Turn to your neighbor and say, "Jesus is here, and anything can happen." It’s a great day to be in church. We are going to be looking at some scriptures in the gospels, which give a recording of Jesus, the life of our Savior. It gives four different looks at the same scenario. We are going to be looking at some individuals that invade this gospel story called The Twelve. Pastor Mike did a great job last weekend kicking off our challenge. The Twelve is our spring teaching series that will lead us all the way up to Easter. One of the things that he said that frames the theme of our series is this thought that Jesus picked twelve common men, but gave them an uncommon calling. Over the next several weeks, we will ask, who were they? What were they like? When you study their life and do a little personal profile of each one of these twelve disciples, what were they really like? The Bible gives us some descriptions about each individual. It tells us a few things about each of their lives. We are going to consider, how does their lives relate to our lives? How does what they went through with a man by the name of Jesus in another culture and time; how would their dealings have anything to do with our dealings? Does it have any relevance to where I am living? These are the questions that we will look at as we look at the scripture and talk about these twelve common men with an uncommon calling.
I want you to imagine for a second that you are Jesus. Some of you are like that isn’t going to happen here, you don’t know me. Just imagine you are Jesus and you have been commissioned and called for this purpose. First John says, For the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the evil one. He has been given this mantle from above. He’s been given the mantle of God to come and to represent God to be the exact expression of God to mankind. Mankind had run into a problem; they had gotten the picture of God a little blurred. God had spoken to them about many things, but due to time and man’s tradition. Jesus was the full expression of the Godhead. When you saw Jesus, you saw the fullness of the Godhead dwelling bodily. Even Jesus said; if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. He even said that the Father and I are one. There is no variance; we are one. Imagine you are Jesus and you are coming on the scene to let people know the true picture of God. They had forgotten it. He is going to have encounters with villages and encounters with people.
There is going to be these close moments that Jesus comes in with people who are valuable to God. He is going to clear some things up. Now if there is anybody that could go solo, Jesus could. Jesus could do all of it by Himself. It’s not as if He needed anyone else to help Him with this. He is God Almighty. Jesus decides not to be a solo act. When we look at the life of Jesus, He decides to share the stage with some other people. He decides that He wants to do life with a group, a team of twelve. He decides to be like a living classroom that moves from city to city. What’s interesting is whom He decides to put on His team and whom He selects for His staff. One of the things that impress me is not just whom He puts on it, but whom He does not put on it. If I were putting together a team like that with that type of destiny attached to it, I would probably select some really smart people, some religious scholars. And somebody who is an international financier; I would deal with some of those issues. He doesn’t do that.
Jesus goes for regular guys. He picks common people with not a real impressive resume’. They have common dreams, common hopes, and common jobs. They do have one incredible quality. It’s the one that Jesus looks for. They were willing to follow Jesus when He called. Jesus can always use somebody willing to follow. That’s what they had. They didn’t have a lot going for them, but one thing they had going for them when Jesus called their name, or they looked at them and said come with me, they followed Him. Jesus could always use a person who would follow Him. He used them then and He is still looking for people today, modern day disciples that will follow Him also now. He can still use people that are passionate about His calling.
I love the different descriptions in the Bible that talk about Jesus as He selected this twelve. One of my favorites is in Luke 8:1-3. This gives us a description of those that were ministering along side of Jesus; those that were a part of His team. It says, "Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God." The message of God is good news. Jesus goes about from city to city. He has people with Him that when He moves, they move. He is talking to people about God, about sin, about eternity. The disciples are listening in. It says, "preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him." He allowed them to be with Him. He still wants people to be with Him today in the world that we live. It says in verse 2, "and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities--Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons." This person who used to be so messed up, she met Christ and Christ changed her life. Other women it says in verse 3, Joanna and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance."
What a description of a group. There was Peter and Andrew that were brothers. Next week we will talk about them. There was Phillip, Nathaniel, Matthew, Thomas, James, Simon, then there were the two Judas’s. Then there were two more brothers, James and the younger John. They were the sons of Zebedee; these make up the twelve common men. Today we are going to focus on James and John, brothers. Peter and Andrew were also brothers. Jesus would actually put siblings on the same team and they were fishermen. They were from the area and their families knew each other. They were a middle-class hard working bunch of fishermen. Jesus chose them. James and John were a part of what I call, the big 3. There were three disciples that many times, Jesus would have a different encounter and He would take three out of the twelve to go with Him. He would give them back stage access. Other people didn’t know how He did that, but Jesus would teach these three and talk about the Kingdom of God. Peter was one of them and then James and John got that type of access; got to see some amazing things.
