Association - The Process of Disciplemaking

Our most gracious Heavenly Father, we are a blessed people because of your work through your Son, Jesus Christ, in our lives. And Lord, tonight, as we have the opportunity to understand more of your word, we realize our great responsibility before thee. We are to make disciples, reproduce ourselves over again in the lives of others, help them understand their relationship with the living God. And pray that each of us would be burdened with those that we invest in, that we would see the light at the end of the tunnel, know that what we are doing, we are doing for your glory and honor.

And that you are put on display. Teach us, Lord, we pray. In your name, amen. Tonight, we want to continue our study. When our Lord said to us that we are to go into all the world and make disciples, our Lord gave us a command, a command that we are to obey. The unique thing about making disciples is that it is all of our responsibility. That is, the ministry we all have in common, whether you're a pastor, whether you're an usher, whether you're a greeter. Whether you're a Sunday school teacher, whether you're a choir member, whether you are a janitor, whether you are a coach, a teacher, no matter what your job is in the church or outside the church, the bottom line.

If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are commanded to make disciples. And because God gave us that command, and we as His children are to be obedient to that command, we have been looking at what it means for us to fulfill. That responsibility in our lives. And so we have been looking at what the Bible says about making disciples.

What does the Bible say that we might be equipped to fulfill God's plan? For our lives. The tragedy, of course, is that most churches, most schools, and most seminaries don't have an emphasis on disciple-making. After all, it's long, it's tedious, it's time consuming, there's not quick results from it, and there's not a lot of fanfare in it. And so we don't do it. We opt out for other options in ministry. And yet, this is what God has called us to. In fact, Robert Coleman, in his book on discipleship, has expressed it this way.

When will the church learn this lesson? Most churches insist on bringing new members through some kind of confirmation class, which usually meets an hour a week for a month or so. But the rest of the time, the young convert has no contact at all with a definite Christian training program, except as he may attend the worship services of the church and Sunday school. If Sunday services and membership training classes are all that a church has to develop young converts into mature disciples, then they are defeating their own purpose.

There is simply no substitute for getting with people, and it is ridiculous to imagine that anything less short of a miracle can develop strong Christian leadership. After all, if Jesus, the Son of God, found it necessary to stay almost constantly with his few disciples for three years. And even one of them was lost. How can a church expect to do this job on an assembly line basis a few days out of the year? He's right. He's absolutely right. Do I think you need to go to church? Absolutely. Do I think you need to be involved in some kind of Sunday school program?

Absolutely. But that's not the end. That's just the beginning of what God wants you to do. And so we're looking at what the Bible says about making disciples.

And so tonight, as we look at the process of disciple making, It is summed up in one word, and that word is association.

Association. And I'm going to talk to you about that process tonight as we look at three things, excuse me, four things.

Number one, some biblical illustrations. Number two, some theological exhortations. Number three, some practical directions.

And number four, some relational implications. That's where we're going this evening. First of all, I want to look at some biblical illustrations.

If you remember way back when we began this series, we told you. That biblical instruction plus personal affection will lead to spiritual maturation. Those two together help grow people strong and deep in their walk with the Lord. Biblical instruction. when coupled with person affection is going to result in spiritual maturation, the growth of individual people's lives. Last week we talked about the practice in disciple making. How we need to make sure that we direct people in the ways of God and declare to them the truth of God.

That's the biblical instruction part. And then we said that you need to demonstrate to them the life of God. That is the personal affection part. And those two, when meshed together, have a powerful impact on the people you le. Whether it's your children, whether it's someone in your church or your school. Whoever God has called you to disciple, those two things make the ministry of disciple-making. And so tonight, let me just give you some biblical illustrations, some from the Old Testament, some from the New Testament.

Just write down the verses. You can go back and you can read them later. But if you go way back to Exodus chapter 18, you have Jethro and Moses. You have the father-in-law of Moses who helped him understand the invaluable lesson of delegation by coming alongside of him and instructing him in what he needed to be doing. You move from there to Deuteronomy 31 and Deuteronomy 34 and read about Moses and Joshua. Moses, of course, was Israel's greatest leader. Joshua had to follow on the heels of Moses.

