A. Today, I want to talk about the strategy of multiplication.
1. Let’s start with a riddle and a joke.
2. What do you call a hen that can add, subtract, and multiply? A math-a-ma-chicken.
3. In the days of Noah, when the animals left the ark, Noah told them to go forth and multiply.
a. After some time, Noah came upon two snakes who were just lying there sunning themselves, so Noah asked them, “Why aren’t you multiplying?”
b. The snakes replied, “We can’t, we’re adders.”
B. As disciples of Jesus, we need to employ the strategy of multiplication.
1. Obviously, the goal for disciples of Jesus should never be subtraction or division.
2. But even though addition is better than subtraction or division, the strategy God has in mind for His kingdom is multiplication.
3. There are at least two biblical passages that communicate the strategy of multiplication.
C. The first is our scripture reading for today – Matthew 28:19-20.
1. Jesus said: “19 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, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
2. This is the command of discipleship – to go and make disciples of people from all nations.
3. From these verses, we learn that making disciples includes two things:
a. First, the initial baptizing of those who believe and want to follow Jesus.
b. Second, the continuing teaching of those disciples how to observe and obey everything Jesus commands.
4. It is in the second part of making disciples that the multiplication process takes place.
5. The baptizing of converts only adds people to the church, but the teaching them to obey everything leads to multiplication.
6. When the convert learns and grows and becomes the one doing the discipling and teaching, then multiplication takes place.
7. The strategy for multiplication embedded in the great commission is: to make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples, and so on, until Christ returns.
D. The second passage that communicates the strategy of multiplication is 2 Timothy 2:2.
1. Paul wrote: What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
2. This passage speaks of four generations of disciples and disciple making: First there’s Paul, then his disciple, Timothy; then “faithful men” whom Timothy will teach; and finally, those “others” who will be taught about Jesus and His ways by the faithful men.
3. This is a beautiful picture about the way multiplication works.
E. Let’s consider the math of discipleship multiplication for just a minute.
1. Let’s imagine if you or I were able to bring 12 people to Christ each year (1 per month) for 10 years, but we didn’t help them to grow in their discipleship to the point of being a disciple maker, then the result after 10 years would be 121 disciples – me or you, and the 120 new disciples.
2. But if you or I not only brought one person to Christ each year, but then we helped them grow in their discipleship to the point that they were being disciple makers, then the result would be much different.
3. Look at the chart:
Year Converts Made Disciples Made
Year 1 1 + 12 = 13 1 + 1 = 2
Year 2 13 + 12 = 25 2 + 2 = 4
Year 3 25 + 12 = 37 4 + 4 = 8
Year 4 37 + 12 = 49 8 + 8 = 16
Year 5 49 + 12 = 61 16 + 16 = 32
Year 6 61 + 12 = 73 32 + 32 = 64
Year 10 109 + 12 = 121 512 + 512 = 1,024
Year 20 229 + 12 = 241 524,288 + 524,288 = 1,048,576
4. Notice that it takes six years for the strategy of multiplication to catch up with the strategy of addition because multiplication is a slower process initially.
5. But at the 10 year point, the multiplication strategy is ten times ahead of the other strategy.
6. And at the 20 year point, the multiplication strategy is about 5000 times ahead of addition.
7. This is just an example of what could happen and how it could happen – it assumes the retention of every convert, and the regular multiplication of every disciple.
8. Neither of those things are likely to happen, and yet we can see what God can do through multiplication and it is amazing.
F. The key is to make disciples who are able to make disciples, and not just to make converts.
1. A true disciple of Jesus wants to become just like Jesus in character and in mission.
2. Therefore, a true disciple of Jesus wants to become a disciple who makes disciples who makes disciples.
3. This process may very well take more than the one year I used in the example for simplicity sake.
4. You will recall that in an earlier lesson, I talked about the stages of discipleship: spiritually dead, spiritual infant, spiritual child, spiritual young adult, and then spiritual parent.
5. Those stages take time, and we must not allow ourselves or others to get stuck in any stage.
6. But the wonderful thing about becoming a disciple maker, is we can be part of the disciple making mission even before we reach spiritual maturity.
7. A new convert can begin to share the Gospel with others immediately – they don’t have to wait until they are more mature – they can share what they know at any stage.
8. And when someone they have helped becomes a Christian, then they can be a part of helping that spiritual infant begin to grow in Christ.
G. So how do we help new disciples grow up and become disciple makers?
1. Let’s look at some of Paul’s methods that he talks about in his letters to his mentees and to the churches he planted.
2. After Paul established the church in Thessalonica, he wrote them two letters and reminded them about his ministry among them.
3. In the first letter, he wrote: We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. (1 Thess. 2:8)
a. I love this! We have to be willing to share not only the Gospel, but our lives as well.
b. Truly effective discipleship is the sharing of lives – love, trust, time, wisdom, guidance.
c. The church must truly be a family, and relationships have to be real and committed, and intertwined – and all this takes time and effort.
4. A few verse later, Paul wrote: As you know, like a father with his own children, we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thess. 2:11-12)
a. Like the spiritual parent that Paul was, he encouraged, comforted, and urged these new Christians to walk a worthy life in the Lord.
b. Paul needed to help them understand what that worthy life consisted of, and had to teach them how to walk that way with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
5. In the rest of his letter to them, Paul spells out how to live and minister as disciples of Jesus.
6. In chapter 5, Paul included these commands: 14 And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Don’t stifle the Spirit. 20 Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil. (1 Thess. 5:14-22)
a. There’s certainly a lot in those verses, and I won’t address everything, but I like verse 14 where there is the acknowledgement that not everyone needs the same thing and isn’t in the same situation – each person must be ministered to according to their needs.
b. But on the other hand, we all have the same targets to be shooting at: to be good to each other, to rejoice always, to pray constantly, to give thanks, to not quench the Spirit, and to stay away from evil.
c. We can see from this short list that there are a lot of aspects of following Jesus that need to be passed on to disciples as they grow toward maturity.
