Jesus called the twelve apostles

Luke 6:12-16

Key Verse 6:13

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

Good morning! How are you? I am fine thank you. It’s already November and I noticed that thanksgiving is coming. I also noticed the thanksgiving sale. Last year I noticed that ‘thanksgiving sale’ is the best, even better than ‘Christmas sale’. I was thinking about buying one thing and I am still contemplating about it. By the way, it was a beautiful special song from shepherd Terry’s fellowship. We need to follow Jesus at any cost. The title for today’s message is “Jesus called the twelve apostles’. The key verse comes from verse 13. May we read this verse together? “When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles.” Let’s pray.

Have you ever experienced that a group of people are opposing you, speaking ill of you? I experienced when I was in a 3^rd grade. One of my classmates became so jealous of me. He basically influenced my whole classmates and they were against me. So everyday when class was over and when school was over, I ran to my house. Come to think of it, I could report to my school teacher or my parents. But I was so naïve that I had to suffer for a whole year. But these days I see newspaper which talks about shooting at school. I realize that those people are those who were like me. Thank God that I did not shoot my classmates. I did not have any weapons and I did not know even to think about it. 

Anyhow in today’s passage Jesus was opposed by a group of people, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. At first their relationship was not that bad. It started from small thing and the relationship, the opposition from the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, became very intense. When Jesus forgave a paralyzed man carried by his friends, when Jesus said to him, “Friend, your sins are forgiven” the Pharisees and the teachers of the law criticized Jesus in their hearts. “This fellow is blaspheming God. Who can forgive expect God alone?” Then Jesus had to explain ‘the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.’ Then Jesus called Levi and Levi held a great banquet for Jesus in his house. And the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And then Jesus helped them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” 

And then they complained and challenged Jesus, ‘John’s disciples are fasting and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting. But why are your disciples going on eating and drinking?” Then Jesus told them ‘friends of bridegroom do not fast’. And he talked about ‘new wine’ and ‘new wineskin.’ Then one day Jesus’ disciples were passing through grain fields. They were very hungry. So they picked up some heads of grain and rubbed them in their hands and ate the kernels. And then they accused them, saying “why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” Then Jesus had to teach them that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. And then on another Sabbath day they were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus very specifically when there was a man whose right hand was shriveled. At that point Jesus became spiritually angry and he said, “I ask you, what is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or destroy it?” They were silent. Then Jesus asked the man to straight out his hand. At that point the Pharisees and the teachers of the law became furious and they discussed about what they might do to Jesus. At that time the relationship was completely broken. And probably Jesus noticed that how evil they were as far as their opposition and their understanding about Sabbath. At this point our text comes. So if you read one verse ahead of today’s passage it shows that they were furious and they went out and discuss what they might do to Jesus. So they were trying to find a way to accuse Jesus. 

Now when you faced this kind of group opposition and tried to do the work of God how would you feel? Usually we feel 2 or 3 ways. First of all, we can be very fearful. It is not just one person. Even if one person accuses you you do not feel good. But a group of people accuse you that is pretty bad. You can be very fearful. Second of your response could be ‘you can despair.’ You can bear them for a while. But your strength is limited. So you can despair. The third possible response is ‘you begin to hate them.’ “I am doing the work of God and these guys are accusing me and then they are such evil people.” And you can end up hating them. 

Now let us see how Jesus responded to this kind of situation and kept on doing the work of God. Let’s read verse 12 together. “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” Basically how Jesus overcome all kinds of fear, despair, and hating emotion was through prayer. If we face this king of group opposition it is very easy for us to be frustrated and become fearful and eat and usually we pray less and meditate on the word of God less. In my case what I usually do is ‘I eat a lot and gain weight’ and become frustrated more. But as we see in today’s passage Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray and spent the whole night praying to God.

So Jesus depended on God through prayer in order to wage spiritual battles. Especially the spiritual battle to love them continually instead of hating them. Jesus taught his disciples ‘what good is it for you when you love those who love you?” Jesus taught them they should love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them and love those who hate them. These religious leaders, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law’, should become Jesus’ coworkers and Jesus’ helpers. They knew the bible more than general crowd. Obviously when Jesus came they should be the ones who should recognize Jesus the most and very happy to see Jesus and help Jesus. But when Jesus came they appeared to be Jesus’ enemies. General crowd loved Jesus. They followed Jesus and enjoyed healing. But these religious leaders became enemies of Jesus more and more. Ultimately they are the ones who stirred the crowd and crucified Jesus. In order to wage spiritual battle and win over them Jesus depended on God through prayer. He spent the whole night praying to God.

