046 The Life of Christ: The
Twelve Chosen
This morning we will look at the Jesus’ calling of the twelve
disciples to be with him on a full time basis from the passages in Luke 6:12-16
& Mark 3:13-19.
Let’s read the text from Luke 6:
Luke 6:12 ¶ Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to
the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His
disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named
apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named
Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; 15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of
Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;
16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
We will consider the event under the following headings:
1. Careful Consideration:
2. Prayerful Consideration:
3. Deliberate Consideration:
4, Personal Consideration:
1. Careful Consideration:
The imagery is striking.
The Old Israel with her 12 tribes had continually forsaken God by
breaking covenant with him through unfaithfulness and disobedience. The Messiah comes. He is ministering to the
multitudes of the descendants of this same Israel. He is rejected by the
leadership. Yet, he needs a larger of band of men to learn from him in order to
assume the leadership role that will be needed in less then two years. Time is critical. These called disciples will
learn and follow and work in ways the multitudes never would. These selected
would become his intimate band of followers with whom he would spend much of
his time and energies. Before choosing those who would be the new leaders among
his people, Jesus takes some time away, it may have been a few or many days.
Luke tells us, “Now it came to pass in those days” meaning
somewhere in this time frame, around these other events, like the crowds
pressing in around Jesus at the seashore. The phrase is a vague term that
allows for an indefinite amount of time to go by. What we should note is the
carefulness of Jesus as he goes about choosing the 12 disciples who would
become the 12 apostles. He doesn’t just
line them up in some way, or pick them at random, or even ask those who are
interested in joining his band of followers.
He gave this calling of them some thought.
Have you ever thought to yourself, where did the twelve come
from? They don't just “POP” into the
picture as disciples, they had to have some history with the Lord Jesus in
order to be know to him as men with some potential to bring his purposes to
pass. From where did they come?
We have noted in earlier message that some of the disciples had
already been called. Simon Peter and
Andrew were first taken as disciples in John 1:40-42 where .........
John 1:40 One of the two who heard John
speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother
Simon, and said to him, “We have found
the Messiah” (which is translated, the
Christ). 42 And he brought him to
Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said,
“You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
Note that Andrew is always Andrew but Peter is known by three
names, Simon, Peter & Cephas (Kayphas in Aramaic).
It is commonly believed that John the writer of the Gospel was the
other of the two who were taken to be disciples as transfers from John’s
ministry.
And then Peter and Andrew and James and John were called again by
the Sea of Galilee a few months later.
Mark 1:16-17 ¶ And as He walked by the Sea
of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for
they were fishermen. 17 Then
Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I
will make you become fishers of men.”
John and James had been disciples of John the Baptist who became
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ when he called them by the Sea of Galilee,
perhaps near where he was now teaching.
Luke 5:10 and so also were James and
John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to
Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on
you will catch men.” 11 So when
they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
In their initial calling back in John 1, they introduced us to
Philip and Nathaniel.
John 1:43-4 ¶ The following day Jesus
wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.”
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and
Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael
and said to him, “We have found Him of
whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph.” 46 And Nathanael
said to him, “Can anything good come out
of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come
and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael
coming toward Him, and said of him,
“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said
to him, “Before Philip called you, when
you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the
King of Israel!”
And, we looked for two weeks at the calling of Matthew, aka Levi,
and the effects of his call from Tax Collector to Disciple. At least seven of the men in this list have
had previous history with Jesus and many of them had been travelling with him
as his disciples. So, in this narrative,
we have Jesus making the final cut of those who would be his final 12 in whom
he would pour himself as he trained them.
Note: The 12 were not with Jesus for 3 1/2 years. They are called less than two years before
the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Note: seven of the twelve have already been revealed as his
followers in one sense or another. That makes seven we already know something
about. This passage s not the only
passage that tells us of Jesus calling of the disciples, it is one of many that
give to us the full picture of the progressive nature of the calling of the
twelve who were chosen.
But what of the others--where did the other five come from? Have
you ever considered that question?
