Discipleship, Part 1

Transcript

GRM 86
06/15/1980
Discipleship, Part 1
Matthew 28; Selected Passages
Gil Rugh

I’d like for us to look at the subject of discipleship this evening, and we’re going to start out by looking at Matthew chapter 28. There’s much emphasis on the subject of discipleship today, and there are many books out with that title or on that subject and with various titles. I am concerned that much of the emphasis is not where the bible puts the emphasis. Much of the emphasis is not biblical and we want to be concerned and sure to be biblical in all that we do. So I don’t want to be negative in my approach, I want to be positive and determine what the word says about discipleship. What is biblical discipleship and are we really carrying out God’s program of discipleship as a local church? Then if we are not, what adjustments ought we to be making so that our program and our activities would be as biblical as possible?

The passage known as the “Great Commission” in Matthew chapter 28 is a foundational passage, and I’d like to pick up with verse 16. “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain, which Jesus had designated, and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”

Now here a command is given on making disciples in verse 19. “Go therefore, and make disciples,” and many of you have studied this passage before and are aware that the leading, verb in this section is, “make disciples.” That is the command that is given. Now it’s based upon the statement at the end of verse 18, “all authority has been given to Me,” so in light of the fact all authority has been given to Me, and this is all inclusive, this includes authority in heaven and authority on earth, so that is authority over everything, in everyplace. Then in light of this authority, I command you to do this, make disciples and obviously it’s “make disciples for Him,” followers of Jesus Christ. This is interesting; this word “authority,” just note in passing, is more than power. A different word for power. It doesn’t mean all power has been given to Me, because you can have power but not authority. You may have power over someone but not authority. For example, obviously, you would have the power to kill someone, but you don’t have the authority to do that, so here Jesus Christ not only has the power but He has the authority, the right, the prerogative is His. It “has been given to Him” and the emphasis naturally would be His Father has committed this aspect of ministry to Him as the Son.

“Go, therefore and make disciples.” Now “make disciples” is the command, and that’s given in an imperative and an imperative is the way you give a command in the Greek language. An aorist imperative is the strongest command that can be given in the Greek language, so this is something that must be done. We must make disciples, and then three participles that help us to understand what is involved in making disciples. The first is translated, “Go” and it’s the first word in the statement in verse 19. “Go therefore and make disciples,” so the first participle is, “Go” and you could literally translate it, having gone, and this is the translation offered by Willian Hendrickson, RCH Lenski and others. An aorist participle, so having gone, make disciples. Then two present participles, “baptizing” them in verse 19 and then in verse 20, “teaching” them, so we’re going to lay out this passage so we can follow it through the way it is ordered and put together.

We put, “make disciples” then under that, there are three facts about making disciples. Three participles modify that verb. The first is going or having gone. The second is baptizing and the third is teaching. Now let’s pick up what is involved in these participles and then develop a little bit on what is involved in making disciples. Implied here is the fact that these to whom Jesus is speaking, the eleven disciples in verse 16, will be going to various places throughout the world and as they are going or having gone, they are to be making disciples, so the command here is not “to go.” Often this is preached as a command to go and the command is not, “to go.” The going is assumed, so in other words, wherever you have gone as believers, you are to be making disciples, so He’s not directing them to go anywhere particularly but just wherever you are, as believers, you are to be making disciples for Jesus Christ.

Similar to what Paul says to the Corinthians, that he has made Christ known in every place. Everyplace that Paul went, he made Jesus Christ known, so having gone, so that’s rather simple, wherever we go, we are to be involved in making disciples. Now, these disciples come from all the nations. This expands it for the Jews to whom He is speaking. They still don’t understand what this will entail. We know that, because by the time we get all the way over to Acts chapter 10, Peter still doesn’t want to go and talk to a Gentile. So here they are told that “having gone, they are to make disciples of all nations,” and yet it will be a process for them to come to understand what is actually involved, in all the nations and who is included. It goes beyond the Jews now, and this is new material in many ways for these of eleven disciples that more than Israel now will be the focal point of God’s program; it will be all the nations.