Then the other fact that I like about these brothers James and John is they were known as the sons of thunder. When you study their lives they struggle a bit with anger. They were like the tag team wrestlers. They looked like people that were ready for a fight, but yet Jesus chose them. You know why? He saw something in them that they didn’t even see themselves. Jesus sees potential in someone that everyone else will say, there’s no way. Isn’t that what we do as parents? We see greatness. We think they are incredible children. They are going to do great things. That’s a good parent to see potential that they don’t even see because we serve a good Savior. He saw something in these twelve that He thought He could use if they would stay with Him.
He sees something in your life and my life that at times we don’t even see, but we have to stay with Him. When I look at the disciple’s lives and how they relate, it helps me because one of the ways that you and I learn and we feel better about ourselves is when we compare ourselves to others. It’s not always good, but we can sedate our lives by looking at someone else who is worse. When you look at the disciple’s lives, there are some things that they do and you think, that’s wild that Jesus could actually use this person. If He can use them, He can use us, no excuses. The first thing that I enjoy looking at about James and John is that they had some stuff backwards. There were times they did opposite of what Jesus had been teaching. Jesus had been trying to get across to them. They were brothers that had some common problems even into the journey with Jesus. They had ego issues. They enjoyed a good argument. They would create conflicts. All of us know people who like to argue.
John comes to Jesus and says, "Teacher I saw a man using your name to cast out demons today. We told him to stop because he isn’t one of our group." James and John the disciples, that is so classic. They shut another person down because they are not a part of the group. There are times that we can be intolerant, times we feel threatened because someone does something a little differently, his or her style or the way they do things. Do we not struggle with being narrow-minded? Is there not times that all of us are a little inclusive? Do you know that feeling like you are the only one is a troubled zone. Never have yourself in a spiritual environment that feels as if they are the only ones that possess truth. That is an environment that can be very troubling. Jesus looks at that and how did Jesus respond? Jesus looked at them and said, I appreciate your zeal, but you have to harness it with a little bit of compassion. Boldness and zeal alone without compassion will not build anything or anybody up. Can I have a better Amen? You can’t act that way. Continue with me.
The second thing that I think is fascinating about these brother’s lives that we can learn from is that they both were not real well balanced. They were not well balanced in some of the things. You have to see this in Luke 9:51, this is a really neat story. Jesus is going from village to village and is bringing the disciples with Him. He heads to Jerusalem and makes a decision to go through Samaria, which is a place that Jewish people are not real fond of. Jesus says, you go to Samaria and I am going to go through to Jerusalem. In verse 52, "and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him." The Samarians do not receive Jesus. It says, "because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem." And 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, just as Elijah did?" They are referring to an Old Testament story with Elijah. They are a little extreme. I think they are enjoying a type of revenge flow. They are ready to burn them up. Think about it. There are people like that. They say things and act in a way.
I love how Jesus responds. Jesus responds by saying, what did you say? "But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of." This is not what I am trying to teach you. He turns around in verse 56 and gives and amazing thought for all of us. "For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them." We are here to save them. There are times in our lives when we need to calm down. Some of us need to calm our marriages down. There are people that need to calm down so that God can do something through them. He looks at them and says, this is not how we are going to do things in this living classroom. Stay with me.
We learn from this that truth without love can be very brutal. On the other hand, love without truth has no power, no character, and never makes a stand and can become very week. You know what I think is a cool thought is that John, when you roll the clock forward, John is the one that was wanting to start a barbeque and a few years later, John is knows as the apostle of love. How did he do that? He stayed with Jesus. And if you’ll stay with Jesus, He can take your temper and turn it into tenderness. If you stay with Him long enough, He will deal with your anger and turn it into adoration because He can change people. He is still changing people today.
