The Pathway of Discipleship

Join us as Pastor Tyler concludes his sermon series on Being a Disciple-Making Church - The Pathway of Discipleship - 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:24

It's a joy to be together this morning in the Word and to be worshiping the Lord. Today's a special day in the church calendar. It is Pentecost Sunday. And so it's the time in the church calendar that we just remember and reflect on the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that now is believers indwells every single one of us. And I think what's interesting too about, I mean, this is just God planning this. What's interesting about it being Pentecost Sunday and us going through talking about discipleship and reaching the nations and reaching the world is that the Spirit was promised by Jesus to come with empowerment from on high. Right before Jesus ascends to the Father, he promises the coming of the Spirit. And Acts 1.8 speaks of the Holy Spirit being this empowerment for us as the church to be Christ's witnesses. I guess, in other words, for us as a church to be disciples making disciples. And so we just want to remember that this morning and thankful to the Lord that the Spirit of God lives in us to keep us on mission, on the mission of God. So last week we talked about the who of discipleship and answering the question of who is it that we are called to make disciples of? How do we uh begin that uh that relationship with somebody? Who should we choose to disciple? And this week we're going to wrap up our series on disciples making disciples, talking about the pathway of discipleship, reflecting on the what of discipleship. So, what is it in the discipleship relationship between one person and another person that should be the focus? What is it that Jesus calls us to do in those discipleship relationships? A survey was done of churches back in 2020. So it's about six years old now. And the survey was done to help determine the answer to the question: are we actually making disciples who make disciples? Are churches actually doing what Christ has called us to do, what the Holy Spirit has empowered us to do? Or are we just keeping people busy? And so that was the question. And so they did this survey of these churches. And the result indicated that as these churches were surveyed, that only 5% of these churches had cultures rooted in Jesus style discipleship. Where there was a genuine, uh, where it was a genuine part of the culture of the church, and it wasn't this, just this programmed one. I mean, if you think about that on the flip side, that's 95% of these churches surveyed admitted that they didn't have a culture of discipleship. 95%. Just think about that for a moment. You know, a recent study by that same group is showing that this is beginning to shift. And we know that nothing can stop the growth of Christ's church. But if this statistics, if these statistics are true or an indication of the culture of our church of churches today, even if it was 65, or even if it was 75% true, we're in trouble. According to the Barna Research Group in the U.S., the top reason they found that Christians weren't engaged in disciples was that they've never thought about it before. And of course there's other reasons. But the top reason, oh, I never thought about it. No one's ever challenged me in it. Well, today we are back in 2 Timothy, um, looking at 2 Timothy 2, 1, or 2 Timothy 2, 10 to 17. So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn there with me, um, reflecting on this relationship between Paul the Apostle and Timothy, this discipleship relationship. And again, you remember there's difficulties in ministry for Timothy. There's difficulties in the church, there's false teachers, there's persecutions, there's hard times. And here is how Paul describes kind of the cultural moment. I'm just gonna read verses one through nine. We don't have them on the screen, but if you have your Bibles, you can follow along with me. But verses one through nine, this is Paul setting up what he says in 10 to 17, starting in verse 1 of chapter 3. But know this hard times will come in the last days. Hard times are gonna come, Timothy. It's not gonna be easy. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable. The list goes on. They'll be slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, but denying its power, avoid these people, Paul says. Then in verse 6, for among them are those who worm their way into households, deceive gullible women, overwhelmed by sins and led astray by a variety of passions, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, just as Janus and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress, for their foolishness will be clear to all, as was the foolishness of Janus and Jambres. And here we are, the first nine verses. We're then coming into the next seven verses of the chapter. Paul has set the stage, and I've often thought about this over the years, like, wow, did Paul know what 2020, 2026 is going to be like? You read that, I mean, does that not describe our culture? Does that not at times describe your own heart, our own struggles with sin in the 21st century? And he wrote this thousands of years ago. You know, I'm convinced, as Ecclesiastes tells us, there's nothing new under the sun. Things have been bad for a long time, really, since Adam and Eve fell into sin. But we have the hope of Jesus Christ that he is renewing all things. And so Paul sets this up for Timothy, explaining, you know, Timothy, things are gonna be difficult, but in verse 10, he begins, see, but this isn't you, Timothy. Let me tell you who you are. And so in Paul telling Timothy who he is and what he's experienced and what it looks like for him, what we're gonna notice is we're gonna notice a certain pathway of discipleship, a certain uh pieces of discipleship between Timothy's relationship with Paul that were present, that have grounded him, that have made him uh uh able to tackle the culture of the day, able to minister in such a context. And we're gonna notice that the pathway of