They were from among the multitudes that followed Jesus. Remember, they have been pressing in against
him to the point where he is almost crushed or pushed into the Sea. These others were among those who followed
the Lord Jesus Christ wherever he went.
They were among the multitudes who were there to be called.
2. Prayerful Consideration:
Luke 6:12b He went out to the
mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Jesus gave careful consideration and prayerful consideration.
We do not know the content of his prayer to his Father in
heaven. We only know that he did pray
before he made the final cut of who would be his intimate band of followers
among the multitudes that constantly pressed him in.
Jesus went away from the masses once again. This time he did not go to the wilderness,
but he went to the mountain.
The NKJV makes this to be a specific though unnamed mountain.
Rather than just out to “a mountain,” it is translated as “the mountain.”
Perhaps the original audience was expected to know the topography and geography
of Israel enough that there would be little question of where Jesus went. We
are not so informed.
Here is a large mountainous area about 10 miles west of the Sea of
Galilee that goes up o over 3000 feet above sea level. That certainly fits the criteria of mountain
over against the usual word used for hill or hilly area. From the Sea of Galilee that is at about 700
feet below sea level to the Mountains to the west we find a constant rise in
elevation. This large chunk of mountain
is the likely place where Jesus went to isolate himself in order to pray.
The text already read said “in
those days”, Jesus was likely gone for more than one day of travel, yet one
night of concentrated activity in prayer.
The text says
Luke 6:13 and continued all
night in prayer to God
Jesus gave himself over to prayer for an entire night in order to
how his dependance upon his Father. This
was not a simple choice of any twelve available who might do the work, it was
not a selection of twelve who might have a chance of succeeding in the
job. It was a careful, prayerful and
deliberate attempt t do the will of God knowing the great wok they would have
to continue upon his own death. It was
all important to the work of God and the spread of the Gospel. These would be the twelve who would turn the
world upside down, well, eleven of them would be.....
3. Deliberate Consideration:
When someone does something deliberately, that means they do it
after careful consideration of all the factors involved. This category might sound redundant, or
unnecessary, but it is needed to make an important point.
I find Christians in our day and age want to handle matters, even
many weighty matters, in a quick and decisive manner. The important decisions of life often take
careful, prayerful, deliberative, thought before action is due. We like the easy way out. We want to deal with something in a quick
spurt of thought and activity. We don't
like to wrestle with problems. We want to deal with them and move on to the
next challenge, or thing we can ignore.
When a judge challenges a jury before it decides or deliberates,
he always tells them to consider the evidence and testimony before they make
any hast and rash decisions. When one
decides on gut feeling and impulse alone, they are more likely to make poor
choices and decisions than if they have given it careful and prayerful
deliberation. Christians should be contemplative unto deliberate actions based
on informed decisions, rather than compulsion and quick and easy choices that
are to be repented of later on.
Harry is teaching the adult Sunday School class on the Spiritual
disciplines. At some point he will
handle solitude as a spiritual act. It
was part of Jesus’ walk with his Father, should it be no less part of
our’s? If Jesus needed time alone with
God in prayed before such an important decision, don't we too, who are so much
weaker and misinformed and so tainted by sin?
One of the great areas where this is a weakness is in the area of
evangelism. Evangelicalism does not want
to allow people time to think over things of eternal weight and value. Yet, if
we look at our own experiences in grace, we see that God used many things to
woo us to himself. We should not have
confidence in our flesh to “win” others, but in the power of GOD working
through his Word by the Spirit. A man
will not and can not understand the kingdom of God until and unless he is born
again. Dead men are brought to life, not
by themselves and a choice, but by the work of God giving the gift of faith and
the grant of repentance. I don’t be
offended or put off if people don't “Choose” what you offer. God’s word does not return void. It will accomplish either to bring the one to
life or to confirm them in death. Paul
wrote about Christian ministers and their continual triumph in these words:
2 Cor. 2:14-16 Now thanks be to God who
always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of
His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of
Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of
death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And
who is sufficient for these things?
The answer is no mere man, only God and his work through men.
