Paul’s Little Buddy
Text: Acts 16:1-5
Introduction
1. Illustration: If you walk out into the parking lot this morning and someone says to you, "How do I get to Atlanta?" You say, "Well, get in your car." Well, that’s good advice. That’s the start of it. But you also need to say, "Start your car and head south and a little bit east ..." and give more detailed directions to see them through to the destination they have named. The beginning of evangelism is the information about Jesus Christ, how to get into him and to him; but there is much more. Evangelism is persuading a person to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. (Leith Anderson, "Making More Disciples," Preaching Today).
2. Our job as Christians is not making converts, but rather making disciples.
3. That is what Jesus told us to do, and that’s what the early church practiced.
4. Read Acts 16:1-5
Transition: The first thing we need to understand is…
I. Leaders Grow Leaders (1-3).
A. Young Disciple
1. In our text today, Paul begins on his second missionary journey with his dear friend and companion Barnabas. In v. 1 Luke tells us, “Paul went first to Derbe and then to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek.”
a. Paul and Barnabas return to Lystra to check on the progress of the church that Paul had planted there on his first missionary journey.
b. In case you’ve forgotten, back in chapter 14, they were treated harshly there, and in fact, Paul was stoned there, drug out of the city, and left for dead.
c. Now, if anyone ever doubted Paul’s commitment to the Gospel or his courage, this should end that doubt.
d. He was so concerned about the believers there that he risked his own life to check on their spiritual progress.
2. In Lystra, there was a young disciple named Timothy.
a. The word disciple comes from a Greek word which indicates both thought and effort.
b. It refers to “a learner who follows both the teaching and the teacher.”
c. This is what Jesus commands us to do in the Great Commission, to make disciples.
d. Timothy probably had become a believer the last time Paul was in Lystra.
e. He had already had solid training in the Scriptures from his mother (a Jewish believer) and his grandmother.
f. Luke here makes an important point here, that will become important in the next few verses, that his mother was Jewish, and his father was a Greek.
3. Now, let’s talk about why this is so important. In vv. 2-3 it says, “Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, 3 so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. In deference to the Jews of the area, he arranged for Timothy to be circumcised before they left, for everyone knew that his father was a Greek.”
a. Luke tells us that Timothy had a great reputation among the believers in that area, and Paul needed an assistant to accompany him on his journey.
b. So, he invited Timothy to come with him. This shows that Paul was all about training young believers in the work of the ministry.
c. One of the things that young believers need to learn to become strong leaders is commitment.
d. A few weeks ago, I was having lunch with “Big Eli,” and I told him that if I ever had the opportunity to speak to an Ordination class, I would tell them unless you are certain that this is the call of God on your life, run away as fast and as far as you can.
e. Ministry is not for the faint at heart, and it requires strong commitment to the Gospel.
f. Timothy shows his level of commitment by his willingness to submit to being circumcised as an adult.
g. Why does Paul ask this of him? Well, like I said a few minutes ago, his mother was a Jew, and his father was Greek.
h. According to Jewish law, if a child’s mother is Jewish, so is the child.
i. Paul knew there would be many Jews they would encounter on their journey who were still concerned about keeping the tradition of circumcision, and since he didn’t want this to become a stumbling block to preaching the Gospel, he asked Timothy to be circumcised.
j. The fact that Timothy is willing to do so shows his level of commitment to the ministry.
B. Make Disciple’s
1. Illustration: Here's the thing that can be difficult to wrap our minds around: If you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples. Many of us serve in or lead churches where we have hundreds or even thousands of people showing up on Sunday. But we must honestly answer this question: do their lives look like the lives of the people we see in Scripture? If you set out to build the church, there is no guarantee you will make disciples. It is far more likely that you will create consumers who depend on the spiritual services that religious professionals provide. (Mike Breen, 2011 Building a Discipleship Culture, 11).
2. If we want our church to grow, it is imperative that we make disciple’s.
a. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20).
b. Like I said earlier, Jesus didn’t command us to make converts, but rather to make disciples.
c. If you make converts, you will get a bunch of people wanting to be entertained.
d. However, if you make disciples, they will make other disciples. The result is that the church grows.
e. If you have a lone pine tree, eventually it will die and that’s it. But if that pine tree drops pinecones on the ground, what happens? You have new pine trees sprouting up. And soon you have a forest of pine trees.
f. That’s the point of making disciples. If you grow disciples, they will eventually make new disciples, and the church will grow.
3. But how do we make disciples? We make disciples by showing them how to be Christians by our teaching and our actions.
a. And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.” (Titus 2:7).
b. Those of us who are more mature in the faith need to take the initiative to mentor the younger people in our church.
c. We need to show them what a Christian looks like and what it takes to grow in the faith.
d. We need to take an interest in their lives and teach them by what we do and say.
e. Our task is to be examples of true disciples of Jesus.
Transition: The result of growing young disciples is…
II. Making Disciples Grows Churches (4-5).
A. Grew Larger Every Day
1. Paul now shows us what happens when we make disciples. In v. 4, we read, “Then they went from town to town, instructing the believers to follow the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.”
a. One of the key components for leadership is teaching new disciples.
b. We can see this in Paul and his companions going from town to town “instructing the believers.”
c. Again, this goes back to the Great Commission, where Jesus says to “teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I am giving you.”
d. One of the main things that the group of missionaries were teaching the believers concerned what the church leaders in Jerusalem had decided about whether Gentile’s needed to be circumcised to be considered Christians.
e. If you recall from the previous chapter, the Jewish believers were not supposed to force circumcision upon the Gentile believers as long as they followed the other commands.
f. If you look up to verse 28 of the that chapter it says, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: 29 You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”
g. So, this is what they were teaching the people.
2. Now look what happens when we make disciples. In v. 5 it says, “So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day.”
a. As a result of Paul and his companions making disciples, the church grew.
b. Paul’s concern wasn’t just planting seeds, but rather seeing those seeds grow and produce fruit.
c. Because of what Paul was doing in teaching and nourishing these new believers, they not only grew in their faith, but they produced fruit, and as a result, the church grew larger every day.
B. Follow My Example
1. Illustration: The Christian walk of Will Houghton, a preacher who became the president of Moody Bible Institute during the 1940s, played a large role in the conversion of an agnostic who was contemplating suicide. The skeptic was desperate, but he decided that if he could find a minister who lived his faith, he would listen to him. So, he hired a private detective to watch Houghton. When the investigator’s report came back, it revealed that this preacher’s life was above reproach; he was for real. The agnostic went to Houghton’s church, accepted Christ, and later sent his daughter to Moody Bible Institute. – (H.V.L. - Our Daily Bread, September 29).
2. The key to making disciples and growing the church is by leaving a good example for others to follow.
a. “And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1).
b. The best way to be a disciple maker is to be a disciple follower.
c. What I mean by that is, if people see you living out the Gospel in your daily life, they will want to follow your example.
d. If they see you following Christ, being committed to the faith, and living out what you profess, they will want to follow your example.
e. On the other hand, if they see you doing the opposite of what you profess, or they see you during the week and you act differently than you do at church, they will not want to be like you.
f. You’ll notice that Paul says, “follow me as I follow Christ.”
g. If we do this, and we are a disciple making church, the church will grow into what Christ wants it to be.
Conclusion
1. From the life of Paul, we can see that…
a. Leaders Grow Leaders
b. Making Disciples Grows Churches
2. What’s the point preacher? When we make the effort to show people how to live for Christ, it causes the church to grow and mature.
