Deeper Reflection
THE THIRD PRINCIPLE FOR DISCIPLEMAKING AND SPIRITUAL reproduction that we can glean from the Paul-and-Timothy association is: Following Christ is paramount. At the heart of disciplemaking is: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). It sounds like a very tall order, such that we would ask, “Who is able to do that?”We need to, first and foremost, ask, “What is a Christian life?” A Christian life is essentially summed up in the two words of Jesus to us: “Follow Me” (Matt 4:19). And in the “Follow Me” is the theological reality of “Christ lives in me”. Paul defines the Christian life as “no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). As we follow Jesus by His empowering and life-transforming Spirit, “Christ who lives in me” fleshes out and lives out His life in us, which Paul calls “the life of Jesus manifested in our mortal bodies” (2 Cor 4:10-11). Thus, for Paul, disciplemaking is “I teach my ways in Christ. So, be imitators of me” and Timothy could represent Paul to teach others (vv.16-17). For in the same spirit, Paul could say about Timothy: “You, however, followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings” (2 Tim 3:10-11). The “my” is not egocentric. It is a “my” filled with Christ and fleshing out Christ. We know we have reproduced a “Timothy” when the person we are discipling is “following my…”.Personal discipleship is the most basic in discipling others. We disciple others out of following Jesus.