And yet Joshua learned from the greatest of all leaders, Moses himself. And Moses prepared Joshua to lead the nation of Israel into the land of Canaan. You go from Joshua to Caleb, and Moses had a similar kind of impact in his life. For back in Joshua chapter 14, Moses said of Caleb that Caleb was one who followed the Lord wholly, who followed the Lord totally. And Moses groomed Caleb for leadership and inspired him to have. Unswerving faith in his God. You move to 1 Samuel chapter 9. You read about Samuel and Saul.

Samuel had a profound impact on the life of Saul to help him shape his character. And even when Saul would walk away from the Lord, Samuel was involved in challenging him to repent and return back to his God. You move from there to 1 Samuel chapter 16 and read about Samuel and David. Samuel anointed David as king and gave him refuge from Saul's murderous plots. You go to 1 Samuel 18 and you see Jonathan and David. You have peer disciple-making. Two young men together learning to grow in their walk with the Lord.

Loyal to one another, even through the troubled days of Saul's attempt to kill David. In 1 Kings 19 and 2 Kings 2, you have Elijah and Elish. Elijah would prepare him. For future ministry, you move from the Old Testament to the New Testament. You have Barnabas and Saul over in Acts chapter 4, in Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 11. They began the missionary work, and they were two pillars in the church of God. But it was Barnabas who was called to come alongside of Saul, who then became Paul. And Barnabas would be instrumental in discipling this man and teaching him the word of God.

Then you have Barnabas and John Mark. Remember there was a falling out between John Mark and the Apostle Paul and Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with him and disciple him and nurture him and make him into a great man of God and Paul went off and did his ministry but at the end of Paul's life in 2 Timothy 4 he would say Send John Mark to me, for he is useful to me in the ministry. Barnabas has done a great work in the life of John Mark. And Paul recognized that. In Acts chapter 18, you have Priscilla and Aquila with Apollos.

Apollos was a man who was mighty. With his words and eloquent in proclaiming the truth of God. But Aquila and Priscilla would come alongside him and teach him and instruct him and nurture him. So he became even more powerful in his presentation of the gospel. You have Paul and Timothy. You can read about it in Acts 16, Philippians chapter 2, and the whole epistle of 1 and 2 Timothy. Speak of that intimate relationship that Paul had with young Timothy, and Timothy would become the pastor of the church of Ephesus, the one that Paul began.

And Timothy was a great man of God. And then, of course, you have Paul and Titus. And you can read about that in 2 Corinthians 7. Also, 2 Corinthians 8, as well as the book of Titus. And Titus became a very profound, powerful figure there in the island of Crete. He was a great man of God. And so, those are just some biblical illustrations of a man coming alongside another man, associating with his life, and instructing him in the ways of God. It's throughout the scriptures. Because that's God's plan to develop leaders.

That's God's plan for people to rep themselves to grow others. Two, theological exhortations. The Bible is replete with the exhortations for us to be involved in this process. Remember Matthew 11, 28, and 29? Christ said, come unto me. All you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. He says, Come to me and learn from me. That is the biblical instruction with the personal affection. Christ says, I want you to come to me, be a part of who I am.

And I will teach you, and I will grow you, and I will make you into something that will glorify my name. That, in essence, is what disciple-making is all about. Calling people to God and then coming alongside of them and instructing them in the ways of God. So important. Christ never had school out of session. He was with his men day and night. And they were always learning from him. They came to him over in Mark chapter 3, verse number 14. We talked about this several weeks ago. He appointed 12, designating them apostles, that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.

He brought them to himself and they were always with him when there when there was a great need He would use it as an opportunity to instruct his men. Whether they were in a boat and a storm arose and they were fearful for their lives, he would teach them a life lesson in faith and obedience to their God. Whether they were on the side of a mountain and there are thousands of people who were hungry, he would teach them life's lesson about how God would provide for all of their needs and they need to learn to trust him to supply all those needs.

You see, we need to pick up on that because we think that the best way to teach people is to bring them to a classroom, set them down, and begin to instruct them. And that's great. I'm all for that. I do that. But that's not the best way. The best way is when you take them through life experiences and begin to instruct them where they themselves are asking questions. You find that with your children, right? You know, we can put our kids down and we can sit around in our house and we can have devotions with our kids.

And I can instruct them and I can teach them all kinds of theological truths. But when they ask me questions, That I know what their heart is about and what they're thinking about, and I know that that's what they're going to grab onto, and that's what they're going to learn. And so when you go through life and your children face difficult experiences, you teach them about life's hardships. You teach them about trusting God. You teach them about what it means to lean upon God. When your son or your daughter gets a job and you're able to teach them about what it means to take out of that paycheck a certain amount of money to give to God.

You begin at a very early age. Don't wait till they get to be 20 or 25. Start when they're very young. Why? Because they need to learn at a very early age to honor God with the first fruits of their increase, right?

And so we teach them those things. We teach them what it means to memorize scripture and to lean upon the Lord when hardship comes. During times of tragedy, whether there's a funeral and a grandparent dies, or an uncle dies and an aunt dies, you teach them about the truths of eternal life, right? I mean, those become crucial times. Unfortunately, we miss those times, don't we? We don't take advantage of those opportunities. And God wants us to. God wants us to thrive in those places because that's what Jesus did.

Look at life as a classroom. All that happens in life, there are lessons that need to be learned. And as we learn them, we teach them that those we nurture can grow in their walk with the Lord. It says over in Luke 6, verse number 40. That when a disciple is fully trained, he will be just like his teacher. When a disciple is fully trained, he'll be just like his teacher. The Gospels, whether it's Matthew 11 or Mark 3 or Luke 6, it's about Coming alongside of someone, that they might imitate your faith, that they might learn to follow Christ as you yourself follow Christ.

If you can move on to the epistles, you got verses like 1 Corinthians 4. 16, where Paul would say, Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 1 Corinthians 11. 1, follow my example as I follow the example of Christ. Philippians 3:17, join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. Philippians 4:9, what you have learned, or received, or heard from me, or seen in me. Put into practice, and the God of peace will be with you. Colossians 3:16, let the word of Christ dwell on you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.

1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 6 to 8. You became imitators of us and of the Lord in spite of severe suffering. You welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Acha. The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Acha, but your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore, we do not need to say anything about it. 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, verse number 9. We did this not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.

1 Timothy 4. 12, Paul says, Don't let anyone look down on you because you're young, Timothy, but set an example for the believer in speech and life and love and faith in him. Purity all throughout the epistles, all throughout the Bible. It's about leading by example, it's about influence and the powerful. Example you set as you follow Jesus Christ. And all of us ought to be able to say to our disciple, You follow me as I follow Christ. That's not arrogant, that's not wrong. That's what Paul did. And that's what we are to be doing: setting a Christ-like example so others who are able to observe us can follow that example.

They need to see the Word of God fleshed out. They need to see how a person of God lives by the precepts of God. They need to get a hold of it. Why? Because biblical truths are better caught than taught. They catch those things. They get a hold of those things and it sticks with them. And that's what we need to do. Number three: some practical directions.

Some practical directions. Let me begin with a story. After I graduated from college, I had the opportunity to travel to Central America with an organization called Sports Ambassadors. When I graduated from college, this was something that I wanted to do. It was an opportunity for me to go and play baseball cross-culturally, as well as have the opportunity to preach the gospel. In Central America, I thought it was a great opportunity for me. I called my folks, told them about it. My mom was against it.

My dad thought it was a pretty cool idea. My mom, she wasn't for it. And so they wanted to know how I was going to cover the expenses for this trip. And I told them, I, well, I had to raise money for it. I had to raise,. And my mom said, well, how are you going to do that? And I said, well, the organization, they're going to send me some slides and they're going send me some brochures and I'll go to different churches and I'll talk to them about the ministry and tell them how they can be involved.

And if they want to support me, they can. If they don't, they don't have to. Very first church I went to, they supported me $8.

Very first church. And when it was all said and done, within 30 days, I had $3, raised for this trip. And finally, my mom said, I guess the Lord wants you to go on this trip.

I said, yeah, I think so, mom. So, sure enough, we went. And I met an individual on this trip, a young man, that became my best friend. And I realized that God would send me on this trip not to play baseball, not to preach the gospel, but to disciple this young man. I didn't know it at the time. But God had a plan. And this guy and I, we met in Dallas at the airport, and we just kind of hit it off together. We had a lot of like-mindedness and all kinds of things, and we became good friends. We roomed together, we traveled together, and it was just a great time.

But during our whole stay there, he would ask me all kinds of questions about the Bible. He went to a Christian liberal arts college, and they didn't have much Bible at that Christian liberal arts college. And so I was from a Bible college, and he had all kinds of questions he wanted to ask me about the Bible. He was just a question box. And so we'd sit up late at night on the plane, traveling. He'd be asking me questions about the Bible, and I'd be taking him to places in the Bible where God would answer those questions.

