All The King’s Men

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a privilege to share the Word of God with the Saints of Durbin Memorial Baptist Church. This church exists by grace for glory in love.

Today is a great day of celebration. It is always a joy when we get to come in here, fill up the baptistry, and allow people to make a public proclamation of faith in Christ through the water’s of Baptism. That’s why we’re going to have a fellowship meal following this service. If the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents, then we can certainly have a feast for the glory of God in celebration of what He has done in the lives of these three children this morning.

On the subject of Baptism and children, I do think that it is important to note that there are a variety of opinions on when it is the appropriate age to baptize a child. I highly respect and refer to the works of Pastor Charles Spurgeon often. However, Pastor Spurgeon did not allow his own sons to be baptized until they were 18. His intention was to ensure that they did truly understand and love the Lord and hold tightly to the gospel.

Now, I certainly do not want to flippant with the public proclamation of faith in baptism. We believe in what is called, believer’s baptism. That means that someone is not to be baptized unless they truly believe Jesus is Savior and Lord. I also understand that children are growing and learning, both in their education and in their understanding of the moral complexities of this life. However, as I read through the New Testament, I see the gospel being proclaimed, I see people coming to faith and the consistent progression all throughout is, “repent, believe, and then be baptized.” There is no specific age benchmark given. We even see whole households that would presumably include some children, come to faith, repent, believe, and be baptized. Also, if we were to assume only adult baptism occurred in the New Testament, that still wasn’t enough to prevent false professions and apostasy like we see in 1 John or 1 Timothy.

Mark, Ashlee, Kari, it your charge as parents to bring these children up in the faith, teaching and guiding them in the ways of the Lord. Church, it is our charge to support these families and these children, reiterating the goodness of the gospel and our desperate need for the Savior. And Will, Hudson, and Ainslee, it is your charge to hold tight to the Savior whom you have publically professed this morning.

I say all of this to reiterate that today is a joyous day of celebration. I can assure the church that through my conversations which each of these children that they made known they are sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God. They understand that Jesus is Savior and Lord. And they individually desire to serve Him with their lives. I made sure in our conversations to weed out as many false motivations as I could. I asked if they were doing this because its what their momma wanted them to do? Or because they saw their brother or sister do it? They each said no. They said they want to be baptized because they understand Jesus is Lord and it is what He has called His people to do. I asked them if they desired to follow the Lord. Each said that they do. I even asked one of them if Jesus told them to give up their Nintendo switch, would he do it? His face got rather stern, but he said yes he would if Jesus said so. I told him that Jesus made that command and that we can glorify God even in video games, to which he smiled. But that’s a sermon for another day.

What I want all of us to note as we get into our text this morning, is that we baptize, these children’s were baptized simply in obedience to the command of the Lord. As I was speaking with another young person recently, I asked them who Jesus is? They responded concisely and profoundly, “Jesus is King!”

That’s what we celebrate today, and that must be the undergirding thought behind each and every thing we do at Durbin Memorial Baptist Church. Jesus is King and as King, we follow Him!

The reality of Jesus’ Kingship is the foundation for the sermon series we are beginning this morning entitled Kingdom Agenda. For the next 6 weeks we will be walking through the entirety of Matthew Chapter 10, looking at how King Jesus commissioned His disciples to serve Him and making application to how we serve the Lord ourselves in our context today.

With that in mind, if you have not already, open your Bibles to Matthew 10. Throughout the 4 years I’ve been here at Durbin, we have walked through most of the beginning chapters of the book of Matthew. Opening with the genealogy of Jesus, tying this Jesus to the Davidic line, then in Chapter 2 we see the wise men seeking the one born to be King of the Jews, then in Chapter 3 we see John the Baptist go about preaching “repent for the KINGDOM of heaven is at hand.” and so on, all throughout the book of Matthew, the Kingship of Christ is highlighted.

This morning as we walk through the first four verses of Chapter 10, we will see the ones whom Jesus first calls and equips to begin building His Kingdom. Begin with me in verse 1.

Matthew 10:1 ESV

1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

We’re going to divide this verse into three sections, the calling, the power, and the procedure.

Let’s first look at the calling. We read right in the beginning, “And He called to Him His twelve disciples.” I love digging into the Word to find the subtle intricacies on what we might otherwise pass over on an initial reading. At first glance, this is very simple, Jesus calls His twelves disciples. Okay. So what?