discipleship, and I'm going to encourage us in the same in the same manner, but the pathway of a true like discipleship relationship, as we see exemplified here, is first, we're gonna talk about three things. The first one is engaging in life together, and then number two, we're gonna talk about encouragement to continue in the faith, and number three, equipping for the work of the faith. So the first thing we see in verses 10 to 11 is engaging in life together. The pathway of discipleship includes engaging in life together. You know, discipleship takes time, it takes effort. Sometimes, and in fact, most cases, my experience is that it takes reordering our priorities. It takes a physical space on our calendars, physical space in our day. And what defined Christ's relationship with his disciples more than anything else was the time that he spent with them. Over three years he spent with them. Yeah, you know, teaching was a significant part of this, and we'll get to that in this passage, as you can't get around it in this passage. Teaching is significant to uh to the relationship of discipleship. But you just think about this. Jesus lived everyday life with his disciples. He ate with them, they walked the same roads and pathways, they stayed in the same places, they had the same experiences, they likely had awkward moments together. In fact, we know they did, especially with the Pharisees. And surely they had fun together. There was times of joy, there was times of sorrow, but all of this was natural, and all of this was intentional on the part of Jesus. There was enjoyment of being together. And if you think about it, I mean, these were generally young men in their mid to late teens, some in their 20s, maybe one or two in their 30s, and these would be the guys who would be there at the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would come and empower them to get the church moving and growing and preaching the good news of the gospel, teaching the world about Jesus Christ, discipling. I mean, these would be the guys, but they engaged in life together with Jesus. And as we read about Paul and Timothy's relationship, it's much the same as this. And this comes in these few verses, verses 10 and 11, especially, we see that there's a life component. Paul starts by saying this in verse 10, but you, Timothy, not like the foolishness of today's world, today's day and age, you have followed my teaching, my conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance. Along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. But you have followed, he says. You're not like the wickedness of this culture, those false teachers that we're talking about. You, Timothy, you've you've followed. See, this term followed means to trace out one's life. You have traced my life, Timothy. Timothy was a copy of Paul. This is what Paul is saying. And to get this, to get to this point of Timothy being a copy of Paul, they did life together. And so there's three things, uh main things that I think are important for us to pull out and to think about specifically about them doing life together. The first one is this uh following biblical teaching. So biblical discipleship, the pathway of discipleship includes doing life together. And in doing life together, there's a following of biblical teaching. Verse 10. Look how he starts the list. He says, You have followed my teaching. You see, for Paul, when he makes lists, it wasn't like a shopping list, you know, where just whatever you can think of, you put it down. Maybe you arrange your shopping list by aisle. Uh, you're that good. Um, maybe you're just impressed with the fact that you made a shopping list. Uh, but for Paul, I mean, this is very intentional, and this is how he always makes these lists, because he always starts first with the thing that is most important, that everything else kind of flows from. And for Paul, it was teaching. Some translations say doctrine. Charles Spurgeon said this that the word of God is an anvil upon which opinions of men are smashed. And so, in their discipleship relationship, significant time given to teaching, to doctrine. And this is an important thing, because as we do discipleship, it's important that we are intentional about the ministry and the encouragement of the word. And it was particularly important to Paul in encouraging Timothy in the faith, also in warning him against error. As if you read through the book of 2 Timothy, you see, even in 2 Timothy 2, 17, that error would spread like gangrene. False teaching in the church becomes this flesh-eating disease, and the greatest weapon and defense we have is doctrinal truth or teaching. This is the biblical part of biblical discipleship. The teaching of Scripture, the teaching of doctrine. And this is what Jesus calls us to do, Matthew 28, 19 and 20, to teaching all that I've commanded you, go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them all that I have commanded you, teaching them all that I have said. This is officially teaching and proactively teaching as Jesus, and officially teaching and proactively teaching Jesus Himself. And this could be, it could happen in us going about our regular life activities, but Paul emphasizes this intentionality behind it. See, there it wasn't just shooting the breeze about the Bible, but he traced, Timothy traced his life after Paul's doctrine. And in our context, I mean, this could be as simple as getting together and reading through the Bible together, talking about the Bible together with somebody that you're discipling, praying through the Bible together. But there's certainly following biblical teaching. Next thing we see in this kind of life-on-life discipleship is that there is forming biblical conduct, purpose, faith, patience, and love. He goes on to say this you followed my teaching, my conduct, my purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance. Andreas Kosenberger in his in his commentary on 2 Timothy says that mentoring and disciple making don't merely involve imparting a body of information into somebody, but it's also vitally