Jesus And Discipleship – 4 – The 12
INTRODUCTION – Luke 6:12-16 (Mark says ‘to be with him’)
We are continuing with the series on Jesus and discipleship because making disciples is the
primary mission of the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus said go make disciples…
This was the secret of first century Church, who, composed of a tiny band of committed people,
conquered the immense Roman world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the first three centuries
there was hardly a town and village or city that had not been affected by the gospel. Churches
were everywhere. Christians were everywhere. You could meet them in the shops and you could
see them in the Senate, at worship and at work, in public and in private. They emptied the prisons
and the playhouses. They planted new and vigorous churches where people could be loved and
have their lives changed. They transformed their society with acts of compassion and mercy and
by the proclamation of the gospel which makes men whole. They did it by a type of serious and
intentional Christian discipleship that rocked the world. But today, the church has neglected to
develop disciples and many Christians think of themselves as an audience to be entertained rather
than an army ready to march. We need to return to the apostolic injunction to make disciples!
We have seen that there was a 4-month period, called “Come and see” when Jesus took 5
disciples, (John), Andrew, Simon, Philip and Nathaniel to whet their appetites regarding what he
could do. Then we looked at the 2nd period of 10 months when Jesus took another 4 disciples in
the “Come and follow me” period - James and John (brothers) and Simon and Andrew (brothers).
This time the disciples get a ringside view of Jesus 24/7. They observe his lifestyle and his
ministry at close quarters - but only as observers - not involved in any ministry whatsoever.
Todays passage from Luke begins the 3rd period of 20 months which we call the “Come and be
with me” period. It is this period that makes up the bulk of the gospel stories and it’s where Jesus
begins to teach, train and releases disciples into their own ministries.
It begins with his selection of the 12 apostles
Up to now we only have a total of six named disciples. Undoubtedly there were hundreds more
who were following Jesus. We know that huge crowds attended John the Baptist’s campaign near
Jerusalem. He made it clear that he was not the Christ but that the true Christ was soon coming.
When Jesus came into the environment many would have transferred their allegiance from John to
Jesus. After 14 months of miraculous ministry there were probably thousands flocking to see
Jesus. Mt 4:25 “Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region
across the Jordan followed him.” Then Jesus decides that it’s time to get down to business - to
handpick those who take the message into the world and ultimately into subsequent generations.
The first point I want you to notice is Jesus’ prayer.
Let’s remember that Jesus is our model. We are supposed to be imitating him in his lifestyle. What
he says we say. How he acts .. How he conducts his devotional life is … And what we find? We
find Jesus who is always at prayer. Do you know that there are 7 specific times in Luke’s gospel
when Jesus prayed at the most crucial moments of his life:
Lk 3:21-22
Lk 6:12
Lk 9:18
Lk 9:28
Lk 11:1
Lk 22:41-45
Lk 23:45
The hour of dedication
The hour of selection
The hour of revelation
The hour of transfiguration
The hour of education/impartation
The hour of temptation
The hour of crucifixion
As he was praying heaven opened
Here – whole night
Who do men say that I am?
Transformed with Elijah & Moses
Teach us to pray
Take this cup from me and
into your hands I commend my spirit.
Why did Jesus have to pray like this at such crucial times? He was the SOG He was a member of
the Godhead, who created the heavens and the earth. He had the authority to call down angels,
command the weather, have secret knowledge about people and even about what they were
thinking! Why did he have to pray like this? He was God in the flesh!
Because he was illustrating, or modelling, how a godly man can live a life of victory and success by engaging in
prayer. He actually elected to become fully human, deliberately choosing not to draw on his divine power and
privileges, so that we could see how we could live at another level, by coming to God at our point of need, and finding
that his grace and power is available and activated when we call upon his name.
This has to be one of the first lessons a disciple learns. In Luke’s sequal book called the Acts of
the Apostles, he repeatedly references the place prayer had in the disciples lives
Acts 1:14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the
mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. (Ch born in prayer)
Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching & to the fellowship, to the breaking
of bread & to prayer.
