Becoming an Effective Disciple Maker - Be Bold - Don't Be Ashamed (2 Timothy 1), Part 2

Would you call yourself a bold Christian? I mean, someone who's winsome but out there and strong and people know you're a real follower of Jesus?

If you struggle with that, like I do, stay with me. We'll learn to be bold in Christ today. Thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip's our Bible teacher for this international discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. And that word bold has a lot of different meanings today. To some, it's decisiveness or determination.

To others, it's harshness or criticism. In just a minute, Chip will pick up where he left off in his series, Becoming an Effective Disciple Maker by sharing God's definition of boldness and how we can put it into practice. Now, if you have a Bible, turn now to 2 Timothy as Chip begins by asking a very challenging question. Is it possible that we as pastors in many churches have figured out how to grow a church service but not make disciples? I learned that where I went to church, if I showed up and I sat down and I listened, and if I donated at least once a month in the children's ministry out of pure guilt, give a little money, I'm a follower of Jesus. So when the pandemic comes, it didn't cause anything, it just revealed a lot.

We became consumers instead of disciples. And by the way, you know what? I don't know about you, but if I have a problem, I would much rather someone take an x-ray or MRI and say, by the way, we do have a problem, you have cancer.

That's a lot better than, I don't know I have a problem, there's no x-ray, there's no MRI, and I have cancer. I can do something about the cancer that I know I have, I can't do anything about what I don't know. You had the greatest opportunity in your lifetime to make an impact for Jesus Christ because things are raw.

It's been revealed. People's behavior, your behavior always reveals your true beliefs. Our mouths are just what we say, and by the way, what we sincerely think we believe. I was just reading the Gospels. All of you will forsake me, Jesus said, right? And then he quotes the Old Testament passage, they'll strike the shepherd and the sheep will be. Peter goes, not me.

And all one by one, not me, not me, not me, not me. They were sincere. You don't know what's in you, I don't know what's in me, until the test. And when the test comes, you find out what you really believe.

And so Paul's gonna, he's gonna talk to Timothy about, first he's modeling, this is how I've loved you. Deep discipleship, real discipleship always flows from the heart. And I want you to imagine, like coming up and there's a box, and the box says truth. And then I want you to imagine a bridge, and here's another box, and it says truth.

And your children, and your grandchildren, and people that you want to help are on this side of the bridge. And inside this is the truth of your life, the Gospel, the word of God, the power of the Holy Spirit. And what you want is you want to get this truth, not only in their mind, their heart, and their will, but you want to get it in their hearts over there.

Do you know what the bridge is that connects it? It's not information, it's relationship. People can only receive as much truth as they trust you, as they think you believe in them, as they actually experience, I've prayed for you night and day, with longing, I'd love to be with you with tears, I'm remembering you. I think about your family, what's he really saying? He's saying Timothy, this isn't coming as this is what you ought to do and get with the program. You see, the stronger the bridge, this is great for you parents and even grandparents, the stronger the bridge, the greater the weight of the truth you can get from over there to over here. And what I learned a long time ago with four kids that are all spread out, they're all going to have problems, and they're all going to have struggles, and they're all going to come to a time where they don't know if they buy into you, or God, or anything else, and you've modeled as best you can, but what I can tell you is, and sometimes they'll make some really big mistakes, right?

But if the bridge is strong, then they'll feel safe to come and talk about it and get some help. And so that's what Paul does. Now he shifts gears and he's going to give Timothy three specific challenges.

Let's walk through them together. Challenge number one is to be bold and fulfill your calling from verses six and seven. He says, notice, for this reason, what reason? The reason of how much I love you, the reason for where I'm at, the reason for why we're here in God's calling, for this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

Why? For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and discipline. So he's talking about Timothy's responsibility, right?

Remember the laying? He's talking about his ordination. He received the spirit when he trusted Christ. This was a time when Timothy, God's got his hand on your life. Remember, this gift, this deposit to be entrusted with the gospel, you need to get, hey, there's a lot of junk going on now.

It's illegal right now. Nero is a nutcase. Here's what I want you to get.

Everything you're seeing in this world that makes you uptight and this is crazy and it's never been like this, it was way worse. And this is what he said to a young man who hung in there and he passed it on, who passed it on, who passed it on, who passed it on so that you're sitting in a seat. And so his responsibility is stand at the flame and then God's provision is you have a spirit living within you called the Holy Spirit.

