Trinity Baptist Church

Making a Difference in the World

Twelve Men Who Changed the World

Luke 6:12-16

 

 

For the last several weeks we’ve been looking at some of the characteristics of people whom God uses.  In particular we talked about Personal Evangelism, Purity, Peace and Power. And last week, I closed that series of messages by looking at the life and ministry of Paul.

 

Now no doubt Paul serves as a great example of what it means to be used by God.  But there is a negative side to using Paul as our example for ministry because for those of us who know the Bible and have studied his ministry, Paul is bigger than life.  And there is a tendency to say, “Well of course God used Paul.  Just look at all he had to offer.”

 

But what if you’re not a Paul?  Where do we look for our example?  The truth is, God has used some extremely unlikely individuals down through the years.  And at the top of the list are the twelve that were hand-picked by the Lord.

 

So for the next several weeks, I want to take you on a study of their lives.  These are some very ordinary men who Christ called to accomplish some very extraordinary things.  As a matter of fact, some people in their day actually said about these men that they had even turned the world upside-down.

 

Now it appears to me that every one likes to gripe aboutr what’s going on around us, but very few ever do anything about it.  But the truth of the matter is God didn’t put us as His people on this earth to gripe but to do something about it.  In fact, the primary way that God has of changing the world is through His people. But here's thing  before God can use us to change the world, God has first got to changeus.

 

And that is exactly what we're going to discover as we begin a new series of studies on “Making a Difference in the World”.  The reason this men made a difference in the world is because God made a difference in them.

 

At the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus selected twelve men to follow Him.  We know them as the twelve apostles.  And even though these men were totally different in their backgrounds and beliefs, their personalities and their politics, their social standing and their stage of life, He formed all of them, except one, into the leaders of the early church and ultimately into martyrs for their faith in Him.  So, not only were they willing to follow Him, and live for Him, they were willing to die for Him as well.

 

So for the next 12 weeks we're going to be looking at and learning from the men who walked with Jesus.  And here's what we're going to do.  We're going to take a disciple a week and see what we can learn not only from that disciple's strengths, but from his weaknesses as well.

 

 You see, there are some things you can learn from watching somebody knock it out of the park, but there are other things that you can only learn from watching that person strike-out.

 

 

So, we're going to go through these twelve men and take an in depth look at them, warts and all, and see what we can learn about strengthening and straightening our walk with Jesus.

 

Now before we begin our study of them individually, I want to take some time this morning to make some general statements about them as a group.  And here’s what I hope you’ll see when I’m finished:  if God can use them, God can use us.

 

These men were average, ordinary, run-of-the-mill men, with weaknesses and flaws  -- just like you and me, and if Jesus could use them, then surely He can use us as well.

 

Let’s begin at Luke 6. This is going to be our primary passage for this series of studies.  There are really four main passages that record for us the names of the 12 men who followed Jesus, (One in Matthew, one in Mark, the one here in Luke and then the last one that's found in the book Acts) but this is the one that we're going to follow as we look at the lives of these disciples.

 

Luke 6:12-15

 

Those are the twelve men that Jesus hand-picked to be His apostles.  Have you wondered what it would be like if Jesus were picking His twelve disciples today and decided to use the same methods and criteria that the corporate world uses today?  What do you think the response from the management consultants would look like?

 

 

 

Here’s how someone described it:

 

“Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for management positions in your new organization.  All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational consultant. It is the staff's opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking.

 

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of anger.  Andrew has no qualities of leadership.  The two brothers, James and John, sons of Zebedee, place personal interests over company loyalty.  Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.  We feel it our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Jersusalem Better Business Bureau.  James the son of Alphaeus, and particularly Simon the Zealor have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.  Thaddeus is definitely sensitive, but he wants to make everyone happy.

 

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential.  He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind and has contacts in high places.  He is highly motivated, ambitious and responsible.  We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man.  All of the other profiles are self-explanatory. We wish you every success in your new business venture."

 

Aren't you glad that even though "man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart"?  Aren't you glad that Jesus can look past what we are to what He wants us to become?  Aren't you glad that Jesus knows you even better than you know yourself and He knows what you can be and ought to be in God's wonderful plan?  Aren't you thankful for that?  I'll tell you this, I am.

 

I'm glad that He could take a hot-head like Peter and a doubter like Thomas and a softy like John and a zealot like Simon and power hungry people like James and John and cowards like they all were and turn them into some of the most courageous Christians that this world has ever known.  That's a real encouragement to me, because you see, I believe that if Jesus could do that in them way back then, He can do the same in you and me today.

