Making Disciple-Making Disciples

If you have your bibles, open them with me again to the Book of Second Timothy. Yesterday we looked at two Timothy. Chapter one. We had an overview of the Book of two Timothy, and if we remember, we saw those those two themes that occur over and over again in each chapter, the idea of preserving and proclaiming, on the one hand, preserving and proclaiming the Gospel, and on the other hand, in during the suffering that will come inevitably as a result of doing that. And here in chapter two we want to sort of expand on that because remember Paul is writing this letter to young Timothy, his protegee, incourage him to sort of pick up the mantle and move on. This is a picture of discipleship. But one of the aspects of discipleship that we have to keep in mind is that our job is not just to make disciples. Our job is to make disciple making disciples. Our job is not just to say, hey, whoever you are, that I'm ministering too and mentoring you are the be all to end all Christianity exists so that it could finish with you. I'm investing in you because nothing matters more than you. No that's not what we're communicating when we are making disciples, we're communicating to them. You are the next link in the chain. You are not an end in yourself. This does not exist just for you. And in fact, the only reason that this gospel truth has made it to you is because there have been people from the beginning of this who did not think that way. There are people from the beginning who gave their lives away for the sake of others. That's why the gospel is still here today. And so you are now finding your place in that long line of individuals who are disciple making disciples who receive something in order to give it away. Amen, all right, And so I want us to look at this picture now. Specifically, I want to talk about our need to do this in terms of preparing the next generation of ministers. And I know that not everyone here is involved in this process of preparing the next generation of ministers, but I want you to hear this because I want you to understand that this is a very important aspect of what we're doing as a church. And in order for this to happen, there has to be a group of believers who get this, who embrace this and who support this. I have the privilege and by the way, several of you have come and mentioned the fact that my bio in your paperwork is inaccurate, and it is. It's an old bio. I am no longer at a church in Texas. I'm serving in Lusaka, Zambia and African Christian University, but also at Kabwata Baptist Church. And last year my pastor was here, Conrad Am and Beiway and a lot of you know him and know of him, and you may know of Kawata Baptist Church. One of the huge blessings and one of the reasons that ACU exists is because there is a thirty year healthy, vibrant Reform Baptist gospel preaching, church planting movement that has just it's been amazing to see what God has doing has been doing over the last three decades. This is not missionaries on the ground in Zambia who are making this happen. This is an indigenous movement of Zambian Reformed churches who've been making this happen. And in large part it is because there is a commitment within these churches to intentionally and purposefully disciple men for many. Our church WoT a Baptist church, provides a stipend for interns to come. And we're not talking about wealthy people here. We're talking about a church in a capital city in Sub Saharan Africa. And this year we have six interns, and this church has sacrificed so that these six men can spend twelve months and have a stipend paid by the church for twelve months to be interned with a view toward them going out and replicating this and being ministered as the gospel. Think about that for a moment. Think about how rare that is, how unusual that is. Think about how many churches in this culture would respond to that by saying, yeah, we couldn't afford to do that. But the only way that happens is if we understand that this is an important process. If we understand that not only do we as Christians and do we in our churches need to have a culture of discipleship. We've talked about that and that's important. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. We need a culture of discipleship, but beyond that, we need a culture of ministerial replication. We need to be passionate about finding, identifying, calling out, mentoring, encouraging, equipping, and sending the next generation of ministers. And I'm afraid that in this culture where we have the luxury of so many seminaries, that guys come with a list of six different places and asked, what do you think Maybe this one has this strength and this one has that struth. I'm afraid that what that's done is it's put us in an environment where we believe it's the seminary's responsibility to train the next generation of ministers. That's a lie from the pit of hell. It is not the seminary's duty to train the next generation of ministers. Praise God for seminaries. I'm not against seminaries, Amen, How could I be against seminaries? Huh? With me and my seminary training and now I'm a dean and a come on now, I'm not against seminaries. And there are things that we can do. But the idea of training ministers is a local church idea in the New Testament. Regardless of whatever tools and help there is out there, Ultimately this is a local church idea. And so even if men are doing this training, ultimately, what they need, what they must have is a local church that