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1 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; 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 Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. ~ Matthew 10:1-4
Today, we return to our study of the gospel according to Matthew where we are reminded once again that Matthew's account is not as chronological as the other gospels. Today's narrative happened before several of the miracles that are highlighted in Matthew 8-9. Each of the four gospels present the Lord Jesus Christ, and the life and freedom He gives, to a specific audience: Matthew announced the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah, Mark proclaimed the power of the Lord in an action-packed quick account of His life and ministry, Luke included longer stories and parables, and John broke the mold to create a piece of poetry on the nature of the Lord Jesus.
In v.1 of today's passage we read, "And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease."
On the heels of spending the whole night in prayer, according to Luke's gospel, the Lord Jesus chose twelve men to be His close disciples. When making decisions, we must be ardent at seeking the face of the Lord before we make any decisions. The Lord Jesus chose twelve common men to be His disciples. Four of them were fishermen. One of them was a tax collector. One was money hungry who turned out to be a betrayer. We don't know the occupations of the rest of them, but they were common folk. The reality of the moment drove the Lord Jesus into the mountains to pray to God all night.
Before the 12 could be sent out to preach the gospel and to perform miracles, they were to be with Him as disciples. A disciple is a learner. Discipleship means we will not always be on top of things. In fact, the disciples were clueless, selfish, erratic, inconsistent, and faithless at least half the time. But the Lord Jesus loved them and used them all the more for it. Anyone desiring to be the disciple of the Lord Jesus has to learn from the Lord Jesus before he can tell others about Him and His culture. So, like the first disciples, we must hone the craft of being with the Lord, watching for and listening to Him with our hearts on a daily basis. Being a disciple of the Lord Jesus means we do not have to be perfect because He is perfect on our behalf. The key to being a good disciple is death, death to the self on a daily basis.
In v.2-4 of today's passage we read, "2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; 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 Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him."
This list of disciples is found in four places in the New Testament: It's found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and, in the book of Acts. Interestingly, this list does not appear in the gospel according to John. When this list was given, it was presented in three groups of four men, and, Peter is always mentioned first. Judas Iscariot is always mentioned last, and James always appears before his twin brother, John. Of the twelve, the Lord Jesus only gave another name to Simon, James and John. Simon Peter and James and John, the sons of thunder. This marked them as belonging to an inner circle with the Lord Jesus. And after this, when the Lord Jesus went to do something special He took with Him Peter, James & John. He dealt more intimately with these three. In doing so, He designated them leaders, the means by which the others would be reached. The Lord Jesus reached the few in order to reach the many.
The first to be on the list is always Simon Peter whom we know to be impetuous. He didn't wait for things to happen; he liked to make things happen. Simon Peter struggled with being patient. He didn't have a lot of it. He was the guy who said of the Lord Jesus, "You're the Christ, the Son of the living God." On the heels of that statement, the Lord Jesus told the disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to be killed. Peter vehemently objected, revealing his poor theology. Then, the Lord Jesus put him in his place by saying to him, "Get behind me, Satan!"
Perhaps, the most profound witness that we can provide is the witness of our transformed lives which only He produces. We can not change ourselves. In actuality, we are dying to our old selves and we are now learning to say "yes" to our new selves, and, our new selves are, in actuality, new because of the the presence of the Lord Jesus in our lives.
The transformation of the believer in Christ happens always from the inside out. It happens as we daily learn to allow Him to be the center of our lives, which enables us to choose to be defined by Him. When we choose to be defined by Him, we will obey Him. Notice that these twelve men were called to be with the Lord Jesus. This is the point of all of our spiritual disciplines: to be with Him. For the twelve, to be with Him meant that they would be influenced by His culture. This is also true for us but when we have been with Him, His presence is highlighted in and through our lives.
When we present Christianity as merely peddling an ideology, offering it to people as great moral teaching, we miss the point. The point is to have an encounter with God which alters our culture and we begin thinking and living according to His word. As a result, we will be effective witnesses when we are able to communicate with people what it is to have a personal relationship with God. And, the real nice thing about God, He values and uses our uniquenesses.
The key to becoming more patient is being defined by the Lord which does not happen over night. At the end of the book of Revelation we have a description of heaven and we have a description of the heavenly Jerusalem. According to Revelation 21:12-14, this city will have around it a great and high wall. In the wall will be twelve gates and on the top of the gates will be written the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, the twelve sons of Jacob that identify the twelve tribes of Israel. In addition, the wall of the city will have twelve foundation stones and on them will be the twelve names of the twelve apostles. Not only will they reign in the Millennial Kingdom, but they will be immortalized eternally in its foundation.
When Oliver Cromwell ruled England during the time of crisis he was looked for silver and gold because they were scarce in those days. His army came to him one day and said, "There is no more gold and silver to be found in all of the land except the metal statues in the cathedrals in England. And Cromwell smiled then and said, "Melt down those saints and put them back into circulation." May God put us into circulation. May God melt our hearts and make us pliable and get us into circulation, not as those who have gotten it all together, but as those who are His disciples, the ones who have been called by His grace.
