LESSON 5 May 3, 2015

Jesus chooses his disciples

Golden Text

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my

disciple. (Luke 14:27)

Useful Practice

The call to salvation is free, but discipleship has a cost.

Scripture Reading

Luke 14 : 25-35

25 - Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:

26 - “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and

children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot

be my disciple.

27 - And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my

disciple.

28 - “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and

estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?

29 - For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who

sees it will ridicule you,

30 - Saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

31 - “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he

first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose

the one coming against him with twenty thousand?

32 - If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long

way off and will ask for terms of peace.

33 - In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have

cannot be my disciples.

34 - “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

35 - It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

General Objective

To show how the choice and the call of the first disciples happened

.

Specific Objectives

I – TO ANALYZE the life of Jesus as Master.

II – TO EXPLAIN how the call of the disciples took place.

III – TO KNOW how the training of the first disciples occured.

IV – TO ANALYZE the mission of Jesus and his disciples.

Introduction

As believers, we are aware of the value that the preaching of the Word has for the building of the Kingdom of God. However, as we read the Gospels, we end up finding out that Jesus, during his earthly ministry, taught more than he preached. As a matter of fact, his preaching, even when proclamations, was filled with educational content. These facts show us the importance that teaching has for efficient learning. In this lesson, we will learn from the Master of masters how He taught his followers and how he formed his disciples from among them.

I - THE MASTER

1. His teaching. Jesus, the perfect man, was the Master par excellence. Most of his ministry was dedicated to teaching and preparing his disciples (Luke 4:15,31; 5:3,17; 6:6; 11:1,2; 13:10; 19:47). Therefore, Jesus' ministry was focused on teaching. The Scriptures record that people were amazed at the teaching of the Lord (Luke 4:22). They were already used to hearing the Jewish teachers in action in their synagogues (Luke 4:20). But no sooner had they heard Jesus teaching, than they noticed something different! (Mt 7:28,29) What was it? He taught them with authority, not just reproducing what others had said.

The nature of his teaching was different - his teaching was of divine origin (John 7:16).

2. His example. Jesus taught his disciples by example, " I have set you

an example that you should do as I have done for you." (John 13:15).

This differentiated him from the scribes and Pharisees who taught, but

did not practice what they taught (Mt 23:3). The disciples felt motivated

to pray when they saw their Master doing it (Luke 11:1-4). The words of

Jesus were followed by practical actions. The beauty of the words is

worthless, if they are not followed by actions (James 1:22). People are

more quickly convinced by what they see than by what they hear. That

is why the Master exhorted his disciples to be examples (Mt 5:16).

II - THE CALL

1. The method. Theologians have noted that the method used by Jesus to recruit his disciples is varied. In fact, the Scripture shows that sometimes the initiative for the call comes from the Lord Jesus himself. While preaching and teaching, Jesus watched the people whom he would call (Mark 1:16-20). In some cases, the call came through the statement of John the Baptist (John 1:35-39). There were also people who volunteered to follow Jesus (Luke 9:57,58,61,62). And, finally, there were those who were led to Jesus by friends (John 1:40-42,45,46). Thus, people of all classes were reached by Jesus. And it was from among those followers that Jesus called twelve to be his apostles (Luke 6:13-16).

2. The cost. Jesus makes it clear what the implications involving the life of those accepting the call to be his disciple are. Becoming a disciple is quite different from becoming a simple learner. In discipleship, the follower begins to live with the master, while in the teacher-learner relationship this practice is not present. Learning takes place day and night, not just during a few classes taught at home or in a classroom. Anyone who wants to follow him must therefore assess the costs. Following Christ involves renunciation, it means total submission to Him. Jesus reminded people of that cost, because he did not want them to follow him only by excitement (Luke 14. 25-27). Many want to be disciples, but do not want to give up anything. Sometimes we need to sacrifice even our religious relationship in the family, give up some things in order to follow Jesus. What does the Master demand from you?

III – TRAINING

1. Change of destination. In the training given to the disciples, the

cross occupies a central place in the teachings of the Master (Luke 9:23; 14:27). The cross of Christ appears as a watershed in the life of the disciples. A change of direction or destination. Life with Christ is full of life, abundant life, as a matter of fact (John 10:10). But on the other hand, it is a life bound to death! Whoever was not willing to die, could not be a true follower. The cross changes the fate of him who becomes a follower of Jesus. It guarantees peace and eternal life, but only for those who have died for this world.

2. Change of values. Luke shows Jesus instructing the Twelve before sending them into an evangelistic mission (Luke 9.1-6) and, later, sending seventy others after also giving them detailed instructions (Luke 10.1-12). To get to that point, many things had to be changed in the lives of those disciples. Jesus changed the way they thought. His disciples could not, for example, have a materialistic mind like the Gentiles who did not know God (Luke 12: 22,30). Whoever really knows Jesus is not worried about tomorrow, about the things of this world, because they know that He, the Good Shepherd, meets each of our needs.

IV. - THE MISSION

1. Preaching and teaching. It has already been said that the ministry of Jesus consisted in teaching the Word of God, the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom and the healing of the sick (Matthew 4:23; Luke 4:44; 8:1). In the text of Luke 9:1,2, we see Jesus sending the Twelve: "When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick". "To preach" is the translation of the Greek verb Kerysso, which has the sense of "to proclaim as a herald". Jesus trained his disciples with a specific mission – to be heralds of the message of the Kingdom of God. Proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom still remains the primary mission of the Body of Christ! When the church forgets this principle, it loses its focus.

2. Release and heal. The Gospel of Christ provides both healing for the soul and for the body. The Gospel of Matthew clearly reveals that the Lord Jesus provided both healing and release for all those who drew near Him in faith and repentance (Mt 8.16,17). Frank Stagg, American theologian, notes that although the redemptive work of Christ is focused on the cross, He was already the redeemer of disease and sin during his earthly ministry. The disciples, therefore, needed to take this truth everwhere.

CONCLUSION

We have learned in this lesson about the importance that teaching

has in the formation of Christian character. Jesus taught his disciples,

but he did not teach them in any manner nor did he give them content of

all kinds, He taught them the Word of God. But even the teaching of the

Word of God, to be effective, needs to be followed by example, making

use of efficient teaching resources, being based on values and having a

clear and defined goal. We abundantly find all this in the teachings of

Jesus. By following his teachings, we have the guarantee that the gap

between the teacher and the learner, between the educator and the

student will disappear. This way, we will have an efficient teaching.