Lately I’ve been thinking through how Jesus made disciples, based on my observations of scripture. I’ll post one insight per day here. You can find all of them by searching “How Jesus made disciples” on my blog.
Jesus expected that his disciples would make more disciples.
He didn’t wait until people were fully developed before he expected them to reach others. He involved them from the beginning in the multiplication of disciples. First he sent out 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…. So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere. (Luke 9:1-2, 6)
Then in the very next chapter, we see Jesus sending out 72 disciples:
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. (Luke 10:1-3)
Lesson for us? Being sent out to make more disciples is a given– it’s what disciples do.
Biblical passages to consider: Luke 9:1-6, Luke 10:1-3, John 13:34-35, John 17:18