And finally, by the end the trip, I said, you, you need to move back with me to Washington, D. C. Move back with me, and we'll get an apartment together. We'll live together, we'll play ball together, and we'll go to church together, and we'll just have a great time. He said, I not going to move back to Washington. I, Sure, come on back. He goes, Well I going go for job. I get you a job. I had no idea about where I was going get him job. I said, We'll get you a job. That's not a big deal. Lo and behold, he moved back.

He decided to forego everything back in the Midwest, come out east. He got a job with UPS, and for a number of years, we just lived together. Studying the Bible together, growing together. That young man met his wife, and that wife happened to be in that very first church that sponsored me.

And he met his wife, and his soon-to-be wife. They ended up getting married, going to Portugal as missionaries for seven years. They have since come back to the United States. They're involved in a missions training program where they train nationals to go back to their country to preach and teach the gospel. He has since gone on to get a seminary education. He's got his master's in theology. And I sit back and look at this and realize that God allowed me to go on this trip for one reason and one reason only.

This young man. There were more reasons. This was the primary one. And I realized the value of sitting down with someone. Taking them through the scriptures, watching them grow, being with them on a regular basis, and seeing how God would develop their lives. And my mom and dad marvel this day as to what God did in that young man's life. They marvel because he was really liberal. He didn't walk with the Lord at all. He had a very shallow relationship with the Lord. And God did a tremendous work on his life.

And I realized the value of disciple-making. I realized that through investing time into one person over a long period of time, I was able to reach more people. How? Because he became a missionary in Portugal and led hundreds of people to Christ. Hundreds of them. I would have never gone to Portugal to do that, but he did. You see, that's what God wants to do in your life. That's why we ask you, just find one person. Just one person to invest your life into. Just one. We're not asking you to do big things.

We're just asking you to do one thing. Just one. And that's why we say, you know what? Every week, just bring that one person with you. And for a whole year, just keep bringing that person with you on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings. And at the end of that year, ask that person to bring someone with them, and you bring somebody else. By the end of three years, we'll have to sell and move. Because the building won't be big enough. That's what God wants us to do. That's what God has called us to do.

To take God's word, invest it into people's life over a long period of time, that they in turn will take God's word and invest it into somebody else's life over a long period of time. And before you know it, thousands and thousands of people are reached with the gospel. We'll talk about that in a moment. But let me give you some practical directions.

Turn with me in your Bible to 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. First Thessalonians chapter two And here you have the life of the Apostle Paul with those in Thessalonic and the ministry that he and Sidas had as they would come and minister.

To these people. And they're coming to Christ and they're growing in their walk with the Lord. And this man's leadership is unparalleled in the New Testament. This man's ability to teach and preach the gospel, of course, is unparalleled, but how he was used by God in someone else's life to associate him with them, because that's the process. When my life comes alongside of someone else, come unto me, Christ says.

He chose men to be with him. It was that association with them over time. Coupled with that instruction from the Word of God that would cause deep, last growth. And listen to what it says. We 'll pick up the narrative in verse number 7. He says, but we prove to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. The very first direction I want to give you this evening that will practically help you as you associate with somebody else is that there needs to be, number one, att to others.

Attention to others, attending to their needs. And Paul uses two very unique words here. The one, cherish or to tenderly care for, and the other is to be gentle among you. Now it's interesting to note that each of these words are only used one other time in the New Testament to help you understand what they mean. Paul says that we were like a nursing mother tenderly caring for you. You ever watch a mother nurse her baby? I mean, there is no more precious picture of tenderly caring for someone than when a mother is nursing her newborn.

And the word used there, cherish, is used one other time in the Bible. You know what it is. It's Ephesians chapter 5, verse number. Where it says very clearly, for no one ever hated his own fl, but nourishes and cherish it. Think about that. No one ever hates his own flesh, but instead he nurtures his own flesh and he cherishes his own flesh. Paul is saying, What we did to you, we do to ourselves. We treat you just like we treat ourselves. Now, think about that. That's powerful. We don't treat hardly anybody else like we treat ourselves.

Man, we are always prepp and tender caring for and making sure everything is. Is put in its proper place and making sure we're spending money on ourselves and we're looking good and smelling good, and the list goes on and on. Because we love ourselves. And Paul says, this is what we did. We proved ourselves among you. In fact, if you go through and read what he says, as you know, as you know, God is witness for you. Recall, you are witnesses just as you know. He goes over and over again, you know these things.

