©2000 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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3/12/00
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The Destined Dozen
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3/12/00 The Destined Dozen
I know we've been involved in a study
of the 6th chapter of the book of Romans,
and next week we'll go back into that study.
But we're at camp,
and days at camp are special days.
They are fun days,
relaxing days,
days that are not well suited to difficult
passages
requiring intense concentration.
So this morning we're going to take a trip together.
March is a good month for trips out of Alaska,
and this morning we're going travel a long ways
away in both time and distance.
We are going to join a crowd of people
who are all milling around the outside of a house
in the sea-side town of Capernaum early in the 1st
century AD.
The house is being used by a remarkable prophet
who has been home-based here for the past year,
but who has spent much of that time
traveling throughout the region,
visiting a many of the tiny
communities in this northern part of the Nation of
Israel.
The prophet's name is Jesus,
and He is a prophet unlike anyone else in the
history of the world.
His teaching is remarkable.
He talks about God as if He and God were close
personal friends.
He talks much about God's deep personal love and
compassion for each of us.
He has a way of making morality
seem so desirable,
so reasonable,
so good and right.
His teaching has gotten Him into some big trouble
during the past year, though.
The religious leaders of Israel have come to hear
Him
and they have not liked what they've heard.
He's jabbed at them,
poked at them,
exposed their hypocrisy
and their greed,
and already they are discussing the best ways in
which to remove this Jesus permanently.
But it is not just the teaching
that draws us to this Man.
You see, He also has the ability to heal.
Already He has healed hundreds of people who
have come to Him.
It's not a show.
It's not some kind of a game.
There's no stage,
no tricks,
no illusions.
He doesn't yell and scream,
He doesn't dance around.
He doesn't ever ask for money.
He simply reaches out and touches the sick,
and the crippled,
and the infirm,
and gives them health.
It's no wonder His fame
and His popularity are spreading rapidly
throughout the nation.
And now, here we all are,
standing around outside of Jesus' house,
waiting for the Master to show up.
It is still early,
but already the morning sun is beating down on
us,
and occasionally a little trickle of sweat can
be seen
running down someone's neck or forehead.
Each of us in the crowd have brought with us our
own personal agenda for Jesus.
Some of us want healing.
Some of us bring questions we want the Master
to answer.
Some of us just want to hear Him teach.
Some of us are in league
with the established religious rulers
and we are here to attempt to attack or discredit
this Man if we can.
And the rest of us are simply fascinated by Him
and just want to be wherever He is.
Some of the faces in the group are familiar to us.
There is a rather rowdy, boisterous group of
commercial fishermen standing together.
At least, they were commercial fisherman
up until about a year ago
when Jesus came to town.
They have been staying close to Jesus ever since.
There are two sets of brothers in the group.
The big one, the one with loud voice in the center of
the cluster is Simon.
And next to him is his little brother, Andrew.
Andrew was a loyal disciple of the Prophet John in
past years.
He's a quiet, gentle, deeply sincere man.
It's not surprising to see him following
Jesus.
Simon, though, is a bit of a surprise.
He's not the "religious type" if you know what I
mean.
It's a little hard to imagine him walking away from
his career to follow an itinerant prophet,
even a prophet like Jesus.
The other two brothers in the group are James and
John.
They were in business with Simon and Andrew
before the Master came on the scene.
They are nice enough fellows,
so long as you don't get them riled.
Fiery tempers, both of them.
Their dad was that way, too.
And then, standing with them, are two other good
friends of Andrew,
Philip and Nathanael.
All six of those young men
have known each other for years.
There are some new faces in the crowd this
morning, too.
One of the most obvious is that fellow
standing over there by himself.
No one is talking with him,
no one even acknowledges his existence.
And no wonder...
His name is Matthew
and up until last week
he was the tax collector in Capernaum
for the Roman Government.
Several years earlier
he sold his self-respect,
and his integrity,
and loyalty to his Jewish heritage
for the sake of a bulging wallet.
There have been rumors flying around
the past few days, though,
rumors that something happened last week
between Matthew and Jesus.
Apparently Jesus walked right inside
Matthew's little tax office,
looked him straight in the eyes,
and then said simply, "Follow Me!"
Those who were there
said the encounter shook Matthew to the core.
At His first sight of Jesus' entrance into his office
Matthew's face displayed a kind of terror.
