Mission 05: The Beginnings of Mission
Orientate
For many Christians, the idea of being on a mission to make disciples sounds not just strange and challenging, but incredibly difficult. How do you do it? Where do you start? Do you pick up a Bible and go to the house across the street? Do you try to steer your conversations to God-type things and hope something sticks? Do you tell your friends that God loves them?
While there is always a cost as we saw yesterday, the beginnings of disciple-making is actually much simpler and easier than you think. As you read the Scripture today, note how Jesus starts his mission with a small band of followers. Notice how comfortable it is for him because he starts with people who already seem to like him and want to be around him.
Explore: John 1:35-46
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
Journal
1. What is God saying to me? Which verse is most significant?
2. What do I want to discuss/explore further?
3. What do I need to do?
4. What does Jesus do to convert his first disciples to his cause?
Reflect
In this passage, we see two ways to begin to effectively influence and mission for God:
1. Start with people who already like you. Jesus’ first disciples were already following his cousin John. They knew about Jesus and wanted to hang out with him for the day. This was before he shared the gospel with them. Have a think for a second. Who in your life likes you, listens to you, trusts you, serves you or wants to hang out with you? Maybe God has already put in your life those who are ready to hear about what Jesus has done for you. Often, the first step in someone giving their life to Jesus is having a trusted friend who is a Christian.
2. Invite them to ‘come and see’ Jesus. Andrew and Phillip both had the advantage of being able to grab their brother and friend to actually see Jesus in the flesh. Of course, we can’t do that today. Or can we? Jesus’ body on earth is now the church, so even though we can’t introduce our friends and family to Jesus personally, we can introduce them to the body of people who have been adopted by God and who are trying to follow his teachings. Mission is very hard alone, and as we see in this passage a very natural thing to do once you’ve found something wonderful is to invite someone close to see it too. Time and time again, new Christians in our church have invited their friends to spend time with our church family and to hear about our Jesus. New Christians are often the best missionaries. Invite friends in your circle along to a service, to a small group, to an Alpha Course or even just to a barbecue with your church people, and they will meet Jesus.
Of course, finding people who like you, sharing your story with them, and inviting them to a gathering of God’s people isn’t enough. At some stage they must hear the specific good news and make a response to Jesus’ invitation to believe, be forgiven and “follow me.” But that may take longer than you think. To get started think, “Who has God already sent into my life right now and what can I invite them to?” It might be easier to start mission than you think.
Pray
Father show me who you have already prepared in advance for me to love, share my story with and invite to see Jesus. I’m excited to be used by you God. Please give me courage and joy as I fulfil your mission for me.
Respond
Write down a person/s who likes you, listens to you, and serves you. How could you approach sharing your story with them, or what could you invite them to?