H. Let’s turn our attention back to Paul’s training of Timothy.
1. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul reminded Timothy about the ways he equipped Timothy to be a disciple maker.
2. Paul wrote: 10 But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, 11 along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured—and yet the Lord rescued me from them all. 12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you…(2 Tim. 3:10-14).
3. Here we see Paul reminding Timothy about all of the things Timothy experienced with Paul, both the things he learned in formal times of instruction and the things he learned in the informal times of Paul’s modeling the life of a disciple.
4. Paul even modeled for Timothy how to endure suffering for Christ, and how to recognize and stand against those who are evil and deceptive.
5. Paul taught Timothy to never be swayed or stopped, but to always continue in the things he learned from Paul and had come to firmly believe.
6. These things that were true for Timothy must also be true for all of us who are disciples of Jesus, as we strive to follow Christ and help others do the same.
I. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he reminded Timothy of another important discipleship principle.
1. Paul wrote: Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Tim. 4:16)
2. Paul had put this into practice in his own life, he had paid close attention to his own life and doctrine, and here reminded Timothy to do the same.
3. A disciple’s teaching and doctrine are critically important, but so is a disciple’s personal life.
4. In an earlier lesson in this series, we talked about the spheres of discipleship, and how important it is to bring the Lordship of Jesus into all the spheres of our lives.
5. Being a disciple of Jesus isn’t just about what happens on Sunday in worship, it is about our whole lives (24/7) and all our relationships in the church, in the home, in the workplace, the neighborhood and at school.
6. If the discipler isn’t careful about their own life and doctrine, then those whom they are discipling won’t know how to be careful about their own lives and doctrine.
7. Paul was concerned how he lived in front of Timothy and how he modeled faith and leadership, in order to make sure that Timothy would be able to do the same, and to pass on the same to the next generation.
J. In our sermon last week, we focused on a disciples need to be engaged in seeking the lost.
1. The first part of the great commission is to go and share the Gospel and help people come to know Christ and become His followers.
2. We must not drop the ball on this part of the commission, and so I encouraged us to begin by grieving for the lost, praying for the lost, and to prepare to speak to the lost when we have opportunity.
3. And two simple things we can be ready to say are: (1) would you like to come with me to visit my church? and (2) would you like to read and study the Bible with me?
4. Doing those two things will hopefully lead people to becoming new Christians.
5. But as I have tried to show today, that is just the beginning of the process of making disciples.
6. The new Christian, the spiritual infant, needs to be grounded in the faith and must be helped to grow up in their salvation, so they can become a disciple maker, and become a spiritual parent.
K. One of the most important things any of us can do for a new Christian is to be a mentor for them.
1. There are times when we as a congregation will offer a new Christians class, or a Bible basics class, and this is good, and newer, younger Christians can benefit from those classes.
2. But what each new Christian needs immediately is an older brother or sister in Christ to be their mentor – their guide and their helper.
3. The older brother or sister in Christ should walk the new Christian through a follow-up Bible study.
4. We have developed and make available a follow-up study called “New Beginnings Study.”
a. The study guides the new Christian through the basics of salvation and the Christian life.
b. It helps them establish the practices of prayer and Bible reading.
c. It helps them learn about their place in the church family and how to be led by God and how to overcome temptation.
d. The study also covers other important aspects of discipleship; like worship, money, family, forgiveness, and being led by the Holy Spirit.
5. The study we developed isn’t perfect nor is it comprehensive, but it is a place to start, and is easy to use.
6. There are many other good books and studies that can be used for this purpose.
7. I recently ordered a newly revised and expanded version of a book called Discipleship Essentials it has 25 studies for newer Christians, and it could be used for small groups as well as one on one follow-up.
8. The key really isn’t the outline or the study, but the fact that the new Christian is being helped to explore God’s Word and develop and grow in Christ.
9. Just like a physical new born baby should not be left alone to make their way in the world, so too a spiritual new born baby needs someone to guide and help them in their journey in Christ.
L. The multiplication of the kingdom will take place when older Christians are helping new Christians to grow to a place where they are also helping people become Christians who then grow up in Christ.
1. The goal is for all Christians to become disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples, and so on until Jesus returns.
M. So how can each of us who are disciples of Jesus be a part of the strategy of multiplication?
1. It starts with us making an honest, personal evaluation of where we are right now.
a. How long have each of us been a Christian, and how mature are we in Christ?
b. How prepared are we to share our faith and lead people to Christ?
c. How prepared are we to come alongside a new Christian and help them grow?
d. What do we need to do to be a stronger, more mature Christian ready to help make and mature disciples of Jesus?
e. Those are important questions for each of us to be asking ourselves.
2. Perhaps we need to ask God to lead us to the three types of people that we need in our lives:
a. A Paul to mentor us.
b. A Timothy for us to mentor.
c. An Ethiopian eunuch for us to lead to Christ.
3. How wonderful if each of us had these two goals:
a. Each one reach one.
b. Each one mentor one.
c. These could be yearly goals for could be the goal for as long as it takes.
4. Growing as a disciple and as a disciple maker is going to take effort, and part of making the effort involves looking to and yielding to the power and the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
5. I hope that all of us will grow up in our salvation and will become effective evangelists and disciple makers so that God’s kingdom will multiply.
N. Please reach out to us if you are interested in learning more about Jesus and about becoming a follower of Jesus.
1. Or please reach out to us if you would like some mentoring to grow up in your salvation.
Resources:
The Disciple Maker’s Handbook, Bobby Harrington & Josh Patrick, Zondervan, 2017.
