Luke 6
12 – One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.
13 – When morning came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also designated apostles:
14 – Simon (whom He named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
15 – Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot,
16 – Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Do you remember what it was like when you were in high school and the year books came in? I attended Caesar Rodney High in Camden, Delaware and the minute I got my copy each spring I would leaf through it carefully, page by page, to see how many times my face showed up in a picture. I did this because there was sort of an unwritten rule back then that said that the more times your picture appeared, the more popular you were and that was very important at that stage of life. I guess it still is.
Well, fter carefully noting every page on which I appeared…even those that featured part of my body like the back of my head or my foot coming around a corner or something. Well then I’d pass the year book around so my friends could sign it. This would give them a chance to see how often my picture showed up…further increasing my popularity. A few weeks ago I came across the yearbook that I purchased as a senior-in 1972. And it was nostalgic to leaf through the pages and bring up old memories of the people who signed that book. As I looked at all those faces from yesteryear I remembered again the way we classified each other into various groups or cliques. Of course, at the top of the clique pile were the most popular teens…the athletes and cheerleaders…the wealthy well-dressed kids…those teens who were always the center of everyone’s admiration and attention. This clique was a small but vocal minority and everyone wanted to be a part of it…I guess that’s why they called it the in crowd.
I know it may be hard for you to believe but I wasn’t a part of the in crowd. No, I was much farther down in the heap….one of the hundreds of lesser-known students. As a matter of fact, none of the members of the in crowd even signed my yearbook!
Now, If you had asked me back in 1972 who would have been more likely to succeed in life I would have voted for the members of the in crowd. After all, they were popular. They seemed to have it all together so it only made sense that they would become the shakers and the movers of our generation. Back then, I bought into the myth that well-known people could have a greater impact on the world than unknown people. But that’s not necessarily true. In fact, my parents who still live near Camden, Delaware, and I have bumped into members of the class of ’72 several times over the years. It may surprise you to know that several of those teens who were part of the in crowd haven’t excelled in life as far as you would expect. I met one member of this group flipping burgers at a local MacDonalds. I saw another doing janitorial work at the local bowling alley and these aren’t necessarily bad occupations. It’s just that I would have thought they would have done more with their lives than that.
And, the amazing twist is that the unknowns…the wallflowers…those peers whom I thought would NOT do anything significant in life…have. Most of them got good educations and good jobs and have made a real positive impact on society. I share all this because there is this false belief out there that people who aren’t popular…individuals who aren’t well-known are incapable of doing anything worthwhile in life. This is the old faulty philosophy that says, once a wall-flower always a wall-flower.
Well, one great proof that this is indeed a flawed belief is seen in the lives of Jesus’ unknown disciples, those less popular men who followed Him….men who are not nearly as well known as the ones we have studied so far this summer. I think of the other six disciples-the ones about whom we know the least-as unsung heros. I say this because with little or no public acclaim Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James bravely served God all over the world even though doing so caused each of them to die a martyr’s death. Philip shared the gospel in central Asia Minor. Bartholomew spent the rest of his life preaching and ministering in India. Matthew worked in Judea and then journeyed to the nations of the East. Simon was a missionary to Persia. James, son of Alphaeus, served the church in Jerusalem. Thaddeaus traveled to Mesopotamia.
God used these six just as powerfully as He did the others but we don’t know about it simply because these six were not as fortunate as the rest in the public relations department. I mean they didn’t have people to write down their memoirs like Peter, for example did so we don’t read much about these other guys in the Bible. The Acts of the Apostles would more accurately be titled, The Acts of SOME of the Apostles because most of the history we find there concerns the more popular disciples. The rest of Jesus’ first followers didn’t make it into this yearbook that chronicles the growth of the church.
A lot more happened in and through Jesus’ other disciples than we have a record of. As you study the history of the spread of Christianity you find churches popping up in pagan areas in the middle of no where, with no recorded church starter. For example, we are not told how the church in Damascus, which received and nurtured the blinded Paul after his conversion was founded. We know nothing about the origins of the church in Rome, which by 64 AD was big enough to survive the loss of large numbers of members during Nero’s persecution. We are in almost complete ignorance of the founding of the seven churches of Asia Minor mentioned in Revelation-Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatirea, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicia. This means that an enormous amount of hard and dangerous missionary work was accomplished by several unknown men and women who worked behind the scenes away from the spotlights. So, we don’t know the details of the work of these unsung heros. We only see the fruit of it.
And, this is good for you and me to know because the same thing is seen in the church today. I mean preachers and music ministers and youth pastors are seen and heard constantly. Sunday School teachers and deacons are also usually well-known. But behind the scenes in any church there are always unsung heros..people who serve quietly, without public acclaim, doing things that are essential to the health and growth of the church. The truth of the matter is that the majority of Christians must be ready to serve God in this way…anonymously…with little or no accolades because there are not many spotlights for Christian heros on this side of eternity.
