"Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and 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, the one who betrayed Him."
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Let's us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, as always we thank You for Your Word, for the revelation of Truth, for the privilege we are given to learn and for the clarity You provide to understand. Help us Lord, to make the necessary application to our lives, that we too, might be useful to You. Grant us the courage and the boldness to proclaim Your Truth in the face of adversity, with firmness and with love and compassion, offering others the same grace and forgiveness, that we have received ourselves. Open our eyes to see others in a whole new way, that despite their obvious flaws, You see something...more. You see their hidden potential, to be used by You, all for Your glory. Lord, we pray that as You recognize our potential, we would allow You to transform our lives through the experiences in our lives, though rarely pleasant or welcomed. Let us be grateful for the work that is being accomplished in and through us in building Your Church. Let us proclaim the message of redemption to the broken and the lost, as we await Your glorious return.
In Jesus name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: The Twelve - Part 2
While the names of these men are recorded to their great honor in the pages of Scripture; they had begun as disciples; they were trained as apostles and be sent out to be ambassadors of Jesus Christ to warn others of the harvest of the coming judgement and how they could escape it, and enter into the glorious Kingdom of God. Yet, I believe they had far more reason to rejoice that their names were written in heaven in The Lamb's Book of Life.
As we noted previously, in our study of verse 1, Matthew uses term apostle for the first time, which is to indicate a significant change in the roles of these disciples, who would eventually be sent individually after our Lord has ascended to heaven. You will remember, that the word Apostle is the word "apóstolos," meaning one who is commissioned, to dispatched or sent to represent another. Peter was the first to receive the great revelation in Matthew 16, saying "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." It was also Peter who on the day of Pentecost, preached the first great apostolic sermon. And, it was Peter who first led Cornelius, a Gentile to Christ.
"Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him."
Notice verse 2, "The first, Simon, who is called Peter," we should note that Peter was not the first one to be called, we know from John 1, it was actually John and Andrew. The word used here is "prṓtos," which means "foremost or chief." It is the same word used by Paul in I Timothy 1:15, "It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all." Peter is the first among equals. In today's vernacular we would say Peter is to be the "front man."
When we think of the Apostles, we tend to think of them as being on totally different plane than we are. That only certain people are fit to lead His church. After all, these men have churches and cathedrals names after them. That’s really not the way we ought to be thinking of them at all. In fact, they were very much like we are. These were ordinary men, completely flawed human beings, who God was able to use to develop into godly leaders and use to advance His Kingdom. So let’s meet the second on the list; Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. By the way, his name means manly.
As we mentioned earlier, Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist. He was not as outspoken or dominate as his brother. Though he was a passionate preacher who shared the gospel boldly. He maintained his bold faith never seeming to care about putting his own life at risk. It is believed that he was martyred by crucifixion in the city of Patras, which was on the northern coast of Peloponnese which was in Greece. At which time he is recorded to have said, "O cross, most welcome and longed for! With a willing mind, joyfully and desirously, I come to you, being the
scholar of Him which did hang on you, because I have always been your
lover and yearn to embrace you."
Like Peter, Andrew was a fisherman, a native of Bethsaida, a village in Galilee. He lived with his brother, Peter according to Mark chapter 1. Prior to following Jesus, he had been a follower of John the Baptist and a God fearing Jew. Immediately after he heard John the Baptist exclaims "Behold, the Lamb of God," he began following Jesus for himself, he announced to his brother Peter "We have found the Messiah." So in this first group we could say, we have the "fantastic four;" Peter, James, John and Andrew. Yet, he isn’t in the inner three. Then in the fourth gospel of John, we see Andrew begin to emerge from the background. And in John chapter 12, Philip is approached by the Greeks, who want to see Jesus. Who does Phillip go to? Andrew, and together they go to Jesus. Scripture doesn't say they took the Greeks with them, but that is the assumption. Whenever you see Andrew, he is somehow involved in bringing someone to Jesus.
Andrew had a simple faith, he obviously believed there was no problem Jesus could do anything about. When they needed to feed the hungry crowds, he went looking for anyone who had a lunch. Perhaps because he saw Jesus turn the water into wine. Next, we see his humility. Even though it was he who had found the Messiah, he spent much of his life being known as Peter's brother. Obviously, he thought more of the work to be done then who was in charge, because as soon as he told Peter, he went right back to being Peter's brother. I believe that Andrew was one of those rare individuals that is willing to take second place for the greater good of the cause. I mean, if you think about it, he was one of the first two called to follow Jesus. Most people would have kept that to themselves, not Andrew, he ran to tell Peter. I find it most impressive, that being second, never seemed to bother him in the least. He was content just to be a part.
I believe this says a lot to us today who follow Christ, we too must be humble,free from self-seeking ambition for the great good of the cause of Christ.We need to be willing, content to be the kind of servant others can depend on in bringing others to Jesus. God often uses people like that. As was the case with Andrew, Peter's brother. I hope that like me, you now have a special affection for Andrew.
Now let's look at James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother. Also called James the Great to distinguish him from James, son of Alphaeus and James the brother of Jesus. Of the four lists of the twelve, James the son of Zebedee appears next to Peter in two of those lists. Though they appear to be inseparable in the gospels, he's always mentioned before John. He is likely the older of the two, I find it interesting that apart from John, he never appears in the gospels alive. We know that like Peter and Andrew, James and John were both fishermen. It must have been a pretty lucrative fishing business, because Zebedee employed hired servants in his business.
