The Extraordinary Ordinary

If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Mark chapter 3.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

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Elegant speakers.

You get the best.

Well, not necessarily.

Because the greatest movement, and calling it a movement, is almost sacrilegious because it's so much more.

But the communicating and the managing of the greatest opportunities that have been offered to humankind, or ever will be,

was actually led by a pile of misfits.

That seems so ragtag and obscure that the plan should have been ruined from the start.

From a human perspective.

But it did not fail at all.

It still continues today and will until the world ends with success.

And I'm talking about the opportunity of salvation through Christ.

The sharing of that message.

The leading of those who have committed to it.

The ministry that comes forth from it.

Today, when we look at Mark, we look at the choosing of the apostles.

It is amazing to see who Christ chose.

And I believe it gives us all hope for our own lives, how we see this happen.

It's in Mark chapter 3, beginning in verse 13.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

And it speaks of Christ when it says,

And he went up on the mountain and called to them those whom he desired and they came to him.

And he appointed twelve whom he also named apostles.

That means the sent out ones.

So that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.

He appointed the twelve.

And he appointed the twelve.

Simon to whom he gave the name Peter.

James the son of Zebedee.

And John the brother of James.

To whom he gave the name Bonaerges.

That is sons of thunder.

Andrew and Philip.

And Bartholomew.

And Matthew.

And Thomas.

And James the son of Alphaeus.

And Thaddeus.

And Simon the zealot.

And Judas.

Isaaceret.

Who betrayed him.

When you look at this list, you won't find a load of scholars.

They were not great speakers, especially when he met them.

They were not theologians.

There are no rabbis among this group.

There are no scribes among this group.

There are no Pharisees among this group.

There are no Sadducees among this group.

There's not a priest among them.

Or any from a religious establishment.

Or at least in leadership at a religious establishment.

They were too prone to mistakes.

They were too prone to misstatements.

They were too prone to wrong attitudes.

And they were too prone to faith failures.

And he picked 12 of them.

That's an interesting number.

Because that is the same number as the Jewish tribes.

Which are God's people in the Old Testament.

Collected those people and put them into 12 tribes.

And those 12 tribes were to carry out the whole law system.

The sacrificial system.

As a prophecy of when the Messiah would come.

It was all a lead up to the Messiah.

But when the Messiah came, they didn't recognize him.

Now he picks 12 apostles.

The same number.

None of which is of the Judaistic institution as far as in leadership.

It is a judgment.

By picking these 12 versus the 12 tribes of Israel.

It is a judgment upon the leaders of that day.

But it is a repositioning and a realigning of sorts.

But it is much more than that as well.

It is an intense training system.

Of raising up future leaders that will carry out the cause of Christ throughout the world.

And establish the church to thrive until the return of the Lord.

And the reality is, it is estimated that he only had 18 months to do it.

The reality is, as we have looked at Mark chapter 1 and Mark chapter 2 and part of Mark chapter 3.

Mark 1 · chapter mention Mark 2 · chapter mention Mark 3 · chapter mention

Although I warned you when we began that Mark moves quickly.

He is very brief.

But those three chapters and all that great movement of people following Christ.

People's lives changing.

People being healed.

All of that makes up about half of the ministry of Christ already.

Now he has about 18 months before he will go to the cross.

These men were too often self-centered.

They were too often self-promoting.

And yet lacking a faith and lacking spiritual understanding.

And yet they would be immersed into the most intense hands-on seminary experience that has ever been known.

And for the most part, they would come out sold on their cause and effective in carrying out its faith.

Our lives are changed because of the faithfulness of these men.

God loves to choose the weak.

God loves to choose the foolish.

He loves to pick the incomplete to do strong, wise, and wonderful work.

And these guys, I believe, give us all hope of being used by God.

But they also challenge us as we see their commitment to him.

Understand that from a human perspective, the future of the church and the long-term success of the gospel

depended solely on the faithfulness of these men.

There is no plan B.

When Christ is crucified, raises again, is on the earth for a short time before he ascends,

it all lives and falls with them.

It is a huge responsibility to men that, quite honestly, do not seem capable of carrying it out.

And that's what makes the whole story somewhat amazing.

Now, again, Mark writes in a hurry with little detail, but Luke is much more thorough in what he says about everything.

