Jesus “had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen” (Acts 1:2).
Jesus Himself had chosen the final 12 apostles. Who were these apostles whom He chose? They were chosen out from His disciples (Matthew 10:3-5). A disciple is a learner, a student. They had committed themselves to following Him as their Rabbi, to go where He went, to do what He did. Ultimately, their whole mission was to communicate Him, the Savior of the World. So they needed to learn of Him, believe in Him, follow Him, be like Him. They needed to know Him and have a strong relationship with Him. We must do the same if we are to carry out our Christian mission as images of God who are the light of the world. Not only to speak of Him, but to live like Him. To share the message and to model the message. Christ is the message.
From all His disciples, as many as 70 at one point, He chose 12 men, “that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons” (Mark 3:14-15). These apostles were gathered to Him to be equipped for a particular ministry of representing Him and His kingdom in their lives, and to communicate the message of the kingdom with power. To proclaim the kingdom, you speak of its King.
After several years of training, He told them, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and thatyour fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16). He chose them to bear fruit, such as put His teachings into heart and action so they reflect the character of their Master and hold fast to it. The fruit of their training needs to remain, be a solid part of their maturing spiritual makeup. An essential part of that training is cultivating a relationship with the Father and the Son so that their prayers will be those that honor the Father’s will and faithfully communicates the Son.
But first they were disciples. A simple word search for disciples* will find instructions and conditions on being a follower worthy of the name. But we are not following the physical presence of Jesus as the original disciples did. Our instructions as born-again believers will come from the word of God. Reading the word, thinking it through (meditating, studying, plying it with questions), believing it as though the Lord is teaching us, and following up on our conclusions (with practical applications), are essential steps for disciples in training to be like their Master. Treating the Scriptures as communications from the Lord, and using them to grow into the character of Christ, becoming dependent on the Spirit’s leading, recognizing the difference between following the flesh and the Spirit, law and grace, faith in self vs. faith in the Lord, are all part of the training that takes time to grasp. Don’t just read Christian books, but get well-read in the Bible itself, including going through the whole Bible.
We should follow through on the lessons we pick up. We want fruit to remain, meaning when trials come, we will persist in what we’ve learned of Christ. If we follow the apostle Peter in Acts, we see a mature man of God who is filled with the Spirit, not the flesh, as he stands before the religious leaders (Acts 4:12); he continues to stand for Christ’s commission after he is beaten and warned (Acts 4:18-21); he continues to pray with the brethren instead of losing heart (Acts 4:24); he understands that the trial he is undergoing is part of God’s plan instead of thinking everything’s going wrong (Acts 4:25-28).
Disciples can learn the above traits of an apostle and apply them to whatever line of work or gifting the Lord has for them. Persistence in the word of God is key because it takes time to bear fruit. We also have an enemy that will expend much effort to distract us from the word. You can tell you are being distracted and wandering when you find yourself making excuses to do something other than pursuing the word. For the disciple, there are no substitutes for studying the word. An indication that you are staying on track is when you are continuing to follow through on the word and apply it to your life, as Peter did in Acts. He applied the word when he went through trials, when he preached the kingdom of God, when he pointed people to Jesus for salvation, when he prayed with other believers, and more.
Jesus “had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen.” Is Jesus Lord to you? Then He has commands for you to follow. Stay in the word and take them to heart. He is still looking to choose servants to empower them for the works “which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