 

So, real quickly, this morning, let me show you the three stages or the three steps that Jesus took with these men that turned them into those who could make a difference in the world.  And keep in mind, these are not just steps for them.  They are requirements for us if God will work in and through us to make a difference in the world around us.

 

First, to be used of God requires

 

 

I want you to see something back in Matthew 4. This is where Jesus begins to call the disciples to follow Him.

 

Verses 18- 22

 

When Jesus gave these men the invitation to follow Him, they faced the crisis of a personal decision -- they had to decide if they were going to make a definite, personal commitment to follow Christ.  You say, "So what?"  Well, you see, unless we are truly forgiven, we cannot fully follow and when these men whom Jesus had just called immediately responded by leaving their boats and their nets to follow Him, they became His.

 

Do you know what that teaches me?  Conversion precedes the call. Salvation comes before service.  There are a lot of people in a lot of churches today who've gotten the cart before the horse.  They're seeking to serve in order to be saved, but what you'll find as you read your Bible and study the Savior's summons to these men is that we serve because we have been saved.  You see, there must come a commitment to the claims of Christ before he will commit to us the Spirit's power for service.

 

Look back there at verses 18 and 19 and let me show you something that I noticed this week.  Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee, and he sees two fishermen casting their nets into the water fishing, and the Bible even says that the reason why they were doing this was because "they were fishermen."

 

In other words, this wasn't just what they did, this is who they were.  And so Jesus speaks to them in a way that they could understand, He said, "Do you like to fish?"  "Sure we do, we love to fish.  We live to fish."  "Well then, follow me and I'll make you to become fishers of men."

 

 

 

You see, there's something very important that I want you to catch here, because if you don't get this you'll never get out of this series what the Lord wants you to get out of it.

 

Even though these men became part of a group that we call the “Twelve”, they weren't called as a group.  They were called as individuals.  And the way that Jesus called them was as different and distinct as they were.  To the fishermen He said, "If you'll follow me I'll show you how to fish for men."  To the farmers I'm sure He said something like, "Let me talk to you about sowing and reaping."  To the financier, He said something like, "Let me tell you who to invest in eternity."

 

You see, Jesus knows you better than you know yourself and He will call you to follow Him in the language that you understand best.  To the athlete He may talk about running to win. To the hunter He may talk about the pursuit of God.  To the sensitive person He may talk quietly about the goodness and grace of God.  To the hammer-head He may talk loudly about the judgment to come.

 

Jesus knows who you are and what you are and He knows exactly how to call you to Himself in the way that you'll understand best.  And if you're here this morning and you've never become a follower of Jesus; if you've never forsaken all to follow Him, then you need to  listen to what and how He's speaking to you this morning and respond like these men did by immediately dropping your pride and your personal pursuits to follow Him.

 

 

 

To make a difference in the world, there must first be a personal transformation that results in a person being a follower of Jesus Christ.  It happened with the twelve and it has to happen with us.

 

The second step is

 

 

Now please notice,, I said conformation, not confirmation.  We need to confirm our faith by being baptized and growing in the Lord.  But for this point, I’m talking about conformation.

 

To show you what I mean, go back to that word that Jesus used when He called Peter, Andrew, James and John. He said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."  He's talking about fishing, but He uses a very interesting word -- the word "make."  "I will make you."  Not, "You'll make yourself."  Not, "You'll evolve into this."  Not, "Somebody else will help you to become what I want you to become."

 

Jesus said, "If you'll follow me, I'll make you into what I want you to become."  It's a little word that means, "to make, to do, to create, to produce, to work, to accomplish, to perform, to act."  It's the word that tells us that when it comes to following Jesus there is no such thing as a self-made man.  We come to Jesus and He begins to work, He begins to create, He begins to accomplish, He begins to make us into what He wants us to be.

 

That's what I mean by conformation.  And by the way,, God has a purpose in conforming you and me.

 

 

It’s not enough to just say I’m a Christian or merely laim to be a follower of Jesus Christ.  That needs to be backed up by my life. The idea is that of discipleship.  That's why we sometimes see in the Bible where they were called "disciples."  It means "a learner or a student" and that's what they were during the months that they spent under the tremendous teaching of Jesus.  They were His disciples.

 

It’s very interesting to see where and how Jesus spent His time.  You see, teachers, or Rabbis as they were called, weren't all that unusual in those days.  It wasn't uncommon to see a teacher walking along with several students or disciples walking alongside or behind, just hanging on every word and trying to learn what they could from their teacher.