important that it entails modeling of one's convictions in real life. Taking what we know, putting them into practice, and somebody else watching us practice those things out. You see, Timothy knew Paul's integrity in life. This is the things of life that naturally flow from a life that is devoted to Jesus Christ, a life that's devoted to his teaching. I mean, this is a life that is formed and framed by the word of God, a life that exemplifies what it means to take God's word seriously and to put it into practice. To have our purpose molded by God's word. To have our faith grounded in God's word, our love flowing from God's word. You know, when you're in the word of God, it changes you. And what Timothy sees in Paul is a life transformed by the word of God, a life that is traceable, a life that's experienced the two-edged sword, cutting between joints and marrow, judging the intents of the heart, transforming one in maturity in Christ. See, this kind of life-on-life discipleship, yes, teaching is important, but also the whole application of that teaching in life is important. A life on life discipleship relationship reveals how the rubber hits the road, how the Christian life really works, how the love of Jesus really transforms, how the gospel never returns void. And so if we're going to be those who are making disciples, we need to be those who are exemplifying this life-transforming gospel message, as Paul did for Timothy, and as Timothy traced out in Paul's life. The next thing I think is interesting and important is this. He encourages Timothy to faithfully endure persecution and suffering. Verses 11 to 12. And this, if you think about it, really is part of the discipleship process. You see, here in these verses, Paul mentions the persecution and suffering that he uh actually let's just let's just read these verses. It says in verse 11, along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, what persecutions I endured, and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. In fact, all who want to live godly, a godly life in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted. See, he mentions these things, Icone Iconium, Antioch, and Lystra, and we get a sense of what took place in these places because we have Acts 14. Well, Acts 13 and Acts 14. You see, this persecution that Paul was facing in these places included verbal abuse, uh, expulsion from the from the region, uh, others being swayed against Paul. A conspiracy that in the end Paul was stoned, he was dragged outside the people, and the people thought that he was dead. In fact, if you have your Bibles, just flip with me over to Acts 14. Um, the uh it'll also be on the screen behind us. But Acts 14, 19 to 20, this is when he's in these places that he's mentioning right here. And I think that there's more than um just this going on. You see, Timothy was from this region, and so Timothy would have heard these stories. Maybe Timothy was even there watching these things happen. Who knows? But he was from this region, he knew intimately what was happening here, and then he himself goes on to be, of course, Paul's disciple, experiencing similar things with Paul. But look what happens here in Acts 14, verse 19. Some Jews came. From Antioch and Iconium. And when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul, dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. Verse 20, after the disciples gathered around him, he got up, went to the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derby. And then we see in verse 21, they begin some church planting. So just think about this. If you're stoned, you didn't just get up and walk away. How they would do it is they would they would begin by throwing large enough stones at your feet and your ankles to break them. To ensure that you couldn't just get up and walk away. And then they would work their way up from the bottom to the top to your head so that you suffered as much and as long as possible in this whole stoning. The point was death. The point was suffering. And so here's Paul, dragged out of the city. He's stoned, and they're looking at him saying, This guy is dead. And if they're looking at him saying he's dead, then he must have really looked dead. And what happens? The disciples gather around Paul. He gets up and he walks away. Amazing. And then he goes and plants some churches. You see, Timothy was in this area. He would have known intimately the things that Paul went through in suffering. And even through the book of 2 Timothy, Paul is reminding Timothy, listen, suffering's part of the Christian life. Suffering's part of this discipleship journey. Chapter 1, verse 8, therefore, he says, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God. Chapter 2, verse 3, he says to Timothy, share in the suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Chapter 2, verse 9, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. Chapter 4, verse 5, which is coming soon in the next chapter, he says, But as for you, Timothy, always be sober-minded, endure suffering. Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. See what discipleship is? Discipleship is also this invitation that we give to others to come and watch us suffer for Jesus. Because as we follow in the footsteps of Christ, the ultimate sufferer for our sake, we become this example to others that the suffering of Jesus was not in vain. And then he says, Oh, by the way, Timothy, anyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus is gonna su is gonna suffer persecution. Kind of reminds me of Philippians 3, as we talked about weeks ago, but Paul says to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, to fellowship in his sufferings. To live in Christ is to live in his suffering, Paul is saying. I mean, how's that for a sales pitch? We see Timothy saw first hand Paul endure through these things. The suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ. Paul exposed Timothy to that difficult part of his life. And then we see the next main thing is this is the discipleship pathway also includes encouragement to continue