Marks of a Healthy Church 9: Discipleship 03/13/22

We're gonna be in verses one through five acts chapter 16 verses 1 through 5. We're in the ninth Mark of a healthy church now there is a book called nine marks of a healthy church obviously I've read it and it's down in the library I would encourage you to take a look at it there's more than nine marks which is why we're going over nine marks but today well last week we talked about church discipline we talked about church leadership we've talked about church membership talked about a lot of really hard things recently today we're talking about discipleship and before you kind of go oh man awesome we're on to something I'm familiar with let me just preface this by

Encouraging you to look at this passage with clear and open eyes that we might be able to fulfill the Gospel the command the great commission of Jesus Christ today we're talking about how Paul and Timothy how they got involved with each other and they connected in a deep and meaningful discipleship relationship and today we're going to be looking at five characteristics of Christian discipleship but before we do that I want to remind you that this is going to be our last second service remember that next week we're going to be moving from two services or 8 30 and our 11 o'clock service to one service and so that'll be at nine o'clock community groups 10 30 service and so I'm excited I'm ready I know that many of you are and so praise the Lord for that the worship team is going yes and the av team's going yas and the greeters are going the security team yeah so really appreciate that let's let's talk about discipleship here and I'm gonna give you a very broad very general definition here and remember that this definition it's not meant to be all-encompassing so you might go well cody you're missing that or you're missing this it's not intended to be that but I want us to have at least a definition for us to proceed from here and it's this that a disciple is a growing obedient follower of Jesus Christ that is a disciple a growing obedient follower of Jesus Christ Jesus he put it this way in Mark chapter

8 verse 34 that if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me and so a couple things that discipleship is not okay discipleship is not evangelism evangelism is evangelism okay discipleship is discipleship discipleship is not just simply the Gospel it's definitely a part of it but it's not but it's primarily a journey with others in our growth in Jesus Christ it's what primarily is you see discipleship it's not done in isolation it's not done by yourself it is done in the context of relationships and so we're going to look at this in the passage today as we look at five characteristics of Christian discipleship if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read acts chapter 16 verses 1 through 5. The Scripture says this Paul also came also to derby into lystra disciple was there named Timothy the son of a jewish woman who was a believer but his father was a greek he was well spoken of by the brothers at lystra and iconium Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him and he took him and circumcised him because the jews who were in those places for they all knew that his father was a greek as they went on their way through the cities they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in jerusalem so the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily let's pray and so God we do thank you for your word

We thank you for meeting us here this morning in worship and as your people God we confess that your word is good right one hundred percent of the time and help us to conform to your word God that people might look at us and say these are truly disciples of Jesus for they've been with the Lord help us God in Jesus name amen all right well this passage I want to throw up this map for you this takes place in an area that Paul had already been to it's in asia minor this is a map of Paul's very first missionary journey so you see it takes place if you follow that blue line out of antioch down to that island of cyprus north into pemphilia and then into antioch again that's a different antioch antioch and pasitia you'll see that he goes over to lystra and derby and all that kind of stuff and so this is where Paul has his first where Paul first encounters lystra and derby and iconium and in acts chapter 14 it actually tells this story you see Paul and Barnabas they are they are there in this area and they are planting a church they are reaching out to greek people and there's a jewish population there and they're they're ministering and they're sharing the Gospel and one of the first things that they do is they come across this man who has lame feet okay this guy he cannot walk he is just kind of stuck there and so Paul and Barnabas they take him and they heal his feet and the man is leaping and he's running around and he's jumping and he's yelling that he's been healed and that these men were sent by the gods and Paul and Barnabas are going no wait

