“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:1-2).
Paul sets before Timothy the same pattern for building up the assembly that Christ both exhibited and commended to His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…even to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19-20, NKJV). We understand that this commissioning is propagated from disciple to disciple, as is would be impossible for eleven men to accomplish this worldwide task even if they labored until the Lord’s return.
Christ is building His Church one living stone at a time—disciple by disciple. Timothy was to continue the work of discipleship; in fact, Paul identifies four generations of disciples in his exhortation: himself, Timothy, faithful men, and those that they would teach. Making disciples is the key to church growth and vitality.
The Challenge
Paul told the believers at Thessalonica: “We were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children” (1 Thes. 2:7). In the previous verse, he told them that the apostles did not seek their money or their honor. A true disciple of Christ never gains disciples for himself. Amos Alcott put it this way, “The true teacher defends his pupils against his own personal influence.” George MacDonald warns, “No teacher should strive to make men think as he thinks, but to lead them to the living Truth, to the Master Himself, of whom alone they can learn anything.”
One of the difficult tasks of discipleship is practically implementing both Paul’s nurturing example to the Thessalonian believers and his exhortation to Timothy to “commit thou to faithful men.” Those professing Christ as Saviour will require tender care and regular feedings of the sincere milk of the Word to encourage growth, yet maturity must be realized. The discipler does not want to be guilty of entertaining goats while neglecting the feeding of true sheep. False professors or the despondent can absorb our time and distract us from fulfilling the Great Commission. If, after a few months, the professing believer is not exhibiting spiritual growth, we must commit them to the Lord, leave an open invitation for further study, and discontinue meeting with them.
Maturity is evidenced by a deepening in devotion to Christ, being a witness for Christ, spending time in Bible study and prayer, repenting and forsaking sin, and attending meetings of the church faithfully. Paul tells Timothy to commit to those who will pass on what they know of the Saviour. So, dear discipler, be a nurse who cherishes her children, but also be discerning—commit to faithful men who will teach others.
The first year of growth is most important for a new convert. It has been my experience that those who receive good spiritual care in the early months tend to go on for Christ, while those who are neglected seem to develop lethargic behavior patterns that can cripple their spiritual vigor for the rest of their life.
A good spiritual nursery includes a discipler who lives sound doctrine as an example to follow (2 Thes. 3:7-9) and is available to spend time with the one being discipled (Ac. 11:25-26). The Lord Jesus exhibited such qualities in training Peter.
The Lord called Peter on three separate occasions to follow Him and, after each time, Peter dedicated more of himself to Christ. In Mark 1:18, Peter forsook his fishing nets to follow Christ. Later, Peter forsook all to pursue the Saviour (Lk. 5:11). After Christ’s resurrection, the Lord again called Peter to follow Him with the understanding it would cost Peter his life (Jn. 21:15-19).
It is at this junction that Peter settled the death question once and for all. He had learned that it was harder to live for the Lord than to die for Him. Acts 2 does not portray a denying Peter, but a fully-restored, Spirit-filled disciple, preaching Christ to the salvation of 3,000 souls.
The Lord’s patience with Peter is an encouragement to all those who are training others. So be patient and tender, but also discerning. We want to spend our time with those who will disciple others.
Discipleship at Home
One of the most neglected Christian training grounds is the home. A Christian family is not a household of Christians, but a Christian household. If the Bible is not the center of the home, it cannot be called a true Christian home, even though all the individuals comprising the home have been born again. A Christian home might include the following training methods:
1. Regular family devotions.
Involve the entire family in prayer, reading the Scripture, answering questions, and sharing gleanings from the Word. Dads should take the lead in teaching and applying Scripture (1 Cor. 14:35). The family setting is a non-threatening environment for sons to learn to minister the Word to others and pray aloud. This training prepares them for assembly responsibility. Why not give each son one night a week to bring a family devotion?
2. Encouraging daily quiet times.
As soon as children can read and write, give them quiet time notebooks in which to journal. Fathers should meet regularly with the children to review these notebooks and to answer questions. This time of review builds parental intimacy and instills a lifetime pattern of committing our first-fruits to the Lord and seeking His help for the day.
3. Bible study.
May I recommend that dads take each of their children through Jean Gibson’s Survey of Christianity and Basic Christian Training, then William MacDonald’s book Here’s The Difference. These three books cover the gamut from basic truths to the finer distinctions of doctrine.
4. Character development.
Develop a list of godly and ungodly character traits from Proverbs and systematically teach these to your children. Teach biblical gender roles in the family and in the assembly. Read missionary stories and biographies of faithful men and women of God.
Discipleship Outside the Home
Titus 2:1-7 identifies a host of discipleship opportunities for both genders and all ages. Although the local church will gather for weekly teaching, this meeting should not be the main means of training children, new converts, and young believers. Those first believers in Jerusalem continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine (Ac. 2:46); they gathered daily (Ac. 2:46). Paul, speaking to believers from Ephesus, said, “I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house” (Ac. 20:20, NKJV). True discipleship commits whatever time is necessary to train up others for Christ—newborns especially cannot be neglected.
Key activities in spiritual development are:
1. Learning Christ. “Disciple” (mathetes) means “a learner.” The pursuit of the disciple is to learn Christ (Mt. 11:29) and to be like Him (Mt. 10:25). Guilt trips and accountability may work for a short time, but only love for Christ will propel the new believer onward in growth and service.
2. Attending Bible studies. Young believers need to be in as many weekly Bible studies as possible without neglecting the meetings of the Church and family responsibilities. I have found periodic weekend Bible studies (by gender) to also be profitable. Ensure that new converts keep a notebook with them to jot down questions as they arise, then be available to answer these.
3. Church involvement. Involvement builds commitment to the local body. Challenge those you are discipling to serve to the capacity that they are able, which will assist you in both recognizing gift (1 Tim. 4:14-15) and stirring it up (2 Tim. 1:6). Elders should be ensuring that all those in fellowship, including responsible children, have functional roles. When children feel that they are a part of the local body, they will not tend to drift away as young adults.
4. Disciple others. Witnessing for Christ strengthens one’s profession (Rom. 10:10), and a disciple learns the most while teaching others. Just as every local church should have vision for evangelical outreach and seeing new church testimonies raised up, every discipler should implant the same vision into those they are training: “commit thou to faithful men [and women], who shall be able to teach others also.” This is Christ’s plan for building His Church; may we all do it for His glory!
Quotes from: Edythe Draper, Draper’s Quotations from the Christian World, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers Inc., electronic copy)