Week 4 Discipleship - How Jesus Formed His Disciples

If we want to understand discipleship rightly, we must not begin with our favorite program, model, or ministry trend. We must begin with Jesus. Church, hear me, if Jesus is Lord of the church, then Jesus must also be the pattern for the church. We do not have the right to invent disciple=making according to convenience, personality, or modern preference. We must look carefully at how the Son of God actually formed His disciples, because His way is wiser than ours and His pattern is still sufficient for His church. Matthew 4:19 gives us the pattern in seed form: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." In that one sentence you see call, formation, and mission. Jesus calls people to Himself, keeps them near Himself, and transforms them for His purposes. Discipleship begins with Christ, stays near Christ, and ends in service to Christ.

Transcript

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Welcome to Walking in the Living Word Ministries, a weekly podcast with your host, Pastor Mike Futrel.

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Thank you for joining us this week with Walking in the Living Word Ministries. If we begin week four, if we want to understand discipleship rightly, we must not begin with our favorite program, model, or ministry, tread. We must begin with Jesus Himself. Church, hear me. If Jesus is Lord of the church, then Jesus must also be the pattern of the church. We do not have the right to invent disciple making according to convenience, personality, or modern preferences. We must carefully look at how the Son of God actually formed his disciples, because his way is wiser than ours, and his pattern is still sufficient for his church. Matthew 4.19 gives us the pattern and seed form. Follow me, and I will make you fish of men. In that one sentence, you see the call, formation, and mission. Jesus calls his people to himself, keeps them near to himself, and transforms them for his purposes. Discipleship begins with Christ, stays near Christ, and ends in service to Christ. So let me drive this home right here. Jesus did not find his disciples by looking for the impressive, the powerful, or the polished. In Matthew 4 and Mark 1, he calls fishermen by the sea. In Luke 5, after the marvelous catch, uh, Simon Peter falls down and says, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And yet Jesus says, Fear not, from hereforth thou shalt catch men. In Matthew 9, he calls Matthew from the re uh re of custom. And in John 1, he draws Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel. Do you see the pattern here? He draws them. Jesus found ordinary people, sinful people, working people, overlooked people, and then he called them to himself. That matters deeply for the church because it reminds us that discipleship begins not with human impressions, but with divine initiative, transforming grace. Jesus does not merely uh recruit talent. He calls people, saves people, and then forms people for his glory. Mark 3, 13 through 14 deepens this even further when it says that Jesus appointed the twelve. That should be with him. They should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach. That phrase must not be rushed past here. That they should be with him. Before they were sent, they were gathered. Before they ministered, they lived near the Master. Before they taught others, they were themselves were taught by the Lord through shared life, direct instruction, correction, and patient love. This means discipleship is not first a technique. It is the life with Christ that becomes life for Christ. And is the one reason the modern church often struggles. We want results without nearness, activity without abiding, and misery without slow formation. But Jesus built differently. Continued all night in prayer to God. Then when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and one of them he chose twelve. Church, that is not an initial uh just it happened. It needs to happen continually. It tells that discipleship making is not merely organized work, it is spiritual work carried out in dependence upon the Father. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, prayed before appointing those who should be closest to him in ministry. How much more should the church pray when identifying, teaching, and entrusting people with the responsibility? If Jesus found and formed disciples in prayer for dependence, then any church that tries to make disciples by method alone, without deep prayer and dependence upon God's grace, has already stepped away from his pattern. And the gospel show that Jesus did not only seek publicly, he also explained privately. Luke 4, I mean Luke 8, Mark 4 show the disciples asking about his parables. And Jesus says, Unto you is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Then he unfolds the meaning of them. That matters. Jesus was not content merely to broadcast truth to the crowd. He took time to help his disciples understand. He welcomed questions. He clarified confusions. He brought truth from the public moment into the private conversation. That is a model the church desperately needs today. Preaching is essential, but discipleship also requires explanation, conversion, and patient, loving, open of the scriptures so that people do not merely hear words, but grasp the truth and obey them. Jesus did not only explain the truth, he corrected disciples when their hearts and thoughts were out of line with the ways of God. In Mark 8, when Peter resisted the path of the cross, Jesus rebuked him plainly. You know, that's something that we need to be careful of. Are we seeking after God or seeking after the things of men? In Matthew 