Generational Discipleship

“Generational Discipleship”

2 Tim 1:1-7, 3:10-17

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

2 To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

4 Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;

5 When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.

6 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

3:10-17 10 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

11 Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Intro: As I prepared for this Mother’s Day I asked the Lord to lead me to something different, something beyond the traditional Mother’s Day themes that I have preached before and He has answered my prayers. This morning I would like to introduce the subject of “Generational Discipleship.” Discipleship is a familiar subject in Scripture. As a matter of fact one of the last things that Jesus said concerned the making of disciples.

Matthew 28:19-20 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Our Lord commands all Christians to make disciples and He also gives us a plan for doing so with Jerusalem as the starting point and with the whole world as our mission field. With this in mind I would also like to state that Jerusalem includes the place you and I live, our own home and family. Two things stand out:

Discipling others reveals obedience to our mission. (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 28:19, Acts 1:8)

You are probably familiar with Matthew 28:18-20 in which Jesus gives a commission to His disciples: Go and make … disciples. That’s right! To be obedient to our mission as followers of Jesus, we must be active in disciple-making. God requires us to be faithful managers of the gospel (1 Corinthians 4:2). To be found faithful, we must not leave the gospel sitting on a shelf. We must share its power for salvation.

God has chosen the people of God, empowered by the Spirit of God and equipped with the Word of God, to be about the mission of God. Those in younger generations are desperate for older generations to authentically show them the way. This is your mission, do you choose to accept it?

Discipling others reveals our ongoing hope for God’s church to outlive us. (Psalm 78:2-8, Judges 2:6-11)

The Old Testament gives us a picture of the outcome when the people of God take their mission seriously.

In Psalm 78:2-8, we see an example of when the people of God DID take their mission seriously. Let’s take a moment to read those verses, taking special note of verses 6 and 7. The psalmist gives us two “so that” statements:

2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:

3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.