watches them, that knows their life, that invests in them, and that ultimately sends them out. Seminaries aren't designed, weren't created to send out church planters. Local churches are designed to do that. But it's not going to happen if we don't commit to this process, this process that we find right here in two Timothy chapter two. Now look with me, Second Timothy, Chapter two, beginning of verse one, you then my child. Again, he's reiterating that idea, You then my child be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And again this follows this sort of a culmination of everything that we talked about on last night and everything that we see there in the first chapter is this call, this reminder of the personal relationship, Paul sort of leaning in to that personal relationship and then calling young Timothy to be bold and now, you, then my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, in trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others. Also, in trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also, and so we have preserve and proclaim. This is why I'm writing this letter. Preserve and proclaim and on the other hand, endure the suffering that will follow inevitably. And then I would add to that, reproduce yourself. Reproduce yourself. Interestingly enough, when Paul said this, he is limiting this by nature, because Paul's not writing a letter like this to everybody. He writes a letter like this to Timothy, but not to everybody. This is not our goal in discipleships for every person. We're talking specifically about reproducing ministers of the Gospel, and about an intentional process that helps us to do that. First of all, look at the content here, he says, what you have heard from me. This is a reminder of preserve and proclaim. We're preserving and proclaiming Apostolic teaching. That's the goal here. We want individuals who will be a part of this process of preserving and proclaiming Apostolic teaching. Paul has identified himself as an apostle. He says in verse eleven that he's been appointed as a preacher and an apostle and a teacher. So he is reminding Timothy that this is not just something that he wants to do as a pet project, but this is his duty as an apostle. His duty is to communicate this to young Timothy, so that young Timothy communicates this to others. His duty is to communicate the Gospel in a way that it can be understood and preserved by young Timothy. But to do so as he is replicating himself in the life of young Timothy, in hopes that young Timothy will replicate himself in the lives of others. Listen to this from John Calvin. He again shows how earnestly desirous he is to transmit sound doctrine to posterity, and he exhorts Timothy not only to preserve its shape and feature as he formerly did, but likewise to hand it down to godly teachers, that being widely spread, it may take root in the hearts of many. For he saw that it would quickly perish if it were not soon scattered by the ministry of many persons. And indeed we see what Satan did not long after the death of the apostles, For just as if preaching had been buried for some centuries, he brought in innumerable reveries, which, by their monstrous absurdity, surpassed the superstitions of all the Heathens. We need not wonder therefore, if Paul, in order to guard against an evil of such a nature and of such magnitude, earnestly desires that his doctrine shall be committed to all godly ministers who shall be qualified to teach it. This is about multiplying ministers of the Gospel. This is about targeted, purposeful discipleship. This is about having a desire and a passion to see ministers of the Gospel raise up and go for it. You know, I started preaching when I was in college. And again I told you I didn't grow up in church. I didn't grow up around Christians or Christianity. First time I heard the Gospel, it was my first year at the university. Later on, some teammates of mine discipling and mentoring me. It brought me a Bible, taught me how to read it and how to study it. And I had a number of ministry opportunities, And on one trip in particular, we went to a number of different schools. This ministry called Fellowship of Christian now Fleets, and we went and you know, talked to young people, and you know, I had an opportunity to share the Gospel for an entire week. And after that, I just I remember being in the car with you know, the rest of the guys headed back to campus and the Lord just dealing with me. And one of them asked me, what are you thinking, man, what's going on with you? And I looked at him. His name was Brent Napton, and I said, Brent, I think I think I just found what I'm supposed to do. I think I'm supposed to be a preacher. And he and another guy sort of looked at each other and kind of high five, like, yeah, we know that. I'm glad you figured it out. And so when I got back, I went and talked to my pastor, Pastor Willie Adams, who went to be with the Lord just last week at New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist Church, Houston, Texas, a traditional, small Black missionary Baptist church. And I went to Pastor Adams and I said, Pastor Adams, I think I didn't have all this terminology. You know, think the Lord called me to preach, you know, and none of this whatever I'm gonna surrender to the ministry. That's a Southern term. I still don't understand that was surrender to the ministry. What is that, right? Man? He surrendered to welding, you run to the ministry. So anyway, so yeah, I and I said, I