in the faith. And I think this section is so properly planted here right after suffering, because I think it connects so well, and it connects into the next section that we're going to look at in a few moments. But here in verses 13 to 15, we get this idea of encouragement to continue in the faith. I mean, we all need a little encouragement sometimes, don't we? Especially when we live in the cultural context that we do, where things can seem so discouraging. I mean, again, if you want to look at discouraging, look at verses 1 through 9. The cultural context Timothy was in. But here, Paul recognizes that for Timothy, uh for Timothy, this is important, and he gives a sobering reminder and a picture here of the reality of those who are corrupting the faith of some or the false teachers. As again, the book is sprinkled with this instruction regarding false teachers, but then he's contrasting it with Timothy in his own life, his own experience and what he knows to be true. Verse 13, he says, evil people and imposters will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you. And you know that from infancy, remember who are those that taught him? Lois and Eunice, his mother and grandmother, and Paul the apostle. You know those who taught you from infancy. You have known the sacred scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. And this is very encouraging. You see, he was reminding Timothy to hold on to the faith that he had known from long ago. One commentator puts it this way in these verses: in contrast to the false teachers, with their constant endeavor to advance to something new, Timothy was supposed to be satisfied with what he had already received. He says, but as for you, and this is a strong statement, you're not like those false teachers. Don't be brought away like those false teachers are always looking for something to advance and something new in doctrine. But as for you, Timothy, continue in what you have learned. You know, I believe that because we have a significant drought of intentional biblical personal discipleship within the church across North America, and we've had this drought for some time in our Western culture, I believe that it has had a devastating impact on those who are struggling with suffering. Those who are struggling with doubts, or those who are just struggling in their faith in general. Do you see what Paul does here, though? He encourages his son in the faith, in the midst of some dark cultural things and difficult ministry moments, to continue, continue on. I mean, isn't that the way it should be? Shouldn't we have somebody who comes alongside of us in those struggles and those questions and those doubts that just encourages us, that lifts us up? He's like, hang in there, Timothy. God is doing something amazing and wonderful. Like remember the faith that you uh know so well from the sacred scriptures. Sometimes we need this kind of support and encouragement. Someone to encourage us, hang in there. Maybe you're even here this morning. And you're struggling. And you need this kind of encouragement. Hang in there. Continue in what you have learned and known. Paul is saying to Timothy that these are the false teachers on one hand, but on the other hand, Timothy, listen, you have the wisdom of the scriptures, the salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. You have something much greater, much more valuable, and you've had it since infancy. Nothing compares to the power and value of Scripture and the beauty of Jesus Christ. Don't be fooled, Timothy. Hang in there. You know, in a real way, he's saying, hold on to your Bible and hold on to Jesus. Nothing is more valuable. So we have this encouragement to continue in the faith, and it's an important part of the discipleship pathway, especially as we're faced with the allure of the culture around us. Paul's relationship with Timothy built him up and encouraged him in the faith in a way that this can only really be accomplished in this one-on-one kind of way, where he knows his son in the faith, he knows his heart, he knows his struggles, and he's personally pouring out to him and personally encouraging him and calling him to continue in the faith. The other key component to the discipleship pathway in a discipleship relationship, the final component we're going to look at is equipping for the work of the faith. Equipping for the work of the faith. And this is in verses 16 and 17. You know, when you read all these verses together, 10 through 17, it's clear that discipleship and spiritual health and maturity is rooted in and dependent on the power of the gospel through the word of God. I'm going to say that again. In discipleship, it's important, and we see in these verses that spiritual health and maturity is rooted in and dependent on the power of the gospel through the word of God. And Paul is saying essentially in these verses, the Bible, the word of God, Scripture, this is God's words for us. And we know when we read them, He is speaking. I've heard it said, I don't know if I said this here before, but one preacher put it this way: if you want to hear God speak audibly, just read the Bible out loud. These are God's words. You see, verses 16 and 17, they tie all of this together in a big way. They bridge the gap between the theoretical and just knowing things about God, the doctrinal, to the practical. And he says this in verse 16 All scripture is inspired by God, you're probably familiar with these verses. It's profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. All scripture is inspired. Paul says, these are God's words. It is God breathed. He breathed through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit through men who wrote down these words. And these words of God are powerful. When he speaks, things happen. When God says things, things happen. Just think about this. God's words, how important the word of God is, his voice. He spoke the universe into existence. We started from the words of God. He spoke words of judgment and hope to Adam and Eve after the fall. He spoke words of promise, of