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A Good Disciple of Christ Jesus
A sermon by Dr. Russell
Dilday
First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Our
Biblical text is in 1 Timothy, Chapter 4. We are going to begin reading with
verse 6 and I want you to take your Bible and open it to those passages. This
new Bible that our first graders have received is like the one in the pew and to
help find that text, first graders, you might look at page 1848. First Timothy
chapter 4, beginning with verse 6. Follow along as I read the verses for us.
You’ll notice some of the words are a little different. The meaning is the same
but the New International Version which you’ve just received (and the one in the
pew rack) is a little different from the Revised Standard Version that I am
reading today. Here is what Paul says, “If you put these instructions before
the brethren, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus. Nourished on the
words of the faith and of the good doctrine which you followed. Have nothing to
do with godless and silly myths. Maybe your translation says “old wives
tales.” And train yourself in godliness. Exercise yourself in godliness. For
while bodily exercise is of some value, godliness is a value in every way as it
holds promise for the present life but also for the life to come. This saying
is sure and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end, we toil and strive
because we have our hope set on the living God who is the Savior of all men,
namely of those who believe. Command and teach these things. Let no one
despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in
love and in faith and in purity. Until I come, attend to the public teaching of
scripture, to preaching, to teaching, and do not neglect the gift you have which
was given you by prophetic utterance when the council of elders laid their hands
on you. Practice these duties, devote yourself to them so that all may see your
progress. Take heed to yourself and to your teaching. Hold to that for by so
doing you’ll save both yourself and your hearers.”
These
are very important words. They come right toward the end of the apostle’s
life. Some of the last comments he ever made. Therefore, injected with the
urgency of time and preceding them are that impressive lifetime of Christian
service by the apostle who wrote most of the New Testament we read. Very
crucial words. Inspired by the Holy Spirit. We need to pay them attention.
And the focus of the passage is there in verse 6 where Paul says, “Be a good
servant, a good minister, a good disciple.” Maybe your translation says “ a
good deacon.” That’s literally the word Paul used – a diaconas, be a good
deacon, be a good servant. Be a good disciple of Jesus. It includes all of us.
It is not just written for ministers or leaders in the church, but for every
follower of Jesus. The question is, “Are you a good disciple of Jesus?” And
the question is probing. If the Lord were to write a letter of recommendation
for you about your function as a follower of Christ, what would the … what would
the letter have to say about your discipleship? Could he say you are a good
disciple of Jesus? Some of you have to do that. Your job calls on you to write
letters of recommendation for people seeking employment or maybe an appraisal
review of a fellow worker. Evaluating the efficiency of their work. It is a
difficult thing to do. You have to tell the truth but you also have to be
careful about law suits and you want to … you want to walk a narrow line and
some people are good at it. There is a professor at Lee High University named
Robert Thornton who has written a little book to help. He’s called it the
Lexicon of Inconspicuously Ambiguous Recommendations. The
Lexicon of Inconspicuously Ambiguous Recommendations… that spells L – I – A- R.
Liar! And he gives you some help. He says here are some things you can say.
If you have a candidate who’s woefully inept, really unable to do much at all,
you can write this, “I recommend this candidate with no qualifications
whatsoever.” You can kinda take that two ways. Or maybe somebody who has a
little credential and no preparation, you could write, “All in all, I can’t say
enough good things about this candidate, or recommend him too highly.” But worse
is this one, if you have a candidate that’s uh lazy, not at all industrious, you
could write this, “In my opinion, you’ll be very fortunate to get this person to
work for you.” Ambiguous, ambiguous recommendations. Would God have to resort
.. would God have to resort to ambiguous recommendations if He commended or
commented on your discipleship? A very important question that Paul helps us
answer.
And
he says that a good disciple of Jesus is one who is vitally linked to the
church. As you go through the New Testament, it is very clear that authentic
discipleship in the eyes of the New Testament is always carved out within the
context of a congregation. A church. A local gathering or body of believers.
