Author: Ryan Hale

It was a work in progress. Paul, at some point – we don’t exactly know when as this trip isn’t mentioned in the book of Acts – had gone to the island of Crete with Titus. Some historians believe that it would have been after the story of Acts ended because there is evidence that Paul left and later made another trip after his initial imprisonment in Rome.

In any case, regardless of when this happened, we can see that Paul had traveled through Crete, meeting a lot of people, evangelizing and reaching many. But the work wasn’t complete. Yet at the same time, Paul continued on into other locations so that he could continue to reach more.

The work was unfinished because there was more to do in teaching, and as Paul specifically notes, leaders to put into place. Titus would stay there in Crete, going from one town to the next so as to appoint elders, leaders over each of the churches that had been formed.

The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Titus 1:5

The point here is that there are stages to the work. Sometimes we find ourselves at the point of departure. Other times, we have started because we have shared the Gospel, but there are people with whom we must continue to follow up and make disciples. There are also points at which we need to prepare to leave by working with those who are local so that they can carry on the work that we have started after we have left. And finally, a time comes when we will need to move on, continuing to do the same work in other locations.

Doing the work of an apostle, which Paul both clearly is and whom he has identified himself as in the beginning of Titus 1, we will have different perspectives of the stages of the work, depending on where we stand. Paul knew that it wasn’t enough to evangelize and leave, to share the Gospel and just move on. Instead, he worked to make sure that the local people could continue the work that he had started. This required the formalization of the communities, including discipling the believers and appointing the elders who would lead those communities. This wasn’t easy, nor always a clean process, but as an apostle doing the work, it was the process that Paul was following as he traveled from place to place.

As missional workers ourselves, we should follow his example, both sharing his goals as well as an understanding of the process that we will go through as we do the work that has been given to us.

You would think that living according to God’s ways would give you an advantage. You would think that speaking and living honestly, trying to do what is right would allow you to move ahead in this life.

But while it might give you a good reputation, living in a godly manner may not actually help you advance in any particular way that the world might consider to be good in this life.

Paul admonished Timothy to continue to live a godly life, but he also warned him that, even as Timothy lived in this way, he would likely not be the beneficiary of wealth, fame, power, or anything valued by the world. Instead, he would be persecuted. Instead, those who are of the world and are set on doing evil would both show themselves for who they are, and what is more, would get away with the evil that they were doing for their own gain.

In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 3:12-15

It doesn’t seem fair, but this is the reality. If you live a godly life, or even just wanting to live a godly life, you will be persecuted.

But Paul tells Timothy to continue on just the same. The point to which we should be aiming is not one in this world. It is not even one that this world would appreciate. The point to which we should be aiming is to salvation in Christ. We are looking to eternity. This is a short time, but that will be forever. This time is only for now, but that time will last for eternity.

And to live into eternity, we must live a godly life. We must throw off the old life. As Paul said elsewhere, we are dead to that old life. We must get rid of it. Instead, we must live according to the Spirit, living a godly life.

And yes, we can expect that persecution will come. Yes, it is correct that it will not seem fair. But it is also correct that we will be living for eternity. Not for today, but for the greatest prize that we can possibly imagine. Life forever, living with Christ and enjoying the one who created us. That is what we must live for, enduring even the evil that we see today so that we can see tomorrow. Even if it doesn’t seem fair today, we have so much more that we are living for tomorrow and forever.

Paul encourages Timothy to continue in his faith, making disciples of people who will go on to teach others. As Christians, instead, we often think that our job is to teach someone else. Pass it on. Help our brother.

And this is right. We must do this.

But it is also incomplete. Paul says that Timothy must teach others to teach others.

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

2 Timothy 2:2

So how can we describe the chain of disciples that we see in this case? We can see it like this:

Paul has already taught Timothy in the presence of many people.

Timothy should now go on to teach others, the “reliable” people.

And those reliable people will be taught to such an extent that they can go on to teach others.

