A Church-wide Call to Disciple-Making [A]

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Turn with me to Acts chapter 18 this morning. Acts chapter 18. We’ve got about 20 minutes, and we’ll cover part of the message this morning and part of the message tonight.

So I’ll say this in advance. I hope you’re back tonight for part two of this. We began talking last week about Christ-centered discipleship, and I reminded you that with a few exceptions and a break in between, since the beginning of the year, I’ve really been trying to hit on the subjects of what our church needs to be about and what we need to focus on, being Christ-centered worship, Christ-centered preaching, and Christ-centered discipleship.

And we talked last week about what a disciple looks like. Some of the key things that a disciple looks like. And one that some of you picked up on and asked me about later was, I think Brother Gene asked me, so are you telling me that a disciple can’t say no, Lord?

I said, well, not supposed to. There should be no instance. There should be no instance where we tell the Lord no, if we’re his disciple.

We belong to him. Folks, he owns us. That’s one of the things about being a disciple.

We talked about what discipleship is. Discipleship is just simply following Christ. And disciple making means taking somebody from where they are to where they need to be in terms of following Christ. And folks, I submit to you, you can’t be a disciple. You can’t be a disciple until you’ve trusted Christ. You can’t be a disciple until conversion.

But we can begin discipling people before their conversion. because sometimes we have to get them to a point of understanding what it is we’re even talking about. We will run across people more and more as our country drifts apart in terms of we don’t all have the same culture, we don’t all have the same background, we don’t all have the same understanding.

We are more and more going to run into people who don’t have the Christian memory that a lot of people have today, where there are people that we can talk to, and it seems to have always been this way in this part of the country. There are people we can talk to who are not believers, they’ve never trusted Christ, but they believe there’s a God. They believe Jesus is the Son of God.

They may even believe Jesus died for us. What they don’t understand is that he died for sins. He was a sacrifice for sins, for their sins, and now there needs to be faith and repentance.

They don’t understand that. And so we talk to them about the punishment for sin, and we talk to them about repentance. But there are going to be people that we run into more and more who don’t have even that foundation.

I met a girl from Germany once who asked me, who is this God person you keep talking about? And I thought she was joking at first. Some of these missionaries that come and speak to us, they’ll talk about going to tribes in remote areas, and they have to start back at Genesis with the creation story. Because you know what?

If somebody doesn’t know about a holy God who created man and man fell, then what need is there for a Savior? Why would Jesus die? It doesn’t make sense.

And these people have never even heard of Genesis, have never even heard of the creation, have never heard of Adam and Eve. And so they’ll have to go back and lay a foundation. Folks, every bit of that foundation they lay that brings them from where they are to where they need to be is discipleship, even if they are not a disciple yet.

We are making disciples. We are in the process of bringing people to where they need to be, which is not only conversion and salvation, but which is fullness, completeness in Jesus Christ. Making disciples means taking people from wherever they are, even if it’s they’ve never heard of God at all, ideally to maturity in Jesus Christ. That’s our job. And ladies and gentlemen, that’s what we’re going to talk about this morning, is that it is a church-wide call to making disciples.

We’re going to look at a few verses in Acts chapter 18. Starting in verse 1, it says, After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to Corinth, and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because that Claudius, who was the Roman emperor, had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and wrought, for by their occupation they were tent makers.

So it says Paul came to Corinth, he meets Aquila and Priscilla, they were Jews, but they were Jewish believers, And they had actually just recently come to Corinth from Italy because the Roman emperor Claudius had, and it’s not just recorded in the Bible, folks, history also backs this up. Not that the Bible needs to be confirmed by history, but there you go. That Claudius had gotten rid of all the Jews from Rome, said, you all have to get out of here.