That’s where real discipleship is developed and nurtured. And if you are a good
disciple of Jesus, then the New Testament says you are to be linked vitally with
the church. I know in history there have been noble Christians who have been
able to function as followers of the Lord Jesus without any congregational
connection. One reason or another, they have no church relation. But not a one
of the heroes in this New Testament example are among that group. Every one of
these women and men who are held up as models for us in discipleship carried out
their relationship to Christ in the context of other Christians. They realized
they needed each other. That they were better when they were together. And I
can’t help but believe those rare exceptions would have been better in their
discipleship had they had the opportunity of a church relationship. Because,
you see, discipleship is not a lone ranger kind of activity, not a solo act. We
need the relationship of one another in church to strengthen us. If you are a
good disciple of Jesus, not a mediocre one, not a bad one but a good one, you
want to be vitally linked to the church, to the congregation and if ever there
was a need at First Baptist Richmond it is now during this transition period.
Your contribution, your stewardship, your faithfulness, your picking up of the
task is so important right now. And that’s why we ask you to join the church.
That’s why at the end of the service when we sing, you will have an
opportunity. You are invited if you are not a member to walk forward and unite
with this congregation. Join it. That word join is from a French word meaning
“yoke”. One Accord sang about that a while ago – the words of Jesus – take my
yoke on you. The idea is that you join hands, you link up, you are yoked with
other believers to do together what you cannot really do alone. And you are
needed right now in the life of this congregation. Baptists learned that a long
time ago with their emphasis on cooperation. That churches do together better
than what they can do alone. And we need to share that. And if we are good
disciples of Jesus, then we are going to be vitally connected to the church.
But Paul goes on to say that an authentic, a good disciple of Jesus is one who
is developing full potential. That’s one of the things Paul was afraid of.
That those whom God had given great capacity and enormous possibilities would
never fulfill their purpose. Never become all God intended them to be when he
created them or when he redeemed them. That they would fall short. That they
would drop out of the race, as he puts it. Or become castaways and never
develop full potential. So a true disciple is one who’s growing and learning
and developing and reaching for that upward calling of God to be all that they
can be in His grace. You look at verse 14 here in Chapter 4, it says a
Christian life is a gift. You didn’t deserve it; you didn’t earn it; you didn’t
pay for it. This Christian experience came to you as a gracious gift of God.
Even when you didn’t deserve it. But it goes on to say that you are to nurture
that gift. You received it freely but now your responsibility is to take care
of the gift – never neglect it! And Paul has that all through this passage.
Verse 6 – nourish yourself on the words of faith. Verse 7 – exercise, train
yourself. In Verse 10 – toil and strive. Verse 15 – practice, study, devote
yourself. Verse 16 – take heed, take heed, persevere and hold on and then Verse
14 – don’t neglect the gift you have.
And
so a good disciple of Jesus is one who’s developing and growing and training.
That’s why we have Sunday school, that’s why we have Bible study and retreats
and discipleship programs. It’s one of the reasons we worship because when we
come together like this, we strengthen each other. We learn. We are inspired.
We … we grow in the likeness of Jesus. And that’s our task as good disciples.
I kinda think Paul if he were here would like that motto of the U.S. Army in
their recruiting campaign. Their motto is “Be all that you can be.” And Paul
would like that.
I was
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for an accreditation meeting and read the local
paper and caught my attention on the sports page – was an article about one of
the Pittsburgh Steelers who was being traded to another team. And the people,
the fans, were obviously unhappy to see him go. He hadn’t done well and the
sports writer was trying to be kind and yet, tell the truth and so he wrote this
about that professional athlete. It kinda stuck in my mind. He said, “We will
miss him more for what he might have been than for anything he ever was.” Isn’t
that terrible? Miss him more for what he might have been than for anything he
ever was. And Paul didn’t want that to ever be said of a good disciple. He
wanted them to be everything they could be. And so he gave himself to teaching
and training. Paul was Exhibit No. 1 when it came to giving himself to study
and learning and growth. He went through … God gave him a good mind but he went
through every level of education in that Pharisaical world of teaching, even to
graduate studies under the Professor Gamalio who was famous in that day. So Paul
understood how important it was that God said you are to love him with all your
heart and your soul and your mind. I find it curious that some Baptists in
these days are suspicious of education. They are fearful that if you get too
much learning, you’re going to give up your zeal for evangelism. You are going
to lose something of the cutting edge of your commitment. But nothing could be
further from the truth. This Bible shows that the leading disciples here were
people who learned and traveled and who wanted to fulfill their full potential.
