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What is the biblical example and definition of a disciple? Is it okay to only work and live as a Christian without going through discipleship? What was Jesus' method of discipleship? And does it still work in today's modern context? Join me, Pastor Richard, for this message entitled Why Jesus Invested in a Few. This week I contacted quite a number of you asking a simple question. This was in the last week. Do you feel you have ever been effectively discipled? Do you feel you have ever been effectively discipled? Forty percent of you responded no. 60% of you responded yes. And so with this in mind, uh this morning we're going to ask of Scripture a couple of questions. What is discipleship? Is it okay to only work and live as a Christian without going through discipleship? And what was Jesus' method of discipleship? And does it still work in today's modern context? And our passage, uh, it starts at the beginning of the discipleship journey of 12 people. Now, the peak of my own discipleship journey uh really began in probably 1997, 1998, around there. And so uh it was at this time I was doing my discipleship training school with youth with a mission. All right, uh discipleship training school, uh DTS, for those who know that. And during that six-month program, wow, my life was changed. There was each week, for the first three months, each week had a different lecture topic and uh teachers. And I remember till this day, two of the topics that really impacted me, really made a difference in my discipleship journey. And the first was called hearing the voice of God, and the second was the father heart of God. These two things, wow, they they really made a difference in my life. And at the end of that, uh I was back in Germany, uh, which is where this was held, for a debrief time, uh, after spending a month in the Czech Republic and then two months in Mongolia. And so on my way to the city of Munich at that time, I received word that my grandfather had just passed away. And back in these days, uh, for those of us who don't know, you couldn't just message or WhatsApp, or you didn't even maybe really have any way to call overseas easily. So I had to find a public phone. I had to make what we call a collect call where the other party has to pay for the phone call. It was $2 a minute to make this call. And so I called back because I'd received this news and said, Do I need to, do I need to rush back? And uh my parents said, You you might as well finish out your time because by the time you fly back, uh the funeral will be over already. And so uh following this, there was the debrief time. And going around the room, and I I forget now, I think uh we were maybe 12 students in total. We're supposed to have a time of saying what how we felt the Lord was leading us for our next step. Now your six-month DTS is over. What will the next step be? And I had prayed about this, and uh and so I turned to our team leader who is facilitating this time. Uh, her name was Miraica, and I told her, I feel the Lord is speaking to me two things compassion and leadership. And you know what her reaction was? She laughed. She laughed at me. She really did. She laughed at me and asked if I was sure because she said, But Richard, I don't feel I saw you demonstrate leadership even once during this whole time. It was a strong challenge to my confidence. It really was. But I chose to trust what I believed the Lord had said. And less than six months later, I was landing in England and making my way to a small rural town called Nonitan. And I was enrolled in YWAM's basic leadership school. And this was going to be a program that was a couple years long. And I would have someone mentoring me while I became staff for one of these DTSs, one of these discipleship training schools. And so these two things, these were the probably the peak of my discipleship journey, that time as a student through DTS, and then later as a staff who was being mentored during that time. And so it was was in England, that was for three years, uh, three years worth of being discipled, three years worth of discipling students who came and went. So today we're looking at the calling of the twelve. We have the twelve disciples, some of them much more familiar than others. And here's how a few of them were called. Andrew and John, the son of Zebedee, they were with John the Baptist, and they first followed Jesus when John the Baptist saw him and said, Behold the Lamb of God. And initially they weren't sure of who Jesus was. And so Jesus said this to them He said to them, Come and you will see. So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. So they had a chance to kind of find out who is this Jesus before they really committed themselves to him. And next, uh, we have Andrew who sought out his brother Simon to also follow Jesus. And this is uh when Jesus named Simon is Peter. And then next, Jesus calls Philip, who he might have known Andrew and Simon Peter. Don't know, not too sure. And then Philip calls Nathaniel, who we also know as Bartholomew. And so we're not going to go through the calling of every one of them. But Jesus was calling out to them. They had different professions. We had the fishermen, right? And those in praised land, or if you remember your Sunday school days, we know there were lots of fishermen. So we had Peter and Andrew, and we had James and John. They were all fishermen. Philip might have been as well, uh, because we see where he lived. Odds are he was a fisherman also. We had a tax collector. Who was the tax collector? Matthew, right? Matthew was the tax collector. Uh we had somebody in finance, Judas Iscariot. He was in the finance sector, that you didn't know that. But we can guess that and reason it out because Matthew was a tax collector. Tax collector has to be good with numbers. Is that right? You've got to be good with numbers. And yet, who was it chosen to be in charge of the money bag among the 12 disciples? It was Judas Iscariot. And so uh he must have been in the finance sector himself. And we have uh several, we're not too sure, we're not told. And two of them were political activists. One was Simon the Zealot, because the zealot was actually a group or a party that were uh activists against the Roman occupation, because remember, Israel was under Roman rule. And we have Judas Iscariot. Iscariot literally