But when you look this in the fuller context of the book of Matthew, connecting it to what had just been laid out in the chapter 9, you see something really cool. Chapter 9 ends with a verse that is often quoted in the ministry world, “When [Jesus] saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. The He said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” Why is this so cool to me? Because we see Jesus, the second person of the triune God, explaining the problem that exists in the World, and then we see Him directly address the problem! He prays for laborers, then calls laborers! God is actively working out His plan of redemption. We should never think that the all knowing God is surprised by the ongoings of this world or the plight of sin that exists therein. He is actively pursuing His Will for redemption.

We also see something that I have been intentionally focussing on for the last few months because I think it is central to our practice as a church. We are seeing that intersection of prayer and action. We absolutely ought to be praying for God to work in and through us in this corner of Clay’s Ferry, in our workplaces, in our homes. But we don’t pray and sit and idle by waiting passively for things to magically change around us without any action on our park. We pray, showing our utter reliance on God in all things, molding our will unto His own will, and go forward seeing the world through His perspective, knowing that He works in and through us!

We’ll talk about the power and procedure Jesus gives to the twelve in a minute, but I do just want all of us to note that He is calling and equipping the twelve to address the exact problem He had identified in the previous passage. Through this calling the disciples are in that beautiful process of growing in Christ-likeness. They are seeing the same problem as Christ, and through Him, addressing that problem. This is a beautiful picture of the Christian life today as well. Christ has called believers to make disciples, to be His ambassadors to the world that is lost in need of salvation. We are to recognize this issue, pray for God’s intercession, then go out and be the hands and feet of Christ in our everyday lives.

When we look at this calling of the twelve in the fullest context of the book of Matthew, we must remember that overarching purpose of this book is to highlight the Kingship, the Lordship of Christ. Well this morning, we are seeing the King is calling! And when the King is calling, right response is to obey! Unlike earthly kings, King Jesus never gives malevolent orders. We don’t have to second guess the commands of Christ. He is the very standard of righteousness and thus any direction that comes from Him is for our good and His glory!

This calling of was not cold and dictatorial like that of the miserly magistrate standing firm fisted on the throne, rather this beloved Monarch, King Jesus, has the best of intention for His people. We know from the rest of the gospels, that these twelve men were far from perfect. We will especially see that in the end of our text today, but still Jesus cares for these men and seeks to equip them for service in the good Kingdom. He deals with them patiently and lovingly corrects when their egos inflate. He warns them of the temporal persecution ahead. He prays for them with tender care in the Garden praying, “for their sakes I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.” And when Christ ascends into heaven, He does not leave them alone, but sends the Helper, His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to direct and empower.

Jesus is the good King indeed and we do best by heeding the call of the King.

So in the first part of our first verse we have seen the King calls, next we see the King’s power. We read in verse 1, “and [Jesus] gave them authority.”

In a moment we will look at what Jesus gave the disciples authority to do, but for a brief second, I just want to dwell on those beautiful words, “[He] gave them authority.” The number one thing that we have to recognize here, is where the authority comes from. The disciples would be used to accomplish miraculous things. We’ve recently looked at the book of Acts and seen the how the miracles that the apostles, mostly these same apostles, accomplish garnered much admiration and fanfare from the surrounding community. But as we said there and we will repeat today, the authority, the power, is not in and of the disciples. It is in and of the King whom they serve! Jesus is the authority. By Him all things were created, all things were created through Him and for Him. He is the head of the body, His church. Any power that the disciples have only comes because of Christ whom gives it to them.

I cannot say this enough, and I know that those who have been here throughout my time in ministry have heard this said time and time again. But EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING comes back to Christ. This Word we read each week, its about Christ. This Church exists for Christ. These Children were baptized in obedience to Christ. Any good that happens within and around us happens because of and through Jesus Christ. When we tell others about Christ, should they come to Christ, it’s because of Christ! Remember Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. I do not believe that we can err in our practice or theology by giving God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit TOO much credit from the goodness and glory we see. By giving God glory and knowing He is the epicenter of all goodness it keeps us humbled, hands to the plow, knowing that He who began a good work will bring it to completion. We must be humbled enough to say this is God’s Kingdom, Christ is the Authority, and I’m just glad He’s let me serve Him.

So Christ has called His disciples, empowered them authority to accomplish His commands, and lastly in verse one we see the procedures He has called them to perform through His authority.

