The Disciple's Service

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, September 26. Today we continue with a reminder of a believer's responsibility to others as we develop an outward looking mindset. I believe it is delineated very clearly here in these two verses of 2 Timothy chapter 2. Two verses.

I want you to notice. We're talking about a disciple and his personal ministry. First of all, the equipment of a disciple.

And there are three things involved here. First of all, the equipment of a disciple is a personal relationship. Look in chapter 2 now verse 1. Paul said to Timothy, thou therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He said, therefore my son be strong.

He said, my son. What is he implying? He is implying a personal relationship.

Between Paul and Timothy. Now for anyone to carry on a personal ministry, he must be equipped. And the first part of that equipment is a personal relationship with someone else. First of all, with the Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly, with someone else.

If you and I are going to be true disciples of Jesus Christ, we need to have a relationship with someone else who can build us up, who can strengthen us while we are in turn doing the same thing. Doing the same for someone else. Now if you're a strong Christian and a long ways in your maturity, you are having a relationship. It may be with your wife. It may be with a friend. It may be with a pastor. It may be with somebody on your job.

It may be with your father or your mother. But you are having a relationship. And in that relationship you are sharing what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing in your life. And you see, discipleship implies a relationship. You are going to become a channel to someone else. Likewise, if you're going to be an effective channel in someone else's life, there must be a continuous filling in your own life.

So a personal relationship is involved here. Second thing I want you to notice is, there is the presence of power in the life of that disciple who is fully equipped. It says be enabled, be empowered in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

If you and I are going to be true disciples of Jesus Christ, not only must our equipment be a relationship with him that is vital and sweet and ever growing and ever deepening, but a relationship with someone else where we can pour out our heart, share our faith, share our burdens, share our heartaches, share our joys. And that is the protection of the Holy Spirit, the empowerment of the Spirit of God. You see, if our life is going to be effective and if it's going to make any real difference, now watch this, if it's going to make any real lasting difference, what we say and what we do and what we share must be done in the power under the unction of, in the wisdom of, in the knowledge of the Holy Spirit.

If it is simply man-made knowledge, if it is simply man's wisdom, it will just roll across the brain through the ears and that's it. But if it is the working of the Holy Spirit, what does he do? He takes what you believe and what you say and what God has convicted you of and he drives it into the human heart, puts a cap on it, waters it, cultivates it and causes it to grow in someone else's life. Friend, if you and I mean business, now get this, if we mean business for God, we're not going to attempt to live the Christian life or to minister to others without being filled with the Spirit of God. He says, be ye continuously being filled with the Holy Spirit.

That is not optional. And Paul said to Timothy, Timothy, you look at the grace of God, that inexhaustible, depthless grace of God as the source of everything you need in order that you may become a golden channel through which people may discover Christ as Saviour and Lord of their life. And you see, I don't know what in the world happened back yonder somewhere that people got the idea that living the Christian life is going to church and hearing sermons and participating in Bible studies, giving them money and singing and praying. That's not what it's all about. All of that is for the purpose that we may become channels through whom God can reach out through our hearts and through our lips and through our eyes and through our love to bring people to himself.

That's what it's all about. And the difference between a dead, cold church and a live church is where the people are alive, they're children of God and channels of his grace. Now, he says, if I'm going to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ, my relationship must be right. I must see the Holy Spirit as the empowerment of all that I'm doing for him. And the third thing I want you to notice is this. He says to be fully equipped, not only must I have a relationship and not only must I see the Holy Spirit as the power in my life, but likewise, I must possess something.

Watch this. I must possess something and the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall in turn be able to teach others also. Listen, if you and I are going to be true disciples of Jesus Christ, we must also possess the word of God. Now, Paul spoke to Timothy, taught Timothy.

Paul took his time to entrench within Timothy the teachings of the word of God. My friend, you tell me, is it right? Is it not selfish?

Is it not greedy? Is it not sinful for a man to absorb and to osmose into the human heart? The tremendous deep truth of the word of God to seal them in his heart, put a clamp on his soul and hold them there only for himself, while people all about him are dying, empty, vain, void, going to hell, no hope, no joy, no peace, and here we are keeping it to ourselves.

My friend, I don't know of anything that could be more heartbreaking to a holy God than for him to have broken the life of his son on a Roman cross for you and me and for us to keep that to ourselves. You're a child, but are you a channel? And you see, you have the word of God within your heart. Now listen, you know why I say to you week after week?

