Invest in the Lives of Others

You heard me teach things that have been confirmed
by many reliable witnesses.
Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people
who will be able to pass them on to others.
(2 Timothy 2:2)

Jesus gave the church its marching orders in practical terms. You’re probably familiar with His words:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19–20 NASB)

Here in Jesus’ Great Commission to His followers, we find no greater challenge . . . and no more comforting promise. But you probably have never considered the Great Commission as part of what makes a church contagious. The command to “make disciples” has two parts. The first, “baptising them,” assumes that we’ll share our faith with the lost. The second, “teaching them to observe,” directs us to share our lives of faith with those who have believed in Jesus. Returning to the second chapter of Paul’s final letter to Timothy, we see the practical outworking of how the Lord intends this “teaching” to occur:

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2 NASB)

This verse offers us this distinctive: churches that are contagious faithfully mentor those who are coming along in the Christian life. The verb that gives us this direction is entrust. We invest the truth like a trust in the lives of others. We have a valuable message we pass along to others.

A church is not just a gathering of people who sit and listen to one person preach. As important as the message is, it is only part of the passing of the baton. One person’s life touches the life of another, who then touches the lives of people in his or her sphere of influence—those whom the originator would never have known. To make it even more exciting, those recipients, in turn, touch the lives of others also. That is a contagious ministry.