The Diverse Dozen

Well, please have a seat and let's pray together.

Father God, we're so conscious that blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord

and who meditates on this law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever they do prospers.

Father God, we long so much to be those kind of people.

So Lord, as we take time together to meditate and think about your words,

Father, would you use it to do your work and send your spirit that it might be alive,

that it might be dynamic and that it might bring about transformation in our lives for your glory alone.

Amen.

This morning we're just looking at five verses in Luke's Gospel.

I called it the Diverse Dozen and I love that photo until I realised this morning that there's only 11 people sitting on the ledge.

I thought I might get away with it by saying the 12th was taking the photo.

But we'll just go with it.

The 20th of October 1968 was a day that the world changed.

After the 20th of October, that is 48 years ago last Thursday, nothing would ever be the same again.

It was a day that the world changed.

That is, the world of high jumping.

It was on the 20th of October 1968 in Mexico City at the Olympics that Richard Douglas Fosbury, the American athlete,

jumped over the high jump in a way that no one had ever jumped before.

Up until that moment, everyone had used the technique called the barrel roll,

where you'd run up to the bar forwards, you would then push off with your main foot and you would roll over it like this,

with a bit more grace and a bit more height.

Richard Douglas Fosbury, however, during his time at university, had developed a new technique,

famously called the Fosbury flop, where you would run up in the same manner,

except at a slight angle you would push off from your dominant foot,

and you would arch your back and go off over backwards.

Richard Fosbury changed the game.

He laid a fresh foundation for the way that high jump would be done from that moment on.

No one looked back.

And what goes on in these seemingly five innocuous verses,

in the middle of Luke chapter 6,

Luke 6 · chapter mention

is an absolute game changer.

After this moment, nothing would be the same again.

It would be a fresh foundation, a defining moment.

What happens in these verses is almost a miracle that no one notices.

So I've greatly enjoyed looking at it, and if you would turn to Luke chapter 6,

Luke 6 · chapter mention

and verse 12, I'll read it.

One of those days, Luke writes, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray,

and spent the night praying to God.

When morning came, he called his twelve disciples to him,

whom he also designated apostles.

Simon, whom he named Peter.

Simon's brother Andrew.

James, John.

Philip, Bartholomew.

Matthew, Thomas.

James, son of Alphaeus.

Simon, who was called the Zealot.

Judas, son of James.

And Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Wonderful verses.

And the first thing I want us to see is that this is a radical move.

This is a radical move in Jesus' ministry and in world history.

What happens in these five verses?

You have to say Jesus has done some pretty remarkable things so far in Luke's gospel.

He has declared himself to be the spirit-anointed preacher that Isaiah foresaw

800 years before Jesus turned up.

When in the synagogue at Nazareth, he says,

Jesus has driven out demons and they have submitted to his authority.

Jesus has taught with authority and everyone has been amazed.

We have never heard teaching like this before.

Jesus has healed many people of all sorts of diseases,

even that most stigmatized of disorders, leprosy.

Jesus has blown fishermen's minds by orchestrating a miraculous catch of fish.

It takes quite a lot to blow fishermen's minds with catching fish.

And yet Jesus has done it.

Jesus has read people's thoughts.

He's claimed to have authority to forgive sins.

And just to prove the point, he's told a paralyzed man to get up and walk.

Jesus has clashed with religious leaders over their interpretation of the law

and his claim to be Lord of the Sabbath

and the Son of Man who has authority to forgive sins.

All this has been radical, never before seen and never to be seen again

through the ministry and life of one man.

And yet what goes on here in Luke chapter 6 is more radical than all of that put together.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

As Jesus goes up on a mountainside to pray,

he spends the whole night praying to God.

That phrase, the whole night, has already been used in Luke's gospel

for how Peter toiled all night fishing.

It's the same phrase.

Jesus has been toiling all night in prayer.

The incarnate Son communing with the Eternal Father on a mountainside in Galilee.

And he does that because this is a seismic shift,

a change moment,

a watershed episode in redemptive history.

Jesus spends the whole night laboring prayer,

in prayer to find the Father's will as to who should be his 12 designated apostles.