We were sent by God okay and before they can even really correct them everybody starts getting into this huge fervor right they're like these guys are gods among us the this guy here Barnabas where he is zeus incarnate and this guy over here Paul is hermes incarnate and so before they can even get a chance to really preach the Gospel to them and instruct them on where the healing comes from they're already you know making wreaths and ready to worship these guys and then and so they are barely able to restrain their enthusiasm they want to worship these guys as they say no we're just men we're here to declare the Gospel to you we're here to preach about the one true God to you and well they plant a church in that area a couple of days later some jews from iconium they come and they meet Paul and Barnabas in this area and they get these same crowds that were ready to worship them just a few days before and they say these are bad dudes guys yeah they heal people yeah they teach you know accurately the old testament but these are bad dudes guys okay they're preaching they're preaching about this guy Jesus and all this kind of stuff you don't want to have anything to do with these guys and so once again the people get into a fervor and they're like we're going to kill you and actually they get up to the point let's actually see what acts chapter 14 says if you're looking at it you can follow along here in acts chapter 14. It says that they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city supposing that he was dead like let that let that just kind of sink in for a moment that he was his body was so limp and lifeless

That they thought that he was already gone but when the disciples gathered about him he rose up and entered the city and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to derby when they had preached the Gospel to that city and had made many disciples they returned to lystra into iconium into antioch strengthening the souls of the disciples encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God you know can you imagine Paul you know he's all bruised and cut up saying hey through many tribulations you must enter the kingdom of God like he's living proof of that the first characteristic of Christian discipleship if you're writing things down is to overcome hurdles I mean if Paul doesn't go back to this area where the people tried to kill him last time that he was there we don't get Timothy we don't get the pastoral epistles Paul loses out on his father-son relationship that he has with Timothy we ephesus doesn't gain an elder in that church there's a lot in church history that we miss out on and so we gotta ask that question what are some things that could have prevented Paul from going back to this area number one I think of his fear right he could have been afraid to go back are you kidding me like I need to go back there they just tried to kill me why on earth would I try to go back to a place where they were literally throwing rocks at me and they even thought that was dead I got a lot of life to live I don't I don't want to go through that again let me ask you this does fear ever stop you from obeying the Lord and making

Disciples does fear stop you in doing that maybe it's a fear of putting yourself out there and being vulnerable maybe it's a fear of not knowing how to get started perhaps it's a fear of being asked a question that you may not know the answer to maybe fear stops you could be anxiety that stopped Paul excuse me sorry cough in your ear maybe there's anxiety worry uneasiness maybe he's nervous it's not like Paul knew the future he knew that if he went back to this place they could try to stone him again or maybe they'd just say you know he survived last time let's just cut off his head every single hero of the faith was called to trust in the Lord and listen to me church Christians they cannot make an impact if they are ruled by fear and anxiety amen so maybe maybe it's fear and anxiety Paul he maybe had to overcome apathy you know he'd already been there he'd already done that he'd already planted a church he'd already made disciples why would he go back he's already appointed elders remember one of the things that Paul did was that he was called to be an apostle excuse me real quick he was called to be an apostle and his goal was not just to evangelize areas his he wasn't just called to appoint leaders to move on his calling is to establish healthy vibrant growing churches and this takes constant love constant instruction constant correction constant service and that's what Paul is called to do to check up on these infant churches and so he can either resist the call of

God on his life say you know what I know that I'm called to be an apostle but you know I'm going to go to a new area where they're not trying to kill me and I'm going to start planting churches over there but he has to he has planted these churches he is responsible for these churches he boasts in these churches have you ever maybe tried to disciple someone in the past and it just did not work out the way that you at all and like intended it to go like you know you're like I've been there I've done that I've got the t-shirt didn't work ultimately what you're telling God is you know I won't really care what you say God about the church and my responsibility I know that you've called me to make disciples but it's just not for me listen you by doing that if that's your mentality remember that you are usurping his authority over you he has saved you he has bought you with his own blood he owns you and he has every right to make commands and demands of you Jesus he is the great shepherd and so with great and tremendous love he coaxes us and he wounds us and he guides us but he is also the sovereign king of creation and as such he gets to make commands and he gets to make rules and he gets to say this is what you have to do Paul's first time being in this area was about 45 a.d in the second journey that's taken place here in acts chapter 16 it takes place about five years later and so the church has changed a little bit during that five years span the church has grown it's actually added a young man here his name is Timothy

