How did Peter get to follow Jesus and become a leader? Jesus selected him.

How did Matthew get to follow Jesus and become a leader? Jesus selected him.

Luke 5: One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore…

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

Jesus called some fishermen and said “Follow me.” He went out and saw the tax collector who was by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

Why did he do that? Because Jesus picked him.

He selected 12, from 70, from 120, from 5000, from everyone else in Israel and all the other people in the world at that time, that he didn’t select to be those who he would entrust and hand over his life’s work to.

How would that feel? Why didn’t he just pick everyone?

Maybe all that prayer before calling them by name was God giving him a strategy?

Maybe he was intentional, strategic, about developing leaders? Apprentices.

If you want a great treatment of what apprenticeship involves, read Robert Greene’s Mastery. Or a short-cut version is here.

I heard Andy Stanley says Apprenticing is ‘Selecting, modeling and coaching for the purpose of replacing yourself.’

Andy said we only have problems with the FIRST word in that list, because selection doesn’t seem fair.

We are just grateful for whoever shows up and volunteers at all, but Jesus picked his team personally.

He went up to people specifically and challenged them directly to leave everything, lay it all down – and follow him. Like he assumed that would be the best thing, the best decision, the best way to invest their lives.

That fishing for men would be better than fishing, that making disciples would be more fulfilling than making money.

I wonder if we did it his way, whether we’d get different results?