The Pattern to Follow to Make Followers of Christ

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor martyred by the Nazis wrote a book titled The Cost of Discipleship. I don’t want to depreciate his excellent book, but to clarify where the New Testament places its emphasis. We must shift our focus from just the concept of discipleship, which concerns being better followers/disciples in character and conduct, to building disciples who reproduce others. Yes, we are indeed called to embrace the cost of discipleship. This is the most basic aspect of Christian discipleship: being a follower/disciple of King Jesus. But Jesus himself calls us to more than just following him. Better put, his call to discipleship includes the call to disciple-making. Those who are disciples of Jesus seek to “observe all that [he] commanded” us (Matthew 28:20). And when Jesus said that in his Great Commission, he used only one true verb and one command, and it wasn’t “go” but “make disciples.”

The two letters of Paul to Timothy involve the greatest disciple-maker that ever lived apart from the Lord Jesus himself, and perhaps the greatest model of a disciple in the process of being built into a reproductive, multiplying, world-visionary, world-impacting disciple, in Timothy.

While there was a great multitude that stood out to Paul as his spiritual children in the Lord, there was one man whom Paul considered special in an unusual way. This man was Timothy, the son of Eunice, and the grandson of Lois.

In six of Paul's New Testament letters, Timothy's name is associated with his own in the opening lines, and in four of these Timothy's name is the only one associated with Paul's in this way. From the beginning of their association, Timothy shared Paul's ministry on a permanent basis. Timothy was Paul's disciple, intern, understudy, or apprentice. With this in mind, we will do a brief profile of the process of disciple-making, using Paul and Timothy as a pattern, keeping in mind that this letter will be Paul’s last before his execution.

I. The Options the Disciple Faces - 2 Timothy 1:16-18

The "therefore" in 2 Tim. 2:1 takes us back to at least verses 13-18 in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2 verse one, the word “you” is major emphasis! Why? Because of the conclusion of chapter one in which he has contrasted the “faithless many” and a “faithful one.” Paul is saying to his disciple, “Timothy, as for YOU, make the choice to be faithful and a finisher, not fickle and a fallout!”

1. Defection - 2 Tim. 1:13-15

Although "all" (no doubt a hyperbole) those in Asia Minor had deserted Paul, he singles out two men in particular, Phygelus (fih jel uhs) and Hermogenes (her MAHJ ih neez).

We know nothing of these individuals but what is mentioned in this one verse. It would seem that they were prominent persons in the church, and those whom the apostle had been discipling and had expected a different, positive result for his investment in them. The ecclesiastical traditions allege that they were of the seventy disciples, and in the end became followers of Simon Magus. This is just a conjecture. But it is a sad thing when the only record made of a man - the only evidence which we have that he ever lived at all - is, that he turned away from a friend, or forsook the discipling process with the greatest of disciple-makers. And yet there are many professing Christians of whom the only thing to be remembered of them is that they failed to finish well.

Lesson: Do not be surprised when potential disciples defect and drop out on you!

2. Dedication - 2 Timothy 1:16-18

Paul dismisses the faithless defectors with one short verse but uses three verses to commend Onesiphorus. In verse 16 he is in Rome, and then in verse 18 he is halfway across the Roman Empire. Paul wrote, "he sought me out very diligently, and found me." It was a risky business to travel all over Rome - to the market, to the forum, to the barracks, to the wealthy residential areas, to the courthouse, to the squalid slave quarters - asking for information regarding the whereabouts of Paul. Evidently, the authorities were trying to keep quiet the arrest, trial, and imprisonment of this famous prisoner; possibly they feared that Paul or his followers might instigate a riot. Yet, Onesiphorus boldly, "very diligently”, sought for Paul.

All of this effort and expense in order to catch up with the greatest disciple‑maker in history was for the dual purpose of mistering to Paul’s personal needs, and getting further infected with the Master and his Mandate. Onesiphorus had shown great kindness to Paul: he refreshed him, he often refreshed him with his letters, and counsels, and comforts, and he was not ashamed of his chains. He was not ashamed of him, notwithstanding the disgrace he was now under. He was kind to him not once or twice, but often; not only when he was at Ephesus among his own friends, but when Onesiphorus was at Rome; he took care to seek Paul out very diligently, and found him, 2 Tim 1:17.

