“And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.”
Matthew 13:10-11 NASB1995

This passage is highlighting for us that after Jesus would finish preaching to the crowds the Good News about His Kingdom in the form of illustrations found within a story, they’d then come to Him privately to ask Him questions so He could further unpack what He preached. Then Jesus would go on to explain how to enter His Kingdom, live life within His Kingdom or describe the nature of how His Kingdom operates. It was in this setting that they would go deeper in understanding His teaching and in relational connection. In other words the disciples were learners, who in summary were seeking to learn how to live and love like Jesus. And what was the specific setting in which they gathered to ask Him questions and go deeper in understanding how to apply His teachings? Come with me to verse 36 and let’s see what answer it gives us…

“Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.””
Matthew 13:36 NASB1995

The setting was away from the large gathering of the crowds and into the small gathering within a home. The disciples didn’t merely have a personal, one-on-one abiding relationship with Jesus. But they also learned and did life together as followers of Jesus! Commenting on this in his book “Following Jesus: Disciple-making and Movement Building”, a book which I highly recommend you read, the author Peter Roennfeldt says, “Jesus’ second invitation was “Follow me.” This was an invitation to share a relational journey. Again, it took an investment of time. Disciple-making is not limited to a seminar or Bible study; rather it is living on the path of life together.” So what is this second step Jesus leads you to? When the love of Christ is the Why for your life, then…

He’ll lead you to gather in community with other followers who are learning to live and love like Jesus.

I’ll give you two examples of this from my own experience. The first one was while I was pastoring in my first church in Maryland. One of my primary responsibilities among a team of pastors was to oversee, coordinate and develop our over 24 small groups that were interspersed throughout the metro DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia area based on where our members lived, which made it very convenient for them to gather together during the week. I led by example, so my small group (which we called Grow Groups) was made up of members who lived in the Laurel Maryland area and we gathered at the local Panera Bread. One night after we had prayed, shared what was happening in each others lives, discussed Scripture, ate food and were now laughing and talking, a young lady who had sat across from us watching our experience, asked if she could join us the next week. We happily said yes. The following week, after wondering if she would indeed come, she shows up, participates, opens up to us in tears about some of the struggles she was having in her life and then received from us an outpouring of love, encouragement, hugs, prayers and support. By the time I left that church to go to my next assignment, she was faithfully apart of that small group, though I hadn’t yet gotten to see her join our local church officially.

Then there was another young lady who heard me preach one Sabbath at the other church I was sent to. And after the service she was brought to me at the office by the head deacon, who indicated that she had responded to the message and wanted to meet with me. I listened to her share her story in tears as she told me how she came to faith in Jesus after recently losing her brother unexpectedly, which led her to study the Scriptures for herself. It was this experience that brought the conviction to her heart that Saturday was the 7th day Sabbath and after doing a Google search for the nearest Sabbath-keeping Christian church, she came to our worship service. She expressed the interest to study more so I invited her to join the small group that I and a co-leader hosted in the courtyard of my apartment complex. She went through a Bible study of our beliefs twice, started serving by joining one of our ministry teams, and before I left to come here I had the privilege of baptizing her after she had journeyed with our small group for over two years. I share this with you because I want you to see that Jesus led these two people to primarily gather with a small group of followers of Jesus for deeper community and learning before they ever joined the larger gathering on Sabbaths or were officially baptized into the church!

And this is exactly the kind of meaningful human connection we find in these smaller gatherings of which the Scriptures repeatedly invite us into. For example, the Apostle John says in 1 John 1:3, “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” 1 John 1:3 NASB1995. Here, John is recounting some of his experience with Jesus which we’ve already covered. He’s even laying out the first two steps of the discipleship pathway Jesus brings us on. After responding in faith to the message of the Gospel, John personally experienced an abiding relationship with Jesus through which he had fellowship God and then entered into fellowship with other followers. He invites us, the readers, to share in this same fellowship.

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO!

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