0719 THE MASTER’S PLAN FOR MAKING DISCIPLES

JULY 19 = 2 TIMOTHY 2

THE MASTER’S PLAN FOR MAKING DISCIPLES

Jesus preached to the crowds. But then the crowds left him when he said something hard. They shouted “Hosanna to the son of David” on Sunday. And then on Friday they shouted “Crucify him!” Our Lord knew about crowds. That’s why he never chased after them. He wasn’t out to see how big a crowd he could draw.

Instead, Jesus went up on a mountain and prayed all night. Then he carefully chose twelve men who could be with him and learn by watching, by learning the stuff of the Spirit that goes on behind the scenes, by being saturated in ways of God. He calls them his children, and shows them the Father.

Having poured himself into these twelve men for three years, Jesus sends them on a couple of short ventures to do what they had seen him do, and they are hugely successful. And Jesus laughs and rejoices that God has shown his secrets to the innocent children who are his followers. And the followers (“disciples”) are ready to be sent (“apostles”) at last.

Yet, even though Jesus hand-selected these men, one of them betrayed him and sent him to his death. Another one betrayed him. All of them fled into the night when it got scary. And Jesus died alone.

Yet our Lord had bet everything he had on these twelve. In spite of their extreme failure when he needed them most, he knew it was the Father’s will. And he knew that the Resurrection would change it all. And then he left. And, sure enough, just as he had planned and prayed, those men went into all the world and preached to all nations, teaching them everything the Lord had shown them. And he was with them always, even when it was worst, to the end of the ages.

This is the Master’s plan for evangelism, and his strategy for making disciples. Paul outlines it all in a sentence when he writes to Timothy,

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”

Here is the outline, listed briefly:

1. Say the message to the crowds of many witnesses. But don’t worry about the crowds.
2. Find a few who want more. Note that it is just a few. Jesus was full-time at what He was doing, with no side job and no family, but he chose only twelve—and only had eleven of them graduate with passing grades. How many would you have time to truly pour into? 
3. Be sure these followers are “reliable.” (Trustworthy in some translation). Test them before you invite them. Let them count the cost and know what they are committing themselves to do.
4. “Entrust” to them the treasures that you find. Pour it into them. Let them watch you, let them imitate you, purposefully sit down with them and share with them the secrets of the kingdom that you have discovered. Have them follow you, as you follow Christ. 
5. They must also be qualified to teach others. This is how it gets passed on from Jesus to the world. They know where things are going, and agree to it before you get started.
6. You must send them out and let them go after they have completed their training. You started as their mentor. You became their spiritual father. But now you become a consultant, and you move on to invest in others.

If you faithfully follow the Master’s plan, He will change the world through you! 

Want proof? If you start at the age of 30 and spend three years doing a discipling relationship with just two people, and then you move on to another group each time, you will have discipled 26 people by the time you turn 70. But if each one of them is faithful to do the same as you have done, your disciples will have trained 156 others in those same years. If, in turn, each of the people that they disciple does the same, there will be an additional 17,876 more! So you will have reached over 18,000 people for Christ in your lifetime.

Who has discipled you? Are you ready to reach out and ask someone to mentor you? Who would you invite to learn from you? What will you tell them? So many questions. So many plans.

But the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. May you and I take our first step today. Amen.