And they knew them. They knew they were a priority in Paul's life. And like a nursing mother, they would tenderly cherish her newborn baby. That's how Paul and Silas would deal with these people in Thessalon. And then he says. That they were gentle among them. The only other time this word is used is over in 2 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse number 2, where it says this: And the Lord's bonds must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all. Able to teach patient when wrong with gentleness.

And that phrase, after teach, is used only one other time, and that's in 1 Timothy 3, verse number 2. So, what you have is some words that are only used very sparingly in the New Testament to describe this man's ministry. Because there's something about the way you teach. And how you gently instruct someone in the teaching process. When you associate with somebody else, you want to make sure that you come alongside of them and instruct them in a manner that honors and glorifies the Lord. And that's what Paul did, that's what Stylus did.

And that's why their ministry was so powerful. It wasn't because Paul was a great preacher. It was because he was used by God in a powerful way to come alongside other people and tenderly care for them and nurture them and cherish them. That's what he did. And that's how it should be with us. The Lord says over in Jeremiah chapter 23, verse number 2. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are tending my people. You have scattered my flock and driven them away. and have not attended to them, behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deed.

God wants his flock tenderly cared for. And if you won't attend to the needs of his flock, then he will somehow learn to attend to you because of your evil deeds. And so God wants us to understand that our relationship with someone is that we are to give attention to others, just like we give attention to ourselves. That's why the disciple-making process is one at a time or two at a time. Once you get beyond that, it's hard to take care of other people like you take care of yourself, right? It's better to do it with one or two than it is to do it with 10 or 12.

But the bottom line is that that's how we need to associate with them. Number two, not only is there attention to others, but there is affection for others.

Verse number 8, 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, says what? It says, having thus a fond affection for you. We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had bec very dear to us. Look at that.

Here is the Apostle Paul, man. Here is a guy that was so thick-skinned, so hard-nosed, so strong. So set in his ways, yet he would show affection to people. Yet, he says, we We're so concerned about you that you have become very de to us. I mean, this was a personal relationship here. Between Paul and these people in Thessalonic, Paul and Silas, and these people in Thessalonic. He treated them with dignity, with value, affectionately longing for you. That's important, isn't it? Because you see, people want to be treated with dignity.

They want to be treated with respect. And Paul would do that. It was A. W. Toz who said that nothing can take the place of affection. Those who have it in generous measure have a magic power over men. Intellect will not do. Bible knowledge is not enough. He's right. I have found that in the closest relationships I have, and they are with my family and my children, that when I am affectionate with my children, and show attention to my children and tenderly care for my children. My ability to instruct my children is greater.

Than when I'm not. You follow me? I realize that there are certain times when I'm instructing my children and trying to teach my children that it's just not getting through, they're not getting it. They're missing it, and I'm getting frustrated because they're missing it. How can you miss it? I'm a preacher. I've been doing this for 20 years. It's not that difficult to understand what I'm trying to say. But On the flip side of that, when I understand 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, I realize things are different.

Why? Because their spirit is different. Their heart is different. And they're willing to accept what I'm giving. Same thing is true with my wife. The hardest person for a pastor to disciple is his wife. Did you know that? You didn't know that, did you? You want to know why? Because she knows all your faults. She knows all your sin. You know? And so you got to keep confessing your sin and asking for forgiveness. And after a while, you get a little tired of that humility thing. You know what I'm saying?

But the bottom line is, is that when I am tenderly nurturing and caring for my wife, as Ephesians 5 says, as Christ did for the church. And I'm affectionate with my wife by longing for her and by tenderly caring for her. Guess what? She becomes more responsive to the instruction of the Word of God. That's just the way it happens. So, what Paul says is so true. We need to get it. It was Charles Spurgeon's biographer who said, He exercised an absolute authority, not because of sheer will, though he was a will man, but because of his acknowledged worth.

Men bowed to his authority because it was authority backed by united wisdom and affection. Sp had it. He was a powerful example. Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 5:16, We no longer regard any man according to the flesh. That means that we don't look at men by judging them on the external.

We look at them based on who they are inside. People made in the image of God. People made with dignity because God's image is stamped on them. I had a lunch today with a friend of mine. He comes to our church every once in a while. He pastors in another area of the San Gabriel Valley. But every once in a while he comes, and so he was here on Sunday. He came and said, listen, let's go to lunch this week. I said, okay, what day? We picked a day and we went to lunch today. And we began to talk. And I said, you know, it's amazing to me why black people This guy was black.

