Sunday, September 27 · The Oaks Church
Make Mature Multiply
Paul keeps going back to strengthen the disciples he already made, and the sermon names six essentials of a healthy discipleship that makes disciples, matures them, and multiplies them into others.
The passages
When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, and went down to Antioch. Having spent some time there, he departed and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.
Acts 18:22–23
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:19–20
He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”
Matthew 4:19
He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach…
Mark 3:14
Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately. When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him; and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Acts 18:24–28
The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:2
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus and found certain disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said to him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” He said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke with other languages and prophesied. They were about twelve men in all.
Acts 19:1–7
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22–23
Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know about your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:3–4
John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.
Luke 3:16
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
Romans 8:9
In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,…
Ephesians 1:13
Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.
John 3:5
He entered into the synagogue and spoke boldly for a period of three months, reasoning and persuading about the things concerning God’s Kingdom. But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This continued for two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
Acts 19:8–10
Go deeper
If it all depended on me, would my faith end with me?
Paul barely unpacks before he is back on the road strengthening the disciples he had already made. The fear underneath the question is that what we know of Jesus stays in our own head and never reaches the person next to us. Timothy is the one Paul hands it to, and Paul expects him to hand it on again.
When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, and went down to Antioch. Having spent some time there, he departed and went through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, in order, establishing all the disciples.
Acts 18:22–23
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:19–20
The things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit the same things to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:2
These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Deuteronomy 6:6–7
What is a disciple, really?
The word gets used for anyone who is around Jesus, so the sermon goes back to the moment he calls the first fishermen. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Peter and Andrew drop their nets, and the call holds three things at once: following, being remade, and doing what Jesus did.
He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”
Matthew 4:19
He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach…
Mark 3:14
He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
Luke 9:23
I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
How do I grow when I don't have it all figured out yet?
Apollos is eloquent and knows the scriptures, and he still has gaps. Priscilla and Aquila take him aside and explain the way of God more accurately. He did not wait until he was complete to start teaching, and his gaps got filled inside a relationship rather than a classroom.
Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Acts 18:24–26
Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.
Proverbs 27:17
When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him; and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
Acts 18:27–28
For although by this time you should be teachers, you again need to have someone teach you the rudiments of the first principles of the revelations of God. You have come to need milk, and not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is not experienced in the word of righteousness, for he is a baby. But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.
Hebrews 5:12–14
Can I help someone else grow if I'm still growing myself?
Aquila and Priscilla hear Apollos preach, notice the gaps, and do not shame him. They use what they know to help him, and they sit under his teaching too. Both directions happen in the same room, which only works if your worth is not riding on which one you are that day.
He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
Acts 18:26
The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.
Proverbs 11:25
For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another, having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us: if prophecy, let’s prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; or service, let’s give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; or he who exhorts, to his exhorting; he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:4–8
I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:6–7
Does my life actually show that the Spirit is in me?
Paul meets twelve men in Ephesus who have the language and the devotion but seem to be missing the Spirit, and he simply asks them. It is a searching question, the kind you ask your own life when the fruit is thin. The fruit Paul looks for is love, joy, peace, patience, and the rest.
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus and found certain disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said to him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” He said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke with other languages and prophesied.
Acts 19:1–6
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22–23
Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know about your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
2 Corinthians 13:5
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
Romans 8:9