God’s Recruits
Matthew 10:1-4
In our last study we looked at the close of Matthew 9:37-38: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." The harvest of God would be a world-wide harvest; not one restricted to one field. It would be a harvest, not of fruits and vegetables, but of people. It would be God’s harvest, so pray to the Lord of Harvest that there would be enough laborers to go out into the world.
We look at Matthew 10:1 to see how God goes about gathering recruits for His harvest: “Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.”
Prayer and Preaching Recruits
Jesus was sent into this world to give himself as a payment for the sins of those who would believe but He was not sent as the sole preacher of the Gospel. It is another part of the miracle of God’s Grace that He makes others messengers of that Grace Gospel.
In today’s passage, Jesus recruits those whom He asks to pray for ministry. The ones whom Jesus asked to pray for the Kingdom are the same ones that Jesus calls to preach for the Kingdom. If you pray for the church and pray for the unsaved world, you will begin to see the world as Jesus sees it, and so it is difficult for you to pray for the unsaved, without also being involved in preaching in some way or another. When you preach the gospel, you are giving God’s invitation of Grace to the same ones to whom you are warning of judgment, so in a very real way, Prayer recruits will be preaching recruits. It can hardly be avoided. The unfortunate thing for many Christians is that they avoid prayer; if you avoid prayer FOR the LOST, you certainly will not want to share the Gospel WITH the Lost. If the lost are not on your heart and mind, the message of the Gospel will not be on your tongue.
In Luke 6:12 tells us: “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.” Jesus prayed all night in order to make the selection according to God’s Sovereign leading.
The Call of Recruits
Look at how the disciples are recruited; They are summoned or Called to Jesus by Jesus. The Greek word used to summon is proskaleo, (pros-kä-le'-ô), which is a compound verb: kaleo means “to call”, and “pros” means” toward”. It means to call someone toward you so that you're face to face with them. Of the 30 times this word is used in the New Testament, 20 of the times it is Jesus who is doing the calling.
Every time that the word is used, it is used in an official setting and a calling is authoritative. That is also the case in this situation: Make no mistake that when Jesus calls you, it is an official commission because it is a divine calling. Jesus didn’t hold interviews or give personality tests. He didn’t screen people; He Called Them face to face for His will and purpose, and Jesus trained them, and gave them authority which proved that the calling had been given them by God.
The disciples had already been in training with Jesus. They had no doubt been converted to believe in Jesus as the Messiah; then they were called to discipleship, leaving their worldly occupations for a permanent position with Jesus. Thirdly, here they are commissioned by Jesus and sent out. This wasn’t their final step: Mark tells us that they went out 2 by 2 in this first case. This wasn’t permanent either. They were in close contact with each other and Jesus, and they returned to Jesus and to each other for a long period after this “test flight” or initiation or internship. After the resurrection and Jesus’ ascension, they were commissioned by the Holy Spirit’s presence at Pentecost.
Consequences of the Call of the recruits
Take a moment to look at the Consequences of the Call of the recruits. The Old Israel was represented by 12 tribes and 12 patriarchs; the New Israel of God and the Gospel would be launched by 12 disciples, later named “apostles”. The disciples were certainly under daily training by the teacher, and after a considerable education by the Word of Life, the students actually graduate from being a student of the teacher to being a proclaimer for the teacher. Later, after witnessing Jesus after the resurrection, seeing His ascension, and then being filled with His Spirit, they would graduate from disciples to apostles. But this was not on account of their skills, but on account of being called, and of them being obedient to the call and teaching of the Lord Jesus.
The disciples were not able to do the miracles that Jesus had done because they had in any way achieved greatness, but rather that they had been sent with the commission, message, and authority of the sender, the Lord Jesus, but they still needed to be taught and trained by the Master. They needed to learn about humility, about matters of faith, about the power of God and of prayer, and they learned by following. It made me think about how, many times, people say they feel quite powerless in their Christian lives and admit that they don’t witness, that they are insecure in their faith, that they have many doubts and spiritual attacks, but when you question them about the disciplines of faith, Bible study, and prayer, they neglect them. They neglect the training that God provides for us in His Word, Spirit, and in fellowship. The problem isn’t in the call, but the problem is in their own disobedience to what God commands for growth in discipleship. That wasn’t the case with the disciples, at least for 11 of them.
