A Charge to Discipleship - Week 4

So this will be our last Sunday taking a break from our normal pattern of verse-by-verse exposition through the Gospel of Mark.

We've come in Mark to Jesus' arrest and we're going to pick back up next week with his trial and his crucifixion and his resurrection that follows that.

I'm thankful by no great effort of my own in the scheduling of this that we'll actually be able to, Lord willing, things don't change on us, to preach on the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Not as a break from the text, but as part of the natural flow and telling of it by Mark.

But we've found this need to take a little break, a little stop, a little step away from Mark's Gospel.

Really not as a complete diversion from it, but really as kind of an outworking of some of the things that I believe are happening in our church as a result of our study of Mark.

Two verses in particular that have really been resonating with me.

This axiomatic statement that Jesus makes in Mark 8, 34 and 35, where he says,

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospels will save it.

So we see that Jesus is saying that you must give up those things that are of value in the world.

You must give up your self-determination.

You must give up your plans and take up mine.

And that's what it's going to mean to follow Jesus, that we're going to deny ourselves.

We're going to die to ourselves and we're going to follow him.

And I think that unfortunately in the American church, there's so many mouths that claim to know Christ.

And there's so few people that actually follow him, that are truly his disciples.

Now hear me, we don't do activity so that we will become his disciples,

but the activity itself becomes the result of who we are in him.

That God, through the work of Christ, has changed our hearts.

He's made us new.

And new people live different than old people.

New creations working out the great mission of the Gospel in this world.

So we started three weeks ago, kind of just gave a general charge to discipleship.

We talked about some of the challenges in our very culture.

The three-county area that we live in, 232,000 people.

It's estimated, I think, quite generously that 80% of them are unchurched.

And so we're looking at a massive number, 186,500 people who, in a generous estimation,

don't know Christ, are eternally separated from God, will be damned forever, rightly, justly punished for their sin.

And they won't respond in faith in large part because Christians aren't telling them the good news of Jesus Christ.

If we're to follow Jesus, we're going to care about what he cares about.

We're going to have to be disciples who are about the work of making disciples.

Two weeks ago, we talked about how the ongoing way this activity is to be encouraged,

which is by the life of a local congregation, by the life of the church.

And in our setting, we talked more specifically about how that will happen in our community outreach groups.

Last week, we addressed some particular, some biblical pattern for evangelism,

for the sharing of the gospel, for the making of converts.

And this week, we're going to talk about discipleship, the ongoing work of maturing converts.

So once a convert is made, and if you guys are hearing, and if God is working in your lives,

and you're seeing the point, if I'm to be a disciple of Jesus Christ,

I'm going to be about the work of making disciples.

This begins with the act of conversion, the Spirit working by our words to change people's hearts.

What do we do after that?

Is there a responsibility beyond?

And yes, there is.

And we tend to call this responsibility discipleship.

But let's build a bit together toward this idea.

So if you will, let me turn to Matthew chapter 28, starting in verse 18.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

The mission that God has given His church to, we very often, most often call it the Great Commission.

You probably have a subtitle in your copy of God's Word that says the Great Commission.

It's repeated in the synoptics.

It's restated in a little bit of a different way in the first chapter of Acts.

One of my favorite statements of it is recorded here by Matthew.

And Jesus came and said to them,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

And we see in these verses, these three verses, a commandment first of all.

And that commandment is in verse 19 in the first part of 20.

Go and make disciples.

Conversion is certainly part of that process, but not merely converts.

Don't just preach the gospel.

Have people respond in faith and leave them.

We've talked about scattering seed.

The way in which we're meant to sow in the parable of the sowers.

And the way that we find the good soil is by sowing seed.

This is the way you see the evidence of this.

But there's a follow-up that must take place.

The field must still be tended when we find good soil.

And part of the way we weed out some things is that we recognize,

as we're working in people's lives, once they have been made converts to Christ,

the fruit and the things that are happening to them in that regard.

We're meant to baptize them in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit.

And we're meant to teach them to observe all that Jesus Christ has commanded us.

So this is what he leaves us with.