Some of you have been to the lands of the Bible, to the world of ancient Rome
where Paul lived and wrote, and you’ve been impressed as I have with that
architectural and construction ability of the ancient Roman engineers. Those
beautiful columns, those huge stone arches, still standing after 2,000 years.
And one historian had the secret, he thought, of that. He reminded us that
there was a custom in the First Century Roman world that when they completed the
work on one of these huge stone arches, they had the engineer (the foreman in
charge of the job) stand right underneath the stone arch while they took away
the wooden scaffolding and bracing. Huh. If it didn’t hold, he would be the
first one to know and he’d pay the price for faulty construction. And he said
that really contributed to quality construction in that first century world. And
I would think so, and I kinda think Paul may have had something like that in
mind when he said, “A good disciple of Jesus Christ builds his life, builds her
discipleship, in such a way that your friends could stand under it, your family
could stand under it, your church could stand under it, and it wouldn’t fall.
It would stay up there and you would be an example of what quality discipleship
is all about. A good disciple develops full potential, vitally linked to the
church. But then Paul goes on to young Timothy, his colleague, to say “A good
disciple is one whose reputation is validated by godly living.” Timothy had a
problem – he was trying to convince people that he was real. He wanted to
validate and authenticate his reputation. And he was having a hard time doing
that. Verse 12 here in the chapter says, “Let no one despise your youth.” And
apparently those people in the early churches were not satisfied about Timothy’s
preparation. They wanted somebody older. They weren’t sure he was authentic.
He wasn’t the real thing. So how would you prove you are real? How would you
authenticate your discipleship? Well, Paul says you don’t do it by bragging or
defense or argument. You don’t do it by having spin doctors who put a positive
slant on your press releases. You do it by conduct. You silence criticism by
godly living. We have in the library at Baylor an English translation of an
ancient church manual of church order. It comes from the second century. And it
has a quote in there about the pastor, or what they call the bishop, and the
quote says in that ancient document, “You ought not to become a bishop until you
are over 50 years old for then you will be past youthful disorders.” Whatever
those are. They wanted their leaders older, and Timothy was young. And Paul
said, “You can prove yourself, Timothy, by godly living.” So here he says it in
verse 6, “Nourish yourself”, verse 16 “take heed to yourself as well as what you
teach”, verse 7 and 8, “exercise yourself in godliness”. That word exercise is
Paul’s word gunazia, or gymnasium. We get the word gymnasium right from this
Greek text. And Paul says just as athletes, and he, by the way he loved
athletic events and he obviously was caught up in the games of that first
century, you see the vocabulary of athletic competition all through his letters,
and Paul is saying “Just as the athletes exercise to keep in fitness, keep in
shape, then you as a disciple ought to exercise yourself spiritually that you
become spiritually fit. Pay attention to that,” he said to young Timothy “and
you can authenticate your faith by your conduct.”
How
good do you have to be? Well, he says here, “Set the believers an example in
conduct and speech in three areas: in love (agape) – if you love other people,
they are going to see that and know you are real as a Christian, follower of
Jesus.
You
set them an example secondly in faith and uncompromising loyalty to Jesus. If
you are faithful, if you demonstrate your faithfulness, they will know you are
real. And then set them an example in purity. Unquestioning obedience to the
right standards of living. How good do you have to be? Paul says you are to be
like God. You are to be godly, godlike. Not in God’s omnipotence and
omniscience and all of his majesty, but as He was just, so you are to be just.
