life?

Whose Paul are you?

2. The second element of Greenhouse discipleship is we must desire Godliness (12-14).

If you do not choose a life of discipleship with Jesus you will be discipled by something lesser, that will never leave you satisfied.

After my eighth grade year I had the privilege of meeting the shark

HAVE A PICTURE OF NEWLIN

Let me tell you this guy was mean. I will not deny or confirm if he actually brought me to tears before.

Mike Newlin’s best sports day was this:

He scored 30 points on the Celtics with Larry Bird on the team, he shot par in golf and hit three home runs in a rec league softball game.

ALL IN THE SAME DAY

And here I am, in the eighth grade working out with Mike Newlin the Shark, he was older now, and I watched him shoot the basketball for an hour.

In an hour, when he was proabably fifty he missed two shots.

It was that day that I decided that I wanted to get a scholarship and make the NBA.

I made my mind up that I was going to do everything it took to get to that end.

The reason I got a scholarship and became a good player was simple: I wanted it more than others. I had a desire.

I can’t want your growth more than you want your growth.

You have to want to grow.

What if we had that kind of desire when it came to our relationship with Jesus.

That we wanted to look like him so much that we did whatever it took. No sacrifice was too much and no commitment to big.

2 Timothy 3:12 NASB95

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

2 Timothy 3:12 (NASB95)

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Desire to live Godly in Jesus

That is what their desire it.

What is your greatest desire.

Notice if you make this your desire look at the reward.

You will be persecuted.

Fitting words for a man who is about to be killed for his faith.

He had a conviction that Jesus is the way the truth and the life, and he was not going to back down from this even if it cost him his life.

2 Timothy 3:12 ((null)): 3:12–13 Timothy needed to realize, as all Christians do—especially those to whom “prosperity theology” appeals—that when a person determines to live a godly life he or she will suffer persecution. With his or her commitment to follow Christ faithfully the Christian sets the course of his or her life directly opposite to the course of the world system. Confrontation and conflict become inevitable (cf. Matt. 10:22–23; Luke 21:12; John 15:20; Acts 14:22; 1 Thess. 3:4).

Think about the worlds system for awhile, it is all about you and what you can do. The Christian’s world is all about God and what he wants to do in and through you. The world system is all about what you could accumulate. The Godly life is all about what you can give away to others, whether it is your time, treasure or talent. The world says children are a burden, the Bible says children are a blessing and a heritage. The world says money is the most important thing in life, the Bible says money is a way we can bless others and honor God.

I could go on.

But who wants to sign up for persecution tonight?

I want to emphasize that the only reasons we can even have this desire is because of what Jesus has done for us. And because of what he has done for us we respond in worship by saying; Lord because you gave your life for me I will gladly give mine back to you.

2 Timothy 3:13–14 NASB95

But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,

This Desire overcomes circumstances

Notice he says continue. It will go from bad to worse. How do we respond we continue.

Application:

Do you have this desire right now?

As I work with athletes I tell them I can’t want it more than you.

When I work with people with addiction I tell them I can’t want your sobriety more than you.

When I work with believers I tell you the same things. I can’t want your growth and discipleship more than you.

Do you desire Jesus?

If you don’t tell that to him.

Get a plan and by his grace he will multiply your effort and take dirt and turn it into a masterpiece.

“People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.”

― D.A. Carson

People don’t drift they desire!

3. The last element of Greenhouse discipleship is God’s Word (15-17).

There is a plan for bball, and other things you want to be successful at, and it is not a secret to success. Time, time and hard work. Mike Newlin said 8 hours a day and you will make the NBA.

No joke he would drop us off at the gym 8-10 hours a day, he would give us 10 bucks for me and my brother so we could get a Sonic meal (before inflation). This was last week’s sermon was about Loving God’s word.

God lays out his plan in his word.

I love what I read this week:

2 Timothy 3:14 ((null)): “It is my contention that the constant study of the Word of God is the only help that any of us has [when it comes to adhering to the truth].”

A child being brought up on the word of God is God’s plan

It is never to early to start with the word of God

2 Timothy 3:15 NASB95

and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:15 (NASB95)

and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

77% of Christians accept Jesus before the age of 18

How will we reach the next generation if we do not reach our kids.

2 Timothy 3:14 ((null)): Timothy’s conduct grew out of what he had learned and become convinced of.

“Jewish parents were expected to teach their children the Law from the age of five onwards.”

You know what I love about the Bible: It’s easy enough for a child to understand but a theologian to drown in.

We need to teach our kids the Bible from birth.

One of the ways we can do this is the storybook Bible. We have went through this thing with all of our kids.

Read them a story regularly.

***Have a copy of this for the talk

Also have the test answers and the test

Each week when I stand up here i am not standing up here because I am worthy to preach this message. I am standing up here because he is worthy. This word is worthy. In the same way we should give our kids the very word of God not because we are perfect parents but because we serve a perfect God.

Isn’t this why being a parent is so hard. Because they see all of you, they see your junk and imperfections. kids don’t just listen to what we say they watch what we do. Timothy was not just listening to his parents he was watching them. Do you model loving God’s word.

“To know the Scriptures from childhood is the greatest blessing a growing child can have.”

My son just got a scholarship to play basketball, that is great thing, but you know what the greatest blessing I have given my kid is not how to play basketball it is that I could pour scripture into his life, it is those times when he is struggling and fails and I can point him to scripture and tell him God loves him and he is defined by a loving God.

We have the very words of God

2 Timothy 3:16 (NASB95)

2 Timothy 3:16 NASB95

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

God Breathed-These are the very words of God

God used man and literally breathed his words out

Major Bible Themes

2 Timothy 3:16 ((null)): Therefore it has divine authority. This was the view of the Hebrew Bible that Jews in the first century commonly held.

Look at the Bible Knowledge commentary here with a thought.

2 Timothy 3:17 (NASB95)

This word does not just give us head knowledge, it changes our life. Look how practical it is:

so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

It teaches us-I was thinking about all the things that Bible has taught me directly-It has taught me myth purpose in my life, it has taught me how to be connect with people and forgive people, it has shown me how to love my spouse. I would be the world’s worst husband and father without the Bible. It has taught me how to pastor, it has taught me how to love unloveable people… I could go on and on. It has taught me about money, wisdom, about the past and the future. This word teaches us.

Rebuking-This one says reproof-Can you turn to your neighbor and rebuke them. No one likes to be rebuked. All those areas I just shared with you, God has at times had to rebuke me. I could give you specific instances and I did not like, but I needed that rebuke so that I could grow and become more like Jesus.

Correction-Has anyone ever disclocated a bone. It would not be good if you went to the Doctor and he said we are just going to keep it the same. You have to put in back in place. Aren’t you glad God corrects us. When we get off course he puts us back on track.

2 Timothy 3:17 NASB95

so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.