Last week we looked at the Sabbath law and its true purpose to benefit us with life and health so we are free to love the Lord and not be bund up with legalistic rules about what we can and cannot do on those holy days. Mankind has a way of extending God’s Law beyond its original intention and this has happened from the very beginning. Do you recall how God told Adam not to eat from the fruit of the tree at the centre of the Garden but Eve later told the Serpent that they were not only not to eat it but not to even to touch it. I’m sure that extension of the Law was made up by Adam! Man’s interpretation of God’s Law is what leads to oppressive slavery and punishment as we see in the time of Jesus and notably in Islam today. Let’s move to the next passage in Luke 6.
Luke 6:12-16
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. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles: 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.
Jesus was about to make a very important decision, one that would determine whether his mission on Earth would be a success or not. He needed to find the right men who would take his message and lay the foundations of the Church after he was gone. If he picked the wrong men, we would not be gathered here today. This was not something that could be done on a whim. Jesus prayed all night to his Father.
Often we make important decisions after a 5 minute prayer to the Lord. It’s not that we haven’t thought about it for some time. It’s that I haven’t prayed about it for any length of time as Jesus did. One night of prayer to determine 2 thousand years of church history to date. This was a critical night.
Jesus had quite a lot of disciples or followers at this stage. Every person who believes in Jesus is called His disciple. All were good, earnest people who loved the Lord. But not all were qualified for the mission Jesus would commission the apostles for.
Every apostle he would choose was a disciple, but not every disciple was an apostle.
The Greek word for “disciple” simply refers to a learner and is used throughout the New Testament to refer to people who believed in Jesus and followed Him.
The Greek word for “apostle” literally means “one who is sent” and can refer to an ambassador or anyone sent on a mission. An apostle is given the authority of the one who sent him. All of the apostles were disciples—they were among the many believers in Jesus—but only a select group of disciples were chosen as the Twelve Apostles as described in this passage.
That there is a select group of twelve apostles is seen in the foundations of the walls of the New Jerusalem as mentioned in Revelation: twelve foundations, each inscribed with a name of an apostle.
Revelation 21:14
Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Other men who are named “apostles” in the New Testament—although not members of the Twelve—include Matthias, Barnabas, Apollos, Timothy and Silas, Epaphroditus and two unnamed apostles in 2 Corinthians 8:23, possibly already included in the previous list). These men were “sent ones” in that they were chosen for specific work on behalf of the church, but they were not part of the Twelve who were hand-picked by Jesus. Jesus is also called an “apostle” in Hebrews 3:1 indicating that He was sent by and had the authority of His Father.
Who are the 12 apostles assuming Judas is excluded from this picture of the 12 foundations. I can only think Paul is the 12th man or substitute, I suspect that is where the term comes from in football and cricket!
Ephesians 4:11-16 speaks of apostles along with other church leaders whose role was to equip the believers for works of service.
This is an important point. I recently saw a video by J Warner Wallace, the Cold Case Detective who converted to Christianity after being an atheist for many years. He said that we need to stop teaching in Churches and start training. In other words, to equip people so they can defend their faith and preach the Gospel in the marketplace. Almost all we do at PCC is teaching which helps us in day to day living but doesn’t really equip is to defend the Faith. To equip involves structured training, testing and practical application and regrouping when things don’t go to well in the battle.
The qualifications back then for being an apostle included
- having been with Christ during His ministry
- having personally witnessed Jesus after His resurrection
- having been empowered by the Holy Spirit to perform miracles or signs.
Some denominations teach there are no apostles in our World today on the basis there is no one who meets all the qualifications above. My position is I disagree with that even though I can’t think of an individual in our World today who meets all of those criteria. Maybe you can. Don’t tell me Brian Tamaki!
I disagree on the basis of the body of Christ and that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. Don’t forget, some are gifted in prophecy and some in preaching and some are gifted in healing. So, I think a mission calling from the Lord to establish a church needs to have a combination of these gifts to be successful. It is a true saying that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, however. If no one person meets all the qualifications to be an apostle, Mission teams are needed, that’s why I believe Jesus sent the disciples out in pairs. PCC can do that in Papatoetoe today. It is possible that by using our individual gifts together to have success. One mission headed by Jesus, one body working together, these are our core values in fact;
CORE VALUES OF PCC
- We emphasise the “Body of Christ” Ministry and Mission with Jesus Christ as the Head.....
- .....each member exercising individual spiritual gift/s for the building of the Body and the Communication of the Gospel
Luke 9:1-2
Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
We are called together to preach the Kingdom of God and heal the sick and he sent them out in pairs not as individuals. It needs a team approach as I don’t think any of us individually have all the qualifications of an apostle as outlined before. The Gospel message needs to be delivered in power and with authority to defeat the devil in our community.
Back to today’s passage from Luke.
Luke 6:17-19
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. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.
See how there were 3 types of people in the crowd who came to Jesus;
- The 12 apostles
- A crowd of his disciples
- A great multitude of other followers of Jesus
Which category would you place yourself in today? Are you here to receive power from the Holy Spirit to go out into the Community like the apostles. Or to be taught like the disciples. Or to see the miracles like the followers, or maybe it’s just the company, the music and the food!
Jesus delivered the full Gospel in power. That’s why we want to see for our churches to be full today.
Luke 6:20-23
Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, For you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets.
Note this, Jesus lifted his eyes towards his disciples when he said this. There were many others in the crowd, but he was speaking directly to his disciples when he started this message, the famous Sermon on the Mount which you can also find in more detail in Matthew 5-7. Have you ever been in a service when everything the Preacher says seems to be about you. That’s the Lord speaking directly to you and you need to respond to his call straightaway.
This Sermon on the Mount was primarily directed at the disciples; that’s you and me in Church today. We often think of so and so would hear this message it would be good. We need to hear it!
His disciples were blessed if they were poor. Isn’t this the very opposite of the Prosperity Gospel we hear today.
Some of his disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. They were without regular jobs and sometimes they would go hungry. Jesus called them blessed.
Some of his disciples were weeping. Sad at their lost family and friends, sad because of the sin all around them, sad because of things that happened in their lives that seemed unjust and God was not present. Jesus called them blessed, God has not forgotten you either. The Bible says he will wipe away every tear from your eyes, joy and laughter are coming promises from the Lord.
And any disciple who is suffering persecution on whatever scale whether it be revulsion or exclusion or even facing death is going to be rewarded in the same way as the prophets and saints of old and what a crown awaits them. But remember Jesus was primarily speaking to his disciples when he went on to say.
Luke 6:24-26
“But woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, For you shall hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, For you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets.
This warning is not in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 but it’s in Luke so it’s an important detail. We miss this part, don’t we? At least I do.
This is a direct warning to those who receive the prosperity message of your best life now without balancing that with the message Jesus later gives in
Luke 9:23-27
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”
If we are his disciples, it will cost us, there will be difficulties, it won’t be a life of luxury. There will be a cross we need to bear. We are following in the footsteps of Jesus who went to the Cross.
If we are ambitious to be apostles, to be sent out into the World to preach the Gospel and heal the sick it is a good desire. But we do well to soberly remember that all the apostles were martyred for the message they preached except for John and Judas of course. We need to count the cost.
This is the journey we have been on this year to step out, to leave our comfort zone and go into the World. Stepping out means letting go but it also means being equipped for success. That will happen before you leave, but it will also happen as you step out.
Matthew 28:18-20
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
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