Teaching for a purpose

Jesus was making disciples as He sat on the mountain teaching.

The accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke indicate that Jesus called certain fishermen, Peter and Andrew, and James and John, to follow Him before the Sermon on the Mount. These men would have been there listening. But others were there as well. The account in Matthew records the Sermon on the Mount in great detail; the accounts in Mark and Luke do not. The complete structure of the discourse indicates that Matthew was listening intently. But the accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke indicate that Matthew himself was called later, as he sat at his tax office in the city. Matthew had sat on the mountain listening to Jesus; this tax collector remembered details, every detail.

(Zaccheus, also a tax collector, also was good at remembering details. In Luke 19 he told Jesus he would repay four-fold everything he had taken by fraud.)

When Jesus passed by Matthew sitting at his table collecting taxes, Matthew knew what this Man taught. When Jesus said "Follow Me" Matthew was ready to leave his place in life, and follow Jesus. Jesus had been making a disciple of Matthew as He taught on the mountain.

Teaching is for a purpose. It is to bring inward change.

"But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Timothy 1:5

Teaching needs to address the inward; otherwise discipleship becomes a school of acting. Discipleship should give a heart that has been cleansed from sin, an internal conscience that is useful in doing what is good and a faith that is not the result of role-playing. Love is to come from a changed person, not a well-acted part.

Excerpt from "The Foundation of Discipleship" by Greg Whitten, angiken@gmail.com] or Basic Christianity