Now they are to be baptizing them in “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” so entailed in this ministry of making disciples, wherever we have gone, is to baptize them, and baptism is a public identification with Jesus Christ. It would not be a new concept, in biblical times. If you adhered yourself to a teacher, were an adherent of a teacher, or a certain teaching, you might be baptized in identification with that. Many were baptized in connection with a Greek mystery religion. Upon being initiated into that secret group, you would be baptized as an identification with that. So here these disciples are to be baptized. Now the baptism is to be in the name of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Here we have clearly laid out the trinity and the name is mentioned once, and you’re to be baptized in the name of these Persons. It may imply the unity here, the oneness we have in the trinity. It denotes an equality. We don’t baptize anyone in our own name. We don’t find Peter going out and saying that he would baptize them in the name Jesus Christ and of Peter or Paul. I baptize you in my name. Paul puts this down in the writing to the Corinthians. It is not a significant part of his ministry. The baptism is in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit because they are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, not disciples of Peter, not disciples of Paul or any of the eleven but in effect, disciples of God, and particularly of the Son of God, so baptizing is key here and rather simple.

It’s amazing how some commentators get off the side and some were debating to try to argue to show that infant baptism can be included here, and others arguing that it’s not. You simply recognize what is going on, that baptism identifies a person in a visible way, but it presupposes that the person has made a commitment to that group or persons with which he is being identified in baptism. So it is a visible presentation of a commitment that is made, they are to be baptized in identification with Jesus Christ, and then they are to be taught, in verse 20. “Teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you,” so instruction. Teaching them, instructing them and it’s interesting here, teaching them to observe not teaching them to know. The teaching would imply the imparting of knowledge, imparting of facts but it’s with a goal to change or conform a life. It’s to practice, teaching them to guard or keep all that I command you, so important to see that in the teaching we are to be conforming people to what is being taught. The goal is that people keep, they adhere to what is taught, not just that we give out as much information as possible, in as short a period of time as possible, but we are to be teaching people to keep the commandments of Jesus Christ.

They’re not the same as the commandments of the Mosaic Law obviously, but to teach them to observe all that I commanded you. Now that is all encompassing. I take it that that includes all that we have in the Scriptures really and particularly the development in the New Testament. You are to teach them everything. Not certain lines of what I have told you but teach them all that I commanded you and the promise, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” So he has the authority in verse 18, and He promises them the security of His presence concluding in verse 20, so now they’re to go and carry out the ministry under His authority, in light of His presence, which will enable them to accomplish the desired result.

Now that command to, “make disciples,” and its development, it’s a common word in the New Testament, and it basically means to be a learner, or to be a follower. The verb as you have it here is used a few times, one, two, three, four times in the Scripture, to make disciples, but the noun to be a disciple is used 264 times. Then one time we have a mathetria, which is a female disciple in Acts chapter 9 verse 36, so 265 times all together, a noun, where a disciple is used. Mathetes is usually the way the word that we refer to, mathetes is the way we would probably transliterate it over into English. Now interestingly, 265 times plus the verb four times, 269 times, this word to make disciples or to be a disciple is used but they are all in the Gospels or in the Book of Acts. This word, to be a disciple, is never used in the New Testament, after the Book of Acts. Its use is limited. It’s abundant through the gospels, modification is used 30 times in the Book of Acts, but it does not appear once after the Book of Acts or in any of the letters or epistles that are written in the New Testament.

Now it means to be a learner or to be a follower. Now how this is developed—I thought we might look at a few passages in the Book of Acts but I haven’t listed all of them. You can get a concordance and trace them down for yourself. But to see what is involved in being a disciple, because this is crucial to carrying out the purpose and plan of God that we make disciples, we be doing what God intends for us to do. It’s easy to give a definition, to be a learner or to be a follower, but what actually does that mean? I’ve just jotted down selectively several passages from the Book of Acts to see how this is carried out and how it’s used.

Go over to Acts chapter 6 and verse 1. “Now at this time, while the disciples were increasing in number,” there’s our word, the disciples, were increasing in number, “a complaint arose, and it’s on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of food and the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples, and said.” So it’s often used this word disciple of the 12 disciples, or the 11 but here it obviously has a broader use because in verse 2, the 12 that we would identify as the apostles, summoned the congregation of the disciples, and here the word is obviously used in verses 1 and 2 for all the believers. The congregation of the disciples; it’s not a select group but it seems to imply that all the believers are involved.

