let me give you some advice…

Many parents make a mark on the wall by the door to indicate a child’s height as the child grows year after year. If the Heavenly Father did that, would you have grown from last year?

The second step in the Great Commission is discipleship. Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. We baptize and then teach.

Christian ministry can never distance itself from teaching. Are you growing as a Christ follower? Many parents make a mark on the wall by the door to indicate a child’s height as the child grows year after year. If the Heavenly Father did that, would some of us be shorter instead of taller, more immature instead of more mature? Or would we stand taller every year?

We need to grow mentally. It is vital that you remain a learner for all your life

We need to learn more. Philippians 1:9; And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ,

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge

We need to remember more. Jesus quoted Scripture when He was tempted. Do we know enough Scripture to get ourselves out of trouble? Do we know enough Scripture to keep from getting into trouble?

We need to understand more 1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults; It will do little good to learn and remember if we do not understand what we have learned.

We need to grow physically. All of us need to be healthier; We are God’s temple.

We need to get proper rest, diet and exercise. We need to be balanced in all things (vis a vis) moderate in all things)

We Need to Grow Socially.

We need to be kinder to our friends Friendship is never to be taken lightly. Abraham was called “the friend of God” and Jesus called his disciples friends. Friendship can be a bridge for bringing people to Christ. Many times we try to influence people without first making them our friends. It seldom works.

We need to know how to treat our enemies (Luke 6:27). “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic

Jesus not only told us how to treat our enemies he showed us.

His last miracle before the Crucifixion was for an enemy. Luke 22:50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.51But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

One of His last prayers was for an enemy “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.

We Need to Grow Spiritually 2 Peter 1:5-7 tell us how to do this. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to pray and read our Bibles more. We need to give more as we grow in the Lord as an exercise of faith and discipline. We need to resist temptation more.

There are things that will stunt or stop your growth in these areas. There are deceptive ideologies in our world that come from the enemy of our souls which are designed to destroy.

The church has two ways to teach—Godly teaching and right living. They must never be made to separate or the integrity that is absolutely vital to the strength of our testimony is in question and weakened.

Discipleship opposes deception

Teaching may, at times, oppose false and deceptive doctrines. The first area Paul tells young Timothy to cover in his teaching is about deceptive theology.

First Timothy chapter four verses one through eight--The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.6If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

“The Spirit clearly says . . .” Paul makes it clear from the start that this teaching is not from him or any human, but from God himself.

“ . . . In later times . . .” These later times speak of today for sure. You can be confident that these are the later times.

“ . . . Some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” The unforgettable essential ingredient of the Gospel is that Jesus paid it all and Jesus does it all. The only other Gospel (that is not a gospel at all) says that Jesus doesn’t do it all and you have to contribute to your salvation.

There is an Eastern ascetic philosophy that teaches when we deny the body we free the spirit. This philosophy is based on dualism. Dualism says that the material universe is only evil and the spiritual universe is only good. Therefore the more we deny the material the more we encourage the spiritual. Read verse three please.

Paul is vehement that these “teachers”, are hypocritical liars. He says their consciences have been seared as by a hot iron. He has nothing good to say about them and he instructs Timothy to stand up against them.

“. . . Which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer

I have heard people use this very argument for the use of marijuana and other naturally occurring hallucinogens, but it is a huge stretch of the truth. God did create the plant because there may be components in it that may benefit mankind medicinally in years to come. The guideline for God’s servants to be sober covers this completely.

In short you will not gain favor with God by starving yourself or not doing anything. Our faith is based on what we do and what we do is faith. It is not about what we do or don’t do. Christianity is based on what Jesus did and does.

Verse six says, “If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.”

Another area of discipleship growth that we must cover is mythology and old wives tales.

Verse seven, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; There is a lot of wisdom in the court of public opinion. As we have struggled as a race since Adam we have just naturally figured a lot of stuff out about living on Earth as humans. There can also be a lot of –bluntly put—stupidity floating around.

An example of myths and old wives tales is seen in Genesis when Jacob is trying to increase his flock under Laban’s care. He puts notched sticks in front of his goats believing the sticks will cause them to have black coated offspring. They didn’t understand genetic science as we do. It was an old wives tale.

“Step on a crack and break your mothers back. Black cats and Friday the thirteenth are bad luck. Never walk under a ladder. Never open an umbrella in the house.” These and thousands more come under the category of wives tales. There is nothing really wrong with them unless they move into the area of spiritual formation and compete with faith in Jesus.

The Bible based church is not founded on such. It is founded on the teachings of God and His spokesmen. Paul says, “ . . . Rather, train yourself to be godly. 8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

Now we have the contrast. Instead of living by myth and old wives tales live in the power of godliness. Paul says that training in this area is more important than even physical training. Physical training has some value, but training to be like God has value in this life and in the life to come.

Discipleship focuses on the truth

Verse ten is a summation of the truth that the Biblical church must teach “. . . That we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”

Our hope is in the living God. It is not in mythology or deceptively held beliefs. Our faith is alive and dynamic and dependant on a person.

This living God is the Savior of all men. His grace is sufficient to cover all sin forever. His blood was shed for all men. He did not exclude certain races or categories, but welcomes all. If his grace is that good for all men, even for those who reject him, imagine how good it is for those who believe.

Discipleship is taught in many ways

Verses twelve and thirteen detail the various ways one teaches.

(By the way you can’t use age as an excuse!)

We teach by example: Speech, life, love, faith and purity. These areas of life speak loudly. If one teaches an accurate Word from God and does not back it up in life, love, faith and purity the message is ignored.

We teach by publicly reading God’s word. This is church stuff. A huge part of church has always been a public reading from the Bible. At Evergreen we believe this is vital to discipleship so we include it in our Sunday morning services. We stand and listen to the Bible being read and allow its precepts into our hearts.

Discipleship starts with reading, but needs more. Two Greek words are use to define the next categories. The first is Kerygma or preaching. Preaching is teaching aimed at the heart. Preaching is teaching that urges you to action. The Greek word teaching, Didache, is the categorical dissemination or information. Liturgical churches require their converts to go through catechism classes. Evangelicals offer Sunday School and VBS to teach the information pertinent to the faith.

In general The Biblical church believes and practices discipleship. We oppose destructive practices and doctrine. We focus on the Gospel of Jesus our hope and living God, the Savior of all men, and we teach and preach the Word of God.

Is this strategy enough? Yes, and No. Yes, because these methods have worked for two thousand years. The problem arises when we fail to see discipleship as every believer’s responsibility. We are to be teachers and learners for life.

If you have stopped growing in discipleship, it is time for you to re-enlist. If you have never been part of helping another believer grow by purposefully getting involved it may be time for you to step up.