Title: Ordinary Men
Date: 8/13/17
Place: BLCC
Text: 1 Corinthians 1.26-29
CT: We are to follow the example of the disciples to follow Jesus.
[Screen 1]
FAS: A lady, who teaches first grade, told about an interaction she had with one of her students on the first day of school. Accustomed to going home at noon in kindergarten, Ryan was getting his things ready to leave for home when he was actually supposed to be heading to lunch with the rest of the class. She asked him what he was doing. "I'm going home," he replied.
She tried to explain that, now that he is in the first grade, he would have a longer school day. "You'll go eat lunch now," she said, "and then you'll come back to the room and do some more work before you go home."
Ryan looked up at her in disbelief, hoping she was kidding. Convinced of her seriousness, Ryan then put his hands on his hips and demanded, "Who on earth signed me up for this program?"
As believers, it's easy to feel a little like Ryan when we consider the Christian life. The requirements are daunting—"Surely the Lord doesn't expect me to forgive seventy times seven;"
"Surely he doesn't want me to turn the other cheek when someone hurts me;"
"What does he mean, 'take up my cross'?"
It isn't long before you want to say, "Who on earth signed me up for this program?"
Wanda Vassallo, Dallas, Texas
LS: Are we really prepared to follow Jesus? Jesus does expect a lot from us, but what we gain for it overrides the cost.
[Screen 2]
I am beginning a series today on the Twelve Apostles called Ordinary Men. I have always been amazed at the lives of the twelve apostles. They have personality types that are like men and women familiar to us. They are just like us, and they are like people we know. We can identify with them. Their faults as well as their triumphs are laid out in the Bible in fascinating ways. These are men we desire to know.
They were perfectly ordinary men in every way. They were not famed theologians. In fact they were outside the religious circles of that time. They were not outstanding in what they knew how do to. In fact they were they were always making mistakes. Even Jesus remarked about how they were slow learners (Luke 24.25).
They spanned the political spectrum. One was a former Zealot---a radical determined to overthrow Roman rule. But another had been a tax collector---virtually a traitor to the Jewish nation. These two are going to work together?
At least four and possibly seven were fishermen and close friends from Capernaum. The others may have been tradesman, but we are not told what they did before following Jesus. Most of them were from Galilee, an agricultural area. Galilee remained their home for their ministry–not Jerusalem in Judea, which was the political and religious capital of Israel.
Yet as ordinary as they were these men carried out a ministry after Jesus’ ascension that would leave a remarkable impact on the world. (Acts 17.6).
In his book Practice Resurrection, Eugene Peterson tells the story of a woman named Judith, an artist in textiles. He writes:
Judith had an alcoholic husband and a drug-addicted son. She kept her life and her family together for years by attending twelve-step meetings. One Sunday, when she was about forty years old, she entered the church where I was the preacher. She came at the invitation of some friends she knew from her meetings—"You need to come to church. I'll meet you there." She had never been to church before. She knew nothing about church …. She was well read in poetry and politics and psychology, and knew a great deal of art and artists. But she had never read the Bible….
Something, though, caught her attention when she entered this church, and she continued to come. In a few months she became a Christian and I became her preacher. I loved observing and listening to her. Everything was new: Scriptures, worship, prayer, baptism, Eucharist—church! … [She was so excited]: "Where have I been all my life? These are incredible stories—why didn't anyone tell me these? How come this has been going on all around me and I never knew it!" …
Peterson says that when he moved across the country, he kept in touch with Judith through letters. In his book Peterson shares a portion of one of her letters:
Dear Pastor: Among my artist friends I feel so defensive about my life—I mean about going to church. They have no idea of what I am doing and act bewildered. So I try to be unobtrusive about it. But as my church life takes on more and more importance—it is essential now to my survival—it is hard to shield it from my friends. I feel protective of it, not wanting it to be dismissed or minimized or trivialized. It is increasingly difficult to keep it quiet. It is not as if I am ashamed or embarrassed—I just don't want it belittled.
