Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him

Jesus is comfortable leading passively from a distance at times, and lets his disciples go out before him on their own. We don't have a clear description of what they are doing when they go out before him, but you can infer that they are living the life that Jesus is teaching them about outside of the structure of Jesus physically being present with them.

When they are on the boat after the miraculous feast of 5,000, they were most certainly processing what just occurred. Jesus wasn't there to tell them explicitly, but he gave them a framework to understand the sovereignty of the Father over something as simple as the conservation of mass—yeah there were two pounds of bread, but God can make it into two tons and feed an army.

We can see Jesus' intentionality in giving his disciples time to synthesize what they are learning. The lessons are becoming more than head knowledge, and becoming part of who they are.

Jesus prays for his disciples

Jesus cares deeply about his disciples. He speaks of them as his sheep and of himself as the shepherd who will gladly die for their safety, cries when his friend dies, and spends his last minutes praying for them in his high priestly prayer.

Jesus doesn't just trust that they will be okay, but pleads with the Father that he would continue the work that has begun.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

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Jesus brought the disciples out of their comfort zone

When Jesus walks on water his disciples are horrified. They've seen Jesus break the laws of nature several times over, but this miracle pushes them outside of their level of comfort. Jesus reassures them, and they take comfort in God's sovereignty by seeing that his power has no bounds—he can do literally anything, even walk on water.

Jesus also puts the disciples in situations where danger is imminent. The Jews wanted to stone Jesus because he kept saying that he was God, and the disciples thought it prudent to hunker down and let the mob's anger pass. When Jesus hears of Lazarus' death, the disciples protest going back to Judea in hopes to save their own tails. Jesus responds by telling them that if they are doing good before God, why hide before men? They are putting their safety before the saving of Lazarus' life, and Jesus pushes them through their fear gently—not in a rebuking manner, but in a clear, focused, and resolved manner.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

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Jesus used practical object lessons

Jesus didn't pick the smartest, the coolest, or the most likely to succeed to be his disciples--he went straight to the bottom of the barrel and picked the fisherman, and he taught them in very practical ways. He brought them almost everywhere he went and taught them along the way.

Jesus would pick up a loaf of bread and use it as an example of our dependance on God. He would use his signs and miracles as a way of showing that he has power over death and the effects of sin by raising Lazarus and giving sight to the blind man. He uses his own service of washing their feet as a way to show that they must serve, and even feeds five thousand people to show that even though he is one man, his work can feed the many.

We can't use the same type of object lessons that Jesus did because we aren't the Messiah, but we can follow Jesus' example by using metaphor, speaking in plain English, and creating circumstances that allow us to teach our disciples.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

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Jesus tested his disciples

It's simply amazing to see the wisdom that Jesus uses when talking to Philip before he multiplies the fish and loaves. Jesus and Philip know that they don't have enough money to buy food for the ocean of people sitting before them, so Jesus puts the ball in Philip's court and asks him what they should do. Philip says "We could give each person a crumb."

Philip's worldview says, "We can buy this much bread and divide it by the number of people, and the quotient will be a crumb for each person." His math is poor in God's arithmetic--Jesus is infinite in his power, and infinity divided by any number is still infinity. Jesus can provide enough bread for everyone, and still have enough left over for lunch the next day. He tested the disciples, and they learned through their failure to believe.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

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Jesus pointed to the heart

When Jesus is teaching his disciples, he points them straight to their heart to show them where the real problem lies. Sin is not some force that floats around like the Eastern Qi or the dark side of the force; sin is in the hearts of people, and people's lives are the vehicles for sin and destruction.

The disciples keep turning to what they can do versus what they are to believe—our intuition is that doing gets results and belief is a luxury that makes us feel good about what we do. Jesus points to the heart and says, there's the problem, right there. Believe in God, rely on me, trust God, and let him deal with the sin problem. You'll grow good fruit if you have a good heart and bad fruit if you have a sinful heart. It's the heart.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

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Jesus didn't waste time with stupid questions

Question: How many angels dance on the head of a pin?

Answer: Who cares?

Though Jesus allows questions from his disciples, he doesn't follow the pattern so common today that says "there is no such thing as a stupid question." In fact, there definitely is such thing as a stupid question.

What should I know?

People want stupid questions answered because it makes them feel better, or it gives them a sense of power. We want to know the answer to every question, and we are quite uncomfortable with ambiguities. Both the Pharisees and the disciples ask questions that don't have meaningful answers, and Jesus often replies to them by answering a different question that does have a meaningful answer. The questioners probably felt like they were receiving an insincere answer—but they forgot who it was talking to them. They are not God and therefore should be saying, "I'm not worthy to know what to ask—what should I know?"