So in all, we see four generations of disciples in this example:

1. Paul
2. Timothy and witnesses
3. Reliable people
4. Others

This generational disciple-making is really no different than what we see in other places in Jesus’s teachings as well. For example, as Jesus was praying for his disciples just before going to the cross, he said:

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message

John 17:20

Jesus is referring to his disciples, but he says he isn’t just praying for them. He is also praying for those who will come after them, those who will believe through their message.

Or we could even also look at the Great Commission:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20

Jesus tells his disciples to go and make disciples, but then he says that they are to teach those disciples everything he has commanded his disciples to do.

And what had he just commanded his disciples to do? To make disciples! So the disciples are not only to make a disciple, but they are to make disciples who are to make disciples. They must not only be disciple makers and make disciples, but they are to make makers of disciples.

Making several generations of disciples is the pattern that we see both in Jesus’s teachings as well as that of Paul, so we should ask ourselves: How does that happen?

This only happens by making disciples in a way that is Biblical and reproducible.

We must follow the teaching of the Bible. The examples that we see in the Bible are both what we must teach as well as a pattern that we should follow. We should seek out both the message as well as the method of teaching. At the very least, we should take principles from the method so that we can do the same.

It must also be reproducible. The teaching that I give must be able to be done, and done fairly simply, by the person that I am teaching. They must be done in the way that the next person can reproduce them with yet another person.

In these ways, ways that are Biblical and reproducible, we can see disciples of Jesus that are made from one person to the next, from generation to generation.

Here in Sicily, if you are grilling with charcoal, the most common type of charcoal that is used is wood that has been burnt into charcoal that has just been broken up into small pieces. Unfortunately, this often also creates, beyond the larger chunks, a bunch of additional little pieces that, when you put it into the grill, prevents the flow of the air through the charcoal once you have lit the charcoal with fire. Therefore, instead of the air flowing through the fire, as you might think if you were to have larger chunks such as with charcoal briquettes, the air is stopped and the fire must be continually stoked by blowing or fanning additional air into the flame burning within the charcoal.

The result is that you typically have the person who is starting the fire in the grill standing over the charcoal, fanning it with a paper plate or some other instrument, hoping to keep the fire going enough to heat the charcoal to a white hot fire, enough to grill the meat that they have sitting nearby.

I was reminded of this picture in my mind as I read Paul’s admonition to Timothy:

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

2 Timothy 1:6-7

Paul had called Timothy to come and travel with him on his second missionary journey through Lystra, but now, as he is writing Timothy this letter, he finds himself in prison. He will soon be executed and he is writing back to Timothy, who is serving in Ephesus, to encourage him to keep going. Paul wants Timothy to be bold, to preach the Gospel, to not be ashamed, and to carry on what he had originally learned from Paul.

Paul had laid his hands upon Timothy to impart to him both the gift of the Holy Spirit as well as the gift to continue as an evangelist so that others might hear. So now, Paul wants Timothy to continue to live deeply in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ, living so that others might hear.

Paul calls Timothy to suffer. He calls Timothy to live the life of Christ, to live for Christ. This is Paul’s desire for Timothy, that he would continue to fan the flame of Christ that was put within him so that it would burn bright, burn hot, and he would be full of passion for the Gospel.

For each of us, there are times that we must do the same. We must fan the flame that was placed within us through prayer and through reading the Word of God.

And also we must go and do. We must intentionally do what the Word says. That which we have read, that which we have heard through the Word and in prayer, we must go and do.

By combining these things, by praying and listening to the Word, and then by doing, we see God powerfully work both within us and through us. We see the reality of the Word of God come alive. That which is smoldering under the surface comes alive as a flame and burns within us.

Often, to see that which is smoldering within us burst into flame, we must go beyond our fear. We are frequently timid. We often shy away.

But we must look beyond our fear to the one who has called us, and the one who walks with us. Jesus himself says that he will go with us. He is the one who has the power. He is the one to whom we must listen. And by doing so, both in the quiet moments as well as in the moments that we must overcome our fear and be bold, we also can fan into flame the gift that God has given to us, just as Paul called Timothy to do.

Who is the faithful servant?

Or as Jesus asked the question: Who is the faithful and wise servant?