Many times when we are seeking guidance it is good to get someone
else’s perspective after praying to God for wisdom from above. Don't be so proud of your ability to sort
things out that you don't pray about things, that you don't act in haste, or
don’t deliberate with yourself and others.
Part of being Christ-like is to have a careful and prayerful dependence
upon God for all things, including guidance.
And, seek it primarily on the pages of Scripture as you seek God’s
principles to live by.
4. Personal Consideration:
He called His disciples to
Himself.
It was a particular call to a specific task--to be his personal faithful
disciples.
Jesus did not treat all the people who made up the multitudes in
the same way. That is an important truth
to see. In our world of democratic
principles we believe that everyone has a right to whatever anyone else
has. That is not true. There are some to whom leaders must give more
time and effort than others. Not all men
are to be treated alike. That is a myth
of American Democratic ideals. Every one
needs to be treated according to the real need as time and energy allows. There is a big difference.
Jesus knew who these people were and what they had to offer and
how they would fulfill God’s eternal purposes and help accomplish this great
work of God on behalf of man. These disciples had already been around Jesus:
some for a year, others for months, and perhaps some for weeks.
Note the language in the verse is emphatic--He, that is Jesus,
called, His Disciples to Himself.
Jesus did the calling personally.
Jesus called them to the office of Disciple to follow.
Jesus called them to follow Himself.
It was a very personal thing.
As the others already called had forsaken all to follow him, so would
those who made the final cut.
Luke tells us Jesus called them to be his disciples, Mark tells us
Jesus appointed them to be sent out (apostles).
The twin concepts or call and appoint give us a wonderful picture of
what happened that day. They were called
to call to, with the expectation of a reciprocal relation — ‘to call, to call
to.’ And, they were also appointed, they were caused to be in that position.
The basic meaning of the word translated here appointed is to cause a state to
be — ‘to cause to be, to make to be, to make, to result in, to bring upon, to
bring, the particular context points to a more specific meaning of to cause
someone to assume a particular type of function — ‘to assign to a task, to
cause people to assume responsibilities for a task.
Note again, there was no appeal to a choice to be made by the
disciples. They had NO CHOICE in it at
all. It was all initiated by the Lord
Jesus who calls and appoints these twelve to be his own disciples and the
original language conveys a sense of ownership and authority by Jesus over the
twelve.
We are so influenced by humanism and decisionism that we want to
make everything a willful choice of the individual. To us that makes it meaningful. So, we come to passages like this and we
impose on the text what is not there.
Jesus did not offer an appeal for those twelve guys who thought they
would like to give us a few years travel with Jesus as a travelling mission of
so sort. He sovereignly called them to
the position of Disciple, that they might in the future e sent out to
preach. He was going to spend his energy
training and teaching them in a way he would not teach and train the
multitudes.
Even in his sovereignty, they were willing because God had made
them willing to forsake all to follow Christ.
When it is man’s choice, man can back out of it and make his profession
false. When it is God who truly calls
one to be his disciple, leaving the call is of eternal consequence--apostasy,
to be without standing, the position one had been called unto. And, among the twelve, there was ne to be
found. Discipleship is not about human choice, it is about divine call. If called, you must, MUST, follow.
To be his own intimate band of followers, he called:
1. Simon, to whom He gave the Aramaic name Cephas (Kayphas in its
Greek pronunciation, though Cephas has ben the traditional pronunciation in the
English peaking world) meaning Stone (in Greek Petros giving us...) Peter see
John 1:42. Sometimes called Simon Peter together. The disciple with four
names.
2. James the son of Zebedee--one of two Jameses
3. John (the brother of James), --T writer of the Gospel who bears
his name and the one whom Jesus loved.
Even among the disciples, there are special relationships.
