Subsídio em inglês para a 5ª Lição - Jesus choose his discipiles

1. LESSON 5
May 3, 2015
Jesus chooses his disciples
Golden Text
And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple. (Luke 14:27)
Useful Practice
The call to salvation is free, but discipleship has a cost.
Scripture Reading
Luke 14 : 25-35
25 - Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said:
26 - “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and
children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot
be my disciple.
27 - And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple.
28 - “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and
estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?
29 - For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who
sees it will ridicule you,
30 - Saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 - “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he
first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose
the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
32 - If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long
way off and will ask for terms of peace.
33 - In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have
cannot be my disciples.

2. 34 - “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?
35 - It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
General Objective
To show how the choice and the call of the first disciples happened
.
Specific Objectives
I – TO ANALYZE the life of Jesus as Master.
II – TO EXPLAIN how the call of the disciples took place.
III – TO KNOW how the training of the first disciples occured.
IV – TO ANALYZE the mission of Jesus and his disciples.
Introduction
As believers, we are aware of the value that the preaching of the
Word has for the building of the Kingdom of God. However, as we read
the Gospels, we end up finding out that Jesus, during his earthly
ministry, taught more than he preached. As a matter of fact, his
preaching, even when proclamations, was filled with educational
content. These facts show us the importance that teaching has for
efficient learning. In this lesson, we will learn from the Master of masters
how He taught his followers and how he formed his disciples from
among them.
I - THE MASTER
1. His teaching. Jesus, the perfect man, was the Master par excellence.
Most of his ministry was dedicated to teaching and preparing his
disciples (Luke 4:15,31; 5:3,17; 6:6; 11:1,2; 13:10; 19:47). Therefore,
Jesus' ministry was focused on teaching. The Scriptures record that
people were amazed at the teaching of the Lord (Luke 4:22). They were
already used to hearing the Jewish teachers in action in their
synagogues (Luke 4:20). But no sooner had they heard Jesus teaching,
than they noticed something different! (Mt 7:28,29) What was it? He
taught them with authority, not just reproducing what others had said.

3. The nature of his teaching was different - his teaching was of divine
origin (John 7:16).
2. His example. Jesus taught his disciples by example, "I have set you
an example that you should do as I have done for you." (John 13:15).
This differentiated him from the scribes and Pharisees who taught, but
did not practice what they taught (Mt 23:3). The disciples felt motivated
to pray when they saw their Master doing it (Luke 11:1-4). The words of
Jesus were followed by practical actions. The beauty of the words is
worthless, if they are not followed by actions (James 1:22). People are
more quickly convinced by what they see than by what they hear. That
is why the Master exhorted his disciples to be examples (Mt 5:16).
II - THE CALL
1. The method. Theologians have noted that the method used by Jesus
to recruit his disciples is varied. In fact, the Scripture shows that
sometimes the initiative for the call comes from the Lord Jesus himself.
While preaching and teaching, Jesus watched the people whom he
would call (Mark 1:16-20). In some cases, the call came through the
statement of John the Baptist (John 1:35-39). There were also people
who volunteered to follow Jesus (Luke 9:57,58,61,62). And, finally, there
were those who were led to Jesus by friends (John 1:40-42,45,46).
Thus, people of all classes were reached by Jesus. And it was from
among those followers that Jesus called twelve to be his apostles (Luke
6:13-16).
2. The cost. Jesus makes it clear what the implications involving the life
of those accepting the call to be his disciple are. Becoming a disciple is
quite different from becoming a simple learner. In discipleship, the
follower begins to live with the master, while in the teacher-learner
relationship this practice is not present. Learning takes place day and
night, not just during a few classes taught at home or in a classroom.
Anyone who wants to follow him must therefore assess the costs.
Following Christ involves renunciation, it means total submission to Him.
Jesus reminded people of that cost, because he did not want them to
follow him only by excitement (Luke 14. 25-27). Many want to be
disciples, but do not want to give up anything. Sometimes we need to
sacrifice even our religious relationship in the family, give up some
things in order to follow Jesus. What does the Master demand from
you?
III – TRAINING
1. Change of destination. In the training given to the disciples, the

4. cross occupies a central place in the teachings of the Master (Luke 9:23;
14:27). The cross of Christ appears as a watershed in the life of the
disciples. A change of direction or destination. Life with Christ is full of
life, abundant life, as a matter of fact (John 10:10). But on the other
hand, it is a life bound to death! Whoever was not willing to die, could
not be a true follower. The cross changes the fate of him who becomes
a follower of Jesus. It guarantees peace and eternal life, but only for
those who have died for this world.
2. Change of values. Luke shows Jesus instructing the Twelve before
sending them into an evangelistic mission (Luke 9.1-6) and, later,
sending seventy others after also giving them detailed instructions (Luke
10.1-12). To get to that point, many things had to be changed in the lives
of those disciples. Jesus changed the way they thought. His disciples
could not, for example, have a materialistic mind like the Gentiles who
did not know God (Luke 12: 22,30). Whoever really knows Jesus is not
worried about tomorrow, about the things of this world, because they
know that He, the Good Shepherd, meets each of our needs.
IV. - THE MISSION
1. Preaching and teaching. It has already been said that the ministry of
Jesus consisted in teaching the Word of God, the preaching of the
Gospel of the Kingdom and the healing of the sick (Matthew 4:23; Luke
4:44; 8:1). In the text of Luke 9:1,2, we see Jesus sending the Twelve:
"When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and
authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them
out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick". "To preach" is
the translation of the Greek verb Kerysso, which has the sense of "to
proclaim as a herald". Jesus trained his disciples with a specific mission
– to be heralds of the message of the Kingdom of God. Proclaiming the
gospel of the Kingdom still remains the primary mission of the Body of
Christ! When the church forgets this principle, it loses its focus.
2. Release and heal. The Gospel of Christ provides both healing for the
soul and for the body. The Gospel of Matthew clearly reveals that the
Lord Jesus provided both healing and release for all those who drew
near Him in faith and repentance (Mt 8.16,17). Frank Stagg, American
theologian, notes that although the redemptive work of Christ is focused
on the cross, He was already the redeemer of disease and sin during his
earthly ministry. The disciples, therefore, needed to take this truth
everwhere.

5. CONCLUSION
We have learned in this lesson about the importance that teaching
has in the formation of Christian character. Jesus taught his disciples,
but he did not teach them in any manner nor did he give them content of
all kinds, He taught them the Word of God. But even the teaching of the
Word of God, to be effective, needs to be followed by example, making
use of efficient teaching resources, being based on values and having a
clear and defined goal. We abundantly find all this in the teachings of
Jesus. By following his teachings, we have the guarantee that the gap
between the teacher and the learner, between the educator and the
student will disappear. This way, we will have an efficient teaching.