Everyone Teach Someone

The title of this post was born from 2 Timothy 2:1-4, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. [vs2] And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. [vs3] Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. [vs4] No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.“

The Book of 2 Timothy is Paul’s farewell and final epistle in the Bible. Now there are many interesting things about this Book, but did you know that there are TWENTY-NINE different people named in this Book? Most of these named were a blessing unto Paul, and the thought of these ones ought to remind us that God does His work through people.

In my last post, Witnessing IS NOT a gift, I stated that “no one is excluded from being a vocal witness for Christ“. It is our responsibility to not only be a vocal witness for Christ, but it is also our responsibility to teach others the things that have been committed to us.

It’s not only, Everyone REACH Someone, but it’s also, Everyone TEACH Someone!!!

In our Scripture text above, we know this is the Apostle Paul speaking to Timothy. Paul called Timothy, “my own son in the faith” (1 Tim 1:2). Timothy grew up with strong Christian influences in his mother [Eunice] and grandmother [Lois] (2 Tim 1:5; 3:15). Although these influences were vital to Timothy, I believe he was lead to the Lord by Paul, his “father in the faith“.

Paul not only was the one to reach Timothy, he also would be the one to teach Timothy. Paul taught Timothy, and Timothy was supposed to commit what was taught to him to faithful men who would teach others also. WOW! WHAT A GREAT EXAMPLE AND MODEL FOR ALL OF US TO APPLY!

As a laborer for our Lord and Saviour, it is your responsibility to do your very best with God’s help in teaching someone else who will then be able and go teach someone else. Just look at your own life in Christ. Is there a hand print of others in your life who have made an impact, a difference, and an investment? I truly believe all of us who name the Precious Name of Jesus can say with affection, “YES”. So then let me ask you this: Are you investing your life in the life of someone else?

This PRINCIPLE again is found in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” It is essential that you and I pass on to someone else the things that we’ve learned of God. As someone once said, “Those who know must tell those who do not know“.

But be aware, for in teaching someone else, there is always a PRICE to pay: [vs3] “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Time, effort, prayer, expenses, and sacrifices are just some of the costs of teaching God’s Truth to someone else. It’s not easy – it’s hard. This is why many believers just aren’t teaching or aren’t being taught. Having a godly heritage to go on after us demands a price to be paid. Question is: Are YOU willing to pay the price?

If you’re willing, then you’ll be thankful to know that there’s only One PERSON to please! [vs4] “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” This PERSON is the One who has chosen us to be His soldiers – the Lord Jesus Christ! Keep your eyes upon Jesus. Why will you follow this principle laid out by Paul for Timothy and for us? You want to please the Lord Jesus. Why will you invest so much, even your whole life in the life of someone else and pay the price? You want to please the Lord Jesus.

Friends, Jesus is why everyone should teach someone! Take your eyes of yourself and the seemingly monumental tasks of teaching, training, and the discipleship of others, and turn your eyes upon Jesus. Know that God does His work through people and He is pleased when you and I commit what has been taught to us to faithful men who will then teach others also.

DEDICATE TO DISCIPLE!

And it will surprise you what the Lord will do!

A Crowd Ain’t a Church

I received the following from Pastor Ken Blue of the Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood, Washington. What do YOU think about it?

A guest speaker said, “A crowd ain’t a church“. I wonder what his intent for that comment was. Do crowds intimidate him? Is he opposed to promotions that might bring a crowd? Is he jealous of those churches that have a crowd?

Certainly, not every crowd constitutes a church; but every church should want a crowd.   Every pastor [along with every church member – me] should do everything he can to attract the largest crowd he can get. Then he must preach the gospel to them and [see] as many saved as he can. Common sense dictates, the greater the crowd, the greater the chances you will reach someone for Christ. A crowd may not glorify God, but neither does an empty building.

Jesus gladly preached to the crowds. He wasn’t fooled by them, nor was He foolish, thinking they were unimportant. The Lord instructed His servant to, “…Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:23.

If we think the lost man will come to our church because of our alliterated outlines, our King James Bible, and our independent stand, we are mistaken. These things are imperative for us, but they will not attract a lost crowd. I can hear someone say, “I don’t believe crowds are important.” I say to you, “If you had one, you would believe it.” May God help us to be wise enough to know how to attract a crowd, and give us the message needed to reach them for Christ.

