Category: Making Disciples

One of the fundamental ideas for the work that we do, making disciples and planting churches and teaching others to do the same, is that God has made each of us to be his priests, collectively a “priesthood”. This is the belief that, if we are followers of Christ, if we are the people of God, we were all made to be his priests.

We believe, of course, that there are authority structures within the church. We believe that the church should be led by elders and that there are those referred to as deacons who are appointed to carry out special service-based tasks within the context of the church, but none of those responsibilities or roles would, in any way, negate someone’s identity or responsibility as a disciple of Christ. If we follow Christ, we are called to do everything that Jesus commanded, we are to teach others to do everything that Jesus commanded, and we are to teach others to teach others to do everything that Jesus commanded. To be priests means that we are to serve our God, carrying out all that God has told us to do in an act of love in response to the incredible love, grace, and mercy that he has shown for us.

From where in the Bible can we take the idea that we are all priests, collectively a priesthood? It is found, in fact, throughout the Bible, throughout the Word of God, so in this article, I want to highlight a few of the scriptures so as to help us see what God has said about us as priests as we serve him while also looking at the implications of this idea.

From the beginning until now

God made each of us in his image and called us to be fruitful, to multiply and fill the earth. This was the beginning and God’s plan, that we would be fruitful and multiply, filling the earth with God’s image. Every one of us were made in God’s image and so each of us are therefore a part of God’s plan, each of us carrying his image, each of us becoming a part of multiplying it across the earth for his glory.

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. ”

Genesis 1:26-28

We believe that God’s plan has not changed. Despite the fall of man and woman into sin and despite man’s rebellion against God all throughout history, God continues to call each of us, even today, to multiply the true image of God, Jesus Christ himself, across the whole earth, amongst all nations.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20

God’s plan has remained the same. Just as it was from the beginning, as we can read it even now in Genesis 1, we see the same plan announced by Jesus in the “Great Commission”, recorded here in Matthew 28. We all, each and every one of us, have been commissioned, have been called to be part of his plan. We have all been called to serve God, to be his priests, to carry out his mission, to join God in begin part of his mission being completed here on the earth

The people of Israel

As part of this original and overarching plan, God’s original chosen people were the Israelites. God made a covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, that if they would obey his commands, he would be their God and they would be his people. As God brought the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt, he called Moses up onto the top of Mount Sinai where he gave Moses the law, starting with what we know today as the Ten Commandments.

Before announcing and writing out these laws, though, God told Moses the purpose of the people of Israel. He was clear in who he intended his people to be:

Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

Exodus 19:3-6

God brought the people out of Egypt with his power and might, delivering them from the mighty military power of the Egyptians that had kept them in chains. They had originally been welcomed into the nation of Egypt because of the family connection through Joseph, but as the pharaohs changed, the new pharaoh forgot about the commitment that the previous pharaoh had made to the Israelite people and instead enslaved them in order to do the physical work of building the nation of Egypt.

Now, to the Israelites, their time in Egypt was in their past because God had rescued his people.

Now, from one extended family, the Israelites had become one large nation, having multiplied from hundreds of people to hundreds of thousands, likely even more than one million people, and God had brought them out from Egypt into the wildnerness, taking them to the land that God had promised Abraham that his people would inherit.

Now, God is about to give his people his laws, but before he does, he tells Moses who he intends his people to be. They are to be a holy nation. In fact, they are to be a kingdom of priests.

God had made a covenant with the Israelites and they were to serve God within his kingdom. They were each meant to be priests. Yes, the Levites specifically served God in the tabernacle, and eventually in the temple that Solomon would build. That was the job of the Levites, but the identity of all of the Israelite people would be that they would all be his priests. They would all serve him. They would all represent God as individuals and as a nation before the rest of the nations. That was their identity and their identity gave them a purpose.

We can see, therefore, that this isn’t a new idea. This isn’t an idea that was invented by Martin Luther during the protestant reformation, nor even in the New Testament. It is repeated again and again throughout the Bible, but the idea that God made his people, all of his people, to be his priests is a very old idea. From the birth of the nation of Israel, God intended that all of his people would be his priests and they would all serve him.

