Created for Community

The Gospel of Luke  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  35:08
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Created for Community

I want to think about some high level stuff for just a moment.
Before the creation of the heavens and the earth God existed.
We can all agree to that, the God we serve existed in eternity past.
He was, is, and ever will be.
Now prior to our creation, God existed in perfect harmony within himself.
The three persons of the Trinity lived in community with one another.
Then God decides to create the heavens and the earth.
He then creates Adam.
He doesn’t want Adam to be alone
In fact he says in Genesis 2:18 “18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding to him.””
So he makes Eve, and they are told to be fruitful and multiply.
They are to make more of these humans.
B/c God designed us to be like him.
To be made in his image.
And he lives in community within himself.
And so we should live in community with others.
Then Jesus comes.
And what does he do?
He builds around himself a community of men to lead, teach, and train.
And this is what we are going to look at this morning.
The calling of these men.
Jesus’ choosing of these men.
And a picture of the training of these men.
These men were the men that Jesus chose to build his church.
These were the men that Jesus desired to send out and tell others about the good news of the gospel.
The good news of salvation found in the blood of Jesus.
As we go through this morning, we are going to examine these men a little.
And what we are going to see is that some of these men couldn’t have been anymore different than one another.
They stood in stark Contrast to one another, but they were all following Jesus.
And I want us to see that this is true for the church today.
We aren’t all the same.
We all have different backgrounds.
We all have baggage that we carry around.
But the community we have been called to is greater than our own desires.
It’s greater than our own dreams.
It’s bigger and greater than ourselves.
Our allegiance to Christ.
So let’s dive in and take a look at this wonderful passage:
Luke 6:12 CSB
12 During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.

Jesus Prays

This may seem like a weird place to stop for a moment.
But I want us to reflect on this.
You’re probably going to get tired of hearing me say this, but Luke uses prayer as a marker for an important event.
And here, Jesus prays.
He doesn’t say a short prayer.
He doesn’t simply look up to heaven and say help me.
He spends all night praying.
Why is this so important?
B/c the choosing of his apostles is a weighty decision.
A few weeks ago we talked about the fact that Jesus is starting something new.
And the choosing of his disciples is an intricate part of this process.
He is building a new community.
Social outcasts.
Common people.
Hated tax collector.
Jesus didn’t just want to eeny-meeny-miny-mo his apostles.
Rather he wanted to commune with his father and choose those who would continue to usher in his kingdom.
This was essential for Jesus.
Communing with the Father was a regular Activity for Jesus.
The choosing of these men was divinely ordained by both Jesus and the Father.
Did you notice where Jesus went to pray?
He went up on a mountain.
In both the OT and the New, when someone wanted to be with God they would go up a mountain.
Think about Moses and Mount Sinai.
Jesus and his 3 inner apostles, went to the mount of transfiguration.
Mountain tops represent the place where heaven and earth overlap.
And God communes with his people.
So for Jesus this was a crucial time to get alone and discern the will of the Father when it comes to his apostles.
So Jesus went to be alone with God.
Fervently praying for his guidance all night.
How flippant can we be about prayer?
Shouldn’t we be taking prayer as seriously as Jesus does.
For many of us it’s the last option.
All else has failed so I guess we will turn to prayer.
Here’s what I have done in my life, and I know you guys so you’ve done it too.
I have started something and asked God to bless it rather than seeking God’s will before starting.
Well, God I’ve already begun, now you need to bless it.
But what Does Jesus do?
Before a choice is made.
Before the words are spoken.
Jesus submits to the will of God and seeks his wisdom in choosing the twelve.
Prayer shouldn’t be a last resort for followers of Jesus.
You know that old saying, “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than to beg for permission.”
That’s not how the Lord works. That’s now how our relationship with God should work.
We should seek out his will and submit to it, knowing that he knows way more than we can ever hope or dream.
Instead we should imitate his desire to be with the Father.
We should run to God in prayer.
Communing with the creator of the universe.
I don’t know if you recognize this or not, but it’s b/c of Jesus that we have access to God in prayer.
It is through Jesus’ obedience and sacrifice that we can as the author of Hebrews says, “Boldly approach the throne of grace.”
And I know that we each one of us takes this for granted.
How I know this is that we don’t run to God in prayer until we’ve exhausted all other options.
So what we need is a heart check.
Being able to pray directly to the Lord is a privileged of his children.
The Son demonstrates this here.
And the Lord hears his prayer.
It is through the communion that Jesus has with our Father that he then chooses his apostles.
Luke 6:13 CSB
13 When daylight came, he summoned his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:

