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Jesus Chooses The Twelve Apostles

Luke 6:12-36

Key Verse: 6:13

“When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:”

Today’s passage teaches us about how Jesus chose his twelve disciples and appointed them apostles. Not only choosing them, but He also trains them by giving them lessons of what it is to live a blessed life as followers of Jesus. Jesus also chooses us as his disciples with hope that we may grow as faithful apostles who can spread out the gospel to many nations. Despite of all our weaknesses and shortcomings, Jesus sees great hope in us, and changes us into great men and women of God. Amen. Let us hear Jesus’ calling clearly and decide to share this good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection with many people. Amen.

1.      The Power of Prayer (12)

Let us read verse 12 together. “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” Jesus went out to mountainside, and spent that whole night praying to God. Is there anybody who has ever stayed up all night? To pray? We all know that Jesus prayed all his life, and we might say, “What is so big of a deal that Jesus prayed all night? Isn’t that what he was supposed to do?” However we should not be mistaken, and think about it in a different aspect. Jesus is the son of God and God himself. He is the almighty Creator God who becomes the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. But even He humbly kneeled down to pray to God his Father, giving thanks to him, and receiving clear direction for God’s work. What might have been Jesus prayer about when he prayed that night?  Most likely, Jesus gave thanks to God who always protected and provided him to accomplish the work of God for his glory. Jesus might have praised God for using him to heal a man with shriveled hand. And I am sure that Jesus also prayed for the Pharisees and the teachers of the law whose goal was to accuse Jesus and destroy his ministry. Jesus prayed that they may repent, receive new life before God, and serve Him only as true spiritual leaders of the generation. And last but not least, Jesus prayed that He may choose his twelve to be appointed as apostles and grow as mature servants for God’s salvation work.

One of the biggest reasons that made Jesus’ life beautiful and perfect was his faithful and compassionate prayer. Out of all prayers that’s written in the New Testament, my favorite is when he prayed on the cross saying to God, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” This was his prayer for me also. “Father, please forgive Joseph for he does not know what he is doing.” This word of prayer shows everything about the life Jesus lived. And indeed Jesus’ passionate and faithful prayer influenced and changed the people’s lives greatly including my very own life.

Then what about us? How is your prayer life? In other words, how is your relationship with your Father God? Is it deep and intimate like it is with your best friend forever? No? Do you hardly ever pray to him? We might say that prayer is not so practical because it feels like I am the only one who does all the talking and can’t know if God is listening or not. But the fact is God really wants us to come to him and pray to him. He wants to hear from us. He wants us to give thanks to our God. He wants us to bring out all the burdens, struggles and sufferings in our hearts in our humble prayers. Let us repent that we do not pray faithfully. Prayer is the only way to communicate with God, and have deep and intimate relationship with our God. If we do not pray, we can never build any kind of relationship with our father God. Let us start praying to God, giving him many thanks for being faithful and merciful, and bringing out every problem and struggle we face day to day. Then, God will surely hear our prayers, remember, and answer them one by one. Some of us already started the new semester, and most of us will start in the coming week. We will get busier and many times lose the focus and point of our life. However, we should hold on to our Jesus tighter as we face more temptations and obstacles of life. Let us pray that we can live a life of prayer and win the victory in the coming semester. You might not decide to pray all night, but pray in every morning with devotional heart to God. Let us pray that passionate and faithful prayers may be practiced in your very own houses in New Brunswick, Highland Park, Princeton, and all over New Jersey and America. Amen.

2.      Jesus chooses the Twelve Apostles with Hope

Let us read verse 13. “When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:” Finally the morning came. After praying all night Jesus goes on, and gets ready to do a very important task in his ministry. That was: choosing his twelve disciples, and appointing them as apostle for spreading the gospel. You might have wondered why Jesus had to choose 12, not 10 or 15. Actually the number twelve has significant meaning behind it. When God began to raise a holy nation in the Old Testament days, he chose the twelve sons of Jacob as his people. And now, Jesus was making a new beginning. So Jesus chose twelve apostles. Another reason was so that Jesus could have close and intimate relationship with each and every one of them. Jesus wanted to know them personally and deeply to help them and to raise them up as powerful apostles who can influence the whole community and even the nation.

Let us see who had been chosen from verses 14 to 16 together.

14Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.” That was exactly 12 of them. They were ordinary people with different character. In the world, they were not so successful or popular, rather weak and had no social position. But Jesus chose them carefully one by one. Here we see that Jesus doesn’t see what we see. He does not see our appearance, talents, grades, money, and everything else the people judge you by. He sees great men and women of God candidates. He sees us with God’s hope. As we know, Simon was famous for having a big mouth like Hanak and T-Grace. Also he often failed to control his emotion, and had many emotional breakdowns. But Jesus saw his passion, obedience, and eager desire to stand up for Jesus through all his weaknesses. And Jesus gave him the name “Peter,” which means “Rock.” It meant that he would be the rock on which Jesus will build his church. In Jesus’ hope and grace upon Simon, he indeed became Peter, the firm foundation of the early church. Andrew was a quiet man; it almost looked like he was a timid man with no personal opinions like Daeun and Danjang. Andrew looked like lacking the passion that Peter had. But he was most cooperative, not self-centered. And most importantly, he understood Jesus’ heart and brought five loaves and two fish to Jesus by faith when others were calculating the cost to feed five thousand. Quiet but faithful men and women are preciously used in God’s work. James and John were brothers who were very competitive and ambitious like Minsung and Heesung. Once, they fought to claim positions at Jesus’ right and left hand when Jesus talked about establishing the kingdom of God. They were shameless and wanted to gain everything possible. But when Jesus taught them his humble servantship and his spirit of sacrifice, they became the most sacrificial men of God. James was the first martyr among the twelve, and John became the disciple of love, and a blessing to everyone.

Jesus’ Twelve were people of various backgrounds, experiences, personalities, and characters. By choosing them, Jesus embraced each kind of person in an intimate and special way. This reveals Jesus' heart; Jesus embraces all kinds of people in the hope of raising them as great men and women of God. Everyone has hope in Jesus because Jesus sees hope in us! You can’t see any hope for yourself? Don’t worry because Jesus sees them and uses them preciously. Generally, we like to be with those we love, and try our best to avoid those who make us uncomfortable. But Jesus spent time in fellowship with every kind of person, even a traitor. We should embrace many kinds of people. Then we can know the heart of Christ. Here let’s give thanks to God for the people in our lives who are contrary to us and very difficult to get along with. They are helping us to grow in the heart of Christ.

Most of all, we learn Jesus' great hope. Jesus chose ordinary men, not a rich, not a strong, not an outstanding in any category. Yet Jesus believed that they would become the great apostles who would bring the gospel to the world. And they did. Jesus chooses the weak things of the world and uses them powerfully in his history. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, “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.” In Jesus we have hope to be used greatly by God. We must live in this hope instead of in frustration and despair. We must also learn to see others with hope, and to invite them to Jesus. Amen.

If you “title” this past summer we had, what would it be? “3 months of freedom”? It would be “The hope of God.” The 2 conferences we had were titled, “the hope of God”. We thought about his through hearing many messages and bible studies, and came out with conclusion, that we are the hope of God because Jesus sees and chooses us with his hope! Personally, before the summer started I could feel that my relationship with my God was getting superficial, and my attitude of worship and serving him were becoming habitual. I felt like an old wineskins that burst open when hearing the word of God. I was sick of everything. I was tired to do anything for God. I felt into fatalism that I was not able in the world, and could never be outstanding in the world. I started to fear people and forget about God. I lost hope for myself because I wanted to forget about Jesus who saw hope in me. I felt so sick and paralyzed. I wanted to start everything over again. And I prayed that God can provide me with a new heart and new soul to learn and meet Jesus from scratch. And God has been so merciful to me this summer. Every word that he gave me spoke to my heart and let me repent of my old ways. When I realized once again that Jesus Christ shed all his blood to on the cross with a hope for me to repent and become new being, my heart trembled and I was washed with Jesus’ blood. Jesus has hope in me, and that is the greatest news for me. Jesus is planning to do great and greater things through my life. He will fill me when I am empty. He will pick me up when I fall. Then whom shall I fear? Who can be against me when I have Jesus in me? I pray that we may see Jesus who has hope in us and wants to use us greatly. Jesus now is appointing me and you as his disciples with such hope. I pray that we may stand up for Jesus. I pray that we may become full of hope in Jesus and decided to follow Jesus till the end. Amen.

