07-24-2022 – Jesus Calls the Twelve: Part One
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July 24, 2022
“Jesus Calls the Twelve: Part One”
Luke 6:12-15
Last week we ended our study in Luke 6:11, where the
Pharisees were angered by Jesus healing a man on the
Sabbath and rebuking them for not knowing that it was okay
to do so; Jesus even cited an event from the Old Testament
when David and his men broke Sabbath laws by eating the
consecrated bread. Jesus made it clear that breaking Sabbath
rules was permitted for acts of mercy and necessity for the
Sabbath was made for man to pause and worship God; man
wasn’t made for the Sabbath in order to keep rules and
perform rituals.
Today we pick up with the Lord calling twelve specific men out
of all those who were following Him, to become apostles.
Read Luke 6:12-13…
12 It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to
pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him
and
chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:
After the interactions with the Pharisees in chapter 6, Jesus
goes off to have some quiet time with the Father, as was His
normal practice.
In the morning He called His disciples to Himself.
It was never Jesus’ intent to proclaim the kingdom of God by
Himself. He only ministered for three years and never
traveled outside of Palestine. Jesus, from the very beginning,
began training the men who would continue His work. The
men He chose were the committed few among the unbelieving
many.
Multitudes were able to hear Jesus speak and to see Him heal
and perform wondrous signs. Jesus had an audience wherever
He went, to the point where He had a hard time being alone
with the Twelve, let alone with the Father for prayer.
The crowds flocked to experience the authority of His voice,
the unique message He brought, the miracles He performed,
and His expressed love for the common people who were sick,
diseased, demon possessed, sinful.
Out of all the crowds who followed Him, Jesus chose to Himself
twelve common men as His apostles; men who would take
God’s message of salvation to a lost world. The apostles were
ordinary men, and as far as we know only one of them was
materially prosperous (Matthew, the tax collector). None of
the Twelve was highly educated or had prominent social,
political, or religious status.
Details about some of these men remain unknown because
neither Scripture nor secular history records about them. And
yet, the apostles, through the power of the Holy Spirit,
received God’s divine revelation and were responsible for
writing most of the New Testament.
Read Luke 6:14a…
14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew
his
brother; and James and John; and Philip and
Bartholomew;
Jesus had previously called these men to follow Him, now He
sets them apart as apostles [apostolos, lit. messenger, sent
out].
These men had left their homes, families, and occupations
(fishermen, farmers, tax collector) to follow and live with
Christ for three years, in order to learn from His words and His
actions; being sovereignly chosen by God for just this purpose
16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and
appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that
your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the
Father in My name He may give to you.
These men were personally taught by God the Son, that they
would realize the presence, provision, pleasure, and power of
God, even so, it appears they constantly were found lacking in
their spiritual understanding of who He was, why He had
come, and what they would be called to do on His behalf.
They didn’t understand His teachings anymore than the rest of
those who followed Jesus.
There are several lists of the apostles in the NT
(Matthew 10:2-4;
2 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
Mark 3:16-19;
16 And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He
gave
the name Peter),
17 and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother
of
James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which
means, “Sons of Thunder”);
18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and
Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot;
19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.
Luke 6:14-16;
14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his
brother; and James and John; and Philip and
Bartholomew;
15 and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus,
and Simon who was called the Zealot;
16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who
became a traitor.
Acts 1:13,
13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the
upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and
John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas,
Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus,
and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
Matthias added
Acts 1:26
26 And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to
Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
Peter is always listed first, and was clearly the leader of the
Twelve, with whom Jesus spent more time than with any of
the others.
What do we know about Peter?
No other name, apart from Jesus, is mentioned more often in
the NT than that of Peter. And no other person in the NT
speaks as often or is spoken to as often as Peter; and no other
disciple is as severely rebuked by the Lord in the Scriptures.
Peter always wanted to be close to the Lord: walking on water
(cf. Matthew 14:25-31); in the Garden falling asleep while
praying, then later swinging his knife at the high priest’s
servant (cf. Matthew 26:36-51); Peter told the Lord
(cf. Matthew 26:35), he would die before disowning Him; but
after His arrest (cf. Matthew 26:69-75) Peter denied even
knowing Jesus. And yet, God used this imperfect and
impetuous man mightily for the cause of Christ.
The next three names in that first group are Andrew, James,
and John; and in the other lists of these men they alternate in
their order, with James or Andrew always being listed second
in the group; however, Peter, James and John formed the
inner, inner circle of Christ’s men, and were often singled out
from the other nine during special events: Transfiguration,
Raising the dead back to life, Praying in the Garden.