I want you to notice how he describes the process of choosing these men.

He says, in Luke chapter 6, verse 12 through 13,

Luke 6:12–13

In these days Christ went up to the mountain to pray,

and all night he continued in prayer to God.

And when day came, he called his disciples and chose for them twelve, whom he named apostles.

The Lord toiled all night.

That word there for continued in prayer is a laboring, an intense laboring.

And when the sun came up, he called those men to himself and he chose them.

What were they to do?

Well, notice in the text it tells us what they were to do.

They had three tasks.

One was they were to shadow him.

It says in the text, so that they might be with him.

That's what that's talking about.

Over 150 years ago, A.B. Bruce wrote a book called Training of the Twelve.

I read it about 25 years ago, did a study through it,

and it opened my eyes to see much more and why Christ did what he did when he did it.

And how he many times implemented teaching behind the scenes and even on the spot to his disciples,

almost in everything that he does from this point on until the cross.

Jesus came primarily to be the redemptive hope of all of humanity,

to die on the cross for our salvation.

However, he also came to train these 12 to spread the gospel,

to plant the church of Jesus Christ, to influence the world with the cause until the return of the Lord.

And the best way for them to learn was not to experience it with other spiritual leaders.

It was not in the synagogue.

The best way for them to learn,

the spiritual leaders actually were hunting Jesus down,

trying to kill him.

While he's choosing the apostles,

they're coming up with a way to snuff him out.

It was also not for them to sit under the greatest professors.

Instead, it was to walk with the Lord.

As verse 14 says it, that they might be with him.

By the way, the best way to learn about him is to be with him.

As I thought about that, I couldn't help but think about the song that says,

and he walks with me and he talks with me.

And he tells me I am his own.

And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.

Friend, that relationship is how Christ personalizes,

through the power of the Holy Spirit, what he writes in his word.

They were to shadow him.

The second thing, where they were to share the story.

He would teach them how to share.

And then he would send them out to share what they knew,

as many as God would enable them to share with.

As I said, the apostles mean the set out ones.

They are unique.

These, and later Paul, are the only apostles.

I'll be clear about this.

If you go to a church and the preacher wants to be called apostle,

you went to the wrong church, okay?

Leave.

As well, if he wants to be called father.

Matthew 23, 9 says that's not right either.

So that's another sermon.

But anyway, the apostles were set apart by Christ himself.

Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20 says,

Ephesians 2:20

The church is, quote, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

Heaven is described.

Revelation 2, 21, verse 14 says,

And the wall of the city had 12 foundations,

and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

Another scene in heaven shows 24 elders.

12 of those elders represent the apostles.

12 of those elders represent the 12 tribes of Israel.

In other words, in heaven, redemption is complete.

All God's people are together.

Those before Christ that came because of Christ,

and those after Christ are all in Christ.

And my point is that these apostles are unique men.

They're set apart by God,

and they were called primarily to share his story.

The third reason, it says, is they were to silence the demons.

It says that he would give them authority to cast out demons.

Now, I dealt with silencing the demons last week,

and so I'll only touch on it this morning.

Christ came to defeat evil once and for all,

and he did that on Calvary.

It's done, folks.

There are still battles being fought here and there in all of our lives,

but I want you to make no mistake.

The war is won.

Now, the spiritual struggle,

the demonic struggle,

is much more graphic in other parts of the world

than it is in the United States today,

although I would confer that it is intensifying here as well,

and I believe that's got a lot to do with the melting pot of the world coming to us

with all their false religions and all those things.

It opens us up.

Scripture shows that.

However, the same evil is still prevalent,

just not victorious.

The greatest way to silence the evil of the world

is to proclaim through word, deed, and love

the much greater need,

the story of Jesus.

That's the key.

One day, every knee shall bow,

every tongue proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.

In the meantime, it's our job to do that,

and the apostles started that process,

and so I want us to look at each of the apostles.

Now, don't panic.

There's 12 of them.

We're only going to look at four today.

All of the synoptic gospels,

that is Matthew, Mark, and Luke,

they write in the same way.

John's a little different,

but all of the synoptics have the apostles listed.

John does not list them.

Luke, who wrote the gospel of Luke,

also wrote the book of Acts,

and it's called the Acts of the Apostles.