The faithful servant is the one who is doing what the master has told him to do while he is gone.

In the parable, Jesus says that this servant is watching over the others, feeding them, and making sure that they are receiving their food at the proper time.

What is he not doing?

He is not simply believing that the master exists.

He is not simply waiting for the master to return.

No, he understood what the master said to do and he is carrying out the master’s instructions.

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 24:45-51

The servant that is, instead, wicked realizes that the master has been away a long time. He becomes lazy. He begins to beat up on the other servants. He begins to spend with people who are not from the house, doing what those other people are doing instead of what he is supposed to be doing as a servant in the master’s house.

We need to pay very close attention to these parables because we in the church may be in danger of this exact situation. This parable should be a warning to each of us who believe. Are we serving the master in the way that he has called us to serve him? Or are we doing what we prefer to do, having substituted our master’s plan for our own?

Have we adopted the ways of the world, enjoying the pleasures of this world instead of serving our master?

Just before telling this parable, Jesus’s disciples had asked Jesus what the sign of his coming would be. Jesus explains to them how the end will work and how the Son of Man – he himself – would come, how he would return to earth.

So Jesus is punctuating this discussion by telling this parable about the master and the servants. He is explaining that he is the master and he will be returning. He expects that his disciples – the servants in this parable – will be at work. He wants them to be doing what he has told them to do.

They shouldn’t just be waiting. They shouldn’t be lazy. They shouldn’t be adopting the ways of the world. They – actually, WE – should be at work for the Lord, remaining faithful to him. Otherwise, destruction will come because we have been unwise and unfaithful.

The Pharisees and teachers of the law had made a human hierarchy out of their little society. They were a group of people that studied the Law diligently to be able to enter the group that would become the teachers of Israel. They would make their name based on their position within this group. They would derive their place in society based on what they had done in their career as a teacher of the law.

And this would cause them, ironically, to do things that would even go against God’s heart and desires. They would even go against God’s commands.

They would not extend justice nor mercy to the people, despite the fact that they would diligently, even religiously, measure out a tenth of their spices as an offering to the Lord.

They would not help other people to come to the Lord, come to know him, but instead would give the people heavy burdens, setting up hurdle after hurdle before they could possibly know God.

Those that they taught, they taught to do as they did, which caused the people that they “saved” to go even further away from the Lord and his heart, not to mention the essentials of his commands, than they were.

The Pharisees did this, and much more, while walking around with an air of importance about them. They considered themselves to be very important, and they liked it that other people considered them to be important as well:

Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.

Matthew 23:5-7

But Jesus points out that this is clearly not the attitude that they should have. They shouldn’t be taking the position or place within the society. The place of honor should never have been their desire. Instead they should prefer and want the place of the servant:

But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Matthew 23:8-12

If they were to be the servant, they would be humbled before the Lord.

If they were to be the servant, they would not be seeking honor from people, but they would only be seeking honor from the Lord.

If they were all brothers, they would consider themselves equal, the same amongst themselves and amongst all of those that they are serving.

So Jesus turns to his disciples, as well as the people who were in the crowd and explains that they should not be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They are to lead the people in a new way. They are to lead them in a way that will humbly serve others. They are to humbly teach the people. They are to be the lowest and desire that position, because the Lord will, at some point, lift them up. They will, one day in the future, be exalted.

This should be a constant reminder for any person who is leading others in the faith. We are to be servants who lead as a servant. We are to be servants who teach as a servant. We have one to whom we should look to receive approval: The Lord, and him only. We should not seek honor from those around us. That honor is temporary. But we should seek honor from the Lord, which is eternal.

It is not enough to follow the commands.

It is not enough to be a religious person.

That is what the rich, young ruler found out. He had been trying to be a good person. He had tried to do what he had been taught as a young Jew, following Judaism and that which he had been led to understand.

But following his religion wasn’t enough.

Even following the commands of God wasn’t enough.

No, only following Jesus would be enough. And even in that, he must follow Jesus is the way that Jesus said, not in the way that the man thought that he should.

