Sent Out - The Twelve

M28 is all about embracing and living out the "Great Commission."  This was Jesus' ultimate command sending his followers out.  But it wasn't the first.  This entry and the next few will look at the different times Jesus sent out his disciples.

Luke and Matthew both go into detail about Jesus sending out disciples for the first time.

As mentioned in the previous blog post Jesus had more than the twelve disciples.  Yet the twelve had a closer relationship to Jesus.  It was to these 12 that he shared the meanings behind the parables.  It was with these 12 that he shared life with for about three years.  They heard his teachings and saw the miraculous healing he did everywhere he went.

They were the best candidates to be imitators of him.

They saw what he did.  How he lived and acted.   More so than anyone.  So it was this same group of 12 men that he sent out the first time.

He gave them some very vague and very specific instructions.  But before the instructions he gave them something else.  He gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and heal every disease and sickness.  Matthew 10:1

After that he gave them the instructions.  Go to the lost of Israel, not the Gentiles.  The lost of Israel could be anyone.  The friends and neighbors of the disciples.  Their family.  Their former co-workers.  Fishermen, tax collectors, the zealots and others.  Or even strangers and those unknown to the twelve.

Next he told them to proclaim this message as they went, "The kingdom of heaven has come near."  This made the disciples heralds or messengers.  I like the definition of herald over at dictionary.com.

"a person or thing that precedes or comes before; forerunner; harbinger"

Forerunner.  Harbinger.  Intense sounding words.  But that is exactly what these guys were.  They went ahead of Jesus proclaiming the kingdom heaven was near.  This message they proclaimed to their fellow countrymen.  

The next thing Jesus tells them to do, is to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy and drive out demons.

Raise the dead?

I can just see Peter now.  He elbows Andrew, "Bro, this is awesome!  We get to go proclaim the kingdom is near, heal the sick, raise the dead, clean the lepers...whoa hold up.  Did he just say, 'raise the dead?'"

I mean can you imagine that?!  Try to imagine yourself in that position.  It's your turn to go out.  Jesus is sending you.  All you've really done up to this point is listen and watch.  Your first assignment is to go heal people, cast out demons, and raise the dead.  That is steep learning curve.

And that is where faith comes into it.  Jesus gave them the authority to heal the sick, and drive out demons.  The Bible doesn't specifically mention raising the dead in the authorities Jesus gave them.  But Jesus told them to do it.

If Jesus thinks I can do it...

Jesus goes on with a few more instructions.  They were not to take any money.  They weren't to pack any extra clothes or equipment.  They were pretty much told to go as they were.  Jesus wraps that instruction up with, "for workers are worth their keep."  In my translation that means, "if you do well, people will feed and clothe you as needed."

He also instructs them how to interact with the towns and villages.  Look for a "worthy person" and stay with that person until you leave.  When you enter the house, give it a greeting.  If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it.  If it is not, let your peace return to you.

If you are not welcomed, shake the dust from your feet when you leave that home or town.

And that is essentially it for Jesus' instructions.

1.  Go

2.  Proclaim the kingdom of heaven is near

3.  Heal the sick, drive out demons, raise the dead

4.  Don't take anything with you

5.  Rules for conduct in towns/homes

Then Jesus launches into a challenge for them.  He says, "I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves."  (Matthew 10:16)  He then proceeds to tell them that they will face all sorts of dangers.  They will be hated, persecuted.  There will be turmoil in families because of Jesus and the message the disciples bring.  Jesus tells them this and lets them know that they aren't greater than their teacher.  He is alluding to what is to come for him.  That, he too, will face persecution and punishment.

He then told them to not fear what may come.  That it is better to fear God rather than people, who can only kill the body.  He finishes instructing them, and he leaves.  He goes to Galilee to teach and preach.  He kept working.

I know there are all sorts of scholars and teachers who can dive deeper into the heart of all this instruction and how it would have looked through the lens of that Eastern culture.  I can't go into what the meanings of having your peace rest on a house are.