Priests in the kingdom of God

Jesus came to earth as a descendent in the royal line of David, but he also came as a descendent as the one true son of God. He was God who was made and appeared in the flesh and he came as the Messiah who would lead his people once again out of slavery, although this time, instead of leading them out of slavery to Egypt or another world power, he led them out of slavery to Satan, the king in the kingdom of darkness. As a result of their sin, all of the people throughout the world, whether the people of Israel or any other people from any other part of the world, every person was captured into the kingdom of darkness as a result of their sin.

Jesus gave himself as a ransom to pay for every person who places their faith in him to be bought out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. Jesus came and gave his blood, his entire life so that we could each be purchased away from the kingdom of God. This is what we learn from the end of the story in the book of Revelation as the Lamb of God is revealed as the one who is worthy to open the seals of the scroll that will pour out God’s wrath, the justice of God, across the entire earth at the end of time:

And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased for God
persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.”

Revelation 5:9-10

We can see here that Jesus made his people, those that he bought and purchased with his blood, to be a kingdom. He purchased them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. Yet within that kingdom, Jesus made them to be priests who would serve our God.

Our role is to be the priests within the kingdom. He made us to serve him. He made us all to do the work of God. No one excluded. Everyone who has been purchased has also been made to be a priest.

A spiritual house to be a holy priesthood

Peter explains it further by saying that he have, together, been made into a priesthood. We are not just individual priests, but together we have been made into a priesthood, a people who are individually priests but together have been made into a group of people who collectively serve God:

As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”

and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:4-10

In Christ, Peter says, we have been made into a spiritual house. We have been built together as one, and we are made to be as one so that we can be a royal priesthood. We are “royal” in the sense that we are part of the kingdom of God. Jesus is the king and we are his people. We are royalty because we belong to the king.

But we are not just royalty. We are a royal priesthood. We live as the people of the king within the kingdom of God, but he made us to also do the work of the kingdom. We do not simply live as royal subjects, but we live as priests within the kingdom. We serve our king. We do his business. He called us to be part of the work of his kingdom. As he grows his kingdom, as he expands his kingdom, or even as he maintains his kingdom from within, Jesus calls each of us to be his priests, to be the workers for the work of God.

What difference does this all make?

Why does any of this make any difference? What would change if we truly understood and lived out the fact that Christ has made each of us to be his priest? There are several changes that we would make if we each lived as God’s priests, :

First of all, we would accept a new identity for ourselves and we would discover a whole new purpose for our lives. As said in the beginning of this article, God’s mission is that his image would be spread all across the face of the earth. If that is God’s mission, we can also find our mission, the purpose of our lives, within the context of that which God is doing. We no longer will need to ask God what he wants us to do. We can simply join God in what he is doing, working as priests to be part of God’s mission.

Second, there would no longer be a hierarchy, real or perceived, within our churches. We would no longer see a need to leave the “religious work” to a certain subset of people within the church. Each person would be a priest and each person would grow in God, producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit and producing fruit in making disciples of Christ, multiplying the true image of God everywhere they go. There would be no need to reserve certain activities – baptism or the Lord’s Supper, for example – for a special class of people within our churches. We would no longer simply obey some of the commands of Christ and leave the rest to certain leaders. We would become “100% disciples”, obeying all of the commands of Christ – 100% of those commands – and teaching others to do the same.

And finally, understanding that every person in the church is made to be a priest within a royal priesthood in the kingdom of God, those that are leading within our churches would labor to equip and help others grow in becoming the priests that Christ has made us to be. There would be no need for a power struggle or divisions within the church because the leaders would actively teach others to not only know good theology, but just as importantly, to practice good practice. The maturity of the people within the church would be based on the living the life of a priest within the kingdom of God. The leaders would not primarily count the number of people in the church, the size of the building in which they are contained, nor how much money was collected in the offering in that week, but instead they would primarily consider the maturity of the people, the effectiveness of the priesthood, the equipping and growth of the priests within the church. In short, each leader would primarily consider the priestly life of the people within their church, calling each person more deeply into what it means to do their part in serving our God within his mission.

In short, truly understanding and living out the priesthood of the believer changes everything, both for us individually as well as for us collectively in the Body of Christ.