And the characteristics of the Holy Spirit is what? It's not timidity. It's not fear.

It's dunamis. We get our word dynamite. It's power. It's love and it's discipline. And what you know and I know is that what we need in order for the spirit to have more of us is we need time in God's word because the spirit of God takes the word of God and makes it the living word in our life. We need the community of God's people so the spirit living in you and the spirit living in me as we share and pray and the Jesus shows up renews me.

And that spirit, the fruit of the spirit creates the kind of love and discipline for people that are different, that helps us endure when it's hard and helps us discipline ourselves to do what we need to do instead of what we want to do. You can't live off your emotions. You can't live out of fear. You either live out of faith or you live out of fear. If you live out of fear, your life is like an emotional roller coaster. And God says you don't have that spirit.

He's telling him basically Timothy, you've got what you need to make it. You're part fan at the flame. Can I ask you something? Can you in your mind's eye go back and tell me when were you most passionate about following Jesus Christ?

Just when was it that man, you know, I got to get up and I got to read. I got to share my faith. I got to care.

We got new neighbors coming in. This matters. It matters more than I could miss an SEC game. I could miss an NFL game. I could miss a sale. This is who and what really matters.

When was that? And if it's not right now, then here's the call. Fan it into flame.

Just fan it into flame. God's not mad at you. He wants to help you. He's saying of course you have fear. That's why I gave you my spirit. It overcomes that. The principle we must constantly remind one another of powerful experiences in our past and the power given to us by his spirit.

Sit around the table. When family comes over, just say hey, what are the biggest miracles our family's ever experienced? What are your biggest moments with God?

So you need to remember the God that answered those prayers, he's the same, right? Today. Yesterday. Forever. He's willing.

He's open. But we need to come with expectation. We need to come with a sense of he's real and vital and wants to work and wants to bless and wants to use us.

And I think the first place to do that, the aside to parents, is let's make our kids and grandkids our number one group that we disciple. And please, we live in the psychological world, so what I mean by that is that what used to be biblical language has turned into therapeutic language. People don't sin, they're sick.

Right? You know. Or they have a syndrome, or an ism. And hey, I majored in psychology, undergraduate and graduate work, so I understand it. But here's what I'm saying is sometimes we ought to use words like sin and guilt. False guilt's bad. True guilt means the Holy Spirit is putting in fingers something specific about my life, my mouth, my behavior, my attitude that's wrong. And the agenda is not to make me feel, you know, we're in a world where, oh, I don't want to make you feel bad.

There's times, guess what? God wants you to feel bad. Feeling really bad about doing something bad or thinking something bad or saying something bad is called remorse. And remorse leads to, wow, I'm so sorry. And I'm sorry leads to repentance, a meta noia, change of mind, where you say, oh, Lord, do you understand all sin, it's not about the rules, it's about the relationship. Sin isn't fundamentally, you just crossed this line. Sin is you hurt your savior. You hurt your wife. You let your heavenly father down.

You disappointed him. You know, when it's just like, well, I'll try not to do that anymore. That's behaviorism. That's moralism. Sin is I miss the mark of loving and caring and something came out of my mouth and it's wrong in me.

I need to own it. And when I come and I own it and I ask God to forgive me, he forgives me and cleanses me of all my sin and he fills my heart with peace. We spend our energy trying to get rid of our guilt.

If it's false guilt and family of origin and go to a good therapist, a good Christian psychologist, hey, been there, done that, we all need some of that. But a lot of life is like, why did you say that? That's a hateful thought. That was bigoted. That was biased. That was insensitive.

That was selfish. Those aren't psychological terms. By the way, everything I just said, I'm sure I've done all those in the last 48 hours. And I'm pretty convinced most of you have. But as long as we don't kill someone, we think, I haven't sinned a whole lot. Be interesting to go home and read your own Facebook and all the things you've posted and ask yourself, how happy is God with that? Because we're going to learn the Lord's bond servant must not be quarrelsome but be kind to all. Challenge number two is don't be ashamed of your Lord. Look at verses 8 through 12. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or me, his prisoner.

But join with me in suffering for the gospel. How? In your own strength? No. According to the power of God.