The best thing I can take away from this for us today is faith.

Faith in Jesus.

Without that, we might as well stay home.  If we don't believe in the one who sent us, we aren't doing any good.  Let's step back just a little and look at what happened right before Jesus sent out the 12. 

Matthew 9:35-38 

Jesus is going through town after town, teaching, proclaiming the good news, and healing every disease.  He sees the crowds and has compassion on them.  They were like sheep with out a shepherd.  He then says to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." 

We see this similar expression stated in Luke 10:2.  The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  So what needs to be done about that...workers need to be found and sent.  The harvest field is Earth, and it belongs to God because he is the Lord of the harvest. 

We are the workers.  The harvest is right there.  It's plentiful.

We just need to go. 

With faith in the one who sent us.  Jesus. 

What can you do?  Today? 

Well, the first thing you can do is believe Jesus.  Next, pray for the workers.  Then pray that you would see the harvest field around you, and begin to work in it.  If you don't know how to do that, pray some more, read the Bible.  Study Jesus and how he dealt with people.  Live and love like he did. 

Soon the M28 website will be up and running and there will be all sorts of resources available to help you live out the Great Commission.  In the mean time feel free to contact me Jersey via email and I can connect you to people or info that can help. 

Next week:  Sent Out - The Seventy Two  (Reading:  Luke 9:51-10:24)

know the Hope
-Jersey

Discipleship 101 - Wash, Rinse, Repeat

Disciple.

That one word summons up so many different images and meanings.  It makes me think of Peter, James, John and the other nine men who followed Jesus about.  Fishermen, tax collectors, the necessary and the unwanted.

It also makes me think of the crowds that followed Jesus.  They were also referred to as his disciples.  After rereading some of the gospels recently I now see this larger crowd of people that continually followed him.  Not the five thousand mind you, but more than just the twelve.  There were at least a few women as Luke tells us in his gospel. (Luke 8:1-3)

           

            “The Twelve were with him, and also some women…”

There are so many other images that disciple paints in my mind.  Some good some bad.  The difference is what teacher the disciple is following.

The word disciple comes from a Latin word, discipulus, meaning “pupil,”  This word came from discipere.  Broken down dis meaning apart, asunder, separate; capere to take, grasp, lay hold of.  So a disciple is one who takes hold of things that are apart.  They grasp things that are not together.  One who learns.  A student.

So what is discipleship?  The act of learning or teaching depending on which side of the proverbial desk you are sitting on.

Jesus was called “rabbi” or teacher.  His followers were called disciples.  His followers 2,000 years ago, and those who follow him today.

Disciples.

You.  Me.  That smelly guy at the end of the counter you passed entering a local diner for breakfast.  That guy in the shiny car and tailored suit.  The waitress I didn’t leave a tip for because she didn’t refill my Dr. Pepper enough. 

That’s the incredible thing about being a disciple of Jesus.  Anyone, anywhere could be one.  God doesn’t just teach people who walk into the halls of what is called a “church.”  Disciples can be found anywhere.  There is no one centralized place people go to become disciples of Jesus.

Disciples can learn in a house, a coffee shop, a tattoo parlor, a sun washed beach, a storm shattered house in the US Mid-West, a street corner in Europe, an Aids deathbed in Africa.

It’s not the place, the clothing, or the trappings that make a disciple.  It’s a soul yearning for a connection to it’s maker.  A heart ready to learn, grow, change, and give.  Discipleship is not restricted by age, wealth, social status, education, gender or what kind of music you listen to.

Jesus taught fishermen, tax collectors, people who had been demon possessed, rich, poor, young, old, men and women, Jews and Gentiles.  Israel and the Jewish people were his entry point, and when he left he sent his disciples to the world.  To continue on what he started.  To teach as he had taught and carry it into all the world.

