In John 20:21, we read this, “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” This was not new for those disciples. Jesus has been sending them little by little over the last three years. He sent them on short errands of ministry. He sent them out in small groups. He sent them out in pairs. In one very real sense, they were used to Jesus sending them to do some work of ministry, to take care of some need for Him, for themselves, or for others.
But this was still a different sending. He was sending them and He was going to heaven. In just a short time they would experience His ascension, and they would not see Him again in a physical sense until they died or He returned. What we are seeing is that their discipleship is not complete until they are sent. As followers of Jesus, we need to embrace the idea that God is sending us into the world. And if we are going to obedient to make disciples then we need to also embrace the idea that we have not made a disciple until they have been sent.
Disciples of Jesus make disciples. The goal is not to fill up other people’s glasses. The goal is to pour yourself out into other people who are funnels, who are pouring into funnels. 2 Timothy 2:2 is often referred to as the discipleship verse, and it says, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” You see four generations of disciples in this one verse. Paul, who received truth from Christ to Timothy who had been discipled by a grandmother, a mother, and Paul, is to teach others, who can teach others. Not only are there multiple generations of disciples in that one verse, but there is also the image of how many different ways a person is discipled by a variety of people. Discipleship is not so much a linear process as it is a network of webs.
But that web is not meant to culminate in your life and then go nowhere. You are meant to be another strand in the web that stretches out in different relationships making connections and incorporating the lives of many others along the way. We are to be sending sent ones. Always growing and always sharing. While this is to be the way, we are to seek those very intentional discipleship relationships in which a little more formality of teaching, training, and sending occurs.
So, look for those relationships where you are a Timothy, receiving from someone like a Paul, and teaching others who will be able to teach others. Do not become dependent on your Paul, let them release you into ministry. And do the work of encouraging those you disciple to release from you to be more available to make disciples themselves. If you become a glass instead of a funnel. Something will spill out accidentally as you receive, but a funnel intentionally moves the liquid through to a specific spot. If you find that you are pouring your life into a glass and not a funnel, then intentionally send that person on discipleship ministries to teach them how to also pour out into others’ lives.
By His Grace and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark
