The Twelve Apostles: Called by Christ

Though we are told in Georgia history that all the rest of the apostles apart from Judas's offered and died for their faith and it was said of John that he suffered and live for the fate Jesus called the 12 apostles.

They had no idea what was ahead for the book their faithfulness.

Hopefully the foundation for the church throughout the Gospels we see how they grew both in understanding and in obedience today on Renewing Your Mind.

Dr. RC scroll takes us back to the gospel of Luke chapter 6 to give us an in-depth look at the apostles as a very short passage, but one that is amazing in its historical significance because on this occasion Jesus anointed 12 of his disciples and gave them the office of apostleship.

The significance of which show mentioned in just a moment, let us recall that history notes that this small handful of men were those who were described as the ones who turned the world upside down. It is an amazing, amazing reality what God did with this handful of people and is continuing to do as a result of their on going influence, but the passage begins with the mention that it came to pass in those days that Jesus went up to the mountain to pray that Jesus separated himself from his disciples and from the multitudes four seasons of prayer is not at all unusual.

But Luke adds that the tail that he continued all night in prayer to God is interesting to me that of the 12 that were selected one of them would be a traitor and Jesus. We are told new from the beginning about Judas is plans and desires. And yet, in the course of this time of prayer. Jesus is wrestling among other things, certainly about the decision to select the one whom he knows will betray him, but we read that when it was day he called his disciples to himself and from them he chose 12 whom he also named apostles of frequently we talk about the 12 disciples and the 12 apostles as if disciple was the same thing as an apostle, but of course that's not the case. Jesus had many more disciples than the 12 on one occasion he sent 70 of them out on a preaching mission and yet from this larger band of 70+ disciples that were following Jesus.

He selected 12 from that group to be apostles. What's the difference between a disciple and an apostle, a disciple of the term of the New Testament means a learner.

It's a student, but in this. In Jewish history disciples were not merely students that they were also adherence to certain leaders as, for example, to certain rabbis or in the case of John the Baptist. Those who were followers of him.

They were also John's disciples and so those who follow Jesus enrolled in his rabbinic school, as it were and were adherence of him and followed him closely were his servants and students but from that group.

He selected apostles and then Luke goes on to tell us who it was who were in this group that had been selected for this office of apostle Scripture tells us that the foundation of the church is not Jesus but it's the prophets and the apostles in the building metaphor is the prophets and the apostles who were described as the foundation and Jesus is the chief cornerstone. Now the Bible says there is no other foundation which can be laid, which is laid in Christ Jesus.

But the whole foundation is built upon the prophets and the apostles and I mentioned that for the same reason that if the church rejects apostolic authority it has rejected the very foundation of the church itself and as the psalmist says if the foundation's be shaken. How can the building. Spain and so the foundation of the church which were a part of even this morning is built in large measure on these people that are mentioned here in this text as I want to take some time this morning and next week, and if necessary the week after that they give a little capsule summary of brief biographical sketch of these persons whom Jesus called to be apostles, some of which we hear a lot about in the pages of the New Testament others.

We hear hardly any mention what so ever. Let's look at the list that Luke provides for us.

He says he named apostles. First of all, Simon, whom he also named Peter and Andrew his brother, not every list of the apostles that is given in the New Testament the first person who was mentioned is Simon Peter. And that's a fascinating point because he was not the first disciple. His younger brother preceded him in discipleship and it was his younger brother who introduced Peter to Jesus. So you wonder why that brother isn't mentioned first and paramount in all of the lists of the disciples that we find in the New Testament, but in any case, Peter is first on every list, and it's probably not because he was the first Bishop of Rome or any such thing, but because he obviously had a position of leadership among that group of disciples and apostles. He became, as it were, the spokesman for them. These known as we find throughout the Gospels as a man who was exceedingly fatuous and in many ways on stable, unreliable and not dependable. His performance throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus would have earned him the nickname the sand rather than the raw however after the death and resurrection of our Lord. Peter was indeed the rock of the early church, but during again the ministry of Jesus we see this wavering spirit of Peter.