Fundamental to movement

In the beginning of this article, I said that the priesthood of the believer is fundamental to the work that we do. Our desire is to make “100% disciples”. Jesus said that we are to teach them – other disciples – to obey everything that he has commanded us to do. In that same passage, Jesus commanded his disciples to do several things. He said:

• Go
• To all nations
• Make disciples
• Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
• Teach them to obey

If I simply focus on just those three verses and my desire is to make a “100% disciple” – in other words, teach them to truly be the priest that Jesus has made us to be – then I must focus on teaching them to do each of the things that Jesus said in that passage. My job, as a disciple-maker – a priest-maker, let’s say – is to teach them to Go. Not just in a theoretical sense. No, in a real sense. In the sense of actually going. Actual movement.

And when I teach them to go, I need to teach them to go to the nations. Yes, we must go to our own people because our own people are part of all of the nations, but our heart and our desire must not only be for our own people, but for all people.

I must teach them to make disciples of all of these people. We must learn to make disciples as we go to the nations.

I must teach them to baptize. Jesus told his disciples to teach the disciples that we make to obey everything that he commanded us to do, and one of the things he just commanded us to do is to baptize other people. It is important to understand that he didn’t say that we must be baptized – which we must, of course – but he instead he said to baptize. To be a priest, to be a “100% disciple” means that we are willing, able, and practicing baptism amongst the disciples that we are making.

And finally, if I am teaching them to obey, I must also teach these priests to teach other people as well. If we understand Jesus to say that we are to teach the disciples, and we are teaching them to be disciples, then the implication is that we not only teach them to do what Jesus said, but we also teach them to teach others.

Our desire is, and must continue to be, that each person is a priest in the kingdom of God. Each person must learn to be a disciple of Christ and teach others to be a disciple of Christ. This is the only way in which we can see a movement of people who will come to God, spreading out into each people on the earth, leading one generation of disciple-makers to become the next generation of disciple-makers. One generation of royal priests that will become the next generation of royal priests. This multiplication of priests, of those who will make disciples of Jesus, will allow the kingdom of God to continue to grow and expand both much further and much faster than our old paradigm of only a select few performing the religious activities on behalf of the rest of the community.

A vision that fits Jesus’s description of the kingdom of God

I have heard several people say that they have sometimes wondered why there is such a difference between what they read in the Bible and what they have experienced in their churches. More than one person has held out each of their two hands to me saying that, on the one hand, they feel that they read the Bible and have one sense of what the life of a Christian looks like, but then show me the other hand and say that their experience in the Body of Christ seems to be so different.

“Why do I sense such a significant difference?”, they ask. “Why do I sense such a difference between what I read in the Word of God and what I experience in the Body of Christ?”

I believe the answer to these questions are related to the fact that we have often not been taught to be the royal priests that God has made us to be. We have been taught, possibly intentionally, but I sooner suspect inadvertently, to be spectators, to be consumers in the Body of Christ instead of being priests in the kingdom of God.

We were never meant to be spectators. We were never intended to be consumers. We were meant to priests. Christ made us to glorify him, to live the full and abundant life of a priest in his kingdom. We were made with a purpose, but if we are not living the life that he intended for us to live, we can expect to sense the difference that so many have felt.

Jesus described the way that the kingdom of God should work within the parables that he told to the people as he walked the earth teaching them to follow him. Here are a few of those parables:

The parable of the yeast

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.

Matthew 13:33

Jesus says that the kingdom – his kingdom, where he is the king – is like yeast that worked its way all of the way through the dough. How is it possible that the yeast worked its way through the dough? Each yeast cell did its work. Every part, every cell, multiplied itself to fill the entirety of the dough just as every person within the kingdom is meant to be a priest and do the work that God has intended for them to do.

The parable of the sower

Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Matthew 13:18-23

In this parable, we see that there are three separate soils – the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil – actually all produce believers. Even the rocky soil and thorny soil produce a plant, but only the good soil produces a crop. In other words, by being the priests that Jesus has made us to be, we produce fruit. Some may produce more fruit than others, but that is not the point. The difference is that the good soil produces fruit. It produces what it was intended to produce. The plant does what it was made to do. In the same way, the priests in the kingdom of God produce the fruit that they were intended to produce.

Parable of the bags of gold (the talents)

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Matthew 25:14-30

Jesus told a longer parable showing us that while he, the master in the parable, is away, we are to be like the servants. He has left us in charge of a few things, but his expectation is that we will be at work. All of us, not just a few of us, investing and using what he has given to each of us so that he will receive a return on his investment when he returns from being away. Jesus describes each of us in a new way as his priests. He describes us as those who are continuing to do the work while he is away. Jesus is describing each of us as his priests, doing the work of the kingdom of God.