means a short sword. And in those times, the zealots they would wear these short swords, and in a crowded place they found uh someone they thought was a traitor from their own people to the Romans, or perhaps certain Romans themselves, uh, they they would be violent. We'll leave it at that. So this is our twelve. And if you don't know, despite the paintings and things that you may see, the twelve were not these gray-haired old men. That's not how it was. In fact, John, and maybe you've heard me say this before, John was probably a teenager. If you work out the dates, most likely he was a teenager when he was called to follow Jesus. Now, the choosing of his twelve was so important to Jesus that Luke tells us he spent the entire night in prayer beforehand. All right, reading uh from verse 12 here. In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles. Was he praying about which ones to choose that night? Maybe not. It's been suggested that he was not so much praying as to which ones he was supposed to choose, but instead praying that they would become the right ones. Yeah. And there's something curious here. I'm not sure if you you noticed it. And when day came, after he'd been praying, he called his disciples. Hear in this verse, who are the disciples? Whatever crowd has been following Jesus and listening to his words, and chose from them twelve whom he named apostles. Think back to your secondary school days, if you would. Think back to PE class. Not sure about you, but uh in my school days, often when it's time to choose teams for sports, choose okay, who are the most popular kids? Come stand up here. Now, everybody else, stand in a line and choose your teams. I don't know if you've ever experienced this. And so all those waiting in a line, choose me, choose me, choose me, choose me. You want to be chosen first, and you dread being chosen last. Um, and when you're chosen, there's this feeling that you're you're valuable, right? Um, you're special. He called me. This is the popular kid. He called me to be on his team. And for those who were not chosen, who were chosen last, there was the opposite feeling. He only chose me because he had to. And so we don't know how things were at that time, but why do you suppose Jesus chose so publicly the twelve? It says he called the disciples, meaning the larger, whoever the group was that been following him and listening to him. And then in front of them all, he called out those twelve names. I want to suggest to you it was because there was this, in a sense, a formal agreement being made. See, when you're in the crowd of disciples, there was no real commitment to one another. But now we're entering into something a bit more formal. There's a new rabbi-student relationship now. And that's because they're going to need it for the future. They're going to need the certainty that they have chosen and there's no turning back. All right, so uh I want us to move forward a bit here, and I think that for many of us the word discipleship likely means different things. So maybe we can work on to build a definition together this morning and agree on a working definition. In Matthew chapter 28, from verse 18, it says, Jesus came to them and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. Go and make disciples. Who is Jesus addressing in this verse? His disciples. He was telling his disciples to make disciples. Disciples are meant to make disciples. Dr. Lois Verberg writes this regarding rabbis and disciples. She says, regarding fees. It was forbidden to charge a fee to teach the Torah. So it was common for rabbis to practice a trade part of the time and teach part of the time. Disciples did the same. Some rabbis were from priestly families, so they would have a stipend from the temple, but many were manual laborers. There are many reports of teaching sessions held in the evening or on the Sabbath or on festival days. So often men worked and studied at the same time. Some could work seasonally and take time off between planting and harvesting. So we see this picture, the culture, the setting of the time is that the rabbis, the teachers, they would take you on. And further study shows that they would probably come on for two or three years at a time. And so as we know this, it makes sense that the gospel accounts describe the disciples fishing occasionally, even after they'd become disciples of Jesus. Other scholars have said it is common to send a Jewish son to follow a rabbi. They would drop all immediate responsibilities. And so when we read that some of the disciples sold everything and followed Jesus, it probably means they sold everything essential. Maybe they didn't have a yard sale and sell off every last little thing, but everything essential, everything that would have taken up their time that needed them to oversee it, that was what they sold. And so the student to the rabbi would learn both what the rabbi taught and how the rabbi lived. And at that time there was a culture of honor and respect and hospitality towards traveling rabbis. Now the word for disciple is Mateus in the Greek, okay? It has the meaning of a learner, a pupil, a follower. A learner, a pupil, a follower. And I think probably the best modern day equivalent that we have today is apprenticeship. Right? And generally we see this more on jobs like uh welding, perhaps plumbing, electric, different things. Uh we have apprenticeship. And so if you're going to learn, let's say, welding, you're going to be an apprentice for welding, uh, you learn the knowledge and the wisdom through the teaching of the master welder. They're going to teach you everything. Uh you're going to spend your whole day with them, whether you're eating lunch, they're explaining how to mix different gases for the torch or other methods, whatever it may be, uh theory, they're going over the design of how they're going to make this thing for a customer, whatever it may be, you're there with the master. And so the apprentice learns to imitate the master in everything, from preparation, dealing with customers, the character and demeanor of the master welder himself, as well as the actual skill of welding. So if we think of the cultural context, when you went to follow a rabbi, you're going to not just learn what they say and their teaching, but you're going to learn to imitate them. That was part of the expectation. That was part of being a student to a