Discipleship

Mat 28:18 Jesus drew near and said to them, "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Mat 28:19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Mat 28:20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age."

"In "going" make disciples" is what Jesus said was our commission. "On the same road you have been travelling, carry on going", "What you have learnt and been shown, this is what you need to keep doing", is the greeting Jesus gave the twelve on His departure from the earth. This was His final and official commission given for them to carry out and pass on to His church.

GO; MAKE DISCIPLES; BAPTIZE; TEACH: "Go" was His greeting; "Make Disciples" was the activity.
Jesus promise was that He would never abandon or leave them while they carried out this directive of the His.

Now, we have seen that He had crowds with Him, and that He had had compassion on them and ministered to them and he also had a bunch of other disciples whom He instructed and sent out to minister on His behalf, but that He invested and imparted into and focused on the 12.

But why?
Joh 2:23 While Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in him as they saw the miracles he performed.
Joh 2:24 But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew them all.
Joh 2:25 There was no need for anyone to tell him about them, because he himself knew what was in their hearts.
Whom did he entrust Himself to? The 12 disciples, whom He had chosen after prayer.

Joh 6:25 When the people found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said to him, "Teacher, when did you get here?"
Joh 6:26 Jesus answered, "I am telling you the truth: you are looking for me because you ate the bread and had all you wanted, not because you understood my miracles.

Jesus knew the crowds were really there because of the 'fish sandwiches' and the miracles, but not because of who He really was, and is. Their focus was to get their needs met. Now, that is not particularly a bad thing, because Jesus met those needs, but Jesus does call us to a higher place.

Joh 6:28 So they asked him, "What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?"
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered, "What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent."
Joh 6:30 They replied, "What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you? "What will you do?"
Another translation says"What are the things God wants us to do?"
Jesus answer is that, God wants us to BELIEVE! What? In the One He sent.

This is what Peter 'saw' in Matthew chapter 16.
Mat 16:15 "What about you?" he asked them. "Who do you say I am?"
Mat 16:16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
Mat 16:17 "Good for you, Simon son of John!" answered Jesus. "For this truth did not come to you from any human being, but it was given to you directly by my Father in heaven.

After Jesus' answer they immediately ask for a sign again. "Give us a miracle", they say. "What will you do?"
You see, Jesus is wanting to take His disciples to a place of where if they never have another miracle, or another prayer answered, or have another sign or wonder, they will never be phased because they BELIEVE. They believe in who He is, not just what He does.

Joh 6:57 The living Father sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me.
Joh 6:58 This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever."
Joh 6:59 Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Joh 6:60 Many of his followers heard this and said, "This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?"
Joh 6:61 Without being told, Jesus knew that they were grumbling about this, so he said to them, "Does this make you want to give up?
Joh 6:62 Suppose, then, that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before?
Joh 6:63 What gives life is God's Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit.
Joh 6:64 Yet some of you do not believe." (Jesus knew from the very beginning who were the ones that would not believe and which one would betray him.)
Joh 6:65 And he added, "This is the very reason I told you that no people can come to me unless the Father makes it possible for them to do so."
Joh 6:66 Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him any more.


Even the disciples (not the 12 ) had a problem what he required of them. It was too hard for them. Not the miracles, not the 'fish sandwiches', but the Son of the Living God Himself should be the focus of their life and faith. His very life and nature and character was to be reproduced in them. They had to eat His flesh and drink His blood, covenanted and committed until His life was their life.
But that was too hard for them and many turned away at this.

Joh 6:67 So he asked the twelve disciples, "And you---would you also like to leave?"
Joh 6:68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.
Joh 6:69 And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.

The 12 however, whom Jesus had invested in over the time He was here, stayed because they believed and knew. They had the revelation of Who He is.

When you move to that place where who Christ is, is being reproduced in you, the outward factors are something that happens, but don't move you. You are are a follower because you receive Him. Will you see signs and wonders and miracles? Most definitely. But they are not the reason or the motivation of your follower-ship. He become the centre of your life. Christ Jesus is the reason for your existence. You hunger for Him to reproduced in you and to be reproduced in others. As a "12" disciple you direct people to Christ the Lord and Savior, you 'show' Him, and do not try and draw attention to you or your giftings and ministry. Your one desire is Him and His words that produce Life.

Watchman Nee said," Only the foolish are proud of the words God gives, for has He not shown that He will speak, if need be, through an ass!"

Prayer:
Jesus forgive me for taking your Life and call so lightly. Forgive me for every time I have become offended because i felt You didn't answer or 'do' what i felt You should. Today, i set and committ my life to make You the Focus and be a disciple who believes and knows. Holy Spirit help me be a 12 disciple.