Reproducing Reproducers
“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.”
2 Timothy 2:2
With these words to his disciple Timothy, Paul puts to words the heart of his ministry, and thus the heart of the spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The process described by Paul can be summed up with the words: Selection, Entrusting, and Reproduction.
Selection
First comes Selection. Paul tells Timothy to entrust the teachings of the Gospel to ‘faithful men.’ Paul had already seen the faithfulness of Timothy and therefore invested in him. Now he is telling Timothy to find others who are faithful.
Jesus Himself used this method as He invested in just twelve men—one of whom proved unfaithful, giving us hope in our own failures and abilities. These men would in turn be the instruments through which the teachings and the Gospel of Jesus Christ would be spread throughout the world. There were others, of course, who Jesus cared for and taught, but only a few had the intense intimacy of the twelve, and it was these few who the Lord invested in given His finite limitations as a full human being.
It is my strong belief that mature believers should be seeking to entrust the truths of the Gospel to those who are faithful, available and teachable. Careful and prayerful selection of faithful disciples therefore is necessary for an effective discipling relationship.
Entrusting
The second part of this model is Entrusting. This is the meat of the discipling process where the Gospel is transferred from the ‘mature’ to the ‘maturing’ believer (of course we are all maturing, and of course the relationship should be reciprocal).
It is frustrating here, that Paul does not lay out this process or a method for entrusting the Gospel. There is no curriculum. No time frame.
I have been the recipient of a ‘discipling’ relationship where a curriculum was slammed down my throat even though most of it was information which I was already quite familiar with. The relationship was frustrating because my ‘mentor’ did not take the time to discern where I was in my walk with the Lord. He had his system of how to disciple, and I was going to fit within his system. Needless to say, little was accomplished in our time together.
But Paul had the wisdom to give us freedom to discern from person to person what this process and method should look like. There is no cookie cutter discipling method. Each discipler and disciple has needs and personality which will drive the process. But even though there is no process laid out, this relationship needs to be intentional in its driving force to entrust another with the wonderful truths of the Gospel.
Even though Paul does not lay out a method, he does give us some foundational principles, especially as he writes to the Thessalonians: “Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the Gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.” This process of entrusting, according to Paul, is far more than an information dump. Discipleship includes sacrifice of the disciple to invest his life in another. This includes time, energy, prayers and affection.
This is not just the method of Paul, but it is also the method of our Lord who gave of Himself in order to be with His disciples, teaching them by word and by deed. And this is to be our method as well. We must give of ourselves.
Reproduction
Finally, this process should ultimately result in Reproduction—that is the 'faithful' teaching 'others also'. Listed within 2 Timothy 2:2 are four generations of disciples: Paul (1st), Timothy (2nd), faithful men (3rd) and others (4th). The vision of Paul here is brilliant. It is the process of Reproducing Reproducers.
What if Paul had considered himself the only one worthy of entrusting others with the Gospel. He would have been the one who would have had the responsibility, not just for Timothy, but also for the ‘faithful men,’ plus the ‘others’ as well.
Paul would have exhausted himself and been unable to adequately invest in all these people. But the Apostle (taking his cue from Jesus) had a grander vision. He would invest in faithful men like Timothy. Timothy would mature and in turn invest in others. Paul was a Reproducer of Reproducers.
The math here is multiplication of disciples, rather than simple addition.
Look at the math. If Paul had a more ‘shallow’ vision of discipleship, where disciples never grew to disciple others, the results are much different. Let’s pretend that a spiritual giant, like Paul, would have the capacity to invest in 50 men. With a shallow vision of discipleship, these 50 believers would be unfruitful, and Paul’s ministry would have reached only 50 people.
But what if Paul invested in a few like Timothy—perhaps 10 men. And if these ten men matured and in turn invested in just two others, there would now be thirty men. And if these thirty men invested in two others, there would then be 100—double the number of the stagnant shallow number in just a couple generations.
And this number would be an army—a force of faithful men who were ready and willing to entrust others with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Is the vision of the 21st century church one of addition or of multiplication? I suggest that, by and large, our focus on numbers and crowds has driven the 21st century church to be increasingly shallow in its discipleship, and is missing out on the depth of the vision of Paul—and Jesus—to reach beyond the crowds, into the hearts of faithful people who will be able to teach others also.
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