I forgot to tell you that, but he's black. He said, I said, this amazing me black people will come to the white church, but white people don't want to go to the black church. I said, why is that? He says it's a race thing. I said, well, it might be. I said, one of the problems we in evangelicalism have is that we regard man according to the flesh. Paul says, we no longer regard man according to the flesh. We don't look at the external.

We are quick to judge people. We are quick to condemn others. To cut a long story short, he You know what? The reason I'm lunch with you today is want you to come preach at my church. He says, Now, my church is a black church. There ain no white people in my church. I said, That's okay. He says, but I heard you on Sunday, and it seems to me like you've got a little black blood in you. So I want you to come preach at my church. I said, I'd love to come. So we're going set up a time and that's going to happen.

But when you look at it, isn't that true that for the most part, we are looking at the external part of man and making an assessment on him by what we see on the outside?

And Paul says, you know what, we don't regard man according to the flesh anymore. We used to, but we look on the inside because we realize that every man has a need, and every man has a need of a savior, and every man. Made in the image of God, needs the same Savior that we have. So we have to somehow communicate to that man who this God is and how God wants to meet their needs. No matter what color they are, no matter what their social status is, no matter what country they're from, they all need the gospel.

And our responsibility is to give them the gospel. And Paul would say, we would affectionately care for them. You know, the Greeks believed. That there are three things to make an effective communicator. Three things. And Here they are. The first was Lagos.

The second was ethos. And the third was pathos. They belie, number one, that in order to be an effective communicator, there needed to be The word of God, the ethics of a man, and the empathy of a man.

In other words, they would say that in order to be an effective communicator, there must be The content in the message, the character of the man, and the compassion for the ministry. And you know what? They're right. They're right. You see, if I'm going to be an effective communicator, I've got to live what I teach, right? But what I teach has got to have content to it. It got to have substance to it. It got to have meat to it. On the same part of that, there's got to be some kind of compassion for your fellow man.

That they in turn will know that you care deeply about their spiritual condition. And that's what Paul is doing in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, by affectionately caring for other people. Isn't it true that the qualifications of a priest in Hebrews chapter 5 were three? One, he had to be selected by God. Number two, he had to be sympathetic toward man.

And number three, he had to sacrifice for man. Those are three characteristics of a priest. And Christ would fulfill all those characteristics because there wasn't anybody more sympathetic toward man than Christ was. He was tempted in all points like we, yet without sin, so he could sympathize with our weaknesses. And that's what makes him the greatest of all priests, because he knows our weaknesses. He knows our infirmities. He knows our difficulties. And so, the same was true in the disci-making process.

We have to be able to sympathize. With our fellow man. One individual said it this way: people don't care how much you know t they know how much you care. That 's pretty good. The third thing is authenticity before others, att to others, affection for others, and authenticity before others.

Paul would say this in the latter part of verse 8 and following. He said, We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship. How working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaim to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God. How devoutly, uprightly, and blamelessly we behave toward you believers. Authenticity before man. There was a transparency in their lives.

He says, This you know, you recall this. God is our witness, how blameless, how devout, how holy we were among you. You examined our lives. You saw our lives. You saw us in the marketplace. You saw how we dealt with people. You saw how we dealt with people's funds. You saw how we interacted with other And on top of that, you saw how we interacted in the church. There was an authenticity of lifestyle. There was a transparency of their lifestyle. They were real. They were the same at church as they were at work.

You see, a lot of times we have trouble in our family because we're different at church than we are at h. And we're different at work than we are at the church. You see, that sends people mixed messages, doesn't it? It sends them a dual message. They don't understand who are we really? Are we who we are or who they see on Sunday? Or are we who we are based on what they see on Monday? That's all very important, isn't it? And so Paul would say, You know what? We lived our lives before you. And you know, he says, You know, you saw, because we lived among you.

Very, very important. And lastly, verse 11: an affirmation of others. An affirmation of others. Paul says, verse 11, just as you know, there's that word again, how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children. Each one. I mean, he picked them out as individuals. We would encourage, we would exhort, and we would implore. Those three words, that word encourage, which means to come alongside of. You know, it's such a unique word. Same word used in John 14, the Holy Spirit, who comes alongside of us, right?

