Appointed not disappointed
Luke the man, the physician • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsJesus chooses his boys
Notes
Transcript
Such an appropriate time for Veterans day. Because this morning we discover an enlistment of sorts. Kind of like a draft!
In 1976 Campus Crusade for Christ launched the "I Found It!" campaign. It was one of the largest evangelistic efforts in U.S. history.
It featured bumper stickers, billboards, and media ads with "I Found It!"- to make readers wonder what these people found. When they ask, you’d in turn share your testimony about how you found Jesus. But it didn’t last because in Isaiah 55:8-9, God declares, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways....You see, being a witness is not coming up with new ideas on how to share the gospel but just being ready whenever the opportunity presents itself. We all get them from time to time but we are easily intimidated and think we need evangelism class before we can get bold enough or there’s someone better who can do it. And it’s true, there are gifted communicators but none of the disciples had such training because it’s not hard to share good news!
Besides, we don’t find Jesus, He’s finds us. He came to seek and save that which was lost. And if we accept His invitation by the Holy Spirit, then we who were once lost are found.
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
“Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
... He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will....
The eternal plan of God’s pleasure for every human being was to be adopted into His household via His Son. Not by irresistible grace but for each person to make a personal choice to accept and trust in His salvation.
From the very beginning God has always given humanity a choice to have life, constant fellowship and guidance with Him or to choose to accept eternal separation from Him. This is the way it has always been. In Genesis 2:8 it states that God planted a garden and placed Adam there.
The Hebrew verb for “placed” is see-you’d-mim - various applications for this word are to give charge appoint, bring, or call.
For example:
Genesis 2:15–17 (LSB)
Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
So God brought Adam to the garden of Eden to tend it and keep it. It was an appointment. His job was to cultivate the lush greenery and “guard” it. Why guard it? - this was Paradise?
God knew the adversary was coming in the form of a serpent. Serpents were the most clever and skillful creatures in the garden. Keep in mind, this was before the Fall of man but Lucifer had rebelled against God and was cast to earth. Isaiah 14 describes his heart of pride and Ezekiel 28 speaks of Lucifer, once a sinless cherub on the Holy Mount of God, being full of wisdom, perfect in beauty, having the “seal of perfection” – Now these prophecies begin by prophetic judgement to the King of Babylon and the King of Tyre but these later characteristics cannot apply to mere humans and but Lucifer, once the morning star was ultimately cast out becoming Satan “the adversary”
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. “By the abundance of your trading You became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.
While this prophecy begins with the judgment of the King of Tyre, God likens his rebellion to Lucifer when he was cast out, he was the first sinner. Jesus said “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
So Adam was responsible to cultivate this beautiful garden but also to guard his wife Eve and make sure that he protected the garden & their marriage. This is when God comes and says “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” But we all know what happened. Pastor, why are talking about all this? Because the fall of Man was based upon not trusting God’s word and being deceived that God was holding back. That’s why from Gen 3:15 onward God had a plan of redemption through the seed of a woman. God’s desire remains: to restore this earth and its inhabitants to His original intention. To walk with us in the cool of the day and take care of us which will will be fulfilled in Rev 21-22.
So Yeshua was the next phase. His name is a shortened form of Yehoshua, or Joshua which means “God is salvation”. His mission was to come to this earth, be born of virgin, fulfill the messianic prophecies and become the sacrificial lamb to take away the sins of the world. So this moment in Luke 6:12-19 was a big deal. It was time to gather his team and teach them about another kingdom that was not of this world. At this point many people are following Him. So watch what He does first.
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.
There are not many mountains close to Capernaum except Mt Ebal. But notice in preparation for this important decision, Jesus didn’t get everybody hold hands and bow their heads, or invite them to a prayer retreat. He got away by Himself to be alone to talk with His Father. Why? He had to pray over about the twelve men he was considering to become his Apostles. Keep in mind, none of them have any idea about the birth of the church 3 years later. Like Adam, they had no idea what was ahead for them.
13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:
Note: it was Jesus who called all of the disciples first [perhaps the 70?] he would later send out? And then from that group he chose 12 men. So Jesus does what God did with Adam. He was preparing them to “cultivate and guard” the garden called the gospel. Apostle = “a person sent out,” a chosen messenger, an ambassador or diplomat, sent to represent a message from the King.
They would be His special companions, whom He would teach and later send the Holy Spirit to empower them, and ultimately become “sent-out ones” and pillars of the church. But just like Adam, they had no idea what that meant yet. Why 12?
12 is the number for government - it’s where we get the word “theocracy” meaning God’s authority or completeness.
We read of the 12 sons of Jacob who became the 12 tribes of Israel, 12 spies were sent out to the promised land, 12 loaves were within the tabernacle and temple, 12 minor prophets - Hosea-Micah - and many metaphors in Revelation - twelve gates, twelve foundations and the Tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit. So this repetition should always get us to think there is meaning.
