Being a Disciple

In church this past Sunday, as part of our continuing sermon series on the book of Acts, the message was on Acts 18:24-28 about Apollos, a Jew who was speaking about Jesus and how Priscilla and Aquilla took him aside to disciple him so that he could explain “the way of God more adequately.” This is recorded in Acts as follows:

Acts 18:24-28 (NIV) Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He has been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquilla heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.

A later reference to Apollos in the book of 1 Corinthians shows how the apostle Paul refers to Apollos in their shared work of spreading the good news:

1 Cor. 3:6-9 (NIV) I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

At the close of the sermon, we were challenged by noting that each Christian should be involved in discipleship – either by discipling others or being discipled ourselves. We had earlier been asked if we knew the Bible well enough that we could defend our position if we were challenged by someone.

These brought to mind a situation that I found myself in nearly 20 years ago that I thought worthwhile to relate.

When I was working for Air Products, the IT department, of which I was a part, was a pretty large department. There were quite often new people coming on board – either as permanent hires or as contractors. One fellow who worked down the hall from me, Dan, I had actually provided a reference for as he was the son of a man whom I sang with in a quartet at church. I didn’t interact with him a lot as he was in a different part of the department, but I would see him in passing on a regular basis.

That year we had brought in a few new contractors and one of them was a young man from India. I had been introduced to him and knew what he would be working on, but otherwise I didn’t have a lot of interactions with him. But then one Sunday I saw him in church – he had been invited by my co-worker, Dan. In going to talk to him after the service, I found that he had come from a Christian family in India. Dan had discovered this and invited him to our church. He began coming on a regular basis and I began to get to know him better at work as well because of our shared experiences.

A few weeks later he approached me at work and asked if we could have lunch together some day as he had some questions for me. Since I had a lot of experience with the company, I was often called upon to give some perspective to IT-related issues that came up, so it did not surprise me that he wanted to talk to me. We set a date for later in the week.

When the date arrived, we met down at the entrance to the cafeteria, got our food, and went to a table toward the back of the cafeteria where we could discuss uninterrupted. We each got started eating, then I asked him what his questions were about. Since we only had a half-hour for lunch, there was about 20 minutes left for discussion. He got right to the point – but it was not an IT-related question!

His question was, “Can you explain the trinity to me?”

I’m not sure if the shock showed on my face, but my mind was racing for the next several seconds. Evidently, although he had been raised in a Christian family in India, he did not have a good understanding of some of the concepts of Christianity. But this topic had evidently been mentioned during the sermons over the past few weeks. And since he knew by this time that I was an elder at our church, he saw me as a good person to help educate him.

Since he had asked to meet with me during an encounter at work and we were meeting in the cafeteria there, I had presumed that it was a work-related question. So, I was totally unprepared for this sort of topic.

When Paul is giving advice to Timothy, he says (2 Tim. 4:2, NIV), “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.” Well, this was definitely one of those “out of season” moments! But as a church elder, I knew this verse and so I quickly shifted my expectations of our meeting and began to respond and to instruct.

In the intervening years I have watched this young man grow and mature. The following year he made a trip back to India where he got married (an arranged marriage as is their custom). He and his wife are now the parents to three lovely children. He has moved and now attends another church, he has changed jobs a couple of times, and we now only see each other via social media. But I still have a fondness for he and his family and am happy that as Paul noted, I was one of the people who helped to “water” him in his Christian experience.

The below picture is from a few years ago, but you can see the joy on the faces of this wonderful family!

I’ve been a Christian for several decades, and I was an elder in our church for 32 years before I retired from active eldership. I am still being discipled by others and continuing to learn. And when I’m not being discipled, then I need to remain vigilant for opportunities to disciple others – even when it’s a question “out of the blue” that I was not expecting.

Many years ago, a dear friend, who is no longer with us, gave a challenge that we each need to adopt a personal mission statement. Mine is, “to use the gifts and talents that God has given me in ways that are pleasing to Him.” I take this mission statement very seriously and it guides my life.