Down in verse 7 “and the word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great number of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.” Again, it would seem that verse 7 is using this to refer to those who are coming to believe in Jesus Christ, that as a result of the ministry of the word of God, the number of disciples, is increasing. Look over in chapter 9 verse 1. “Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest.” Again, from what we can tell in this account, the animosity of Paul is directed toward believers, so breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord would include not only the 12 but others as well, whoever was a believer in Jesus Christ. This is substantiated by Paul’s own testimony, that he persecuted any of those who were adherents of the way or believers in Jesus Christ.

Look over in chapter 15 verse 10. This is the council at Jerusalem, where they sent to Jerusalem for the apostles to resolve the doctrinal dispute, and in Acts chapter 15 verse 10. “Now therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” in effect saying that they have to observe the Law. It says you put this upon the neck of the disciples, again seeming to refer to believers. Acts chapter 20 verse 30 and then we have one other passage and that should be sufficient. Here is a warning to the elders at the church at Ephesus that their ministry is to guard the flock, in verse 28. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” After themselves, so here the flock and the disciples are equivalent, a synonymous expression and thus we’re talking about believers.

The passage that I think that is crucial is Acts chapter 11, verse 26 in clearly identifying who disciples are. In Acts chapter 11 verse 26, note the last statement of verse 26, “and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch,” so here we’re told that disciples was the old title and now they are being called Christians. Those who were disciples perhaps have the additional designation given them as Christians, marking off those who are disciples of Jesus Christ, so in effect a Christian and disciple are synonymous. Now for some of you that say this is belaboring, maybe the obvious, but it’s not where the emphasis is today. I have a book here, Disciples Are Made Not Born, and there’s some good material in this book but the subtitle, how he explains it, is this book involves making disciples out of Christians. Now according to Acts 11:26 you could translate that making Christians out of Christians.

Now I realize what we’ve done. We’ve taken a word, “disciple,” and given it a certain theological meaning, which is not consistent with the biblical usage, but that is dangerous, because now we begin to make application and usage which goes contrary to what the bible says. So I do not believe it’s possible to make disciples out of Christians because if you have a Christian, you have a disciple. You have a follower of Jesus Christ. You have a learner, one who is being taught by the Spirit of God, taught by the Son of God, so what is involved in Matthew 28 in “go and make disciples” I take it, is to go and have people won to Jesus Christ. Have them come to believe in Him as the Messiah and Savior, not only of Israel, but of the world. And then I would see disciple as being a synonymous expression for a Christian or a believer.

I think that part of what goes on is that we take the terminology from the Gospels or Acts and use it today and there’s some confusion. You note Paul never writes to the disciples at Corinth, or to the disciples at Ephesus or to the disciples at Philippi. He always writes to the church. Now I take it the reason is that those, who would have been called disciples during Jesus’ day are now called the church of God, the church of Jesus Christ and we as disciples form the body. Now why this is important is that how then you make disciples, and what you do with disciples, in the baptizing and the teaching, so we go forward, we present the gospel, people come to believe in Jesus Christ, then they are being built to maturity in their relationship with Jesus Christ. And how is this carried out? Well my understanding that God’s program for the building and maturing of men (using that term generically, men and women) for building believers is the church, talking about the local body of believers. Once you determine that making disciples involves having people come to Jesus Christ. But it doesn’t stop there. Then they are to be taught all that Jesus commanded, which my understanding would be, the entire content of the Scriptures. Everything that God has revealed, that the Son of God has made known, is to be taught. So I do not see any particular program of discipleship. A ministry of discipleship is a ministry of the Word of God in building people to maturity in Jesus Christ. God’s program for today is that this takes place within what we call “the church,” a local body of believers.

