The Twelve Disciples

One of the reasons why the Lord was alone in prayer was because there were twelve men who were his apostles, his disciples, who were not with him, who abandoned him in that hour of great need. This evening I would like to jump back to the beginning of their story back in Mark chapter 3. If you'll open your Bibles to Mark chapter 3, we're going to read a few verses that describe the calling of the twelve apostles. Mark chapter 3 beginning in verse 13. Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to them those he wanted and they came to him. He appointed twelve, designating them apostles that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed, Simon to whom he gave the name Peter, James, son of Zebedean, his brother John, to them he gave the name Bowen-Airgees which means sons of thunder, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alphius, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Now the Bible makes it very clear that this is a special choosing of twelve men who were already following Jesus to be his apostles. Most of them had been following Jesus for over a year prior to this time. Many of them came to know the Lord in John chapter 1 when they were following John the Baptist and Jesus called them to follow him. Others came along a little by little a little bit later. They were already saved. They were called to serve. They had been following Jesus for some time now. But on this occasion Jesus chooses these men, twelve from among his followers to be what's called an apostle, the twelve apostles. Now what is an apostle? Well the term is used in a couple of different ways in the New Testament. First of all it is loosely used of anyone who is sent with a message. That is one meaning of the word apostle, anyone who is sent with a message. And in that sense all of us could be considered apostles in the sense that we have a message to give to this world. We are commissioned by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Great Commission to take that message to the ends of the earth. But there is a more specific way in which the word apostle is also used in the New Testament. And strictly speaking the term apostle is used of these twelve men that Jesus chose to train to prepare to be the foundation of the church or lay the foundation of the church to begin the church in the book of Acts. Now one of them, Judas Iscariot, would end up being a traitor. Jesus knew that all along as we will see later on. But one was chosen in Acts chapter one to take his place, a man by Matthias. He is also termed an apostle. Paul is called an apostle. Although Paul said he was an apostle born out of due season. He was kind of out of the chain of events in the sense that an apostle, strictly speaking, had to be one who had been with the original group since John's baptism, since the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, and must have been directly commissioned by the resurrected Christ. Paul had not been with the original group of disciples, but he had been directly commissioned by Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. So Paul is called an apostle, but he is not one of the original twelve. And what I would like to do over the next few months, as we have opportunity on Sunday evening, is to do a study of these twelve apostles. Strictly speaking, there are no apostles today. Apostles were ones who lived in the first century who had seen Jesus, who had been directly commissioned, had been witnesses of his resurrection, had personally seen him walk this earth, resurrected Christ. There are no apostles today. There are no apostolic churches today. The only apostolic church was the church of the first century that was started by the apostles, and we have built upon that work ever since. So strictly speaking, there are no apostles besides these who were called apostles in New Testament times. This evening, what I would like to do is just very briefly call your attention to the choosing of these twelve apostles. And let's look at them as a group, learn some lessons about what God did when He chose them, what Christ did, as He chose them to be His apostles. Let's begin with the choice of the twelve, then we'll talk about the ministry of the twelve, and the characters of the twelve. The choice of the twelve is described here in Mark chapter three, and the first thing that I would note is that this choice took place after prayer. Now Mark doesn't tell us that, but again, in order to get the full picture of any event in the gospels, you have to compare all the gospels. Take the account from each of the gospels. Look at this verse in Luke chapter six and verse twelve. One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the night praying to God, and then the text goes on to describe exactly what we've read here, the choosing of the twelve apostles. It was after a night of prayer that Jesus chose the twelve apostles. Now Jesus, as a man, needed communion with his father, needed times of prayer to draw strength and power from the Lord, from his father, in order to do ministry. But it would be interesting to know, would it not what Jesus prayed for that night? I would love to know exactly what was the subject of his prayer, a lot of speculation has been given. Some have said, well, Jesus was praying for wisdom to choose the right twelve men, and others have said, of course he would not be praying for that, Jesus knew all things. He was God. But I think it's very possible that Jesus was praying for wisdom to make the right choice of twelve men to be the apostles. There were already a number of people who were his disciples who were following him, and we must remember that Jesus was not only fully God, he was fully man. And in his earthly ministry, Jesus did voluntarily, willingly, withhold himself from the expression of certain divine attributes, even