Jesus demonstrated the best way to train and equip a disciple

By Dean Collins

Maybe Jesus is trying to teach us in the same way he taught the 12. The problem is that we often won’t cooperate with his training approach. It is pretty clear in the Gospel narratives that Jesus wasn’t just a preacher behind the pulpit or a sage on the stage as academics have been for so long. Jesus did ask a lot of questions of his disciples and his general audience. Q&A sessions do help keep the learner engaged. But the discipleship style of Jesus was far more than lectures with active Q&A sessions. Jesus gave homework and included on-the-job training that included intense and unsupervised mission trips.

Jesus didn't seem to follow any modern approach to the selection of the apostles. I guess we can concede that Jesus didn’t need to run a background check since he knew the hearts of men. But the fact that he picked the 12 does suggest he can basically work with most anyone. The 12 would not have made the Who’s Who list in their local communities. They better fit with the “Who’s That?” crowd, all except for Matthew who clearly had a reputation of siding with Rome and taking advantage of almost everyone.

After they were selected, the 12 did hear some really good teaching from Jesus. If all they heard was the Sermon on the Mount it would have been really solid content to build on. But they also had the learning experience of being with Jesus to observe him in various situations. They saw him perform miracles. They overheard dinner conversations with strangers. They observed how he dealt with both the elite and the poor. They saw how he interacted with his mother and the local community.

On a Mission

When we get to Matthew 10, we see Jesus surprising the 12 by sending them out on a mission trip alone. He gave clear but rather brief instructions and sent the 12 out to preach that the kingdom of Heaven was at hand. And while traveling light they would live off of the generosity of others. They were also charged with performing some first-class miracles.

We don’t know exactly how long the mission trip lasted. Matthew 11 opens with these words: “When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.”

Was Jesus finished instructing the 12? Surely they didn't know enough to do what he asked of them! They hadn’t been with him that long, and he hadn’t asked them to do much heavy lifting before. But it looks like he just pushed them out of the classroom and into the real and messy world. It seems from both Luke’s and Matthew’s accounts that they returned sometime before the feeding of the 5,000. We don’t have much detail on their experience, because as soon as they returned they were trying to figure out how to serve a meal to thousands when all they had was a little boy’s lunch.

Learning by Doing

Soon we read that Jesus sent 70 of his disciples out on a mission trip also. With Jesus, it seems that learning to be a disciple is more than just gaining information or inspiration. Following Jesus includes learning by doing. We could easily argue, based on what we know about the 12 apostles and other early followers of Jesus, that they clearly didn't have command of everything Jesus was teaching. Up until his death and resurrection they seemed not to understand some of the basics. But Jesus continued to put them into active service.

As we read Acts and the epistles, we see that early believers didn’t just go to a church meeting to hear the latest praise music and catch a sermon by one of the apostles. They were actively involved in ministry activity both in their local community and even by sending money and people onto the mission field.

Serving Others

It seems that our comfort level seems to be gathering and listening more often that going and doing. But anyone who has actively stepped into doing will tell you they learn far more by serving others than by sitting and listening to a good sermon.

We don’t have to have all the answers when we do the work of Jesus. What we need is obedient faith that moves us into active participation in spreading the gospel through loving and serving others. The more we serve, the wiser and stronger we will become. And the results might just be similar to those we read about in the Gospels and Acts.

Your time with God’s Word
Matthew 10—11:1 ‭ESV

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

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