Jesus then descends the mountain having spent the whole night in prayer.

He calls all of his disciples to him,

this big group that have been following him,

as we have in his journey around Galilee.

And then he calls 12.

12 particular disciples whom he designates apostles.

And you have to say, that doesn't seem that radical

until you superimpose it onto Israel's history

and realize that the only other person who went up a mountain to commune with God

and then descended and called 12 people to himself to teach them God's law was Moses.

That the foundation of Israel's covenant relationship with God

would be based on the teaching of Moses to these 12 men

who were to disseminate it to all of the 12 tribes of Israel.

And here Jesus radically changes course

and calls 12 new men

to redefine the way that the covenant is going to operate.

Jesus calls these 12 men to reimagine, reinvent, and redefine

how God would commune with his people.

He is laying a fresh foundation of the way that things are going to be from now on,

now that the King of Glory has come into the world.

These 12, these 12 men to be his spokesmen,

to declare this life-changing, eternity-securing, sin-forgiving message

to the entire world.

These people who are going to be his ambassadors.

As Jesus lays the fresh foundation,

the radical moment in redemptive history.

And you have to say it was truly necessary

because most of chapter 5 has been taken up with

Jesus clashing with the religious leaders.

The people whose responsibility has been teaching Old Testament law to the people

and defining it in the smallest minutiae possible

that the law has become big

and God has become small in the equation.

We left chapter 11 with the Pharisees

and the teachers of the law being furious

and beginning to discuss with one another

what they might do with Jesus.

A similar account in Matthew talks about how they might destroy Jesus.

That it seems that there is a no-through road now

in the way that things have become

in Old Testament law.

And now that Messiah has come,

the game has changed.

And he chooses a new team

with a new mission.

He chooses them to be the new wineskins

into which to pour this new covenant message

in order that there might be hope

for everyone well beyond

the borders of Israel.

This is the seismic shift

that Paul writes about in the book of Romans.

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight

by works of the law.

That's what the Pharisees thought.

Rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

But now, apart from the law,

the righteousness of God has been made known

to which the law and the prophets testify.

The righteousness is given through faith

in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

That is a game changer.

That the law now is not a way to be saved,

but it's a way to show our necessity of Jesus

in order to be saved.

This is a game changer,

a fresh foundation of the superior covenant

that will make the old covenant obsolete and passé.

And this is great news for us.

This fresh foundation,

because let's be clear,

not many of us in here are ethnically Jewish.

And yet, in choosing these twelve,

Jesus is making known

that the doors are open.

A new and living way is being forged

through Jesus Christ.

This new covenant is not going to be based on obedience to the law,

but on acceptance of the good news of Jesus Christ.

It is not going to be about obeying laws written on stone tablets.

It's going to be about God working on us to sear that law onto our hearts

and help us obey it from the inside out through the indwelling Holy Spirit,

which is secured through faith in Jesus Christ.

One not secured on our performance,

but one that is eternally secure on the performance of another.

Jesus Christ,

who perfectly obeys the law for us,

because we couldn't.

And Jesus chooses these twelve apostles

to make that known to everyone.

Exactly what Paul talks about in Ephesians 2.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers.

That's talking about Gentiles, which is us.

But fellow citizens with God's people

and also members of his household

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets

with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone.

This is a radical move.

This is a watershed moment.

This is a seismic shift.

As the twelve tribes of Israel

are superseded

by these twelve new apostles that Jesus chooses

and designates to be his spokesmen,

his official declarers,

these heralds of the way things now are.

that God's people will no longer be defined by race.

They will be defined by grace.

Meaning that the doors are flung open.

And everyone who will look on the sun

and trust him are welcome.

Everyone who will believe their message

can be a part of God's people forever.

That is a radical move.

But then see also,

it is a random mix of people.

Twelve.

Three sets of brothers.

At least four fishermen.

And whenever they're listed,

they're always listed in four groups.

The first four are always

Simon, Peter, Andrew, James and John.

These are seemingly the inner circle

who are privy to more of Jesus

than maybe the rest.

It'll be these four

that go into Jairus' daughter

when she's dead.