The Pharisees try to to trick Jesus by giving him difficult quandaries, like with the woman caught in adultery, or the Jews accusing him of lying about coming from heaven. Jesus sidesteps these questions and points to the accusers' sin, Jesus' righteousness, and the Father's sovereign hand.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

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Jesus preached

There are many long sections in the book of John that are obviously Jesus preaching sermons. Imagine John sitting there taking notes to remember everything that Jesus talked about.

Jesus preaches about heaven, hell, salvation, atonement, his death, his future resurrection, and about everything else that his disciples would need to know. During these long sections you notice that it's not a dialogue; it's a monologue—Jesus is preaching. He's speaking with the authority given him, and his words are weighty.

When we make disciples we must preach to them at times. There are times for discussion, back and forth, and chit-chat—but there are other times for a good word preached.

Jesus allowed his disciples to ask questions

Jesus does not exclusively use preaching as his method of teaching, but he also allows question and answer time. He doesn't confine himself only to the 'Air War' strategy of preaching from a pulpit and retreating to his office. He follows up his sermons by allowing interaction.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

Advance 09 Media

Video, audio, and images from the Advance 09 conference in Raleigh-Durham, NC, June 2009. Find out more.

Jesus exposed his heart

When Lazarus died, Jesus wept in front of his disciples. God cried.

His disciples got to see the depth of sincerity that Jesus felt toward the people they were ministering to. This mission is not just a job to pay the bills, or some sort of pointless adventure—Jesus meant it. The wages of sin are right before us, and it's worth God crying over.

We should show emotion too. If we don't have emotion we should pray for a softened heart, because every day in ministry the effects of sin are laid bare. The practical implications of sin are so atrocious, and the goodness of our holy and just savior is so real, that we ought to have overflowing emotion at times. Our disciples must see this, they must know that it's real beyond the point of head knowledge, and that it's real even in the deepest depths of our hearts.

Jesus was cautious in his interactions with his disciples

Jesus showed emotion in front of his disciples, but he didn't entrust himself to them because he knew what was in their hearts. In other words, he didn't put his trust in his disciples because he understood the implications of total depravity. His disciples were sinners, and they would disappoint. Jesus was clear that he was absolutely dependent on the Father, and his disciples would need to be as well.

The goal of discipleship is not to put faith in the next generation; the goal is to put faith in God's unfolding and sovereign plan.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

Vintage Jesus

A theological journey chasing Jesus through Scripture and pop culture. Timeless answers to timely questions about the most important man who has ever lived. Find out more.

Jesus made his mission clear

Jesus didn't try to trick his new disciples by appealing to their pride or their greed or their need for comfort—rather he made clear that he was a light to the world, sent by the Father, bringing good news, and he kicked off his ministry by starting a fight in the temple with all of the people selling junk there.

If I was at a new church plant and the pastor went out and started a fight with the bookstore manager at a local megachurch, I would have second thoughts about the mission we were on—but not with Jesus in charge. He was magnetic, his mission was clear, and his disciples followed.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

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There is a strong emphasis on Jesus’ pattern of discipleship in the Gospel of John; maybe the reason is because John's readers live at the furthest ends of the gospel's reach. The interaction of Jesus and his disciples is presented in a clear narrative, and we are given a model of discipleship. We’re going to explore the intentional actions of Jesus while he raised up his disciples.

Jesus started with good drink and hospitality

It would do stodgy Christians good to meditate on the fact that Jesus began his signs and wonders with making excellent wine and giving it to his friends and family to enjoy. This wasn't wine from a box; it was good wine. The waiters were amazed that such good wine would be served later in the evening—this was the good stuff that's at eye level on the grocery shelf, not the stuff near the ground on the corner.

This wedding was on what John refers to as the third day—the previous two days Jesus was busy starting his core group. He began with hospitality and invited them to stay the night at his place and quickly became close enough with the first two disciples that he gave Peter the nickname "rock."

Jesus was hospitable—he was welcoming, personable, and friendly. His personality was so magnetic that the disciples were drawn to him—he was such a good host that he even brought them to a wedding party, and made sure they had enough good wine to drink. Now that's a good guest to have at a wedding—bringing extra wine in case the father of the bride was too cheap to get enough.

This is a series of reflections on how Jesus made disciples, based on the book of John.

Vintage Jesus

A theological journey chasing Jesus through Scripture and pop culture. Timeless answers to timely questions about the most important man who has ever lived. Find out more.