Jesus told and equipped His disciples to do: "make disciples." Matthew 28:19.

Zealous Christians have not rightly understood how to pass on their faith to the succeeding generations. The problem is that they assume those after them will have the same zeal and understanding that they have. The problem is that they don't. That one assumption fouls up their willingness to teach and train. This happens in families too. Parents expect their children to know what they want, but parents need to provide step-by-step instruction to help them understand the process.

Of course, if Christians would just obey the Lord's command to 'make disciples,' then the problem would be avoided. The fact is not many people including pastors and teachers have thought through what it is to make disciples or why Jesus made this His last charge?

Because new Christians are baptized, but not specifically trained in what it is to be a godly Christian, many Christians stay worldly without knowing it. The fire of the first generation Christian has not been passed on. In the end, form, rather than passion, is passed on.

True discipleship, however, always passes on a heart of doing what the Lord wants. They care about motivation as well as obedience. Let's look closely at today's passage in 2 Timothy 2:2 and try to better understand how to make disciples.


Jesus commanded us to make disciples. Paul has compactly given us the plan of discipleship. It is not complicated but crucial. Remember that our success or failure depends on how well we follow this pattern. We are not devising a new method but only unfolding what has always been so clearly described in the scriptures. Through our study, try to keep asking, "Why does discipleship help protect a church from decay?"

We have four important parts of 2 Timothy 2:2 to properly understand it.

1 Content of the Gospel

"And the things"

'And the things' sounds like it violates every rule to writing good sentences. What is the Apostle Paul describing here with such a generic phrase? If anyone has read through 2 Timothy, they will be very clear what 'the things' are. Paul speaks about them early on in his letter to Timothy.

2 Timothy 1:10 says briefly that 'the things' are the gospel. In 2 Timothy 1:13, 14 he says more clearly,


Paul says it is "the standard of sound words." In the next verse, he goes on and tells Timothy to guard this treasure. These things were entrusted to Timothy. They are entrusted to anyone who has them passed on to them, much like a family heirloom. The phrase 'the things' summarizes all of Christian teaching and its benefits toward God's people.

Reflection

Perhaps we need to pause here and ask what are those things that God has passed onto us? Do we know Him? Have we been as dutiful in learning His truth as in keeping up with the movies? Am I teachable? What have I learned? What more do I need to learn? What is He trying to teach me now?

This is a series of very loaded questions which each of us are fully accountable before God to answer. You can put off these answers, but God will finally meet up with you. We are the generation that can put God's Word on our palm pilots, in most languages, in every size Bible that you would want. Every commentary and help is at hand including a website Biblical Foundations for Freedom! But are 'the things' in you? Are you teachable?

Jesus summarized His teachings by an ultimate love for God and devoted love to those around us. Let's now look at the second phrase.

2 Training of Others

"Which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses"

Paul is speaking about the need for Timothy to speak only what has been spoken to him. This training has several aspects.

Need to be Communicated
The gospel needs to be passed on to others. The gospel must be communicated. We can use radio, television, personal conversation or even the web.

Pre-defined; no Modernism
Paul instructs Timothy not to get caught up in recent changes of doctrines. Many false teachings were being passed around. Timothy was to stay true to what was passed to him.

One false doctrine that seems to attract some today is the concept that God is evolving. This concept is outright pagan. Behind this heresy and insult to God is that God gets better as man's concept of God gets better. This philosophy retreats back to the old ages where there was not much difference between God and man. God was only a reflection of man's thoughts. This is a false God.

Mutual-Accountability
Paul wasn't around to keep check on Timothy. Timothy was a pastor that spent much time under the Apostle Paul and yet Timothy was accountable to others who heard what Timothy heard. This shows how the pastor is to humbly work with the elders and leaders of the church.

Taught-Many
Paul the Apostle didn't keep all his eggs in one basket. He was wise enough to know that he needed to teach many. Timothy was not the only one listening and being trained.

Behind these statements seem to be a powerful theme.


Reflection

Perhaps we can pause here and search our hearts. Do we pride ourselves in being free thinkers? Do we like to think more about our thoughts or God's thoughts? Are we secretly or openly ambitious to be known as 'cool' or 'with it?' Paul is calling us to join the army of Christian soldiers where we all have to go through the same boot camp. We all need to train ourselves to regularly feed from the Word of God. We all need to thoroughly know God's Word. I have discovered this simple faith in practice 20 years ago in a booklet that have treasured, "Everyday with Jesus" by Selwyn Hughes.

We also can ask, "Are you discipling anyone?' Is your life summarized by a passion to invest what God has taught you into the lives of others? You might object that you are not like Paul the apostle, but let's look at this passage a bit clearer. Timothy wasn't born a pastor. He was brought up with a heathen father. Paul spent time with Timothy and his life was changed.

Paul wasn't just teaching Timothy. We think if we have a good pastor, all will be well. No. Paul taught others along with Timothy. He wasn't just training a pastor. He was training the flock of God. Everyone needs to know God's Word. Everyone needs to pass on God's truths to others.

We need to be faithful to those in our charge around us. Paul said that his reward depended on how well he built up the people of God.


I will agree that Paul, as an apostle, had a special responsibility to build up those under his charge. He was responsible. His success depended upon the faithfulness of those under his charge. A parent, however, is responsible for their children. A husband for his wife. An elder for the flock. A cell leader for the members. Our crown and joy is the faithfulness of those under our charge. Do you sense we need to pray more for God's grace rather than treat our charge lightly?

Let's now look at the process of discipleship.

