Moments to Minutes to Maturity
When Jesus began his public ministry he announced:
The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and Believe the Good News (Mark 1:15).
These three statements frame the start and the continuation of discipleship journeys.
The time has come
Our lives are made up of Moments and Minutes. We get 60 minutes every hour of everyday. But there are certain minutes that are more significant than others, they are our moments. A moment can be when someone asks us to marry them, we start a new job, we get a cancer diagnosis, we go on an amazing holiday, we see an amazing sunset, a good friend dies, we lose a house in a flood, we inherit a fortune, or we become a follower of Jesus. In these Moments something happens that alters the course of the following Minutes.
In ‘the time has come’, Jesus was referring to a Moment.
The kingdom of God is near
In that Moment, Jesus was announcing in himself the fresh availability (nearness) of life in the Kingdom of God and the possibility of entering into it.
Repent and believe the good news
Jesus said the way people could enter the KIngdom in that moment was through repenting (a change of thinking) and believing (confidently acting on this new truth)
In Mark 1:16-17 we see this in action:
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.
Simon and Andrew were spending their minutes casting their nets into the lake. And then a moment occurred: Jesus invited them into the Kingdom: ‘Come follow me and I will send you out to fish for people’. These words created an opportunity for Simon and Andrew to change their thinking (repent). They changed their thinking, had confidence that Jesus would do what he said and then lived out that confidence by leaving their nets and following Him. The minutes after the moment were filled with new and surprising activity.
Although the disciples had started to follow Jesus, they still had a long way to go before they reached maturity. And that journey would include recognising and responding to many more moments both big and small.
One of these smaller moments happened the morning after the healings at Simon and Andrew’s house:
Mark 1
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”
38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.
The disciples just assumed that Jesus would hang around Capernaum, maybe to repeat the events of the previous night and so they went to look for him. But in that moment Jesus said something that changed their thinking - ‘Let us go somewhere else….. that is why I have come’. They learned the importance of doing what God wanted instead of the obvious thing. And the minutes that followed involved going to nearby towns.
This moment where the disciples decided to continue to follow Jesus wasn’t as ‘major’ as the initial decision to leave their nets, but it was another important step towards maturity.
Jesus often processed these moments in his small group
Mark 1:35-38 happened in an informal small group setting prior the the official establishment of the small group of 12 in Mark 3. But after the establishment of his small group, it was a common feature of their gatherings. In fact in most of the small group gatherings in Mark 8:27-10:46 Jesus helped the disciples process moments. He helped them clarify their thinking and identify ways in which they could respond in confidence (Mark records these processing events in varying levels of detail).
Mark 9:33-37 is a great example:
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.
35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”
36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”
The disciples had a ‘moment’ on the road when they got into an argument. Jesus identified that this was an opportunity for them to step more fully into Kingdom living. He gave them a different way of thinking about greatness - in the Kingdom of God greatness is about servanthood. He then offered a simple way they could respond in faith in the following minutes - practise welcoming Jesus and the Father whenever they welcomed a little child.
Note: I have experimented with Jesus suggestion and have found it has a transforming effect. You might like to experiment with Jesus suggestion as well!
Processing Moments in Jesus-Shaped Small Groups
To run a Jesus-Shaped Small Group today, we will need to follow Jesus’ practice and devote parts of our small group gatherings to processing the moments that happen in the lives of members. This will involve helping members notice when moments happen. Sometimes we all need help to see that an argument may be a fresh moment for us to step into Kingdom living. Then we will often need help to get God’s perspective on the moment - what aspect of God’s truth is relevant. And we will often need help to identify ways we can respond in confidence.
I have found there are three benefits that come from processing my moments in a small group:
Other people often have wisdom and insight into God’s perspective about my moment.
They provide encouragement and accountability for me to follow through on my steps of faith.
I find myself learning from other people’s moments even if I haven’t had them myself.