14-16 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.
So two Simons, two James, two Judas’ - By typical standards, this was not the kind of group you would choose to “turn the world upside down.” Today in our conventional leadership campaign we would have thorough interviews, ask for resumes, and search the elite groups of teachers like priests, political leaders, or religious scholars to be part of the team.
But Jesus appointed a rag tag group of men. Simon the Zealot was held with deep suspicion and potential hostility, Simon, Andrew, James & John as fishermen were sometimes denounced by the public as fishmongers who were “murderous, wealthy thieves! Tax collectors like Matthew were robbers, murderers, and sinners, Others like Thomas, James and Judas, son of James, Philip and Bartholomew offer no history at all. But the most educated was Judas Iscariot from Judah and he’d end up holding the money bag. Each person today holds one of these unique characteristics as a follower.
But it shows us if He can use them, He can use us! By carefully investing in these men, Jesus was creating a legacy that would extend far beyond his own earthly ministry.
And this map shows where they would cultivate and guard the gospel in the future. Of course Judas was a traitor who committed suicide, All but the Apostle John would face martyrdom. While some have questioned the legitimacy of Peter’s selection of Matthias by lot in Acts 1, some scholars suggest it was a hasty move - While there is no mention of what Matthias did or where he went to preach it is believed Paul might have been the actual successor. But Peter wasn’t comfortable with 11. And remember what Jesus told them? Acts 1.4
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father...
But back in Luke 6 after Jesus appoints twelve unlikely men, crowds are looking for Him.
17-18 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from
all Judea and Jerusalem,
and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon,
who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. 19 And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
So this is cool. Jews were traveling north from Judea and Jerusalem. While Gentiles were coming from Tyre & Sidon 40+ miles south to find the Messiah. People who were realized their infirmities, diseased and demonic torment could come to an end. The stage was being set. Both Jew and Gentile gathered together to be touched or healed by the Messiah. Little did they know, it was a shadow of what would become a new entity called the church.
So this idea of appointment is a theme from Genesis to Revelation. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, 12 tribes of Israel, Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, Isaiah, on and on, Then Messiah fulfills his calling, crucified and buried in a garden! He leaves twelve men to allow the Holy Spirit to continue the work, serving, cultivating and defending the good news.
And here we are over 2000 years later desiring to follow Jesus when He called us to Himself, perhaps we were appointed to a certain job, a location, a church, a ministry and just like the garden of Eden, God has planted & placed us there to cultivate, guard or defend the gospel.
But there are so many precious Saints who misunderstand that the first step to that garden of Eden is: to be servants of Christ.
As we follow the Lord, and learn how to rest in Him, we find the simplest needs we can assist in, and we do it as an act of worship with joy and sacrifice. As we learn His character we are shaping our future. And no matter the age it will eventually lead to the work God has prepared for you.
I watch it every week. To some of you, serving has become second nature, without reservation you visit people in the hospital, you pray for those who ask you, you watch for the elderly, pick them up for church, you fix their cars, you take people to doctor appointments, you write beautiful cards to encourage them, all these things are unseen by the masses but not God.
But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
It may seem small, it may be insignificant to this world but God is glorified and you are fulfilled doing what you were meant to do. I guarantee when He calls you to the garden He has planted for you, it will be abundantly above all you could ask or think.
Why am I camping on this? I see too many Christians who’ve been conditioned to look to be served. It’s not their fault. It’s how so many churches operate today. It’s the red carpet treatment for visitors in hopes they will be impressed by such service like a free Latte and they will want to come back so we’ve conditioned them to just sit back and expect nothing from them while we do all the work. And because of this bad example we limit the opportunities God wants to give the saints because we’ve been taught them to chase something they want to do instead what God has prepared for them. Our culture has affected the church to be self-focused not Son-focused.
And I’ve seen so many people who’ve wasted years trying build their own garden. They look so tired and frustrated. They claim to have read this book, they heard some teaching to go for it, they got the loan and started a business and it failed because God wasn’t in it. These disciples didn’t earn their appointment, they were chosen. That’s why Jesus wanted to be very clear.
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
So wherever you might be in your life remember that you are here for a reason. It may not always be easy and sometimes its hard when personalities clash but God looks forward to placing us all in a garden of Eden he has built just for us to tend it and keep it. To cultivate it and guard it, to represent our King!
NEXT WEEK comes the beatitudes. I encourage you to read the rest of chapter 6 and then read Matthew 5-7 to compare.
Is it the same event or a different one?
COMMUNION
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly troubled; but You, O Lord—how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
9 The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord will receive my prayer.
10 Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.