said, Pastor Adams, I think I'm supposed to be a preacher. And Pastor Adams opened the calendar on his desk and he said, okay, third Sunday of next month, we'll all find out true story. And I remember when that time came and I preached on that Sunday evening. There were a number of pastors from around the community who were there, and this wasn't unusual. It was almost as though these men who had given their life to the Gospel ministry were there number one as encouragement, but not only for me, but for themselves, because they were there to witness the fact that God's not done. There's another generation of preachers coming. And again I'm just don't hear mean bashing seminaries or bashing theological training. We need that. But my worry is that we've divorced the church from this great privilege. We've divorced the church from this very natural passion that says, Lord, please up more in the next generation. With this commitment to Apostolic teaching. It's a common Pauline theme, tewod Thessalonians two fifteen. So, then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter Titus one to nine. Speaking about elders, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict it. To common New Testament theme, we find this, and most famously in Acts two forty two and forty three, they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching to fellowship. The breaking of bread and the prayers all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the Apostles. We commit ourselves to this. This is what we are raising up. It is not just about raising up talented individuals. It is about raising up individuals who understand their duty and responsibility and the obligation to hold on to this doctrine and to hold on to it firmly. That that's what we're part of the gospel ministry. It's the ministry of the gospel. It's not just talented men finding a way to make a living without having to get a job outside the church. If you can't say amen, you want to say ouch. This is a calling to preserve something. But how do we do that practically speaking? How do we create an environment where we put into the minds of the next generation the importance of these doctrines, the importance of this pattern of sound words, and the importance of those who will be raised up among us to hold them and to propagate them. I believe there are a number of tools that God gives us, and I think it's interesting that many of these tools we've either redefined or moved away from altogether. These tools that remind us that we are a community that is defined by this pattern of sound words, things like hymnity and liturgy. Hymnity and liturgy. We've moved away from both hymnity and liturgy. But hymnity and liturgy. It's not just a question of style. And that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm not taught talking about a question of style. I'm talking about a question of content. The idea that when we gather together week to week, we are not here just to entertain one another. We are not here just to get a spiritual jolt or shot in the arm. We are here to have our minds renewed, as we just heard earlier, and we are here to be rooted and grounded in these things most surely believed among us. And what hymnity does and what liturgy does, is it says to us, these are those truths that we need to hear again and again and again. They define us. And I'm afraid that so often when we gather what we're saying is it has to be new, it has to be fresh, it has to be entertaining, it has to scratch itching ears. And I am not talking here about dead orthodoxy going through the motions, amen, far from it. This is not about style. It's about substance. And there is a reason that the great hymns of the faith are the great hymns of the faith. There is a reason that they stand the test of time and they root us and they ground us in something. And our liturgy it roots us, and it grounds us in something. It continues to point us in a similar direction, said it before I'll say it again. Confessionalism, our confessions remind us of what it is that we believe. And when we are raising up a generation of young ministers, one of the difficult things for them is they don't have a theology at all. So what does the ministry mean if you don't have a theology? What does the ministry mean? If you don't have a confessional framework? What are you being called to? What are you being called to do if you don't have this theological framework? If we no longer have hymnity, we no longer have liturgy. We gather together to entertain people. We gather together in order to make sure that the crowd continues to grow and that people remain happy. Now we have the next generation growing up in the church watching us do what we do. What is everything about? Everything is about entertainment, Everything is about numbers. What is the ministry? Well, this is about continuing this process of entertaining and attracting more and more people. As one famous R and b HM writer wrote, God to give the people, give the people what they want. Don't try to act like you don't know that song. But our confessions rout us and ground us. Our confessions give us a framework. Catechisms help to teach our confession. And there is not this divide, by the way in Christianity between churches and ministries who have confessions and churches and ministries who don't. As one writer has put it, the differences between churches and ministries who have written confessions that are available to be evaluated by all, and those who have unwritten confessions