You ought to take notes, bring you a pencil and piece of paper. Now listen, I love you with all of my heart, and if I didn't, you could tell that. I love you with all of my heart, but I want you to listen. This is straight from God from my heart to your heart. I don't believe that you can be the kind of disciple that I know God wants you to be by simply coming, listening to sermons, and just getting just a glimpse of something here and there, never writing anything down, never letting it soak into your heart, never applying it to someone else. Now my friend, that is not what all this is about. It is about us absorbing, getting into our minds, getting into our hearts in order that we can learn in order to share with someone else.

And what did he say? He says, the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. And this church-going is for the purpose of learning, absorbing in order to share, not only childhood, but channelhood. You want to be a channel through whom? God can move into the hearts of people who need what you've got.

That's what it's all about. If that's not what it's all about, I've missed the whole part of the Scriptures. Jesus said, I came to reveal the Father. As my Father had sent me, so sinned by you, not only by the Father's Son, I'm the Father's channel. Not only you to be the Father's Son, you to be the Father's channel.

You are the Son, are you a channel? And he says, the man who is fully equipped is the man who is equipped with the Word of God, and he's equipped with the Word of God to do something specific about it. He says, all of this is that you and I may be equipped to share it with someone else.

And I want to ask you, dear brother, can you name anybody specifically by name that you know today is in heaven because of your witness, or his name is there because of your personal witness to him? Now, I want you to notice a second thing about this passage. He says, first of all, if you're going to be equipped, relationship's got to be right. Power of the Holy Spirit in your life, the possession of the Word of God in your mind and heart. Now, the exercise, the exercise of that discipleship, two things I think are involved. First of all is this, love. If you're going to be a disciple, friend, you've got to be able to love somebody. And listen, if you don't love yourself, you can't love anybody else.

And that's the reason so many people are so negative toward others. They don't love themselves until you learn to love yourself, respect yourself and have the proper self-image that you're a child of God, praise God. He loves you so much, you're so valuable to him, he gave his only begotten son. He's made you a child, he intends for you to be a channel.

He loves you. When you get that situation straight and your image is right, then you can pour out your heart and love someone else. You cannot disciple someone you cannot love. You will not disciple someone whom you do not love.

And love is reaching out for someone else in order to do something for them expecting nothing in return. Love always builds up the other brother. And you see, discipleship is building up someone else. That's what discipleship is. And you will not build up someone else pouring your life into his life until, first of all, you learn how to love someone else. And before you can be a disciple and love someone else, you've got to be willing to accept them as they are.

There'll be some people about some things about him you don't like. But you see, Jesus, I'm sure there are many things about Peter he didn't like. But he saw potential in Peter. And he built him up. And he loved him. The rich young ruler came to him. The Bible says that Jesus looked upon him and loved him. He had tremendous potential. He turned and walked away and denied him.

But he was loved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Two things, now get this clear, two things involved in the exercise of your personal ministry as a disciple. Number one, it is being able to love someone else. And secondly, being able to lead someone else. Now there are three things I want to mention on this matter of leadership. The first one is this. If you're going to lead someone else and you say, well, wait a minute, I've not been to college, I've not been to seminary.

Don't worry about that. Praise God, he didn't say in the Bible you had to have a college education or a seminary education or any other kind of education. You've got to have a relationship, an understanding of something of what the Word of God teaches. Not necessarily a formal education.

Now he'll take all he can get. God will use everything you've got, but that's not necessary. But now in order to lead someone else, first of all, if you're going to have a personal ministry, and all of us ought to have that in somebody's life. First of all, you've got to be able to love them and secondly, able to lead them and let me show you what that involves in leading them. First of all, under leadership, you've got to have a testimony with them. You can't disciple anyone whom you do not have a testimony with. If your life is of such quality and character, that person does not respect you as a child of God, does not see the fruit of the Spirit in your life, sees no evidence of Christ having changed your life, sees no evidence of God doing something supernatural in your life, I doubt if you can do much as a disciple. First of all, a testimony with that person. Secondly, you must be willing to transfer to that person something that God has done for you.

So what do you do? Let's say for example that you've discovered someone that does not know Christ and you went into Jesus and what do you do? Then you begin to share with him or transfer to him what someone said to you, what you've been taught, let's say from the pulpit, what you've been taught and you have made a part of your life, you begin to share that with someone else.

