Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 17 :1-19 "METHODS OF DISCIPLING"
Day 204 – Luke 17
Text: Luke 17 :1-19
METHODS OF DISCIPLING
What were some of the lessons Jesus taught His Disciples? What method did He adopt as He trained them? These are not unimportant or irrelevant questions to raise up!
In the Gospel of Luke, we catch glimpses of how Jesus must have taught His Disciples. Let’s take time to study how Jesus taught. Let’s look at some of the main methods Jesus employed to train His Disciples.
1. Public Lectures
He wanted His Disciples to learn from His preaching to the Multitudes (Luke 4:32, 36, 43-44; 5:1-3). The Disciples learned even as they heard their Teacher address the great crowd of people who flocked to Him.
There were as many lessons to be learned just from hearing the “general teachings” of Jesus, as private sessions with Him. The parables were not just spoken to the multitudes, the Disciples were to benefit from hearing them too.
2. Private Lessons
He also taught them privately. Through special miracles performed for the Disciples, like the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39), and the catching of a great draught of fish (Luke 5:1-11), Jesus taught His Disciples deep lessons of faith.
Many were these private sessions with His Disciples. Some of the Disciples were so privileged they even saw Him transfigured (Luke 9:27-36). There is no telling just how invaluable these private sessions were!
3. Exposure to Actual Ministry
Jesus would from time to time send out His Disciples to do what He did – preach the Kingdom of the Gospel (Luke 10:1-24). These field trips must have added depth to their understanding of what it means to be His Disciples, serving the Lord.
They needed to experience what it means to be empowered by God for the work of the ministry (Luke 10:17-20) so that they would have even greater confidence in their service.
In their exposure to actual ministry, Jesus had to hone their understanding further through sessions of debriefing. As the Disciples reported on what they had experienced in their successful ministry, they learned further lessons that sharpened their perspective of the Lord’s work.
4. Proximity to Jesus
The Disciples must have learned a great deal just through their proximity to Jesus. Mark hinted at the significance of proximity when he wrote this observation.
“And He went up on the mountain
and called to Him those He Himself wanted.
And they came to Him.
Then He appointed twelve,
That they might be with Him (“proximity”)
And that He might send them out to preach.”
Mark 3:13-14
Their proximity to Jesus allowed them to see first hand the quality of the life that their Master displayed. They saw His unparalleled devotion to His Father in prayer. They saw His compassion. They saw a Life that impacted them so deeply, they were transformed!
DEEP AND IMPORTANT INSIGHTS IMPARTED
There is no question about the fact that Jesus took time to teach His Disciples deeper and deeper lessons of faith and life as time went on. The initial lessons were fairly straightforward.
1. The Disciples had to learn what it meant to make sacrifices to follow Jesus (Luke 5:1-11; 27-32).
2. They learned deep insights as to how Jesus understood and interpreted the Scriptures. Of particular importance and pertinence was the lesson on how to interpret and apply the Mosaic Law of the Sabbath (Luke 6:1-11; 13:10-17).
3. They learned much about the Kingdom of God. They were given insights that would not have been possible had they tried to figure these things out on their own.
4. Even as they followed Jesus, they began to realize that Jesus was leading them to higher and higher levels of faith. They were sometimes rebuked for their lack of faith (Luke 9:41), but always they found themselves mounting greater heights with each lesson they learned from their Master.
Luke in the writing of his Gospel took time to record the movements of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took time to trace His ministry in the Galilean region. He also took time to record how He fared in Judea.
Luke did more than that. He also took time to record some of the major lessons that Jesus taught His Disciples. Each of the Gospel writers selected different lessons Jesus taught to be included in his respective Gospel account.
In Luke 17, Jesus was seen teaching His Disciples through eyes of deep reflection. Jesus had sought to explain to the Pharisees, how He saw His ministry. It was one where He sought to reach out to the Lost (Luke 15). Luke went on to record how Jesus sought to teach His Disciples about finances.
As Luke wrote his Gospel, he appreciated how Jesus taught His Disciples deep and important insights that would not have been obvious, even to astute students. These lessons had to be specially taught.
One such lesson was on the subject of the problem of sin. Jesus’ teaching on harmatiology (the doctrine of sin) was truly unique. He did not teach about sin theoretically. Sin was more than just a doctrinal issue to be discussed. Sin was a very real problem to be understood and resisted.
It was sin that caused the Pharisees to become so blind and obdurate. It was sin that caused them to oppose Jesus so determinedly. Sin could affect anyone, including His Disciples. How they (and we) must learn these deep and important lessons!