certain things that he would automatically know, he withdrew himself voluntarily from that knowledge. And it could be that Jesus went into that night of praying, not knowing who he would choose, and asking for direction from the father in his humanity to make the right choice of the twelve. Or it's possible that Jesus was praying for the twelve men that he already knew he would choose. It could be spent the entire night praying for those men. Certainly we know that he prays for us, Hebrews chapter 7, and verse 25 tells us that, therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. In heaven tonight, Jesus is praying for you, and He's praying for me. He's praying that we will lean upon Him for strength. He's praying any number of things for us as He knows exactly what we're facing in our lives. Could be that that night Jesus prayed for these twelve men, that they would have the strength to respond eagerly to His call, and that God would prepare them and equip them over the next year and a half to be ready to serve Him in ways that would honor Him. Or it could possibly be that Jesus was praying that evening simply because at critical times in His ministry, He expressed a greater dependence upon His father. There were times in Jesus' ministry, critical turning points, important changes, transition times in His ministry, when Jesus spent significant time in prayer. The Bible says that when Jesus began His ministry, He went out in the wilderness for forty days, and before the temptation He spent a lot of time praying. When Jesus' fame began to spread throughout Galilee in His early ministry, there are a couple of occasions the Bible says Jesus went out, found a solitary place, and prayed. And of course, as we just heard in the song, the night before Jesus died, the night before that momentous occasion which would tax Him physically and spiritually more than any time in His life, He spent time in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. And so it could be that Jesus just wanted that time of refreshing His Spirit in communion with the Father. Certainly we can learn a lesson from that as well. That at times of critical decision making in our lives, at times when there are turning points coming, or times when we are under significant stress or trial or difficulty, we need to spend time with God just like Jesus did. So Jesus' choice of these twelve was after prayer. Secondly, it was according to His will. Notice if you will there in verse 13. Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to Him those He wanted. This choice was according to His will. Jesus did not come to these men and ask them if they would like to serve. He did not give them an option. He did not say to them, would you consider this proposition for a week? I'll get back to you and we'll see how you feel about it. He didn't do that. Jesus did not seek advice. He gave them no room to protest because of lack of ability or fear or intimidation or whatever it might have been. Jesus just said, I will choose who I want and He still does that today. When God chooses someone to do something in a special way for him or He chooses someone to minister for him, He doesn't ask if we are willing. He simply says, you are my choice and the opportunity is for us either to obey or to run from Him like Jonah did. But God chooses according to His will and we must obey whatever God says to do. So the choice was after prayer, the choice was according to His will. But thirdly, the choice was according to His wisdom. When we look at these twelve men and we're going to spend some time looking at each of their lives over the next few weeks and maybe a few months, we're going to wonder at times why would God choose this person? As you look at them at the beginning, you wonder why this group couldn't be have chosen more qualified people, more educated people, people who were prepared better to understand their times maybe. Why did He choose these twelve? And we will see that Jesus always chooses according to His wisdom because Jesus chooses not according to what we are or who we are at the time He chooses us. He chooses us based on what He knows. He will make of us if we are clay in His hands. Remember Jesus would say as He called some of these men, follow me and I will make you, fishers of men. They were all works in progress. They would all be made something that they did not start out as and isn't that true with all of us? I mean whether we're called to do something specifically in the Lord's work or not, we are all called to serve Him and to live for Him and we are all works in progress. Sometimes we wonder how God could use us to do anything but God knows what He can make us to be, not what we are at the time He chooses us. Let me just say this, when God moves in your heart about something He wants you to do, don't ever tell Him that you can't do it or you're not equipped to do it or you just don't think you're the right person. What do you expect God to say? I guess you're right, sorry I made a mistake, I'll look for someone else. What do you expect to come of that? I mean God always chooses people according to His will and it's our responsibility just to obey. Remember Moses didn't get anywhere with excuses about inability or whatever God said Moses, you are my choice and Moses obeyed eventually. So the choice is always after prayer according to His will and according to His wisdom. Could it be that God is choosing you to do something special for Him? You say how would I know if God is choosing me? If God wants me to serve Him in some special way, you know the will of God is a great mystery and I'm not going to take the time to enter into a long discussion of that but let me just say this, as you live for Christ faithfully and seek to obey Him in His word, whatever God wants you to do, He will put so heavily upon your heart you can't get away