2 Timothy 2:1-2

July 2, 2017

Lord’s Day Worship

Sean Higgins

Download the bulletin.

Download the Kids’ Korner.

The sermon starts at 15:10 in the audio file.

Or, The Making—Not Merely Finding—of Faithful Men

Every generation finds itself replaced by another generation at some point. “A generation goes, and a generation comes,” said the Preacher. God’s people, though, have a responsibility to raise the next generation to know God, to love Him and fear Him and obey Him. Fathers in Israel had this task (Deuteronomy 6:4-7), and so do fathers in the church (Ephesians 6:4).

Thinking about the next generation is more than, though not less, a family task. It is that, yes. Jonathan recently wrote a great post on A Generation with No Last Name for the school website. Fathers and mothers train their kids up with identity, who they are and how they ought to behave. This is a parental calling, and it is inescapable. Even if you think you are doing nothing, that is what you’re passing on: that parents do nothing.

But again, it isn’t only a job for dads. Jesus gave His disciples a similar calling, and theirs was more than domestic. They had an international calling to “make disciples of all nations.” Everywhere the apostles went, first generation Christians were born (again) since there were no “Christians” before Christ came.

Before us there have been many generations of disciples of Christ. If a generation is 25-40 years, the there have been around 50-80 generations. God is building His church, as He promised Peter, and He does so through parents and pastors and teachers and friends proclaiming the gospel and modeling obedience to Christ.

It is our responsibility to think about the future. We’re not to be anxious about it (Matthew 6:34), we’re not to be presumptuous about it (James 4:13-16). But faithfulness today means investing in those who will be here tomorrow, especially since we may not be.

The elders were recently asked about our plan to replace me, not because I have more authority or importance as a pastor, but because the pastoral assignment I have is a particular one. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this story in a corporate setting before, but it illustrates my role. A few Decembers ago, in a week of multiple important-to-the-people-planning-the-event events, I was remarking (okay, it was more grumbling) about the fullness of the schedule one night at dinner. Mo said to me, “Sean, you are not the captain of the ship. You are the mermaid on the front. Your job is to go first and get wet.” I’m sure that such a comparison would cause constipation to many of my former teachers, something about how that analogy demeans the pastoral office, but I find it’s good for humility.

So who would replace me as the mermaid? Dave mentioned in his message a couple Sundays ago that I have lots of problems, and it’s true. Who would replace all of the pastors if the plane to T4G went down? These are not panic induced concerns, though the situations I’ve suggested are of a more dramatic nature. The concern is whether we are obeying/fulfilling Ephesians 4:11-16 and 2 Timothy 2:1-2.

Before we look at 2 Timothy 2, I want to make an observation about us, about our kind of 50 pound leather bound Bible (app) sort of people, that tends to cause problems down the line.

There is a difference between teaching and discipleship. Discipleship includes teaching, even as the Great Commission expresses: “Make disciples…teaching.” The problem comes when teaching is considered to be the fulfillment of discipleship. Teaching is truth illuminated, discipleship is truth incarnated. Jesus didn’t say teach others “to observe” as in look at it all that I have revealed, He said teach others “to observe” as in live out “all that I have commanded you.”

A teacher and a discipler may not necessarily have the same goal. Much of what they do looks similar, certainly at the beginning. But their aims lead in different directions, and I bring it up because one aim t[...]