20, when ambition status entered the hearts of the disciples, Jesus taught them that greatness in his kingdom looks like servanthood. In John 13, he washed their feet and said, in effort, this is the shape of my life, and it must become the shape of yours. That is discipleship. Jesus loved them enough to correct them. He loved them enough to expose pride, ambition, fear, and worldly thinking. Churches struggle when they want discipleship without correction. But Jesus never formed disciples by leaving their flesh unchallenged. Watch how Jesus formed the disciples in the gospel. He taught publicly in places like the Sermon on the Mount, but he also explained things properly. He answered questions, he exposed motives, he confronted pride. He welcomed the weak. He let the disciples see him exposed to sorrow, opposition, confusion, and need. In Luke 9, 23, he taught them that following him meant daily crossbearer. In John 13, 34 through 35, he taught them that love would be a public mark of discipleship. In John 15, 4 through 8, he taught them to abide, to remain in him as branches remain in the vine, because without him they could do nothing. All of this shows that Jesus formed the disciples through the truth, his presence, his reputation, correction, spiritual example. He did not merely lecture them towards maturity. He walked them into maturity. He did not simply tell them what obedience looked like, he embodied obedience in front of them. And one of the clearest places that you see this is in Galatians, in Ghibany, excuse me. In Matthew 26, Jesus does not merely command prayer in the absence. He brings his disciples into a place where they can watch him pray. Watch him submit to the Father and hear him say, Not as I will, but as thou will. That means discipleship includes teaching people how to suffer, how to pray, how to submit, when obedience is costly, and how to keep following God when the flesh is weak. And if Gethsemane shows us Jesus' bonding prayer before his disciples, then John 17 shows us how Jesus praying for his disciples before the Father. He says, I have given unto them the words which thou givest me. And then he prays, Holy Father, keep though the thine own mind, whose thou hast given me. He asks that they be sanctified through the truth. And then he says, Thy word is the truth. In other words, do not miss what that means. Jesus formed the disciples by giving them the Father's word, guarding them in prayer, and sending them in the world with sanctifying truth. That truth is profoundly theological and deeply pastoral. Discipleship is not merely the transfounding power of information, it brings people under the word before the Father and into the mission of God so that they are increasingly being conformed to the will of God. Jesus not only taught his disciples face to face, he carried them before the throne in prayer. Jesus also sent disciples into ministry before they were fully mature. We see that in Luke 10, uh, 1 through 20. And he let them serve, return, reflect, rejoice, and kept learning. That should encourage the church. Discipleship is not the formation of flawless people, but the patient shaping of weak people under a perfect safety. Jesus did not wait until the disciples knew everything before he entrusted them with service. He let them learn in the doing. In other words, Jesus formed disciples progressively. Corrected them, sent them, received them back, and he kept forming them. The church must therefore reject hurriness. We must not expect instant maturity, but neither should we excuse immaturity forever. We follow the pattern of Jesus by teaching clearly, correcting lovingly, remaining present, praying deeply, and gradually equipping believers to serve. So let week four press this truth deeply into our hearts. If Jesus found his disciples by calling ordinary people to himself, brought them there, prayed over them, and taught them patiently, corrected them lovingly, modeled godlessness before them, and sent them out gradually, then the church cannot make disciples faithfully by shortcuts. We need more than polished events. We need more than curriculum alone. We need churches where people can be mature believers, hear the word, ask honor questions, watch Godliness up close, be corrected in love, be patiently equipped for ministry, and let me say it plainly before we close. Jesus did not find disciples by waiting for the finished people. He found them in ordinary places of life, called them personally, and then formed them over time. That means we must not despise small beginnings. We must not overlook ordinary people. We must not imagine that only the already published can become useful in the kingdom. The grace of Christ still calls, still shapes, still corrects, still sanctifies, and still sins. Lord Jesus, teach your church to make disciples the way you make disciples. Make us patient, truthful, compassionate, prayerful, faithful. Give us courage to correct, humbly to serve, and grace to walk with people over time. So next week, as we turn to week five, prepare us to hear again the Great Commission as the living command of the risen Christ of the church. Thank you for joining us this week for walking in the Living Word Ministries. I hope what's being taught will help you to learn how to be a disciple of Jesus, as we all need improvements as we continue this journey. We'll see you next week with week five.

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Thanks for joining us today on this edition of Walking in the Living Word with Pastor Mike Butel. We pray that you've been inspired and equipped to fulfill the plan that God has for your life. Subscribe to this podcast, share it with a friend, and let's put it together.