It'll be these four

that are up the mountain

on the day that Jesus is transfigured.

These four always appear first.

Simon, Peter, is always number one.

But in the different list,

the other three kind of switch around a bit

for a bit of variety.

The next four are always

Philip, Bartholomew,

who some people call Nathaniel,

Matthew, who's also called Levi,

and Thomas.

They make fleeting appearances

in the Gospels.

They play like little cameo roles.

And then we get another three.

James, the lesser son of Alphaeus.

Simon, the zealot.

Judas, son of James,

sometimes called Thaddeus

so he doesn't get confused

with other Judas.

These three we know

next to nothing about.

And then finally,

Judas Iscariot.

Iscariot either because

he comes from the region of Judah

called Kerioth,

or maybe Judas Iscariot,

meaning he's the dagger man

who is thought to be

part of the same religious sect,

the same nationalist sect

as Simon the zealot.

It's a very diverse group.

It needs to be a very diverse group

if this universal message

is going to get to everyone.

It's going to take all sorts of people

to reach all sorts of people.

It's quite an awkward group as well.

You have got Levi,

or Matthew,

the tax collector.

That means

he is a Roman sympathizer.

He's in cahoots with the Romans

and actually working for them

to exhort money

from his own people.

Matthew, the tax collector,

in Jesus' top team

with Simon the zealot,

who is a nationalist,

who's part of a radical guerrilla movement

who wants to do anything

and everything

to throw the Romans out.

That must have been quite awkward

around the dinner table,

do you not think?

Matthew, the sympathizer

with Simon,

the hardcore nationalist.

Or what about Thomas,

who's famous for being

a little bit sceptical,

a little bit cynical,

a little bit slow on the uptake.

And then Peter,

who's famous for jumping in

with both feet,

one kind of slow and reticent,

the other speaking

before he's even thought.

Or what about James and John,

whose nickname is Boanerges,

which means sons of thunder

because they've got a bit

of a bad temper.

On their school report,

it would say they don't play well

with others.

Or you've got Nathaniel,

who is the deep-thinking Israelite,

the one Jesus says,

there is an Israelite

in whom there's no deceit.

And you've got Philip,

who's seemingly a bit slow,

having spent three years

with Jesus and says,

right, what is it all about?

When are we going to see God?

Such an odd group of people,

a random group.

And yet Jesus doesn't choose them

because of what they are.

He chooses them

because of what they will be made into

all by his grace.

So you have Simon Peter,

whose life is radically transformed.

The only time he doesn't speak

before he's thought

is when Jesus dies.

When he's being tried

and a little girl comes up to him

and says,

you're one of Jesus' followers.

And he says,

no, I'm not.

I swear I'm not.

I'm not.

Oh, why is the cock growing?

And yet we see

somebody who was so reticent

about being associated with Jesus

writes a letter in the New Testament

at the end of his life saying,

this is why you should stick out

like a sore thumb for Jesus Christ.

He's worried about that association

and at the end of his life says,

oh, you can crucify me

because of Jesus,

but can you do it upside down

because I'm not worthy

to die in the same way?

Or what about Thomas

who's seemingly cynical

and slow to believe,

runs all over Persia

and down into India

where he'll eventually die,

convincing people

that Jesus is worth

all of your life

and your eventual death.

Or what about James,

the church leader,

the first bishop of Jerusalem,

who was killed by Herod

and his brother, John,

who were seemingly

bad-tempered people,

John, at the end of his life,

wheeled out into church services

where his only sermon would be,

love one another.

Jesus doesn't choose these people

because of what they are in Luke 6.

He chooses them what they will be

all by his grace

through the power of his Holy Spirit.

Nobody in Luke 6

is thinking,

Jesus, you've done a brilliant job.

I'm sure as all the other disciples

are there going,

well, if he's in,

why aren't I in?

And yet Jesus knows

exactly what he's doing.

But you can say right here

in Luke 6

with this random mix,

you can say this is kind of

a microcosm of the people

that God chooses,

who saves by his grace

and calls them to be family,

to be a team together.

I look around this room

and I think,

what an eclectically weird mix

of people.