Acts 3:1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer — at three in
the afternoon.
Acts 4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign
Lord,” they said, “you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
Acts 6:4 And will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.”
Acts 10:31 'Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.
Acts 14:23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and
fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
Acts 16:13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a
place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.
Prayer is clearly the secret of the early churches’ birth, blessing and advance. At all the significant
moments of difficulty, of decision and advance, the believers went to prayer! What about us?
How are we doing at prayer? How often do we pray? How long ..? How intensely ..? I reckon most
Christians, when they face normal challenges and difficulties in the Christian life, spend more time,
more words, moaning and complaining than they do praying! It any wonder that we don’t develop
in our levels of effectiveness and see more manifestations of God’s great power? What would
happen if we made a decision today to make every challenge, every impossible situation, every
difficult relationship, every fear and every deficiency in our lives, an opportunity to activate
God’s gracious power? What if we made a decision that when trials come we will not talk about
them to anybody else, but we will primarily and supremely bring them to God? What would
happen? I tell you what would happen: we would move into another level of success, overcoming,
victory, peace and effectiveness. This is why Jesus described the church as a house of prayer.
Prayer is what makes it all work in the same way that fuel makes a car work.
Now let’s look at what Jesus is praying for
Let’s turn our attention away from discipleship and towards and disciple making. Jesus wants to
choose 12 men to train. He has endless possibilities before him. There are thousands of people
out there into whose eyes he looks every day. Of course lots of them could be described as
followers and not leaders. But there are hundreds of people out there who have qualities of
leadership. Foundational men. People on whom Jesus could build his kingdom on earth. These
are people who have vision, perseverance, stickability, motivation, self-discipline, reliability,
trustworthiness, a willingness to sacrifice and die for their goals. So who would Jesus choose?
He cannot make a mistake, for he knows the future of his mission, to win millions and millions of
followers in the successive centuries, depends on choosing the right people. A mistake at this
point is not an option, so he decides to spend an entire night in prayer. I would like to know what
he prayed! Did he pray “What criteria should I look for Father?” I suspect he recalled the Scripture
1 Sam 16:7 “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7
Someone has supposed the scene he thinks may have taken place in heaven when the Lord Jesus went back after
finishing the work that the Father gave Him to do. Christ and Gabriel were talking together and Gabriel said, “Master,
you died for the whole world down there, didn't You? “Yes”, said Christ, “I died for the whole world”. “And do they all
know about it?”asked Gabriel. “Oh no”, said Christ, “only a few know about it.” “Well,” said Gabriel, “What is your
plan? What have you done about telling the world you died for them?” Christ replied, “I asked Peter and Andrew and
John and James, with a few more, to make it the business of their lives to tell others and the others to tell others and
yet others to tell others, until all have heard the story.”
Gabriel knows us folk down here pretty well. He has had more than one contact with the earth and he knows what
kind of stuff we are made of, not too reliable at times! He is supposed to have said, “But suppose Peter doesn't tell
others, or suppose the others don't tell others, what then? Have you any other plans?”
“Gabriel, I haven't made any other plans - I'm counting on them!” (Jesus knew everything depended on)
So, Jesus had to get it right and this demanded a night spent in prayer. Most of us can never
remember spending a night in prayer. Many Christians have never been to a church prayer
meeting? Prayer is so often not on the agenda of individual Christians or the church.
I heard a story of a ship that was sinking in the middle of a storm, and the captain called out to the crew and said,
“Does anyone here know how to pray?”
One man stepped forward and said, “Yes sir, I know how to pray.”
The captain said, “Wonderful, you pray while the rest of us put on life jackets--we're one short.”
And that’s what it’s like! Very little prayer until we are in a life-threatening situation
What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry Everything to God in prayer!
Here emphasise the need for us to pray about those who we can lead to Jesus.
Let’s move on to Jesus’ choice of disciples.
This is where it gets really interesting! Jesus comes out from prayer with a clear understanding of
the type of person he wants to enlist, if not their names and details of their lives.