Paul says, we came alongside of you. To instill courage in your life. That's what encouragement means, right? When you encourage someone, you instill courage in them so that they can continue on. And Paul says, You know that this is the way it was for us. That we would exhort you, we would encourage you, we would implore you. That word implore is the word of passion. I mean, you know what we believed and why we believed it? Because we firmly stood on it and we were excited about it and we were enthused about it.

And we wanted you to understand it. And if you were wrong, we would correct you. We would keep you on the straight and narrow path. And there would be that affirmation of them all the time, meaning that there would be encouragement. They would come along and say, you know, I know it's hard. I know it's difficult. But you know, you can do this. It can happen. You know, so many times we get frustrated. I'm a very impatient man. I know it hard for some of you to believe that. I'm just a very impatient man.

I like things done yesterday. If they're done today, it's too late. They've got to be done yesterday. I want you to know what I'm thinking before I tell you what I'm thinking. That's how fast I want it done. And you know, we get so frustrated with people. And this is one of my biggest weaknesses because I want to see things happen yesterday, not tomorrow. And so, you know, I get very frustrated at times because I want to see things happen pr, quickly. And yet, Paul says, You know, we came alongside of you.

It's okay. You can do it. You can make it. And that's what God wants us to do. Affirmation of other people. Affection for them. Living authentic lives because we show attention to them. That's the practice. Association. That's what it means to associate your life with somebody else. And you need to follow Paul's example. Why? Because what does he in verse number 12? So that, why do we do all this? What's the purpose? You may walk worthy of God. Walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

That's why we did it. We want your life to match your relationship with God. We want you to walk the worthy walk. Don't you want that for your kids? Don't you want that for your students? Don't you want that for your classmates? Don't you want that for the people you disciple? Of course it is. How are you going to do that? By associating your life with their life. C alongside of them, attending to them, living an authentic, transparent life before them, affirming them in their efforts. And trying to help them understand that they are just as important as you are.

Now, I want to close with point number four, because that's our last point. And that is some relational implications, because there are some. If you do this, let me give you six implications in your relationship with your disciple.

One is it will expose your vulnerability. It will expose your vulnerability. That is, as Mark Twain once said, that great theologian, every. Is a moon and has a dark side which he never show to anybody. Now you think about that. Very insightful. There are certain things about you you don't want me to know. And you know what? There are certain things about me I don't want you to know. So, we're all a bunch of moons out here, keeping the dark side hidden. And so, when you come alongside of someone, it becomes very threatening.

That's why it's so hard to disciple in your home. Because they see your dark sides. That's why we have a hard time instructing our children and training our children, because they know our dark sides and our wives as well, or our husbands. They know every sin that we commit, basically. Unless we hide it from him, but the Bible says, be sure your sin will find you out.

And so ultimately, our spouse is going to end up finding it out anyway, right? Ask Kobe Bryant, he'll tell you. The bottom line is that a disciple-making ministry where you associate your life with somebody else is going to expose your vulnerability. We'd rather teach a class from a set of notes than allow a disciple to take notes on the way we live. Is that not true? Number two.

When you are involved in a disciple-making ministry, it will express your honesty or dishonesty. It will express your honesty or dishonesty. You see, from a distance, you can fool people, but up close, you can't. I'm nears, so I can't see who's in the back. I know you're there because there are images back there. But I don't know necessarily who's there. I can read my notes. That's why I don't wear my glasses when I preach. And so, from a distance, it's hard for me to see the details. It's hard for me to see.

And pick out who's there, what they look like, really. But if I get up close to you, I can see all the little nicks and crannies that you have. Right? In a relationship with somebody else, from a distance, you might look good. But you get up close to them, they're going to see all kinds of things. And so it's either going to express to them an honesty or a dishonesty. What is true or what is false. And you know what? Ironically, it's usually the things that are our weaknesses that become the greatest tools for teaching.

Let me give you just a little principle here. We talk about modeling, right? Modeling our life. Examples, right? Listen, when you model to your disciples something, you don't ever model to them perfection. You model to them a biblical response to imperfections. That's modeling. Why? Because you're not perfect. And they can't meet the perfect standard, but they sure can relate to when you fall and when you fail to a biblical response to that failure. So, when you sin, you have to have a biblical response.