Here are the things that I have given to you.

Now go and make disciples.

So we should ask the question, what is a disciple?

If we are disciples and we're meant to make disciples, what is a disciple?

And just simply, probably even in too simple of a term,

I'm going to say that a disciple is a follower and propagator of Jesus,

his teaching and his ways.

A follower and propagator of Jesus, his teaching and his ways.

So a disciple makes disciples, necessarily.

This is part of what a disciple does.

They make others disciples.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book, The Cost of Discipleship,

which I would strongly encourage anyone here to read.

He defines what discipleship is and what it is not.

He writes this,

Discipleship means adherence to Christ.

And because Christ is the object of that adherence,

it must take the form of discipleship.

We must follow because it's Christ.

He's a man.

We must follow.

An abstract Christology or understanding of who Christ is,

a doctrinal system, a general religious knowledge on the subject of grace

or on the forgiveness of sins,

render discipleship superfluous.

And in fact, they positively exclude any idea of discipleship whatever

and are essentially inimical or contrary to the whole conception of following Christ.

With an abstract idea, it is possible to enter into a relation of formal knowledge,

to become enthusiastic about it,

and perhaps even to put it into practice.

But it can never be followed in personal obedience.

Christianity without the living Christ is inevitably Christianity without discipleship.

And Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.

Let me rephrase that in my own terms.

I hope you appreciate Bonhoeffer's writing.

We, and I think particularly us, tend to be very heady Christians.

We know a lot.

This congregation could stand toe-to-toe with many people and defend the faith.

And this is good.

It's good for us to have a depth in that regard.

It's good for us to know a lot.

Theology is precious.

God has revealed Himself to us in the Scriptures,

and we ought not neglect anything that He has taught us to be true.

But in many ways, we're very, very immature as Christians

because we know so much and we practice so little.

And this is what He's saying.

Some abstract idea, some formation of a philosophy of who Jesus Christ is,

is of no value if it's not practiced in our lives.

We must be obedient to the things that we know.

And a disciple necessarily works out and is obedient to the call of Christ.

The great mark of Christian maturity is obedience.

Why are we to make disciples?

Again, from this text.

Verse 18.

Jesus says,

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

And then He says what in verse 19?

Go, therefore.

Because this is the case, go and make disciples.

Jesus Christ has been set on His throne to reign over His kingdom.

This has been accomplished.

He Himself says it there.

All authority in heaven and on earth.

It has been given.

In Mark 1, 14 and 15, Mark records that now after John was arrested,

Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God, the good news of God,

and saying,

The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

This was the message that He brought as well.

The kingdom is here.

My reign has begun.

And the way in which God, through Christ, reigns in the world is by bearing Himself,

bringing people into new life, restored relationship with Him in their hearts, here and now.

And this is why we're meant to make disciples.

This is why the major activity of the Christian church is to advance the kingdom of God by the grace of God in this world.

We're bringing to bear the things that Christ Himself is reigning over.

And in the last half of verse 20, we're given a promise.

A precious promise.

A promise that without this task would be entirely overwhelming.

I would shut down if it were not for the promise in the last half of verse 20.

Which is,

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

Behold, the one to whom all authority over heaven and earth has been given is with you

as you go about this work of making disciples.

So we are granted power by Jesus Christ,

who possesses all the power to bring others to follow Him.

To the end that He will be exalted in all things to all peoples.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

I'm always afraid I'm going to point at that and it's not up there.

So this wonderful promise that He will be with us in this.

Praise God for the sending of His Spirit.

That when Jesus left, the nature by which the Spirit operated in the world changed.

Prior to Jesus coming onto the earth,

the Spirit came and visited people in particular times and in particular ways.

This has changed entirely.

It's a promise that He gave to us.

And let me encourage you to turn to John 14.

And just follow quickly with me through three chapters.

A couple verses from each one.

And let me tell you what I mean.

It is better that Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father.

It's better.

And in my mind, sometimes that's hard to understand

because it seems to me that the days,

the most precious days in history are the days in which He walked on the earth.

And the disciples just got to follow Him around and watch Him work and do and go.

