THE CHURCHES' FOCUS: GREAT MULTITUDES OR DISCIPLES?

Recently, I have studied and thought a lot about the account of Jesus walking on the water in John 6 and Matthew 14.  The story occurs right after Jesus fed more than 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and two small fish.  I would like to explore a different aspect to this story, however, that is very easy to look past. 

Matthew 14:22 reads, “And straightway Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship, and to go before Him unto the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.”  We see here two groups of people: the multitude, and Jesus’ disciples, and we see two very different ways in which the Lord is dealing with them.  He is sending His disciples across the sea ahead of Him, but He is dismissing, or sending away, the multitude.  The Lord seems very deliberate in accomplishing these two tasks; and so He was, for He did nothing in His ministry that was not deliberate.  Everything that Jesus did had both plan and purpose.  We see in His actions, therefore, a clear separating of these two groups.  The word “constrain” in this verse means “to compel.”  In other words, Jesus was not merely suggesting to the disciples that they get in the ship and go; He was insisting they do so. 

It must be understood that Jesus loved the multitudes that followed Him about and had great compassion for them.  Scripture says “... Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick.” (Matthew 14:14).  He saw them as sheep without a shepherd, and He longed to lead them into the safety of God’s fold.  He also understood the superficial nature of their attraction, however.  Because He multiplied the loaves and fish and fed their hunger, they were ready to make Him their king, but Jesus said to them, “Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you.”     

It was not the multitudes that Jesus spent most of His time with, it was His disciples.  He opened the mysteries of the Gospel to those whom He had chosen, and explained to them the meaning behind the parables that He told.  Of course, there were those from among the multitude whose ears were opened to the Words of Life and became Jesus’ disciples, but, for the most part, it was not about the crowds to our Lord.  He wanted to see growth and maturity; faith and commitment. 

Jesus would often avoid the multitude in order to accomplish His mission.  “Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave commandment to depart unto the other side.” (Matthew 8:18).  “And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him.” (Matthew 5:1).  I know this seems counterintuitive compared to the strategy used by many Christian leaders today.  In too many cases It is all about the numbers.  Men of God can boast about how many people they had in attendance last Sunday, but how many of those are living lives of victory and are being transformed daily by the renewing of their minds?  Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32). 

“If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed.” (St. John 8:31).  When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He simply walked by those whom He chose and gave this simple invitation, “Follow Me.”  The result was that they dropped what they were doing and did just that.  Even when Jesus laid down some hard truths for His disciples, they did not flinch, but accepted their Lord’s teaching as the very Word of God.  Peter expressed the reasoning behind this for the whole group when he said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68).    It is this hunger for the truth, and for the words of eternal life, that defines the true nature of discipleship.  Even more importantly, however, it is the realization that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and there is no other source for the Words of Life but Him.  We must therefore “continue” in His Word in order to truly be His disciples.  The Bible says that those who could not receive His Words “went back, and walked no more with Him.” (John 6:66).  There are those today who may still name the name of Christ, but they walk no more with Him.

Sadly, it is not always the multitudes that will respond to the call of discipleship.  This is why Jesus must send them away.  Discipleship by its very name suggests discipline, but vast numbers of people have no appetite for such a thing.  They would rather claim Christ as Savior while following their own agenda, and not Christ’s.  Serving God on the basis of anything other than the desire to follow Him, and to leave our past life behind us to walk with Him, will not be fruitful.  It will make us religious in the same sense that the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus day were religious, but will not change our heart or our nature!  It is not about an outward form of godliness, or ritual, or even religious habits; it is about an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.  Christianity is about becoming like Christ.  It is about growing, maturing, and transforming into the image of the Son of God.  Jesus said, “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21). 

David said that God desires truth in our inward parts.  If we first approach God with a willing heart, and trust in His ability as a Master Potter to mold us into the vessels that He desires for us to be, He will then indeed transform us more and more into His likeness.  It is faith that we need!  We are told in St. Luke 8 that there was a multitude that thronged Jesus.  They were all touching Him, and pressing upon Him; but one lady in the crowd believed in her heart that if she could just touch the hem of His robe, she would be healed of an affliction that had plagued her for 12 years.  Out of all that crowd touching Jesus, it was her touch on just His garment that stopped Him and made Him ask, “Who touched Me?”  Her faith caused virtue to flow from Him to her, and she was healed.  Her faith set her apart from the rest of the multitude who had also touched Him, but not in faith.