But as he sat there,
looking up into the Master's eyes,
hearing Jesus' invitation to follow Him,
the terror was replaced by what could
only be described as a kind of hopeful longing.
Anyway, ever since that day,
there has been a "closed" sign hanging on
Matthew's office.
Jesus finally arrives on the scene,
and we all surge forward,
hoping to get whatever it is we came for.
But Jesus tells us He wants us to follow Him,
and He leads us to a grassy hillside outside of
town.
When He has us all seated around Him
He speaks.
"This day I have chosen twelve men from among
you to be with Me as my disciples. When I call your
name, I would like you to join me here at the front."
A little buzz of amazement runs through the
crowd.
Many of us have been following Jesus for weeks,
or for months.
We understand what it is for us to have chosen Him
as our teacher,
our leader,
but we have no idea what it means
for Him to choose some of us.
Clearly, the choice will carry with it great honor.
The first six names He calls come as no surprise.
"Simon, Andrew, James, John, Nathanael, and
Philip, will you join me up here."
All of these men have been with the Master from the
beginning.
Their commitment to Him,
and His to them is unquestioned.
The seventh name he speaks, however, takes us by
surprise.
"I would also like you, Matthew, to join me."
No one is more surprised to hear his name called
than is Matthew himself.
He's sitting at the very back of the crowd,
his eyes fixed not on Jesus, but on the ground
in front of him.
When he hears his name spoken he looks up,
then looks around him,
apparently curious to see the man who
shares his name -
the faithful, obedient, devout "Matthew"
who has just been selected for this great honor.
But, when no one else stirs,
Matthew looks at the Master
and discovers to his amazement
that Jesus, and indeed most of the rest
of us,
are all looking at him.
For a moment he just sits there,
his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
Matthew stands and then works his way to the
front,
stopping at last next to Simon.
What a contrast!
For the past year we have all seen Simon
dancing around in front of the Lord,
doing everything in his power
to convince Jesus
that,"Simon is your man!".
Matthew, on the other hand,
comes forward in utter disbelief,
still unable to accept what is taking place.
He obviously feels as though
Jesus is making some kind of a mistake.
In an unusual expression of compassion,
Simon reaches out a big hand,
places it on Matthew's shoulder,
and draws him into the group.
Matthew can be heard saying,
"I can't believe this!
I can't believe He's choosing ME."
Silent tears are streaming down his cheeks.
The next two men the Master calls
bring with them a greater history with Jesus
than all the rest put together.
They are Jesus' cousins,
James, who is nick-named James the Less"
because he's a real short little fellow,
and his younger brother, Thaddaeus.
James and Thaddaeus are both sons of Jesus' uncle,
Alphaeus, Joseph's brother.
Alphaeus died soon after Thaddaeus was born,
and Joseph and Mary brought the boys
and their mother, also named Mary,
into their own household.
These two young men
have grown up in the same home with the
Master.
They know Him more as their older brother than as
their cousin.
The tenth name Jesus calls
brings a murmur of understanding approval from
all of us there that morning.
"Judas Iscariot, I would also like you to join Me."
Judas is the one disciple
chosen by the Master
who seems "right" to all of us.
He is a likeable, congenial young man,
well known in the community
and highly respected.
He brings to the group a sharp mind,
initiative,
and an uncanny business sense.
He has been listening closely to the Master's
teachings
for the past several months
and brings with him an unshakable
confidence
in both the right and the ability of Jesus
to lead the Nation of Israel to greatness.
Judas seems to possess
no reservations about linking his own personal
future
to the future of this miracle-worker from
Galilee.
The selection process is completed
with Jesus' call for Thomas and Simon the
Zealot to join the group.
It would be difficult to imagine
a more diverse collection of personalities
than the ones standing next to Jesus today.
Whereas James the Less
is a bouncing, bubbly,
enthusiastic explosion of life,
Thomas is serious and introspective
almost to the point of being morbid.
He is a quiet, logical, brooding thinker who seldom
speaks except to point out why some idea is
impractical or why some scheme is destined to fail.
The Master's mosaic of contrasts
is completed with Matthew's opposite
in Simon the Zealot.
Whereas Matthew has spent his former life
sleeping with the Roman enemy,
Simon is an angry, hot-headed radical
who has invested his efforts
in a frantic fight to free Israel
from all pagan Gentile oppression.
