Twelve Ordinary Men - Matthew & Thomas - Fill In The Blank Series

Note: This is a study from the book 12 Ordinary Men by John McArthur an excellent book. This is the fill in the blank outline from Adult Bible Fellowships of First Baptist Church Orion. This is not original but worth posting for study.

Twelve Ordinary Men

Matthew and Thomas

I. Matthew the Publican (Matt. 9:9)

a. His Hebrew name was __________.

b. He is the author of the Gospel that bears his name. For that reason, we might expect to have a lot

more ___________ about this man and his character. However, in his Gospel, he only mentions his own

name __________.

c. Matthew was a publican – or a ______ _________________ when Jesus called him.

d. Publicans were men who had bought tax franchises from the Roman _____________ and then

extorted money from the people of Israel to feed the Roman coffers and to pad their own

______________.

e. It is interesting to note that that the three tax collectors mentioned specifically in the Gospels all

found forgiveness. They were ________________ and the publican who “went to the temple to

________.”

f. We find the account of Matthew’s call in his own words in 9:9-13.

g. Matthew believed so much that he _______________ all the other tax collectors and ______________

in to hear Jesus speak about being the Messiah.

We know that Matthew wrote his Gospel with a Jewish audience in mind. Tradition says he ministered to

the Jews both in Israel and abroad for many years before being martyred for his faith. There is no reliable

record of how he was put to death, but the earliest traditions indicate he was burned at the stake. Thus this

man who walked away from a lucrative career without ever giving it a second thought remained willing to

give his all for Christ to the very end.

II. Thomas – the Twin (John 11:16)

a. According to this verse, his nickname amongst the other disciples was Didymus which means

“___________.” However he has gotten another nickname during the centuries since then –

“____________ Thomas.” While this is definitely unflattering and probably unfair, it does appear that

he was a somewhat _____________ or pessimistic person.

b. We can see this pessimism clearly in the first time he appears in John’s gospel (John 11:1-16).

c. However it is also clear that he was ______________ to Jesus.

d. We see these two things again in John 14:5. Thomas had become so attached to Jesus that he

would have been glad to _____ with Him, but he could not think of ____________ without Him. His worst

fears were going to be realized – Jesus died and he didn’t.

e. We pick up the story of Thomas again in John 20:19. Jesus appeared to the disciples but Thomas

wasn’t there. He was probably off somewhere wallowing in his own ___________. He always saw the

worst in everything, and now his worst fears had been realized - Jesus was gone and Thomas

was sure he would never see Him again.

f. The others tried to share the joy of their experience with, but Thomas responded with the words that

have earned him his unfortunate nickname (v. 25).

g. When Jesus appeared 8 days later, He was amazingly _______ with Thomas. Then Thomas made

what was probably the greatest statement ever to come from the lips of the apostles: “My _______ and

my _______.”

There is a considerable amount of ancient testimony that suggests Thomas carried the gospel as far as

India. There is to this day a small hill near the airport in Chennai (Madras), India, where Thomas is said to

have been buried. There are churches in South India, whose roots are traceable to the beginning of the

church age, and tradition says they were founded under the ministry of Thomas. The strongest traditions

say he was martyred for his faith by being run through with a spear – a fitting form of martyrdom for one

whose faith came of age when he saw the spear mark in his Master’s side and for one who longed to be

reunited with his Lord.