What do we know of Andrew?
He is not mentioned anywhere in the synoptic gospels except
where the lists of the Twelve are given. We know he left
following John the Baptizer to follow Christ. He confessed
Jesus as the Messiah and shared that with Peter, introducing
his brother to the Lord
(cf. John 1:37-42).
Andrew loved to bring people to the Lord: when Jesus was
feeding the 5,000
(cf. John 6:5) and asked, “where bread might be acquired so
that these people could eat,” Andrew answered (cf. John 6:9)
by bringing a boy to Jesus who had five barley loaves and two
fish. Jesus took that small portion of food and feed everyone.
In another situation when some God-fearing Gentiles asked
Philip if they could meet Jesus, Philip went and told Andrew,
and Andrew took these Gentiles along with Philip to see the
Lord (cf. John 12:20-22).
Andrew was not well-known like Peter, James, or John; but
Andrew was often referred to as Peter’s brother. He is an
example of those who humbly work quietly behind the scenes,
not needing the limelight or recognition, but willing to be the
support person in ministry so that others could do what they
had been called to do.
What do we know about James?
James is never really separate from his brother John during
the three years of following Jesus. They left their father’s boat
to follow Jesus at the same time (cf. Mark 1:20), and their
father had hired servants there with him, evidently he was
well off, it is possible that James and John were in the fishing
business together with their father .
James was the first of the Twelve to die for the sake of Christ;
and is the only one of the Twelve whose death is recorded in
the Scriptures
(Acts 12:1-2),
1 Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on
some
who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.
2 And he had James the brother of John put to death
with
a sword.
What do we know about John?
Like his brother James, early in their ministry, he was zealous
and wanted to call down fire upon the Samaritans
(Luke 9:52-54);
52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they
went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make
arrangements for Him.
53 But they did not receive Him, because He was
traveling
toward Jerusalem.
54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they
said,
“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down
from
heaven and consume them?”
on another occasion John reports to Jesus that he and some of
the disciples saw a man driving out demons who wasn’t one of
the Twelve
(Mark 9:38),
38 John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting
out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him
because he was not following us.”
so “we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” And
of course, Jesus rebuked John, telling His disciples to let the
man do whatever brings glory and honor to the Father.
God’s Word is very clear that we are not to break fellowship
with people because of their race, gender, status, appearance,
culture, etc.
(Galatians 3:28);
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor
free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one
in Christ Jesus.
but we are not to be in fellowship with those who teach false
doctrine or continue living unrepentant immoral lives
(cf. Romans 16:17-18; 1Corinthians 5:9-11).
John’s transformation is seen in his love for the believers and
his desire for unbelievers to know the truth that it might set
them free now and forever in Jesus.
John was a recipient and proponent of the love of God, which
permeates all his writings: The Gospel According to John,
123John, Revelation of Jesus Christ to John.
John taught on God’s love more than any other writer in the
NT, that: God is love
(cf. 1John 4:8, 16); God loves His Son
(cf. John 3:35; 5:20); God is loved by His Son
(cf. John 14:31); God loved the disciples
(cf. John 13:35; 16:27; 17:23); God loves all of humanity
(cf. John 3:16); God has a special love for all believers
(cf. 1John 3:1); believers are commanded to love one
another
(cf. John 13:34; 1John 4:11), and to love our neighbors as
our self, for this fulfills all the commandments
(John 14:23;
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he
will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will
come to him and make Our abode with him.
1John 4:11-21
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another.
12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another,
God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us,
because He has given us of His Spirit.
14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the
Son to be the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God
abides in him, and he in God.
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which
God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love
abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have
confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also
are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear,
because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is
not perfected in love.
19 We love, because He first loved us.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is
a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has
seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.
21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one
who loves God should love his brother also.
1John 5:1-5
1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus
went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is
called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.
3 In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame,
and withered, [waiting for the moving of the waters;
4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into
the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the
stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from
whatever disease with which he was afflicted.]
5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
1John 4:11-13).
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one
another.
12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another,
God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us,
because He has given us of His Spirit.
John so closely identified with Christ’s love that he referred to
himself multiple times as the disciple whom Jesus loved
(cf. John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20).
John was banished to the island of Patmos where he died in
the service of His Lord, as the last of the apostles, after
receiving the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Jesus called James and John “Sons of thunder,” i.e., they had
zeal, passion, and were most likely aggressive in their
character. This is expressed well in several passages
(Matthew 20:17-28;
17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the
twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said
to them,
18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man
will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will
condemn Him to death,
19 and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge
and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with
her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.
21 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.”
22 But Jesus answered, “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.”
23 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.”
