A Disciple is a Model

We’ve been studying the book of 2 Timothy, which is a manual of Christian discipleship. Written by Paul at the very end of his life to a young man who was like a son to him, this book gives us a number of characteristics of a person who is truly following Jesus Christ. So far, we have studied five of these qualities:

1. We’ve learned that a disciple is courageous. That he is not afraid to stand alone for Jesus Christ, even though the world might mock him and persecute him.

2. We’ve learned that he is disciplined. That he has his priorities straight like a soldier, his will submitted like an athlete, and his purpose focused like a farmer.

3. We’ve learned that he is durable. That he is willing to suffer hard times because he is convinced of the truth of the gospel and of its power to change people’s lives.

4. We’ve learned that he is pure. Pure in that he handles the Word properly so as to be pure in doctrine. Pure in that he steers away from fellowshiping with people whose influence would pull him down in his walk with the Lord. Pure in that he has his bodily appetites under control. And pure in that he conducts himself with patience and love toward the frustrating people who invade his life.

5. We’ve learned that a disciple is set apart. That he recognizes that because he is living in the last days, there are people all around him who are doing things that he cannot and will not do.

And now we come to a sixth quality - a quality that is a little more difficult to give a precise label. The essence of this quality is that a disciple of Jesus Christ is a person who is a living example of what he believes. In other words, a disciple is someone who practices what he preaches. He is a model. When it comes to Christianity, he not only talks the walk, but he walks the talk. He’s the opposite of a hypocrite - someone who pretends to be what he is not. The only problem is that the English language doesn’t seem to have a word that is opposite to the word hypocrite. If it did, that’s what you would name this quality. That’s what a true disciple of Christ would be.

Let’s see how this quality is illustrated in the life of Paul.

2 Timothy 3:10-11 You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured.

Paul has been talking in the previous verses about the false teachers - these men who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women. (Yes, that means exactly what it says. It seems that in Timothy’s church, there were women who went astray doctrinally. That may explain why Paul forbade women to teach men in his first letter to Timothy.) These false teachers were men who opposed the truth. And I want you to notice what he says about them in verse 9

2 Timothy 3:9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

You see what he’s saying? He’s saying that sooner or later, people are going to discover that these guys are bogus, that they’re phonies. And so it is in that context that Paul says to Timothy

On the other hand Timothy, you know all about me - about my teaching, about my way of life, etc.

Paul isn’t bragging here. He’s simply saying to Timothy: “Look. You’ve been with me through the bad times and the good. You know all about me. You know what kind of a guy I am. And you know that I am not only preaching the good news, I’m living it too.”

When Paul said You know all about me, he was using a Greek word that literally means “you have followed beside me”. Paul let Timothy into his life. He ate with him. He talked with him for hours as they walked along the road on their missionary journeys. He sat around the campfire with him. Timothy didn’t just see Paul in a ministry context. He didn’t just know Paul from what he saw of him on Sunday mornings in the pulpit. He didn’t just know Paul as a great preacher - he knew him as a man. And that is why Paul’s life made such an impact on Timothy - because Timothy knew that Paul was walking his talk. Timothy knew that Jesus Christ was real to Paul. He knew that Christianity was making a real difference in Paul’s life. And that made Paul a credible model for Timothy to follow.

I want you to think for a moment about the electronic church. When you think about it in terms of this quality we’re talking about today, the electronic church can be a perilous thing. A preacher gets on television and preaches wonderful sermons. Maybe he hosts a delightful, entertaining talk show. He seems to be genuine. He seems to be sincere. It certainly appears as though he’s trying to do a good work for the Lord. The television brings him right into your living room. It’s almost as if he is there sitting on your sofa talking to you. There’s the illusion that, even though you’ve never met him, he’s your friend. You get to know all about his teaching. And you feel you can trust him. So you become his follower, his supporter. But there is something that’s missing. And that something is what Paul and Timothy had - a relationship in real life.

