Aiming at the target
One important question we need to ask is, 'What would we like young
converts to become?' What are the spiritual skills we would like our
disciples to acquire and how will we teach them these things? Here
are a few suggestions:
1. To be servants, Matt. 20. 25-28.
In the world, the more servants you have the greater you are. In the
church it is just the opposite. The Lord said, 'So shall it not be
among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister',
Mark 10.43. Most churches in Christendom have paid servants or ministers,
and are designed for people who want to be served. But the original
design was that everyone was to be a minister. The Lord wants to maximize
the sacrifice in order to maximize the blessing. 'We ought to lay
down our lives for the brethren,' 1 John 3: 16. Teaching our young
people by example how to be servants could be the greatest thing we
do for them.
2. To be stewards, Luke. 12. 42.
The Lord Jesus did not call us bondslaves, John 15. 15, but He did
call us stewards. As such, every young believer must learn how to
handle the Lord's possessions. Their bodies are not their own, but
temples of God's Spirit, 1 Cor. 6. 19. Their material possessions
are borrowed and will have to be accounted for: 'As having nothing,
and yet possessing all things', 2 Cor. 6. 10. The use of their time
is also a sacred trust, and will appear for final audit at the Bema.
3. To be witnesses, Acts 1. 8.
How strange to see a farmer throw one seed here today, another there
tomorrow. He would soon be out of business. And are we teaching our
young people that a tract left at the restaurant, a casual word here
and there, good in itself though this is, is God's idea of evangelism?
The three pictures of evangelism in the New Testament are farming,
fishing, and fighting. All are high risk, high energy endeavours.
We need to teach young believers the essentials of the gospel, the
critical role of prayer and the Spirit's guidance, the skills necessary
to win souls for Christ, and the hard work it entails. The New Testament
does not treat evangelism as a hobby, nor should we.
4. To be students, 2 Tim. 2. 15; John
8. 31. Diligence in studying the word should be taught,
not learned by the hit-or-miss method. Unfortunately many older Christians
were not taught how to study their Bibles, especially sisters in Christ,
as if the study of the word is a men-only activity. This may mean
swallowing some humble pie by telling your understudy that you were
not taught good study methods but how would it be if we learn together?
It could be the beginning of a rich time discovering truth for yourself
rather than living off commentaries and hand-me-down truth from others.
Teaching a young believer to rightly divide the word is of lifelong
benefit to them and to others, protecting from error, preserving from
sin, and equipping for service, 1 Tim. 4. 16.
5. To be warriors, 2 Tim. 2. 3-4.
Surely this is vital in a day when many believers are falling in battle.
There must be a willingness to submit to authority, to take correction,
to be accountable. One must learn how to put on the armour, how to
wield the Spirit's sword and how to battle on our knees in prayer.
We must warn our young people about the dangers of premarital intimacy,
internet pornography,social drinking, rampant materialism, and other
wiles of the devil. But we must also provide wholesome alternatives
to give them opportunity to enjoy the company of other assembly young
people, to labour and learn together in the work of the Lord.
6. To be fruitbearers, John 15. 8.
what we are is more important than what we do. Your young people need
to understand that what we want for them more than anything else is
to be Christlike. This will involve time alone with the Lord, being
wholehearted in our obedience to His Lordship, and allowing the heavenly
Gardener to prune us all that we might bear much fruit and that our
fruit might remain.
Letting go
It isn't easy, but what a thrill to the spiritually minded to see
young arrows go farther than we have gone. Pity the archer who shoots
an arrow to where he is himself. What is the good of that? No, we
want our
arrows to fly far, and the farther the better. It takes real strength
and a steady hand to aim and then release smoothly. How often it is
just at this point that the archer's failure is seen. Unwilling to
let go, he hangs on too long and the opportunity is lost. If we need
grace to prepare and point our arrows, how much more is needed to
set our young charges on their course, not too soon but not too late,
either. Must we be incapacitated before others feel free to participate?
(See Phil. 1. 14.) Let us share the load as surely as we have shared
the vision. Let us be tender in our critiques, generous with encouragement,
and willing to show confidence in those beginning to use their gifts.
If we make ourselves available for this work, the Lord will bring young
believers into our lives. And if we follow through in this ministry,
it will give us a three-fold joy. There will be the joy of obedience,
for we will see the divine pattern work. There will be the joy of multiplication
as we see others flourish before our eyes. And there will be the joy
of a job well done, as we share the delight of the Master disciple-maker
Himself.