Why? Who saved us and called us with a holy calling. Based on what? Not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our savior Christ Jesus. And then notice what he accomplished, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light. How? Through this sacred deposit called the gospel, the good news, the work of Jesus. And so Paul says, don't be ashamed of your Lord.

Why? Because of he's called us, because of what he's done. How can you, it's like someone, you know, you were in a $10 billion of debt and you decided to kill yourself and so you're on the edge of the ledge and Jesus runs over and says, I just paid your bill and I rescued you and then you go to a business meeting and I kind of want to introduce my friend Jesus, but you know, I'm a little ashamed of him. No, he saved my life. He paid my $10 billion bill. I get to tell everybody about him. If you don't keep remembering what Jesus has done for you, you'll be ashamed of him and you'll care more about, in my case, what the person in the next seat on the airplane thinks.

I'm thinking, this is ridiculous. And so I talked my way out of that and then by God's grace, I think, you know, I have a spirit that's going to be bold. Okay. I'm going to open my lips spirit.

You need to get royal and he does. And by the way, can I say to help you guys out? I chicken out sometimes just like you. I get intimidated by people just like you. But what I find is when I am aware of what I've been called to, what I've been saved from, what God has done, the purpose and that he's brought life and immortality and then he's actually entrusted me, I'm sitting next to this person or he's actually entrusted me with the only answer to this man's spiritual cancer.

It's the gospel of Christ. And you know, the one thing I would say too for some of you is thinking, oh, I probably need to really get a lot bolder. All your fears about how people will react, I'm just telling you, I think a lot of it is simply the enemy because I'm shocked at how open people are. We got a neighbor that when we moved in, they said, he's the bad neighbor. Boy, that's not nice. No, no, he's the bad neighbor.

And they told me all these stories and well, you know, that was like setting my wife on fire. We're going to love the bad neighbor. And in the first couple of years, he was the bad neighbor. I mean, you know, picky and this and I mean, and he alienated everyone.

And of course, he's married to the sweetest gal ever, you know, that we got to know. And he recently, he got from the bad neighbor to the talking neighbor to the, we have some, you know, he's pretty reserved. You can't sort of get into his world much too. He has a disease. They don't know what's wrong neighbor who asks us for prayer neighbor, who thanks us for being around neighbor, who I have shared the gospel multiple times with him. And it's just, no, I got it. He tells about his denominational background and, you know, it was fire and brimstone according to him.

And if I walked into church, you know, it would cave in and there's no hope for me. And, you know, I just keep giving him the gospel. And for the first 10 years, can I tell you something? If I only had 10 years, I'd say the gospel doesn't work.

Of course it works. But his need got him to where he was starting to think differently about life. And can I tell you some of your relatives, some of your neighbors, some of your friends, some of your adult kids, some of your grandkids who've told you that they've left the faith and on and on.

If someone would sit down and listen and have a cup of coffee and ask them questions for an hour or more and not try and preach at them but really listen and care about them, they're hurting and they're afraid and their world's messed up. Don't be ashamed of your Lord. Join me in suffering. It's literally the idea of this word is enter in with me.

Let's lock arms and suffer together. It's like an invitation. The reason is to obey. To obey in the light of what God has done for us.

It's a beautiful, beautiful passage. Notice he says, for which I was appointed a preacher. The word is, it would be, in some older translations, it's called a herald.

And it would be like if there was a king or a queen, it's someone who officially would, you know, and make an announcement on the behalf of royalty. And Paul says, all these things, don't be ashamed of our Lord. God assigned me to blow the trumpet and announce that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has come to this earth to save us and to forgive us and to take us with him, to be with him forever. And not only was I a preacher, but I was an apostle, one who is sent, and a teacher.

And for this reason, I suffer these things. But he says, I'm not ashamed. Well, why, Paul?

I mean, how come you're in a lot worse situation and you're not ashamed? He says, for I know, the word here is an experiential know, I know whom I've believed, and I'm convinced that he is able to protect what I've entrusted to him until that day. My life and my suffering and my hurt and my doubt and my uncertainty, and just like he's asked me to be faithful what he's entrusted to me, I can suffer because I know I am convinced that I have given to him, and he's able to protect that until that final day. Challenge number three to Timothy is don't be ashamed of his word, verses 13 through 18. Hold on to the example of sound words or literally it's the sound teaching, which you've heard from me in the faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Protect through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us this treasure, this deposit which has been entrusted to you. You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and he found me. The Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day.