3 Teachability of our Hearts

"These entrust to faithful men"

'These' refers to 'the things' referred to in point one, the truth of God. Our success in life has to do ultimately with how well we can pass on God's truth to others. Satan tries to hinder us from understanding the importance of these truths. We need to remove a few road barriers before we go on and explain this verse further.

'Men' (women is mine)

Women might draw the conclusion that they don't have a responsibility of discipling. This is not what Paul meant. Timothy was in fact ministering to men. The pattern goes like this: men-men; women-women. This does not mean that women were not to train. Titus 2 clearly speaks about how older women are to train younger women.

'Faithful'

We sometimes wonder why we are not to disciple everyone. Some are even offended. Paul tells Timothy to guard the truth by finding the teachable ones and entrusting them with the Gospel. Faithful individuals are characterized by the way they live out their faith. We need to prioritise our training with the faithful, those that actually respond to what we are teaching.

"I am not a pastor."

Others will excuse themselves from the responsibility to make disciples because they are not a pastor. God knows you are not a pastor. Here, Timothy is a pastor and is being charged with doing this. This was his particular role. But this responsibility was not exclusively given to a pastor. Ephesians 4 says that a pastor/teacher's special function is to equip God's people to do the ministry. In other words, they are to give the regular Christian what they need so that they can disciple others. This is further clarified in the Great Commission. God's church is to be mobilized into a great disciple-making army. "Go and make disciples!"

With these things out of the way, let us positively look at what Paul is instructing Timothy. Timothy was simply to take what Paul had taught him and entrust it to others. The word 'entrust' simply means to 'set before.' This word is used in several different verses in the scriptures. (Luke 9:16; 10:8; Acts 17:3; 20:32; 1 Co 10:27; 1 Tim 1:18; 2 Tim 2:2; 1 Peter 4:19)


It simply means 'to set before another to use.' Depending on different settings, the word could be translated into different English words. It simply means to pass to another in such a way that when received, it is considered valuable. 1 Peter 4:19 says, "Entrust your souls to God." We bring our troubled states before God in such a manner that we know He is safely holding and caring for us.

Reflection

Earlier on, we spoke about receiving God's Word. For many of you, this is a very special opportunity to base your life on God's Word before entering the work force. But we also need to think about passing this baton on to others. It is imperative that we are caught up in this task of making disciples.

Are you discipling someone else? Are you taking the truths that God has given to you and passing them on to someone else that really wants to hear them? You might ask, "I don't know how to do this." Let's discuss this in reference to two kinds of people: those who have never been discipled and those who have been discipled

1) Never been discipled.

Surprise: You would be surprised to find how many people have never been discipled. Because of this, they have no understanding of what it means. They are afraid of talking about it.

Simple: First, don't be afraid. Discipling is a simple process of taking the truths of God that you have grown by and purposely sharing them with others usually one on one. If you have been growing as a Christian, you have something to share with another newer or younger Christian.

Simulate: I would also recommend that you find a Christian that you respect and ask him or her to disciple you. This will not only help you understand the love of Christ and the truths that are to be passed on but on how you can share them with others. In addition, you could get a few discipleship books and read through the lessons and see what is being taught.

Be careful though. Many discipleship books tend to be individualistic and self-centred. They focus on an individual's own Christian life rather than how they are to function in the body of Christ.

2) Been discipled.

If you have been discipled, then many of your excuses for not discipling others are stripped away. I think Paul clearly saw into the problem. Many times, we waste our labour by only training someone to do something. We are not training others to train others. For example, do you train a person on how to love God or on how they can teach others to love God? Unfortunately, the latter is not often done. Paul thought of it though, and it is today's last point.

4 Reproduction of Disciples

"Who will be able to teach others also."

Reproduction is good! Any system of training that does not reproduce is set to die. We need to build reproduction into the system. God did this in His creation. Did you notice all the seeds in one nice juicy tomato? God also has deliberately built this into the Gospel.

Copy of the Original! Paul was clear that he wanted to start with a good image of the original - from Christ to Paul to Timothy onto others. This standard of reproduction would be good because it started with Christ. Timothy was to find and train faithful men. They might be faithful in a very few small things like coming on time, but they are faithful.

Train to Reproduce! Timothy would instil in those he shared the Gospel a need to teach others. When we make disciples, we need to do it in such a way that we will train them to train others.

Think about this in a local church context. The pastor needs to find those that are promising teachers or trainers. He has to reproduce his ability to make disciples. Behind this process is the great and Almighty power of God who converts, saves and sanctifies. Let His truth go forth, and it brings marvelous changes to the most unlikely candidates. Don't take a person on further than where he is. Keep with him on the most basic truths until they begin to sparkle. A dud is a dud no matter how many times you light it. But if it starts to sparkle, then they are alive. Follow on with them.

Multiplication! The key is, as Paul has already pointed out, they are faithful. Jesus referred to them in the Parable of the Sower. They receive the Word of God and reproduce some 30, 60 and 100 fold.


Can you sense the excitement of multiplication? They take what is given to them and have it change their lives. These disciples, and I hope you are one of them, take and cherish God's truth. Can you not see that our success is dependent on how well we pass these truths on to others?

A Plan for Discipling 100 Christians! Let's see how this practically works out. It seems impossible but frankly, it is much easier than we think. The main problem is the stubbornness of our hearts and our unwillingness to obey with a singleness of mind Christ's command to make disciples. We all can be part of God's training program. We all need to be. Some discipling will be more formal than others, but good discipleship always takes a conscious effort. For example, we will need to constantly pray for those we are training. Modicum