Living as a priest

God’s intent is that we would be priests, royal priests, within the kingdom of God. He never intended that we would be a spectator or a consumer, but instead that we would be the people of God who would do all that he has commanded us to do. This is the people that we both wish to be and the vision that we are calling everyone, everywhere to live out, taking on the identity that God has already given to us and living out the reality of the priesthood in our daily lives, serving God for his kingdom and his glory.

Over the last few years, I have found that one of the most spirited discussions that I could have with other Christians is that of baptism. To give you an example, here are some of the questions that we have discussed:

Who can baptize another person?

At what point should a person be baptized? How do you know that it is the right time for the person to be baptized?

How should they be baptized?

There are several more questions that we have discussed along the way, but some of these have illicited some of the longest and most challenging discussions.

Usually, the length and emotional nature of the discussion has to do with what one person in the discussion believes based on their traditions that they grew up with in their church, or what they had been taught, versus the teachings and experience of another. But for the purposes of this post, instead of looking to ourselves and our background and experience as the arbiter of the answer to these questions, let’s put the questions to the test based on what we see in the scripture.

Specifically, let’s look at what the disciples of Jesus who became the Apostles and Apostle Paul did in the book of Acts when they baptized other people. Presumably, we should be able to learn well from them as we can imagine that they would be doing baptism in the way that Jesus taught them to do it.

The Questions

Here are the questions that we want to try to answer:

• Why was this person / these people baptized?
• When were they baptized?
• Where were they baptized?
• Who baptized them?

The Scriptures

OK, so let’s go through each of scriptures. Hang in there while we take these one at a time:

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off —for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Acts 2:36-41

Question	Answer
Why were these people baptized?	They accepted the message of repentance and belief for the forgiveness of their sins.
When were these people baptized?	The same day that they heard the message from Peter.
Where were they baptized?	It isn’t specified in the text, but we can assume that they were still in Jerusalem where they heard Peter’s preaching.
Who baptized them?	Again, it isn’t specified, but we can assume that the disciples baptized these new believers.

When the crowds heard Philip and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said. For with shrieks, impure spirits came out of many, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was great joy in that city.

Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is rightly called the Great Power of God.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

Acts 8:6-13

Question	Answer
Why were these people baptized?	They believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom of God.
When were these people baptized?	When they believed what Philip preached to them.
Where were they baptized?	Not specified except that they were in Samaria.
Who baptized them?	Presumably Philip, although it doesn’t specifically say this in the text.

The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

Acts 8:34-38

Question	Answer
Why was this person baptized?	He believed the good news about Jesus.
When was this person baptized?	Immediately after believing, he asked to be baptized.
Where was he baptized?	In water along the side of the road.
Who baptized him?	Philip

Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Acts 9:17-19

Question	Answer
Why was this person baptized?	Jesus had appeared to him and he was blind. As Ananias placed his hands on him, he received the Holy Spirit and was able to see again.
When was this person baptized?	Immediately after receiving the Holy Spirit and being able to see.
Where was he baptized?	Not specified, although he had been in a house on Straight Street.
Who baptized him?	It is not specified, but presumably Ananias baptized Paul.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Acts 10:44-48

Question	Answer
Why were these people baptized?	The Holy Spirit came upon them as they believed what Peter was telling them about Jesus.
When were these people baptized?	Immediately
Where were they baptized?	Not specified except that they were all in Cornelius’s house.
Who baptized them?	The people that traveled with Peter.

On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Acts 16:13-15

Question	Answer
Why were these people baptized?	The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to believe the message that Paul gave. It is interesting to note that it says Lydia believed, but all of her household was baptized.
When were these people baptized?	Immediately
Where were they baptized?	It doesn’t say precisely, but they are already sitting near a river, so it may be in that location.
Who baptized them?	Paul, or possibly his traveling companions, which were Timothy, Silas, and Luke at that time.

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved —you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized.

Acts 16:29-33

Question	Answer
Why were these people baptized?	They did as Paul and Silas told them, which was to believe in the Lord Jesus.
When were these people baptized?	Immediately
Where were they baptized?	Not specified – somewhere in Philippi
Who baptized them?	Paul, or possibly his traveling companions, which were Timothy, Silas, and Luke at that time.

Then Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. Crispus, the synagogue leader, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard Paul believed and were baptized.