The third facet about these disciples; they were so ambitious. They were living for the front of the line. James and John were the leaders of that, this selfish ambition. There were times that James and John created so much conflict among the disciples that Jesus would almost have to be a referee. There was one time when mom got in the picture. You find this in Matthew 20:21, she says, Son of God, is there any way when you come into your Kingdom that you can reserve my two boys some first class seats right beside you. Jesus looks at her and says, do you have any idea what you are asking me? Jesus says these words that will change their life forever, you will indeed drink my cup. He knows it’s a cup of suffering, a cup of pain, and a cup of death. He says you will drink that cup. They are struggling with it. They were seeking the headlines. This is what Jesus picked. He has His hands full. He loves them the way they are, but He loves them enough not to leave them the way they are. He says, stay with me.
I find it interesting that years later, John, the younger writes a book called John that’s in our New Testament. It’s a self-titled book that never has his name mentioned in it one time. Here is a guy wanting ambition that years later writes a book that doesn’t even have his name in it, all it has is the name of Jesus. Can He transform somebody who is a glory-hunter, who is all about pride? He sure can, if they will stay with Him. The hope that we have is who Jesus is. As a modern day disciple, the hope that we have is who Jesus is. I’ll leave you with some hope with what Jesus shows us as He deals with the sons of thunder.
The first lesson we learn here is that Jesus can use all kinds of people because He made them and He knows what they are made for. He can use people that sometimes are aggressive. You may say, that’s my profile. I’ve been a little competitive. I’ve said some things I wish I wouldn’t have said. Jesus can use all types of people if we will allow Him and invite Him into our life and make a decision to live for Him. He can bring balance into an unbalanced life. Some of are going back and forth. Jesus brings spiritual equilibrium into our lives if we will trust Him.
The second thing about Jesus that gives us hope is that Jesus did not regard all the disciples’ failure as final. That’s a huge point. He did not look at them and say I cannot believe you acted that way, you are off the team. You need to gather your tent and go back home. He would say, stay with me. I know you have failed. Stay with me. You know what He says to you and I with our failures, stay with me. Your failure does not have to be final. That’s the good news of the gospel, no matter what you have done, God will forgive you of it. He can forgive you of your sins.
The third thing and I love this is simply put, Jesus love. Jesus loves all kinds of people and people that have not accomplished everything. Jesus loved someone that was obsessed with status. He did love them and He loves us today that have ran and fled and not lived for God. You study the lives of the twelve; all of them had an end of the story. The end of the story for James and John, we know that Jesus goes to a cross and dies on a cross. Three days later He rises again. He brings the disciples back together and says; now you go and make disciples. As you have been a student of mine, I want you to go and teach others. He says, I am not going to leave you by yourself; I am going to send the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes and visits them and their life is transformed.
They begin to be the church. Jesus handed them the ball and they are still taking it down the field today. James is the first one that really gets persecuted as an original disciple. James is preaching and one of one of Herod’s cousins hears something that James says and says there’s no way that he’s going to get away with that. He arrests James, the older brother. He brings him in and decides that he is going to be executed. James tells us in Acts 12:2 that James is brought in and with a sword; this disciple is beheaded. He is one of the only original disciples that his death is spoken of in scripture. He dies for his faith. John hears about this and being his younger brother, my older brother has been executed for this cause. What an amazing thought. John thinks of the day that Jesus said to them come and I will make you a fisher of men and we went with him. Today, James is with him. John makes a decision not to get bitter or angry, he decides to stay with Jesus even through this. John begins to preach the gospel. He makes an emperor upset. That emperor tries to boil him in oil. James has been the first to die. Jesus said you would drink this cup of suffering, pain and death. John is now old in age, ninety something years old in age. He is exiled to the isle of Patmos. There in a cave he sees the revelation of Jesus and all of His glory. That’s the book of Revelation. In the bitter end, John stayed with Him.
There is a cost associated with being a disciple; with being one of the twelve. There’s a cost associated today. One day we will see them because we will be with Him if we will stay faithful to the end.
Father I thank you that we have to ask ourselves, what are we going to live for? Right now you invite us to live for you. Father, if we will just believe and receive your peace and plan and purpose. Lord, I thank you that you died for each person here. We want to live for you. How many say; Pastor pray for me. I just want to be with Him.