And yet what Jesus does here

in Luke 6

is exactly what Jesus

has been doing

ever since he laid

this fresh foundation

of making strangers

into family,

of making old and young,

rich and poor,

wise and foolish

together as one,

laid on this fresh foundation

in these apostles.

Now I don't think we can move on

until we've looked at verse 16,

the whole Judas Iscariot problem.

We read it with chilling effect.

Judas Iscariot

who became a traitor.

This man Judas

who has become infamous,

whose name has become synonymous

with being a turncoat.

And I guess it always prompts

the question in our mind,

who is responsible

for Judas' betrayal?

Why did Jesus choose Judas

knowing he would betray him?

Was Judas set up as a patsy,

a mere pawn

from the very beginning?

Who's responsible

for Judas' betrayal?

Was it divine sovereignty

or human responsibility?

And the answer is yes.

The Bible is full of this tension.

Joseph and his brothers

in Genesis.

Where they do what they want to do

but only actually fulfill

God's plan in the end.

You meant it for evil

but God meant it for good.

Even Jesus' death.

Indeed, Herod Pontius Pilate

says in Acts 4,

met together with the Gentiles

and the people of Israel

in this city

to conspire against

your holy servant Jesus

whom you appointed.

They did what your power

and will

had decided beforehand

should happen.

Gentiles,

they did what they wanted

to do

but because of God's sovereignty

only actually did

what God

had ordained

should happen.

It's kind of like

the rings in the Olympics.

You need both.

You need to hold on to both

at the same time

or else you

flip like this.

You need to hold both things

in tension.

Great quote is this.

The truth does not lie

in one extreme

or the other

nor in the middle.

The truth lies in both extremes

held together.

The truth does not lie

in one extreme

or the other

much less does it lie

in the middle.

The truth lies in both extremes

held together.

Judas betrayed Jesus

as a result

of his opportunistic

selfish hatred

of Jesus Christ.

Judas betrayed

Jesus

as an agent

to fulfill

God's eternal plan.

It's what theologians

call antimony

holding two things

seemingly opposed

in tension.

Spurgeon was asked

how do you reconcile

human responsibility

with divine sovereignty

to which Spurgeon

simply said

I don't reconcile

friends.

before we leave

Judas though

the scary thing is

no one suspects

Judas.

You read all through

the Gospels

so when Jesus

at the Last Supper

says one of you

will betray me

everybody's not pointing

and saying

there's Judas.

Judas has played

a blinder.

He's hidden

in plain sight.

He has all the

right answers.

He goes to all

the discipleship

meetings.

Everyone thinks

he's a good guy.

He plays his role.

He dons the mask.

He blends in

and I think the

scariest thing

is as a church

leader

is we may not

be betrayers

like Judas

but we can happily

play a part.

