1 How to Make Disciples (2 Timothy 3:14-17; Acts 1:1-8; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 and Galatians 5:13-26) 14 th February 2016 Please have your Bibles in front of you as always (preferably open); and you can take notes in the outline provided in the bulletin. Let me ask God for His help and understanding; let s pray Recap In the last 4 weeks we ve been looking at Discipleship and so far we ve learnt: [Powerpoint 1 Recap] 1. That - A balanced church has a good trellis that supports the vine work and the vine work is to be done by EVERYONE because we are branches attached to the true vine and we must bear fruit to stay attached 2. That - We are CALLED to make disciples 3. That - We are called to make disciples because God loves people and doesn t want them to perish, because we re ambassadors for Jesus, because we re priests who are part of Jesus priesthood, because our community is a plentiful harvest and there are only a few workers; and because making disciples grows people spiritually! 4. And then last week we learnt, there is a cost in following Jesus and making disciples and we said that we had to take up our cross which meant imitating Jesus teaching and example, even if it meant giving up our lives; and so Jesus teaches that all His followers should count the cost of following Him because it s no picnic and He s not a false recruiter Page 1 of 13
2 Now this week in our final look at discipleship we re going to see HOW we make disciples And we going to look at the 4 Bible passages we read earlier to answer the question: How we should make disciples? 1. Through God s Word because God s Word Changes people In our first reading from 2 Timothy 3 verses 14 to 17, the apostle Paul is writing to his younger disciple Timothy And He says something really important things: [Powerpoint 2 word since an infant] He says young Timothy has known the Holy Scriptures since he was an infant. So God s Word has been part of Timothy s whole life it s second nature to him now How did Timothy know the Bible? From his grandmother Lois and his mum Eunice (2 Timothy 1:5) Look how important God s Word is it s been instrumental in Timothy becoming a disciple who makes disciples and this all started when he got taught as a child. So are we as parents and grandparents teaching our children and grandchildren and reading the Bible to them? (pause) Why should we do that? Well Paul tells us why? [Powerpoint 3 salvation - word] Page 2 of 13
3 Because it makes us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus In other words God s Word is life-saving Regardless of whether there are parts of the Bible we don t quite understand God s Word is clear enough for us to understand that: God loves us God doesn t like disobedience or rebellion against Him He calls that sin And God says the punishment for that sin and rebellion is death But God loves us so much He sent Jesus to take that punishment and die on a cross for our rebellion against Him so we can have forgiveness And God raised Jesus from the dead so if we believe in Jesus we too can have life with God forever in Heaven Knowing that much about the Bible is enough to make us, as Paul says to Timothy to make us wise enough to be saved from our sin that s wise for salvation (pause) And there s other benefits of God s Word, Paul says: [Powerpoint 4 Word does ] The Bible is God s Word breathed out to all the writers of all of the books in the Bible and passed on to us. It s God s Words from His own mouth! And Paul says these words from God are useful for: Useful for Teaching: we can learn lessons from God s Word. It s full of promises that we can hang on to: When I first became a Christian a couple of those promises jumped out at me! Page 3 of 13
4 When my Dad died I learnt a promise that God will never leave me nor forsake me (Heb 13:5) When I was feeling so many people and things were against me I learnt the promise that If God, is for me who can be against me! (Rom 8:31) When I feel like giving up I remember what I learnt from Luke 9:62 No one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God Useful for Rebuking: God s Word also jumps out and punches us on the nose when we need straightening out too! We might feel like getting even with someone who has hurt us but then God s Word says do not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom 12:21) Useful for Correcting: God s Word also corrects our thinking too. For example we might think God is slow to answer our prayers and slow to keep His promises; but then we read: the Lord is not slow in keeping His promises, as some understands slowness, instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) Useful for Training in Righteousness: As we read God s Holy Word we learn lesson after lesson how we should think, how we should speak and how we should act we are taught God s ways and told the World s ways are not the right ways and in learning all this we grow more like Jesus in our thoughts, words and actions so we are trained in righteousness Page 4 of 13