3. Decision - 2 Timothy 2:1

Two little monosyllable words in the Greek bear the stress of this second letter to Timothy. In 2:1, the words are, “su oun” and in 4:5, “su de” and could be translated “YOU therefore” or “but for YOU!" Paul suspends Timothy between the “faithless and the faithful” and says in essence, “YOU" must make the choice of which category you will live! Others may conform to the spirit of the age, yield to the pressures of public opinion, run for fear of their lives, or trade the truth of the gospel for the trinkets of the market - "BUT NOT YOU"! "YOU THEREFORE!”

My mentor, Herb Hodges, tells of how the ancient Arabs created a special breed of horses, sometimes called "Arabian stallions."  At first, they were bred for exclusive use in the King's stables. As part of the horse’s training, a trainer carried a whistle on a rawhide rope around his neck. For months the horse was trained to stop all activity at the sound of the trainer's whistle and make a "bee line" for the trainer. Rigid obedience was required. The tiniest refusal was total disobedience. Then, for five days food was withheld from the horse, and for three days the horse was refused water to drink.  It was kept in a corral in these final days of training. On the last day, a trough of food and water was placed visibly about 100 yards from the corral. The horse would stampede in hunger and thirst on the trough side of the corral. Then suddenly, the corral door would be flung open, and the surprised horse would gallop toward the trough. But, when the horse was yet about 25 yards from the trough, the trainer standing off to the side would blow the whistle! Everything about the horse would tighten in confusion.  A choice had to quickly be made. The choice? Trough or trainer? Which would it be? If the horse continued to the trough and gratified its hunger and thirst, thus disobeying the command of the trainer, it would either be recycled through the process or dismissed altogether. If the horse "voted" against its own drives and instincts and in favor of the trainer and the training process, thus going immediately to the trainer, it was then dismissed to go to the trough for food and water.

Lesson – We Face this Choice on a Regular Basis. – Friends, every day such a choice confronts us. Will it be the trough of self-gratification, or the Trainer's commands?  Convenience or commitment? Defection or Dedication? Ashamed of the gospel or Courageously Practicing and Proclaiming it despite the potential cost? The proclaiming of Jesus as Lord, not the Roman Caesar, was about to cost Paul his life – but he refused to be a coward and called Timothy to be a man of courage.

II. The Outline the Discipler Follows

A. A Pattern to Keep - 2 Timothy 1:13a: "Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me..."

How did Paul establish leaders so quickly, solidly, and reproducibly, that became the basis for the earliest Christianity? The answer is he had a pattern, a standard, or an outline, that could be received personally, remembered easily, and reproduced strategically.

This standard is referred to in 2 Timothy 1.13: "Retain the standard (hupotuposis) of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus." It is the "pattern (tupos) of teaching" to which Christians were handed over (Romans 6.17).

Paul uses a vivid picture. He says that what happened to him was a kind of outline-sketch of what was going to happen to those who would accept Christ in the days to come. The word he uses is "hupotuposis" which means an outline, a sketch-plan, a first draft, a preliminary model. Thus, Paul knew himself to be a living standard/model/paradigm/example of God's unlimited patience (I Timothy 1.15-17, vs. 16: hupotuposis). He urged others to "imitate him and his way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church" (I Corinthians 4.16-17).

This pattern, or outline, involved:

1. Sound teaching - 2 Timothy 1:13a, "Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me..." From this Greek word, " hugiano" translated "sound", we get our English word hygiene. It refers to "clean or healthy practices" which promote good health! In the present context, it refers to words which produce good spiritual health. False "ear tickling" teaching (2 Tim. 4:3, 4) by contrast leads to spiritual sickness at best and eternal death at worst!
2. Specific template - 2 Timothy 1:13b, "..in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." We use the word "template" as a frame in which the "healthy words" are to be given.

How was Timothy to cling to the sound words he had heard from Paul? Was it to be a formal, lifeless retention of a mechanical formula and rigid orthodoxy? Clearly not and so Paul adds "in the faith and love" which marks the sphere in which the pattern of sound words must be held.

