Up until now, Jesus has been working alone – teaching & healing.   Now he reproduces by asking Peter, James, John & Levi (Matthew) to follow him.  He is rescuing them from their lives of slavery to sin and a religious system – to become fellow workers with Jesus for God.  From now on, they’ll be working together as a team.  They will often leave the religious people to mix with the “sinners.” 

We must also understand these principles: we are to leave the religious people and go to the lost, the sinners.  We ought to join them where they are, rather than asking them to ‘clean up’ and come to church with us … instead, we seek to reach out to them. 

In this lesson we also introduce the “person of peace,” who is one we will find that belongs to a social group other than our own.  Allowing that person to be a representative for God within his or her own culture is the right way to make disciples.  

Jesus’ preparation included study of the Torah, and spiritual maturing in wisdom and favor with God and man.  Once he was baptized and endured the temptation in the desert, he began his ministry among his home communities.  The area of Galilee became his base of operation.  The same was true of Paul.  He also became an expert in the bible and then allowed his ministry to grow first in the town of his conversion, and later in his home town and surrounding area.  It wasn’t until more than a decade after his conversion that Paul began his missions work.  

These two are good suggestions for our beginnings, too.  We should begin at home.  If you attend church, start there - just as they began in Synagogues.  Begin also at your place of work, in your own neighborhood, and go out and have some fun.  Play ball with guys outside the church, or take night classes, or whatever – but begin with things that are not too hard, very local, and where you can make the biggest impact as people see you change.  

Jesus began his ministry in his home region, preaching in synagogues, among his own people.  Let’s imitate him – begin your work right where you live. 

Also we discuss the concept of slavery and freedom.  It’s helpful to begin to see our world as flesh vs. spirit … that natural desires aren’t evil by themselves, but when we pursue them too far, we become enslaved by them.  Instead of seeing our world as “evil vs. good,” let’s rather decide who or what we will serve: our own appetites, or God.  And when we encounter others, we should see ourselves as helping free them from their slavery.   

2 Peter 2:19 (NIV)    John 8:31-36

Romans 6:1-23                       Romans 16:17-18

Galatians 6:1-10

This lesson was about these lessons.  Before we get any further into the book of Luke, I need to make it clear that this teaching is about an activity – not mere knowledge.  Knowing how to diet doesn’t make one thin, and knowing how to lift weights doesn’t make one strong.  So learning about discipleship doesn’t make one wiser, stronger, or more valuable to God’s kingdom & business.  To become those things, one must actually start Doing what we’re talking about in these lessons. 

Our purpose, actions & priorities match Jesus’ increasingly as we grow, and we grow when we TRY.  Remember that each moment of a disciple’s life is an opportunity to love a person by strengthening that person, helping him or her become a disciple, or by offering aid. 

If you do these things, you’ll be valuable and grow increasingly strong.  If you don’t do these things, you’ll grow more and more fragile (needy, brittle, stressed) over time, and you’ll become worthless.  Review these scriptures to see if what I’ve said is true:

James 1:25-27   James 2:13-20   James 2:26

Hebrews 6:7-8   Titus 3:8-11    Titus 1:10-16

Matthew 25:14-30

 In discipleship overview, I explain what it means to “seek first the Kingdom.”  Seeking the kingdom is about 2 things: expanding it & strengthening it.  When you meet a person, seek to understand that person from God’s perspective.  If the person is a born-again, committed disciple of Jesus, then your job is to encourage, motivate, equip and spur this person on to love and good deeds.  If the person isn’t a disciple, you’re job is to make them a disciple and help them then to enter the kingdom via the rebirth: baptism.  If the person is hurting, broken, struggling, then your job is to help them recover.  With this in mind, all people in the world fit into one of these three categories:

1.      they’re outside the kingdom (needing in), or

2.      inside the kingdom (needing strength) or

3.      wounded; both in and out of the kingdom (needing healing)

And God has put YOU into their life to help.  That’s why YOU exist (Ephesians 2.10)

