After Pentecost: The Disciples DeployedSample

  

Recognizing God Ordained Interruptions

Peter and John were busy men in the days immediately following Pentecost. They had 3,000 new believers to organize, teach, and take care of, and they had to do so in a way that wouldn’t discredit the Gospel they proclaimed. They were not too busy, though, to recognize a divine appointment and take advantage of it. 

One day, as they went about their duties, a lame man called out to them. Why this lame man, who spent every day by the gate called Beautiful where Peter and John passed by, chose to call out to them on this particular day, we don’t know, but he did. Always mindful of their mission to make disciples, Peter and John took a moment to discern how God would have them interact with the man before engaging. Peter and John ended up giving the man even more than he asked for, and the grace they demonstrated toward this outsider drew a crowd. 

Had Peter and John not been interruptible, they would have missed the opportunity to change a man’s life and get the attention of an unbelieving crowd that had shown little interest in them or their message up until that point. Had they ignored the man to keep their appointment with members of the Church, they would have missed an opportunity to advance the Kingdom by advancing truth, but they did not. Instead of forfeiting evangelism for the sake of discipleship, Peter and John accomplished both, setting an example for the early Church to follow. 

Jesus, too, had been interruptible.  Upon the disciples’ return from their first ‘independent’ missionary experience (Jesus hadn’t accompanied them in the flesh, but He’d sent the Holy Spirit with them) Jesus listened to the disciples and then took them somewhere to discuss their tour of duty. The crowd, however, had other plans and pressed in to see and hear Jesus. Instead of putting the crowd off to disciple the apostles right then as He planned, Jesus welcomed the crowd and saw to their needs, turning what the apostles considered an interruption, of sorts, into a learning experience for them—the famed feeding of the five thousand. 

What about you? Are you interruptible? Are you mindful of your mission at all times? Do you recognize divine appointments when they happen? Do you keep them? Do you set an example of evangelism for those you disciple?