Invest in the Few

Jesus chose twelve and gave them disproportionate time - depth with a few, not only crowd teaching.

Key Concept

And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,Mark 3:14 NASB1995

• He appointed twelve to be with Him and to send out - presence before platform, depth before scale.
• Level 1: Jesus spent real time with a small group before sending them out - depth with a few beats chasing a huge crowd.
• Level 2: Jesus picked twelve to stay close before He sent them - presence before platform, like training a few workers well before opening every branch.
• Level 3: Mass platform without presence produces spectators; time with a few produces sendable people - depth scales through people, not headcount alone.
• Level 4: Invest disproportionate presence in a small circle before you scale the message outward.
• Level 5: Great Commission sends widely; this note names the few who get presence first - depth before broadcast.
• John 13:1-17 shows the same logic at the end - washed their feet in the room, not from a stage.

  Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.” So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.John 13:1-17 NASB1995

• Great Commission pushes outward; Discipleship names daily following - this names the small circle that carries the message.
• Under Free Grace, investing in a few is not elitism - it is how the Teacher multiplied truth without hoarding it.

Examples

• I chased a bigger audience and neglected the three people who actually showed up weekly - Jesus named twelve before He sent anyone.
• I taught the whole team once a quarter but never ate with the core four - invest in the few is disproportionate time, not favoritism theater.

Note Relationships