Choosing the Twelve

After praying all night, Jesus summoned his disciples.
Here’s something I want us to notice just real quick.
Luke is hinting at the reality that there were more than twelve disciples there at this point of choosing.
So the crowd that was following Jesus around was larger than the twelve that he would choose.
We also see this play out in the sequel to Luke’s Gospel, Acts.
After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, there is a need to choose another apostle to take Judas Iscariot’s place.
And they have a requirement for the man that would fill this role.
Acts 1:21–23 CSB
21 “Therefore, from among the men who have accompanied us during the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us—from among these, it is necessary that one become a witness with us of his resurrection.” 23 So they proposed two: Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
We learn here that there are at least 2 others who were there at John’s Baptism through Jesus’ ascension.
And to choose this man, what did the Apostles do?
They went to the Lord in prayer.
Seeking out his will.
But Jesus chose the original 12.
Now the selection process would have been between him and the Lord.
And he choose 12 of these to be his apostles.
The question then arises, why 12?
Why not 5, 10, 15, or even 20?
Remember what we talked about earlier?
Jesus is doing a new thing.
He is building a new community.
And this community is going to reflect the community that God had built through the Israelites.
How many tribes of Israel were there?
12.
So Jesus is setting up the Kingdom of God in the same way the Nation of Israel was established.
And these men were chosen by the king of kings to carry on this mission.
Let’s not gloss over the fact that Jesus chose these men.
They couldn’t have altered his choice.
They had no influence on his choice.
Rather in God’s omnipotence.
In his knowing of all things, these were the men he was going to choose.
This is something that’s interesting to know about the first century rabbinic practice.
Jesus is doing it backwards and different than the other rabbi’s would.
For the most part, the disciple would choose the rabbi.
So a man who wanted to study would go and seek out the one he wanted to train under.
Now the rabbi would then have the the decision to make on whether they would take this man under their wing or if they would move on.
But the choice of the rabbi would be left up to the disciple.
This however, is radically different for Jesus.
He has chosen these men.
He even says as much in John’s Gospel.
John 15:16 “16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”
You know who wouldn’t of chose these men?
Me. Maybe all of us.
When we get to know a little about who these men are, they aren’t the best choice from our point of view
Each of these men were hand selected for the task that Jesus would place before them.
I want us to see and know the distinction between disciples and apostles.
Of the crowd that followed Jesus most were called disciples.
Only 12 were called apostles.
So since Jesus made a distinction, I think it’s important that we do as well.
Disciple simply means learner.
So a disciple is one who learns from Jesus and his teachings.
A disciple submits to the teachings of Jesus.
We are all disciples of Jesus.
We sit at his feet to listen, obey, and continue the work he has called us to do.
Now apostles served a distinct role in the early church.
The word in Greek for apostles is “apostolos” and what it means to send out.
It was used for those who would be delegate or ambassadors.
An ambassador is one who represents someone else.
These men specifically were authorized agents of Jesus Christ to continue his mission of preaching and proclaiming the Gospel.
In Jesus’ commissioning of these apostles he tells them
Matthew 28:19–20 “19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
The Apostles were going to be Jesus’ sent out ones.
John 20:21 “21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.””
Now, as followers of Jesus we are all saved to be sent.
We are not one of the original 12, but we have been saved by the blood of Jesus to do good works for his kingdom.
Don’t go around calling yourself an apostle.
You don’t hold that office as these men did.
But you do represent the name of Jesus.
B/c we have been called into this beautiful new kingdom that Christ built.
We are called to be a part of his church.
We come together to worship, learn, and grow.
Then we are sent out into the world through the places that we live, work, and play to demonstrate and proclaim the gospel of Jesus.
Jesus saved us to send us.
However, these men were called for something different.
They were called to help establish the new community that Jesus created.
I don’t know if you guys know or not, but I used to be a huge Dallas Cowboys fan.
When we lived in the Dallas area I would regularly listen to sports talk radio.
And one of the things that they would say every year before the football season began is this.
They would say “This team looks great on paper”
Meaning that they should have been a contender.
If they play up to their potential, they could go places.
And I say all that to say this,
The list we are about to read…doesn’t even look good on paper.
They are a Motley crew if there has ever been one.
They shouldn’t work together.
They each have their own issues and baggage.
They are rough around the edges and that’s putting it nicely.
Truly when we think of these men, we tend to look at how their story ended and give them applause for that.
We might think that Jesus made some good choices b/c it all played out in the end.
That just goes to show us the grace and sovereignty of our savior.
B/c there’s no way that this crew, outside of God’s intervention could have accomplished anything.
We’re going to do a brief biography on most of these men, just to get taste of who they were.
Luke 6:14–16 CSB
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 became a traitor.