How much do you share with him? You just share with him, first of all, what you know absolutely for sure. What God has taught you in the Word, what he has shown you by experience. Then what's happening? You are transferring to someone else that which they can transfer, carry on, send on, give to someone else. Now you see, discipleship means I'm not only a child but I'm a channel and if I'm a channel, first of all, I'm going to have a personal relationship with that person, a testimony with that person. Secondly, I'm going to transfer to that person what God has taught me.

Now listen, eight hours a day you're on the job somewhere, five days a week, seven days a week you have to live. Now listen carefully, how much of what you know about God did you transfer to anybody in the past seven days? You're a child but have you been a channel? Now listen, if you're a child not a channel, the channel's all plugged up.

You know what plugs a channel? Sin. It may be the sin of a wrong priority, I don't have any time, I don't know how.

Now if you'll listen to me, I'm afraid, I'm not sure. Whatever it is, that which plugs the channel is nothing less than sin. Therefore, if you are a true disciple of Jesus Christ, you're going to be a child of God but you're going to be a channel of what you are receiving and applying in your own heart. You cannot be otherwise and be true to God, cannot be. He says that which thou has heard among many witnesses, God's Spirit speaks to you, moves you, stirs your heart, stings your conscience, encourages you, lifts you, burdens you, convicts you. Whatever needs to be done, God is in the process of doing that in order that you may take what God has done in your life and transfer it to someone else.

But is that what you're doing? You see what he says? He says in the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men. So then, a true disciple is not only going to have a testimony with that person he's discipling, he's going to transfer to that person those things which he has experienced and known and studied in the Word of God. But he's going to do something else. The third thing he's going to do, not only is he going to have a testimony with him, not only is he going to teach him, transfer the truth to him, but he's going to train him to do the same for someone else. Now notice what he said. And the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit, that is deposit, in his mind, in his life, entrust him with it, commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. You know what I'm saying to you?

Look me square in the eye there, brother and sister. He says committed to faithful men, committed to faithful men, competent men, able men and women, who not only have the ability but the will to become a tremendous channel for God. You must have a testimony with them. You must be willing to transfer those concepts so they can understand them and pass them on. And thirdly, you must train them how to pass them on.

Now listen, every single one of us ought to know how to do that. What is he saying? He's saying all this getting together on Sunday, all this giving we're doing, all this praying and singing and worshiping we're talking about is in order that, listen, that our child relationship may be strengthened in order that our channel relationship may become more effective every single passing day. That's what this is all about.

I don't know who in the world ever got the idea. You just go to church and listen to sermons and go home till next week. That isn't even implied or hinted in the word of God. We are children in order to be channels of God. And I believe according to the scripture that the Christian life is childhood followed by channelhood and into both those things that working in the human life somewhere we've missed the whole point. A testimony with that person willing to transfer to them what I know may not be much, may not be much, but it's something.

Willing to train them, may not know too much about training them, but at least I can show them how to tell somebody else what Jesus Christ has done in their life. Now listen, if you are a child of God, he intends for you to be a channel, that means you'll have a testimony with someone, you will teach that one, you will transfer the truth to that one and you will train them how to transfer that truth to someone else. He says do it to faithful men.

You know what that means? That means that week after week after week a pastor, a Bible teacher is sharing the truth and my friend you in turn are keeping it to yourself. That's no reflection upon the pastor, the Bible teacher, that is a reflector upon the person who listens because it says he's unfaithful to the word of God. He says committed, deposited, give it to those faithful men who in turn will be able to give it to others also. And do you realize my friend that's his whole plan for evangelizing the world? That you would take it, you would understand it, you would transfer it to someone else and you would train that person to transfer it to someone else and so what happens? A fellow came to my study, only been a Christian a couple of months or so, he says I've already seen one of my friends one to Jesus, he says I got five and he says I'm working on another.

That's what I'm talking about. And you see when the people of God just get the concept, just get this out of our mind, just get it out of our mind, just get it out of our mind, ask God to eradicate it from our mind that our responsibility is church going, it is childhood and channelhood and if those two are right, church going is just part of it. You just come get fired up, you just come get challenged, you come to get more and more possession of the word of God in order that your witness may be affected. Thank you for listening to the Disciples Service. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.