We also spent a short time discussing one of God’s great gifts to disciples: That He allows us to repent and be born again.  Repentance is nothing more than change, and we’re born again when we’re washed clean and filled with the Holy Spirit in baptism.  This marvelous thing, repentance and baptism are like the cure for a disease we all share.  When Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and all who looked at it were saved, so God has allowed His son to be lifted up on a cross and all who will be buried with him in baptism can receive this new birth of water and spirit and become new creatures.  (See John 3 & Romans 6)

In Luke we take a look at Jesus’ first sermon, when he read Isaiah and commented on it.  Then we see that in each of the cases so far … things have been said about Jesus or John the Baptist that are much more than grand, vague statements … they’re actually clues for us about the specific things these men were to do.  If we compare these passages with what we see they actually did, it’ll show us what we should be doing, too. 

Reviewed purpose, actions, and introduced the priority of Jesus: “Seek first the kingdom of God & His righteousness.”  Also introduced the idea of justice/righteousness in the bible, so we’d know what it means to pursue justice.  (See Luke 11.37-44, especially verse 42)

Returned to review several scriptures that cover the ideas of “pathway” in the bible.  The idea is to help you understand what it means to “make straight” your pathway, or to ‘prepare’ yourself and your field.  The scriptures mentioned are also listed here (in no particular order):

Psalm 27:11;                Psalm 143:10-12;

Proverbs 3:1-7;             Proverbs 9:13-18;         Proverbs 15:19;

Proverbs 16:17;            Proverbs 6:6-11

Luke 11:4;        Luke 10.2-5;     Luke 3:3-7;       Luke 7.18-30

Matthew 6:13;   Isaiah 26:7-10; Isaiah 40:1-11

Jeremiah 31:9;  Acts 13:6-12;    Revelation 2:12-17;       Romans 13:7-14

Plus, on your own you can find lots of passages that use words like: stumble, fall, path, way, walk, etc.  The bible is loaded with these references, because we are to see our lives as a journey that we walk through.  Much of what is important in life is learning to walk wisely and in paths that make us progressively stronger and more mature.  While we walk, we prepare ourselves, our paths and those who travel with us. 

To turn these ideas into action, you’ll need to do a bit of homework.  I introduce you to the “three column” bible study method.  this is where we take a sheet of paper, and lay it landscape, draw two vertical lines so that the paper is divided up into three columns.  In the left column, write out the scripture (using this week each one of those listed above) word for word.  In the middle column, write it out in your own words, and label the far right column “I WILL,” and write down your action items – things you’ll DO. 

Remember that discipleship isn’t acquired by classroom education and books … it’s a skill, and you must actually practice.  This “act” part of what is done is important, for without it, you’ll never grow. 

Luke 2 & 3 describes two elements of Jesus’ life that are also true of any disciples’ life: preparation.  This preparation has two aspects: 1) to prepare ourselves for service, and 2) to prepare the way.  

John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus – to help people have expectations and be open to his teaching.  

Meanwhile, Jesus had been preparing himself for service.  He learned through suffering (Hebrews 5.7-9), he knew the Torah well (as evidenced by his interaction with the Rabbis at the Temple), his parents made it a point to bring their family regularly to the Passover, even at age 12 he was seen as responsible by his parents, he continued to be submissive to his parents, and he grew in wisdom, stature and favor with God and man.  And yet through all of that … Jesus didn’t begin his work until he was thirty years of age.  Even God’s own son took time to prepare himself – and more than we often do.  

We must also prepare ourselves and prepare the way.  When “Christians” behave in ways that are antagonistic to sinners or those who are different than us in any way … we are making our own pathway harder.  It then becomes harder to make disciples – harder to do God’s work.  How can we continue to make crooked God’s pathways?  

People are passionate about baseball, music, their families, and even hockey.  The most passionate learn their craft, and work hard and seek out others who share their interest.  I'm passionate about Jesus.  My family and friends are fine, music is the greatest thing ever, and I even like my church (sometimes), but none of those things compare to Jesus.  He was perfect!  He was so strong and wise and compassionate ... it's just amazing how great he was.  I hope you'll find others like me/us and feed that passion in your life and form a "church" - of disciples (people of passion). 