(to James and John, Jesus
gave the name Boanerges, that is,
“Sons of Thunder”)
4. Andrew, brother of Simon Peter,
5. Philip,
6. Bartholomew, AKA Nathaniel
7. Matthew, aka Levi, the former Tax-collector
8. Thomas, aka Didymus, Doubting Thomas?
9. James the son of Alphaeus, the other James.
10. Thaddaeus, aka Leddaeus and Judas, the brother of the second
James. (John 14:22), probably referring to the same person, speaks of “Judas,
not Iscariot.” After the other Judas brought scandal upon himself and left the
faith, a need rose to differentiate this Judas with the other. These different names may designate the same
person. Some believe this Jude or Judas,
was the author of the epistle Jude.
11. Simon, derived from Simeon, the Cananite; Also known as Simon
the Zealot. One of the twelve apostles, called the Canaanite (Matt. 10:4; Mark
3:18). This word “Canaanite” does not always mean a native of the land of
Canaan, but is derived from the Syriac word Kanean or Kaneniah, which was the
name of a Jewish sect. The Revised Version has “Cananaean;” marg., “or Zealot”
He is also called “Zelotes” (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13; R.V., “the Zealot”), because
previous to his call to the apostleship he had been a member of the fanatical
sect of the Zealots. There is no record regarding him.
12. Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. What an epitaph to have! Who also betrayed Jesus.....
He was a Son of a Simon (John 6:71; 13:2, 26), surnamed Iscariot,
i.e., a man of Kerioth (Josh. 15:25). His name is uniformly the last in the
list of the apostles, as given in the synoptic (i.e., the first three) Gospels.
The evil of his nature probably gradually unfolded itself till “Satan entered
into him” (John 13:27), and he betrayed our Lord (18:3). Afterwards he owned
his sin with “an exceeding bitter cry,” and cast the money he had received as
the wages of his iniquity down on the floor of the sanctuary, and “departed and
went and hanged himself” (Matt. 27:5). He perished in his guilt, and “went unto
his own place” (Acts 1:25). The statement in Acts 1:18 that he “fell headlong
and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out,” is in no way
contrary to that in Matt. 27:5. The suicide first hanged himself, perhaps over
the valley of Hinnom, “and the rope giving way, or the branch to which he hung
breaking, he fell down headlong on his face, and was crushed and mangled on the
rocky ground below.”
We should ask: Why was Judas Iscariot chosen to be an
apostle? We know not, but it is written
that “Jesus knew from the beginning who should betray him” (John 6:64).
Jesus knew what he was doing. Even the choice of Judas was
careful, prayerful, deliberate and personal.
Nor can any answer be satisfactorily given to the question as to
the human motives that led Judas to betray his Master. Crime is, for the most
part, the result of a hundred motives rushing with bewildering fury through the
mind of the criminal.”
What we do know is this, what Judas meant for evil and personal
profit, God meant for good and great spiritual good.
The Church often finds men of treachery within her walls. Yet God
uses them for good, even when they intend evil.
I am here because of the treachery of one who denied the Scripture’s
rightful place in the life of a Church.
God used that to bring about the circumstances that brought us here even
as he brought about the circumstances that moved Pastor Jim along. Out of evil and treachery, God can bring his
ultimate good.
As a point of application, let me ask, if someone found a copy of
our role a few hundred years from now and went out t research you as
individuals and us as a body of believers, what would they be compelled to
write?
Would we be known as people who followed the Lord fully or that we
were people of treachery? Would we be
known as those who followed for what we could get out of it, of for what we
could put into it in response to God’s love and grace? What would they be compelled to say about us?
More importantly, what would they say about our Lord and master
Jesus based on how we have lived and what we have written? Do we follow in his ways? Do we show forth his grace? Do we live in submission to his rule over his
people? Do we live as if we had the right to chose what we want to do and not
do? Or, do we follow in his ways? It is
only the latter that will have the godly effect of making men consider the
wonders of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who do you promote? Yourself and family, or the Lord Jesus
Christ? Whose agenda do you follow? Whose law do you uphold? Whose light directs your path? These are important questions! If we claim to be Jesus personal disciples
whom he carefully and prayerfully and deliberately called, we should follow him
in a way that will be evident to him and to those who watch us and know us that
Jesus is our savior and Lord.
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