Turn over to Ephesians and the 4th chapter, and this familiar section on the gifts in verse 11 where Christ gave “some as apostles, some prophets, some evangelist some pastor-teachers.” Why? To “equip the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” As a result, we are “no longer to be children, tossed to and fro” and so on, but verse 15 “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” I take it that is maturing, that is growth, growing up into Him who is the head. The head of what? The head of the body. Colossians chapter 1 develops as well that He “has been appointed as head over the body” or head of the church. “From whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” So you see how building up of a believer is to take place. It is to take place in the context of the body, functioning under the headship of Jesus Christ, with the various gifts that God has given to the body, functioning and operating so that person is built up to maturity in a balanced way.

Now I stress this because much of the emphasis on discipleship today is what we call one-on-one disciple, and I find this not only to be a nonbiblical concept but to be an unbiblical concept. Nowhere in the Scriptures do I find that God’s pattern for maturing believers is that I pull them apart and work one-on-one with them over an extended period of time and that will produce maturity. Rather I find that the emphasis of Scripture is God has established a local church, where believers function together in a body under the headship of Christ and each exercises gifts, and a person is built up through the ministry of the Word in conjunction with the exercising of the gifts of the body.

I am concerned that what happens, when we pull a person out of that context and tie them in what we call a one-on-one discipleship, we produce a distortion. It’s simply not God’s plan for maturing people, so wait, I know ‘a lot of good’ that happens. Well the criteria is not the result, the ends don’t justify the means. The criteria is what has God established to get the job done. I’m constantly being asked why I do not disciple people, and would I consider becoming involved in a one-on-one discipleship ministry? I personally am convinced that my ministry is one of discipling. By that I mean building people to maturity in Jesus Christ, through the ministry of the Word, in connection with the functioning of the body of Christ. And that’s God’s program and God’s plan for getting the job done, so Ephesians 4 and all the other passages that emphasize the church, like 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 and so on. The constant emphasis on the church.

Now I recognize there is the universal church, comprised of everyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ, then there is a local church like this body, which has certain people in this certain location, who gather-together. I am also convinced that the only manifestation of the invisible church, the universal church in the New Testament, is the local church. Paul doesn’t write to the universal church in Greece, he writes to the local church in Greece at Corinth. He doesn’t write to the universal church anywhere, because the visible manifestation of the universal church is the local church, and that’s the context in which the gifts function. What does Paul say to the church at Corinth as he starts his letter? In chapter 1, he tells them that they “have every gift; they have all the gifts necessary to function and grow to maturity,” and then beginning in chapter 12 he talks about this in detail. He’s talking to a local church, so I am convinced that God’s intention is that they be part of a local body of believers so that they can be matured in their relationship to God and to Jesus Christ.

Now, some passages are often used. I just want to pick up one or two over in Timothy and I want to hit the highlights, and then give you opportunity to respond. You may have some notes or comments you want to write in Christian love. Then I’ll attempt to respond to those next week if that is satisfactory. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 2. “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.” Now I believe that is a biblical pattern in line with Ephesians chapter 4. It says nothing about a one-on-one ministry here. It doesn’t say Paul had a one-on-one ministry with Timothy. What does Timothy have? The things, which you have heard from me, in private, in our personal time together? What’s it say, in the presence of many witnesses? Timothy you’ve been part of my ministry you were exposed to what I taught, now communicate these same things to a faithful man. It doesn’t say that, does it? It says “to faithful men, who will be able to communicate them.” I read and hear this verse often and repeatedly applied to a one-on-one ministry but I don’t read one-on-one in that verse. The presence of “many witnesses” implies more than Timothy being around, and he’s to communicate it to more than one, faithful man, but to many.

I think what we have here, in many ways, is a dispensational problem, and where we have taken the pattern and program that Jesus carried out during His earthly ministry and tried to make it the pattern and program for today. God’s pattern and program for today is the local church and the local church was not in existence during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.

God’s pattern and program for maturing saints today is the local church and that explains why discipleship used almost 270 times in the New Testament does not appear once after the Book of Acts. God’s program is the church. God’s manner of carrying that out is not primarily a person, attached to a person. I believe what we have in most of our discipleship today is a carryover from the rabbinical discipleship programs where a rabbi took a person and that person or persons who became attached to that Rabbi and almost became the servant of that Rabbi. They became the total absolute determining leader for that person, and I hear this in many discipleships where the leader of this discipleship program is the boss. They tell you when to take a bath and when not to take a bath and if you don’t obey them, you are not obeying the Lord.