The disciples who obeyed and followed had an impact on the world. The ones who were obedient and remained in Christ, bore much fruit. John 15:16 says: "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.”
Luke 6:40 says: "A pupil is not above his teacher, but every one after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher."
The Distinct Characters of the Recruits
Look at Matthew 10:2 to see the the Distinct Characters of the Recruits: “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The first, Simon, (meaning “heard”) who is called Peter (rock or stone), and Andrew his brother; (manly", root word of “a betrothed or future husband.”) and James(Jacob in the Hebrew, meaning “heel holder” or “supplanter) the son of Zebedee,(my gift) and John his brother ("The Lord is a gracious giver"); 3 Philip("lover of horses") and Bartholomew; (son of the furrowed.) Thomas (a twin) and Matthew (a learner, pupil, disciple) the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, (“supplanter” son of “change, exchange, changing.”) and Thaddaeus; ("large hearted, courageous") 4 Simon the Zealot, (“Heard” and Zealot is "zealous") and Judas Iscariot, (Judas means "the Lord shall be praised". Iscariot: men of the city.”) the one who betrayed Him.”
Each of the disciples was as individually unique as their names. Can you find yourself in one of their names? It took a small group of devoted but very different disciples in order to get the “word” out to the whole world, and none of the disciples lost their own identity, but instead used what God had given them to the glory of God and of His Christ. Their personalities had to be culled and transformed by God’s Word and Spirit, and they certainly had to be obedient to that Word and Spirit, but they were still as unique as their names.
As different as they were, they remained united in one purpose, and that Purpose was to disciple others in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were called and made disciples for the same reason that we have been called: in order to make others disciples. All of them remained true to the purpose to which they were called, except one, and that one, of course, was Judas Iscariot. In the end, he proved that he was indeed a man of the city, a man of the earth, not of God’s Heaven. He will forever be known as the Betrayer, the “Paradidomi”, the “one who gives into the hands of another”.
Listen to the warning of 1 John 2: 18: Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.”
True disciples of Christ will stay united in the Gospel message and in distributing that message. True disciples will continue to follow the one who recruited them even as they continue to be obedient to Him.
OUTLINE: Kingdom Recruits
Matthew 10:1-4
Introduction: Prayer recruits will be preaching recruits:
If you avoid prayer FOR the LOST,
you will not want to share the Gospel WITH the Lost.
I. The Call of the Recruits
A. They are called to Jesus by Jesus.
B. It is an official and authoritative call.
C. Discipleship training: converted, called, commissioned by Jesus, and later by the Holy Spirit
II. The Consequences of the Call of the Recruits
A. From a student of the teacher to a proclaimer of the teacher’s words.
B. Sent with the commission, message, and authority of the sender.
III. The distinct Characters of the Recruits
A. They were individually unique.
B. United in one Purpose: to disciple others in the Gospel.
Simon: from Simeon in Hebrew meaning “heard” (Peter: “rock or stone”)
Andrew: "manly", root word of “a betrothed or future husband.” James: same as Jacob in the Hebrew, meaning “heel holder” or “supplanter”, Zebedee: “my gift”.
John: "The Lord is a gracious giver" Philip: "lover of horses" Bartholomew: " son of the furrowed”. Thomas: "a twin" Matthew: “a learner, pupil, disciple” James son of Alphaeus: “supplanter” son of “change, exchange, changing.”
Thaddaeus: "large hearted, courageous" Simon: “Heard” and Zealot is "zealous"
Judas Iscariot: Judah or Judas = "the Lord shall be praised"; Iscariot: men of the city.