Now Timothy he is a young man who whose dad is a is a greek pagan okay he worshipped those false gods his mother however was a jewish believer who maybe through the preaching of Paul when he was first there became a Christian and his grandmother is there and she's a believer too and he's well thought of by church members because he has received the Gospel as well he's submissive to elders in the church that's why they think well of him and he's extremely mission minded and he's full of faith excuse me characteristic number two is to observe opportunities observe opportunities I ask that you take time just right now right where we're at just very quickly and examine your life I want you to examine it through the this lens how long have you been walking with the Lord for some of us over 10 years anyone been walking with the Lord for over 10 years over 10 years about 20 years keep your hand up over 20 over 30 years 40 50. Okay a couple of you over 50 years praise the Lord for that's good that's awesome praise the Lord for that you see God he has done something really awesome in our church he's brought us young adults and young families who need older godly members to come alongside of them and pour all that wisdom and all that experience of walking with the Lord for the last 30 40 50 years to pour yourself into them that's what God has equipped you for most people they don't need people to have all the answers they don't need a person with a perfect walk to come alongside of them

And it's not incumbent upon new people to reach out to you it's it's incumbent upon you to reach out to them to bridge the gap to be the hand that reaches out that's what you're called to do most people they just need someone to love them to speak Biblical truth into their life and to show them how to walk with the Lord how do I navigate when my child is walking in disobedience we need I need people to pour into my life I need I'm sure that if you're a young person or a young couple you say I need that too God has uniquely called and equipped you for that purpose well Paul he identified Timothy as someone that he could pour himself into the 11th guiding principle of our church is replicating disciples it's not just something that we say it's something that we believe because the Bible says that we're supposed to do this and we should all have that one person or that one family that we are pouring ourselves into and so maybe maybe you have a hard time identifying who that one person is and so I want to give you some principles guidelines just kind of help you identify that and so if you want to make notes in your margin first principle here is to look at your family look at your family are there Christians in your family that you need to disciple Timothy before Paul discipled him who it was his mom it was his grandma and that's good and right for us to do so look at your family secondly you can't disciple non-Christians okay Paul he taught us in first corinthians chapter two the natural person does not accept the things of the

Spirit of God for they are follied to him he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned so evangelize your non-Christian family your non-Christian friends okay seek to make disciples of them but you can't disciple them as in this is how you walk with the Lord thirdly look at your church members we owe it to our church members and this is why we emphasize church membership that you are committed to each other as I'm a part of you are a part of me that's what it means to be a part of the body we have a greater responsibility to serve one another and to be served by one another and so maybe you need to connect with someone that is a church member that you can invest in also look at their gender it's the fourth thing if they're not a part of your family men should stick with men women should stick with women that's what Paul instructs that the older women should instruct the younger women the older men should instruct the younger men yeah fifthly look at the age okay just as youth shouldn't be despised age should also be honored normally those who you will disciple are going to be younger than you six look for teachability you can't can't disciple someone that's not teachable so and also remember to be teachable yourself and seventh replicate that means that we learn to teach others you know when you leave from here on a sunday morning you don't you don't leave here just knowing like hey I learned some new cool facts like that's

Not the goal of sunday morning if it is then we need to talk okay we need to re-educate now the goal of sunday mornings is we learn so that way we can pour our lives out into other people's lives throughout the week hey pastor pastor he talked about this and the Scripture's been showing me this and let me just share that with you and so when you identify that person and they agree to be discipled by you're like we have the tools and the resources and all that kind of stuff but it's not supposed to be a hugely formal process it's more or less life on life and I want to point out this third characteristic of Christian discipleship which is to oversee development Timothy he accompanies Paul on his missionary journey and that word accompany it's the greek word exerco my which means like to descend from to be with to live it's a word that implies like mimicry it's a word that would oftentimes be used of a father towards his son like learning the family business or something like that and so Timothy he submits to Paul and his oversight and here's the first thing that Paul decides to do with Timothy and it's kind of strange he says the first instruction is as they circumcises Timothy which totally seems bizarre considering that you know since what acts chapter eight it's been about like who is who receives the Holy Spirit it's the Holy Spirit just for the jews is it for gentiles and the Holy Spirit's descending upon Cornelius and his family and people are getting saved and now you know people are asking all right do people have to be