You've got to respond in the right way. And when you do, everybody says, Man, that's how it's done. Now I get it. I'm supposed to ask for forgiveness. I'm supposed to realize that through my weaknesses, I become stronger because the grace of God is sufficient for my life. See that? Very, very important. Number three.

It will exhaust your energy. Completely exhaust your energy. You get tired. Why? Listen. When you decide to expend as much energy on someone else as you do yourself, it's going to wear you out. You get tired. You have sacrificed your time, your schedule, to listen, to counsel, to talk. To help them through a process that takes lots time. And most of us don't want to expend that much energy. So we don't do it. It's like parenting, you know? Parenting is a full-time job. You just can't parent your kids by seeing them for an hour a day.

Hey, how are you doing? How's school today? Great. Have dinner. See you. Let's have a word of prayer. Good night. This doesn't work that way. Parenting is a full-time job. It's a 24-hour job, right? Because you see, you always have to be doing as a parent. And I got tell you, I get tired of parenting. I really do. I got seven kids. I get really tired of it. But I understand that it's a full-time job. And every time I get tired, I think of my wife. She 's much more tired than I am because she's with them all day.

See? And I realized that they all have questions and they all need answers right now. They're like me. They're impatient, just like their father. They want answers right now.

They don't want to wait. And they have needs that need to be attended to. And you know what? You begin to attend to those needs, you take care of those needs, you nurture those kids, it gets hired. But the reward is fantastic. Fantastic. But it will exhaust all your energy. And that's why we don disciple. It's just too much time, too much energy, too much effort, too much work. But that's what God's called us to do. Number four, it will examine your loyalty. How loyal are you to another individual?

You've got to get down in the trenches, lend them a helping hand. Greater love hath no man than this, but a man lay down his life for his friends. You can describe to them the Christian life all you want, but you're going to have to demonstrate it sooner or later. They've got to see it in you. And as you talk with these people, they share with you their difficulties, their hardships, things that you should not share with anybody else. Why? It's between you and them. And your loyalty will be tested.

And you have to help them. Now, if they're involved in sin, that needs to be dealt with. You have to show them how they deal with that sin. You don't hide their sin or cover up their sin. You help them understand what it means to repent of their sin. You have to do that process. Next, number five, it will expand your ministry. One of the relational implications is that your ministry will expand. It will be greater. I had a pastor friend of mine tell me, oh, back, way back in the 80s, it was a long time ago.

He said, Listen. That's 1980, not 1880. He said, think about it this way. That everything you do is to prepare your kids to be better than you in what you do. It's not about you. It's about preparing them to do what you can't do. Your life as a parent, your life as a father, your life as a pastor, it's not about your pastorate. Your life as a father and a pastor and a parent is about training people to do a greater work than you can ever dream of doing. He said, if you get that perspective, it will help you with your parenting.

It will help you with your pastoring. He's right. He's right. Because you leave behind a legacy, right? You see, I could win one person to the Lord every day of this year. And by the end of this year, I would lead 365 people to the Lord. And I could do that every day for 32 years, every year for 32 years. End up leading over 11,000 people to the Lord in a 32-year ministry. That's a lot of people. People say, oh, that's unbelievable. That guy led 11,6 people to the Lord because every day he preached the gospel and somebody gave their life to Christ.

Or I could disciple one person this year. Just one. Just one. And the next year I will disciple another one, and that one will disciple another one. In that same period of time, we would reach over 4 million people of the gospel. Because the ministry of multiplication is greater than the ministry of addition. And disciple-making is the ministry of multiplication. Your ministry is expanded. And lastly, it exalts God's glory. To him be the glory in The church. Ephesians 3:2. That 's what Paul said.

Second Thessalonians 3, verse number 1, Paul said, Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified just as It did also with you.

You see, it exalts God's glory. A disciple-making ministry exalts the glory of God. It puts God on display because that's what God says He wants us to be.

To do. And if we do what he asks, or we do what he tells us to do, guess what? He gets the glory. And that's what it's all about. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day and realize, Lord, that the ministry that you have entrusted to us is a great and exciting ministry. We pray that you'd go before us and that we would accept the challenge to be all that you designed us to be and say, Yes, Lord, I want to invest my life in one person, just one. And teach them about you. For that to happen, Lord, we had to be learning and growing in our walk with you.

And because these people were here tonight, They have made that step to grow deeper in their walk with God. And trust that, Lord, you would honor them because of that. In Jesus' name, amen.