Acts 18:7-8

Question	Answer
Why were these people baptized?	They believed in the Lord Jesus.
When were these people baptized?	Upon believing.
Where were they baptized?	Not specified – somewhere in Corinth
Who baptized them?	Paul, or possibly his traveling companions, which were Timothy, Silas, and Luke at that time.

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”

“John’s baptism,” they replied.

Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Acts 19:1-5

Question	Answer
Why were these people baptized?	They believed in Jesus.
When were these people baptized?	Upon believing.
Where were they baptized?	Not specified – somewhere in Ephesus
Who baptized them?	Paul

What can we conclude?

Now let’s look back over each of these and think about how we can summarize what we have read and learned based on each of these passages. Here goes:

Why were the people baptized?

Each of the baptisms were based upon their believing the message about Jesus. In addition, a couple of the situations included a message about, or having received, the Holy Spirit.

When were these people baptized?

Again, there is consistent response to this question. Each of the baptisms took place immediately upon having believed in the message of Jesus. There was no additional waiting or learning that took place in these cases. Repentance and belief are the only things that we can see was required for the people within these stories.

Where were they baptized?

I think we can essentially say that they were baptized where there was water. At times, we can see a body of water such as a pond or a lake. Other times, we can see a river within the story. Most of these stories took place prior to a church being developed, so it would be unlikely that these baptisms would have taken place within any type of church building.

Who baptized these people?

The apostles, or those that they appointed, baptized these new believers.

In Luke 10, we see Jesus send out his disciples. Very often, we find that Jesus does his ministry work in a way that is different from how we might think to do it, but this story is a strange one indeed.

Reading through the story initially, it appears that Jesus is sending his disciples out to evangelize within the towns where he is about to go, putting into practice many of the things that he has been teaching and showing his disciples as they have been following him. But is that truly what is going on? Let’s take a look at the story and see if we can determine what Jesus is doing here.

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’

Luke 10:1-11

If you would like, you can also see the story (although all of the way to verse 24, not just verse 11) in this video:

OK, so let’s take a look at what is happening in this story and see if we can ask a few questions that will help us to understand what is happening.

What is the first commandment?

Jesus is sending the disciples out to all of the places where is about to go. But after they get into groups of 2, what is the first thing that he tells them to do? He tells them to pray. They are supposed to pray for workers to go into the harvest field.

But wait a minute… Where are these workers supposed to come from? Remember, there are no other workers at this time. There are no pastors. There are no evangelists. There are no missionaries. And yet Jesus tells them that they are supposed to ask the Lord of the harvest for workers.

Obviously, Jesus isn’t speaking of a harvest of plants or grains. He is talking about a harvest of souls, of people who will believe in him. But workers are needed to collect and bring in the harvest, so this is the first thing that Jesus wants them to do – pray and ask for workers!

What should they take with them?

At this point, the disciples are completely dependent upon the words of Jesus, and for their physical needs, the provision that they may receive from the people that they will stay with when they arrive. They don’t have a specific place that they are expecting to go yet. Instead, they are supposed to take nothing – no purse, no bag, and no sandals. They will just go and everything that they need will be provided for them.

Who should they speak to?

OK, here is where I think that the story takes a turn and becomes a little difficult to understand, especially if we aren’t sure what Jesus is doing. Who should they speak to on the way? No one. Jesus tells them that they shouldn’t even greet anyone on the road.

When they arrive in the town where they are going, how many houses should they go into? One! Jesus says that they shouldn’t move around from house to house.

So we at least have to ask the question… What kind of evangelism is this? If you are evangelizing and telling people about the kingdom of God, aren’t you supposed to tell everyone? Shouldn’t they be stopping everyone on the road? Shouldn’t they be going from one house to the next, telling every house the message?

Jesus decides to have his disciples do evangelism differently. He says that they should offer peace to the owner of the house and then stay there, if the owner will accept them. But why? Why just stay there?

Return to the beginning of the story

Let’s not forget what Jesus told his disciples to do in the beginning. The first commandment is that they are to ask the Lord of the harvest – God – for workers for his harvest field. We also said that there are no other workers at this time, so if there are going to be new workers, the workers must come from the harvest field.

In this situation, the harvest fields are the towns where Jesus is sending his disciples. And the workers that Jesus tells his disciples to ask for are those with whom the disciples will be staying.