He also wrote that book,

and he makes the list again as well,

but I believe that's the list that leaves off Judas,

and we'll get to that later and explain why.

But in all of these lists,

you'll see the men grouped in groups of four.

The first four are always the first four.

They're sometimes in different order,

but they're always the first four.

The second four are always the second four.

The third four are always the last four,

except that one that leaves out one.

And always in the first group

is Peter, Andrew, James, and John.

They were the inner circle around Christ,

and one of them particularly is always listed first.

I call him the outspoken.

The first man that's always mentioned is Simon Peter.

He's called Peter some places.

He's called Simon other places.

His given name was Simon.

Jesus called him Peter because Peter means rock.

Some called him Simon Peter.

Normally when Jesus referred to him as Simon,

he was talking either about his background

or the carnality in his life.

And when he called him Peter,

he was talking about his spiritual side.

It's kind of interesting to see that.

But Jesus would make him a rock,

but he was not a rock when they met by any means.

Peter was the fastest,

most interruptive, loud mouth among them.

He could not help himself.

He said too much too often.

Peter gives us loud mouths a lot of hope

because he speaks more than any of them.

He is rebuked more than any of them.

He is the only one that rebukes Christ among them.

When Jesus spoke of the cross,

Peter corrected him.

When they came to arrest Jesus,

Peter's the one that grabbed the sword

from his own side

and I believe tried to take the head off

of a soldier.

But Peter was a fisherman,

not a swordsman.

So he took an ear off instead.

When Jesus was being accused that night,

it was Peter

who denied him three times.

However,

the spirit is a wonderful thing for the believer

because when Jesus resurrected from the dead,

it was Peter that he reaffirmed.

And when the spirit came in Acts chapter two,

it was Peter that became the voice of the Christian church.

It was Peter that proclaimed that powerful message.

It was Peter that saw thousands of people

come to know the Lord under his ministry in one day.

He was martyred for his faith by crucifixion.

It's not in scripture.

History tells us this.

And it was Peter who said

that he was not worthy to die like Christ.

And instead,

they hung him upside down

on what's believed to be an X-shaped cross.

If you read the book of Acts,

especially in the first third of the book of Acts,

you'll understand

the significance

of why Jesus picked Peter.

Then,

after Peter,

they have what I call the inviter.

Andrew.

Andrew.

Andrew is Peter's brother

and not anything like Peter.

He is the first apostle to be called

and is seen as the least of the top four.

There are places where the other top three

go with Jesus that Andrew don't go.

But,

John the Baptist is the one

that introduced Andrew to Jesus.

And the moment that Andrew was introduced to Jesus,

he brought his brother Peter to Jesus.

Andrew was,

I call him the inviter

because Andrew,

every time we see him,

is about bringing people to Jesus.

It was Andrew who found the boy

with his lunch

and brought him to Jesus

when the 5,000 were fed.

It was Andrew that when Greeks,

which speaks of Gentiles

that were not believers,

when Greeks were asking about Jesus,

it was Andrew

who brought those seekers

to the Lord.

He never sought attention.

He was quiet.

He was unsung.

But he was so very thoughtful of others.

And he was steady.

He was steady in his ministry

just in the background.

We have no knowledge

of him ever preaching.

I'm not saying he didn't.

We have no knowledge of it.

But he's the one

that invited the preacher,

Peter,

to come to Jesus initially.

And quite honestly,

that's made all the difference.

History tells us

that Andrew died on the cross as well

for his faith.

He spent his life

bringing people to Jesus

unapologetically.

He's the inviter.

The third one among them

is the thunderous.

The last two in this list of four

are brothers,

James and John,

the sons of Zebedee.

It is apparent

that Zebedee

was a successful fisherman,

had quite an enterprise,

had hired servants

working under him

in that business.

His wife,

the men's mother,

traveled with the apostles

and traveled with Jesus

and underwrote a lot

of the ministry

because of the prominence

of that family.

They may have even,

James and John,

may have even been cousins

with Jesus.

But there are a lot of Marys

in Scripture

and sometimes

we parallel them together

when they may not need

to be paralleled.

So we're not positive

about that.

But Jesus nicknamed

these brothers

the sons of thunder.

That sounds like

a tag team rassler to me,

a rassler to me,

and that's what they did

on the weekend I guess.