To have fellowship with God and spend time with God as believers is the most important in order to do the work of God. We have many experience and common sense to do the work of God. But to spend time with God and do what he says at that time is very important. Long time ago I had one bible student. I heard on a Saturday he went home which is about 1.5 hours from our church. Immediately I realized that he burnt out and he could not make next Sunday worship service. All my experience as the bible teacher and my common sense strongly urged me to go and visit him. And one thing I was not so sure about. Visiting him can be interpreted as another push to him. So I was hesitating. But my experience and common sense was so strong that I was almost ready to go and visit him. But thank God! He helped me not to visit him according to my experience and common sense. He helped me to read the bible. So I spent about 3 hours reading the Bible. And I reached Genesis. When I read the Genesis ‘where are you?’ God spoke to me. To visit a person, in this case, is the expression of God’s love as if God was looking for Adam who was hiding behind a tree, saying “where are you?” is the expression of God’s love. So I drove 1.5 hours and met him. What shocked me the most was ‘at the beginning our conversation and fellowship’ he specifically told me ‘Your visit is special and specific expression of the love of God.’ God knew what was my greatest worry in my heart and he removed it from the beginning of our fellowship. I never had such a sweet fellowship where I can understand others better than that day. It shows a huge difference doing ‘after listening to God’ or ‘doing according to our experience and common sense.’ 

What if I went 3 hours earlier? What could happen? I don’t know. Probably I would not have such a graceful and wonderful relationship and result at all. Because it would come from my common sense and experience. But only after I heard God through prayer and meditating on the word God and acted upon his word I was able to reap abundant and graceful fruit.

So to spend time with God through prayer and meditating the word of God cannot be excused in any situation as believers in order to do the will of God.

The second reason we need to spend time with God through prayer in order to do the will of God is we need strength to overcome fear, despair, especially hatred. It is our natural response to hate the person when someone hates us especially when you are trying to do the work of God. Where can we get such a mountainous power, spiritual strength to love those who hate us and love those who speak ill of us, love those who persecute us, and love those who trouble us the most? Where can you get such a power to overcome your fear, to overcome your despair and overcome yourself? It is none other than fellowship with God through prayer and meditating the word of God. This is how Jesus waged spiritual battle and won a wonderful victory.

So “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” Probably if Jesus were an ordinary man, at that day fear, despair, and hatred accumulated so much in the heart of Jesus that he could not stop praying. He could pray the whole night to release all of his despair, and burdens, and hurt and any of negative emotional feelings. Then the morning came.  When morning came he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them and designated them apostles. 

So obviously through the whole night of prayer God gave him wisdom about how to take care of the situation. The wisdom that came from God was ‘do not struggle with them anymore.’ I think the last part when Jesus challenged them, “What is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or destroy it” was the maximum Jesus could go.

When they were silent and they went and became so furious I think Jesus realized that he would not push them to repent anymore. So he stopped struggling with them but struggled with God. And God gave him wisdom to help his disciples. The wisdom that came from God was to focus on ’12’ people. You know Jesus is the almighty Son of God. His power is almighty. So he could decide to help people as many as possible.

But God advised him to choose 12 people. 12! God reminded Jesus of there were people who were willing to learn from him and follow him. Not only Jesus had the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who were opposing him but also he had many people who were learning from him and following him. So God asked him to focus on what he had, his disciples, and choose 12 of them and designate them apostles.  

Disciples means ‘followers’ or ‘learners’ and ‘apostles’ means ‘those who are sent to preach.’ So basically God asked Jesus to choose 12 people who could do what Jesus was doing; to be sent out to preach and heal. 

Choosing of 12 apostles shows God’s vision and hope for these 12 people because they were ordinary men. They were not spiritually mature people. They were not professional bible scholars. Many of them were fishermen for their job and they were not spiritually super men. They were spiritually very young people. But God has a vision and hope to mold these people into apostles who had Jesus’ authority and power and could help people to be saved after Jesus’ departure. 

Now when we look at 12 people, we can learn one more thing about God. God wants to save all kinds of people. These 12 people are very very different. Some people are totally different. Simon whom Jesus named Peter, so his name later became Simon Peter, was a man of big mouth but he was lacking in faithfulness. It was like this. One day 4 or 5 disciples gathered together and discussed about something. Then Simon Peter suggested, “Hey, brothers, among 12 unity is very important. So I suggest that we meet on a specific date again and we gather all together and talk about it.” And 4 or 5 disciples all agreed. Unity is such an important matter. So they all agreed to come to a certain date and meanwhile they would contact others who were not there. So finally the date came and everyone appeared except one person. Guess who is missing? “Simon Peter”. The very guy who suggested 12 people should meet and the very guy who suggested the specific date was missing out of 12. And he was like that. John the Apostle was totally different person. Generally he was quiet. But he was standing beneath the cross. So from Peter’s point of view John was very different and it is not easy to work together with John. From John’s point of view, Peter was so different from him that it was so hard for John to work together with him. Two of them ran to the empty tomb of Jesus after he has risen. John reached the first but he hesitated. Peter came later but he went in first. They are totally different people.

