You then my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
– 2 Timothy 2:1–2
This is one of the clearest pictures, examples, illustrations in the New Testament of the command Jesus gave us in Matthew 28:19 to go and make disciples of all the nations. Do you see? Did you hear the succession here?
You have heard from me these truths, this gospel in the presence of many witnesses.
2 Timothy 2:1–2 Teaches Us the Significance of a Reproducible Faith
So just pause there, think about who shared the gospel with you. Think about the people who have shown you what it means to follow Jesus. And we could just stop right there and just spend time praying and praising God for the people who shared the gospel with us. Who’ve entrusted the gospel to us. Who God has used in our lives to show us how to follow Jesus.
So what you’ve heard from me in the presence of many witnesses… So that’s some people sharing the gospel with us… Then us entrust that to other people who will be faithful with it. So the gospel’s not intended to stop with us. It’s intended to spread through us. So who are you sharing the gospel with? Who are you showing what it means to follow Jesus? And then we entrust that to them who will be able to teach others also.
2 Timothy 2:1–2 Teaches Us the Need for Multiplication in Discipleship
So we don’t just lead other people to be disciples. We lead other people to make disciples, to lead other people to Jesus. And this is how the gospel spreads to all the nations through disciples who make disciples, who make disciples through disciple-makers. This is what God has called every follower of Jesus to be. And if we’re not careful, we can miss it. We can totally miss what the privilege and the honor and the joy and the calling of God in our lives.
So many Christians are tempted to think, well, what can I really do to reach the nations with the gospel? And Jesus is saying, “Here’s what you can do. You can make disciples who make disciples, who make disciples, with the goal of doing this among all the nations of the Earth.” Everybody can do this. Everybody is called by God to do this. God has not saved any one of his children to sideline them in the Great Commission.
This Verse Encourages Us to Share the Gospel Message
God has invited you today to be a part of the Great Commission, to take the gospel, the truth you have been given, and to pass it on to others in such a way that they pass it on to others. So God, help us to be faithful to do this. All of us. We praise you, God, we thank you for the people who shared the gospel with us. God all glory be to your name for them loving us enough to share the gospel with us, to show us what it means to follow Jesus. Thank you for those who have made disciples in our lives.
And God, we pray that you’d help us to do the same in others’ lives. Today, tomorrow, help us to share the gospel with others. Help us to lead others to follow you, to show others what it means to follow you. God, help us to take our place in this chain and this succession of disciple-making disciples help us to do that in others’ lives in such a way that they, as a result of us sharing the gospel with them, as a result of us showing them how to follow Jesus, that they do the same thing in others’ lives.
God, we pray that you would help us all to be disciple-makers as disciples of Jesus, to not let your love, your Word, your truth, your gospel, stop with us. But God, cause it to spread through us until all the nations of the earth have been reached with it.
Prayer for the Kami People
God, we pray, help us to be faithful, to make disciples, not just among people who look like us, but among all the peoples of the Earth. Lord, for the Kami people of Nepal, 1.5 million of them, no known followers of Jesus. God for the Kami people of Nepal and West Bengal, India, please cause disciples to be made among them. We’re praying for that right now. And we say, God, however you want to use our lives to lead people to Jesus among the nations, use them.
We pray that you would answer our prayers now. You would use our resources, our money, our time, our gifts, our talents to make disciples of all the nations. And you would help us to faithfully carry out this commission right where we live and wherever you lead us in the world, until all the nations have been reached with the good news of your love, in Jesus that somebody reached us with. We pray all this according to your word in 2 Timothy 2:1–2. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