5 The famous missionary Dr. David Livingstone began his journey through Africa with 73 books in 3 packs weighing 80kgs as he travelled he threw books away as he grew tired until eventually the only book he had left was the Bible! [Powerpoint 5] So the bottom line is one way to make disciples is through God s Word which changes people 2. Through God s Spirit because God s Spirit enables people In our 2 nd passage from Acts chapter 1 the context is that Jesus has risen from the dead and has made several convincing appearances to show He is alive and He is just about to leave Earth and ascend to Heaven The disciples are clearly vulnerable they are just about to lose their Lord, their teacher the amazing Son of God and they are going to be on their own faced with the job of making disciples because that was the job Jesus gave them back in Matthew 28. How are they going to cope with this job without Jesus? How are we going to cope with this job, because it s our job too? [Powerpoint 6 Spirit] Well in Acts 1:8 Jesus makes a promise you will receive power when God s Holy Spirit comes on you. Page 5 of 13
6 And this Spirit is so powerful it will enable them to bring the message of Jesus through Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria (non-jew territory) and even to the ends of the Earth Did Jesus keep this promise? You bet! In Acts chapter 2 the apostles receive the Holy Spirit and are able to talk about Jesus to many people in different languages and all the people in Jerusalem could hear the Gospel message in their own language! Did Jesus keep his promise about people being his witness in the world even to the ends of the Earth? You bet! How did we get the message of Jesus in Australia? How come there are huge Presbyterian churches in South Korea? How come by the year 2020 China will be have the largest number of Christians of any country in the world? Only - through the Power of the Holy Spirit So another way to make disciples is through God s Holy Spirit which enables, empowers and equips people to spread the Good News of Jesus [Powerpoint 7 Word and Spirit] Page 6 of 13
7 3. Through Co-workers in God s Service as God s field, as God s building We might be forgiven in thinking that if we have God s Word and God s Spirit we can make disciples all under our own steam we re in control But no! That s not it at all. If we look at our 3 rd passage from 1 Corinthians chapter 3 That s the problem that Paul is writing to this bunch of Christians in Corinth about. He says to them you re supposed to be living by the Holy Spirit which enables you and guides you how to spread the message of Jesus but instead you re arguing amongst yourselves about which missionary you should be following whether to follow missionary Paul - or missionary Apollos [Powerpoint 8 Paul and Apollos] And the apostle Paul is saying No! No! No! You ve got it all wrong Missionary Paul and missionary Apollos are simply servants of God In fact we re all servants Like the apostle Paul and Apollos we might sow the seed of God s Word to someone and then water that seed And that s our job finished The rest of the job is up to God Paul says God makes it grow Paul says: People like us - planting and watering the Word of God aren t anything Page 7 of 13
8 So don t put tickets on yourself just do the job that God has given you And leave the growing of people, into Christians, up to God For example when Patricia and Esma give out Bibles and tracts in Toukley on Thursdays and tell people about Jesus that s their job done They don t have to argue or persuade or manipulate just give the message Then God s Word and God s Spirit do the rest! The bottom line Paul says is that we are co-workers in God s service So another way to make disciples is by us being co-workers in God s service. [Powerpoint 9 Word, Spirit, Co-Workers] And this job is for all of us we learn that in week 1 and 2 Because remember the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few (Luke 10:2) 4. Through living and walking in the Spirit and keeping in step with the Spirit Now when we become Christians we undergo a change It s a bit like when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly the caterpillar becomes a completely new creation We become a new creation as a Christian because we receive the Holy Spirit living inside us which we ve just said enables, empowers and equips us to do God s work so our lives are transformed So with the Holy Spirit living inside us, the apostle Paul says in our 4 th passage in Galatians chapter 5 our lives should look different Page 8 of 13