But they came from money,

they came from a household

with hired servants

and they wanted prominence.

Their mother asked

on their behalf

if they could be

in a place of prominence.

It appears that they set

their mother up

to ask on their behalf.

But I call James

the thunderous one

because he was zealous,

he was passionate,

he was thunderous.

I want you to see

what I mean by this.

In Luke chapter 9,

Luke 9:51

verse 51,

there's an incident

that I want you to see.

It says,

when the days drew near

for him to be taken up.

Now that's talking about

when Jesus

is going to go to heaven.

In other words,

he's going to go to the cross,

he's going to rise again,

and then he's going to live

on the earth for 40 days

and then he's going to ascend.

He's going to be taken up.

He set his face

to go to Jerusalem.

It's the last stage

of his ministry.

There was a preparation stage

of sorts that was in the desert

where he was tempted

and he set his mind

on what his ministry was to be.

There was the beginning

of that ministry along with that.

Then there was the calling

of the apostles.

And then,

at this point,

he sets his face

toward Jerusalem.

And he sent messengers

ahead of him

who went and entered

a village of the Samaritans

to make preparations for him.

But the people

did not receive him

because his face

was set toward Jerusalem.

Now I talked about last week,

I talked about the Samaritans,

talked about the history of it,

the difficulty of that region.

People didn't like Samaritans.

And apparently,

they didn't like Jesus either.

And it says,

and when his disciples,

James and John,

saw it,

they said,

Lord,

do you want us to tell fire

to come down from heaven

and consume them?

They weren't going to put up with it.

But he turned and rebuked them.

Man, what a statement

that they made.

What a statement.

Think about what they said.

Because in reality,

who were they

to be able to call down fire?

Now I'll tell you

what that comes from.

It comes from

they knew the word.

They had been in the synagogue,

apparently.

And they knew about Elijah.

And Elijah was a hero to many.

And Elijah could call down fire.

And so man,

they're followers of God.

Why don't we just call down fire

and burn up these Samaritans,

is what they were saying.

He turned and rebuked them

and they went on

to another village.

When you see that,

can't you see the Sons of Thunder

in wrestling attire?

I mean,

I can see that in my head,

but anyway.

But I grew up on Saturdays

watching NAA wrestling.

But these men

didn't want to play games.

They were a little off.

Do you want us

to call down fire?

Listen.

Actually,

Philip

would later go

to Samaria

and would win

possibly some of

these same people

to the Lord.

That's why God

didn't call a fire

upon them.

A different kind of fire

came upon them.

The fire of the Holy Spirit

of God.

But these men

were zealous.

They were with Jesus

on the Mount

of Transfiguration.

They were the ones

that went a little further

in the garden

with Jesus

as they prayed.

They, like Peter,

had a fire

in their belly.

The passion of James

was also for the gospel

as well.

James is the first

to be martyred

among them

for the faith.

Acts chapter 12,

Acts 12:2

verse 2

talks about

his death.

And Herod

had him killed

with the sword.

That almost always

means that he was

beheaded

for his thunderous

stand

for the gospel.

He was the thunderous.

His brother,

the last one

we're going to look at

this morning

is the passionate.

John was a lot

like his brother.

He was passionate.

He was cut and dry

about everything.

He had no gray areas.

And later

he wrote about it.

This is the John

that wrote

the gospel of John.

This is the John

that wrote

the three letters

from John.

I call it

the big John

and three little Johns.

This is the John

that wrote

the book of Revelation

on the Isle of Patmos.

This is the John

that wrote

more of the New Testament

than anybody

but the Apostle Paul.

And he is a man

of no compromise.

Read what he wrote.

It's light

against darkness.

It's life

against death.

It's kingdom

of God

against the evil empire.

It's receive Christ

or reject Christ.

It's bear fruit

or be fruitless.

It's be obedient

to God

or be disobedient

to God.

It's love God

or hate God.

When you read

John,

especially his three letters,

John's works

will unsettle you

or at least it should.

You got to go read Paul too

and he'll comfort you.

But God

took that

call down fire

among them

and he mellowed

that in John.

And he made John

the Apostle of love.

John became

a tender hearted

loving Apostle

that lived,

he's the only Apostle

that lived

into his old age.

in his writing

he mentions truth

45 times.

