Bible Study - Special Lesson - Mentoring - 2 Timothy 2 and 3 - July 14, 2019

Bible Study – Special Lesson – Mentoring – July 14, 2019

This is a special lesson entitled “Mentoring: How to Equip and Encourage Others.”

Our focus scripture is 2 Timothy 2:1-2, 3:10-17.

Your life changing encounter with CHRIST should be shared with others.

Someone helped you grow in CHRIST; do the same for someone else.

When you mentor others you benefit from it greatly. Those who mentor must study to ensure that what is passed along is accurate and true.

The business community has been mentoring for many years, as well as, the religious community. Each one teaches one produces qualified workers or those who know the truth of Christianity pass it along to fellow Christians and others.

The Apostle Paul wrote this, his last letter, to his protégé, his adopted son, Timothy from prison in Rome. Paul was preparing Timothy to carry on with the work of sharing the Gospel. Paul urged Timothy not to allow what might happen to him, Paul, discourage him, Timothy, from slacking off in the ministry of CHRIST, as Paul had taught him. Let’s explore!

Often, church leadership fails to help new Christians to understand what has taken place in their lives once they ask JESUS to forgive them for their sins and for HIM to come into their lives. It is CHRIST in the person that makes him or her a Christian. Becoming a Christian is the beginning of the process of sanctification, which is for the person to be made into the image of JESUS. Once a person is born-again into the family of GOD, he or she still has the freedom to choose how much of their life he or she will yield to GOD and to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Being born-again into the family of GOD is just the beginning.

What would happen to an infant once born if the parent or parents told their new born son or daughter: “Your food is in the kitchen and your diapers are in the closet, so take care of yourself.” Of course, the baby would die because the baby needs care and so do new born Christians.

Why don’t we have more mentors or fellow Christians to mentor others? It is sad to say but most Christians do not understand their relationship to JESUS and GOD and the truth that is embodied in that relationship. I count myself in with that group as well. I am 81 and I look back over my life and see how the LORD has brought me through much and HE is still revealing truth and teaching me to dispel the false and embrace the truth. Many may think, “If only I could start with what I know now and build upon that foundation!”

Do you recall the scripture verse in Proverbs 27:17: As iron sharpens iron, so does one person sharpen another person? Do the issues we encounter in life shape us? Bread has to be kneaded and let to rest to yield a good product and so do we as Christians. We have all the ingredients but it often takes time for it all to come together as the desired product.

In the words of Dr. Vance Havner, Christians must practice in the dark what they learn in the light.” Easy to write or say but difficult to practice.

All of us have a testimony of how and when we came to a saving knowledge of JESUS. When we encounter JESUS, it may be as dramatic as the Apostle Paul or it may be as the rising of the sun early in the morning. When we see the early light of dawn, we know the sun is rising. More and more light is revealed, until it is fully light and a new day. For some people it takes time, for others it is dramatic, like Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. Paul or Saul was headed to Damascus to round up Christians and either kill them or put them into prison for being a Christian. Christians in that time period referred to themselves as “The Way.”

Paul encountered JESUS on the road to Damascus and in an instant his life changed from being the enemy of Christians to placing his faith in JESUS as the promised Messiah and becoming a Christian. Not all Christians have this dramatic conversion experience. However, it is CHRIST in you that makes you a Christian, not what Christian organization you might become a member.

When the Apostle Paul looked back over his life and how he had killed and imprisoned Christians, he knew that the shed blood of JESUS has paid, in full, the penalty for his sins. Why would JESUS do such a thing? It was by the grace of GOD. Thus, as we read ----

Let’s read 2 Timothy 2:1-2:

Be Strong in Grace

2 You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ² And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

As with Paul, all of us who have or will place our faith in JESUS, it is by GOD’S grace that we are saved from our sins and washed whiter than snow because of the shed blood of JESUS. So, Paul admonished Timothy, his adopted son, to keep “GOD’S Grace” foremost in him mind.

