The Gospel calls to the underdogs & misfits

Introduction

Today, we begin our journey through the 10th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel account. Matthew is an amazing author. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he introduces the Gospel and its power to save, in a compelling way.

Out of the all the four Gospel authors, I find Matthew to be the better storyteller. I find John more the systematic theologian, and Luke more the historian, and Mark more a testimony attesting to the Messianic identity of Christ. But Matthew, to me, appears more the storyteller, pulling all the threads from the OT and the NT message of Christ and showing how God works it all for the glory of His name.

And so, Matthew begins with geneology of Jesus all the way from Abraham, in order to show how God’s redemptive plan was not made in the spur of the moment, but was predestined since the beginning.

In chapters 1&2, Matthew details the circumstances and events surrouding the birth of the long awaited Messiah.

In chapter 3, the prophesied forerunner comes forth in John the baptist as he proclaims, “Make way for the Lord”. In that same chapter Jesus is baptised, and the eavenly declaration is made,

Matthew 3:17 (ESV)

17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

In chapter 4, Jesus begins His ministry through a profound symbolic circumstance, as the chosen one of God who though tempted for 40 days and nights did not sin like the chosen people of God who were tempted in the wilderness for 40 years.

He preaches in all of Galilee, and performed many mighty signs.

In chapter 5-7, Matthew recounts the message of Jesus in His great sermon on the mount, the good news of our salvation. We spent a year studying this great sermon.

In chapters 8-9, Matthew recounts the works of Jesus, how He displayed His intent to redeem the world of its corruption in sin. He healed every kind of sickness and disease.

And now, in chapter 10, Jesus is going to choose the people through whom He is going to send His message and power to the ends of the earth. Through these men, the Gospel of the seemingly inconsequential blip of people on the world map was going to change the face of the world. A great and mighty thing the Lord was going to accomplish, and for that, He chose twelve.

Exegesis

Matthew 10:1–8 (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. 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. 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

At some level, regardless of all that we’ve heard about Jesus’ message and works, we can put all of that in the category of God’s might and power. But how do we understand and process God’s might and power that works inside of us, to will and to work for His good pleasure?

[schoolyard] - I remember playing football in the schoolyard as a child. They’d pick two captains who would take turns calling out names to pick for their team. And I used to be one of the last ones to be picked. Although I used to feel bad, I never blamed my friends because it made sense to me that they would call the better players first. They were more qualified and gifted for the task.

Every endeavour in this world tends to follow this pattern. And for the most part, it’s a sensible one. As a software engineer, I wouldn’t want to hire someone who’s never done programming. You never hire a maid who doesn’t know how to cook or clean. You never pay a sportsman millions of dollars who doesn’t play their sport well. There is a qualification for every job or price, and we live to meet those qualifications to earn the reward.

However, this is not how God calls His servants. For Jesus does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called. And at the heart of that reality we find the reason why God does this in

Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

That is how God receives much glory, not through the exploits of great men, but through the great exploits of weak and pitiful men. That way, no one may boast.

Here, Jesus is going to reach the ends of the earth with His Gospel, through his disciples, and He picks 12 unlikely men to be His Apostles. For God’s great redemptive plan involves weak and pitiful people like you and me. Therefore, the pursuit of the Christian to be more holy, more spiritual, more godly, is not in order to be qualified as a child of God, but because he is already chosen and now is being conformed to fit the part.

If you had to pick the team that was to go out and do the same things that Jesus has been doing, to preach and to perform miracles, whom all would you pick. Someone wise, knowledgeable, level-headed, works well in a team, and the list goes on like the ones you see on the requirements list for a spouse, on a matrimonial website.

And that, is what makes this passage so incredible.

Look at what Jesus is calling his twelve disciples for.

--------------------------------

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.

Matthew 10:5–8 (ESV)

5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.

The empowering that Jesus bestowed on these 12 were off the charts. For all this while, we heard the people respond to Jesus words and works, by saying that no one has ever spoken like this man (with such authority) and no one has ever done the mighty miracles this man has done. And now, Jesus calls upon his disciples to preach and to perform the same.

gave them - the authority was His to give

cast out demons - demons tremble only before the authority given by God.

Acts 19:15 (ESV)

15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”

heal every disease and every affliction - this phrase refers more to every kind of, rather than every single time.

Then, He commands them to

proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand

heal the sick

raise the dead

cleanse lepers

cast out demons

Do you see how Matthew has set this up in his story? From the introduction to Christ, the incarnate God, to all His mighty words and works, now comes the strangest part of this grace. Jesus commands His disciples to do the same works that Matthew has been elaborating in the last few chapters.

--------------------------------

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.

The word apostle refers to a messenger or an envoy, someone who speaks on behalf of, or has been give the authority to represent another. In a broad sense, such a word would apply to all of us as Christians. But in the bible, we have sufficient evidence that the twelve apostles stand apart in their function and authority as opposed to the rest of Jesus’ disciples.