A long-time secular friend, and a superb artist, just the other day was appalled: "What is this I hear about you going to church?"
Another found out that I was going on a three-week mission trip to Haiti and was incredulous: "You, Judith, you going to Haiti with a church group! What has gotten into you?"
I don't feel strong enough to defend my actions. My friends would accept me far more readily if they found that I was in some bizarre cult involving exotic and strange activities like black magic or experiments with levitation.
But going to church branded me with a terrible [Screen 3] ordinariness.
But that is what endears it to me, both the church and the twelve-step programs, this façade of ordinariness. When you pull back the veil of ordinariness, you find the most extraordinary life behind it.
What a vivid picture of how the gospel is foolishness to the world! Church life looks so ordinary to others, but there is an astonishing life behind that commonplace façade!
Lee Eclov, Vernon Hills, Illinois; source: Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection (Eerdmans, 2010), pp. 143-144
Ordinary men like you and me became the instruments by which Christ’s message was carried to the ends of the earth.
Jesus personally selected these twelve men. He knew them as their Creator.
He knew all their faults. He even knew Judas would betray Him and yet he gave him all the same privileges and blessings he gave to them all.
Think about it. The spreading of the gospel and the founding of the church was being hinged on these twelve men whose only outstanding characteristic was their ordinariness. The time Jesus spent training these men could be measured in months. He taught them scripture and theology.
But more importantly, I believe, He taught and showed them how to pray, how to forgive and how to serve one another with humility. He gave them moral instruction. He spoke of things to come. And He employed them to be His instruments of healing, casting out demons and other miracles.
It was a brief but intensive schedule of discipleship. And when it was over, on the night of Jesus’ betrayal…Matthew 25.26, Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
From an earthly viewpoint this looked like a terrible failure. It seemed the disciples had forgotten everything Jesus had taught them. They were not ready to take up their cross and follow Him. Their sense of failure was so great that they headed back to their old ways for a time.
But encouraged by the risen Lord. They did return to their apostolic calling. Empowered by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, they took up the cause Jesus had called them to.
The work they started continues today two thousand years later. They are living proof that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.
The entirety of their training for the task took less than half as long as it typically takes to get a degree from a Bible college today. The ultimate success of the strategy actually depended on the Holy Spirit working in those men to accomplish the will of God. Those men were merely instruments in His hands just as you and I can be God’s instruments today.
They are fitting heroes and role models for us today, despite their shortcomings. Studying their lives is to get to know the men who were closest to Christ during His earthly life. To realize how ordinary they were is a great blessing. May the Spirit of Christ that transformed them transform us as well into precious vessels for His use. And may we learn from their example what it means to be a true disciple. Someone who truly follows Jesus.
[Screen 4]
Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. 1 Corinthians 1.26-29.
Jesus began His public ministry in Nazareth with controversy. The people from his own hometown tried to kill Him. [Screen 5] Luke 4.28-30, All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Ironically, Jesus became tremendously popular among the people of the larger Galilean region. Massive hordes of people began to come out to hear him speak.
One day the crowds were so thick and aggressive that He put out into a small boat to get away from the crowd and taught from the boat. Not by coincidence, the boat Jesus chose belonged to Simon. Jesus would rename him Peter.
Most people believe that Jesus could have played off his popularity more effectively. But He didn’t. Instead he became more controversial and emphasized the points that made His speech so controversial. He preached a message so confrontive so offensive in its content that the multitude melted away leaving only the most devoted few. [Screen 6] (John 6.66-67).
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
The few that stayed included the Twelve. The twelve he had personally appointed to represent Him. They were twelve perfectly ordinary, unexceptional men. But Christ’s strategy for advancing His kingdom hinged on these twelve men. From a human perspective the outlook did not look real well for Jesus’ Twelve. The future depended on the faithfulness of this handful of disciples.
A dozen men under the power of the Holy Spirit is a more powerful force than the masses whose initial enthusiasm was only provoked by sheer curiosity. Christ chose them first in three stages.