3. Supervised trust - 2 Timothy 1:14b, "... guard the good deposit entrusted to you." Timothy is to guard, watch, and defend the truth once for all delivered to the saints in view of the defection from the truth beginning even in the first century. The word deposited is "paratheke" and was originally a banking term. Paul is conveying the idea that we are passing on a sacred deposit to our disciples, who were expected to pass it on to others in turn.

In the book The Archer and the Arrow, Jensen and Grimmond illustrate this sacred trust of protecting the gospel with the Mona Lisa painting. This most famous painting resides in a purpose-built, bullet-proof case in the Louvre. It is considered so valuable that it has only been exhibited outside the Louvre on two occasions in the last century. Jensen and Grimmond ask about those who would have transported it: "Can you imagine what might have happened if those responsible for delivering the painting decided that the Mona Lisa was a little short in artistic merit? What if they had whipped out a brush in transit and added a nice floral pattern to the border or updated the dress to duck-egg blue fashion of the day?" The authors rightly say, "Their job was not to improve the painting, but to deliver it in its original condition. How much more the Word of God!"

This passage is especially relevant to those called to the equipping-of-the-saints type ministry. But all who will make disciples must likewise protect this gospel. We must protect the gospel from intruders, wolves, and heretics who want to add to or take away from the purity of it. We must keep studying the gospel; we must keep exemplifying the gospel; and we must keep teaching the gospel, all so that our people may know it and communicate it to a world that so desperately needs to receive it.

4. Spirit's teamwork - 2 Timothy 2:14a, "By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us ..." - We are not independent operators but co-partners in the great co-mission! We must not think we can protect this spiritual truth by our own strength, but must abide in Christ, let His Word richly dwell in us, be filled with His Spirit, humbly maintaining a sense of determined dependence upon our Helper, the Holy Spirit.

B. A Power to Seek 

Before Paul sets forth the process of building disciples, he first reminds Timothy of the supernatural power needed to complete the Master's assignment. Paul admonishes Timothy to "be strengthened" and uses the Greek word "endunamou." It is as a present passive imperative verb meaning, "go on being empowered" or go on "keeping in touch with the power."

C. A Person to Know

Note the location of the power is "in the grace that is in Christ Jesus "(2 Tim. 2:1b). Christ is the source for power only when and while we keep in touch with Him. So Paul reminds Timothy that the assignment to turn men into disciples doesn't rest on his ability but on the availability and unlimited accessibility that we have to the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

1. Followers who make followers must spend much time with their disciples, teaching them about Christ Jesus.

The preaching/teaching of the book of Acts and the letters of the Apostle Paul are totally Christ-centered and Christ-saturated.

For example, in the first chapter of the book of Colossians, Paul mentions Jesus 30 times in 29 verses. In 1 Corinthians 1:1-10, Paul mentions Jesus 13 times. In Ephesians 1 there are 26 references to Christ Jesus. In Philippians chapter 1, he mentions Jesus 20 times. Notice I am only using one chapter of these references. If you will examine the rest of the chapters in these letters, the number of times our Lord Jesus is referred to is nothing short of astounding!

It is clearly manifest in the Scriptures that the Apostles identified the Gospel with Christ; so that, in their view and practice, to preach the Gospel was neither more nor less than to preach Christ. The record which, in a few words, describes their ministry is that, "daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." (Acts 5:42). Paul, in his letter to the Romans defines the whole Gospel by saying that it is "concerning Jesus Christ." (Rom. 1:3). The employment of his two years’ imprisonment at Rome was all comprehended in "teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus." And his whole ministry was given unto him, he testifies, that he "might preach the unsearchable riches of Christ." As he could say, "For me to live is Christ;" so for him to preach was Christ. To him Christ and the Gospel were one.

We must model for our disciples the imperativeness of:

(1) Seeking Him Continuously;

(2) Seeing HIM Preeminently;

(3) Savoring Him Passionately;

(4) Sharing Him Extensively.

The Glory of His Person Must Captivate Our Hearts and The Thrill of His Mission Must Dominate Our Lives!