2 Timothy 2:2 represents 5 generations of Christians. That was the keyhole text for our study of Spiritual Multiplication at the Nav Training Center at Michigan State. We traced generations from Genesis to Revelation. During that study I discovered what unlocked the Old Testament for me, Psalm 78:5 - 8.
Our mentor, Larry, gave me a small bit of chain with four links on it. That was to remind me that the focus of my ministry was to be multiplication. I was not doing my job if I did not see the men I was equipping, equip others in a way that would equip them to equip others. I still carry that chain on my key ring.
With tongue firmly in cheek a friend sent me the above picture a couple of days ago. It is a joke I shared with him in 1978, so what, 36 years ago. He has since shared it with numerous students and this picture was sent to him by one of those, it is that student's children passing on the joke to someone else. 5 generations of a bad joke.
This morning I sat in a Sunday school class and observed one of the men with whom I have been studying lead a class through an overview and application of Jeremiah, in 40 minutes. If you haven't checked lately Jeremiah has 52 chapters. That is no mean feat. He was applying that on which we have been working for the past three years. Applying it masterfully. That however was not multiplication. It will be when the person he shows how to do that has equipped someone else to do so.
In 13 weeks I will be in a village on the east side of Nepal. I will be working with people who are planting churches, to date 400, in the remote villages in that region of the world. I will be equipping them to study the Bible more effectively. My aim is to do so in a way that they can reproduce in the villages where they minister. The potential for multiplication is enormous.
The way I read the Bible, our charge is not to teach what we know. Rather, it is our charge to equip people to dig out for themselves what we have from God's Word. When they do that, it is theirs. It is not my idea, my study, my expertise, it is fresh insight for them into the riches of God's Word and thus His nature and character.
I cannot imagine a greater privilege.
With tongue firmly in cheek a friend sent me the above picture a couple of days ago. It is a joke I shared with him in 1978, so what, 36 years ago. He has since shared it with numerous students and this picture was sent to him by one of those, it is that student's children passing on the joke to someone else. 5 generations of a bad joke.
This morning I sat in a Sunday school class and observed one of the men with whom I have been studying lead a class through an overview and application of Jeremiah, in 40 minutes. If you haven't checked lately Jeremiah has 52 chapters. That is no mean feat. He was applying that on which we have been working for the past three years. Applying it masterfully. That however was not multiplication. It will be when the person he shows how to do that has equipped someone else to do so.
In 13 weeks I will be in a village on the east side of Nepal. I will be working with people who are planting churches, to date 400, in the remote villages in that region of the world. I will be equipping them to study the Bible more effectively. My aim is to do so in a way that they can reproduce in the villages where they minister. The potential for multiplication is enormous.
The way I read the Bible, our charge is not to teach what we know. Rather, it is our charge to equip people to dig out for themselves what we have from God's Word. When they do that, it is theirs. It is not my idea, my study, my expertise, it is fresh insight for them into the riches of God's Word and thus His nature and character.
I cannot imagine a greater privilege.
Four links chain -- love this reminder of the generations!
ReplyDeleteNot to teach, but rather equip -- I fully resonate with it!
By the way, four links in a chain stand for...
ReplyDeleteA. like in Jn 17
1) God the Father
2) Jesus
3) Sent by Jesus -- 1st generation of laborers; Jn 17:18
4) Those who believed in Jesus through the word of 1st generation Jn 17:20
or rather
B. From 2 Timothy 2:2
1) Paul
2) Timothy
3) Faithful men
4) Others