“[He] gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.”

Now, just a couple weeks ago in our look at Acts 5:12-16, we spent a good portion of time talking about the particular purpose for the apostles healing ministry. We also looked at how modern “healing” ministries are not necessary and we even issued a challenge to those claiming the gift of healing to meet us at the hospital so we could clear it out. I encourage you to revisit that message for a more detailed explanation of our position on modern healings, but as a bit of a summary statement allow me to say this: God is all-powerful, we’re called to bring our burdens, including health, before Him. It is certainly possible for Him to grant miraculous healing, but it is not necessary or normative. Even in all of the miraculous healings we read about in the Gospels or in Acts, the ultimate purpose is not to simply provide a better life now for the recipients of the miracles. The purpose is to validate the Authority of Christ and His validity as the Messiah. To repeat another pastor again, “Physical healing is a poor substitute for spiritual salvation. Miracles are only truly helpful if they bring us to God.”

We will see this more next week in the subsequent portion of Matthew 10, but the ultimate purpose of Jesus giving the disciples authority to do these things is not humanitarian outreach, but rather to demonstrate the He is the Messiah. In verse 7 we will see that as the disciples are casting out demons and healing the sick, they are also and more importantly proclaiming (PREACHING) “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” They are telling the rest of the Israelites, the King is here!

In the ancient greek world, when a king passed through a town it was quite the spectacle. Chariots and musicians would parade through the streets. Crowds would gather all around. Offerings and gifts would be given to the King. The crews would announce and the spectacle would begin.

That is what we are seeing here, but instead of having earthly revelry be the centerpiece of the celebration it is a showcase of the Christ’s power over darkness and the healing of affliction! One pastor noted, “Jesus delegated His power and authority to the apostles to show clearly that He and His Kingdom were sovereign over the physical and spiritual realms, the effects of sin, and the efforts of Satan. This was an unheard of display of power, never before seen in redemptive history, to announce the Messiah’s arrival and authenticate Him and His disciples who preached His gospel. This power was a preview of the power Christ will exhibit in His [consummated] Kingdom!”

We don’t have to try to recreate the specific miracles that were included in the events of our text this morning. We can rejoice knowing that Jesus proved His Kingship and continues to reign today. If we are looking for a direct point of practical application, we should focus less on desiring the specific gifts of miraculous healing and driving out demons, and more on the reality that Christ the King cares for people so we ought to care for people. That Christ the King empowered the Disciples to accomplish these specific miracles and that same Christ empowers our faithful service to His Kingdom. And Christ the King commissioned His disciples to this task, and has commissioned us to the great commission of making disciples!

So to recap thus far, We see the calling of the King, the authority and power of the King, and the procedure of the King. Now let’s look at all the King’s men.

Read with me verses 2-4

Matthew 10:2–4 ESV

2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

So here we are given the names of the 12 disciples whom Jesus chose to be His first group of missionaries. In this short blurb, we really don’t find out much about these guys. In fact throughout the whole of Scripture we really don’t get to learn deep details about most of them.

For our own education, I’ll attempt to share a bit about the individual disciples.

We first come across Peter. Peter was a fisherman. He would be the primary spokesman of the group in the early church era recorded in the book of Acts. He was the one whom confessed Jesus as the Christ. He would also deny Jesus three times throughout the trial. Upon Jesus’ resurrection Peter would be reinstated to ministry.

Andrew was Peter’s brother, another fishermen. I know that we have some fishermen in here today, you’re in good company! He was first a disciple of John the Baptist before following Jesus directly.

James and John were brothers, sometimes called the “sons of Thunder.” This nickname referred to their fiery personalities. You can see that play out in Luke 9:54 when they wanted to call down fire from heaven when they were met with opposition. Jesus rebukes them. Other than that we know that they were also fishermen. This was a respectable occupation, but certainly nothing of major note.

There is some evidence that Bartholomew and Thomas may have also been fishermen, but that is not certain.

We see in our text this morning that Matthew is a tax collector. This would have been a lucrative but socially despicable vocation as the tax collectors lined their pockets and gave the money from the Jewish people to their Roman rulers.

Simon was a religious zealot, this was a faction within the Jewish people, who opposed the increase of taxation. I’m sure he and Matthew had some good conversations. The zealots were kind of anarchists. Simon joins Jesus as a disciple, and he retains his fervor, but now with allegiance to Jesus and His Kingdom, rather than political revolution.