OK, now let's come on back to Alaska
and talk about these fellows
in our remaining few minutes together.
Obviously, the men chosen by Christ that day now
hold a unique place in history -
they are Jesus' 12 disciples.
But the first thing I want us to notice
about those 12 men
is that if we really would have been there
that day
there is nothing about any of them
that would have explained to us
why Jesus chose the men He choose.
None of them were prominent,
none of them were wealthy except Matthew,
and he gave up his source of wealth
when he chose to follow Christ.
As we follow them through the gospel accounts,
we find that they were often fearful,
always flesh-motivated prior to the
resurrection,
chronically selfish,
completely self-centered,
slow to learn,
and quick to forget.
In other words, they were just like you and me.
Nor did Jesus make the selections He did
because He knew these 12 men
were exactly the men
through whom He could accomplish
great things in the future.
In other words,
He didn't choose them
for what He could one day get out of them.
Have you ever wondered
what happened to these men
following the departure of Christ?
What happened to Andrew,
and Nathanael,
and Philip,
and James the Less,
and Thaddaeus,
and Thomas,
and Simon the Zealot?
None of them are ever mentioned in Scripture again
following their final gathering together
on the day of Pentecost.
We have church traditions
that suggest they all faithfully spread the good
news about Christ
in various parts of the world,
and that they were all eventually martyred for their
faith.
But none of those seven
played any significant role
in the crucial events recorded in the book of
Acts.
They simply went out and lived their Christian lives
one day at a time,
just like thousands of other Christians in the
first century.
OK, but how about the other five?
Well, there was Judas...
but he obviously held a unique role in God's
plan, so he doesn't count.
So that leaves 4.
Well, if Matthew hadn't written his account of the
life of Christ,
we wouldn't know anything about him.
And apart from the gospels,
he's never mentioned again, either.
So that leaves three - Simon Peter, James, and
John.
And Jesus did invest
exceptional time and communication into these
three.
When Jesus wanted 3 witnesses to His bringing a
little girl back from the dead,
He took with Him Peter, James, and John.
When He wanted 3 witnesses on the Mount of
Transfiguration
where God the Father spoke from heaven,
confirming Jesus as the Christ,
He took Peter, James, and John.
When Jesus wanted three friends with Him in the
Garden,
just prior to the crucifixion,
He took Peter, James, and John.
So surly Jesus did what He did
in order to prepare these three
for exceptional lifetime ministries.
Apart from Judas,
do you know which of the 12 apostles
lived the shortest time following the
departure of Christ?
Do you know which of the 12
was the first to be killed for his faith,
just a few years following the resurrection?
Do you know which disciple
never had a chance to write,
or to travel,
or to reproduce his great knowledge of
the Lord in others
over a long period of time?
It was James.
His execution is recorded for us
in Acts chapter 12.
Of the 12 original apostles,
only Peter and John
seemed to have played any major role in the
over-all establishment of the early church.
So what is my point in all of this?
When we come into the family of God,
we just naturally bring with us
our flesh-based evaluation system
for determining what,
and who,
and why things are important.
We assume that Jesus must value us
on the same basis as we tend to value one
another.
The employee who gets the most done,
or brings in the most business,
or has the most aggressive personality
is the one who is applauded,
and honored,
and rewarded.
The student who gets the highest test scores
and the best recommendations
gets the scholarships.
Surely it must be that way
in the body of Christ as well.
But when Jesus chose His first 12 disciples,
I see Him building into that selection
a message we rarely allow ourselves to
believe.
In His plan for His Church
there will be an occasional Peter,
and an occasional John,
but most of us will be like James,
and Andrew,
and Matthew,
and Philip,
and Nathanael.
In the world's eyes
they won't much notice who we are
and they won't much care.
But to our Lord
our value and our importance
is both endless and eternal.
And it is a value that grows
not out of what or how much
He may choose to accomplish through us
in whatever years he chooses to leave us on this
earth,
but rather a value derived simply from
His delight in having us with Him.
Do you know why Jesus wanted James with Him
on the Mount of Transfiguration,
and with Him in the Garden before His
crucifixion?
It wasn't because He was training James
for some great world-wide ministry.
It was simply because He wanted James with Him,
because He valued James' friendship,
just like He wants you with Him each day
and values His friendship with you
through all eternity.