1.   We should do all we can to reach people for Christ
2.  We should thank God for those we have
3.  We should never become complacent

So what say you? Is this a point well-taken, or would “doing everything we can to attract the largest crowd” be considered a cross into compromise? I believe it to be a point well-taken…how ’bout you?

Obadiah Holmes – Unmercifully Whipped

Pastor Obadiah Holmes was the second pastor of the Newport Church in Rhode Island, the first Baptist Church in America.  In the following [copied from History of the Baptists, Armitage, BSB Publishers, 1887. pg 687-688] he and two of the brethren suffer much for the cause of Christ, but it was the blood of Brother Holmes that was the first to be shed in America for the sake of our Saviour.

On Monday they were removed to Boston an cast into prison, the charges against them being for ‘disturbing the congregation in the afternoon, for drawing aside others after their erroneous judgments and practices, and for suspicion of rebaptizing one or more amongst us’.

Clarke [this is John Clarke, first pastor of the Newport Church] was fined 20 pounds sterling, Holmes 30, and [James] Crandall 5 pounds sterling; and on refusal to pay they were ‘to be well whipped’, although [Governor] Winslow had told the English Government that they had no law ‘to whip in that kind’.

Edwards [historian] says that while ‘Mr. Clarke stood stripped at the whipping post, some humane person was so affected with the sight of a scholar, a gentleman, and reverend divine, in such a situation, that he, with a sum of money, redeemed him from his bloody tormentors’. Before this he had asked the Court, ‘What law of God or man had he broken, that his back must be given to the tormentors for it, or he be despoiled of his goods to the amount of 20 pounds sterling?’ To the which Endicott replied, ‘You have denied infant baptism and deserve death, going up and down, and secretly insinuating into them that be weak, but cannot maintain it before our ministers’.

Clarke tells us that ‘indulgent and tenderhearted friends, without my consent and contrary to my judgment, paid the fine’. Thus somenone paid the fine of Clarke and Crandall, and proposed to pay that of Holmes. The first two were released, whether they assented or not, but Holmes who was a man of learning, and who afterward succeeded Dr. Clarke as pastor of the Newport Church, would not consent to the paying of his fine, and because he refused, he was whipped thirty stripes, September 6, 1651. He said that he ‘durst not accept of deliverance in such a way’.

He was found guilty of ‘hearing a sermon in a private manner…and for suspicion of their having their hands in rebaptizing of one or more’. Bancroft [historian] says that he was whipped ‘unmercifully’, and ‘that for many days, if no some weeks, he could take no rest but upon his knees and elbows, not being able to sufferany part of his body to touch the bed whereon he lay’.

While enduring his torture, he joined his Lord on the cross and Stephen in praying that this sin might not be laid to the charge of his persecutors; and when his lacerated flesh quivered and blood streamed from his body, so powerfully did the Grace of the Crucified sustain him that he cheerfully said to his tormentors:

YOU HAVE STRUCK ME AS WITH ROSES!

The Cost of Service

“And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.” 2 Samuel 24:20-25

Araunah the Jebusite offered his threshing floor to King David, along with his oxen and threshing instruments, so that David would be able to offer up a burnt sacrifice to God. It was to be an incredible gift! It seemed like a very charitable gesture of love and honor, but it was not accepted. What was King David thinking? Was he not grateful for the huge blessing? No, it wasn’t any of this…David made it very plain: “Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing.”

Someone once said, “He who has a religion that costs him nothing, has a religion that is worth nothing“. It cost David something to serve God. Just think – If Araunah’s noble offer had been accepted, it would have been Araunah’s sacrifice, and not David’s. It cost David something to serve God.

What has it cost YOU, or what is it costing YOU, to serve God? There are many today who want to try and serve the Lord in the cheapest manner possible…with as little cost to themselves as possible. But with service comes sacrifice. Oh how we need in our day more disciples with the heart and attitude of David!

The Lord Jesus Christ said in Luke 14:27-30, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.” The Lord Jesus was communicating that anyone who “comes after Him” needed to consider the cost of following Him…it might cost reputation, possessions, money, relationships, and just maybe their own life itself.

Has your service for God cost you? Have you counted the cost? If you have, please be encouraged to know that it is worth it all! Put on the attitude of David which is also the attitude of the Lord Jesus – His service cost Him everything!

Why then would His disciples serve without cost?

Count the cost, then gladly pay!