Training Faithful Leaders
2 Timothy 2:1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
3 Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
What is the very best way to train up elders, deacons, teachers, preachers of the Gospel, and faithful fruitful members of Christ’s body, the Church? Today we have Christian colleges and preacher training schools that dot the maps of America from east to west. But when we go to the Bible to see how God built church leadership we discover how the original preacher, elder, member training was done.
There are three key books in the New Testament that we look to for specifics about elders and deacons. Those three books are found right together in your Bible. 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. These are three letters to two preachers in the first century. Just imagine! God has given us in his word unique insight into the training camp of the early church.
At the time these letters were written the churches of Christ were brand new. Jesus had commissioned his apostles to go preach the gospel to every creature. They were to make disciples of all nations. And they did! These churches didn’t have nice mountain stone buildings or comfortable pews and classrooms. They didn’t have leather covered Bibles with the 66 books. They were blessed if they had a copy of the Old Testament among them. We sometimes like to envision every church in the New Testament period with a Holy Spirit gifted and inspired leadership telling them exactly what God wanted for them to believe and practice, but the picture we get from Paul’s letters, and other New Testament books is one of churches facing false teachers and struggling to understand and apply the gospel faithfully. Men like Hymenaus and Alexander were everywhere saying things about Paul that were not true and spreading false ideas and teachings that sounded good to a people without a New Testament to check it out and see. It was in that environment that the pages of the New Testament were written. Warnings, instructions, and encouragements fill the pages of your New Testament. The need for trained godly leaders was just as great for them as it ever has been. And training up faithful men who would in turn teach others is part of what these Timothy and Titus letters are all about. These are apprentice letters, leadership-training letters. While there is something for everyone in Timothy and Titus, their main focus is on training, instructing, and building up faithful leadership in the church.
May God bless his church with leadership that is faithful and fruitful and that continues to train up godly men for the work of leading his people. And may he bless his church with faithful and fruitful godly women who have as great an influence as any human being on the future elders, deacons, preachers and teachers within the church. It was two women that reared Timothy to be the man of faith that served with Paul.
Let me just put in a plug at this time for lads to leaders. All who have participated in this program in your youth, please stand up. Franklin, come up here. How old were you when you began in Lads to leaders? How many years has that been?
Parents, if you have children that are old enough to talk, let me encourage you to get them involved in this leadership development work. This will give them a chance to confess their faith in a friendly environment where they will be encouraged to grow and develop their skills and talents for the Lord. As Christian parents we want the very best for our children, don’t we? How many parents here sacrifice long hours at sporting events or academic or physical developmental activities with your children? Why do you do this? It is understandable that parents would work hard to encourage and involve their kids in sporting events hoping that they might make it to college with a scholarship or something. But how much more do we need to involve them in Christian training and development for their spiritual eternal scholarship? Kids in some sports programs spend hours every day after school in practice so that they can play well in a game. Let me say that again. So they can PLAY well in a GAME. The key words here are: PLAY and GAME. How much more should we spend time practicing so that we can serve well in the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Seek ye first the…..” (Matt 6:33). The Bible says in
1 Tim. 4: 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.
10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
11 These things command and teach.
12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.
16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
The Bible shows us that the Christian home and the church are the very best training grounds for leadership. They are the ones the Lord himself has established. Where did Timothy get his degree? I’m an advocate for Christian education, but not at the expense of the home and the church. We must not relegate this work to schools and colleges and neglect God’s way of doing the training through the home and the church. When your sons and daughters get involved with this youth leadership program it is parents and children working together to develop leadership skills.
Lord willing, tonight at 5:pm parents and children from Central Church of Christ will be here. The young ladies will conduct a service for the ladies. Then at 6:pm the young men will conduct our regular evening services. Next week some of our kids and parents will go there to do the same thing. What are we doing this for? We are doing what God intends for his church to do. We are facilitating leadership development where families and the church build tomorrows leaders.
My personal training began in my home with parents who always attended all the services of the church. We prayed and read the Bible in our home. My parents sent me to Mars Hill Bible School where I memorized hundreds of scriptures over the years and was taught in all my classes by Christian teachers who believed and practiced what the Bible said in their lives and reflected it in the teaching of every subject that I took. At church, I was allowed to lead singing, prayer and serve at the Lord’s table from time to time. Also, when I was a teenager our preacher, Curtis Ivey, got me and some other young men to prepare and present some lessons at a Sunday evening service. That and my relationship with Johnny Foust were tools God used to introduce me to the ministry. We went on campaigns and to summer camps where the gospel continued to take root in my heart and life as I learned to put into practice some of the things God had directed.
Jesus Christ became my life, not just a religious church figure. The Lord, Jesus, who died on the cross for my sins and yours, became to me the center of my every day and night experience. I remember seeing people on the street and thinking about how I could share the gospel of Christ with them. When I was 16 I baptized my brother. When I was 17 I baptized two young ladies who were visiting their grandmother for the summer. The grandmother invited me to come study with them because they were not Christians. Over the years the Lord has allowed me to teach and baptize over 100 people. That’s all to His glory and Honor. Many preachers of the gospel have taught and baptized far more than that. I have done nothing more that what He said to do. The Lord gives the increase if we sow the gospel seed. I believe God wants some of our young men to become preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If Jesus doesn’t return before it, my prayer is that our young people will grow up to become elders, deacons, teachers and missionaries for Jesus Christ. But the training starts from infancy. Listen to 2 Tim. 3: 14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15 and that from childhood (NIV rightly translates this word infancy) you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
His mama and grandmother were training Timothy early on!
I hear coaches talk sometimes. I remember being a coach. A player comes on the team with lots of athletic ability and natural talent, but they’ve never played the game on a team before and now they are teenagers. Many a coach will say, I wish you had started earlier, just imagine what a great player you could have been! So parents push their kids into sports earlier and earlier and into school earlier and earlier. Why? So they can play better and so they can get a jump on education.
Well let me tell you something. The Bible shows us that God’s greatest leaders were trained in his word early too! Don’t forget that! If your son or daughter goes far in the sports or academic world and God is not in first place, they lose! ‘Cause God doesn’t play second fiddle. Jesus call is a call to put the kingdom where, in what place? The church Jesus died for is made up of people who look up, listen up, and live up to holy standards. We don’t excuse laziness in football, how can we expect God to excuse half hearted devotion to his only begotten Son? The call to follow Jesus is a call to give your all. It’s a call to live life God’s way, by God’s book, for God’s Son and his holy name. Are you on the Lord’s side here? Have you stood beneath the cross and seen the sacrifice of Jesus and accepted the call? Do it now! Don’t wait. Give it all. You don’t have tomorrow so don’t wait. Let the Lord lead you and begin to train you and shape you into his image. Start today!