coming redemption to Abraham. He spoke words of strength and power to Egypt through Moses. He spoke words of instruction, pointing to the coming Redeemer through the law to Israel. He spoke words of promise to Mary through the angel Gabriel of her bearing the Messiah. He spoke words of pleasure at Christ's baptism. This is my son in whom I am well pleased. He had the first word and he will have the last word. He is the Alpha and He is the Omega, the beginning and the end. And here we are told that He speaks words of life, of transformation, words of grace to each of us as He's breathed out the Scripture. You see, this is more than just the book, as we know. These are God's words of life. Our salvation depends on these words. Our sanctification and our growth in Christ depend on these words. Our future and our hope depend on these words and these promises. All the transformation and the grace that we understand we have through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the presence of the Holy Spirit are revealed to us through these words. It's more than just a book. You want to be faithful? Know these words. Know them not just in your mind, but in your soul. You want to grow and battle sin and temptation, follow these words. You want to stand up against false teaching, use these words. And Paul says all of these things about the word of God being profitable are true. He says the first thing it is profitable for teaching. Again, that word, that word doctrine, there again. It's profitable for teaching and doctrining. This is the reason for why we do what we do. This is the doctrine we hold to. This is how things work. God's words reveal to us how life works, how relationships should work. This is the instruction for life. Did you know law in the Old Testament means instruction? It's God's instruction for life. This means the Bible tells us what is right and what is wrong. This is the why of life. We find that in the doctrine. But then also the Bible. The Word of God is powerful. Scripture is powerful for rebuking, as he says. It's profitable for teaching, profitable for rebuking. This is reproof. This is the idea here, it's connected to sanctification and growth, even encouragement. And this is the Bible's role in our sanctification and encouragement. It's the nourishment for our souls. It's the food for which we need to mature. It's the meat. This tells us the truth about our sin, the truth about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells us the hard stuff. But it tells us the good stuff. And then we also see, as Paul says here, it's also for correcting. And this is the power of God's word in fixing what is wrong. It's like a course correction. So when you come across passages like put off and put on, this is what those are talking about. You put off lying, you put on truth. You put off stealing, you put on generosity and work. See, the Bible tells us how to make things right and how to get on the right track on course. And then he says, for training and righteousness, the Bible's role here in how to keep our life living in light of the glorious righteousness that Christ has given us as Christians. And Paul says all of this and says, the reason for all this, here it is, so that the man of God in verse 17, or the woman of God, so that the man or the woman of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. That the man of God may be complete. The Bible completes us, shows us, and identifies our purpose. And then equipped for every good work, it equips us for what God has called us to do. This is the inspired, God-breathed scripture. Amen. Have you ever gone to go do something? And when you get there in that room, or wherever it might be, you ask the question, what was I coming in here to do again? Like the uh husband who humbly admitted to his wife that sometimes I'll march into a room like a man on assignment, then stand there looking around like I'm a tourist. You see, discipleship lived out by the word of God keeps us on track and flourishing in the kingdom of God as Jesus has intended. For far too long and far too many, too many churches, too many individuals are standing around in our culture today, in our world today, not as someone on an assignment, but as a bunch of lost tourists. Let's stop asking the question, why am I here? And recognize that it's for this purpose. Disciples making disciples. Our calling is to make discipleship happen as we preach Christ and Him crucified. So my question for us here this morning in closing is what's your next step in the life and discipleship? What's your next step in your pursuit of Christ? What's your next step in the life and discipleship of our church? Who's your Paul? And who has God brought into your life for you to intentionally disciple? Who's your Timothy? Who do you already have as a friendship or relationship that this would be natural for you and family, someone in church like we talked about last week? Well, here's the final question. Why not get started? Go out for coffee. Begin praying together, getting to know each other. Start reading the Bible together. I mean, read through 1 John together and talk about it. Pray through it. You don't have to spend weeks and months preparing to talk through first, just open it up. Let the Spirit of God speak through the Word of God. Read Second Timothy. Read one of the Gospels. It doesn't need to be fancy. But it needs to be living life together and grounded in the Word of God. Do as Jesus did. Spend time engaging with one another. Teach Jesus, encouraging one another. Employ tactics, equipping one another with God's truth to live out the faith and further calling of us to make disciples of all the nations. Let's pray. Father, help us in our pursuit of you to faithfully and graciously help others pursue you. Lord, give us a passion, a desire, give us the strength, give us the wisdom. And Lord, we thank you for your word that does not return void, but everything we need for life, for godliness, you've given to us. So, Father, we pray for your help in all of these things. Jesus' name, amen,