The disciples in the book of Acts, devoted themselves to the Apostle’s teaching (Acts 2:42). And Paul tells us in

1 Corinthians 12:28 (ESV)

28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

There are those today who identify themselves as Apostles to set themselves at par with the twelve, and this is simply not biblical.

Matthew 19:28 (ESV)

28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

--------------------------------

And for this great and mighty work, Jesus calls these twelve men. In all of the listing of the twelve in the four Gospels, they follow the same pattern of three groups.

The first group includes Peter, Andrew, James and John.

The second group includes Philip, Batholomew, Thomas and Matthew

And the third group includes James (the less), Thaddaeus, Simon and Judas Iscariot (whose position is replaced by Matthias in Acts 1).

As in any gathering or fellowship, you see groupings. Not every person relates with everyone in the same way. In a church, although we love and care for one another, we will not all have the same intensity of relationship with everyone. This was true of the apostles as well.

Everytime the Bible lists the apostles, the same person appears first in each of these groupings, probably suggesting the sense of leadership within each gang.

In John 12:22, we see that when Philip was approached by some Greeks who wanted to see Jesus, Philip first goes to Andrew, and then the both of them in turn goes to meet Jesus. John MacArthur points out that as we traverse these list of apostles, not only do we know incrementally less about each of them, but we also sense a decrease in the intimacy with which they related to Jesus.

Although the twelve were all equal in the authority bestowed on them and the reward promised them, they functioned appropriately, at many times in submission to the ones called to take the lead.

At times, these dynamics also brought friction between them.

--------------------------------

Peter

Simon, called Peter, was the first amongst them. The one whom Jesus appointed as the leader of the entire group. A fisherman, often inconsistent and self-centred, Peter had a crude personality.

Next to Jesus, no name is mentioned more than Peter’s in the whole of the NT. He was always by Jesus side.

He seems to have spoken the most, and been more often reproved as well. As John MacArthur mentions in his commentary, “No other disciple so boldly confessed Christ or so boldly denied Him”.

And it is this ambivalent man that God calls first.

James and John

The sons of thunder, as Jesus called them (Mark 3:17). These two brothers were passionate and zealous, often too much for their good. All three of them, Peter, James and John, showed considerable leadership qualities, but were plagued by by all the defectiveness such personalities brought. They were too full of themselves too often.

In fact, James and John we know, came to Jesus with their mother who asked Him to seat them at His right and left in the Kingdom (Matthew 20:20-28). This as you can imageine irritates the rest of the apostles.

Matthew 20:24 (ESV)

24 And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers.

In the book of Acts, we read that Herod made haste to put James to death before imprisoning Peter, probably because James was more prominent to the public eye because of his zealous personality.

Jesus rebuked their unbridled zeal in Luke 9:54 when they asked for the destruction of the people who rejected Jesus by calling fire down from heaven.

Although Andrew was in the inner circle, he was the silent and more submissive one.

Philip

Philip who walked with Jesus and heard and watched all that He did, still asked Him at the end of it all,

John 14:8–9 (ESV)

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Thomas

The one famously referred to as the doubting Thomas.

John 20:24–29 (ESV)

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” 26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Matthew

Our tax-collector Apostle, who lived a life of riches gained from oppressing his own people. A traitor!

Simon, the Zealot

The zealots were a violent group who sought to bring God’s kingdom by force. His inclusion in the twelve makes them a diverse group.

Judas Iscariot

The son of perdition, the betrayer of Jesus. Having heard, seen, done it himself, and spoken himself, this one is the greatest warning for all of us who claim to be believers. That we can be so close to God, and yet so far from him.

All the Gospels list him at the end.

--------------------------------

They fought for who amongst them would be the greatest

They couldn’t even stay awake at Jesus’ most vulnerable time

They sought their own interest

One betrayed him and one denied him

They all fled when He was arrested

If I may sum it up, this is not a group that you or I would pick for such a great task. Yet, the Lord does.

And to these 12 misfits, he added one more named Paul, and through them God changed the world.

When the Holy Spirit came to them, we read of their great works in the faith. As per tradition, all of them were martyred except John. From self-interest to selflessnes, from pride to humility, from inconsistency to sound faith, from fear to courage, from hatred to love, from cynicism to graciousness; we read of how God used these ordinary men to accomplish great things.

--------------------------------

Now, this does not apply to how we choose people. We still pick qualified people, even for ministry in the church. In Paul’s letter to Timothy and Titus, he elaborates how high the standard is for leadership in the church. As James writes, not all of you should be teachers.

We look for the signs of God’s hand upon the life of an individual. In other words, an elder is not chosen by God when he meets the standards of being an elder. He meets the standards of being an elder, because he is called by God for such a task.