He was the disciple maker.

They were tasked a couple of times to go out and preach the gospel.

But primarily, they were a witness to what He was doing.

But He said it's far better that He's gone.

We have the helper now.

John 14, verses 16 and 17.

John 14:16

He says,

So this is right before Jesus' crucifixion.

The Spirit dwells with you and will be in you.

It's promised that the Spirit of God will actually come and reside

in those of us who place our faith in Jesus Christ.

Turn to the next chapter, John 15.

4 and 5.

This is going to have great implication

for those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ,

who are in fact new creations,

converted,

who have the Spirit of God within us.

Jesus says,

Verse 4,

Abide in Me,

and I in you.

This is the walking by the Spirit

that Paul talks about in Romans.

As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself

unless it abides in the vine,

neither can you unless you abide in Me.

I am the vine.

You are the branches.

Whoever abides in Me and I in him,

he it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from Me,

you can do nothing.

This is on the heels of Him telling them

He's going to send to them a helper.

The very power of God to live within them.

That they might abide

so that they will bear fruit.

John 16.

7.

There's some sorrow on behalf of the disciples.

What you're leaving,

He's promising,

and there's great things that are going to happen

when He does depart.

They're leaving.

And He says,

I tell you the truth,

16.

7.

It is to your advantage that I go away.

For if I do not go away,

the Helper will not come to you.

But if I go,

I will send Him to you.

So as we talk about this process

of making disciples

and what that looks like,

we must,

we absolutely must,

stop and recognize

that it is by the power of God

that people are converted

and that people are ultimately made perfect.

That they are sanctified.

They are moved along in holiness.

This is a work of God.

However,

God does use graces.

One of those is the church.

One of those is the people sitting to your right

and to your left

and before you and behind you.

That we are saved to a community of believers

by which we disciple one another.

But it's ultimately and finally the work of God

through those people on our behalf.

I found this,

some of the crosses quote

by Charles Spurgeon.

He said,

If I had any human master,

he would have been out of patience with me long ago.

I would agree with him on that.

But the Lord Jesus Christ

never gives up a scholar.

Having once commenced to teach,

he continues his divine lessons

till they are fully learned.

And the more difficult it is for him to teach,

the more honor it will be

when he gets all his scholars educated

for the skies.

So, praise God that it's ultimately Jesus' work.

Because he doesn't give up on us

even though in our human relationships

we often grow tired of the work ahead

for the work of sanctification.

So, what is then discipleship?

What is this grace given to us

by which we work in this way?

And here's my definition.

Discipleship is the God-given,

God-empowered process

by which the church brings about obedience

to the commands of God.

Discipleship is the God-given,

God-empowered process

by which the church brings about obedience

to the commands of God.

Now, sometimes as the church,

when we think about discipleship

or when we practice discipleship,

our definition is too narrow.

We think of it as one particular thing,

but in a broad sense,

it's so many things.

It's everything that one Christian does

in service to another Christian,

at least rightly does,

in service to another Christian.

In a broad sense,

discipleship is most everything

we're doing together.

Me preaching to you this morning

is a form of discipleship,

opening the Word of God before you

and telling you what it means

and the implications for your life.

Discipleship is Wes and Liz

picking out God-honoring,

Gospel-saturated songs

and leading us in the singing of them.

If you even kind of tune your brain in

to the words that you're singing,

you will be taught by those songs.

It's the prayers that you're led in

when we meet together in this way.

Prayers based in the promises of God.

It's the activity of our community outreach groups,

the way in which they fellowship

with one another around the Scriptures

and encourage each other to love in good works.

It's the encouraging words

that you speak to one another in the hallways.

It's the late-night phone conversations

when you're having a struggle

and you need a good Christian friend.

It's the modeling of a healthy home

around a meal.

Young people,

those of you who are not in college,

the few of you in the room,

many of these young people

don't know what healthy homes look like.

The more and more we get to know

our congregation

and the people who are coming in

and out of our congregation,

healthy home is more of a rarity

than I'd like to admit.

It's a sad thing.

They need to see healthy home

just coming over

and having a meal with you

and just seeing the way in which

you love on your wife

and on your children.