This man had come to Jesus and asked him what he needed to do to obtain eternal life. He had mastered and obtained what he needed in this life, but now he wanted that life to continue…eternally.

What else is left? What else must I do?

Jesus actually tells him: Keep the commandments.

But that wasn’t enough for the man. In another telling of this story outside of Matthew, it says that the man wanted to justify himself. The man wanted to lift himself up. He wanted to glorify himself. He was proud because of his riches.

The man might have gotten away with that with another teacher. It is possible that another teacher would have responded:

Ah, you have kept all of the commandments? Great! Keep doing that and you will be fine.

Oh, and I see you are a rich man! Wonderful! You are obviously blessed by God. Keep doing all of this as well, living in the blessing of God.

But not Jesus. No, being rich will not give you any standing or any position before him. Even keeping the commandments won’t make you perfect before God. No, only one thing will do that:

Go sell everything you have and follow me.

Everything that you have worked for. Everything that you thought was what you should do. Everything that you have understood as your life, get rid of all of that and follow me.

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Matthew 19:21

The man couldn’t do it. He couldn’t – no, instead, he wouldn’t – do it. He liked the riches that he had, but Jesus wouldn’t let him keep any of it. He couldn’t even sell his possessions and put the money in the bank or in some investments to save for later. He had to lose it all. He had to give it away. This, and only this, was the price to come and follow Jesus.

Think about it. He could have been the 13th disciple. It could have changed the story that we tell today. He could have been the last one that we talk about even today who decided to give up everything and come to follow Jesus.

But he wouldn’t do it. He preferred his riches. He preferred his life exactly the way it was. He preferred what he would have for a few years now instead of what he would have with Jesus into eternity. He was trying to understand how to have eternal life, but he wanted to bring his current life along with him as well.

That’s not enough, Jesus explained.

If you want eternal life, leave it behind and follow me.

Wow, what a message that is, not only for this man, but also for us today. How many of us cling to our lives. How many of us think that we are living in the way that God has called us to live, when in fact we are hanging on to our old way of life, when in fact we haven’t left the old life behind so that we can have a new life truly following Jesus.

Could we find ourselves one day before Jesus and him saying: “Sorry, it wasn’t enough.”? Could we end up finding out that Jesus intended for us to follow him and instead we preferred to place value on the things that we wanted?

Is Jesus calling you to leave behind something in your life and follow him?

This is a question that each of us should be asking ourselves. Not just once, but each day. And in repentance, we must leave that old life and follow him. If it is sin, leave it behind. If it is something that you value higher than Christ, leave it behind and follow him. Only in this way will we, unlike the rich, young ruler, find eternal life.

Jesus had just praised Peter because he had given the right answer. Jesus had asked his disciples who the people say that he is, and they had responded. But then he turned the same question on the disciples:

Who do you say I am?

“You are the Messah, the Son of the living God,” Peter said.

Jesus explained it was his Father in heaven that had revealed that answer to him and God had blessed him such that he would know and understand.

And so Jesus determined that, now that they knew who he was, the time was right to begin to explain to the disciples what would happen to him. He explained that he would go to Jerusalem. He would be beaten. He would suffer, would be killed, and on the third day rise again.

But Peter couldn’t hear it:

What are you saying, Jesus? Don’t talk like that!

Jesus going to Jerusalem to die wasn’t Peter’s plan. Peter’s plan was that Jesus would go to Jerusalem, overthrow the Romans, establish his throne, and reign forever. That was the plan of the Messiah, wasn’t it?

And yet Jesus called that plan, Peter’s plan, merely a human concern:

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Matthew 16:23

Peter was interested in seeing Jesus come to power. And he especially had interest in seeing that happen at this point because Jesus had just renamed him to be Peter and to be the one upon whom Jesus would build his church.

But now you’re saying you’re going to die?

We have a plan here, Jesus, he probably thought…

You, whom we just said is the Messiah, going to suffer and die is definitely NOT part of the plan!