We can say

all the right things

sing all the right

things

do all the right

things

use the best

language we can

have so much

theological

knowledge

it would blow

your mind

but at the end

of the day

it was all for show

and not for keeps

and so I wonder

if Judas

doesn't just

make us question

how does divine

sovereignty

and human

responsibility

fit together

I think it invites

us to

challenge our

own hearts

am I on

Jesus team

or simply

in the

Brunsfield

club

because the

scary thing

is Judas

had every

opportunity

and hung

out forever

with Jesus

and the

crew

but he was

never really

in it

so easy

day after

day

Sunday

after Sunday

week

after week

month

after month

year

after year

decade

after decade

just come

to church

that's what

I do

and let's

let Judas

challenge us

but whether

this is all

for show

or whether

it's really

for keeps

whether I

have a

fascination

with Jesus

and his

church

or whether

I know

Jesus

and love

his church

because that's

a real

difference

finally

and with

this

I come

into land

it seems

like a

pretty risky

method

we've already

heard in

chapter 6

verse 11

the cross

looming

large on

the horizon

that it's

not going

to end

well for

Jesus

that he

is going

to be

killed

according

to the

father's

will

and his

work is

going to

have to

be left

to others

and he

chooses

these

twelve

he chooses

these people

to be his

ambassadors

his designated

official

spokesman

and as we've

already said

none of these

people are on

anybody's

shortlist

to be in

the boardroom

of any

global

enterprise

if this

is

Jesus

crack

team

of

world

dominating

missionaries

then at

Luke 6

it seems

the project

is a

total

non-starter

and a

damp

squib

before

anyone's

gone

anywhere

when

Jesus

reads

out

his

team

sheet

everybody

is

thinking

really

these

guys

Thaddeus

he doesn't

seem to

have a

clue

Philip

honestly

he seems

a bit

dim

John

MacArthur

writes

the propagation

of the

gospel

and the

founding

of the

church

hinged

entirely

on

twelve

men

whose

most

outstanding

characteristic

was their

ordinariness

no one

is picking

these twelve

guys

no one

has them

on their

team

sheet

except

Jesus

and let's

be honest

no one's

got us

on their

team

sheet

to

transform

Brunsfield

or Edinburgh

with the

message of

Jesus

Christ

none of

us are

getting

chosen

for that

correct

team

by human

standards

and yet

that is

God's

absolute

modus

operandi

this is

how he

always

works

he always

chooses

nobodies

and by

his grace

makes them

somebodies

in order

that they

might go

and tell

everybody

about him

he reminds

this prideful

church in

1 Corinthians

of that

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

let's be honest

no one's

choosing any

of us

except God

and yet

the very

reason that

God chooses

us so that

when we're

transformed by

his grace

and make

Jesus known

to others

only he gets

the glory

which is

exactly what

he ordains

to happen

from the

very beginning

so that

no one

may boast

John MacArthur

again

the 2000

year triumph

of the

apostolic

endeavour

is a

testimony

to the

wisdom

and power

of the

divine

strategy

if we were

choosing this

by human

standards

we'd have

all been

left on

the bench

and yet

Jesus calls

us to be

a member

of his

team

to turn

the world

upside down

which is

exactly what

they comment

the disciples

did

in Acts

17

and we

know it

works

the fact

we're here

today

sharing this

apostolic

gospel

with each

other

is testimony

that it

works

that this

gospel

these 12

people would

even get

the gospel

to Scotland

and we're

here because

of it

and we

know that

it works

in the end

because in

Revelation 21

Revelation 21:4

verse 4

it says

this

the walls

of the

city

had 12

foundations

and on them

were the names

of the 12

apostles of the

Lamb

that this

eternal

kingdom

that Jesus

came to

inaugurate

and will

one day

be built

it worked

and this

foundation

was set

and their

names

are on the

foundations

no one

except God

would choose

us

and yet

God's

speciality

is to

use weak

scared

fragile

and timid

people

to bring

his son

glory

to make

his son

known

to put

on display

the transformation

that his

grace

brings about

and so

we're not

able to do

this task

but trusting

in God

is more

than possible

it's more

than possible

because God's

power

is

and has

always been

made perfect

in our

weakness

let's pray

Father God

we're here

this morning

and

the only

thing that

we have

is our

outstanding

ordinariness

and yet

Lord

we're so

conscious

that you're

the God

who places

the treasure

of your

gospel

in jars

of clay

so that

everyone

would see

that this

all-surpassing

power

the all-surpassing

power

of the

apostolic

gospel

handed from

Jesus

to these

twelve

men

that everyone

would see

that that

power

comes from

you

and not

from us

and so

Lord

we're conscious

of our

fragility

we're conscious

of our

brittleness

we're conscious

of our

unimpressiveness

and yet

Lord

we're asking

that you

would send

us out

from this

place

to make

much of

Jesus

in and

through

our

lives

so that

people

would see

that this

all-surpassing

power is

from you

and not

from us

that we

might not

boast about

what we've

done

or what we

can do

but you

would blow

our minds

with all

that you

are

and all

that you're

able to

do

even through

us

so Lord

thank you

that you've

chosen us

to be on

your team

Father God

thank you

that you're

still choosing

people to

be on your

team

and so Lord

we'd ask

that if there

were any

today still

in the stands

as spectators

Lord you

would call

them to

yourself

and Father

that they

would enter

the fray

as members

of your

family

who have

the eternal

hope of

being with

you forever

in the new

creation

so bless us

and help us

in Jesus

glorious and

wise and

powerful name

Amen