He was passionate

about the truth.

But listen to this.

He mentioned witness

70 times.

He wrote

so that people

would know Christ.

He says

in the Gospel of John

at the end of it

as well as

in 1 John

I write

these things

to you

that you may

believe

that Jesus

is life

and you may

have life

in his name.

It's the reason

he wrote them.

But he mentions

love

more than

either one of those.

He mentions

love

80 times.

He calls

those that he

writes to

little children.

He never

mentions his

own name

in the Gospel.

He always

put the

disciple

whom Jesus

loved.

You know why

he put that?

Because he never

got over

Christ's love

for him.

And we

better not

either.

It is believed

that after Paul

started the church

in Ephesus

that John

went and

pastored

that church

until the

Roman emperor

Domitian

put him on

the island

of Patmos

in exile

where he

lived in a

cave

slept

on a

pillow of

rock

and saw

a great

vision from

the Lord

that led

to him

writing about

it in

Revelation.

In his

latter days

historians

tell us

that he

had to be

carried into

church

in his

old age

and that

he was

constantly

saying

my little

children

love one

another.

when it

came time

to carry

out the

greatest

task

that

humankind

will ever

see

Jesus chose

the common

Jesus chose

the ordinary

and he

empowered

them with

the spirit

of God

and he

made them

extraordinary.

when I

think about

that I

think about

what in

the world

is holding

us back

from being

all that

God would

have us

to be.

What's

holding me

back?

What's

holding you

back?

What's

being everything

God would

have you to

be?

God wants

people who

will speak

boldly for

him.

God wants

people who

are quiet

who don't

say much

but who are

willing to

walk up to

others and

quietly invite

them to

come to

Jesus.

He even

wants the

thunderous

those that

you see

coming

those that

will step

up when

needed.

He wants

the

passionate.

The folks

that love

folks like

the Lord

Jesus.

He wants

you and

he wants

me.

It's not

our job to

do the job

of the

apostles.

It's our

job to do

the job that

he set before

us.

And he has

a way of

taking our

temperament and

our strengths

and our

weaknesses and

molding them

and making

them like

clay on a

potter's

wheel and

by the

spirit of

God and

the power

of the

spirit of

God to

be effective

to reach

people and

encourage

people for

the Lord

Jesus Christ.

What is it

God would

have you to

do?

maybe you're

here this

morning and

you've never

given your

heart and

life to the

Lord Jesus.

There's not

a relationship

there.

You don't have

a problem with

him necessarily.

You just never

have surrendered

your life to

him.

Never have

committed your

life to

him.

I want you to

know if you've

never done that

today's the day

to do that.

There's no need

to put that

off.

If you'll ask

him to forgive

you of your

sins and

you'll acknowledge

that you've done

wrong in your

life and ask

him to come

into your life

and to change

you,

he will empower you with the spirit of God

and he'll take those natural things within you

and he'll tune them up by the spirit of God

and use them in his might and power.

Maybe you're here this morning

and you have done that privately

but you've never acknowledged that through baptism.

We plan to do that in a couple, three weeks

and I encourage you if you've never been baptized

to obey God in that.

By his commission and by his example,

Christ told us,

that was the first step that we're to take

when we give our life to Christ.

Or maybe God's drawing you to Pickens First Baptist Church.

That's your step of obedience.

That's what you're to do to obey God

and if that be the case,

we'd love to welcome you.

We'd be happy to guide you in that

or maybe it's something else.

I have no idea what it is.

I don't ever pretend to know

what God's speaking to you about

but I'll tell you this,

by the power of God,

he'll make each one of us effective

to do the ministry that he's called us to do.

And if you're a child of God,

he's called you to do ministry

in some form or fashion.

whether it be quiet,

whether it be loud,

whether it be speaking,

whether it be nudging,

whatever it is,

the apostles show us

God can use any of us

and will use any of us

and he plans to use all of us.

So let's just be obedient

and follow him today.

Just say yes

to whatever God would have for you.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, I love you.

Thank you Lord for your love for us

and I ask dear God

that you'll help us to learn

from the apostles,

the great teachers that they are

by their example, dear God.

Help us to be obedient

to follow you as you lead us.

In Jesus' precious name.

Amen.