DISCIPLESHIP

W. Schubert

Acts 16: 1–3 (to “with him”); 2 Timothy 3: 10, 11; John 12: 12–16

With the Lord’s help I desire to say a few words as to how He would make discipleship attractive. He is looking especially to younger brothers and sisters to be His disciples. How precious is the Lord to us? The thoughts of His heart toward us are beyond measure. He has borne, and does bear, our burdens, but that is not all. He has discipleship in mind, and discipleship is needed in these last days. The Lord is longing for disciples. A disciple has to go through testings. Discipleship is for our whole life. The Lord did not turn back, and we cannot; if we commit ourselves it is for ever; that is what discipleship means. We do not know what is ahead of us, but the Lord does, so we can be restful.

Paul took Timothy instead of Mark who had failed in discipleship. Mark looked, maybe, at natural relationships as more important than following the Lord. He turned away, and Paul felt it very much that Mark (who was recovered later) failed him in the service. He “had abandoned them, going back from Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work”, Acts 15: 38. It is a test to be taken instead of another, but Timothy was there, “a certain disciple”.

He had had a secret history with the Lord Jesus; he was a disciple, not just a believer. He was attracted by the Lord Jesus in such a way that he desired to follow Him whatever might come.

He did not know what was before him. We do not know what is ahead of us, but we know that the Lord Jesus knows, and

if we follow Him we can trust Him, and can be very restful that He knows the way. He is before us and we follow in His footsteps; they are clearly marked for those who desire to follow Him.

What marked this disciple was that he had a good testimony of the brethren in Lystra and Iconium. That is a thing we should look for, dear brethren, to have a good testimony from the brethren, not only from the local brethren, but from the neighbouring brethren too; it is important to have a good testimony. The brethren will not be critical of you; they will discern the work of God, and your desire to follow the Lord Jesus.

It is remarkable how this man developed. I like to think of Samuel. You may say the surroundings, even among believers, are not the best, and there is so much destructive, or discouraging, influence. The work of God is not affected by it. Samuel, it says, was a boy girded with a linen ephod (1 Samuel 2: 18)—wonderful! It was not a young man, it was a boy. It shows how early things can start and become manifest, the distinct features of the work of God. He was not affected by the evil around. Those who claimed to belong to Ephraim had a bad testimony. This evil condition did not affect Samuel, who was of that tribe, and it will not affect you if you are influenced by the Lord Jesus, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit. You can, if you go this way, be immune from these things. Amid these conditions you protest against them by your behaviour and the way you go, and you will get more strength day by day. The Lord desires to secure you as a disciple. He is not satisfied that you should be just one of those who are believers. Think of Joseph; it says of him when he was seventeen that he had a judgment about his brethren, and, he had a good relationship with his father. The Lord has given us plenty of

examples in Scripture to show that we are not to be hindered by circumstances and by the surroundings, even among believers. We need only follow the Lord, not men, not groups.

So Paul takes this young man, “Him would Paul have go forth with him, and took him”.

Timothy was ready to go; he did not know what was before him. This disciple, Timotheus, is one who sets out the true character of believers in these last days. Titus is another good man who followed Paul, but Timothy especially is given us as an example, or model, of what the Lord would look for in believers in these days. We could say more about him, but I want to consider these verses in 2 Timothy 3; “Thou” is emphasized, “but thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching”—“thoroughly acquainted”. That is another thing you need as a disciple, to get acquainted with every resource of help, and there are many resources. We do not have Paul personally among us, but by the ministry of the recovery we get a beautiful picture of Paul. There is the special character of his ministry, and the Lord has allowed us to have so much about Paul, his writings, and also the history of his labours in the book of the Acts, that we get, in measure, by the Spirit, acquainted with him. Let us study these things; let us not be superficial with our study. The Lord has helped in the ministry of the revival to get a clearer picture of Paul. The Lord Jesus has given gifts to instruct us and to help us to get acquainted with these things. Do not spend your time with things that are not necessary. I met some young brothers recently and they were concerned not to be wasting time. They realized that there are more precious things to go in for. That is discipleship.

The Lord would help us, dear brethren, to get acquainted, thoroughly acquainted, with the teaching.

In every meeting there is something fresh, something special; maybe it is only one remark to carry home, but in that way we get more light as to the Scriptures. Do not miss the meetings.

A disciple would not do it; he would stand the test. If you think the natural is first, the Lord says, If you give first place to what is natural you cannot be my disciple. So Timothy had to face that test. He overcame it; but Mark failed in it. The natural brought him back to Jerusalem, but Timothy came through.

Then Paul speaks about his conduct. That is another thing that we have to find out, especially from our older brethren. We need to find out the way they live. I think the first epistle to Timothy is a great help to us too, showing that piety is an important feature of those who follow the Lord Jesus as His disciples. Piety is profitable for everything. Piety means to be with God in our circumstances, to seek God; not only to have God with us, but to seek Him, to find out what He is looking for. There is a great, lack of piety at the present time.

Then, “But thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my … purpose”. Paul was a man of purpose, and a disciple would be a man of purpose. You can think of Daniel; he was a man of purpose, purpose of heart. Barnabas encouraged the young believers in Antioch to abide with the Lord with purpose of heart (see Acts 11: 23). People normally have a purpose and know what they are at, but believers should be even more marked by having a purpose. Paul was a man of purpose.