Motley Crew

From the beginning I have been referring to the the Apostles as Men.
However, there is some evidence to suggest that they weren’t men as we would think them to be.
Remember in Jewish Culture a boy becomes a man at 13 years old.
Some evidence suggests that these Apostles were younger than we would typically think.
Jesus didn’t become a rabbi until he was 30 years old.
That’s when he is baptized and began preaching and teaching.
Most disciples of a rabbi would be younger than their teacher.
In fact, in Jewish culture it was customary for a child to begin his religious training at the age of 5 which would continue til they were 12 or 13, if they were intelligent and interested then at the age of 13 they would go and find a disciple.
They would learn, grow, and obey their rabbi until they turned 30.
At that time they would then become a rabbi themselves.
If this is the pattern of Jesus’ followers, then some of the disciples would have been as young as 13 when they started following Jesus.
Jesus also referred to the apostles as “little Children” or “little ones” in the gospels.
A term of endearment for those who are younger, but quite a bit insulting for adults.
There is a recognition that Peter is the oldest among them.
We know that he’s married.
Also he’s the only one tasked with paying the temple tax.
In Matthew 17, Jesus tells Peter to go and catch a fish which will have the amount needed to cover the temple tax for both Jesus and Peter.
The temple tax was only enforced by those who were at least 20 years old.
Now could they have all been older and these are just points that aren’t made in the text.
Sure.
Does their age really matter? Not particularly.
But this just goes to show you the types of conversations that are happening around scholarship.
These are the questions that people are asking.
Here’s a point of application if they were younger though.
As parents and grandparents, we need to step it up with our children.
We need to hold them accountable and stop babying them.
Children are smarter and more capable then we give them credit for.
We need to have higher standards for our young people.
The extended adolescents that we allow our kids to live only hurts them in the long run.
I’m going to step off my soapbox now.
Here’s the list of the 12 that are going to be sent out by Jesus to help establish his church.
They are listed in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts.
An interesting note, when these lists occur Simon Peter is always listed first, while Judas Iscariot is always mentioned last.
1. We know Peter.
He’s the brash and outspoken one.
He cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
He boldly steps out on the water.
He tells Jesus that he will go anywhere Jesus goes.
then turns his back on Jesus during his trial, going as far as cursing out a young girl.
And yet, after the resurrection he becomes a prominent figure in the early church.
He’s considered the leader of the Apostles.
Most likely he is the oldest.
He is a fisherman who is Called by Jesus to be a Fisher of Men.
Throughout the gospel accounts he demonstrates the deepest faith and the darkest denial of Jesus.
His story is one of ups and downs.
2. Andrew is actually Peter’s Brother.
We learn in John’s gospel that Andrew was a follower of John the baptist.
Andrew then introduced Peter to Jesus.
He’s known for bringing people to Jesus.
Andrew was also a common fisherman along with his brother.
3 & 4. James and John were the sons of Zebedee.
They were also fishermen who worked alongside their father.
Jesus gave these two a nickname. “Sons of Thunder”
This nickname was given to them probably b/c of their intense character.
We will see this later on in Luke’s gospel.
Jesus is on the way to the cross and they pass through Samaria looking for a place to stay.
The Samaritans will not house Jesus and his followers so they pass on by.
And the only course of action these guys could see was this
Luke 9:54 CSB
54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”
James and John were willing to destroy a whole town b/c they weren’t offered food and a place to stay.
They hated the Samaritan people.
And yet they were chosen by God.
5. Philip was much like Andrew.
He called people to come and see Jesus.
He’s known for bringing Bartholomew to Jesus.
There’s one other scene that Philip is somewhat known for.
When it’s time to feed the 5000, Philip has no idea how it’s going to happen.
He counts the cost of what it would take to feed this many people
John 6:5–7 CSB
5 So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” 6 He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.”
6. Bartholomew also goes by Nathaniel in the other gospels.
And not a whole lot is known about him except for one thing.
He boldly asked if Jesus could even be the Messiah.
In John 1:46
John 1:46 CSB
46 “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him. “Come and see,” Philip answered.
7. Matthew, aka Levi, was a tax collector.
And I spent plenty of time a few weeks ago explaining how this would have been viewed as a mistake by those who saw Jesus.
Tax collectors were hated by everyone.
They were viewed as wicked and vile to both the Jewish people and the Roman citizens.
8. Thomas carries with him the moniker of doubting Thomas.
he had a hard time believing that Jesus had rose from the dead.
It appears as if he has little faith until he actually stands before Jesus after his resurrection.
9&10. Thaddeus or Judas son of James and James son of Alphaeus are lesser known apostles.
They don’t get a lot of time in the gospels.