Discipleship in the broad sense

is the life of the church.

It's all the things we do together,

both within our set programs

and without.

And as such,

no one is exempt

from this activity

for any reason whatsoever.

That's what we have been saying

about the body a couple of weeks ago.

Talking about the activity

of the church.

We're all part of the body.

Necessary parts of the body.

You all have a part to play

in service to one another.

That we will be pressing at each other

gospel truth

to follow Christ

in all that we do.

These things are of immense importance.

Now, a way of kind of framing this idea

which has been helpful to me

in thinking about the life of our church,

both the things that we ought

to be doing together,

the programs we should have in place,

and the things that we ought not,

the things that shouldn't be programmed,

the things that shouldn't be organic,

that should be happening

as a result of the work of the Spirit

in your lives.

There's a book called

The Trellis and the Vine,

which is written by,

co-written two guys,

Colin Marshall and Tony Payne.

And there's a wonderful analogy

which the title of the book

is based off of,

and I'm going to read it to you

and give a little bit

of explanation to it.

I hope this will help

get your head going

in the right direction as well.

What does, in a general sense,

discipleship look like?

How should it be played out

in our day-to-day living

with one another?

I think it's Tony Payne.

I think it's Tony Payne

that's writing in chapter one.

We have two trellises

in our backyard.

Do you guys all know

what a trellis is?

It's a thing that's on the side

of your house

that supports a vine?

We have two trellises

in our backyard.

The one attached

to the back wall of the garage

is a very fine piece

of latticework.

I wish I could claim it

as my own creation,

but I cannot.

It is sturdy and dependable

and neatly designed,

and the Federation green paintwork

has been kept fresh.

It lacks only one thing,

a vine.

Tony Payne is Australian,

so Federation green

is a color

that they would understand there.

Kelly green

would be our version of it.

Imagine there once was a vine,

unless, oh, I'm sorry,

I imagine there once was a vine,

unless the construction

of the trellis

was one of those handyman tasks

that took so long

that in the end,

no one got around

to planting something

to grow on it.

Someone certainly put a lot

of time and care

into building it.

It's almost a work of art,

but if there was ever

a vine that laced itself

around this beautiful trellis,

there is now no trace of it.

The other trellis

leans up against the side fence

and is barely visible

beneath a flourishing

jasmine vine.

With some fertilizer

and an occasional watering,

the jasmine keeps thrusting

out new shoots,

winding its way across,

up,

and over the fence,

putting out its delicate

white flowers

as the warmth of spring approaches.

Some pruning is needed

every now and then,

and some weeding

around the base.

I've also had to spray it

once or twice

to stop caterpillars

from feasting

on the juicy green leaves,

but the jasmine

just keeps growing.

It's hard to tell

what condition the trellis

is under the jasmine,

but at the few points

where it is still visible,

I can see that it hasn't

been painted

in a long time.

At one end,

it has been pried

off the fence

by the insistent fingers

of the jasmine,

and although I have tried

to reattach it

more than once,

it is useless.

The jasmine

has taken over.

I know I'll have to do

something about this

in the long term,

because eventually

the weight of the jasmine

will pull the trellis

off the fence altogether,

and the whole thing

will collapse.

I've often thought

of taking a cutting

from the jasmine

and seeing if it will grow

on the beautiful

but vacant trellis

on the garage,

although it almost

seems a shame

to cover it up.

And in the book,

they go on to talk

about how the church

is so often

very distracted

with what they call

trellis work,

which is important

and necessary

to support the vine,

the programs,

the administrative things

that we do,

but we get so captivated

by those things

that we lose track

of the vine work,

the people work,

the heart work.

And the way

that we do this

is we simply apply

the gospel to one another

in so many situations,

in all the various ways

that we ought to be doing

that's given to us

in the scriptures,

rather than creating

program after program

after program

after program

after program.

There's a little need.

We must have a ministry

to meet that need.

Our lives are ministry.

There's a ministry,

right?

And that is discipleship.

So begin to see things.