It brings me to the next verse, Hebrews and the 13th chapter. A verse that’s often used to validate the authority of those who are discipling is verse 17 of Hebrews 13. “Obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would not be profitable for you.” Now I have a real difficulty when I hear a person was involved in a discipleship ministry, “a one-on-one discipleship ministry” or that kind of discipleship ministry using Hebrews 13:17. My understanding in light of the New Testament would be the leaders in view here would be the elders in the churches. This is the context that Peter places it in, in 1 Peter chapter 5. This is the context Paul places it in--in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and in Titus chapter 1. Men, who meet certain qualifications and certain biblical standards, thus have positions of leadership within the body of Jesus Christ. Here we have a man taking sole authority over the life and lives of other people, but where has their authority come from? I have yet to meet them being elders in the local body and next week we’re going to talk about the subject of parachurch ministries and so we’ll delve into that area, since we are in to our chins we might just as well hold our nose and go under.

I have a real question, is that the biblical pattern that a man or an organization says you are the leader. Now these people, if they don’t submit to you, they’re not submitting to the Lord. I don’t find that given in the New Testament. I take it the faithful men in 2 Timothy 2 that we read about would be elders. You commit this to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. You should narrow that down; you’re talking in the context of the Pastoral Epistles of the elders that Paul has clearly and accurately, delineated. So I have a real question here whether men have the right to take to themselves the authority of Hebrews 13:17. “I am your leader I am discipling you, so this is what you must do, and this is your program, and this is when we will do it, and if you don’t obey me you’re not obeying the Lord.” I think that’s a perversion of Scripture, and I think what happens is, then people get absorbed into this, and they don’t grow in the balanced and developed way that God intends them to grow in the New Testament. Anytime we come up with a program as an alternative to what God’s program is, we have problems. It does not work. We say, “wait a minute it does work.” It does not work in accomplishing God’s purposes in God’s way. It has to be done biblically.

So, all this to say, my understanding of the New Testament is that when Christ gave the command to make disciples and that’s carried out in the Book of Acts, it basically involves leading people to Jesus Christ and then building them up in their faith. That God’s plan, and program, and organization would, whatever you want to call it, for accomplishing this today, is the local church, and that is where it’s carried on and I think it’s carried on in a meeting like this.

You are being “discipled” as that word is used. You are being brought to maturity through the ministry of the Word in your life here as hundreds, not as one or two, and as you exercise your gift in the functioning of the body you will mature. There’s not only the intake, there is the output, but the output is to come as you exercise your gift as part of the body, and that’s the development of Ephesians 4, that we each exercise our gift and then we develop accordingly. Well many other things could be said, but I want to break off right here, and give you a chance to make your observations or comments, or questions. As I said, you can write some of them down if you don’t care to voice them, and I’ll try to answer them next week in connection with the study we’re going to do there.

Ok let me just use this book since I’ve got it up here as an example. He’s got a chapter in here, Recruiting a Perspective Disciple and what you’re doing then is picking out a Christian whom you will work with, and invest your life in, and it could be more than one and you’re going to work with them over an extended period of time, often years. You’ll have studies with them, you’ll work with them and you become responsible for the development of that person in many ways. Now, often, you bring them to church as well, but their real development is in connection with your program and so that’s the heart, coming to church is an aside. Now that doesn’t mean that we don’t work with one another on a one-on-one basis. Here’s a Christian with a problem, well we can’t help them one-on-one, we only do it in groups. I don’t think that’s the line. I think we are to be involved in helping one another, but that’s tied to a person, over an extended period-of-time, for their development. I think it’s unhealthy, that’s the kind of thing I’m referring to, one-on-one.

Okay, I think the missionary emphasis of this passage and we’ll probably talk about missions in the coming weeks too and particularly as it affects this local body. I think the mission’s emphasis in Matthew 28 is not “to go” but “to make disciples of all nations,” but I want to develop that somewhat, because I don’t think that we have primarily a biblical missions program as evangelicals today. Now He doesn’t command them to go to all nations, but having gone, and wherever they are going among the nations, they are to make disciples so that wouldn’t be the point there. I think there would be maybe stronger sections to deal with outreach but it does say that we are to make disciples from all nations. So I would see that as the missionary emphasis that people from every culture, every land, and every nation be discipled, won to Christ, but I do want to pick up on that whole area of missions because it does tie directly to that passage.