As He was holy and righteous, you are to be holy and righteous. As He is
merciful, you are to be merciful. We are to be like God – be perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect, according to the Bible. How good do you have to
be? The Bible says be Christ like. You are to be like Jesus. Not in his
supernatural deity, not in his sinless perfection, but just as Jesus loved and
obeyed the Father, we should.
Just
as he forgave people (even his enemies), we are to do that. Just as in
humility, he was a servant. We’re to serve others and that we are to be like
Jesus so people see him in us. How good do we have to be? Well, the Bible goes
on to say, “You are to be filled with the spirit. You are to reflect the fruit
of the spirit.” And that word means the harvest. The harvest of the spirit’s
presence in your life ought to be easily visible. And Paul begins to name some
of that fruit. Peace and joy and patience and kindness and goodness and
gentleness. Faithfulness, self-control, love. If people see that in you, they
will know you are real. A good disciple is one who authenticates reputation by
godly conduct. So Paul says “Be a good disciple of Jesus.”
Betty
and I not long ago had the privilege I think some of you have had of traveling
in New England during the leaf season when the colors are at their peak. It is
an awe-inspiring experience and we went through all of those little villages.
Came to a little town in Maine called Freeport. A kind of a shoppers’ paradise.
It’s an outlet center, wonderful stores all around, and that’s because right in
the middle of all of that is the world headquarters of L. L. Bean, that … that
world center. If you like that store, you would love it there because they are
open twenty-four hours. They never close. You … you can buy a canoe or a tent
at 3 a.m. if you want to. Don’t know why you would but you can. And all around
that store are these wonderful little shops and one of my favorites was a store
on one of the back streets that concentrated in hand carved decoys. Water
fowl. Ducks and geese. Beautiful works of art. I’d always wanted a green h …
a green headed mallard carving to be in my office. And uh so I went in and
discovered the prices were astronomical and no way I could afford one, but I saw
a sign at the back that said, “Seconds, half price.” And I rushed back there,
found a little mallard duck carving, and that decoy is at home in my study
because it was a good price and I could buy it. When I took my little treasure
over to the cash register, I looked and saw there was a table with three of the
carvers still there working. They were chipping away and painting and sanding
and I went over and got acquainted and I asked them, “What are you carving
today?” And I thought they would answer teal or wood duck or mallard. They
kinda grinned and looked at each other sheepishly and said, “Well, to tell the
truth, we are carving seconds today.” Said, “They are, they are selling so
well, we’re just carving seconds.” And I, you know I couldn’t believe that –
intentionally carving flawed merchandise to sell at half price over there on the
sale table. And I went away thinking, “Well, maybe that’s o.k. in the world of
marketing and commerce, but not in the world of Christian discipleship.” We
wouldn’t want to be unintentionally or intentionally flawed. Second best. We
want to be the best we can be. Not mediocre, but the best. So that someday
when we meet Him, and we all will, we will hear him say, “Well done.” Not
so-so; not mediocre; not half-way; not seconds, but well done, good disciples
for Jesus.
I
wonder how you add up, how do you measure up in this question about your
discipleship? Are you connected, are you linked up, yoked in with the church?
That’s so important, not only for the church’s sake but for your sake as you
grow and develop in the relationship with others as God intended. When we sing
in a minute there will be ministers here at the front and they’ll welcome you as
an individual or as a family to join First Baptist Richmond. Good time to do it,
exciting time, looking to the future. And you’ll not only give your help to
this congregation, but this fellowship and the church will help you. And we
invite you to make that your commitment. Walk here to the front; they’ll help
you join this congregation. Are you also growing to full potential?
Developing, learning, moving forward, or have you plateaued? You never reach a
way, a point in your Christian life beyond which you cannot go still farther.
Maybe today God’s saying to you, “You need to give attention to that as you
develop in Christ-likeness.” And then can you validate the authenticity of your
relationship with Jesus by your conduct, by godly living? Maybe God’s speaking
to us about that today and how we need to get it straight that we want by our
living to draw people to Jesus, not repel them. We want to be good disciples
for Christ.
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