But while pursuing my passion for Jesus, I also fell in love with the bible, and sometimes my passion for the bible makes me forget Jesus.  Others I know also struggle with things that distract them from Jesus (like church, family, etc.) ... let's stay focused and help each other.  Now as I teach you about the bible, my passion (hopefully) will show through ... but also I hope you'll do a better job of keeping it in perspective than I sometimes do. 

Now here's how to study the gospels: 1) find a good translation to work from, and two others to compare with.  I recommend NASB, NIV and NRSV, but there are others.  Pick yours. 2) Study one gospel at a time DON'T try to 'harmonize' them. 3) Remember Layers.  Each gospel has two layers: the layer of Jesus & his audience, and the writer and his. 

Now to Luke, written by a Gentile (a non-jewish person) FOR first century Gentiles.  In their time, these Gentiles were 'outsiders,' and the Jews who believed in Jesus were the main group, or the majority.  So Luke highlights everyone in Jesus' story who was on the fringes or were 'outsiders,' because to his audience it seemed close to one of "us."  Reacing our audience today also has Jesus' layer (focused on insiders - Jews) and Luke's layer (focused on the outsiders).  When we speak to "church" people or "Christians," we're working on Jesus' layer.  When we speak to outsiders (those who have little or no faith in Jesus) ... we need to introduce them to things in a simpler way, like Luke. 

Also we introduced the idea of the Disciple's lifecycle:

And now we'll see these stages and how Jesus produced this development in the gospel of Luke, beginning with "Preparation."

Living and growing as a disciple is the most rewarding life possible, and it offers each of us an opportunity to serve, love and care for others in the best possible way.  We get to be rescuers, and grow stronger while we’re in training. 

Discipleship is very hard and very expensive.  We discussed this in the last episode, and will see it in explicit detail as we work through Luke.  And though it’s hard and expensive, God has provided two things that can be helpful to us all: the bible, and the church.  Sadly, we fail to recognize the value of each of these.  As we proceed through these lessons, we’ll learn a lot about the bible, and by the end of it, you’ll understand how to use it. 

In this episode, I’m going to explain the way churches are; and the way God intended church to be.  God specifically commands certain things for churches, and they ALL have to do with the purpose, or function of church. 

This should be our last ‘overview’ lesson, and next time we’ll get into the text of Luke itself.  But hopefully you’ll find some partners and form your own “church” – your own group with whom you can study and grow as fellow disciples.  This “church” is something you should do whether or not you already attend a “regular” church, but don’t try to force a regular church to fit this model.  Rather than rebel against your church … look for a few people who you can partner with and help one another to grow. 

Scriptures mentioned in this lesson include:

Before we can understand the development of disciples in Luke, we must first understand what it means to be a disciple … and how that differs from our traditional understanding.  It is a common misconception that those we refer to as Christians also fit Jesus’ definition of “disciple.”  In actual point of fact, most of today’s Christians are much more like the religious people of Jesus’ day: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Lawyers (bible scholars), elders, Rabbis, priests, etc. 

Following Jesus is not an easy path, nor a cheap one.  It will cost us everything.  But it is worth it!  By accepting this challenge, we volunteer for a life that’s possibly void of many of the things we now rely upon: friends, family, money, sex, pleasure, wealth, popularity … but what we get in exchange is the kind of strength that relieves us of the need for those things.  We become so strong that we can live a life that would feel like torture to most people … and we can smile through it.  The storms that would mostly provoke others to terror – become opportunities for us to take a nap. 

How do we get there?  We start small, and work our way up.  It all begins with commitment.  This is a commitment we can make because we trust God so much that we can give it all up, and trust that He will protect us while we care for others, and not for ourselves. 

Only by making such a commitment will you ever understand Jesus.  You simply cannot have anything more than intellectual knowledge of him without the commitment.  But having made the commitment to follow Jesus and trust everything about yourself to God … you will discover “peace that passes understanding,” and “rest for your soul.”

Will you join him?