We could get into all sorts of depth about the different meanings behind the four gospel commissions, and how they contrast or relate to the Creation command, but there are others who know more about that, and have already written about it.  (ie Jonathan Dodson - http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001678.cfm)

What I find to be the same in all of them, and at the very core of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is that we are to “go.”  No where does it say, “stay where you are and build up programs and palaces of worship and attract people to Christ.”  No.  Jesus tells us to go.  For some, that is down the street to mentor and disciple a neighbor.  For others it’s traveling to prisons, or schools.  For others still it’s getting on a plane and going to another country.

The Commission

There is a physicality and movement to the command “go.”  There is nothing sedentary about it.  The command is simple.  Matthew 28:18-20  (NASB)

¹⁸And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Go.  Make.  Baptize.  Teach.

Verbs.  Actions.  Jesus’ last words to his disciples, his students, were a call to action.  Some were still struggling with belief of what had happened after his death.  Yet he tells them to go out.  They have believed, in faith.  Now they were to teach, in faith.

I’ve heard it said that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else.

Jesus’ students are told to go into the rest of the world and told to; wash, rinse, repeat.

Step 1:

Go, move, leave where you are to be somewhere else.  Next door, or around the world.

Step 2:

Make students.  People who will grasp things that are separate.  Like Sin and Grace.

Step 3:

Baptize them in the name of God:  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Step 4:

Teach them to obey, follow, adhere to, the commands Jesus gave.  Including, Go.

Step 5:

Repeat.  Because 11 people didn’t make disciples of all nations on the first go.

This isn’t meant to be a formula or code to follow.  I’m just breaking down the verbs of the Commission. 

Discipleship

Discipleship is not a 3 week class held on Sunday mornings for 30 to 45 minutes.  It’s not a book with a clever plan on “how to.”  As a disciple of Jesus we never stop learning or growing.  There is no graduation or achievement levels.  There is no standardized testing, with multiple choice and No. 2 pencils.

Discipleship is a way of living.  It is continual learning and growing in our relationship with Jesus, and others whether they share the same faith or not.

There are many books and teachings about how to disciple.  I won’t really recommend one over another partially because I haven’t read enough of them to offer opinions on the methods.

What I will tell you is this, discipleship is both simple and complex.  The way to do discipleship can be very simple and uncomplicated.  But there will be complex conversations and questions.  And the very nature of what is being taught is complicated.

Jesus was our example of how to teach disciples.  He pulled it off with out a single youtube video, powerpoint presentation, sporting arena, or even a megaphone.  He taught from his heart what he knew the Father wanted us to know.  It’s all laid out for us in scripture.

Making a disciple requires very few physical things.  A teacher, a student and a Bible.  It can be that simple.  There also needs to be a desire to learn and grow in both parties, and the presence of the Holy Spirit.  It’s the Spirit that makes the growth happen.  It’s the Spirit that opens up the complexities and mysteries of the Word to the hearts of both teacher and student.

Teach the Word.  Not traditions.  As one teaching, you must be as deep or deeper in the Word than the one being taught.  Dive in.  Breathe deep the fragrance of life that springs from it’s pages.  Teach others to be like Jesus by living the way Jesus lived.

You must first be a disciple if you want to make a disciple.

To be a disciple of Jesus is to take hold of the grace and promises of God and join them to what is separate from them, our sinful nature, our hearts, minds and souls.  This is only possible because of what Jesus accomplished for us through his death and resurrection.

Jesus didn’t wait for humanity to come to Heaven.  He left everything he was took on the pain and suffering of being human so he could be with us.  He wanted to be with us so he could teach us how to live, and love, and serve the Father.

He came to us.

And so those who follow him, must also go, make, baptize, teach…repeat.

Grace and Peace

Welcome to the M28 Ministry Blog!

Make sure to subscribe, regularly posted content to arrive soon!

Thanks for coming by,

-M28 Ministry Team