24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two
brothers.
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that
the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great
men exercise authority over them.
26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to
become great among you shall be your servant,
27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your
slave;
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Luke 9:52-56).
52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went
and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements
for Him.
53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling
toward Jerusalem.
54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said,
“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from
heaven and consume them?”
55 But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not
know what kind of spirit you are of;
56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but
to save them.”] And they went on to another village.
Philip is the next disciple mentioned here, and he is always
listed first in the second four-man grouping of the Twelve.
What do we know about Philip?
Philip lived in the same hometown [Bethsaida] as Peter and
Andrew; they were all fisherman and probably knew each
other long before Jesus called them.
From the synoptics [Matthew, Mark, Luke] we don’t learn
much about Philip, but John gives us some insight
(John 1:43),
43 The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He found
Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.”
Philip is the first person to whom Jesus says directly, “Follow
Me.”
The first thing Philip does after meeting Christ, is to go find his
friend Bartholomew [also known as Nathanael] and tell him
(John 1:45), “
We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and
about whom the prophets also wrote -- Jesus of Nazareth, the
son of Joseph.”
It would seem that Philip studied the Old Testament, for he
immediately knew this was the Christ, and he went to share
this good news with his friend.
We learn more about Philip from John’s account
(see John 6:5-7).
5 Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large
crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy
bread, so that these may eat?”
6 This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He
was intending to do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is
not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.”
Philip seems to be the bread buyer of the twelve; he knew
how much they normally needed and how much it cost. 200
denarii equals about 8 month’s wages; one denarius equalled
one days wage for common labor (cf. Matthew 20:2), and
there are 24 work days in a month (4 weeks, 6 days a week) X
8 months = 192 denarii]. But Philip clearly didn’t understand
the supernatural nature of Jesus, as perhaps Andrew did
(see John 6:8-14).
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to
Him,
9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was
much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number
about five thousand.
11 Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He
distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish
as much as they wanted.
12 When they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up
the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.”
13 So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with
fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by
those who had eaten.
14 Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had
performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come
into the world.”
Bartholomew [Jewish/English] was likely his surname
[Aramaic, Bar means son of + Aramaic, Tolomai ]; Nathanael
was his first name. So he was Nathanael, son of Tholomew.
We only know of him from the four lists of the twelve
(Matthew 10:3;
3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax
collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
Mark 3:18;
18 and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and
Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus,
and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot;
Luke 6:14;
14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his
brother; and James and John; and Philip and
Bartholomew;
Acts 1:13),
13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the
upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and
John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas,
Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus,
and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.
and from John’s account. Nathanael was from from Cana, it
would seem he was prejudiced against Nazareth, as were most
Jews, considering it a place for uneducated, uncouth, near-do-
wells
(John 1:46).
46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out
of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
Our preconceived notions often blind us to the truth, our
prejudices can keep us from experiencing God’s presence,
pleasure and power; but Nathanael’s desire to know God’s
truth seemed to override his societal and cultural prejudice
against Nazareth
(John 1:45-49).
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have
found
Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets
wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out
of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him,
“Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
48 Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus
answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when
you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49 Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of
God; You are the King of Israel.”
Jesus looked into Nathanael’s heart and saw an honest and
true descendant of Abraham, spiritually as well as physically;
for he was not a hypocrite nor deceitful, like the Scribes,
Pharisees, and religious leaders of the day; he was a genuine
Israelite by Abraham’s standard; in fact all the true disciples of
Jesus Christ are what is in mind in
Galatians 3:26-29,
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ
Jesus.
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have
clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave
nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you
are
all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s
descendants, heirs according to promise.
The question is, are you a spiritual descendant of Abraham,
and an heir according to promise giving to him, concerning the
eternal blessing that comes to all who are children of God
through faith in Jesus Christ?
2Corinthians 13:5,
5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine
yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about
yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you
fail the test?
1Timothy 2:3-4,
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men [women, and children of age] to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
What truth?
Jesus said (John 14:6),
“I am the [only] way [to God], the [only] truth [of God], and
the [only] life [with God]; and no one comes to the Father [i.e,
no one is acceptable to God; no one is considered righteous,;
no one gets into heaven except through Me [God’s Son].”
Still not sure? Ask God to forgive your sins and to save you.
God turns no one away
(cf. Romans 3:10-12; 23-24; 6:23; 5:8; 8:1; 10:13).
Acts 4:12,
“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name
under heaven that has been given among mankind by which
we must be saved.”
1John 5:11-13,
“And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has the
life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have
the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the
name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have
eternal life.
Pastor Mike
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