Much of the New Testament is devoted to the disciples of Jesus and their role in the early church. We even have a song about the twelve disciples! And this is for good reason, of course. These disciples literally turned the world upside down for Christ and offer us many examples and admonitions by which to live our lives.

This is not the only time that the Bible speaks about disciples though.

In John 1:35, the Bible says, “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;” This is just a small phrase recorded in the middle of the story of John the baptist, but it has some pretty interesting implications.

ONE

First is that Jesus was not the only one to have disciples. Consider that for a moment. The great commission in Matthew 18 dictates that all men win souls and teach others the Bible, in other words to make disciples.

There are many soul winners in today’s churches that take great pride in converting many souls, yet they never reach out to those new converts to make disciples out of them. Too many spiritual babies are left out for themselves on the street because we fail in this area. You may tell me that so-and-so has won x thousand number of people to Christ, but I would be very concerned to discover that they were not discipling a single one.

I speak this as an admonition to myself as well.

TWO

The second point here is that John’s disciples enabled Jesus to find Simon Peter who was the rock that Jesus built his church upon. One of John’s disciples named Andrew (Peter’s brother) enabled Peter to become a disciple of Jesus who used him mightily in the early church. I have seen many Christians (including myself) think that some people are not worth discipling.

For example how can someone that is introverted, not very bright, or old in years be worth spending much time on in discipling? You can never know what God’s plan for that persons life might entail, or who they might know that will in turn become a Christian because of their growth and testimony.

Do not discount that.

THREE

The last thing that I want to point out, is that John was not proud in his status as a discipler. Verses 41 and 42 point out that Peter and Andrew both left John and began to follow Jesus directly. When his students graduated and began to walk with the Lord by themselves, he did not step out and reclaim them as his own.

Like a mother and father must allow their kids to leave the house and begin their own life, we must let our spiritual children grow by themselves after they have matured. Don’t keep your disciples longer than needed as that can retard their spiritual growth.

Who are you discipling today?

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