 

Six students was the norm so it wasn't all that uncommon to see a rabbi and his six followers.  But to see a Rabbi walking down the road or around town with 12 disciples, that was something that you didn't see every day.

 

Now there is all kinds of significance in that.  Jesus was starting a new nation.  He was bypassing the religious elites of His day.  He was doing away with the leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel and naming twelve men who would have their names on the twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem.

 

But here's what's amazing.  Jesus came to change the world.  Jesus came to bring about a transformation that wouldn't just affect mankind, but all he universe as well.  And we know that Jesus is the most influential person in all of human history.

 

Now, normally, when somebody wants to leave behind a lasting legacy, they'll put their philosophy down on paper.  They'll write books. Plato wrote his Republic.  Aristotle wrote his Philosophy.  Dante wrote his Divine Comedy.  Shakespeare wrote King Lear and Hamlet.  Milton wrote Paradise Lost.  But the One who inspired the greatest literary masterpieces of all time, never wrote a single word, except the unknown word that He wrote in the sand, which was easily erased.  What books He could have written. But He didn’t. Instead, He made men, not manuscripts.

 

Transformation, conformation and here’s the third thing:

 

 

Now, turn over real quickly to Matthew 28.  Now, remember, the first stage is followship, they were converted.  The second stage is discipleship, they were conformed.  But now the third and final stage is apostleship, they were commissioned.

 

Notice what we find in this verse

 

Matthew 28:18-20

 

We refer to these guys as the twelve apostles. What is an "apostle?"  It’s not too hard to understand.  Some preachers will claim to be an apostle today, but is that possible?  Well, let's look at it for just a moment. The word "apostle" in the Greek language means "messengers or sent ones."  In the Hebrew the word signified not just a messenger, but "a delegate bearing a commission."

 

Generally speaking, an apostle was an ambassador with the full authority of the One he was representing.

 

The Talmud puts it this way, "The apostle of any one is even as the man himself by whom he is deputed."

 

That's why when these men, these apostles, were sent out by Jesus they were the authorized representatives of Christ who had commissioned them.  They heeded His command.  They had His authority.  They heralded His message.  And when they spoke they were speaking on His behalf. 

 

Now, most Bible scholars say that the apostolic office ended with those who had seen Jesus with their own eyes.  There are no apostles today.  We are to be ambassadors, but we can not be apostles. You'd have to be pretty old to have seen Jesus with your own eyes and still be alive.

 

However, even though we do not have the office of the apostle, we do have the obligation of the ambassador.  And we are to heed the command of Jesus and herald the message of Jesus just like Peter and Andrew and James and John; Phillip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James, and later Matthias did.  They turned the world upside down, we must turn the world right-side up.

 

Dr. S. D. Gordon in his Quiet Talks on Service gives a wonderfully convicting description of Jesus walking down the golden street one day, talking with the Archangel Gabriel.

 

As they are walking along, Gabriel looks at Jesus and asks, "Master, you died for the whole world down there, didn't you?"  "Yes." "You must have suffered much," with an earnest look into that great face with its unremovable marks.  "Yes," again comes the answer in a wondrous voice, very quiet, but strangely full of deepest feeling.

 

 "And do they all know about it?"  "Oh, no, only a few in Palestine know about it so far."  "Well, Master, what is your plan? What have you done about telling the world that you died for, that you have died for them?  What's your plan?"  "Well," the master is supposed to answer, "I asked Peter and James and John, and little Andrew and some more of them down there, just to make it the business of their lives to tell others and the others others, and yet others, and still others, until the last man in the farthest circle has heard the story and felt the thrilling power of it."

 

Gordon goes on to say that Gabriel knows us folks down here pretty well.  He has had more than one contact with earth.  He knows the kind of stuff that's in us.  And so he looks at Jesus with this skeptical look and asks, "Yes -- but suppose Peter fails.  Suppose after a while that John simply doesn't tell anybody anymore.  Suppose their descendants, their successors away off in the first edge of the twentieth century get so busy about things -- some of them proper enough, some maybe not quite so proper -- that they do not tell others, what then?"

 

And Gabriel's eyes are so big, with the intenseness of his thought, for he is thinking of -- the sufferings and he is thinking too of the difference to the man who hasn't been told -- "What then."

Back comes that quiet, wondrous voice of Jesus -- "Gabriel, I haven't made any other plans -- I'm counting on them."

 

Ladies and gentlemen:  It is up to us to make a difference in the world.  I pray we will.

 

Let’s pray.