And so they had fled to Corinth over in Greece. And because Paul was the same occupation, they were tent makers, he was a tent maker, He stayed with them, he lived with them, he ate with them, and they made tents together. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

So he lived with Aquila and Priscilla, made tents with them, and he would go every Saturday or every Friday night to the synagogue, and he would argue. Well, maybe not argue. He would speak to them as few people could do like the Apostle Paul and reason with them and argue with them, but in a way that didn’t completely turn them away.

he would reason with them every Sabbath, the Jews and the Greeks, and he would persuade them. So he wasn’t in there just being argumentative and debating, he was in there persuading them. And what he was persuading them about was that Jesus Christ, he was persuading the Jews that Jesus Christ was the promised Messiah.

He was persuading the Greeks that there is a resurrection from the dead, and Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead. He’s the first one raised from the dead, and that we have this hope of a resurrection. And he was preaching to all of them the forgiveness of sins through what Jesus Christ had done on the cross.

And so while he stays with Aquila and Priscilla, he goes and does this. Well, then we skip ahead to verse 24, because as much as I hate to say it, as much as I love Paul, it’s not really about Paul this morning. And a certain Jew, verse 24, named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.

This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. So this man, Apollos, was by all standards a bright, well-spoken, well-read individual. It sounds like he knew the Old Testament when it says that he knew the scriptures. Remember, they may have had parts of the New Testament in written form, but they didn’t have the body put together that we would call the New Testament today.

When they refer in the New Testament to the scriptures, usually they’re referring to the Old Testament. And so Apollos was very learned in the Old Testament. Apollos sounds to be one of those bright pupils among the Jews.

I’ve told you before that everybody had, I’m trying to remember the ages, but I think it was everybody by the age of 10 had to memorize the first five books of the Bible. And then those who were the best and the brightest went on to memorize the rest of it to Malachi before they fully reached adulthood. And so Apollos sounds to be one of those who went on to Malachi and memorized it.

And not just memorized the words, but apparently he was learned in it. He understood what it meant, and he taught. And apparently he taught well, and taught powerfully, but he didn’t know the whole story.

As the Bible says, he only knew the baptism of John. What he knew about, he taught correctly, but he didn’t teach the whole thing. So he talked about the holiness of God, and he talked about the need for repentance, and he may have even been baptized by John, and he may have even baptized the way John did.

John came preaching a correct message, John the Baptist did. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Telling people that they needed to repent, that they needed to look for the Lamb of God, that they needed to turn their eyes toward God and His Messiah and look for that where they had been wandering away for all these years.

And that was a correct message, but it wasn’t the entirety of the gospel. And so Apollos came preaching something that was right as far as it went, but it wasn’t enough. He didn’t know everything that he needed to know.

It says he knew only the baptism of John. Verse 26 said, And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom Aquila and Priscilla had heard, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. So it wasn’t that they shot him down and said, Hey, Apollos, you’re wrong.

You’re a heretic. We’re going to, you’re just done here. They said, what you’re saying is right, but they pulled him aside.

And I think very graciously said, what you’re saying is right, but there’s so much more that you don’t even know yet. Let us tell you all about it. And when it says here that they expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly, that means more completely.

See, we can have a right view of God. We can believe that God is perfectly holy. We can believe that we are fallen, wretched sinners in comparison to God.

And we can even believe that there’s a need for repentance and a need to look to God for salvation. but if we’ve left out Jesus Christ, it’s not the fullness of the gospel. It’s not complete.

It’s not perfect yet. And it’s not quite enough to get us to where we need to be. And so they took this very learned, very eloquent, very spiritual man aside, and they said, there’s more to tell you.

And they told him about Jesus Christ. They told him about the death, burial, and resurrection, that the repentance that he was preaching was only possible, was only effective because Jesus had shed his blood and cleared the way for sinners to be at peace with God. That the Messiah he preached about was Jesus Christ. That all the prophecies that he had in the back of his mind had been fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Verse 27 says, And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, which is further down in Greece, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace. That’s an impressive thing to me.

not only on Aquila and Priscilla’s part, that they didn’t just write this man off, but they said, there’s more we can teach you, and you’re not quite where you need to be. Let us help you. But also that Apollos, you know, a lot of times somebody that learned, that eloquent, that people just listen to and think, oh, he’s so wonderful.