And you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. And so the command is retain and guard the truth. Be loyal to Jesus, be loyal to his word. And there's certain things to be loyal to his word right now just to be loyal to his word to say, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. That's not dissing anyone else.

We live in a free country and people can have whatever kind of relationships they want to have. But as a follower of Jesus, to say that you can be characterized as a hater and a bigot. Say it kindly.

Say it lovingly. Give the theological basis for it. It's the Christ in the church. Marriage by definition has to have differences. It can't have sameness.

It needs a male and a female. There needs to be a connection. There's multiple things to be true to God's word right now.

And please hear the context. It's historic. There's certain times where the church has come together. The Apostles' Creed. It's very broad.

It's very clear. And inside the Apostles' Creed, these things are true that we believe. Salvation by grace through faith. The virgin birth. The triunity of God.

Deity of the Holy Spirit and the deity of Christ. The return of Christ. I mean, there's certain, the authority and veracity and the inspiration of the word of God makes you look in some educational circles like, you know, you're just like three bricks short of a load. Your kids in secular universities now are made to feel like they are anti-intellectual and if they don't believe certain things that are now accepted as the truth. And so my point is, are you ready? I'm going to say this as nicely as I can. Didn't plan on saying it, but I'm going to say it as nice as I can. Could we as the church stop whining and stop complaining and stop blaming and equip our kids so that they have answers for those kind of things and have the kind of relationship with them and model the kind of things where they would say, you know, the people are saying this and that, their life is a train wreck. And you know, grandma or grandpa, you know, you seem to be a little old-fashioned.

You're into that whole Bible stuff, but you know, like you got so many years together and you really love each other and you're really nice to me and your life is the kind of person I'd like to be. Guess what? It's called discipleship. That's what we can do.

But don't hang back. Don't believe the lies that your adult kids or your teenagers or your grandkids don't want to hear from you. My son planted a church. It's about 10 years old and when pastors are going through rough stuff, you go help your son. And so he was really tired and asked me if I'd fill in. I did a little four-part series for him and I did something really basic and then I hung around and talked with him and I was just like, oh, I so want to help these young people. So I said, honey, what do you think if, like I'm going to, in the message, there was two services, if I would say anyone, you know, I thought this is what a Christian is and I talked about being a Romans 12 Christian, just a profile of a disciple from Paul. And just real simple, I said, if you would like to explore what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus, why don't you come to my house in the next three weeks, next three Sunday nights? And I said, honey, you think we could feed? He goes, Tripp, I don't even know how many people. Is it going to be five people? Is it going to be 50 people?

Okay, can I invite them? She said yes. And so I did. And I didn't know. And so we had like 13 people show up.

And all young people except two or three. I can't tell you. I mean, the first three talked about their church background, deconstruction, where they're living in.

I thought I believed all these things. I'm not sure about this. I'm not sure about that. Next week, next week, honest conversation, very small teaching, open, vulnerable. In the first week, one lady made a Lordship decision. In the first week, another lady came to Christ. The two or three gals that were doing the deconstruction had never had a safe place. You know what they needed? They needed some old white guy and his wife who loved each other to open their home and explain lovingly the most basic things in Scripture that most of you could do off the back of your hand.

And then the three weeks got done, and I mean people shared at such a level. And the third week I said, you know, no one has to, because I didn't know where they were coming from. But let's, Teresa, why don't you start and I'll pray at the end if any of you like to pray. Well, they pour out their heart. And then pretty soon, Chip, can I meet with you? I'm meeting with this guy.

And then Teresa, can I meet with you? And you know what I want to tell you? Oh my gosh, these young people are so hurting. And their first thing is it's all about this, what about that, and they say this and evolution that and this and that. And you know what they need? They need someone to love them. They need someone to love. And you know what?

They know the top ten podcast influencers more than they know, you know, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. There's no anchor in their life. Well, the three weeks got over and everyone would go, do we have to quit? And I thought, well, what do you want to do? So Teresa goes, why don't you all come and we'll eat at our house? And she, you know, we had a cookout. And then they brought their mates or friends and I've never seen two of them broke up with people that they were involved in that were unbelievable.

I mean, bang, bang, bang, bang. They have just responded to God's word and made application and their lives are radically changing. And we cry and hug one another.