Start to think about things

in terms of trellis and vine,

and I hope in your life

there's much more weight

given to the vine work

that is so,

so very necessary.

Now certainly

in a more specific sense,

discipleship can mean something,

and this is where we tend

to have this narrow idea of it,

but it is valuable

as a narrow idea,

and that takes place

in more planned,

more organized,

one-to-one discipleship,

or one-to-two,

or three,

or four,

or five.

Many of you

who have been involved

in campus ministries here

are very familiar

with this type of discipleship,

and this is a type

of discipleship

that takes place

in our church as well.

There are many,

many people

in our church

that are involved

in some form

of discipleship group

that meet in various ways.

I've got a couple of guys,

we meet together,

and we just finished

reading a biography together,

and now we're going to study

the book of Acts together.

I know there are a lot

of people who are gathering.

It's so encouraging to me

that you're coming up here

on Sunday afternoons

and using the building.

The other Sunday,

I couldn't find a space to go

because there are little groups

meeting all over the place.

They hadn't even talked to me

about being here,

but I didn't care.

Like, come on,

use the building.

Meet around the scriptures

and encourage one another

to love and good works.

These activities

are taking place.

And what I'd like to say to you

is that it should be happening

in a higher degree.

There should be more

of this going on.

Spurring one another on.

Encouraging one another.

Loving each other

with the gospel.

So turn with me a little

to Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

If you can believe it,

this is our main text for today.

Although,

I'm just going to glean

some things out of it.

We're not going to look

at every bit of it.

There's much to be said

about this chapter

that I just won't have time

for today.

But there are a few things,

some characteristics

of discipleship,

five in fact,

that I want to pull out

of this text

to show you

how is it that we're meant

to be going about this work.

It's a short chapter.

We're going to read

all of Titus chapter 2 together.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

This is Paul's letter to Titus.

But as for you,

teach what accords

with sound doctrine.

I just want to remind you

that Titus is a man.

So he's going to give

some instruction to men.

Titus is a man

in this environment.

But as for you,

teach what accords

with sound doctrine.

Older men are to be

sober-minded,

dignified,

self-controlled,

sound in faith,

in love,

and in steadfastness.

Older women, likewise,

are to be reverent in behavior,

not slanders

or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach

what is good.

And so train the younger women

to love their husbands

and children,

to be self-controlled,

pure,

working at home,

kind,

and submissive

to their own husbands,

that the word of God

may not be reviled.

Likewise,

urge the younger men

to be self-controlled.

Show yourself in all respects

to be a model of good works,

and in your teaching

show integrity,

dignity,

and sound speech

that cannot be condemned,

so that an opponent

may be put to shame,

having nothing evil

to say about us.

Slaves are to be submissive

to their own masters

and everything.

They are to be well-pleasing,

not argumentative,

not pilfering,

but showing all good faith,

so that in everything

they may adorn the doctrine

of God our Savior.

For the grace of God

has appeared,

bringing salvation

for all people,

training us to renounce

ungodliness

and worldly passions,

and to live self-controlled,

upright,

and godly lives

in the present age,

waiting for our blessed hope,

the appearing of the glory

of our great God and Savior,

Jesus Christ,

who gave himself for us

to redeem us

from all lawlessness,

and to purify for himself

a people for his own possession

who are zealous

for good works.

Declare these things,

exhort and rebuke

with all authority.

Let no one disregard you.

So in this,

we see this charge

to life together.

In fact,

many people will refer

to this chapter

as Titus 2 ministry,

the way in which

the generation before

is meant to invest

in the generation

that's coming along.

Firstly,

discipleship is personal.

Discipleship is personal.

It necessitates relationship.

Relationship in which

there is transparency

and honesty.

So many people

are parts of churches

and the people in that church

really don't know them.

No one in that church

really knows them.

In fact,

I think this is one

of the great reasons

that the mega church

is on the rise

because people don't like

to be made uncomfortable.

People want to melt

into the back

and melt back out.

No one knows

if they're there

or not.

Sam and I went to

a new hamburger place,

a place called Burger 21

down by the Mall of Georgia.