But Jesus explained that these are merely human concerns. Jesus was concerned, instead, with the plan of the Father. He was interested in the coming and conquering kingdom of God. Not just the kingdom of Israel. Not just this little territory in the Middle East. No, Jesus is the coming king that will conquer the entire world, and this is the Father’s plan to conquer over the kingdom of darkness. This is his plan to rule over the earth. His son must go to die.

We must be careful to listen to Jesus. We must hear his plan, not substituting our own plans for his.

Jesus is, even today, working to carry out his plan. He has purchased, with his blood, people from every tribe, tongue, and nation and he has called us into service to make disciples of him. Not building our kingdom or kingdoms, but working to build his. May we carefully listen to Jesus, trusting him that his plan is right, and doing what he has called us to do.

Jesus had been confronted yet again by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Jewish law. They came to them because, evidently, the disciples had not washed their hands prior to eating. Of course, washing their hands before eating was not a law from God, but it was a ritual that had been inserted by the religious leaders, by the scribes. It was considered by the Jews, and especially by the religious leaders, to be a weighty tradition. It was extremely important to the people of Israel.

And I can imagine that each of us would agree. It is good, and important, to wash our hands before we eat. Anytime that we touch something that is about to go into our mouths, it is probably a good idea, from a hygenic perspective, to wash our hands. No doubt about it.

But that isn’t the sense in which the Pharisees and teachers of the law are coming to Jesus to register their concern and ask the question that they asked. No, instead, this is a delegation that has come out to where Jesus is teaching from Jerusalem, from the capitol city itself. Jerusalem is the religious center of the Israelites, so these Pharisees and these teachers of the law have come from the top. It is as if we would have said that they have come from “headquarters” to look in on what is happening with Jesus’s ministry.

And when they arrive, what do they see? They see the disciples breaking the traditions of the elders, something that, according to their tradition and teaching, should never be done by anyone, much less by the disciples of an increasingly popular rabbi, a prominent teacher in this area of Galilee.

However, in response, Jesus pointed out to these leaders that his disciples are breaking the traditions, but they, the Pharisees and teachers of the allow, are actually teaching the people to break God’s law.

How are they doing that?

They are telling the people that, despite the commandment – directly from the 10 commandments that we are to honor our father and mother – the teachers are teaching the people that if something that they have is “devoted to God” (also referred to as “corban”), then they don’t have to give it to their parents.

So what are the practical implications of this teaching?

If someone’s parents are in need, then the child would have an obligation to help them.

However, let’s say that instead of the person, that child, desiring to give something to their parents to help them, they want to keep it for themselves, for whatever reason. Maybe that person is in need themselves. Maybe they just like, and want to keep, that which they should, instead, be giving away.

But if they declare it to “corban”, if they declare it to be “devoted to God”, then they don’t have to give it. They are allowed, instead to keep it, because it is devoted to God.

Not good, right?

No, and that is what Jesus is telling the Pharisees. In his reply, he is essentially saying:

You all are coming to me to complain that my disciples are breaking a tradition, something I am not teaching them to do. However, you are actually teaching the people to break God’s law. What right do you have to come to me?

And so Jesus quotes Isaiah, saying that Isaiah was actually speaking about them, speaking about the religious leaders, prophecying about the spiritual teachers of Israel when he said:

These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.

Matthew 15:8-9

Jesus quotes Isaiah and it is recorded in Matthew 15. However, the quote comes from Isaiah 29:13. Jesus is looking back and saying that Isaiah actually is referring to the religious leaders when he prophecied in this way.

So I think it is worth asking: What about us today?

Do our lives look like what Jesus taught us to do? Or have we adopted cultural norms that teach us and lead us in the way that we live our lives more than does the word of God?

Do our Christian communities follow a Biblical pattern? Or do we instead prefer to follow the ways of the world?

Do our churches look and act the way that Jesus demonstrated for us? Or are we falling into our traditions and what we have preferred over time to adopt as a substitute?

I pray that we wouldn’t find ourselves honoring God with our lips with our hearts far from him. And if we are leading our lives, or living within our communities and churches in a way that is far from God or far from the teaching and heart of Christ, that we would turn immediately to honor him not only with our lips, but with all that we are.