The first stage is found in John 1.35-51. Andrew, John, Peter, Philip and Nathaniel encounter Jesus for the first time. John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God. This was where their [Screen 7] conversion took place. This is where we must recognize Jesus as the true Lamb of God and embrace Him by faith.
The next stage of their calling is [screen 8] ministry. Luke 5 describes this in detail. This was when Jesus pushed out from shore to escape the press of the multitudes and taught from Peter’s boat. He then instructed Peter to launch out to the deep water and put in his nets.
Peter did even though the timing was wrong. The fish were easier caught at night when the water was cooler and the fish surfaced to feed.
The place was wrong. The fish were more likely to be in shallow water. And Peter was exhausted having fished all night without any success.
Yet he told Jesus, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Luke 5.5-7.
After this Jesus said, Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4.19.
They followed Jesus:
Luke 5.11, So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Matthew 4.20-, At once they left their nets and followed him.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him….
The next stage was [Screen 9] apostleship. Matthew 10.1-4, Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
There was a fourth phase to their calling, which occurred after Jesus’ resurrection. Judas was gone and Jesus called the remaining eleven to disciple the nations. This was in effect a call to [Screen 10] martyrdom. Each of them ultimately gave his life for the sake of the gospel. History tells us us they all but one were killed for their testimony. Only John lived to old age, and he was severely persecuted for Jesus’ sake then exiled to the tiny island of Patmos.
Despite the obstacles they faced, they triumphed. In the middle of great persecution and yes martyrdom, they fulfilled their task. Against all odds they entered victorious into glory. Their witness is still being given into every corner of the world.
No wonder we like these guys.
But their process was not easy. Oh they had the example of Christ right in front of them. They could listen to His teaching, ask Him questions, watch how He dealt with people and enjoy intimate fellowship with Him in every kind of setting. He gave them every possible opportunity to minister.
But the Twelve could be amazingly thick headed. They were not elite intellectuals. It is significant that scripture does not cover their blemishes and shortcomings.
Instead scripture seems to make a big deal of their human weakness. We are reminded that [Screen 11] “our faith should not be wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2.5.
We are inclined to look at this group with all their weaknesses and wonder why Jesus did not simply pick a different group of men.
Why would he single out men with no understanding, no humility, no faith, no commitment and no power?
The answer is found in [Screen 12] 2 Corinthians 12.9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Again we see how He chooses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty. Just looking at these guys on there own one could not find anything to brag about. There is no human explanation for the influence the apostles had. The Glory goes to God and God alone.
Acts 4.13says this, When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
In the Greek text it says the disciples were “illiterate ignoramuses.”
And that was true from a worldly view.
But it was obvious they had been with Jesus.
The same thing should be said for every true disciple.
Luke 6.40, The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.
The short time the twelve spent with Jesus bore eternal fruit. At first it might have seemed that all would be for nothing.
The scattering after His crucifixion left us with little hope.
Even after the resurrection they seemed timid, full of remorse for their own weakness and too aware of their own weakness to minister with confidence.
But after Jesus ascended to heaven, The Holy Spirit came and infused them with power and enabled them to do what Christ had trained them to do.
The book of Acts records how the church was launched and the rest of history. Those men, those Twelve through the legacy of the New Testament Scripture and the testimony they left are still changing the world today. [Screen 13]
CT: We are to follow the examples of the disciples to follow Jesus.
Are you ready to follow Jesus as these men did?
Are you trying to understand?
Are you learning to be humble?
Are you trying to have faith?
Are you committed to your Lord?
Have you received the power of the Holy Spirit?
We have the advantage over these guys. We live in a world that may be cruel and full of evil, but we have our Lord to love and He loves us and we have their example to follow.
Won’t you come today if you have not been baptized? Won’t you come and receive the power of Jesus Christ that has brought the church to us today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
MacArthur, John, Twelve Ordinary Men, Thomas Nelson, Nashville TN, 2002, Print
