Everyday Disciple

Clayton Knight

Everyday Disciple • Sermon • Submitted 10 months ago • Presented 10 months ago

Disciple

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Challenging the church to be disciples and disciple makers.

Notes

Transcript

[INTRODUCTION]

There have been many famous mentor/mentee relationships throughout history. Some well known people who were at the top of their career will humbly say who it is they looked up to and learned from.

Socrates and Plato / Plato and Aristotle / Aristotle and Alexander the Great

One of those is the relationship between Socrates and Plato / Plato and Aristotle / Aristotle and Alexander the Great. This trio of relationships shaped human history. All these men understood the power of giving and receiving guidance. These four students of life all went on to form legacies of their own. This chain of leaders sparked by Socrates demonstrates the importance of passing knowledge and keeping the tradition of mentoring alive.

Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep

Jane Fonda is a Hollywood icon who starred in a number of movies. She met Meryl Streep during the filming of Julie and would become a mentor, helping her with on-set guidance and boosting her career by recommending her for roles. She has become one of the most well known actresses of our day.

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates

Warren Buffet mentored Bill Gates. Bill attributes many of the skills that made him one of the wealthiest people on the planet to Warren Buffet. Buffet advised Gates on investing, showed him the importance of building a platform and the value of time. One of the most importance things Gates attributed to his relationship to Buffet was the lesson to be in a state of constant education and to be learning even after monumental success.

Some other famous fictional mentor/mentee relationships would be

Professor Dumbledore and Harry Potter

Mr. Miyagi and the Karate Kid, Daniel

Genie and Aladdin

Gandolf and Frodo

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker

Mufasa and Simba

Professor Charles Xavier to The X-Men

The list goes on and on. Mentoring people is a great thing and needed.

But being a disciple maker is inherently different than being a mentor or teacher. Mentors help someone become more like themselves, or they help develop their character or careers.

Disciple makers help someone become more like JESUS. Discipleship is inviting someone to follow us as we follow Jesus and then step aside, so they can learn directly from the Master Himself.

[TRANSITION]

I want to spend some time observing the relationship between Paul and Timothy. But before we get to them, lets see what discipleship looked like in the Old Testament because I believe it ties into discipleship in the New Testament.

Discipleship in the OT is fundamentally about learning what is required from the Torah and submitting to it in obedience.

The terms “to instruct” and “to teach” fit the idea of discipleship well, as they both strongly imply a change in behavior as a result of the instruction.

Parents would begin with their children at an early age teaching them the Torah, which means the Law, and is what they called the first five books of the Bible. They would teach them what Genesis through Deuteronomy taught. And many would have much of it memorized.

One of most popular passages in the Torah is Deut 6:4-9 called the Shema. Chris mentioned this a few weeks ago. The word Shema means “to hear” or “listen,” and this text says:

4 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.

This is discipleship that is done in the home between parents and their children and I would argue that this is the most important form of discipleship. Look at what this text says.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

Love the LORD with everything you have. Love the LORD with every inch of your being.

These words are to be in your heart.

How are words on your heart? You take time studying the Words of God and memorizing them. It so easy to remember lyrics to a song because you listen to it over and over again. That’s what God wants us to do with Scripture, read it again, and again, and again so that we memorize it and have it in our hearts.

Repeat them to your children.

Teach God’s Word to your children in everyday activities.

Take them with you everywhere.

By having God’s Word on your heart, you will be able to take it everywhere and live it out.

This discipleship is done in the context of the family. The text shows that this is not just short Bible study in the morning or short prayer time with your kids every day but rather in everyday activities, in everyday routines, in everyday interactions, the Word of the Lord should be taught to your children.

When you wake up and have a bowl of cereal with your kids you can have faith conversation.

When you are outside and you see a rainbow, you can have a faith conversation.

When you are helping your student study for a test, you can have a faith conversation

When you are in the middle of a thunderstorm, you can have a faith conversation.

When you are budgeting, have faith conversation.

When you are struggling financially, emotionally, physically, have faith conversations.

I had lunch with a guy early this week and we are both the same age and somehow got on the topic of working out. When you hit a certain age, your body begins to change and exercise becomes a more serious thing. Some of us are more disciplined in that area than others like Pastor Christ who has been very disciplined in his running and training for half-marathons. Well my friend has 3 boys and with his workout routine that he is doing requires him to workout twice a day and once has to be outside. He had someone ask him, how does he have the time to do that with three boys? His answer was that he does it with them. For the indoor activity, they usually will watch some boxing training video but for the boys, its power ranger training. They all have shirts that he cut the sleeves off, and gave certain colored headbands designating which power ranger they are. For the outdoor activity, he takes his boys on a long walk with them and just talks with his boys. His discipleship is living life with his boys. Those are his kids and he loves them. He wants to see them grow in the LORD and the best ways to do that is to live life with them.

