Calling common men for an uncommon calling. Luke 6:12-16
The Son: Meeting Jesus through Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction:
Introduction:
Our text before us today we have Lukes recording of Jesus calling the twelve apostles. Again, we really don’t know exactly when this event took place in the life of Christ we just know that it “came to pass in those days.”
What days? The days in which the opposition toward Christ from the religious establishment was quickly intensifying.
v.11 of Luke 6 ended with the notion that the Pharisees were so blinded with rage for Jesus that they were seeking to do harm to him. This mounting hostility toward jesus would culminate in his death on the cross just two short years later. So for Jesus, the time had more than come to begin for him to choose those who would carry out his ministry once he was gone. If they were going to do that, they were going to need intense training.
This decision was so important, that scripture tells us that he went off to a mountain to pray alone in order to seek his Father’s will in choosing the twelve.
Jesus spent all night in unceasing fervent and persevering prayer. Ater spending all night in prayer, Jesus gathers his disciples in order to draw out 12 to be his apostles.
Their selecting (v.13a)
Their sending. (v.13b)
Their significance.
Their short-comings.
1.) Their selecting. (v.13a)
1.) Their selecting. (v.13a)
Luke 6:13 (NKJV)
And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve....
When you read this, their may be some confusion that comes about because the 12 are often called “Jesus disciples.” But, their is a difference between being a disciple and being an apostle
Jesus had many disciples.
Disciple- student, follower, learner. But it’s more than that. In Jewish and greek culture of the day, famous rabbis, speakers, teachers and philosophers would attract followers as the travelled from place to place. These followers would attach themselves to their teacher and follow him wherever he went. They would do this in order to not just study and learn all of this teaching but to also learn from his life.
It was this larger group of likely hundreds of disciples that Jesus called to gather around him in order that he could chose 12.
It is no mistake that Jesus chose 12. It is symbolic of the 12 tribes of Israel. Israel was apostate at this point. Its leaders had turned their backs on God and replaced him with manmade rules. These 12 would be the leaders of the new called out people of God, the church.
The only thing that stands out about these 12 men is just how common they were. There was nothing all that special about these men. The only thing remotely unique about these men was their diversity in occupation and political views.
One was a tax collector for the roman government, a traitor who served the occupiers and exploited his own people.
Another, Simon the Zealot, was a member of a political organization radically opposed to Rome. One group of Zealots, known as the Sicarri, were known to carry concealed daggers and were considered to be terrorist by the Roman government. They would often preform political kidnappings and murderers of Romans and Jews they thought were loyal to Rome.
Imagine how uncomfortable those dinner conversations were.
The rest were made up of successful fisherman, men we know nothing about but their names and Judas Iscariot, the one outlier not from Galilee but from a town in southern Judaea (indicated by his name which means “man of kerioth.” )
The only thing this ragtag band of 12 had in common was Jesus. In fact, were it not for Jesus, Simon the zealot may have murdered Levi.
These men form a perfect illustration for what Paul would later write in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Application: Let that encourage you today. If 12 of the most influential people in Christian history were a bunch of normal nobodies who were yielded to him. Then just imagine what God can do with you if you would be just as yielded.
2.) Their Sending (v.13b)
2.) Their Sending (v.13b)
Luke 6:13 (NKJV)
...whom He also named apostles:
From the larger body of Jesus disciples he calls out these 12 men, to be his apostles. Which is something very different from a disciple.
Apostle- Messenger, ambassador, or representative invested with the full authority of the one who sent him.
It is derived from something in Jewish culture called a “shaliach”. This also refers to a messenger sent with full authority to act on behalf of another. A Shaliach could also act on behalf of an individual, similar to a modern day power of attorney.
Before these 12 could be “sent out” by Jesus, he had to mentor and train them. Their calling was not the end, but a step in carrying on the work of Jesus after his death.
First they believed on him.
Then he called on them to leave their occupations and become his full time disciples.
Then he chose them to be his apostles.
Then he sent them out to preach his gospel to Israel.
Finally, he would send them out to evangelize the world.
In some sense, all believers are “apostles” in that we are called to be Christ ambassadors to the lost world around us.
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.
But, in a formal sense, this was an office that existed for a short period of time and played a pivotal role in God’s plan of redemption.
3.) Their Significance.
3.) Their Significance.
It cannot be understated just how important these men have been to the Lord’s church.
What is it about these men, that make them so significant when they came from such insignificant backgrounds?
A.) They formed the foundation of the church.
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
It was Christ who instituted the church, but he used his apostles to form and build it’s structure.
B.) They received special revelation from God regarding the church.
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
God used these men or men who were very closely associated with them to write the entirety of the New Testament. But, long before anything was ever actually penned down, they were instructing the church in the ways of the Lord.
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
It is this teaching we have in our laps today, and it is still the only authoritative word for all maters of faith and practice in the church.
C.) They were given to edify and equip the church.
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
D.) They were given the ability to preform the miraculous.
Paul instructs us how to tell if someone was a true Apostle of Christ or not.
2 For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?
The writer of Hebrews tells us the message of salvation was confirmed by the signs and wonders done by the apostles.
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
E.) They will be remembered for all eternity.
12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13 three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
4.) Their short-comings.
4.) Their short-comings.
These men served an important and vital role in the Lord’s work, but let’s not think for a moment that they were perfect. In fact, they all were very far from it.
The had weaknesses upon weaknesses that Jesus had to correct.
A.) They were slow to grasp spiritual concepts.
16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?
Matthew 16:9–11 (NKJV)
9 Do you not yet understand, or remember...11 How is it you do not understand...
13 And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
B.) They often lacked humility.
More than once you see evidence in the gospels and beyond acting egotistical, self-centered, hypocritical, and proud.
In Mark 9:33-34 and Luke 9:46-48 we have recorded an argument among them about which one of them would be the greatest in the Lord’s kingdom.
Even, when Jesus announced that one of them was going to betray him during the last supper, they began to bicker with each other over who was the greatest.
James and John sent their mom to Jesus to ask for them to sit on his right and left on thrones in his kingdom in Matthew 20:20-21.
C.) They were weak in the faith.
In Matthew 8 they are caught iin a storm on the Sea of Galilee with Jesus in the but and still cried out in fear because they thought he was going to let them die.
When Peter began to sink after trying to walk on water to Jesus, Jesus said to him:
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
In Matthew 16:8 Jesus again chastises them
8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
D.) They all deserted Jesus the night he was arrested.
50 Then they all forsook Him and fled.
But none more prominently than Peter who denied him three times and tried to behave like he never even met Jesus.
E.) They often lacked power.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
From a merely human standpoint, none of these men were remotely qualified for what God had called them to do. But, as is often the case, God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called.
Jesus knew about all of these short-comings before he ever separated these men out from the rest of the crowd of disciples. But, he saw a potential in them, under his power, to change the world. I wonder what he might see in you and I?
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Jesus chose 12 of the most common men in the world to an uncommon calling. Men not unlike those sitting here in this room today.
These 12 men (minus Judas) would turn the Roman empire on it’s head with their teaching. The reverberations of their ministry is still being felt today.
They were all common and flawed men, but they were devoted Christ.
If I had 300 men who feared nothing but God, hated nothing but sin, and were determined to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I would set the world on fire.- John Wesley
Jesus did this with 12.