And what a ragtag group of misfits they were! I’m sure that anybody in this room wouldn’t choose
such people to be on their team for God. They were all country bumpkins and spoke with a heavy
accent of the Galileans - all of them except Judas, who was from Judea.
Peter was an impulsive and loud, impetuous risk-taker who often opened his mouth before
engaging his brain, regularly putting his foot in it, to boot.
In contrast there was the analytical and organised Philip who promptly calculated it would cost 8
mnths wages to feed 5000 people.
Then there were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were nicknamed “Sons of Thunder”
(Boanerges) by Jesus. They wanted to call fire down from heaven to blast some uncooperative
Samaritans. They probably got it from their assertive and mother who attempted to persuade
Jesus to give them a special place beside him in his kingdom.
An interesting couple were Matthew and Simon. Matthew was a tax collector, who was effectively
employed by the occupying army of Rome, taking taxes for the enemy – obviously somewhat
disliked, even despised by the local Jewish population. Tax collectors were notorious swindlers,
regarded as traitors and criminals.
Simon, nicknamed “the zealot,” belonged to a terrorist group called The Zealots. These were
fanatical Jewish Nationalists who were crazed with hatred for the Romans. Josephus says the
Zealots were “reckless persons, zealous in good practices and extravagant and reckless in the
worst kind of actions.” The zealots were devoted to the Law, and had a bitter hatred for anyone
who dared to compromise with Rome – no doubt including Matthew.
We could add ‘doubting’ Thomas, who refused to accept truth unless he personally experienced it,
and, of course, Judas who has gone down in history as the most treacherous betrayer of all time.
How could anyone who had such a privileged calling to be an apostle of Jesus, Gods Son, yet
become so greedy and hard-hearted to sell out on Jesus for 30 pieces of silver?
What an odd, hotch-potch of people to choose!
I once read this fictional letter written to Jesus from the Jordan Management Consultants. Jesus apparently is looking
for some co-workers, and has submitted some names to these management consultants who write back with their
recommendations.
Dear Sir: Thank you for submitting the resumés of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your
new organization. It is our opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational
aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking.
Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The
two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas
demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.
We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business
Bureau; Simon and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manicdepressive scale.
One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well,
has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We
recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. Sincerely, Jordan Management Consultants
God’s way is not man’s way. 1 Cor 1:26-29, God chooses the humble, the lowly, the weak and the
meek. He doesn’t choose the strong and the talented, the powerful and the rich. He chooses those
who would never be chosen – the lowly, foolish and despised - so that when He works powerfully
through them, everybody knows that only God could do such things – and to demonstrate what He
can do with the weakest kind of characters!
With the exception of Judas who chose his own fate, Jesus took these weak, mixed bag of
humanity and transformed them into the most amazing and Christ-like men who were groomed to
be world-changers for God – by discipleship.
Application
Can you imagine the first day? Each of these guys eying one another up, thinking, ‘What’s he
doing here? This will never work!’ But it did work.
Peter overcame, through much failure, a tenacious preacher who brought many to conversion and
wholeness.
John, the son of thunder became the apostle of love and
Matthew the tax collecting traitor wrote a book declaring that Jesus Christ is the only true king who
deserves our allegiance.
And loyalty and commitment – whoa! – all of these men (save John) suffered martyrdom after
decades of gospel preaching, ‘mid-wifing’ conversions, healing the sick and planting churches
across the world! Peter to the Jews; Andrew in Odessa, Ukraine; Philip in Turkey; Bartholomew in
Albania; Thomas in India; Simon the Zealot in Egypt and Iran! Thaddeus in Edessa in
Armenia/now Turkey!
These men prove that anyone at all, those with quirks and foibles, those with character defects,
those with problems with faith, those with temporary lapses under their belt – anyone, can be
transformed by the power of Jesus Christ if they stick to this main issue of embracing the learning
and training process through discipleship - thats the intentional pursuit of growth and maturity