Sometimes we may wonder in our church how we all different people gather together. Sometimes husbands and wives are so different. People are so different that we wonder how we gathered together. Look at verse 13. “called’ “chose” and even ‘designated’. We did not choose husbands or wives. (We choose but our choice can be under God’s sovereign will.) We do not choose our church members. We are all called by Jesus, chosen by Jesus, and even designated by Jesus and we are all here and we are very different.

We are so different. Why did God choose totally different people? It is to help and save all kinds of people including Judas Iscariot who became a traitor. So in God everyone has hope. Everyone has a great vision. And these 12 disciples and apostles could represent all kinds of human race. God chose each of them so that they can help same kinds of people. 

I usually don’t want to talk about Maria and it was request from her too. But the day before yesterday we talked about buying something, and we are so different. We talk about how to use our cell-phone and text messages etc. And I recognized that God created each person so differently but he joined us together. So what should be our response to those who are so different from us? Shall we say, “Oh, he or she is so different from me. She doesn’t do this. She doesn’t do that.” Should it be our response? Or should we say, “Oh, God created him or her so different from me so that God may reach out all kinds of people. So he or she is in our church.” What should be our response? First, or second? Of course, the second. There is God’s divine will to call us and choose us and even designated us to gather to save all kinds of people.

About two weeks ago I specifically prayed to God, “Lord, please heal one of my terrible weaknesses” because it was so painful for me to carry the weakness. Actually I reached the point where I cannot carry it anymore. So I prayed to God. “Please heal me.” And God’s answer was “My grace is sufficient for me for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

In another words, “I am not gonna heal you.” (laughter) But when I was reminded of ‘my grace is sufficient for you’ I ended up agreeing with God. Very true. I forgot will the sufficient grace given to me and I asked God one more thing. But God knows better. “My grace is sufficient for you. You got enough. I gave you enough.” And he said, “for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So God was revealing to me, “my weakness which caused me so much pain was given to me so that I may come to him and experience his power instead of thinking that I am somebody or trying to do on my own strength or will or plan. 

So I agreed with God. Jesus’ grace is sufficient for me for his power is made perfect in weakness. In today’s passage Jesus did not have cooperation or coworking of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. But what Jesus had was ‘cooperation from God.’ What Jesus did not have was ‘disciples from the Pharisees and the teachers of the law” but what Jesus had was ‘disciples from the general crowd.” 

And God helped Jesus what he had instead of focusing on what he did not have. Most of all, God helped Jesus to struggle with him rather than struggle with men, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. 

God can even use our weakness in his salvation plan for all people. For example, if you look at in Genesis, Joseph’s brothers became so envious that they tried to kill him and ended up selling him as a slave. Later he became Egyptian prime minister and confessed to his brothers, “You intended to harm me but God intended to do good, to save many lives.” God’s desire to save all kinds of people was so strong and that God has such a strong power that he can use even our weaknesses. So in God we all have hope. That is why even Judas Iscariot who became a traitor was included in one of 12 apostles.

When we trust God and spend time with God through prayer and meditating the word of God God speaks to us and God gives us strength to overcome fear, despair, and hatred.  Spending time with God is also a way for us to be blessed by God and to do the work of God according to his leading instead of our common sense or our experience.

Today we learned how Jesus overcame the strong opposition from the group of people, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, and how he could love them continually and how he could carry the will of God in his time. It was spending the night through prayer. Also it is choosing 12 apostles. Apostle Paul also learned it in his personal life if you read the book of Acts. When Jewish people rejected his teaching he went to the Hall of Tyrannus and focused on 12 disciples to have daily discussion with them and there was such a great work of God that all the people in Asia the Minor heard the word of God and they repented.

So today we learned how Jesus overcame such an opposition from the religious leaders and kept doing the will of God. We pray that we may learn from Jesus and spend time with God through prayer and meditating the word of God and love those who hate us and love those who speak ill of us and love those who persecute us and keep on doing the work of God overcoming our fear, despair, and hatred.

One word: Jesus spent the night praying to God.

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