Our lesson

So often, as we think about evangelism, we might get a picture in our minds of famous evangelists such as Billy Graham, Charles Spurgeon, or Jonathan Edwards. In these scenarios, though, we see one person preaching the Gospel to hundreds or thousands of people at one time. We see people repenting and coming to Christ to be saved. And this is good!

But we can also lose sight of one of the most important parts of evangelism. We aren’t just supposed to be looking for new believers. We are supposed to be praying and looking for new workers. The work of the ministry isn’t supposed to just be formed around us. It is supposed continue to spread as one disciple makes a disciple of another.

Let’s think again about the situation with the disciples that Jesus sends out. If they were to go from one house to the next, how easy would it be for them to talk to all of the people in that town? It wouldn’t be easy! Why? Because they don’t know all of those people.

But what if the disciples stay there in the one house and speak about the Kingdom of God, healing the sick as they do to help the people and confirm the message of the Kingdom? If they do this and the people in that house then tell others what they had heard while the disciples were there, how much greater would the effect of their work be? There will be a multiplying effect. Now, the workers are not only the disciples that Jesus sent out, but also the people that are telling their neighbors in each of the towns.

I believe, therefore, that the lesson for us is that we must also pray for workers to be sent out into the harvest fields. As we look around us for new disciples, sharing the Gospel with others, we must remember that Jesus is calling us to not only find new believers, but to find new workers.

I have frequently heard people speak about the parable that Jesus told, recorded in Matthew 13 and Mark 4, about the four different types of soil. Here is what Jesus said, as Matthew recorded it in chapter 13:

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Matthew 13:3-9

Among those that I have heard speak about this parable, the “good soil” is typically referred to as those who believe in Jesus and follow him. But I think it is important to examine this a little further to see if this actually is what Jesus is saying.

Four Different Types of Soil

In this parable, the seed is the Word of God, or the good news of the Gospel, which is being scattered by a farmer so that he can produce a crop.

Meanwhile, the four different types of soil are the people to whom the message of the Word of God is coming.

The first type of soil is the hard path. This type of soil is pretty obvious. These people simply do not believe and the seed never enters into the soil. The seed never even germinates but instead is left outside, sitting on top of the soil because of the hardness of the ground. Jesus says that the birds come to eat it up, which he later says is the evil one, or Satan, coming to take away the seed that has been sown.

The second type of soil is the rocky soil. This type of soil actually receives the seed, the seed germinates, and the plant begins to grow. However, at a certain point, the plant stops growing because of the rocks within the soil, preventing the roots from growing deeply into the ground. Jesus says that when the sun comes out, the plant withers, meaning that this type of person will fall away from their new faith because of troubles or persecution that have arisen as a result of their new faith.

The third type of soil has weeds and thorns. Again, the seed actually does germinate and takes root. The plant even begins to grow but because of the weeds and the thorns crowding the plant, the plant eventually dies. Jesus says that, in the life of this person, the cares of the world take over their life of faith. The weeds and thorns are things like money or success, or even commitments that crowd out the person’s time and opportunity to spend with God.

Finally, the fourth type of soil is the good soil. This soil is characterized by growth of the seed into a plant. But not just one plant, but instead a crop. One seed produces thirty plants, or sixty plants, or even one hundred. Jesus is referring to a spiritual process of growth and reproduction because this person has truly understood the seed of the Word of God that has grown within them.

What Does This Mean For Us?

I think that there are at least three things that we can take away and learn from this parable.

First, as I mentioned in my last post, we must sow seed broadly. As we do this, though, we must expect that there will be several different types of responses, both initially as these individuals receive the Word of God, but also differences in responses over time.

Some people will not believe at all. Some will believe but will fall away because of trouble or persecution. Others will shrivel and die in their faith as a result of the cares of this world crowding out their faith. And still other people will both believe and go on to be fruitful and produce a crop.

The second thing that I want to note here is that there are three different soils – or three different types of people – that believe. The second, third, and fourth soils all believe. They all receive the Word of God, they all germinate, and they all begin to take root. For us, in a practical way, this might mean that these people have all believed in Jesus, have possibly been baptized, and could also be a regular part of our church services.