Circumcised before they can be saved and that was a major issue in the church and there were actually people who said unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved and so there was this division that threatened to divide the entire church right down the middle and so they get together that the apostles and the elders from different churches and they say we need to resolve this because the law of God explicitly states this and yet we also know that Cornelius and his family and the gentiles they're receiving the word of God with great gladness and they have the Holy Spirit just like we do so how do we handle this and at the end in acts chapter 15 it explicitly states this for it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols in other words don't eat demon food abstain from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality if you keep yourselves from these you will do well farewell so why on earth was Timothy circumcised when he didn't have to be it's a good question I'm glad you asked there's nothing requiring him to do this so what is Paul doing it seems to be a direct contradiction however we see that Paul he doesn't do this for the sake of Timothy salvation but for the sake of Timothy's ministry as the disciples or as disciples of Christ listen you and I we have freedom we have freedom in Christ we are no longer constrained by the law of Moses which requires circumcision abstaining

From foods and other things that marked israel as special however Timothy he was circumcised for the sake of Gospel proclamation as they traveled through these different areas guess what they would come across they would come across jewish synagogues and there was a significant jewish population in asia minor at this time even in the city of rome and that was exactly where Paul would go he would go straight to the jewish synagogues and he would preach Christ crucified but if Timothy wasn't circumcised I mean they all knew that his dad was a greek and hadn't done it so in order for the jewish people to hear the Gospel those who were proclaiming the Gospel had to conform to God's law as revealed in the old testament and so Paul he takes Timothy this word take it's that greek word lambano which it means to bring alongside as a father mentors his own son and we see Paul he has this attitude towards Timothy as his own son in first Timothy chapter one verse two it says to Timothy my true child my true son in some translations my true son in the faith and so Paul he circumcises Timothy so that the jewish people could readily receive the Gospel if Timothy doesn't do this then Timothy can't go into jewish synagogues he cannot join Paul in teaching and preaching the Gospel he won't be able to go into jewish homes and have meaningful conversations with jewish men that desperately need the Savior Jesus Christ he can't have any kind of meaningful con connection with jewish people who need Jesus and this principle is what Paul teaches

In first corinthians chapter 9 verses 19 through 23 it says this it's on the screen for you for though I am free from all I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them to the jews I became as a jew in order to win jews to those under the law I became as one under the law though not myself being under the law that I might win those under the law to those outside the law I became as one outside the law not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ that I might win those outside the law to the week I became weak that might win I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some I do it all for the sake of the Gospel that I may share with them in its blessings this teaches us as Christians how we are to be culturally sensitive how we are to be culturally sensitive to be all things to all people that we might save some are there areas that for us as Christians we need to consider on being more culturally sensitive in absolutely I've got those areas and you do too as our I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that there are four new neighbors that are all around my house okay anybody seen moving trucks here in the last couple of weeks okay if you've been at the lake for more than you know five six years you've seen it change you see all the new construction you see the new people you see the new faces we thank the Lord for that because that means that there are a lot of lost people that are moving to our community that desperately need the Gospel of Jesus Christ amen that means that they've got different political affiliations some of you go trump 2022 we need to be about the Gospel more than we are about anything else