rabbi, a disciple to a rabbi. And so I hope we can agree on a working definition this morning that a disciple is someone who imitates Christ and tells others about him. Thinking back to Matthew 28 that we had just now. Go therefore and make disciples, baptizing them, teaching them. A disciple is someone who imitates Christ and tells others about him. Would you tell that to your neighbor now, please? A disciple is someone who imitates Christ and tells others about him. And so if you remember nothing else this morning, please remember that a disciple is someone who imitates Christ and tells others about him. And indeed, this is what we read from Paul in 1 Corinthians. He says, Be imitators of me as I am of Christ. So the one who makes disciples is the one who teaches them through words and actions and example to imitate Christ. This is what discipleship looks like. So bringing us back to the gospel according to Luke, we can see that there were different depth levels to discipleship, okay? And I think it's good that we look at Jesus' model for discipleship. First, we see the crowd. And in Luke chapter 6, verses 6 uh 17 and 18, it says, And he came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples, and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. So there was this crowd that would follow him, a crowd of his disciples. They were the outermost circle of his disciples. They listened to his teaching, but for the most part, there wasn't a lot of integration of his teaching into their lives. We know this because later on, when we come to the passion narrative, to those the final week of Jesus before his crucifixion, the crowd turned on him. Those who had been following him and seeing miracles, they turned on him. So this outermost circle was probably not a lot of depth there. They weren't neglected, but Jesus also didn't invest so much into the many. He didn't set up revival services, he didn't try to start a megachurch with them. He didn't. Next we have the 72, or in some translations it reads as the 70. The discrepancy is not important here. So we're reading now from Luke chapter 10, verses 1 to 4. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he gave them instructions on what to do if they're welcomed and what to do if they're not welcomed. And so they went out, and a few verses later, we read the results of their expedition. It says, The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the subject, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And so these 72, they clearly had embraced a deeper level of discipleship than the crowd. They were singled out, they were called, and they were sent out two by two on a mission. Jesus gave them a mission. And that word sent is a verb form of the Greek word apostelo. Okay, this sounds familiar. Apostelo. What does it make us think of? Apostles, right? They are the sent ones. And so we after this, we don't read anything more about the 72 because they're still not the ones that Jesus really fully invested himself into. Then we come to the 12 disciples. And we read this earlier. He called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named his apostles. What are the apostles? Sent ones. Okay. Simon, Andrew, and his brother, and so forth. We go through the 12, and they were sent on a mission. They were his messengers, his sent ones. These are the ones that Jesus really fully invested himself into. They had a depth of relationship that the crowd certainly did not enjoy, that even the 72 did not enjoy. They ate with him, they traveled with him, they learned his teaching. They observed how Jesus engaged with those seeking. They saw how he dealt with his accusers. They were with him day and night. Because the relationship with the rabbi and the disciple was not going to class. It was you're there with them. You learn to imitate them, who they are as well as their teaching. And so Jesus chose the few, the twelve to invest in, because he knew that his time was limited. Scholars agree that Jesus' ministry was about three years long, from the time Jesus was age 30 to about age 33, about there. And Jesus knew that it was his Father's will for this gospel, the good news of the coming of the kingdom of God, to be entrusted to disciples who would make disciples. Who would also make disciples, who would also make disciples. And so he invested in a few because he needed to go deep. He invested in a few because that is the way of effective discipleship. And we know that these twelve were very effective. One fell away, forever, infamous in history, but the other eleven carried on faithfully, proclaiming the good news of the coming of the kingdom, proclaiming the revealed identity of Jesus as the promised Messiah. And they stayed firm in their faith. Out of those eleven, ten of them were martyred. They died for their faith rather than to renounce Jesus and who he was. And only one lived on, and that was John the son of Zebedee. And yet among this, uh these twelve, there was yet one more small group. There's this inner circle of three. And we can see this in the transfiguration, which is found in chapter 9. I just read a couple verses from it. Now, about eight days after these sayings, he took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. James and John are brothers, by the way, if you if you're not aware of that. And so uh he was praying and his appearance changed, and there was an appearance of two men. Uh, it seemed to be Moses and Elijah, and there's all sorts of things going on, and they are talking about what was coming ahead of Jesus' upcoming uh death and resurrection. So Peter, John, and James, they were in Jesus' inner circle. They were from fishing business, and they must have been good fishers, because when Jesus called James and John to follow him, they left their fishing business and entrusted it to hired servants. So they must have had some means there. And they left to follow him. And of course, Peter, we we know very well also. There's another time where Jesus encounters Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, and his 12-year-old child is dying. And he said, Jesus, can you do something? And then the woman comes with the issue of blood, and in a sense, we have a segue, an interruption, and Jesus is dealing with that. And then the messenger comes and says, The dreaded report, the daughter, the girl is dead. And this is how Jesus responds. Uh, on hearing