Which is comforting for us.
We don’t have to be widely known to make an impact on the world as long as we follow Jesus and seek to glorify God.
11. Simon the Zealot
Do you know what a Zealot was during Jesus’ day.
They were a radical group of individuals bent on bringing down Rome.
When they got the chance they would assassinate Roman officials and cause
In fact, many scholars believe that Barabbas, the one released instead of Jesus, was a part of the Zealot ideology, as were the two crucified with Jesus.
Zealots desired Jewish Freedom from Rome and would cause insurrection to accomplish this.
Now before we get to the most infamous Apostle, I want us to think about this real quickly.
Simon was a Zealot.
Matthew was an agent of the Roman State as a former Tax collector.
Could you imagine the tension that would mount between these two?
Simon would have harbored some animosity and even hatred toward Matthew.
And this wouldn’t just be true between those two.
Matthew wasn’t trusted by the group.
They wouldn’t even let the one who works with numbers and money in charge of the funds.
Theres a good learning principle here.
God reserves the right to use people you don’t like for his glory and his mission.
The Lord decides who is on his team.
The Lord decides how they work and operate.
The Lord decides how people are gifted and how they use those gifts.
And we don’t get to use our own biases to regulate what God Does with his mission and his people.
If God wants to use certain individuals and he’s getting the glory then who are we to scoff at his mighty work.
Just b/c we don’t like them or agree with them.
If we are honest with ourselves there’s probably even people out there that think that God shouldn’t use us.
But if we continue to do the work of Jesus let’s make sure he’s getting the glory.
Cause that’s all the really matters. Is God being glorified? If the answer is yes, then let’s praise him!
====
12. And finally we get to the most infamous of Apostles: Judas Iscariot.
Judas had every one of the apostles fooled.
They thought Judas was a good guy.
A guy that could be trusted.
He was the one put in charge of the money for ministry.
There was no indication or sign that Judas would betray Jesus.
He was there for all the miracles.
He was there for all the teachings.
He was present for all the prayer sessions.
Judas was involved.
Yet Judas was a hypocrite.
He didn’t truly believe.
He didn’t truly trust Jesus.
He didn’t really want to be a part of God’s grand story.
What did Judas want?
Money and freedom.
He wanted the influence and prestige of Jesus without the sacrifice of following him.
This is a warning to all of us out here.
We can play the hypocrite for a little while
We can play the Christian games.
We can come to church.
We can sing the songs.
We can speak the Christian language.
All the while faking it.
I pray that this isn’t true for any of us.
I pray that everyone’s faith in here is genuine that you truly do love Jesus and you want to follow after him all the days of your life.
If you have been playing games with God, just know that he’s ready to fully receive you.
He wants you to turn away from your sins and turn toward his loving embrace.
If Jesus can save and transform these men.
Trust me he can do it for you too.
I don’t know about you, but if it were up to me, I wouldn’t have chosen these men.
I would have chosen the A-team.
The best players.
The most religiously devoted.
The most intelligent.
The most hard working.
However, the creator of the universe chose these men and he chose these men to build and establish his church.
To start a new community where those who love him will gather to worship, honor, and praise his name.
And here’s the good news of the gospel.
Jesus calls and saves all kinds of train wrecks.
He takes the most broken, the most sinful, the most hopeless and helpless and he makes them into men and women who impact the world around them for him.
So the good news is, we aren’t too broken, too sinful, or too helpless for Jesus to save.
He can save and transform you were you are.
He just doesn’t want you to stay there.
And he has given us a community to join.
A family to belong to.
The church. Where we gather together to worship, encourage, and support one another.
The church, the body of Christ, is an amazing gift for us.
I want to leave you with this.
B/c we are all broken people with our own issues sometimes we are going to look and behave like the Motley Crew.
So let’s have some grace and patience for one another.
These 12 Apostles are a micro picture of the church family.
Like Peter, some are going to be brash and have a foot-shaped mouth where we constantly put our foot in it.
Like James and John, Some of us are going to want to rain down fire on those who spurn us.
Like Philip, Some of us are going to be really good at bringing people to Jesus, showing them where the Messiah is found.
Like Thomas, Some of us are going to have doubts.
Like Matthew, some of us will have a shady past that cause people not to trust us fully.
Like James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, some of us will live our whole lives in the background just faithfully following and serving Jesus.
Like Simon the Zealot, Some of us will be enthralled with politics and the political stage.
And unfortunately Like Judas Iscariot, Some of us might be playing the hypocrite game.
Where ever you are.
Who ever you are.
Know that the only life truly worth living is the one that communes with God.
And communes with the people he has given you.
Let’s pray.
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