[TRANSITION]

Along with teaching your children to live in according to God’s Word, within the Old Testament it also carried a meaning of correcting or punishing wrong behavior.

A parent will discipline out of love, sometimes frustration, but also love. We all know the phrase, “this hurts me more than it hurts you.” With discipleship comes discipline and there is a purpose to discipline. A change in behavior is expected and intended with discipline. I have to read all of Proverbs 4. Students listen up, this is really directed toward you.

1 Listen, sons, to a father’s discipline,

and pay attention so that you may gain understanding,

2 for I am giving you good instruction.

Don’t abandon my teaching.

3 When I was a son with my father,

tender and precious to my mother,

4 he taught me and said,

“Your heart must hold on to my words.

Keep my commands and live.

5 Get wisdom, get understanding;

don’t forget or turn away from the words from my mouth.

6 Don’t abandon wisdom, and she will watch over you;

love her, and she will guard you.

7 Wisdom is supreme—so get wisdom.

And whatever else you get, get understanding.

8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;

if you embrace her, she will honor you.

9 She will place a garland of favor on your head;

she will give you a crown of beauty.”

10 Listen, my son. Accept my words,

and you will live many years.

11 I am teaching you the way of wisdom;

I am guiding you on straight paths.

12 When you walk, your steps will not be hindered;

when you run, you will not stumble.

13 Hold on to instruction; don’t let go.

Guard it, for it is your life.

14 Keep off the path of the wicked;

don’t proceed on the way of evil ones.

15 Avoid it; don’t travel on it.

Turn away from it, and pass it by.

16 For they can’t sleep

unless they have done what is evil;

they are robbed of sleep

unless they make someone stumble.

17 They eat the bread of wickedness

and drink the wine of violence.

18 The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,

shining brighter and brighter until midday.

19 But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom;

they don’t know what makes them stumble.

20 My son, pay attention to my words;

listen closely to my sayings.

21 Don’t lose sight of them;

keep them within your heart.

22 For they are life to those who find them,

and health to one’s whole body.

23 Guard your heart above all else,

for it is the source of life.

24 Don’t let your mouth speak dishonestly,

and don’t let your lips talk deviously.

25 Let your eyes look forward;

fix your gaze straight ahead.

26 Carefully consider the path for your feet,

and all your ways will be established.

27 Don’t turn to the right or to the left;

keep your feet away from evil.

Students, sometimes you don’t want to listen to your parents, I get that.

You think things are different today than they were when they were kids, that’s true in some ways. But do you know what is the same for them when they were kids as it is for you today? Many of them had parent who had rules set in place for the benefit of their child. Your parents have rules in place to help benefit you because they love you and want to see you grow in the Lord.

You may ask:

Why can’t I have a phone? Because your parents care about the evils that come with a phone and the things you can access.

Why can’t I hang out with my friends or stay at their house over night? Because your parents care about your safety and the influence people may have on you until they know your friends and their families and are comfortable letting you stay there.

Why can’t I go do this or that? Because your parents love you.

If you listen to what Proverbs 4, you gain wisdom from listening to what your parents have to say.

What is wisdom?

Wisdom is taking the knowledge that you have learned and putting it into practice. Parents have experienced many things in their life and they want to share that wisdom that they have learned with you.

So know this, when your parents spends time with you, its because they love you; but when they discipline you, its also because they love you.

We could spend much more time in the Old Testament looking at discipleship, but what we can see is that it is primarily done by the parents to their children. But what does it look like in the New Testament?

[TRANSITION]

Lets look at the relationship between Paul and Timothy.

Timothy first arrives on the scene in Acts 16 when Paul hears about this disciple who was well spoken of and Acts 16:3 says that Paul wanted Timothy to join him. Paul had heard of Timothy and wanted to pour into this guy and so when he saw his opportunity, he asked Timothy to join him on his journeys.

There are three points I want to make on what discipleship looks like.

The first thing I want to note is that there is a relationship in discipleship that we see between Paul and Timothy, particularly with a parental aspect. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:2

“To Timothy, my true son in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In the beginning of their relationship, Paul understood his assignment as the disciple maker of Timothy, the disciple.