Okay, we’ve been talking a little bit about this as staff. I don’t know that I could draw a fine, firm line in every case, because often you’re dealing with a person. You do deal with them intensely over a period-of-time, but usually there is a recognition of those involved in these kinds of programs, that this is their goal, a discipleship ministry. I think you ought to have clear in your mind, “what do I want to accomplish with this person? Do I want to meet with them over a period of six weeks or six months to help them learn to study their bible or to whatever, help them understand the biblical teaching on prayer and become more effective in their own prayer life?” What I’m concerned about is they take upon themselves, ourselves, whoever, the entire ministry in this person’s life, and what that does is create a distortion, because I reproduce myself. My strengths and my weaknesses alike, whereas in the body a balance is provided, so I couldn’t draw a firm line and say, wait a minute this is wrong, but to a large extent, a person would have to know himself, what is my goal in this ministry?

I think if I’m using Hebrews chapter 13 as the validation for what I’m doing, I ought to evaluate, why I am not an elder in the body and functioning in connection with the body, rather than out here, so these kinds of things would be checked. Do I see myself as the developer of men? I see myself as part of God’s program in developing people, but just one part within the body, and there may be more that could be said, but I’ll have to think more about that, bounce it around with some others through the week, and see if there’s anything that might help clarify that even further. We just started to talk about that at the end of the week as we bounced it around.

I was talking with Jerry about that this week. Jerry’s on vacation incidentally, that’s why he wasn’t singing in the group tonight. He wasn’t here today, he’ll be on vacation this week. I see our Timothy Groups to be a way to break down our body into manageable units, but I think that the Timothy leader ought to be aware, now there may be a man there of ability just like I may recognize that a person here has the ability to teach or preach. I want to help them in their development in that area along the way, but I want to be careful about pulling them out of the mainstream, because then I will develop what strength I have but I’ll magnify my weakness in them as well. So in the Timothy Groups we want to use that as a developing process but I think that’s why it’s also healthy for our Timothy Groups not to stagnate and become a closed group, but to be constantly growing. Breaking off and growing and be breaking off and absorbing new people, because they can settle down into an unhealthy unit and that does happen sometimes, but we want to keep them fresh in the development but provide more of a smaller setting for the recognition of what gifts are. Harder in a larger group but I think the smaller group can do that.

I am not anti-smaller groups across the board but on the emphasis that’s often given and the goal that there is in this, I’d have real concern if we have a Timothy Group that meets together over a three-year period, and there’s no new blood and there’s no development. I think they could be stagnating in an unhealthy way and not developing as they should where if they’re pulling out the Timothy Groups ought to be involving people more in the functioning of the body overall. That’s one of their goals to recognize what the gifts are and help how this could go on in the body, rather than pull them out of the body. Does that answer the question somewhat?

I think part of it is the failure of the local church to accomplish God’s program. Now I think it also ties to the rise of parachurch ministries, which is connected sometimes to a lack in the local church. That’s why I want to talk about the parachurch ministry next week. They tend to be more what we call discipleship oriented, as an arm of a local church, but I have real questions about coming up with something to help God out. So if the local church is not doing the job, I don’t have the right now to set aside the local church and come up with an alternative plan to what God had. What my responsibility is…is to get about making the local church what it ought to be and so I think it’s come out of that somewhat. Since the church is not doing it, someone has to do it. I’ll elaborate on that a little bit next week with parachurch ministries. We’ve got a list of parachurch ministries, missions, women’s role that I want to cover in the coming weeks, but they are subjects of current need and I am concerned that we be biblical. It’s important that I be biblical, so I appreciate your prayer and your response and though I realize it’s not truth because Gil Rugh says it. It’s the truth because the bible says it but I think it is so easy to fall into the pattern of accepting what is going on within the evangelical community and not really challenging ourselves to find out, yes, but is this the most biblical thing to be done. Then we expect God to bless our efforts and really, since we’re doing things in His way, in a biblical way, that His blessing comes, so that’s the goal and the desire, not to attack people or groups or just to stir the waters but to challenge us. To evaluate ourselves biblically in light of much of what is going on. To find out if we are where we ought to be as a local church, and what adjustments ought to be made, and what positions we ought to be taking in these and other areas.