Paul knew that he was a sinner and it was only by the “grace” of GOD and him placing his faith in JESUS that he was free from the consequence of sin, which is eternal death. The Good News is that all who place their faith in JESUS receive eternal life and are born Spiritually, in their spirit, to become GOD’S Child.

Paul had not hidden his former life but freely told others of how he was a sinner and was converted to become an unwavering disciple of JESUS.

Soldier Saul had guarded the coats of the Jews who stoned Stephen, the first Christian martyr as recorded in Acts 7.

The Apostle Paul had a passion to establish new churches and to mentor others to rightly understand and share the scriptures so that others could know, with certainty, that JESUS was GOD’S promise Messiah and how they could become eternally born into GOD’S Kingdom.

In verse 2, Paul instructed Timothy to seek the leadership of the Holy Spirit to lead him to “commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” He should not neglect others but to focus on those interested in teaching others.

Let’s read 2 Timothy 3:10-13:

Struggles in the Christian Life

¹⁰ But you have followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and endurance, ¹¹ along with the persecutions and sufferings that came to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from them all. ¹² In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. ¹³ Evil people and impostors will become worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Timothy had witnessed the life of Paul. His:

-         Teaching

-         Conduct

-         Purpose

-         Faith

-         Patience

-         Love

-         Endurance

This is quite a list. Paul was an open book to Timothy, the good times and the bad times and all in between times. Ouch! Paul mentioned persecutions and sufferings and the places where some of these events took place. Paul wanted Timothy to keep in mind that ministry for the LORD JESUS was not and would not be easy. As Paul was an example for him, he would be an example for others that he would mentor. Be honest, the Christian life is tough.

The key is that “Yet the Lord rescued me from them all.” Yes, serving is tough but GOD is your ultimate mentor.

This is the key to living the Christian life. Just as new born babies crave milk, new born Christians crave the milk of GOD’S Word and having an intimate, loving, personal, dynamic relationship with GOD. As Christians build the right relationship with GOD, they learn that it is their faith in GOD and trusting HIM to handle the issues in our lives that gives us rest. Does that mean we do nothing? It could be but allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead you to what your part is and trust GOD with HIS part and the wisdom to know the difference.

To read more about the sufferings of Paul read 2 Corinthians 11:23-28.

Notice in verse 12, “In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

As Christians, Paul tells Christians who “want to live Godly lives in CHRIST JESUS” to expect to be persecuted and that the world is going to get worse not better.

How would you rate Paul’s statement today?

Let’s read 2 Timothy 3: 14-17:

¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, ¹⁵ and you know that from childhood you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God^[b] and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Paul instructed Timothy to build upon the truth he already knows. The truth he knows comes from the solid foundation of GOD’S Word, The Scripture. He, in turn, must point those he mentors to use GOD’S Word as the foundation for all truth. Why? Because:

¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God^[b] and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Some may think, “But the Bible was written so long ago, why is it relevant today?” I thought that at one time myself. It is the Holy Spirit within you as a Christian that makes it relevant and fresh in today’s world. Do you recall the teaching of JESUS to the woman at the well?

HE said, as recorded in John 4:9-10:

⁹ “How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with^[d] Samaritans.^[e]

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.”

Living water is always fresh water coming from GOD Himself within every Christian who seeks truth. It is a mystery as JESUS instructed Nicodemus in John 3:6-8:

⁶ Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I told you that you^[c] must be born again. ⁸ The wind^[d] blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit reveals truth. The Holy Spirit indwells every born-again Christian. The Holy Spirit keeps Christians on the leading edge of where GOD is working to guide Christians to where HE desires for them to work.

We who know the truth are to mentor others as GOD continues to teach us and gives us opportunity. Pray that GOD will lead you to a person you can mentor and then look for that opportunity.

But continue to study GOD’S Word, pray and witness so that you will be prepared when GOD gives you that opportunity. One thing to have ready is your testimony of your old life before you asked JESUS to come into your life, how you came to know JESUS as your personal Savior and life since you have accepted JESUS. People may argue the Bible, but find it difficult to argue against a personal testimony. Blessings!!!