Both Matthew and Mark tell us that James and John were with their father by the seashore when Jesus called them to follow Him. They were one of the first disciples to follow Jesus. As we mentioned earlier, James was one of only three disciples whom Jesus chose to witness His Transfiguration, along with his brother John and Peter. We know from Scripture, both James was ambitious, and an outspoken man, but was later transformed by grace into a quiet and capable leader in the early church. In Mark chapter 3, Jesus gave James and John a name because they had a fiery temper. He called them Boanerges, which means sons of thunder, because they wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan town. It was not a time for judgment but a time for the proclamation of a new covenant.
In Matthew 20, we see that he must have thought he was the cream of the crop. "Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She *said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left." Which led Jesus to go into a lecture on what real leadership is. "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They *said to Him, "We are able." He *said to them, "My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father." In other words, James wanted a crown; Jesus gave a cup of martyrdom. Let me tell you something, the way to the throne is always the cross folks. True servanthood always leads to the cross. Jesus had to harness all of that zeal and transform them into something useful.
James was ambitious and zealous. Zealous people are typically very goal oriented, and
can be a great virtue when properly directed. James had a whole lot of
zeal and very little sensitivity, a lack of sensitivity can destroy a ministry. There are many pastors who zealous to serve Christ, trying to uphold the biblical standards of God, who are insensitive, who aren’t even listening to the needs of those around them. Zeal without sensitivity is cruel. I believe it was his passion, tenacity,
intolerance and zealous ambition is why he was the first disciple to be
martyred. He must've been a real problem, that's why in Acts 12, Herod
Agrippa got rid of him quickly by beheading him, while Peter was taken
off alive to jail. I mean Peter had a lot of zeal, so that really says something about the kind of man James must
have been, he must've been a bigger problem then Peter. James didn't compromise. The day came when James was willing to die for Jesus.
Beloved, Christian persecution is alive and well today, the world hates Christians who stand in opposition to the current culture, confronting the evil of abortion, gender confusion, and upholding biblical world views. With Christian persecution on the rise in America and around the world, we will all likely face the day when we must stand for Christ or compromise with the world. Simply believing on Christ is not enough, even Satan and his demons believe. The time is now, that we must stand for the Truth and not fall for the lies! Therefore, I believe that the Church today must urgently pray and seek to be strengthened in the doctrine of Jesus Christ. I continuously pray and ask the Lord will give me an uncompromising fiery heart, but one with sensitivity.
Now, let take a look a John, the brother of James. I'm not sure we'll be able to spend a great deal time on him today, but we'll go as far as time allows. John is significant in that he was certainly among those closet to Jesus, during His earthly ministry. John wrote much of the New Testament; the gospel of John 1, John 2, John 3, for which is often quoted, and the Book of Revelation.
We often tend to think of John as shy, quiet and meek, staring at Jesus at the Last Supper. As depicted in John 13. I hasten to add, along with his brother James, John was one of the sons of thunder. He, like James confronted Jesus with sitting at His right and left hand in glory. John was explosive, intolerant, ambitious and zealous, probably just not as much as James. Most of the time he appears in Scripture, he is mad at someone. James seems to be the more dominant and aggressive one, after all, John out lived everybody, he was the last Apostle to remain alive. He also had a tremendous capacity for love.
I believe that God knew that John would be the greatest source of truth and love in the New Testament. In fact, the words truth and love stand out when we think of our beloved John. He used the word love, in one form or another, some eighty times. He was strong, uncompromising and committed, yet the personification of speaking truth in love. In his own gospel, he never uses his name, but was known as the disciple that Jesus loved. Jesus never had to ask John if he loved Him. John was a lover, whose love was controlled by truth. John was exceptionally skilled at knowing just where to draw the line. John always spoke in judgement against those would twist and pervert the truth. Setting the righteous against, the unrighteous, the people of God against the people of Satan.
When Jesus hung on the cross, just before He gave His last, it was John he asked to care for His mother, Mary, which John faithfully did. Tradition says he never left the city of Jerusalem until after Mary died. John kept his promise to Jesus. I believe we would all do well to follow in the footsteps of John, imitating his strength, unwillingness to compromise the truth and his unwavering dedication to Christ, always speaking truth in love. John lived to be an old man, I believe the Lord watches over those who the truth in love, because they will bring the most people to Christ. I believe that's why Jesus prayerfully, hand selected loving, believing, intimate John to represent Him. Through John, He attracted many people to Himself.
In Closing..
In spite of what they were, Jesus was able to transform them into what He needed. I can testify of His ability to do that, He took my life, utilized my strengths, dealt with my weaknesses and got rid of my sin. Because of Christ, today, I'm still bringing people to Him. He just needs a repentant, willing, available spirit to work with, because that's the kind of people God can use.
You know something else, He can do exactly the same for you, if you'll let Him. I believe that if you are here with us today, He sees something useful in you.Are you willing and available to become intimate with Christ, to allow
Him to transform your life in ways you've never imagined? If so, repent of your sin and accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. Surrender you will to His and say "In spite of my flaws, Lord, I am willing! Use me in whatever ways You see fit."
May it be so..
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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