He's bold to walk out on the water following Jesus, but he also he's the one who when a doubt starts to sink.

He's the one who distinguishes himself at the Caesarea Philippi inquiry when Jesus looked at his disciples and took a poll among them and said who is it that men say that I am in the answer came walls. Some say that your a prophet Elijah or Jeremiah or somebody like that, or maybe even John the Baptist come back from the dead and Jesus said who do you say that I and it was Simon who gave the great confession thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And with that confession of faith. Jesus turned to Simon he says blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who is in heaven. And thou shalt be called Petross the rocket upon this rock I will build my church, and of course a few minutes not long afterwards. After Jesus called Simon the rock. He gave him another name because Jesus announced to his disciples shortly after the Caesarea Philippi confession that they were going to go back to Jerusalem and their Jesus would be handed over to the Gentiles and be judged and be killed, and the rock said no.

This will never happen.

We call that the first papal encyclical which was not infallible because Peter announced that he wouldn't stand for that and that Jesus could not go to Jerusalem, he told Jesus forbidden Lord. Imagine that for bit it Lord, no Lord, you cannot do that. Lord, what a way to talk to your Lord, but in any case, Jesus. Listen to his close friend and disciple looked at him and when he saw Peter he saw something else and he said get behind me Satan it was that Simon Peter, who gave that magnificent confession of faith who during the trial of Jesus was confronted not by the authorities, not by the soldiers but by a made and said are you not one of those who were the followers of that man that he cursed with a loud voice denying free time that he even knew Jesus was the same Simon Peter that met with the risen Christ on the shore of the lake of Galilee and was asked three times by Jesus, Peter, do you love me and as he had denied Jesus three times earlier. Now he affirmed his love for Christ three times. Lord, you know that I love you and feed my sheep. Peter's ministry later was a time of great blessing to the church when persecution broke out in Jerusalem against the Christians under Herod, one of the apostles were slain, and will get to that in a moment the other one was imprisoned, who was Peter and the rest of the apostles met in secret and pray diligently for the release and for the rescue of Peter and you recall that strange incident that while they were praying their prayer time was interrupted by a knock at the door and somebody went to the door and opened it and there was Peter standing there in the close the door in his face and came back and said I just saw Peter's ghost here. There are praying that God would rescue Peter from his imprisonment. And when God does. They don't believe it. They think it's his ghost but anyway, Peter's ministry continued into the decade of the 60s were long-lasting, was arrested by the Romans, and under the tyranny of Nero who also saw to it that the apostle Paul would be executed.

That same year had Simon Peter throne of the member team prison in Rome where he was tortured for quite a period of time before he was then taken out of that prison to the Circus Maximus and was executed under Nero by being crucified upside down because he didn't want to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus because he said he was not worthy to be executed in the same manner Jesus was in so he was crucified upside down while again the first apostle.

The first disciple was called, had first been a follower of John the Baptist, and as he was in the company of John the Baptist in her John the Baptist pointed Jesus as the one who he was announcing as the coming Messiah. This first disciple, Andrew came and transferred his allegiance from John the Baptist to Jesus. Obviously with John the Baptist is a great blessing and approval and it was Andrew who went and got his older brother Simon and brought Simon to Jesus. And so the two brothers became disciples, and both were elevated to the level of apostles and every time we find Andrew in the New Testament we find him bringing people to Jesus.

That's one of the reasons that we chose him to be the patron saint of our church that our church would be known for doing the same thing that this disciple did during the ministry of Jesus, bringing people to Jesus and that was his legacy and then Andrew also suffered martyrdom and he was killed in 70 A.D. the same year in which Jerusalem fell and the his crucifixion was on a cross that was in the shape of an X and tradition tells us that when he saw the cross that had been prepared for his execution that he broke out in joy, he says, for my whole life has been for the cross that he was delighted that he could join his Savior in death through crucifixion.

He was not nailed to the cross. He was tied to the cross and he lived on that cross for three days of torture before he died, while the other two disciples that are mentioned here are James and John. Now Peter, James and John were normally considered to be the inner circle of the 12. These three were present.