He’s a great speaker. He knows everything. Can get arrogant and unteachable.

And yet when they pulled Apollos aside, there’s no indication here that he argued with them, that he fought with them, that he threw a fit. My way is the right way. What we see is he received what they told him.

Apollos was a teachable spirit. And so he took what they had to share with him, and when God led him to go further into Greece, the people at Corinth sent a letter with him, telling the people in Achaia to receive this man. This man is a brother in Christ. This man is a good teacher.

This man is a faithful disciple, and this man is somebody to listen to. And it says when he was come to Achaia, he helped them much which had believed through grace. those who were already saved, those who were already believers.

He came and he was able to help them much, the Bible said. He was able to contribute to their spiritual growth, for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. We may only get through the first point this morning, and that’s fine. Come back tonight.

But in this passage, there are some things that we need to know about disciple-making. The first one I want to introduce by asking you a question, One that I had to look up this morning because I have no clue about such things. Who won the Super Bowl earlier this year?

Anybody know? Come on, I thought we had at least a football fan in here. Okay, Baltimore Ravens.

Do you remember the coach’s name? I looked it up and I stilled it. Harbaugh?

Okay, that sounds right. I had to look it up this morning. I didn’t know.

John Harbaugh. Okay. John Harbaugh was the coach of the Super Bowl winning team this year, Baltimore Ravens.

Would it have worked? Would they have won the Super Bowl? if when the game started they’d done the coin toss they’re ready they still toss a coin don’t they okay you can tell how much I know about the subject if they’d done the coin toss and the team was ready to go out and play the game’s ready to start and they all went back to the bench and they they patted coach harbaugh on the back and said you got this go win it and the team went and sat down so that’s what they’re paying the coach for would they have won the super bowl with just john harbaugh playing as good as I’m sure he probably is.

I don’t know. They would not have won the Super Bowl. Would they have even made it to the Super Bowl if that was their practice?

We’re going to go sit down. That’s what they pay Harbaugh for. That’s what they pay them for.

A lot, I might add. When our troops went into Afghanistan, I believe it was Tommy Franks who was the commanding general, thought about him also this morning and thought about Schwarzkopf during the first Gulf War. How effective would we have been in our military operations if the soldiers under their command had said, Schwarzkopf’s got this.

What do they need us for? Schwarzkopf can go in and take out Saddam and the whole Republican Guard all by himself. And we just parachuted Norman Schwarzkopf behind enemy lines to take care of the Iraqis.

Would that have worked? Probably not. I’m guessing none.

I’ve heard various people talk about the role of the pastor in the church and the role of other leaders in the church. And sometimes they’ll say, the pastor and the leaders, they’re like a coach, and they get the people ready for the job. Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t also have the job of disciple making, but it means I’m most effective in helping you make disciples as well.

Or I’ve heard that we’re like the cheerleader, okay? If you could somehow combine the coach and cheerleader, there’s no team in this world, there’s no team in this country that could go to the Super Bowl and sit back and send in the coach and the cheerleaders to play against the opposing team and think they were going to accomplish anything, is there? Folks, the first point this morning, and really the only one we’re going to get through this morning, is that disciple making is not just for the church leadership.

Disciple making is not just for the church leadership. Now, saying the role of a pastor is like a coach or like a cheerleader for the rest of you doesn’t mean that the pastor does not also have the job of making disciples. See, that’s my responsibility not as your pastor, but as a Christian.

As a pastor, I have the added responsibility of trying to equip you for that job. But if, as is so many times the case in churches, the people sit back and say, that’s what we pay the staff for, there’s a lot of ministry that’s not going to get done. There is a lot of ministry that is not going to get done.