At one point Jesus said of the multitudes, “In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” (Matthew 13:14-16).  We don’t realize sometimes what a great gift we have been given by God to be able to see and hear spiritual truth!  It is essential, therefore, that we learn to be sensitive to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

In Luke 14:25, there was a multitude with Jesus and He turned to them and laid out some requirements for discipleship saying, “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26, 27).  Unlike some preachers today, Jesus did not hesitate to define the cost of discipleship to those who would follow.  If we are not willing to lose our life (that is, our own will) then we cannot follow Him because He gave all.  There are crosses that we will be called to bear if we would follow our Lord.  Also, we may be opposed by our fathers, mothers, children, brothers, and sisters; and they may try to dissuade us from following where our Lord would lead us.  It is then that we must hate the influence that would turn us aside, even if it is from a loved one!  The Apostle Peter learned this very hard lesson when he tried to convince his Lord that He didn’t have to die on the cross.  Jesus looked at Peter but addressed the evil spirit when He said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.” (Mark 8:31-33).  It was Peter’s affection for Jesus that the enemy used to try to derail the Lord’s resolve, and though Jesus loved Peter very much, He recognized the enemies scheme and had to call him out.    

After challenging the multitude with the cost of discipleship, He then illustrated the need to be completely surrendered by telling two parables.  In the first one, Jesus asked who among them, if they were building a tower, wouldn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to complete it to see if they had what it would take.  Otherwise, when they got into the project and found that they didn’t have what it took to finish, they would find themselves mocked by those watching them.  In the second parable, Jesus asked what king who was going to war against a superior force, wouldn’t first sit down and consider whether his smaller force could defeat the stronger.  Jesus then defines the cost of discipleship for them by saying, “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:25-35).  It is going to take all that we are.  We have been bought with a price: the precious blood of Jesus!

The Lord finally told the crowd, “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”  We are the salt of the earth, and the thing that gives us our saltiness is our relationship with Jesus Christ.  He is the Life that courses through us as we walk in fellowship with Him.  When that fellowship is broken because of sin, we lose the essence of Jesus – our saltiness – and our witness to the world then becomes ineffectual.  This is why we must always be pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  This race that we are running is not a sprint, but a marathon!

What about the other group in Matthew 14?  Remember that Jesus compelled His disciples to get into the ship and head for the other side.  This is something else that is significant about discipleship: the Lord compels us into situations that we would not choose for ourselves so that He can increase our faith and show forth His glory in our lives.  Truth is, Jesus knew that there was a bad storm awaiting the disciples out on the sea that night.  He wanted them to experience it so that they would learn to trust in Him through the good and through the bad.  If it had not been for the storm that night, Peter would not have known that he could walk on water and overcome the storms that life would bring him.  Neither would the other disciples know and understand that it is Jesus Who speaks to the storms of life and says, “Peace, be still.”

Jesus defined discipleship in one other way in John 15:8.  He said, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.”  Fruit is very important.  It is how we can tell a healthy tree from an unhealthy one (Matthew 7:17-20).  Lest we be confused about what fruit is and what it is not, the Apostle Paul lists many of the fruits of the Spiritual life for us in Galatians 5:22, 23.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  Some things that are not fruit and so are absent from this list are: tradition, ritual, position in the church, titles, spiritual gifts, and knowledge (for knowledge puffs up, but real love nurtures).  “Things” can be copied and mimicked, but true fruit can only be produced by the working of the life of Jesus in the heart of the believer.  Oh, we may falter from time to time, but the idea is that we continue in His Word day by day so that we may “grow up into Him in all things.”

We once hosted some young brothers from another city at our fellowship meeting.  At one point, one of the brothers got up and said that he wanted to demonstrate what the Christian life was like.  He then proceeded to take a couple of steps across the room, but acted as if he tripped, and fell down on the floor.  Without hesitation, he jumped up and yelled, “I want to be like Jesus!”  After marching another few steps, he fell again, but jumped back up and yelled, “I want to be like Jesus!”  He continued this way all across the room, advancing a little further each time.  Needless to say, we all got the message and it has stuck in my mind ever since! 

I guess all that remains is to ask this question: will we be a disciple, or just one of the multitude?  Will we let the Lord constrain us, instruct us, guide us, and show His glory in us; or will He be forced to send us away?  Let us be those who with confidence and conviction say, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.  And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”  It is He, and He alone, Who has the Words of Eternal Life.   

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.  He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings: and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.” (St. John 14:23, 24).