We can easily understand from this parable that Jesus is only referring to the good soil as the correct example, the example that is doing what he wants and what is right in the Kingdom of God. And so this leads me to the final thing that we can learn:

Being good soil does not just mean believing in Jesus. Instead, it means that we produce a crop. Jesus is saying that one seed is sown, but from that one seed, a crop is produced: thirty times, sixty times, or one hundred times what was sown. Jesus is saying that the good soil is the one that does what the plant should do. It should reproduce. As the plant matures, it sows its own seed. It produces a crop. It produces a harvest for the kingdom of God.

Practically Speaking

Given this, we must go back to the title of this post, and each of us ask ourselves:

Am I the good soil?

Am I being the good soil now?

Am I sowing seed broadly?

Am I working to find those who are this fourth type of soil, helping them and teaching them to follow Jesus so that they can reproduce and become the most fruitful that they can be?

Jesus’s disciples asked him why he taught the people in parables instead of speaking to them directly and in a way that would be more plain to them. Jesus explained that the secrets of the kingdom of God were meant to be given to the disciples, but not to the rest of the people.

As believers in Jesus, we are called to make disciples. And as those who make disciples, we should pay very close attention to these parables because many of them speak to how Jesus thinks about the way that the kingdom of God grows. If Jesus is speaking about the way that the kingdom grows, and making a disciple is the growth of the kingdom, then these parables should have a direct impact on how we are making disciples.

Today, I want to look at one of my favorite parables from Matthew 13, which you could call the parable of the sower or possibly also the parable of the four soils, and make a simple observation that I think that we can use in our disciple-making work.

Let’s start with the parable itself:

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

Matthew 13:3-9
(Read the whole chapter)

Observations

Let’s break this story down quickly into a few observations:

First, there is a farmer and he is sowing seed in an effort to produce a harvest.

We see that the farmer sows a lot of seed, but he does so pretty indiscriminately. He doesn’t seem to care too much, upon sowing the seed, where the seed lands. He doesn’t create rows or try to place the seed in precise locations as you might think a farmer would do.

The seed, in fact, lands on hard paths, on rocky soil, and even in the midst of thorns.

Only some of the seed lands on the good soil where it can produce a crop.

What is this farmer doing?

OK, so there are several things that we could say about this story, many of which we will cover in future posts. But for now, I want to make one simple point: The farmer is sowing the seed very broadly.

Jesus told his disciples that this is how the kingdom of God works. He spoke of a farmer who sowed seed that lands on hard paths, in rocky soil, and amongst thorns. He isn’t being careful to put the seed in specific areas. He isn’t even trying to prepare the soil in advance of sowing the seed.

I’ve heard stories in the past and retelling of work for the kingdom of God where people have said that they were working in hard soil, or soil that was so rocky that they had to go in and remove the rocks before the seed could be sown. Some people even said that they were “tilling” the soil.

But in Jesus’s description of the sower, you don’t see any tilling of the soil, nor removing of the rocks, nor uprooting of the thorns, nor and weeding of the ground prior to sowing the seed. This farmer just sows the seed.

How do we apply this parable to making disciples?

While this may not be a great plan for agricultural efforts, Jesus really isn’t talking about growing plants. These are the secrets of the kingdom of God. Jesus is talking about how God’s Word and the Gospel must be sown among all different types of people without regard for whether or not we believe the seed will grow in that particular person.

God is the only one who can germinate the seed of the Gospel within the person that has received the seed. God is the only one who can make this seed take root and come alive as a new plant. We must not predetermine whether or not a person is ready for the Gospel. That isn’t our job. Our job is to be the farmer and sow the seed.

The farmer in the story didn’t wait until he thought the time was right to sow the seed. He simply sowed it. He didn’t try to figure out if the ground was ready to receive it to grow and produce a crop. He simply sowed the seed. If the time was right and the ground was ready, the seed grew and produced a crop. If the ground was not ready to receive the seed, then it didn’t grow.

In this story, we are the farmer. We must sow the seed of the Gospel broadly, doing our part as sowers of the seed and allowing God to do his part to grow the seed into a crop of plants.

So here are some questions that we can use and ask ourselves, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us in our answers:

• How broadly have you been sowing the seed of the Gospel?
• How much seed have you sown recently?
• Have you been trying to find the right soil in which to sow the seed? Why is that?

Now that you have considered these questions, consider what God may be asking of you. Is there anything that needs to change? What specific actions does God want you to take at this time? When will you put those changes into practice?