For example, at the Transfiguration. I don't know where Andrew was on that occasion. But Peter, James and John just just as Andrew and Peter were brothers. So James and John were brothers. They were known as the sons of Zebedee, and were also known by the nickname the sons of thunder because they wanted Jesus to bring down fire from heaven. These were firebrand disciples.

They were not blessed week and mild.

James and John. They were ready to turn the world upside down and of course they were the same ones who also have the embarrassing reminder in the New Testament of having their mother intercede with Jesus and asking that when he came into his kingdom that her two sons, James and John, Jimmy and Johnny could be placed at the right hand of Jesus was on that occasion that Jesus had to rebuke them, and said that those who wanted to be first had to be less than so on with James remained a faithful disciple in the early church that we was known that there were two James among the 12 James the son of Alpheus who was called James the less. And then there was James the brother of John the son of Zebedee, who was known as James the greater, and James had the distinction of being the first apostolic martyr in Christian history. He was not the first Christian martyr. The first martyr, of course, was Stephen but the first of the 12 the first of the apostle to be martyred was Jane in the year 44 A.D. this was in a Jewish persecution led by Herod out of us and it was a occasion where Peter was thrown into prison right after James had been executed and so he is remembered as being the first of the apostolic martyr's in church history.

Now his brother John had the distinction of being the only one of the 12 not to suffer a violent death. 10 out of the 12 were martyred for the faith. One out of the 12 took his own life in remorse and that of course was Judas, but of the rest. The remaining 11. The original 12, 10 were martyred and one was not the only one who died at home in peace was John. We are told in church history that all the rest of the apostles apart from Judas suffered and died for their faith and it was said of John that he suffered and live for the fate this because he escaped martyred them does not mean that he escaped suffering.

He was subjected to suffering throughout his whole life, which was a long life. He became the oldest of the disciples and apostles to die and he died in Ephesus and he's buried in Ephesus and some of you were with us when we made the trip to the holy land and when went to Ephesus and I spoke briefly by standing on the top of the tomb where John is very and that was a moving moment for me in my life to be there that close to the grave of one who was such a faithful follower of Jesus. John wrote five books of the New Testament first second third John the book of Revelation and of course the gospel of John Peter wrote first and second Peter and he didn't write any of the Gospels, but it's been thought that actually Mark was Peter's disciple and was really fulfilling Peter's teaching in providing the gospel of Mark. But John was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and he was also known for being the disciple or the apostle of love is his admonishment to the Christian community would always be again and again, beloved love one another of John experienced exile under the Emperor Domitian and was exiled to the island of Patmos where there he received that heavenly vision that he recorded as Jesus instructed him to, which comes to us now is the book of the Revelation of St. John in that book of Revelation we have this marvelous vision of the triumph of Christ over all of his enemies, and the triumph of his people who will participate in that. And we have the apostle John to thank for that magnificent vision as well, as his great gospel. As I said, he suffered many times on one occasion he was scheduled to be executed by being boiled in oil. But somehow we don't know how he was able to escape that particular fate. On another occasion, tradition tells us that he was supposed to be executed and was administered some kind of poison, just as Socrates had been executed by being forced to drink the hemlock so John the apostle was to be executed by drinking poison. This time it wasn't rescheduled. According to tradition, he drank the poison and it didn't affect the suffered but did not die. He didn't die until the Lord was ready to take that these are only for. Of the 12 that we've looked at. Briefly this morning, but can you imagine how these four that I've already mentioned were used of God to turn the world upside down. God willing next week will look at some more of these men who were selected by our Lord as his succession plan here on earth as he established his church upon the foundation of these apostles. Learning about the apostles, provides us with a glimpse into their day-to-day life we see their weaknesses, their lack of faith in some instances they were sinners just like us but we are also encouraged and challenged by their growing faith and trust in Christ will continue the study next week here and Renewing Your Mind and I do hope you'll join us. Each Lord's day, we returned to Dr. RC Sproul sermon series from Luke. You can deepen your own study of this gospel when you contact us today and request his commentary.

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