Philip, James son of Alpheus, and Thaddaeus, we really aren’t given much information about at all. It’s possible they were tradesmen, but that is conjecture.

And that leaves us with Judas, here listed as the betrayer. I’ll come back to Judas in a moment, but first I want to highlight something important about these king’s men.

By all earthly standards, these men were nothing special. A collection of tradesmen, fishermen, a religious freak, and a tax collector. Some of them would’ve been looked down upon in society, but none of them were especially special.

This is so important to understand because of what it tells us about God. It first shows us that our God doesn’t need our counsel! If you were to ask me who I thought would be best poised to start a cultural religious movement, I don’t think that I would say we should start our search at the White Hall fishing hole! General consensus would tell you to pick the politicians. Pick the priests. Not the outcasts and the nobodies. But that is exactly what Christ the King did here! Our God keeps his own counsel when calling those to His service!

Secondly, we see the great drawing of Christ. If you were to go and look at the various passages of when Jesus initially called these men to follow Him and even here in this commissioning text we are looking at this morning, there is no emotional manipulation. He’s not crafting some form of propaganda to trick these guys into following Him. He’s simply and majestically Jesus being Jesus. King being King. And when you recognize the true King is calling, that is a calling you heed!

Third, and we’ve touched on this a bit already, but we see that our Lord equips the called and does not necessarily call the equipped. These fishermen and tradesmen were not especially teachable, they weren’t the most enthusiastic bunch. But through Jesus they have been enabled to do great things for the Kingdom of God.

So through these 12 men we can see that God does not heed any counsel but His own. We see the great effect of truly seeing Jesus as the Lord He is. And we see how God equips His followers. Glory to God!

But how does this apply to all of in this building today? Well, we aren’t going to be called to be apostles as these men were. However, we should all be encouraged to know that our God is no respecter of persons as it says in the KJV, that means that God shows no partiality, no preference, but in every nation anyone who fears, who revers God and follows the Lord is made acceptable before a Holy God. You, yes even you, can receive peace with the Holy God through Jesus Christ, Lord of all.

You might think you’re just a homemaker, a retiree, a mid level employee, a teacher, a former addict, or even just a kid. But God can save and equip a corrupt tax collector, and He can save you too. This morning we celebrate that these three Children have come to understand that Christ is King, their only hope, and desire to serve the Good King. It’s my hope that all of us in this room can not just celebrate the boldness of their faith, but share in the same faith!

Do you know that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God? Do you know that Christ is King? Do you know that Jesus stepped out of heaven to live the perfect righteous life, to then die on the cross? Do you know that in His death He paid the price of sin for any and all who would believe in Him? Do you know that Jesus rose on the third day and in His resurrection all those who believe in Him are assured of their own resurrection? Do you live your life recognizing that Jesus is Lord and live in submission to His command? Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength?

Do you know those things? In a moment we’ll have a hymn of response, a time to sing praise to God, express our reliance on Christ our King, and reflect on what we have read this morning. If you have any questions about the Lordship of Christ, make that known you can find me in the front. If you’d rather talk during the fellowship time after, find me then. But it is my great desire that we would all leave here today unified in understanding the truth and reality that Christ is King, and MY king.

But before we close, I do want to touch for just a moment on Judas the betrayer, though today is a day of celebration, I want to conclude with a sobering reality. Judas is the betrayer. If you read through the gospel narratives, you’ll see that Judas is the one who officially turns Jesus over to the Jewish Council which would eventually lead to the crucifixion of Christ. We learn in Acts chapter 2 that all of this happens according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Yet, even still Judas is the betrayer and held fully responsible for His choice. I call this the divine intersection of God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility. When we read “Judas who betrayed [Jesus]” that verb betrayed is in the active voice. This means Judas made a conscious and deliberate choice, to betray Jesus. He had witnessed first row all of the wonderful miracles we have alluded to this morning. Yet in his heart, he did not serve Christ the King, but himself. By every evidence of Scripture I have, I can only assume the eternal position of “Judas who betrayed Jesus” is not pleasant.

I say that to say, faith in Christ is not about your church attendance, your works, your good deeds, or your ability to make appearances before others. Those are good things, but they are not a substitute for having a humbled heart that sees the greatness and necessity of Christ. Lean not on your own understanding, but trust in the Lord Jesus with all your heart, and do so today.

Let’s pray.