Twice in Jesus’ ministry, He sent His disciples out to practice proclaiming the message of hope and new life. He gave them the power to teach, to heal, to restore, to drive out demons, and to call for repentance. They likely taught many of Jesus’ parables and very likely pulled from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus did this with His inner 12 disciples and then with an outer group of 70. They came back and reported all great things and rejoiced, and Jesus simply smiled and said, “Rejoice, not that demons are subject to you, but that your name is written in the Book of Life.” What was Jesus’ point and purpose in this mission? Let’s explore.
It has been said that Jesus’ teaching style was akin to this pattern: 1) watch me as I say and do, 2) come with me and say and do as I say and do, 3) now you say and do while I watch, and 4) now you are ready to go on your own and make disciples.
Jesus gave the example and model. While His disciples were very slow to learn and hard of hearing, once they did learn it, they turned the world upside down. Jesus was preparing these disciples to not be dependent upon Jesus’ physical presence but to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit, who would be with them no matter location or circumstance. But they needed practice. Jesus taught many times and demonstrated the power and necessity of prayer and to seek what God was doing rather than what He wanted to do. Now, it was their time to try it out. It worked. Did they have trouble? Sure. Did some towns drive them out? Most likely. But they were able to do what Jesus told them they could do. And Jesus hung back like a proud parent or proud coach.
Jesus picked 12 men and gathered a group of 70 and eventually a total of 120 people who were in His circles. Of the 12, He had a group of three – Peter, James, and John – who were the closest, but Jesus never played favoritism. Even though the disciples often fought over who the greatest was, when the Holy Spirit came, they considered themselves a group of 12 equals. While Peter was the voice or the face, Peter never had leadership over any of the other 12 (which destroys the Roman Catholic claim of apostolic succession to the pope). Jesus explicitly taught that none of them were to have authority over another but to serve each other, and He rebuked all attempts to gain that lordship authority. While they did exercise the authority of an apostle correctly, once they learned the lesson, they never lorded it over others. Peter even submitted to Paul’s rebuke as an equal when he was caught in the sin of favoritism instead of puffing his chest and saying, “I was an original disciple, and you were not.” But Peter and the others did give instruction to new believers, teaching them how to follow Christ, not themselves.
Jesus is not interested in getting converts. He wants disciples. He wants students who want to learn from Him, have a relationship with Him, seek Him, and obey Him. While Jesus is our Lord, He is also our friend. He loves us and is preparing us not just for tasks for this life but also for life in eternity. Everything Jesus teaches us and puts us through is for a bigger and better purpose. He knows how to give it in bite-sized pieces so we can learn the lesson, move on to other things, and then re-learn the same lesson at a deeper level. The cycle keeps going with an ever-growing in sanctification and holiness.
But Jesus doesn’t want people filled with head knowledge alone. He wants people to live that truth and practice it. One of my pet peeves of myself is how intellectually driven I am but putting the truths to practice is difficult. Jesus wasn’t satisfied with His disciples hearing the truth; He wanted them to live and practice it. Just believing the core doctrines of the faith doesn’t save anyone. It is living a life that declares those doctrines to be true to us that saves us. Believing Jesus will save is going to save no one. Grabbing a hold of Jesus and releasing all that in this world is what saves. Declaring your salvation to be found in Christ, but living in adherence to worldly standards and worldly thinking, shows you expect Jesus to save you regardless of your choices, and Jesus has no obligation to do that.
One of the disciples Jesus sent out betrayed Him. One of the disciples who was empowered to teach, cast out demons, heal the sick, and proclaim the Gospel was a devil and became the greatest human villain of all history. There is no other person whom Jesus condemned more than Judas Iscariot, having said it would be better for him not to have been born. Not even Capernaum or Bethsaida, who were condemned more than Nineveh or Sodom, were cursed like this. While we have Jesus’ example here and His sending us out, not all are of us. Not all who go out with us will stay with us because not all are of us. But those who are truly obedient and follow Christ because Christ is worth it will be rewarded and it will be great. As with the 12 and the 70, Jesus is sending us out, even sending us out with fakers. He knows who is who, and even when someone flakes out on us, our eyes should be on Jesus in it all lest we too get pulled out with them.
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