These next two phases in Jesus’ life we have titled Ministry Training and Expanded Outreach. We do this because we see Jesus doing two things here at the same time. As the ministry grows, Jesus issues His next call:
“‘Come, follow me’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’” (Mark 1:17)
It is the third call. It is made to those He has already called: “Come and see” and “Follow Me.” This third call is to come closer to Jesus, to draw near enough so He can now teach you how you can be a part of the process of making disciples. He invites these first followers to join Him in the ministry, to become apprentices in the school of disciple-making and share in the multiplication of the movement.
In this phase of Jesus’ ministry you will note that Jesus is now not just modeling things for His followers, but training them to make disciples. He is asking them to come closer and observe more carefully what He has been doing for the last year and a half of the ministry. Thus, Jesus will begin to train His new ministry team. At the same time we see that Jesus’ strategy to train His team is an on-the-job training. It is not classroom training, but training as they walk through their day-to-day lives. Because of Jesus’ love for those who do not yet know Him, He begins doing outreach activities, or better said, He begins fishing-for-men expeditions in which His new disciples will have an opportunity to participate. It is impossible to train someone to fish for men without taking them out fishing. This phase of the movement of multiplication is the training of the ministry team. At the same time, He is having Expanded Outreach. You cannot do the first without doing the second. In order to train His team, He must provide them opportunities to practice what He has been modeling.
This phase in Jesus’ ministry will last about nine months. It will include on-the-job training in disciple-making through the first six “Fishing For Men Expeditions” of Jesus. Jesus will continue to do these fishing expeditions as a way of continuing His training with His team. As the movement grows, so do the sizes of the fishing trips. But you will note that the fishing expeditions begin small and gradually gain size and speed. It is an exciting time in the movement as Jesus’ fame is mounting and His disciples begin to experience the thrill of calling people to “Come and see” and to “Follow Me.” They believe that Jesus is the way to a relationship with the Father. Then they are learning that Jesus is not only the way, but that He is the truth. Now He calls them to come closer and learn what it means to have Jesus as the life, to become part of a lifestyle of reaching out and calling people. It is an exciting time to be in a movement with as much activity as this one! Come take a look at how Jesus taught His first team how to fish for men.
Jesus now moves into a period of transition in the ministry. After preaching in Nazareth in His hometown synagogue and being rejected by the people, Jesus moves (and some believe Jesus also moved His whole family with Him). Where will He go and how will the ministry change? His fame is becoming widespread now and people are coming from all over looking for Him. Jesus, during this time, will make four transitions that we want to note before we look at the training of the His ministry team and the six “Fishing For Men Expeditions.” Take a look!
Reading [You can read as much as you can, depending on your availability]
Matthew 4:12-22
(and)
Mark 1:14-20
(w/ optional)
John 3:24
Meditating [Use these questions to start your thinking]
- What is Jesus modeling during this time of transition?
- What do we know about Capernaum and Galilee from these passages (and any other passages)?
- What do you think are some of Jesus’ thoughts?
- What other questions do you still have?
Sharing: Text ONE of your answers to the questions above to your team. Each team should post a sharing from a team member in the comments below.
After many months of investment in His first followers, Jesus takes some time out to make some significant changes in His life circumstances to prepare Himself and His team for this new season of great harvest. One of the first transitions Jesus makes is a physical move from the small town of Nazareth to the more populated city of Capernaum (Matt. 4:13). Jesus heads off to Capernaum to relocate the ministry to a larger center where there were more people and more business going on. He needed to be closer to the masses he so wanted to reach. If you want to examine why He does this, read the prophecy in Isa. 9:1-2.
Another transition is one of leadership — like the passing of leadership from John the Baptist to Jesus. John goes to prison as Jesus is moving His home to Capernaum (Matt. 4:12). We will look more fully at this in the next two days as we see Jesus attend the second Passover of His ministry and He takes the platform in front of all Israel as the new leader.
The third transition is a transition in message. Jesus begins to preach, “‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Matt. 4:17). We will also be looking more closely at this change in message, but part of the reason for the change is surely because John has gone off the scene and his message had been the same (Matt. 3:2). With John in prison, Jesus picks up this battle cry as well. He is still telling people that He is the Messiah, but He takes over for John and calls Israel to repentance.
The fourth transition is a transition in calling. Jesus issues a new call to His young followers: “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men’” (Matt. 4:19.) People begin to leave their fishnets and families and to follow him. It was a call to come closer and learn to multiply disciples. They were excited and ready for the new challenge. Are you? Maybe it is time to move from being a Christ-follower to being a disciple of Christ. A follower comes and goes as he wants, a disciple has left everything to follow Christ. A disciple has sold-out, he is a Jesus freak, consumed with nothing but Jesus. Jesus has become his consuming thought. A disciple hangs on every word that Jesus says. He is working to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). We will be looking more at this move from Christ-follower to disciple in the coming days and will watch it take place in those early followers as they are challenged to become an active part in the harvesting of disciples.
Transitions in life are really important. Equally important are transitions in ministry. We can learn a lot from studying how Jesus transitioned in His life and ministry. Take some time today to share with a friend what you are learning about Jesus’ transitions in His life. Also, do some self-examining and ask yourself where you are in your relationship with Jesus. Are you a Christ follower or a disciple of Christ?
What do you think are some of Jesus’ thoughts?
It seems Jesus knew exactly what he needed to do at every moment. The imprisonment of John the Baptist seems to have set off God’s plan of the change in Jesus’ message to the people as well as God’s plan to develop disciples who would multiply the Christian movement and eventually spread it to all the world.
In this passage Jesus models how to make disciples. According to the 4 steps, we see the call to make fishers of men. And he models this by living with the disciples while on the move and sending them out when ready. And the cool thing is that he prepares them perfectly in a hands on way. He lived with them and showed them what discipleship looks like in order for them to have experience to call on to lead others similarly. And as he starts moving to bigger cities outside of his hometown, the sample size is larger so there’s naturally going to be a more extreme range of responses to his ministry. There are people who will love and accept his teaching more readily, but also people willing to kill him for it.
What do you think are some of Jesus’ thoughts?
I think Jesus knows that the timing is coming where He must did on the cross for salvation so He is preparing His disciples to go & share the Gospel and seek all those who are lost. He is a good teacher as He provides learning opportunities to practice what He models by “fishing for men” along His journey. He is allowing His disciples to see & learn that they can too bring people to the truth. Christ is not the only person who can share the Gospel and reach the lost.
What’s different this time is that Jesus invites them to follow him and he will make them fishers of men. Before, it was “come and see”. The next step in obeying his calling is to do as he did, and this is what Jesus calls us to do too. Rather than following and just seeing what he is doing in our lives and the lives around us, Jesus invites us to partake in his mission and also spread the good news and make disciples. It’s the next step towards living a faithfully obedient life to Him.