this, they answered him, Do not fear, only believe, and she will be well. And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. So there's these three. Even at the Garden of Gethsemane, on that night, he came with a twelve, and then he went further with a three. Right? There's these three, Peter, James, and John, who are the inner circle, who Jesus really focused in on their lives. He didn't go about his ministry trying to get larger and larger crowds to follow him. He focused deeper and deeper on a small group. I suggest that that inner circle is because of what would be asked for them after Jesus' death and resurrection. James was the first martyr of the faith, the first one to die rather than renounce Jesus. Peter, we know, is a key figure in the early church. And John, he's the one who wrote not only the Gospel of John, but first, second, third John. He wrote the book of Revelation. These are the ones that Jesus had poured the most into. Now, this morning, perhaps we reflect a bit on our own discipleship journey. Or perhaps the Holy Spirit's even stirring you to consider if this is the right time to disciple someone else. I reflect back on my own discipleship journey while a part of YWAM, and there's really three key elements that took place when I was being discipled by someone. The first is time. And so both as a student and later as a leader, time was an essential element of discipleship. For effective discipleship, there has to be time because it takes life on life. Meeting with someone once every four months or once every six months, this is probably not really a discipleship relationship. Time was the first thing that made a difference. When I was there for YWAM, every week we'll meet for lectures. Five days a week we're together. And then at least twice a week we're meeting in small groups to discuss and process things further. And then there's one-on-one meetings at least once every two weeks. It was intensive. And that time really made a difference. It was essential. The second element is vulnerability. When the students came, there had to be an expectation. You as a student, you're going to be honest. You're going to be real. You're going to be open. That's a non-negotiable for this time. And for the leaders, it was expected you're going to be praying for these students. And by the God's leading, you're going to speak clearly and directly into their lives. And this includes identifying and revealing sin areas and character issues that need to change. If we're honest, I think most of us are not comfortable with that today. If someone comes and starts to say, brother or sister, this area in your life needs to change, we may feel a bit offended. Vulnerability is something that we have to prayerfully approach. But this was an expectation for it because we knew in this DTS structure, without vulnerability, there was not going to be any chance of discipleship. And the third and final element was commitment. Commitment of the student. Even you tell me things that make me feel hurt, that make me feel uncomfortable, I'm going to stick with it because I'm here to grow. I'm here to know God better. I'm here to see my life changed. And for the leader also, there has to be commitment. I'm not going to give up on you. We go over this several times. I see you keep stumbling in this area. I'm not going to give up on you. We're in this together. This is a journey we're going through together. We see this in the life of Jesus. The disciples were very human, like you and me. And yet Jesus didn't abandon them. When Peter so many times would open his mouth and speak without thinking, Jesus didn't give up on him. And he doesn't give up on you or I either. Maybe you don't have time to take off six months for a discipleship training school. Maybe your discipleship journey looks different. Maybe for some of us, like that 40% that I surveyed, you've never experienced uh being discipled by someone else. Regardless of your circumstances, if you are a disciple of Christ, it is your call in Christ Jesus to imitate him and to make him known. It is, regardless of circumstances, the fact that if you are a disciple of Christ, you call yourself a Christian, your call in Christ Jesus is to imitate him and to make him known. This isn't my call on your life, this is God's call on your life. We're all called both to be disciples and to make disciples. And so I just want to close with a few words. If you're part of that 40%, who you lack someone to guide you in discipleship, I want to challenge you this morning. If that's you, would you consider giving that gift to someone that you didn't receive yourself? If you have journeyed in your discipleship journey alone, would you consider giving that gift that maybe you desired but didn't receive to someone else to journey with them? And if you're part of that 60% who you're able to look back and identify one or more persons who are there for you and helped you along your discipleship journey, I want to ask you, are you ready to do the same? I don't think I would be standing here if people hadn't been there for me. And I'm very grateful for them. God calls us both to be disciples and to make disciples. And so I think the question is, are we are we ready to answer his call? It's not about the big meetings, the big programs, the big events. It's about investing in a few. And I just want to say here at YCCA, we recognize the need for deep transformational relationships that facilitate discipleship and lead to spiritual maturity. We know because that's part of the vision for our church. With the guidance of our vicar, we're examining ways to better facilitate mentoring relationships. All right, that's something that we've we've met on multiple times. And so some of this it may come about organically, other parts may require more guidance and programs, but this is something we believe in. This is something we value. Because we are all called to be disciples and to make disciples. It's not easy. It's going to take us time to see how to work out this journey. But if we commit to it together, we're going to grow together. Those who stay together grow together. Jesus modeled effective discipleship by focusing on the few instead of the many. Let's remain committed to our own journey of discipleship. We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about ancient Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.