I didn't know these people eight weeks ago. Paul says to Timothy, I love you, I'm for you, I care for you. Timothy, I want you to know that you got everything that you need but your part, you got to fan into flame.

You got to get passionate like in the early days, get super clear. And then can I tell you, don't you dare be ashamed of your Lord. Don't you dare be ashamed of his word. And you know what? Can I invite you into something?

I'd like to invite you to suffer with me. Would you go arm in arm? As I go out, can we just, you know, realize they're going to call the play. They're going to give you the ball. You're going to grab the ball and you're going to tuck it. You're going to get right through the line. You're going to go about eight yards and a linebacker who's been waiting you in a free safety is going to knock your head off.

They do it on purpose and pay them a lot of money to do that. And you know, spiritually, that's what God wants you to do. He goes, man, I got angels blocking. I got people prepared. You got the ball of the gospel. I want to give it to you and I want you to break through and I want you to get some yards for the kingdom and I want to invite you to know that guess what?

There's some spiritual linebackers. They're going to say this or post that or say that or that and you know what? You may find them asking you about, would you pray for this kidney problem that they can't figure out what's going on? And I'm really afraid. I'm afraid to die. And they don't have to respond great because that's not your responsibility.

You can't change them anyway, right? Outcomes are God's. But would you be bold? Don't be ashamed. Chip will be right back with this application for this message, Be Bold, Don't Be Ashamed from his series, Becoming an Effective Disciple Maker, a study of 2 Timothy. With all of the hatred and misconceptions pointed at Christianity nowadays, it's really difficult to be a genuine follower of Jesus. In this new study, Chip's going to encourage us that now more than ever, we can't just settle for saying we're a Christian.

We have to live like one too. Chip will help us put that into practice as he highlights four compelling challenges from the Apostle Paul's final letter to Timothy. Join us as we learn how to live more God-honoring lives and better disciple others along the way. To get more plugged in with this series, Becoming an Effective Disciple Maker, visit livingontheedge.org.

That's livingontheedge.org. Well, Chip's with me in studio now. And Chip, in this program, you wrapped up your talk on being bold for Jesus. And there's a group of people out there who we need to be boldly sharing the good news with, young people. This next generation is lost, confused, and in need of some direction. Take a minute and share how you see the church responding to this crisis, because it really is a pressing concern right now.

Well, Dave, that's right. Never in my lifetime have I seen such a response to the need for discipleship or a passion among God's people to reach the next generation. I'm absolutely convinced that if we're going to reach the next generation, it's going to require that first we speak their language, second we meet them where they are, and third and most important, we model life-giving relationships. We at Living on the Edge are stepping out like never before in this area, and we need your help. Would you prayerfully consider giving to Living on the Edge to help us reach our kids and your kids, our grandkids and yours? Every dollar you give between now and December 31 will be matched dollar for dollar, doubling your impact as we help parents, grandparents, and pastors disciple the next generation.

Thank you for praying and giving whatever God leads you to. You can go right now to LivingOnTheEdge.org and make your gift. If this is something you are passionate about, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org or call 888-333-6003 to make a gift. Your support will help us create tools and resources for parents, grandparents, and pastors to effectively disciple this next generation. And as Chip said, every gift we receive up until midnight on December 31 will be matched dollar for dollar. That number again is 888-333-6003 or go to LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap donate. With that, Chip, let's get to that application you promised.

Thanks Dave. As we close today's program, I want to ask you a question, something I want you to ponder on today. If you are the greatest Christian that some people will ever meet in your neighborhood, at the coffee shop, or at work, or in your family, are you bold? Are you out there in a winsome, kind, loving way? Are you representing Jesus in a way that people would be attracted to him?

Does your Facebook indicate someone who's loving and kind and truthful and caring? Can I ask you, do what it takes today to be bold for the Lord Jesus Christ. People are in desperate need, and regardless of the criticism that you may get, you'll never regret being bold for Jesus. Encouraging words, Chip.

Thanks. As we close, I want you to know that as a staff, we ask the Lord to help you take whatever your next faith step is, and we'd love to hear how it's going. Would you take a minute to send a note or give us a call?

Either one is easy. Email us at chip at livingontheedge.org, or call us at 888-333-6003. That's chip at livingontheedge.org, or call 888-333-6003. We look forward to hearing from you. Well, until next time, this is Dave Drewley saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.