Those older brethren who have overcome so many exercises, so many critical times, have come through because they have been people with a purpose; they have had a right view. Our brother Dr. Roberts

mentioned in Cologne many years ago that a sailor, in order to reach the harbour, needs to set his sails rightly. He has a purpose, and he regulates everything according to it. So what is our purpose? What is the goal that we are aiming at? Everything must give way to this. The Lord speaks of discipleship in Luke 14: 28, and He says that we need to sit down and to count the cost of the matter. But then, when you sit down, the Lord would show you that the means are not with you, but they are with Him. Paul says in Philippians, “But I have all things in full supply and abound” (Philippians 4: 18). It shows that he had counted the cost and he had looked at the things he had to face, and he says, “I have strength for all things in him that gives me power”, Philippians 4: 13. It is the answer to the exercise of sitting down and seeing whether you can build this tower, or face the army of the enemy—your resource is “in him that gives me power”. I just want to encourage the brethren, especially the young ones, to become “thoroughly acquainted”; we have the help of the Holy Spirit in that.

Paul finishes with the sufferings, which Timothy knew well. There were the sufferings in Timothy’s own place, where he came from, special sufferings. Paul was almost killed in that area and Timothy knew that the Lord gave him strength. Paul rose up and went into the city (Acts 14: 20). He refers to these special sufferings and persecutions. I think it may also allude to the fact that we are acquainted as to how the Lord’s rights have been set aside in the areas where we live, and there are those who have suffered and stood for them.

When we look at John 12—I think it has been spoken about in this way before—the Lord Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it; it is like

Paul finding Timothy. The Lord would like to use you in His testimony, and He would like to use you to bring in His glory. John speaks about these matters in a special way. In other gospels the Lord used the disciples or the apostles to find what He needed, but in this gospel Jesus found the young ass Himself. It is remarkable in John how the Lord does things Himself, and others feel their lack. There was a wedding and they had not enough wine, but He was there. He was the source of supply for everything. Later on they went to buy food, but He was there, though they did not know His resources. Then we find that they needed much food to feed the multitude of people and there was a little boy who had something.

They thought it was not enough, but it was enough, because there was something, some impression of the Lord Jesus, and He made it to be enough for several thousand, just want to point to this fact, that however many may go astray, however many may disregard His rights over us, if there is only one disciple it is for the blessing of many. Paul tells Timothy that all in Asia had left him (see 2 Timothy 1: 15), but there were still a few, and they were enough to bring in the great heavenly blessing. So if one is here and is ready to take up this matter of discipleship, the Lord would use it to bring blessing for many.

We see here how He found this young ass. I think it is a type of a young person whom the Lord would use. There were overcomers, because they took branches of palms; there were those who overcame, I would encourage the dear brethren with this scripture. There are those who have overcome, and they went out to meet Him. There is no other desire with them than to meet the Lord Jesus, and He comes. John quotes the scripture, “Fear not, daughter of Zion”; she is a picture of the sovereign mercy of God. We are here, dear brethren, as subjects of the sovereign mercy of God. The Lord began this wonderful revival, and the enemy has done what he could to destroy it, and he is doing it still; but there are these mercies of God, the sovereignty of God. It is not through our merit that we are here, it is His sovereign mercy and He says, “Fear not, daughter of Zion”.

We should fear not—“Fear not”. What a salutation, dear brethren, “Behold, thy King cometh”. It is the King in His glory and beauty, like the king who is referred to in the Song of Songs when the daughters of Zion see the king crowned with the crown with which his mother has crowned him (see Song of Solomon 3: 11). It is His glory, His beauty—“thy King cometh”. He comes, and He may come in by a young person, a young sister, a young brother, persons who have committed themselves fully to be available for Him, to answer to the appeal of His love, the appeal of His sufferings for us, and the Lord will come in with comfort. How wonderful it is!

I am sure He has persons available. How wonderful that He can use some person. He could use, in the book of Job, a young person, Elihu, in the end to bring in His presence. All the other discussions were nothing compared with the availability of this young man. He brought relief to Job who, by his service, was impressed by the presence of the Lord. May we be encouraged that the Lord will have His vessels; He will have what He needs, and He knows where they are, He finds them, and He takes them, and He brings in His glory. “Fear not, daughter of Zion”—what a remnant was there in Jerusalem at that time, only a few, as we find in the gospels, who really longed for the coming of the Lord. The officials and the crowds were poisoned by wrong things, wrong hopes and wrong expectations, but He came in to a poor and afflicted people, and the footnote says that He comes in in the same character as that which He finds in His people. (The footnote in the German translation to Zechariah 9: 9 is ‘lowly or afflicted’ as also in Zechariah 11: 11 where “the afflicted of the flock” recognize the word of Jehovah). May the Lord help us and encourage us, and especially encourage the hearts of the younger brethren. How the Lord longs that they may be fully in His things, fully linked with His interests for the few days, hours perhaps, in which we can do this before His coming.

Address at Redbridge
8 November 1986