When you think about how much is involved in making disciples, it’s not just teaching a class, it’s not just, hey, how are you once a week, how are things going in your life? It can at times be hard, messy, inconvenient work. But you know what, we just have to do it because that’s what God told us to do.

It takes time. And it would be hard for me, excuse me, it takes time to disciple even one person. But if I was solely, if I was by myself responsible for discipling every one of you, every new person that we brought into the church, every person out there that we want to reach, if it was just my job, I would never sleep, eat, see my family, and I would have a backlog of years trying to get around to the rest of you.

Folks, it’s not just the job of church leadership. And the reason I see this in here is because Aquila and Priscilla, later on they were missionaries and things, but right now they’re just tent makers doing their job. They’re just regular people in the church.

And they took Apollos aside and said, there’s more you need to learn. Aquila is not mentioned in this chapter as being an elder in the church at Corinth. He was a tent maker.

Probably somebody like some of you who think, what do I have to offer anybody else in their Christian growth? I’m just an accountant, or I’m just a mechanic, or any of the occupations that you have, or I’m just a retired person. I’m not a pastor.

I’m not a deacon. We see nowhere in here mention that Aquila was a pastor, or an elder, or a deacon, or anything else. He was a tent maker.

Going about his regular life, and in that, finding ways to do what God had called him to do. Priscilla surely wasn’t a pastor or a deacon. She was a woman.

And that’s frowned on in the Scriptures, contrary to what some churches would tell us today. Folks, these were not the ones that we look at and say, well, that’s his job. That’s what we pay him for.

Folks, even if we didn’t just leave it up to me, if we left it up to just the other preachers in the church, Brother Phil, you’re on the hook too, and Brother Gene and Warren and the deacons, Brother James and Brother Daryl and Brother Ray. Folks, even with just the preachers and the deacons, the job of making disciples is a bigger job than just that small group of church leaders could accomplish. And yet we see here a success story where Aquila and Priscilla took time out, took effort, took energy, took interest in Apollos.

They could have just said, oh, that man’s a heretic. But they took enough interest in him to say, he’s good where he is, but he needs to be here, and we’re going to help him get here. And they invested the time.

And you know what? It wasn’t because it was their job as church leaders. It was because it was their job as Christians.

The Great Commission. I almost preached on Matthew 28 this morning. But I preached on that so many times.

And Brother Poulin preached on it just a few weeks ago. But when it says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded thee. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

Folks, that command was not just given to the 12 or the 11, I suppose, who were left. It was not given just to those who would be elders or deacons in the church. It was given to the Christians.

It was given to the church there at Jerusalem. And as far as I’m concerned and as far as I can see in the scriptures, the call to make disciples is a church-wide call. It’s my job as a Christian to evangelize and make disciples.

It’s your job as a Christian to evangelize and make disciples. It’s my job as a pastor to also come alongside you and equip you for that. And over the next few weeks, we’re going to talk about some ways to do that.

If you’re thinking, okay, I get it, it’s my job, how do I do it? We’re going to talk about that some. But before we talk about how, we’ve got to all get on the same page that it is every one of our responsibility to make disciples, to take people from where they are in their relationship to Christ or lack of relationship to Christ to where they need to be, which is salvation and spiritual maturity.

Now, we’ll look at this some more tonight as far as other things that we can see. If it’s not just for the church leadership, it’s not just for these people either, to let us see that it really is all of our job. But if you take nothing else away from this morning, if you’re not going to be here tonight or whatever else, if you take nothing else away from it this morning, you need to understand it’s not just my job.

It’s every one of our job or it doesn’t get done. And I just thought of this now, but I don’t really want to be the one standing before God one day and saying, yeah, I’m the weak link that let the team down. It was all of our job, but yeah, I didn’t have time.

I confess there have been times I’ve acted like I didn’t have time, or I’ll let somebody else take care of it, but I really don’t want to have to tell the Lord that, that I disobeyed Him. As Christians, and as church members, we have a call to make disciples.