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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
discipleship
it's
why
we
have
elders
in
our
church
I
need
a
peer
group
men
who
I
can
share
my
struggles
with
and
who
can
admonish
me
and
exhort
me
and
encourage
me
it's
why
I
seek
discipleship
even
outside
of our
church
as
well
with
other
pastors
there's
some
things
that
our
elders
don't
fully
understand
about
the
way
I
walk
out
my
life
and
the
things
that
I
do
in
the
day
to
day
and
so
I
try to
fellowship
with
other
pastors
as well
that can
invest
in me
if you
think that
you're
above
discipleship
it's at
this
very
point
that
you
need
discipleship
you
need
someone
to speak
to you
about
your
pride
and
your
self
righteousness
we're
so often
blind
to these
types
of
things
we
need
someone
else
to
look
into
peer
into
our
hearts
and
tell us
how
horribly
deceptive
that
they
are
all
of
us
need
to
be
in
some
process
of
discipling
another
or
being
discipled
ourselves
this
great
complex
network
that we
are
as a
congregation
we need
to be
doing
this
in
this
large
general
sense
but I
would
also
encourage
it
to
happen
in
that
more
small
programmatic
one to
one
or a
couple
sense
to be
getting
together
and
pressing
at each
other
in the
truth
and
fifthly
and
finally
discipleship
is for
the glory
of God
in all
of these
things
Paul says
in
Titus
verse 13
that we
are 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
the
gospel
is
not
firstly
about
you
the
gospel
is
firstly
about
God
and
his
glory
Jesus
Christ
came
we
are
the
recipients
of
his
perfect
life
he
lived
the
life
that
we
could
not
he
did
not
transgress
the
law
spotless
perfect
sacrifice
and
he
went
a
step
beyond
and
he
paid
the
price
for
our
sin
he
took
all
of
the
condemnation
that
was
due
to
us
rightly
do
us
and
he
bore
it
in
himself
God
being
perfectly
just
could
not
just
simply
dismiss
sin
he
had
to
punish
it
he
punished
it
in
the
person
redeem
us
to
deliver
us
from
the
punishment
that
was
due
us
but
he
brought
us
along
beyond
that
to
redeem
us
from
lawlessness
to
purify
a
people
for
his
possession
who
are
zealous
for
good
works
a
people
who
are
about
his
exaltation
this
is
why
we
exist
all
of
that
everything
that
we've
mentioned
today
all
the
things
we've
mentioned
over
the
last
three
weeks
all
of
this
is
about
the
glory
of
God
in
similar
language
Peter
writes
in
1st
Peter
2
9
but
you
are
a
chosen
race
a
royal
priesthood
a
holy
nation
a
people
for
his
own
possession
why
that
you
may
proclaim
the
excellencies
!
of
him
who
called
you
out
of
darkness
into
his
marvelous
light
he
has
made
us
who
we
are
so
that
we
can
tell
this
world
about
him
right
some
will
respond
he
is
the
one
that
plows
the
field
he
is
the
one
that
makes
the
soil
causes
the
seed
to
grow
we
are
just
meant
to
scatter
it
right
to
exalt
him
in
the
way
in
which
we
live
and
the
way
in
which
we
speak
to
go
far
and
wide
we
are
to
be
disciples
who
make
disciples
who
make
disciples
who
make
disciples
hastening
the
day
to
the
ends
of
we
have
completed
the
number
of
the
church
he
will
come
back
and
judge
the
world
and
he
will
reign
forever
and
ever
and
ever
I
hope
this
morning
that
with
confidence
you
can
say
that
you're
part
of
that
kingdom
you
know
without
a
doubt
that
you
are
a
disciple
of
Jesus
Christ
is
all
of
this
bearing
down
on
you
with
massive
!
conviction
It
may
be
that
you're
not
or
that
you
just
simply
need
to
repent
of
your
own
self
sinterness
and
turn
back
to
following
Christ
either
way
the
call
is
the
same
repent
and
believe
repent
and
believe
repent
and
believe
let's
pray
together