My brother-in-law's brother

owns it,

so if you're in the area,

go support him.

He's a good guy.

We're sitting there

and we ended up

with a table

really close to the soda fountain

and people are going

and coming and going

and we ran into

a lot of people

that we knew

that we hadn't seen

in a long time

like my middle school

health teacher.

An interesting night

and Sam ran into

a lot of people

that she had grown up

in church with

and in their conversation,

many of them

told her

where they were now

fellowshipping,

where they were attending

to church

and it was

all the same place.

Every single person,

every single one of them

was the same place

and I didn't

but as a sociological experiment

I really wanted

to get up on the table

and just get them

all to raise their hands,

anybody who fellowshiped,

attended this place

and then see how many of them

actually knew each other

because as I watched them

they didn't seem

to have a clue.

They didn't have a clue

that they all

actually were part

participating in

the life

of a local fellowship.

It's easier

that way.

But discipleship,

growing,

practicing,

employing this grace

that's given to us

by God,

the church

is going to require

relationship.

It's going to be

personal.

It's going to hurt

at times.

It's going to cause you

to have to drop

the facade.

Take off the

front stage makeup

and let people

into the backstage

of your life.

Show them the mess.

It's important.

It's the best thing

that can happen

in the pursual of Christ.

Tell people

how much you need

His grace.

Encourage them

to preach the gospel

to you.

Look at verse 7

of chapter 2

of Titus.

See,

his exhortation

to Titus

is to show

yourself

in all respects

to be a model

of good works.

To have people

walk along with you

to model for them

what good works

look like.

And to show

in the teaching

integrity,

dignity,

sound speech

that can't be

condemned.

So that an opponent

can just be put to shame.

They have nothing evil

to say about you

or about us.

There's other

personal language

in the text as well

like train

and urge.

Verse 15,

exhort

and rebuke.

We are meant

to be in relationship

with one another

and discipleship

must be

personal.

Ecclesiastes 4,

9 and 10

says,

Two are better

than one

because they have

a good reward

for their toil.

For if they fall,

one will lift up

his fellow.

But woe to him

who is alone

when he falls

and has not another

to lift him up.

Personal.

A person who is there

who witnesses

the fall,

who catches you

in the process of it

and lifts you

back up.

Galatians 6,

2 says,

Bear one another's

burdens

and so fulfill

the law of Christ.

And I believe

what Paul is referring

to there

is when Jesus says

that he's giving

to them a new law

and that is

that you love

one another.

Of great importance.

Discipleship is

personal.

Secondly,

discipleship is

theological.

Discipleship is

theological.

Don't be misled.

Instead,

just getting together

and talking

about your problems

does not mean

you're part

of a discipleship

process.

Getting together

and venting out

the issues of your life,

giving trite

pop psychology

answers to those things

isn't really helpful

or good for anybody.

Discipleship

is centered around

the Word of God.

The Word of God

is centered around

the Gospel of God.

This is the treatment

for all of our ills.

This is the encouragement

to love

and to good works.

Discipleship must be

theological.

Again, look at our text.

Titus chapter 2

Titus 2:1

verse 1

But as for you,

teach what accords

with sound doctrine.

An exhortation

to older women.

Last half of verse 3.

They are to teach

what is good.

Verse 5

The activity

that the younger women

are supposed to be about.

The older women

are supposed to be teaching them.

This activity

that they're supposed

to be about.

Paul says

that the Word of God

may not be reviled.

There's a practice

that is in line

with the things

that God is teaching.

Verse 15

Paul says

Declare these things.

Exhort and rebuke

with all authority.

Let no one

disregard you.

And back into verse 10

the activity

of the bondservant

is meant to be

a display

so that in everything

they may adorn

the doctrine

of God our Savior.

This is the activity

of discipleship.

It is theological.

Growing people

with the truth.

This is the expression

given to us

in Ephesians 4

of the activity

of the church

beginning in verse 11.

And He being Jesus

gave the apostles

the prophets

the evangelists

the shepherds

and teachers.

I think these are

things that are still active.

So apostles

little A

not apostles big A

and prophets

not vision seers

but those who are

calling people back

to the truth of God.