You can't say amen you better say ouch this is this is something that we're going to be exploring more in depth as we get into the book of Daniel you know as I've been studying even in the men's conference it was funny that this was brought up Daniel he was taken to a faraway land where he had to learn a completely different culture completely different language actually Daniel he had to be educated in the dark arts and the occult he had to be he had to learn magic and he was the best at what he did which is crazy how do you justify that we're going to talk about that in Daniel I'm excited about it but how do we as Christians live for the glory of God in a culture that is anti-God and so Christians we must be sensitive we must avoid giving unnecessary offense and so as Timothy recovers ouch they went on their way fourth characteristic of Christian discipleship is organic discipleship organic discipleship Paul and Timothy they go on their way to these different cities it's life on life it's together it's ministry in the trenches it's watching each other's back it's praying with and for one another and this is just simply Paul what he's doing is he's just simply fulfilling the great commission the great commission if you don't know what the great commission is it's something that every Christian should know every single Christian should know about the great commission and for us at southern baptists especially we are fiercely committed to mission work locally and abroad and the great commission is found in Matthew chapter 28 verses 18 through 20 which says all authority in heaven and on

Earth has been given to me talking about Jesus go therefore and make disciples of all the 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 that word go it's interesting because it is a command to go and this isn't just a call to international missions although it is it's more explicitly a call to missional living in other words you can do this right where you're at right now right here in camdenton or max creek or lynn creek or och beach wherever you're at wherever the Lord has you can fulfill it right where you're at you don't have to go to mexico or eastern europe or north africa although praise the Lord if you're called to it we want to support you in that amen but we can fulfill this calling right here and it is given to each and every single believer I mean look at these verbs that are here Jesus he has all authority that means that there is no greater authority than Jesus Christ he tells us to go he tells us to make disciples to baptize them to teach them to observe and this is not optional Christians like you and I we don't get to say yes I love Jesus but I'm not going to do that you know what it's called when you disobey a command from the king it's called treason the thing is that discipleship is hard it requires a lot of us it requires so many things like for example discipleship it requires time is precious and so for some of you like you know you lead an organization and you

Work full-time and you're raising a family and maybe you own a business or you volunteer you do stuff like that remember that this go can be translated as you are going as you are living your life welcome them into that let them see how you handle yourself at the best of times and at the worst of times invite them into the chaos invite them into the peace Paul he doesn't change up his plan just because Timothy's with him he continues going to these different churches it's life on life so invite people into your life I mean we can we can always make excuses like I don't have time but let's remember why we ought to do it because Jesus commands us to discipling it also requires study it requires study not like a specialized kind of study otherwise that would eliminate almost all Christians for all history I want to tell you all a story in 2018 I took some students to virginia for a servant leadership trip there was a we went to a church there it's called Paul green church it actually burned down but now it's like a see-through church it's just polls it's pretty cool and it has a really interesting history because the pastor his name was Samuel davies and this was back in the 1700s and what he would do is he would ask for plantation owners to send their slaves to his house every night during the week and what he would do is he would sit down with these slaves and he would teach them how to read how to write how to do math and so he did that for 20 years and at the end of the lesson at the end of every single lesson he would say now

That you know how to do this you need to go and you need to teach at least four other slaves how to do this lesson as a result of that a hundred years later when the slaves were freed hanover county had one of the highest literacy rates for slaves anywhere in america probably anywhere in the world they were able to read they were able to write they were able to do math and you know what he used he just simply opened up the Bible and they started reading together and through that he was able to lead many of these slaves to Jesus Christ I mean that's that's huge and think about this is literally 20 miles away from the capital of the south in a very dark place there was hope because of the Gospel discipleship it also requires prayer prayers changes situations it changes attitudes when we invite the sovereign king into our lives and we ask for him God can you please handle this can you change my outlook on this can you can you change this circumstance God he does something he changes things and the reason why some people struggle with making disciples is because they're struggling in prayer remember that God he's not given us a spirit of fear or of timidity but a spirit of power and of love and of sound mind and so if you if you struggle with anxiety or fear and there is no prayer remember that means that there's not going to be trust in God for the future so you need to pray discipleship also requires love tremendous amounts of love in John chapter 13 verse 34 it says just as I have loved you also are to love one another you cannot disciple without