that change from time to time. But we're all confessional. We're all confessional. It's just is the confession written, Is it there to be evaluated, Is it there for all of us to see so that there can be accountability, or is the confession just in the mind of the minister so that if he leaves and goes somewhere or dies. Now the next minister brings the confession that's in his mind, and you have division in the church when he says something one day that goes against the confession of the last guy that wasn't written, by the way, so he didn't know it. And now there's a war in the church between the un written confession of the last guy and the unwritten confession of the new guy. And nobody knows where the starting point is. You've seen You've seen this before. We've been there, haven't we? Literature? As Derek Thomas just so eloquently reminded us, books books. Are we giving the young men in our church books to read? And just like when I talk about hymnity, those things that have stood the test of time, but I'm talking about literature and books. I'm talking about those things that have stood the test of time. Are are we are we doing this? Have we created a culture where we're raising up young men in our midst who have a biography of guys like Owen and Edwards and Spurgeon and Bunyan, where they know these names, where they've been reading these books, where they're rooted and grounded in theology, and they're rooted and grounded in history, and they're rooted and grounded in highest and best. I think it's sad when men grow up in churches of great renown, have a sense of call, go off to seminary, and the first time that they hear of or read men like Owen and Edwards and Spurgeon and others is when a seminary professor mentions it to. Them, we should be seeking out young men. And pouring these things into their lives. Not every young man is going to respond. There're gonna be a lot of your men. You give them, you know, the books from these theological giants, and you ask him about it a week later, Well, you won't get to ask him about it, because they hand 'em the book. They know you're gonna ask 'em whether or not they read it. They might not even come back to church for a while. But there'll be some who devour it and say, I've devoured that book. Do you have another? Ah? Yeah, I got another, and I got my eye on you. Huh. But isn't it amazing? Nobody has to tell us this about football or basketball or baseball. Isn't it amazing? Everybody knows, right, what do you got your kid into? Well, right now, my kid is playing a little T ball, you know, and he's getting ready to graduate to the next level of the ball. And then you know, he's playing football and football season, and then we got him doing a little track so he can get his speed up for the next football season. And then we got him coming to this and coming to that and come to the other. Because we all know that we're moving toward the goal, and the goal is to get that scholarship and get that recognition and ultimately, if possible, to get the brass ring and have a professional athlete that we've raised. And we begin when they're small, spending money and time and effort to cover all the bases so that they are ready for the next level, and theologically speaking, we're doing nothing. Can you imagine this conversation. Yeah, I'm really hoping I'm a boil someday, you know, maybe get a scholarship, play college ball, have a chance to go pro. Really what are you doing now to kind of get him ready for that? Oh? Nothing, I'm just praying that one day he'll have a calling and then he'll we laugh. But then I oughta tell us something. Everybody, and I don't mean outside the church, I mean inside the church. Everybody knows the pattern you're preparing 'em for the university. What kind of things do you have them studying in order to prepare them for the university? Well, not everybody's going to be a pro athlete. And yet the pattern that you take your child through is the pattern to prepare them for the next phase and the next phase and the next phase that ultimately, if they're really good leads to the professional athlete. From a theological perspective, we're not saying that every young man that we begin to feed these things is going to end up being that next generation of ministers. But some of them are so plant seeds, plant seeds. The context of this what you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, because here's where we have to be careful. We're not saying that, well, here are these individuals, and we want to sort of scout out these individuals. Find these individuals. You can't find them. God calls them. We don't call them. You can't find them. You can't see this. And I'm always worried when somebody's you know, seeings a young man and they go, ah, that's a future pastor right there. Why because he's eloquent, because he's spiritual. You don't know this. God calls men. And I look forward to the day when a young man being eloquent and spiritual is not automatically assumed that he's going to be a pastor because every other man is expected to be mediocre. So the context is, these are things that you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses. In other words, it's not that Paul is dumbing down his teaching and his ministry for everybody else and then elevating theological content when he sees someone who may have this potential. No, this is corporate proclamation. In chapter four, when he's talking about preaching the Word being instant in season and out of