9 However there is a battle going on inside us between our old self and our new self [Powerpoint 10 Battle flesh v Spirit] Our sinful flesh wants to do one thing (bad stuff) and the Spirit wants to do another thing (good stuff) It s like a battle between a bad dog and good dog Which dog wins? Paul says the good dog will win if we live by the Spirit And keep in step with the Spirit [Powerpoint 11 Fruit of Spirit] How do we do that? By producing fruit that comes from the Spirit there in verses 22 and 23 Have a good look at the fruit that is listed there: Which ones do we find easy? Which ones do we struggle with? Kindness? Goodness? Gentleness? Self-control? What will we do with the ones we are struggling with? (pause) Paul says live in the Spirit and keep in step with the Spirit In the Greek keep in step literally means marching in a row like a soldier Have you noticed when you see a bunch of soldiers marching in line row after row it looks great it looks like they re all joined together doesn t it? Page 9 of 13
10 That s what it means to keep in step with Spirit we are all marching in unison with the Spirit with the same agenda in the same direction for the same purpose And as people see us keeping in step with the Spirit they ll see our love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control and they ll want to join us as Christian soldiers marching together! [Powerpoint 12 Word, Spirit, Co-Worker and Living/Walking Spirit] So another way to make disciples is by us living and walking in the Spirit and keeping in step with the Spirit so that people will be attracted to follow us as we follow Jesus Application So with God s Word, the Holy Spirit and as co-workers in God s Service living and walking in the Spirit and keeping in step with the Spirit there are many many ways that we can make disciples Let s not think that this means we all have to evangelize on the street - or go door-knocking I don t believe any of the Bible passages we ve looked at today limit us to one or two ways of making disciples Making disciples is our whole way of life: Here s 6 simple examples: Freda is worried about her friend Daphne who struggles with anxiety and has been missing from church quite a lot lately. Freda writes a card and Page 10 of 13
11 letter of encouragement, quoting a few Bible verses, and offering to get together to pray At work on Monday morning, Fred s workmate asks what he did on the weekend. Fred says he heard a great Bible talk on Sunday and explains to his workmate what it was about. His workmate asks Fred why are there so many problems in the world and Fred is able to explain to his mate about our sinful and broken world and how Jesus came to fix sin and give us hope At Fred s church they take a few minutes during one of the Sunday services for a congregation member to give a testimony or to tell how God s Word has impacted their life lately. This week it s Fred s turn and he plans to share how Ephesians chapter 5 has turned his marriage around Fred rearranges his working week so he can take Wednesday mornings off work - to teach Scripture classes in the local Primary School. Fred and his wife end up doing Scripture for many years and have an enormous impact on the lives of the kids and teachers at their local school Freda has been praying for her friend Daphne for many months and finally invites her to an event at church. On the way home in the car, Daphne asks Freda more about church, and Freda invites her to the PWA. Daphne enjoys the devotions at PWA and soon becomes a regular at the Sunday services and joins a Growth group Fred meets one on one every fortnight for breakfast, with his mate Bill, who is a newish Christian. They are going through Just for Starters Bible Page 11 of 13
studies and working through some of the basics of living a Christian life. Bill looks forward to their meetings 12 Key Ingredient Now there is a key ingredient in making disciples You might have noticed it in the Galatians passage [Powerpoint 13 Key Ingredient] It s in verses 13 and 14 of the Galatians 5 passage: serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself. And it s also the first fruit of the Spirit: It s love! The apostle Paul teaches about love in his famous love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13 and he gives this warning: [Powerpoint 14 Key Ingredient] If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Page 12 of 13
13 So Paul is saying we can have all the gifts and talents in the world, but if we re not motivated by love then we have nothing and we are nothing and we can gain nothing So as we go and make disciples we need to be doing it in LOVE Without love we ll show no fruit and our discipling will be unloving and unattractive and not well received That s why as we approach Vision Sunday next week and we think about how we reach out to our local community to make disciples our key ingredient must be love Remember Jesus summarized the 10 commandments as loving God and loving one another So I ll leave you with our Vision for the Year 2030 and beyond [Powerpoint 14 Vision 2030] Our Vision is by the Year 2030 we will transform our community with the love of our Lord Jesus Christ Let s pray Page 13 of 13