3.      Blessed are You

After Jesus chose his top Twelve, he goes on and starts to preach the word of God and heal the sick and possessed. Jesus, filled with the spirit, demonstrated his ministry to his disciples. Those who suffered from diseases and evil spirits were cured because power was coming from Jesus and healing them all. In verses 20-26, Jesus teaches his disciples an important lesson on what kind of life is blessed and what kind of life results in woes. Jesus tells us practically what it really means to live a life of following Jesus is. Let us open our ears to hear what Jesus wants to tell us so that we can live a truly blessed life as followers of Jesus.

Look at verse 20 and 21. ”Looking at his disciples, he said:  "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” When we live a life of following Jesus each day we will face many challenges and temptations from the world, which pressures us believe being rich and satisfied in our stomach is what has to be accomplish in one’s life. So, people in the world lose their focus and only seek for the ways to be rich and full. The life that chase for money, pleasures, and entertainments are actually cursed life because they are missing the kingdom of God. They are missing the true satisfaction that they will experience with Jesus our Lord. The fun and attractions of the world disappoint us because they all fade away, but the hope in God’s kingdom and Jesus’ love never dies and it truly satisfy us. There will be a day when we will laugh with Jesus in true joy and peace.

Look at verses 22 and 23.

“22Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.” When we live as shepherds for the people around us, the world might not like you. It will abandon you, isolate you, and plainly hate you for what you believe. But we should not be shaken by the world. Rather we must hold on to Jesus tight whose name is above all. When we endure the sufferings and hardships in the world, Jesus promises us that we will surely rejoice in that day and leap for joy with Jesus. Our reward is not earthly and petty things. Our reward is in heaven. Amen. I pray that we may have godly standard of living a truly blessed life in following Jesus. You might think it’s too harsh to endure, but the reward in heaven will be much greater. May Jesus fill us, our heart and soul to stand firm in his name, and fight and endure while we are on earth.

From verses 27 to 36, Jesus tells his disciples to grow in the character and image of God. Which word stands out when you think of God’s character? Scary? Holy? Creator? Most of all, God is Love and true love comes from God. Jesus wants his disciples to know what love is, and practice it in their daily life. Look at verse 27 to 31. "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.” You might tell Jesus, “That’s too much. Love my enemies? I can’t even love my roommates. If someone strikes me once, I strike them twice because he or she started it. If someone takes my clothes, I call police.” But think again. You might think it’s impossible to live such a sacrificial and selfless life, but that is how Jesus lived his life from the beginning to the end. He gave us everything out of love, literally everything. And Jesus wants us to follow him, imitate him bit by bit and day by day, so that we can grow in Jesus’ image of love.

Look around you. Do you love them? Do you still have grudges against them? Do they make you uncomfortable? Or do you just not care about anything in their life? Now, look again with Jesus’ eyes. Do you see God’s chosen people? Do you see hope in them? Can you love them? Yes, we can, with Jesus’ love. I pray that we can really step one more step in loving various kinds of people in our lives. Loving those who love you is something anybody can do. Loving those you hate you, we can also do when we accept Jesus’ love for us.

Through today’s message, we realize that Jesus calls us his apostles with a high standard. It almost seems too high and a bit brutal. The truth is we cannot live up to it by ourselves for we are naturally weak and sin-seeking. But, when we accept Jesus’ standard by faith and pray for his help, he will work in our lives slowly and eventually change us into his apostles. Let us pray that Jesus will be always at the center of our hearts so that we can grow in Jesus’ image each day.