season, reproving, rebuking, exhorting that this is the proclamation of the Gospel. This implies that our preaching should be doctrinal in nature. It implies that our preaching should be systematic in nature, that we're teaching the whole counsel of God to the whole body of Christ. It's not that the heavily theologically minded people get deep stuff and everybody else gets four ways to have a happy life. Everyone gets rooted and grounded in this with a view toward finding those whom God God identifies and gives a yearning and passion to be faithful men who are able to teach others also. And then this involves personal instruction. So there is a sense in which it's an outgrowth of our corporate ministry to all. But this corporate ministry to all gives way to some personal instruction. And here's where it gets a little messy, because number one, this is time consuming. This is time consuming for pastors to take young men under your wing and to try to encourage and mentor them with a view toward finding faithful men, and then when you find faithful men, to invest in these faithful men even further. This is time consuming. And this is why everybody needs to hear this, because the difficulty here is not necessarily that it's time consuming. The difficulty here is that if a pastor gives himself to this, and if he has a group of faithful men into whose lives he's pouring, the likelihood is that there are going to be other people who throw a fit because the pastor is not spending as much time with them. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. You know the ones right, Hey, sister Jones, how you doing. I'm okay, sister, Well, everything all right? You find Yeah, I'm fine? Now, Well what was the matter? Jones walks off in a huff and you go say, hey, man, what's going on with sus John. Ah, she was in the hospital last week and she's mad because you didn't check on her. To come back to sus Johnes I'm so sorry you were in the hospital. You didn't even check on missus John's did you tell me? No. That's why everybody needs to hear this, because the fact of the matter is pastors won't be able to make this kind of investment unless they're given permission by the rest of the body, unless the rest of the body gets excited about the idea of a next generation of ministers of the gospel, so that they're willing to sacrifice being able to talk to the pastor about their grown tonail so that he can invest some time in some potential ministers of the gospel. It's also risky. Why is it risky. It's risky because there are those who will disappoint you. There are a few passages in Sack and Timothy that just stick out to me. Go back with me to chapter one, if you will. One in chapter one, and one in chapter four, look at verse fifteen. You are aware that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are for jealous and Hermogenes. May the Lord grant mercy to the household of on his effers, For he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my change. But when he arrived in Rome. He searched for me earnestly and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. Now go down with me to chapter four and verse fourteen. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense, no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them. That's painful. It's painful, and the gospel ministry can be painful. It's risky to invest personally. It's risky to put yourself out there like that, because it hurts when you put yourself out there like that and then someone goes and throws it away, or worse yet, when you put yourself out there like that and then someone turns it around on you and suddenly you find that their guns are pointed in your direction and there is slander and misrepresentation. It's risky, and it is real easy to be the kind of minister who says, I'm going to put my head down, prepare my sermons, preach my sermons, Marry Barry, baptize, and be done with it. Because the ministry would be awesome if it wasn't for people. And if you're a ministry who hasn't gotten there yet, just wait until your second month of ministry. But if we are committed to this process, then here's what we do. We invest. Notice this is the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul talks about all these individuals who've done him wrong. He talks about all these individuals who my first defense, nobody came. Nobody came, not one person came. And he's not writing this saying I cannot believe all that I've done, all that I've given. I'm about to give my life and they couldn't come. That's not what he's saying. Watch yourself, beware. These are painful things that happened to me when I put myself out there and trust it. And oh, by the way, this letter that I'm writing to you is putting myself out there and trusting again in spite of the fact that I've been devastated before. Because the Gospel is worth it, and it is more important than my feelings and more significant to me than any disappointment or heartache that I have ever or will ever suffer. Seeing the Gospel proclaimed in the next generation means more then you invest in that guy who went off and became this horrible heretic. Yess, why do you keep doing this? Because seeing the Gospel preserved and proclaimed in the next generation means more to me than licking my wounds over that loss. This has to be intentional and purposeful. We don't just wait for people to necessarily come to us. We find individuals and we reach out. You heard from this stage during the Q and A of the incredible model that Mark Dever has been in this regard. And