Evangelists

those who are

particularly gifted

in the sharing

of their faith.

Shepherds and teachers

which I believe

is one thing

but those who are

called to pastor people

these gifts given

to the church.

Verse 12

to equip the saints

for the work of ministry

for the building

of the body of Christ.

So the work

is then given

to the church

this work

that's multifaceted

that involves everybody

the body building itself.

Right?

So you're giving

and equipping

that you might minister

to one another.

Verse 13

until we all attain

to the unity

of the faith

of the knowledge

of the Son of God.

It's very doctrinal

is it not?

To mature manhood

to the measure

of the stature

of the fullness

of Christ

so that we may

no longer be children

tossed to and fro

by the waves

and carried about

by every wind

of doctrine.

We'll be able

to stand firm

because we have been taught

because our discipleship

is theological.

By human cunning

by craftiness

and deceitful schemes

rather

speaking the truth

in love.

We are to grow up

in every way

into him

who is the head

into Christ

from whom the whole body

joined and held together

by every joint

with which it is equipped

when each part

is working properly

makes the body grow

so that it builds

itself up

in love.

Do you see the expression

given there

of the way in which

we're meant to be

ministering

the word of God

to one another?

Discipleship is

theological.

2 Timothy 3.16

Familiar?

Children?

You ready?

All scriptures

breed that by God

and profitable for teaching

for reproof

for correction

and for training

in righteousness

and for their sake

we didn't go on

to verse 17

but I would encourage

you to know

that the man of God

may be complete

equipped

for every

good work.

So it is the tool

put in our hands

by which we

grow one another

in faith.

The Holy Bible

is our guide

and our rule

for holiness

so it must be

employed

in the making

of disciples.

So discipleship

is theological.

But not just that

discipleship

is also

practical.

It's also practical

which means

it takes

an investment

of time.

It's important

beloved

that we

are saying

to one another

not simply

do as I say

but also

do as I

do.

