Spiritual Parents

Anybody play the Oregon Trail as a kid?

There were all kinds of ways that you could die—starvation, cholera, snakebite, blizzard, drowning…but more often than not, you would die from dysentery.

It was all about this difficult journey that was made to the west and many people died on this journey. It is estimated that over 30,000 people lost their lives on the Oregon Trail. If you set out with a group only 1 in 10 would make it.

It was not easy. There were all sorts of obstacles. This isn’t the case anymore. We have cars with ac or heat if necessary. There are still dangers, but you are far more likely to make it and you are far less worried about dysentery.

Unfortunately, this is not true in our walk with Christ. It is still difficult. We are going to face difficulties along the way. And God expects us to keep on going. He doesn’t want us to give up or sit along the side of the road and wait for Him to come back and get us.

God expects us to keep going down and leading others down the road of a disciple.

Spiritually Dead

Born Again

Spiritual Infant

Spiritual Teenager

Spiritual Adult

Spiritual Parent

Some of you are stuck somewhere on the front end. Some of you are constantly worried about your salvation. Some of you just want to keep talking about your salvation. And we should remember and celebrate the hope and assurance we have in Christ. But we’re not meant to just keep talking about it. We were made for more than that. We were born again for more than that.

We were born again with the intent to grow up and lead others as they grow up into the salvation that God has given them.

Spiritual Parents have a coaching mindset, thinking about how they can help a younger believer take their next step in following Christ.

“This guy asked me to explain the Bible to him. Pray for me.”

“I realized that discipleship happens at home, too. Will you hold me accountable to spend time discipling my kids?”

“I have someone who is passionate about serving and they’re great with kids. Can you help me get them plugged in somewhere that they can serve?”

Spiritual Parents need a place to serve. They need to be trained and released and supported.

Text and Background: 2 Timothy 2:1-10

Paul is in prison, this is likely his last imprisonment before his execution.

He writes one final letter to Timothy, his disciple, his son in the faith, his friend and partner in ministry.

In chapter one, Paul remembers Timothy’s tears. This is probably Paul remembering a visit or it could just be that Paul has received word from someone or Timothy himself that Timothy is upset about Paul’s imprisonment and possibly his impending execution.

He writes to tell Timothy to keep going and to not let his imprisonment discourage him. There’s still work to be done. He’s been trained and released, and Paul is writing to support and encourage him.

2 Timothy 2:1–10 “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. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

Spiritual Parents raise disciple-makers.

He’s not calling Timothy to share information, but transformation. It’s not a lesson, bur a way of life.

You teach in a way that the one you taught can teach others and so on. Make disciple-makers.

“Apprenticeship” — Not just learning about welding in a classroom. You make welds, receive correction, accept it, and try again. You make adjustments until you are doing it right and then you keep practicing what helps you do it the right way. You’re doing something not just learning about something.

You seek to learn and do in a way that you can teach others to do as well.

This morning we’re looking at four attributes of spiritual parents.

1. Spiritual parents are committed to the cause of Christ.

They’re willing to accept difficulty and face suffering.

They’re willing to do the hard work without giving up.

They know that they will face opposition.

Timothy was receiving a letter from Paul, who is in prison, under the harshest persecution the world had seen at that time.

Paul tells Timothy not to shy away from it, but be willing to share in it if it comes his way. Stand firm like a good soldier. Good soldiers don’t run away from a challenge. They don’t run away from an enemy. They know what the mission is and they get it done no matter how difficult or impossible it may seem. If your commander asks for it, you follow Him into battle and meet the opposition head on.

2. Spiritual parents are concentrating on godly goals not personal passions.

They’re not distracted by the things of this world.

“What does God want me spending my time on? What things am I spending too much time with? What is keeping me distracted from the work that God intends for me to be doing?”

God drafted you into service. He expects you to be concerned His stuff not yours.

“entangled” literally carries to idea of being tied up and unable to break free. He’s saying you don’t need to be so consumed and wrapped up in worldly things that you do not have the time to devote to Him. In fact, you are called to devote yourself to Him first and let Him direct what you should and shouldn’t do with your time.

This goes along with verse 5. You don’t win a game unless you play by the rules. You have to be disciplined and keep yourself in the boundaries that have been set. You can catch all the footballs you want, but if they are thrown and caught out of bounds, they don’t count. You can hit nothing but net on a basketball goal all day, but if you’re shooting from out of bounds, it won’t count.

God has set boundaries in our lives. There’s the commands He has given us, but there is also the way He intends for us to carry out those commands. Ultimately, love is meant to be the guiding emotion in all that we do.

We live for God because we love God. We live that others may come to know Christ because God loves them and has called us to love them as well.

You can’t claim to follow Christ and be entangled with personal passions and worldly things. You can’t follow Christ and stay entangled in sin.

3. Spiritual parents are diligent in their discipleship.

The image of the farmer is close to many of you. You understand that crops do not grow easily. You have to have the right nutrients in your soil. You need to make sure you plant the right things together. You need to watch out for weeds, but be careful will pulling them out because they may pull up the whole plant.

You have to watch for pests. You need to make sure plants are fed with the right fertilizers and that they get the right amount of water.

It’s hard work. And if you do the hard work, you deserve the reward.

Now Paul is not advocating for a works based righteousness. But he is referring to the expectation of fruit. You can’t expect people to grow into disciple-makers if you are not diligent in your disciple-making.

4. Spiritual parents are confident in the power of the Word of God.

Notice the comparison he makes between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Word of God.

Jesus was bound and sealed in a tomb, but that did not keep Him there. He rose from the dead. Jesus could not be bound or held back from what He came to do.

The same is true for the Word of God. It cannot be bound. It cannot be stopped.

You be faithful to speak the Word of God. You be faithful to live out the Word of God. God will bring the increase and make what you do and what you say effective because it is His powerful Word!

These are the attributes of spiritual parents. They’re committed to the cause of Christ, they’re concentrating on godly goals not personal passions, they’re diligent in their discipleship, and they are confident in the power of the Word of God.

Remember that these attributes are created in us by God for a purpose. We cultivate these attributes for the sole purpose of leading others to Christ. We want others to obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

We develop these attributes in ourselves and we train others to have these same attributes. That is what it means to raise up disciple-makers.

Conclusion: Are you raising disciple-makers?

We do this in what we teach and how we live.

Look at your life. What kind of attributes could be used to describe your walk with Christ? Committed? Concentrated? Distracted? Diligent? Lazy? Confident? Fearful?