now you never see Dever. I don't care. You just don't see him without a couple of young men around him who are currently being mentored by him. And many of these young men are young men who aren't even a part of his church. They come from somewhere else. He invests in them and then sends them back to be a blessing elsewhere. That's the other risk, that's the other cost. You know. One of the reasons that conferences like this are so popular is because they are many reunions. Amen there are people that you've been hanging out with the last couple of days, that you haven't seen since G three last year. And in pastoral ministry, this becomes incredibly important, this idea of having these relationships. And here's something that's difficult that we don't expect to be so difficult. When you identify this next generation of ministries and you keep your eye out there and you plant the general seeds and you see them begin to take root in some lives, and then you invest a little bit further, and then you have the acknowledgment of this call in their life, and then you invest even more, and then you give yourself and give yourself, and eventually it begins to bear fruit. And then all of a sudden that are raised up and you see gifts and graces in their life, and you have a partner at your right hand, and then you plan a church and they leave. It would be awesome to keep everybody not really, not really, not really? Should we have to be intentional about this, because if we're not intentional about this natural reaction is I am here in this work. It is hard in this work. I need help in this work. We need more help in this work. Praise God. For more help in this work. There needs to be a church plan over there. Okay, we'll pray that God will send you somebody, But were keeping all of these amen. That's the natural sort of knee jerk reaction, and it's really hard to go. He's lonely in this work. We need help in this work. Praise God for raising up help in this work. We need more help in this work. Oh, God has sent us more help in this work. We are almost at a place where this is manageable because we have Ah, you're going where Praise God goodbye. If we're not purposeful and intentional, we don't do that. If we're not purposeful and intentional, we just go. Yeah, you know what, Let's find a ministry to red handed left handed singles between the ages of thirty seven point nine and forty two point one and put you over that so we can keep you here. We look for gifted men, called men, qualified men, and then under our leadership they become tested and tried men with a view toward them becoming sent men. Why cause we're here to pro preserve and proclaim the Gospel and to endure the suffering that will come inevitably as a result of doing so, and we're here to reproduce ourselves so that that can be done again and again and again by faithful men who are able to teach others also. Ultimately, I'm convinced that this is what discipleship is all about. We we are making disciple making disciples. Sh you know, just before we the the lady who came in and made the the presentation, I I I so identify with that as the homeschool father myself. We have nine children. We've been homeschooling for I don't know how long. I can't even tell you. We've been homeschooling forever, and we're nowhere close to being done. Our children range from twenty seven to four. We'll be homeschooling forever. But to hear the story of an adult daughter who married and then first pregnancy, walks through a miscarriage, and this whole idea of how that experience random dot may seem, What does that have to do with this open random do it may seem? This is one of those processes, This is one of those moments. And what she was trying to say, I don't want to put words in her mouth, but let me just share from one who's walked through that same process. What she's trying to say is, in that moment, everything flashes before your eyes. This baby who came home to you, this toddler who learned how to walk, this child who learned her ABC's and then learned how to read, and then learned so many other things like Latin, and who grew up? And who's still your baby? And then some dude comes along and they've been married several years. I'm still bitter, right, just kidding. I love Philip. This dude comes along and this is my baby, and now all of a sudden, my baby is married, and my baby is gone, and now my baby is pregnant, and then my baby is dealing with this unimaginable pain, and all of a sudden, you go, all of this investment and discipleship, just God real. We don't just do this as an exercise. We do it because we are trying to prepare the next generation to live life for real, being fiercely committed to preserving and proclaiming the Gospel, and being fiercely committed to enduring a hardship that will follow inevitably as a result of doing so. And we'll have enough of this gospel truth in them to be able to do both of those things and to pass it on to the next generation. I praise God that that wasn't the end of the story. There was another pregnancy, and a year and a half ago a grandson, and I will see him tomorrow. But guess what the most beautiful thing about all of that is that the one that we trained and mentored and discipled is now training and mentoring and discipling him. This is why we do it, to raise up disciple making disciples, to unleash them into the next generation, so that the gospel continues to march on, and so that Christ may indeed have the fullness of the reward for which he died. Amen.