This echoes the relationship of discipleship that we saw back in the Old Testament. Paul has decided to take Timothy under his wing to help him grow in his faith. This wasn’t going to be a relationship in which Paul would meet with Timothy a couple times a week and walk through Scripture together, but instead, they lived life together.

Though Timothy was not his real son, he discipled him as though it was his own son.

Discipleship will take a similar role of parent-hood as you pour into who it is your discipling.

Just as a parent takes time throughout their day to lovingly pour into their child and teach them things within Scripture, so Paul likely did with Timothy. Paul would likely take Timothy aside and pray with him. Paul would take Timothy as he mended tents and taught him the importance of giving back to God what he has blessed them with.

Paul had the Shema memorized and knew that he needed to teach Timothy everything he knew about God’s Word and following Christ, but to do it in the everyday routine of life.

Jordan was talking to me after him and his family came back from vacation in Colorado. From what I heard and the pictures I saw, they had a wonderful time. Jordan shared with me that while he was up there, he spent time with David praying for him and with him. David is becoming a young man and Jordan knew this would be a strong bonding time for their father/son relationship and an opportunity for Jordan to pour into his son spiritually as well.

Every Sunday I send out emails with questions regarding the lesson the students went over in Sunday School. The purpose in this is so that the parents can know what there kid studying and have some faith conversations. Michelle has told me that she takes those questiosn and talks with her boys about what they went over because she knows the importance of talking about Scripture and having those faith conversations with her kids.

This is what discipleship looks like.

[TRANSITION]

The second aspect of the relationship between Paul and Timothy is that discipleship requires challenge. The challenge that he sets forth for Timothy is found in 2 Timothy 3:10–11 when Paul writes:

10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 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.

Paul had challenged Timothy to live as he had lived and Paul was recognizing that. But I want to be clear, Paul wasn’t actually wanting Timothy to live as he lived simply because he knew how to live as a Christian, rather, Paul wanted people to live for Christ as he lived for Christ. We can see this in 1 Corinthians 11:1

“1 Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.”

Right before Paul said that, he is talking about the Christians ability to make their own choices. Paul says verse 23,

“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up. 24 No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.

What Paul is basically saying is this, you have the choice, but you need to be wise with that choice. Lets take the touchy subject of alcohol for example, though Scripture does not deny that you cannot drink alcohol, is it beneficial that you drink? What is the context of when and where you drink? Could it make someone around you question Christianity if they see you in drinking? Listen to this, could it cause a brother or sister in Christ to stumble if they saw you drinking?

It’s the classic old phrase “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?”

Paul continues on saying,

“31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 32 Give no offense to Jews or Greeks or the church of God, 33 just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.

As we live out our Christian lives, the goal is to be imitators of Christ and the reason is so that we can hopefully lead others to salvation.

We don’t live out our faith so that others can see us and go, look at that person, they are a really good Christian, I want to be like that person. No, we do it so others can see Christ through us. As we pour into others, we are pouring out the wisdom that we have received.

[TRANSITION]

The third aspect of the relationship between Paul and Timothy is that discipleship becomes a partnership.

In Paul’s conclusion in his letter to the Romans, Paul makes a reference to Timothy that shows us this aspect to their relationship and how Paul views Timothy. He says in Romans 16:21

21 Timothy, my coworker, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my fellow countrymen, greet you.

The progression of Timothy in his relation to Paul has gone from a son, to a students who has been challenged, to a partner and co-worker with Paul.

You can’t disciple an individual forever, at some point you must take the baton and pass it off. The baton has been passed down from generation to generation. Every Christian has been commanded by Jesus himself to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.”

This is not a choice. Many people believe that once they accept Christ, they are good, that’s all that they have to do but the reality is, is that is just the beginning of your walk with Christ.

We must move from being an unbeliever to a believer, then to a disciple and then a disciple maker.

Salvation is free, but discipleship costs everything we have.

Billy Graham

[CONCLUSION]

As the band comes up I want to leave you with a challenge in three simple words.

Who’s your Timothy?

Who is it that you can be pouring into?

Who is that you can be living life with and pointing and training to be more like Christ?

Who is it that you can be meeting for coffee and studying Scripture together with, praying with, living life with?

We have a lot of children in the children’s ministry who could use some discipleship by some men in this room.

Remember that discipleship requires challenge. Maybe you need to challenge yourself to begin serving with the children.

Maybe its in the student ministry. I could use some help in the student ministry as well.

Maybe you have been feeling a pull to serve in a particular area. Come talk to one of us and lets see what we can do about it.

So I ask again,