Successful Discipleship

Text: 2 Timothy 2:2

Topic: Successful Discipleship

Bobby Earls, First Baptist Icard, NC

January 17, 1999

According to our Church Mission Statement, “First Baptist Icard is a fellowship of caring Christians, forgiven by the grace of God, and united under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.” Because that is true, we seek to serve Him, “through the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit,” by Evangelism, “witnessing to our community and the world around us of Christ’s love and His saving grace which leads to eternal life.” That is priority number one.

But just as importantly, we also seek to “Disciple, equipping our fellow Christians for spiritual growth in their personal lives and training them for God’s work.” Discipleship is the second major purpose of the church as we understand it. According to Gene Mims, discipleship “is much talked about but probably is practiced the least of all church functions.”

Discipleship is a process that begins after conversion and continues throughout a believer’s life. It occurs when one believer engages another and the result is that both become more Christlike in what they think and do.

Discipleship is a part of the purpose that guides us. Remember the admonition of our Lord Jesus Christ who in that Great Commission assignment said, “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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Therefore, Discipleship is not an option for the church. Jesus mandated discipleship in the Great Commission.

Someone has accurately said, “Discipleship is the second side of the coin of Evangelism. You have not effectively evangelized until you have discipled.”

Here at First Baptist, we have made a paradigm shift. We have redesigned our ministry focus to magnify making disciples. Our new purpose statement says, “The purpose of the First Baptist Church of Icard is to glorify God by making disciples who exalt God, edify believers, evangelize the lost and extend disciplemaking to all the world.”

Our Lord Jesus had a world vision. He saw a world being won to faith in Himself. Yet He knew that vision would not be realized by simple addition, adding one person at a time to the Kingdom, but by multiplication. As each believer wins another to faith in Christ and then helps that believer to mature in Christlikeness who in turn reaches another and that one reaches another, and another and so on and so on.

By the time you reach the sixth chapter of the Book of Acts you discover that the church is no longer talking about growth through addition but by multiplication. Acts 6:1 says, “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied” and Acts 6:7 tells us, “the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.”

Listen to me FBI. The Bible tells us that if we want to be a growing church, we must be a healthy church and a healthy church is a balanced church that practices both evangelism and discipleship.

This obviously was the thought the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote his “last will and testament” to his son in the faith Timothy.

2 Timothy 2:2 is as concrete a statement upon the practice of Discipleship as you will find anywhere in the Bible. It is the foundational text of today’s message.

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

If we as a church are to be faithful to our Mission Statement which calls us to “disciple” equipping “our fellow Christians for spiritual growth in their personal lives and training them for God’s work,” we must return to this bedrock of truth and principle. We must make disciples!

I. SUCCESSFUL DISCIPLESHIP ALWAYS BEGINS WITH THE INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER, “commit” (the “you” is understood)

Discipleship always begins with the individual believer. No matter how many may swell our facilities to hear about Jesus, Jesus always calls us one by one. We are saved one person at a time. We must be discipled one person at a time. But whereas salvation happens in an instant, discipleship happens over a process of time.

When our Lord met Peter for the first time He said “You are Simon….you shall be called Cephas.” When Jesus saw Peter he did not see him as he was, but as he would be someday. Joel Gregory says of this meeting between Peter and Jesus, “Jesus gazed at Peter and through Peter as if looking at a far horizon. Simon Peter was all potential, but very little reality. His original name suggests the capricious character of a dove, flighty and unpredictable. The ‘dove’ will become a rock but not for a long time and only after a painful process.”

Thank God that He looks at us and sees potential, not just what we are presently. The gaze of God looks beyond what you may be today and sees you as you can be. There is tremendous potential in the life of one person.

II. SUCCESSFUL DISCIPLESHIP CONTINUES WITHIN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS, thou…me (KJV)

It is the “thou…me”relationship that is the intimate relationship so sadly missing in Christian discipleship today.

The ‘thou….me” relationship between Paul and Timothy identifies a relationship of trust and intimacy, of mutual confidence and shared responsibility. It is a personal relationship bonded together through mutual commitment to the cause of Christ.

2 Timothy 2:2 gives us a pattern for successful discipleship when we recognize the vital importance of such intimate relationships between Christians. What kind of relationship is needed for discipling to take place?

1. A Relationship of Example.

Christianity is more caught than taught. We learn best by observing. Timothy learned from the more mature Christian, the Apostle Paul, how to live and share the Christian lifestyle. Years later, writing from prison, Paul instructs the Christians at the church in Philippi, to receive Timothy as they would himself. In essence, what he says is, “When Timothy arrives, it will be as though I myself were present with you.”

2. A Relationship of Accountability.

We need others to hold us lovingly accountable to God and to one another. Every believer needs a Paul, an older, more mature believer to help remain accountable in our walk before the Lord.

3. A Relationship of Intimacy.

Disciples grow best when nourished in a warm, caring environment of a small

group of other committed believers. The small group or cell becomes the glue that holds a believer accountable to others as he grows spiritually in Christlikeness.

III. SUCCESSFUL DISCIPLESHIP FLOURISHES THROUGH INTENTIONALITY

“commit”

The word “commit” suggests transmitting something from one person to another. It indicates the deposit of a sacred trust. Paul is saying to Timothy, “You are my disciple. Now intentionally transmit what I have given to you to others who will become disciple-makers.”

When we invest in the lives of other people, we transmit not only what we know but, more importantly, who we are. Each of us becomes like the people with whom we associate! Jesus said in Luke 6:40 No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.

As a church, we must intentionally seek to make disciples of every believer presently and those of you join us in the future. We do not need more believers. We do not need more members. What we do need is more disciples!

In the coming weeks and months we will share with you a detailed plan whereby we will seek to move every member to become a fully committed disciple. A plan that

will call for each member to move from membership to maturity to ministry to missions. We have a beautiful visual presentation that will help you she just how we intend to make disciples in an intentional way.

IV. SUCCESSFUL DISCIPLESHIP IS STRENGTHENED THROUGH INTEGRITY

“faithful men”

Making disciples stands or falls with these two little words, “faithful men.” Men of integrity, honesty, dependability.

Proverbs 20:6 Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?(KJV)

Faithful men and women have always been in short supply. God still seeks them out.

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

As a church we will transition and restructure our organization and schedule in order to allow for the important ministry of training disciplemakers. We dare not poison the pot by using anything less than fully committed disciples who in turn “teach others also.” Perhaps one of the most neglected areas of church is the training of leadership. Our Lord spent three years training (discipling) his twelve followers before entrusting them to carry on His work.

V. SUCCESSFUL DISCIPLESHIP PROGRESSES THROUGH COUNTINUOUS INSTRUCTION

“teach others also”

Discipleship never ends. If we are truly practicing Christian discipleship, then we will always be in the process of learning and teaching; of receiving and giving; of having and sharing.

Notice the four generations of discipleship in this verse:

1. We began with Paul

2. Then Timothy

3. Then faithful men

4. Others also.

Again church, let me stress, this is a multiplicative process. While faithful men are teaching others also, Timothy is in the process of raising up even more faithful men who again, in turn, teach others, also.

Implementing this vision of multiplying disciples constitutes the only way Christ’s commission can ever ultimately be fulfilled!

God help us to become a church that is a disciple making church!