from it. Paul told Tim and if any man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work and the word desire there is not the word for that would be kind of nice. I think I'd like to do that. It's not that kind of desire, it's an overwhelming pressure that grows with time, it's a burden that you can't get out from under, it's a growing desire that just is on you like a weight that you cannot escape and it grows deeper. It grows deeper and stronger with time. That is how God calls people, that's how God moves in our hearts. And then as we get busy serving Him, He enables gifts to come to the surface that we recognize can be used for Him and others may recognize as well and then God begins to open doors and direct. But the main thing is, are you willing, are you willing and whatever God wants you to do, He'll place a desire in your heart to do. The choice of the twelve is very instructive for us. But I want you to see the ministry of the twelve as it's described here, what would they do? Three things, Jesus had for them to do in ministry. The first one was learning His ways. Notice, He appointed twelve, verse 14, He appointed twelve, designating the apostles that they might be with Him. The first thing they were to do in ministry was to learn, to learn, be with Me. Now this was discipleship at its best where they walked with Jesus day in and day out, watched what He did, observed His lifestyle and learned from Him, how to live and how to do ministry. But it was intense preparation time for their ministry in the future. I can remember, when I was in Bible college, and I'm sure, Jim would remember this and others who spent time in training for the Lord's work, there are always some folks who were at Bible college who said, I'm not going to stay in Bible college, I want to get out there and do the work. And they felt like training was a waste of time. I mean, Jesus is coming back anytime. I need to get out and be about the Lord's work. Training preparation is never a waste of time. Jesus said, the first thing you're going to do is you're going to be with Me. And you will prepare yourselves, you will be trained, you will be discipled, you will be equipped, you will be prepared to do a much more effective ministry later because of this preparation time. Training His ways was very important. Secondly, they were also going to be preaching His message. You see it there in verse 14, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach. So the word to preach here is the typical word for preaching in the Bible. It's the word which means to announce, to herald forth a message. It is someone who goes with the authority of a prince or a king or some kind of monarch, someone who has the authority. The person goes out in that person's authority and heralds the message of the king. Calls out in the marketplace. This is the message that the king is giving to this community. It is being under authority, under command to carry out the message of someone else. That's the idea here in the word. Those who would give out the word of God, whether it be in a formal preaching type of ministry or in any kind of ministry, in teaching Bible school or in ministering in a Bible fellowship or a children's ministry, whatever it may be. When we are responsible to give out the word of God, we are always under authority, His authority, carrying the king's message, not our own message, His message and delivering it to other people. We are not preaching His message, it was all about. They were called to do that. But thirdly, they were also called to demonstrate His power, verse 15, and to have authority to drive out demons. Now they had the power of God in their lives and ministry, number of evidences of that throughout the time when Jesus was with them and on into the book of Acts. Let me just say without going into any depth on this tonight that there were certain gifts which were given the apostles, the Bible calls them sign gifts or 2 Corinthians 12, 12, the gifts of an apostle which were miraculous kind of gifts. Right here is mentioned one of them and that is the ability to cast out demons. Other gifts were miraculous healings and other types of miracles which were performed by the apostles. I am convinced that the Bible teaches those kind of sign gifts, those kind of miraculous gifts were designed specifically for the apostles to be the credentials that would verify their message and thus enable the early church to be established and take root. Once the apostles were off the scene, those sign miraculous gifts also passed off the scene and they are no longer valid today. In other words, I don't need to go looking for demons to cast out of people. Now I recognize in some situations particularly on some mission fields where there is great demonic warfare and battle against the cause of Christ. Sometimes that may happen in rare instances but I do not believe God calls us today to a demon seeking ministry where we are looking for demons to cast out. That was something that was a miraculous gift. By the way, just to add to that a little bit, the best way to get a demon out of a person if a demon controls someone is to give them the gospel if they get saved, the Holy Spirit comes in, the demon has to leave. That is the best way to take care of that situation. So miraculous gifts were given to the apostles and used in their ministry. They were to demonstrate his power. But I want you to see one other thing tonight and that is the characters of the twelve. These men are interesting characters. Their names are mentioned in verses 16 through 19 and we will look at their individual lives and ministries in the coming weeks. But I just want to say a few things about them. These were first of all ordinary men. There is not a nobleman among them. There is not a rabbi, a religious teacher among them. They were ordinary men. And that is the kind of people that God uses, just ordinary people. 