Look at the

instruction

for the way

in which

people are

meant to

live

in Titus

Titus 2:2

chapter 2

verse 2

older men

we get this

list of things

sober minded

dignified

self-controlled

sound in faith

and love

and instead

facets

it's meant

to be a

display

it's meant

to be a

thing

that's being

modeled

older women

likewise

reverent in

behavior

not slanders

or slaves

to much

wine

there to

teach

what is

good

so train

the young

women

to love

their husbands

and children

to be

self-controlled

pure

working at

home

kind

and submissive

to their own

husbands

likewise

urge the

younger men

to be

self-controlled

bond servants

are given

some instruction

here

servants

will be

submissive

to their

own masters

well-pleasing

not argumentative

not pilfering

but showing

all good

faith

so that

everything

that may

adorn

the doctrine

of God

our Savior

and here's

a great

tragedy

in our

culture

we become

such high-minded

Christians

that we

either think

only those

who have

such great

depth

of theological

education

have any

business

teaching

anybody

anything

we have

a tragedy

in that

or

that we

think

because

we

don't

we have

nothing

to offer

anybody

else

and talking

with some

of the

non-college

adults

in our

church

many of

you are

intimidated

by the

knowledge

of the

students

that are

in our

church

but they

need to

see your

faithfulness

to the

word of

God

modeled

out

right

again

like I

mentioned

before

the way

in which

you love

your wife

and your

children

vice

versa

wives

the way

you love

your husbands

and lead

your children

this is an

important thing

see the

faithfulness

in working

a job

holding down

the nine

to five

they need

to hear

about how

you've

learned

to glorify

God

in the

mundane

things

of life

college students

have no

idea

how much

time is

going to be

spent in

a home

washing

dishes

and

clothes

and cleaning

floors

just

clueless

for the

most part

and it's

shocking to

them when

they get

to this

point

how do

I

worship

God

in

these

things

it's

amazing

to hear

the stories

of young

people

who have

gone off

to be

foreign

missionaries

they've

romanticized

it

they think

it's

going to

be such

a fantastic

it's

going to

be so

radical

and they

realize

when they

get there

they have

to wash

dishes

and do

laundry

but it

just takes

twice as

long

all of

the mundane

things of

life go

along

with them

and you

have such

opportunity

to show

them how

to walk

these things

out together

there's got

to be a

practical

side to

discipleship

not just

teaching things

but modeling

it out

as well

so discipleship

is

practical

discipleship

is

humble

fourthly

discipleship

is humble

both for

the

disciple

e

and the

disciple

and i'm

really pretty

sure i just

made both

those words

up

verse 11

says for

the grace

of god

has appeared

bringing salvation

for all people

verse 12

training us

to renounce

ungodliness

and worldly

passions and

to live

self-controlled

upright

and godly

lives in

the present

age for

the grace

of god

being

christ

and now

by his

spirit

with the

primary use

of the word

we are being

trained in

the way

that we

should live

as i said

before

this is a

mighty work

of god

so to grow

in faith

in the activity

of discipleship

either as the

recipient of it

or the

leader of it

is a humbling

thing because

we need him

we need him

to work in us

and through us

you ought to

feel the weight

of being a

discipler

you ought to

go god

i'm not sufficient

for this task

but praise you

i am in

christ

this is the

thing i shared

with you

as i got up

here this

morning

i tremble

to preach

god's word

and it doesn't

matter if this

room is filled

or if there's

only five people

to speak of the

word of god

and to say

this is what

it means

just causes

me to

shudder

the weight

of that type

of thing

i need

god's

intervention

to help

me do

it

rightly

it is my

prayer that

when i

err you

just forget

about what

i said

what a blessing

that is

that's actually

happened

i've actually

said i'm

really sorry

that i said

this and people

have gone

you didn't

say that

i'm like

i'll show

you the

note

i did

i did

in fact

say it

but people

just forget

it

altogether

it's a

very humbling

experience

to walk

into these

types of

situations

and to

share

in this

way

because

god's

power

is at

work

in it

i want

us to

as

disciples

have

the

mind

of

paul

he says

in

first

corinthians

three

five

through

seven

what

then

is

apollos

what

is

paul

servants

through

whom

you

believe

as

the

lord

assigned

to

each

i

planted

apollos

watered

but

god

gave

the

growth

so

neither

he

who

plants

nor

he

who

waters

is

anything

but

only

god

who

gives

the

growth

that's

massively

humbling

to see

people

grow

in

faith

by

the

work

that

i

do

it

causes

me

to

give

all

praise

in

honor

to

him

because

i'm

an

idiot

but

he

uses

me

to

accomplish

his

will

in

many

ways

in

many

cases

you

may

not

think

that

you

have

anything

to

offer

anyone

else

you

may

doubt

your

ability

!

you

in

many

ways

you

must

check

the

condition

of

your

heart

because

what

you're

really

doing

is

denying

that

god

is

powerful

to

work

in

you

to

accomplish

anything

in

anyone

else's

life

you're

saying

that

he

can't

possibly

use

you

to

do

his

work

i'll

tell

you

this

god

can

do

whatever

he

wants

to

it

is

good

to

be

humble

it

is

good

to

walk

into

that

desiring

you

will

rely

on

his

grace

there's

much

promise

in

our

church

i

in

earthly

terms

in

human

terms

am

intimidated

by

some

of

the

people

in

our

church

charles

spurgeon

once

said

a

wet

stone

though

it

cannot

cut

a

wet

stone

is

a

stone

made

for

sharpening

knives

a

wet

stone

though

it

cannot

cut

may

sharpen

a

knife

that

will

god

uses

us

in

all

of

our

various

ways

and

all

of

our

various

giftings

even

in

our

inability

to

disciple

people

so

as

a

discipler

it's

incredibly

humbling

proverbs

1

5

says

let

the

wise

hear

and

increase

in

learning

and

the

one

who

understands

obtain

guidance

proverbs

3

7

be

not

wise

in

your

own

eyes

fear

the

Lord

and

turn

away

from

evil

some

people

may

think

themselves

above

discipleship

I'm

not

you

guys

have

designated

me

the

pastor

of

this

church

I

am

not

above