14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons (Mark 3:14-15)
In last week’s church bulletin, I made the point that Jesus had built a relationship with Peter, Andrew, James and John long before he called them to follow him. Disciples – whether we are discipling people to faith in Jesus or to maturity in Jesus and learning how to fish for people – are made through relationships. As God the Father begins to reveal to Jesus those whom He is already at work, Jesus begins investing himself into them. Remember Jesus’ MO in John 5:19-20 and I’m paraphrasing, “I only do what I see the Father doing, I only say what I hear the Father say”.
This is very freeing because it means you and I don’t have to be stressed out trying to make things happen. Rather, we join in with what God is already doing; works which He has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).
So when we come to Mark 3, it is very likely Jesus already had a pretty good knowledge of every person he believed God wanted to be on his team. After getting the go ahead from God, he selected twelve and called them to….BE WITH HIM. Again, we see the importance of relationship in discipleship. He would train them by their being with Him, learning the word together, doing life together, being on mission together, having fun together etc. They would watch him close up and ask him questions behind closed doors. Jesus wouldn’t just communicate truths in words; he would model truths through his life. The disciples would also learn from and through one another, like iron sharpening iron.
The disciples being in close proximity to one another had to put into practice what Jesus taught them. There was nowhere to hide. You could say the training was intense and challenging but as they sought to be doers and not just hearers of the word, their lives began to transform from the inside out. Sue and I can personally attest to this having lived in community for years. Being Christlike is often a slow and sometimes, a painful process (Hebrews 12:11). That’s because Jesus’ disciples are hand crafted, not mass produced.
In case you’ve missed it, discipleship isn’t just relational; it is intentional and formational. Jesus was very deliberate with how he spent his time with his disciples. Nothing he did was random, haphazard or just intuitive. We see this clearly in Mark 3, where Jesus is being very intentional with his training. It was so that that his disciples might do the works he is doing. He was teaching them how to fish for people, to make disciples of all nations. Lastly, it is formational. They were being shaped and moulded into his image. Jesus did with the few what he wanted to do for the many.
Learning how to fish for people is for every single one of Jesus’ everyday disciples like you and I. To show you how it is not as onerous a task as we think, Rick Warren, a pastor of a very large church in the USA was asked how he encourages his congregation to disciple people to faith in Jesus, this is what he tells his congregation, “Write down what you love to do most, and then go do it with unbelievers…”. We don’t need to do more; we need to re-envision what we are already doing through Jesus’ eyes.
Following Jesus!
Mark
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