You don’t know what that TV preacher is like when he gets off the set. What he’s like outside the studio. You don’t know anything about his marriage. You don’t know what he’s like in his role as a husband and a father. You don’t get to see his home life. You don’t know how he treats people. You don’t really know what he’s like as a man. You only get to see him when he’s in front of the camera. And in my view, that isn’t good enough. It isn’t a good enough basis for you to put your trust in him. It isn’t a good enough basis for you to send him your money.

There are a lot of disappointed Christians out there today who feel betrayed by these fallen TV preachers. But they really only have themselves to blame. They went ahead and trusted a man they didn’t really know. And he turned out to be untrustworthy.

Paul said You, however, know all about my teaching, but you also know about my way of life.

Timothy, you know that I’m a man of purpose, a man of faith, a man of patience. You know that I am a man who loves people. That I am a man of endurance. You know that I’ve gone through persecution and suffering for the Lord with my head held high.

When Paul came to Timothy’s region of the country, he preached in three cities. He had a tri-city crusade. In Antioch, he was kicked out of the city by the city council. In Iconium, he had to flee for his life because he heard that there was a contract out for him. And in Lystra, which was Timothy’s home town, they finally got him. They stoned him and dragged him outside the city and left him for dead. But God raised him up.

Timothy had seen all that. He got to see how Paul handled that. He saw how Paul reacted when things went bad. Ask yourself if you’ve ever seen that in the spiritual leader you’re following. How does he handle failure? Paul’s life to Timothy was like an open book. And Timothy knew he was credible. But if that were not enough, Timothy had more models than just Paul to follow. He had his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. Paul mentions them back in chapter 1. They were godly women who taught Timothy the Scriptures. And Paul mentions them again here, although he doesn’t mention their names:

2 Timothy 3:14-15 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.

Here again, we see the principle that you not only have to learn certain truths to become a Christian, you need to see those truths living in a person. Timothy had three models in his Christian life: Eunice, Lois, and Paul. These three people were close enough to him for him to know that they weren’t faking it. He knew them well. He saw them in the good times and in the bad times. And he knew they were genuine - that God was real to them, and that they were living their lives in light of that reality.

If you are a Christian today, it isn’t just because you heard the gospel and responded to it. It’s because you saw the gospel in somebody’s life. It may have been your mother or your father. It may have been a Sunday School teacher or a youth leader. It may have been a Christian friend or neighbor who befriended you and showed you love.

This is how Jesus draws people to himself. He uses us to model the message. A life lived for Jesus is the most powerful sermon ever preached.

Whose life are you impacting today? Is there someone you are close to who needs the Lord? What are you modeling for that person? Does what you say you believe line up with the way that you live in the eyes of that person?

Parents, what do our children see in us? Oh, they may know our teaching, but do they see it in our way of life? We Christian parents are pretty gung-ho on having our children learn the teachings of Christianity. We send them to Sunday School, and some of us even send our kids to Christian school. We make sure that they learn their memory verses and get perfect attendance awards. But when they come home from church, what do they see in our homes? What do they see in our lives? When the teaching’s all done, is there a credible model for them to follow?

One day the great Mark Twain ran into an acquaintance of his who was a businessman with a reputation for ruthlessness. Hearing that Mark Twain had just returned from a trip to Israel, the businessman announced “Before I die, I mean to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.”

“I have a better idea,” said Twain. “Why don’t you stay home in Boston and try to keep them.”

I think you’ll agree that there’s nothing worse than a hypocrite - a person who says he believes one thing and goes ahead and lives the opposite way. Someone has said that a hypocrite preaches by the yard but practices by the inch. A real disciple of Jesus Christ isn’t like this. Oh, he isn’t perfect. He often fails to live up to his standards. But when he falls, he’s the first to admit it - to himself, to the Lord, and to the people who are close to him who are watching.

That kind of genuineness brings integrity. And integrity brings credibility. And credibility makes a disciple a model with a real impact on the lives of others.