A few years ago, we met together as a team on a retreat outside of our city. A friend came to help guide the team through a series of discussions, several of which were challenging because they were touching on some of the points where we hadn’t yet agreed and confirmed together how we would work together as a team, something I had hoped we would be able to dig into during our time at this retreat.

I don’t precisely remember how we ended up in the topic, but toward the end of the meeting, our friend who was leading the meeting asked how we were doing in prayer as a team. We sort of all looked at each other and described how we found it to be challenging to find a specific time to meet together and to coordinate schedules amongst all of us, but we definitely wanted to do this more. But we knew we weren’t doing very well in this area of our lives and our friend who was leading said something simple along the lines of, “Well, I think we found our next steps for the group.”

He was right, but it was difficult to hear. For myself in particular at that time, I was supposedly leading the team, but in addition, this was supposed to be the core to who we were as a team, people who led others to follow Christ, but we didn’t have a great practice in how we were doing it corporately ourselves. There could be a lot that we could say about why that was, but after removing all of the excuses, the truth was that we weren’t really doing what we would have hoped that the people we were working with would do.

I’m thankful to say that has changed. A small group of us have decided to meet daily during the week for prayer and encouragement, whether in our regular meeting location or out on a prayer walk in public, praying for others on the streets.

I don’t know very many other situations nor other teams very well, but I have a sense that this is a common need amongst many groups. Whether they be ministry teams or just families and friends, we have a need, before all other solutions, to remain connected to Jesus. Not in a flippant, “Yes, of course that is important…” kind of way, but in a “Yes, this is what we are doing to remain in him…” kind of way.

In John 15, we see Jesus having an intimate discussion with his disciples shortly after the Passover dinner. The time was short as Jesus will from this point, within the next few hours, be arrested, beaten, and hung on the cross.

Yet Jesus teaches them that they must remain in him. Here is what he says:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

John 15:1-8

As we think about our lives in Christ as individuals and our role in our work as a ministry team, it is very important that we remember that all things begin with Jesus as the lifeblood in all that we do. There is no replacement for our time and connection with Jesus.

Jesus essentially begins by saying that God the Father desires that we bear fruit. But if we as the branches do not bear fruit, he will cut us off from the vine. Even if we do bear fruit, he desires that we become even more fruitful, so he will prune us, guiding us so that we will become more fruitful.

Next, Jesus says that he has made his disciples clean but as his disciples, we are to remain in him and he will remain in us. If we do this, then we will bear fruit. But if we don’t, we will not be able to bear any fruit at all!

Jesus knew that his disciples would soon no longer be able to see him face-to-face, so how would they remain in him? The answer is that they must do it the same way that we must also do it today. We must spend time with Jesus in prayer, take time to worship him, read the Word of God, and otherwise find ways to spend time with him, asking him what he wants in each situation and listening to what he has to say.

However, experientially, I can say that this doesn’t “just happen”. We get caught up in daily life. We have things that need to be done. Family time, work and all of its pressures, errands, activities, and even time to rest…and before you know it, all of the time is taken and gone, leaving you hoping to do better tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that.

So, both for us as individuals as well as for us as ministry teams who are making disciples, I believe that we must schedule our time to spend with Jesus, remaining in him through scheduled and intentionally set times. Apart from our times with those we are ministering to and working with, we must read the scriptures, pray, listen, and align ourselves with the will of the Father, using this as a base from which we continue throughout the rest of the day, remaining connected to Jesus as branches connected to the vine, bearing fruit because the life of Jesus flows into us and through us.

So the question I want to ask is this: When is your scheduled time to spend with Jesus? Which days? What time? Individually? As a team?

Jesus explains that, if we remain in him, we can bear fruit. In fact, he says that we can ask anything in his name and it will be done. This happens because we have remained connected to him. His lifeblood runs through us. His words abide within us. We are connected to him so we understand his will and what he wants to happen, and this allows us to ask him to move and work and change things amongst us.

But if we are not connected to him, we can’t do anything. It was true of his disciples at that time, and it is true of us also today.

I know that all of us desire to bear fruit. It is the reason that we are doing what we are doing. It is the reason that we have rearranged and reconfigured our lives to do what we are doing today. Our desire is to bring glory to God and Jesus says that we will bring glory to God when we bear fruit. But the only way to bear fruit is to remain connected to the life that Jesus gives to us. Just as a vine gives life to a branch and allows it to bear fruit, Jesus gives life to us and allows us also to bear fruit in our lives.