Okay, the methods used by these different groups in accomplishing the purposes in their area. Now let me say that and elaborate because that does tie to parachurch ministries and their effectiveness because they are very effective. And one of the reasons is, they do center in on a particular aspect of ministry like you mentioned bible memorization. That is their sole emphasis, so they don’t have to worry about the other things that need to be done, they don’t bury people when they die or marry them or minister to them in a more broad way. They’re not concerned about teaching them what the Word says about prophetic matters or about other things. They can center in on just this one thing. So they can become very effective in doing that, but the problem is, the very effectiveness often becomes a detriment, strange as it sounds, to the body. It’s zeroing in on one area of ministry, and becoming effective and what has happened is the local church has abdicated.

We’ve gone round on this and I’ve gone round on this if I considered talking about parachurch organizations. You don’t want to become the negative person in the evangelical camp, it sounds like you’re attacking everyone, so we sit back and say well, they’re doing it.

I was talking with someone when I was on the west coast and asking him about his missions program. They said, “well we leave that in the hands of the mission organizations” and they give over $300,000 a year to missions. I said, “how do you oversee that.” They said it’s totally in the hands of the mission’s organization. You know when you’re going to question that, it sounds like you’re attacking the bible, but what I really want to evaluate is, that’s the biblical way to do it, and that’s when it will be honored and blessed, so I will develop that a little bit next week.

Yeah, that’s why I felt that it was important that we speak on it here, because I had the same kind of burden. And you know we do begin to question, is that biblical? And if it is, why don’t we have that kind of emphasis in this local body? That is a real burden and I think these Christians are being drawn into that. It’s not healthy for them but it’s detrimental to their Christian life and they get involved with good intentions, but that doesn’t determine the outcome. It’s not good intentions that count. It’s being biblical that counts. If I say yes, will you keep coming? Oh, it’s going to be as clear as it can be. It’ll probably take six months but keep coming.

It may help when we talk to someone about parachurch organizations, although some local churches would have this kind of emphasis. I’ll elaborate on that next week. I think some local churches have developed this character but basically, they have been conformed to a parachurch organization’s ministry, and pattern of ministry. It just becomes an arm of a parachurch and that’s what basically has happened in many cases and in some local churches even in this community. They become an arm of a parachurch organization rather than the parachurch organization being an arm of the church. The tail wags the dog. Hopefully, it’s going to get clearer now. I’m sure others are saying that but you’re the only one who would have the courage to voice it. Ok, maybe on that clarifying note we’ll have a word of prayer and all of you come back next week and we’ll pursue this discussion further.

Why don’t we stand and close in a word of prayer together. Father we thank You this evening for the richness of Your word. Father how privileged we are to study it together or to have it in our own care, to be entrusted with it, to have the privilege of studying it together. Lord to have the privilege of reading and studying it on our own. Lord, you’ve blessed us in so many ways. Thank You Lord for the gifted people that minister the Word to us. Thank you Lord for the gifted people of this body who in the exercising of their gift, are building up the body and each individual one in the body, to maturity under the headship of Jesus Christ. Father keep us open to the Word. Lord make us biblical in every way, even as we consider these areas that You’ll give us discernment in the Scriptures. Father give us a heart of love for other believers and Father above all, give us a heart of love for You and Your Word and a desire, above all things to function in submission to Jesus Christ Who is the head, thus ordered and arranged according to the instructions of Your Word. Thank You for our time in the Word today. Lord thank you for the privilege I’ve had to minister the Word to these people, for their responsiveness. Lord for the encouragement that is mine in this ministry. Pray Your blessing upon each one as we go our separate ways, for the week that is before us. Father for the privileges and opportunities, we anticipate them with eagerness. Lord simply use each activity of the week to mold us to shape us. Lord make us those who honorably represent Jesus Christ. Those whose conduct adorns the gospel in every way and we’ll praise You for it in Jesus’ name. Amen.


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