1 Corinthians 1 tells us this. Brothers, think of what you were before you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. There are a few of those kind of folks and God's work, but not many. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, here is the reason, so that no one may boast before Him. You see, to recognize that there are not many in the family of God, especially in the work of God that are noble or mighty, God chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. And these men were very ordinary men. I'm not suggesting for a moment that they were ignorant, wide eyed country bumpkins that didn't know anything about anything. I'm not suggesting that at all. James and John came out of a prosperous fishing business. Bible says their father had boats, numerous several boats, more than one at least. They had quite a business there in the Sea of Galilee. Matthew was an educated businessman who was a tax collector. These were men who were not completely ignorant, but they had never been schooled in the religious schools of the day. And they were not of noble birth, but that didn't matter to Jesus. Jesus chooses ordinary people to do His work. Secondly, they were different men. And by that I mean they were different from each other. If you go down this list and we will look at them more closely as we go along, you will find men who were very different from each other. And that doesn't bother God either. They were different in temperament, different in background. You have Peter who is bold, impulsive, eager, the first one out of the boat to walk on the water, that kind of person who will say something eagerly and boldly. And then you have Andrew who is quieter, more in the background, not one to step out front than say much. Two very different men. You've got James and John brothers, but very different. James is fiery. He's going to vigor a man who is aggressive, who quickly rises to the leadership in the early church and is the first apostle to be arrested and killed in Acts chapter 12, the first apostle. Stephen was killed before that, but the first apostle was James. His brother is more contemplative by nature, more prayerful, called the apostle that Jesus loved, a little different temperament than his brother, but God used them both. You have Nathaniel who is quick to trust, and you have Thomas who is quick to doubt. Matthew who is a publican, and you have Simon who is a zealot. Now there is an interesting combination. A publican is someone who is a Jew who works for the Roman government to collect taxes. He is one of the most hated people, no doubt, in Israel, because he works for the Romans. He is considered a sell out to the Romans. Who were the zealots? The zealots were the political party in Israel that was absolutely opposed to Roman rule and did everything they could to overthrow the Romans. They would conduct little guerrilla raids and stop Roman soldiers along the road and kill as many of them as they could and take off through the woods. That's the kind of party the zealots were. You've got Matthew, a publican, you've got Simon, a zealot. Can you imagine the conversations they had at night in the Apostolic band? God brought them together and used them together. Men of greatly differing backgrounds. God loves variety. And those that he uses in his work and those that he puts together in a church like this, we come from many different backgrounds and personality types and all of that. God can use us together just like he did these 12 men. They were different men. But I would also hasten to say they were teachable men. All of these men, with one exception, were from Galilee. Now that may not mean a whole lot to us at first glance, but there was an understanding in New Testament times that people from Judea, this area around Jerusalem, the southern part of Israel, they were a little more arrogant. They felt they were a cut above everyone else in the country. They were obstinately proud of their religious heritage, of their culture being near the capital. People from Galilee were considered kind of backwards type. Maybe not as cultured as people in Judea would be. They were thought maybe to be old fashioned narrow, those kinds of folks. Not as really informed as people in Judea. All but one of the apostles was chosen from Galilee, the one who was not was Judas, this carried. Now I don't want to make too much of this, but I would say this, God choose men, chose men who were teachable. Now that's not to say that cultured, informed, erudite people can't serve God. That's not true at all. People like that can serve God, but they cannot unless they become teachable. God only wants people and will use people who are teachable, who are willing to sit at his feet and to unlearn the ways of the world and the ways of self and to learn what Jesus says must be done. These men were moldable, they were teachable. Any of us who want to be used of God must be willing to be teachable and to be used. Well these are the men Christ chose, 12 men, very different, ordinary, but teachable men that God would use to be the apostles. Let's look at them in the next few weeks, a little more closely and see some lessons that God can use to mold us and make us into the kind of Christ followers he wants us to be. Would you join me in prayer? Father, thank you for those 12 men that you chose, men that we learned our names many years ago in Sunday school or in Bible school. But men that had a tremendous impact for you and your kingdom, beginning of your church, Lord there are many lessons we can learn from them and we bow at your feet to teach us those lessons in these coming weeks. Help us to learn what it means to be a follower of yours, to be one who is entrusted with the message today, to follow you and to be fishers of men. We ask in Jesus' name Amen.