How Jesus Prepares His Team For Intense Ministry

How did Jesus prepare his disciples for an intense level of ministry?

I ask this question because we, too, are building a team to do ministry in North Knox County. In this season of Local Church, we are creating what is called our Pioneer Team. This team will be the group committed to starting a new church and pioneering something that has not already been built.

In many ways, Jesus was building a pioneer team. Except this team of disciples wasn’t going to start a church. They would usher in the Kingdom of God in a territory filled with darkness and launch the church age.

Of course, this was a massive task! It was dangerous, and it would cost them everything, including most of their lives.

So, how did Jesus prepare his disciples to pioneer the New Testament church?

The Disciples Begin Intense Ministry

The first time the disciples we see the disciples engaged in ministry is in Matthew 4. And they are quite literally thrown into it:

[23] And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. [24] So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. [25] And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. - Matthew 4:23–25 (ESV)

Did you catch all that is happening here?

They are proclaiming the Kingdom of God.

They are healing diseases.

They are casting out demons.

They are stopping seizures.

They are inviting the paralyzed to walk.

If you are like me, you probably need to prepare to do those things. So, how did Jesus prepare his disciples for this level of intense ministry?

Jesus’ Preparation Strategy

You may assume that for ministry this intense, Jesus might have led them through a year course on exorcism, they may have had a 16-week Bible study on the theological implication of the Kingdom of God for our time, or a collegiate level class on how to heal infirmities.

But that isn’t what happened.

In fact, the people we call disciples hadn’t even been disciples very long, for example, in the verses immediately before Jesus first called his disciples. Did you catch that? The disciples just started following Jesus. Talk about a wild onboarding process.

Here’s what happens:

[18] While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. [19] And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” [20] Immediately, they left their nets and followed him. [21] And going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and he called them. [22] Immediately, they left the boat and their father and followed him. - Matthew 4:18–22(ESV)

Essentially, these men get out of their boats, leave their profession, and immediately are thrown into intense ministry.

But Jesus tells them to do three things to prepare…

The Three Commands of Jesus

Jesus prepares his disciples by inviting them to do three things:

“Follow Me”

“I Will Make You”

“Fishers of Men”

Essentially, Jesus is saying that these three elements are the critical competencies for being on Jesus’s new pioneer team. Another way you could put it is that Jesus is calling his disciples to:

Be With Jesus

Become Like Jesus

Do The Things Jesus Did

Of course, the disciples would mature, learn, and grow, becoming more like Jesus over time.

However, the barrier to entry into an intense level of ministry was not a seminary-level degree. Instead, the pre-requisites were a surrendered heart willing to apprentice under King Jesus.

Why This Is Important For Our Excuses

The reason I am writing this to you is because most Christians I talk to are not able to do any level of ministry, discipleship, or evangelism. You’ll hear people say:

“I don’t have anything to offer.”

“I’m not worthy.”

“I do not know enough.”

“I am no pastor…”

I get it! I have been there too. But as I look at the New Testament, I am convinced the gap between becoming a disciple of Jesus and making disciples for Jesus is a concocted 21st-century reality.

It isn’t something Jesus expects.

Because Jesus was not asking his disciples to…

Offer something

Be worth

Know enough

Or become a pastor

He was simply inviting his disciples to follow Him, become like Him, and do the things they saw Jesus do.

My point is — the gap between (becoming a disciple and making a disciple) is more straightforward than it seems.

For The Local Church 📍

Pastor Landon