Love because love it initiates discipleship like if you if you go over to someone and say hey can I disciple you and there's no love there I just pump the brakes like spend some time in prayer develop a love for that person to develop a love for your neighbor because that's probably a bigger problem love it perseveres in discipleship it's what it's what keeps you going love it humbly receives criticism you ever have someone point out something in your life that you're like I don't want you to point that out that's what love does though in a gracious kind humble way in love it also ends the discipleship relationship because the relationship does have to come to somewhat of a close in order for the process to continue on fifth characteristic and then we're gonna start wrapping it up is overwhelming success the passage it says so the churches were strengthened in the faith and they increased in numbers daily you see what happens here is that as a result of this there are strong churches strong churches we need strong churches the word strengthened here is the greek word stereos which means to be resolute and to be firm Paul and Timothy he went and they went and they taught and they strengthened the churches by the proclamation of the Gospel and so if you want a strong church and I desperately hope that you do then you must take God's word seriously especially on making disciples secondly notice this growing numbers we don't like to talk about numbers very much because we kind of feel like it's a little bit on spiritual but you see throughout the entire books book of acts you see church growth

In numbers which is which is good we want more people to come into the kingdom and we see it flourishing and so what does all this mean what does all this mean listen if you're not a Christian before you can be discipled or disciple anyone you must be saved the Bible says that in order to be saved you have to repent of your sin and believe the Gospel that repentance and belief it's kind of two sides of the same coin because you know when you repent you turn away from sin and when you believe he turned to God so we're kind of talking about you know just a change in our in our mind is what repentance is you say I am hopelessly broken like I know that can't be good enough I can't give enough to erase the sin debt that I have in my life there's nothing else that you can do except for believe the Gospel that Jesus did come and he lived a perfect sinless life and that he died on the cross really for your sins and that he rose again on the third day so that you can have the hope of resurrection and eternal life in Jesus Christ it's the simplest Gospel message and if that's you I'd love to talk with you about that but if you are saved maybe maybe there's some things in your life where you're just like I need to be praying about this I see that I'm supposed to I'm called to make disciples and I and I want to do that I just don't know what the next steps are pray that's that's your next step is to pray and ask the Lord God can you please just reveal to me that person just help me to leave here with open eyes on who that young person or who that young couple is that I or we can mentor and pour ourselves into I mean we got so many excuses

I'm so busy I'm so tired I don't have it in me but we must remember that the reason why we do is because Jesus commands us to Jesus said if you love me you'll keep my commandments let's all devote ourselves to obey the Lord because of our love for him because he graciously asks us to head hand heart head I want you to know that healthy Christians they pour themselves into others it's what healthy Christians do might be for a short season might be for a long time but you and I we are called to keep going back to God who will fill up our cup for as long as we need it and I want you to find your one person to invest in just find that one person it might be that person in your community group or maybe someone that you sit next to in service you need to find them and start reaching out to them heart I want you to believe that discipling others is the most God-honoring thing that a Christian can do as I said it before if you love me keep my commandments is what Jesus said and so when he gives us this commission to go and make disciples it's one of the last instructions that he gives to us and so let us go and make disciples and so God we do thank you so much for the stay that you've given to us Lord we thank you for your word and just ask and plead God that you would that you would work in our lives and conform us into your image and God as we leave from here help us to not go well that was a nice sermon the Lord deal with our hearts and make us

Bring us to where we need to be humble and totally submissive to what you want for us we love you and we ask that you would do big things in our lives in making disciples in Jesus name amen let's stand let's worship together [Music] when I serving the wondrous cross which the prince of glory died my richest gain count but lost and poor contempt on all my pride [Music] were the whole realm of nature [Music] mine that were [Music] far too small love so [Music] amazing so devine [Music] demands my soul life my and so God we do we know that this demands our soul our life our all and so we

Commit ourselves to this work help us to conform ourselves to your image because you are always only good and so help us to be salt and light to a world that desperately needs to see the hope of your son in us we love you and thank you for what you've done in Jesus name amen