From the above, it is important that our understanding of an apostle in this article is not limited to the 12 Aposles listed in Mathew 10:2-4; Mark 3: 16-19; Luke6:13-16 and |acts 1:13. Therefore, some apostles were probably bearing 2 different names like Mathew who was also called Levy. Apart from the 12 Apostles, others were also called Apostles even though they were not mentioned among those who followed Jesus in His earthly life. Paul is referred to as an Apostle (I Cor. 9:1). In Rom. 16:7 we read: in this 14:14, Barnabas and Paul were called apostles. The point is that an apostleship disciple therefore is a missionary, sent by God to the world.
It is like theory and practice – they go together.
When Jesus asked the Lawyer in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 27-37) “What is written in the Law…How do you read it?”The Lawyer answered Jesus: “Love all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself’. Jesus told him: “You have answered but he was not doing it. What was remaining was for him to be doing what he already knew. Discipleship is like theory while Apostleship is like practice. The two must go together. Our knowledge of God must be deep for the sake of being sent to serve Christ in the world.
It is like the closet and the open field.
In Matt. 6:6, Jesus taught His disciples – “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your unseen Father. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Part of being a disciple is spending time with the Lord in the secret. A Disciple maintains a regular quiet time with the Lord to lean daily at His feet. Being in the closet makes our hearts be instructed on what is to be done and how to live. From the closet, we go into the field of action. We are not to remain in the closet forever. The purpose of the closet is to help us know how to serve the Lord on the field. Discipleship calls for being with Christ before going for Him.
It is of being (ontological) and of doing (teleological)
Our text says “He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that height send them out to preach.” To be with Him allows them to be formed and they gain knowledge and additional knowledge of who their Master is. In being He intends them to be in their new nature, He sends them out to preach and serve Him. He sends them to go and do. One must first “be” with the Lord before he can go and“do” for him. That is Discipleship and Apostleship.
It is like the Private and the Public Life
The Bible presents Jesus as one who maintained both a private and a public life without the Father. Mark 1:35 says: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, that His disciples found him where He was and He told them: “Let us go…to the nearby preached and served. It is a common saying: “You cannot do the work of God without making us do the work of God. One appears private and the other is public. Each takes on the other. Even before Golgotha where the Lord died on the cross, He was in Gethsemane where He spent time alone with God in prayer (Matt. 26:35-56). The public work is done with the strength received privately. This is the principle of discipleship and apostleship.
It is like Being on the Mountain and returning to the Valley
The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 17:1-8; Luke 9: 28-36 and Mark 9:2-13. According to Matthew, Jesus took with Him Peter, James and John and led them to a high mountain where He was transfigured. His face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. In that sublime experience, a voice was heard in the cloud: “This is my Son, whom | love, with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him”. This was an experience of being with Jesus. Peter even wanted them to remain on the mountain but Jesus instructed them to go down. As soon as they got down, Jesus began to minister to Aboy brought to the disciples who was troubled with seizures and the disciples could not heal him. Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him. Discipleship is being with Jesus on the mountain to experience Him and learn from Him. Apostleship is coming down the mountain of spiritual encounter into the valley field of action for Christ.
It is like Withdrawal and Performance
In Matt. 14:13-20, we have the account of the feeding of the 5,000 by Jesus. This was a major display of God’s power when five loaves of bread and two fish were used to feed to satisfaction, five thousand men, besides women and children. Twelve basketfuls of broken pieces were taken as extra in the end. Immediately after this experience, Jesus sent his disciples to the other side of the sea, dispersed the crowd, and “went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray”. Here we see Jesus moving up to the mountain of seclusion to be alone with God. It was a form of continued discipleship with the Father after a time of apostleship-having been sent out to preach, where the miracle took place. The point here is that Jesus operated in the manner of discipleship and apostleship.
It is a Privilege and Responsibility
John I:12 says: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” Discipleship begins when we become children. It is salvation freely given to us. We begin to learn about Jesus and to understand the
The Outcome of Newness
When Moses spent 40 days with God on the mountain, he came down with a shining face that when a couple lives together for many years, they get to rub so much on each other with discipleship. It puts us in constant interaction with God and we begin to know according to His instructions. This experience carries us into a state of newness for ourselves, becoming what we are not, based on daily intercourse with God. It leads us to acting in godly ways and this deepens as we continue in discipleship.
Apostleship, on the other hand, takes us into the field of the display of God’s power. Going to whom God has sent us usually takes place in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we experience God anew in our own lives. It is also the Spirit that converts and brings newness into the lives of people. Apostleship opens doors to God’s miraculous interventions. Miracles do not just happen as we sit down at home. They happen along the way of our obedience to the call of apostleship. When we are sent, God’s accompanying presence will always lead to Miraculous experiences, especially when we are confronted with challenges on the way – sickness, demonic powers or opposition. This is the kind of newness which we are seeking. News of the Kingdom to the world. A few Centuries later, the message conquered the
Conclusion
Discipleship and Apostleship are our means of experiencing newness in our lives and that of others. The call is for a life of oscillation. From discipleship, we move into apostleship and from apostleship, we move back into discipleship. From the mountain of solitude, we go to the valley of action and from the valley of action, we quickly return to the mountain of solitude. Discipleship and Apostleship must be operated both in the private and public domain. Discipleship without apostleship is like a bird trying to fly with one wing. It is the same when one tries to do apostleship without discipleship.
The experience will be most limiting. We must keep going back and forth – learning to be and going to do. With this sense of commitment, our Churches will grow both spiritually and numerically. We must continue to create time to be with the Master so that He will continue to send us out to reach “and to have authority over demons” (Mark 3:15). May this superlative power bring newness to our lives and ministry in Jesus’ name. Amen.
References
Achtemeier, Paul, Harper’s Bible Dictionary, San Francisco, Harper Collins Publishers, 1985.
The Oxford Language Dictionary
Walker, Philip and Reed-Thomson, Renita, The Mission of God: God’s Story Through the Ages and How we Fit, DML, 2021. (https://wwwminitrysamples.org