One important principle we can learn from these relatively unknown followers of Jesus is that our motive in ministry should not be to be seen. No, the most Christlike disciples serve unseen. They are in fact usually embarrassed to have their names put up in lights. They follow Paul’s teaching in Colossians 3:23 when he said that whatever we do in life we should do it, …for the Lord, not for men.
Well, this morning I want us to seek an answer to a very important question because I believe that the information we gain will help us be more effective disciples. Here it is: How were these unknown disciples able to have such a great impact on the world? How were these six wall-flower-followers able to found all these churches and spread the gospel to so many places? I am indebted to Joe Stowell and his book, Following Christ in answering this question today.
1. Part of the secret to their effectiveness was the fact that they had an eternal focus.
These men remembered that everything Jesus did and taught had eternity in view so they lived for…they focused on…things of eternal significance. They were willing to suffer persecution and hardship because they believed that our time here is temporary at best and that the news they carried had eternal ramifications. So they traveled all over the world giving every day of their lives to share the only Good News that makes heaven attainable. In short: they believed that heaven was real and lived like it.
Now, most of us SAY we believe it is real as well. We give a nod to the theology of heaven but then we live as though THIS WORLD is all we have. If we expect to have any impact on our culture, we need to turn from this way of thinking and be more like these unknown disciples. We must witness and give of our tithes and offerings…we must serve others…with a sense of urgency, as if someone’s eternal destiny depended on our efforts because it does! Our time here is limited. In comparison to eternity it is the snap of a finger. We don’t have even a moment to waste on temporary things.
Another reason we must embrace an eternal focus is because the greatest trap of any follower is the trap of temporalism. If life is not defined by the long-view….if all we live for is the here and now…then we become vulnerable to materialism, hedonism, sensualism and the pursuit of prosperity, power, and position at all costs. And when we live this way, not only will our lives be powerless and ineffective. It is also inevitable that we will be plagued with disappointment and despair. Peggy Noonan, former speech writer for Presidents Bush and Reagan was dead right when she wrote the following paragraph in FORBES magazine,
I think we have lost the old knowledge that happiness is over-rated-that in a way, life is overrated. We have lost somehow a sense of mystery-about us, our purpose, our meaning, our role. Our ancestors believed in two worlds, and understood this to be the solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short one. We are the first generations of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth, and our search for it has caused such unhappiness. The reason: If you do not believe in another, higher world, if you believe only in the flat material world around you, if you believe that this is your only chance at happiness-if that is what you believe, then you are not just disappointed when the world does not give you a good measure of its riches, you are despairing.
If this is all there is, then as Paul says, we ARE a people without hope but when we realize that this is only temporary…that the REAL life is yet to be…then we can have peace in the midst of pain…joy in the midst of hardship. C.S. Lewis notes, Aim at heaven and get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
You know, eternity is the only reality that can resolve life’s insolvable dilemmas. Only an eternal perspective enables us to adequately cope with life’s disappointments and frequent unfairness. So, effective followers of Jesus view all of life…its good times as well as its bad through the lens of eternity. They measure the worth and value of every activity and involvement not by the bang it creates in this life, but rather by the benefit it contributes to our eternal home.
Well, what about you? Are you living for now or then…for heaven or earth?
2. And then, another key to the effectiveness of these unknown disciples was the amazing unity they experienced with the rest of Jesus’ followers.
I say amazing because Jesus first followers made up a very diverse group. In fact, if you looked at the twelve…your first glance would tell you that if any group of individuals were destined to NOT get along it would be these guys. They were as different as night and day in temperament, age, economic standing, politics, and culture. Any other group of people that was this dissimilar would have been plagued with irreconcilable conflict. They would have been fighting all the time. Yet miraculously these twelve vastly varied men hung together and experienced a truly supernatural unity. In fact their unity was so solid that after Christ left the earth, they continued to be unified, rooted in their dedication to their Master and His cause in spite of all that could potentially divide them.
Let’s take a closer look at these men and you’ll see what I mean. PETER had a type A personality that would drive wedges into any group. If you were a part of this bunch I imagine you would constantly find yourself biting your tongue to keep from saying, Peter for once would you please sit down, stop talking, and let us think! JOHN was soft and sentimental and would no doubt irritate the daylights out of more focused analytical types. ANDREW was the quiet one. Then again if you grew up with a brother like PETER who couldn’t keep his mouth shut, you would probably be quiet too. You should remember from a few weeks ago that we said THOMAS was the perfect example of a questioning skeptic. He was a man who had honest doubts that he was not afraid to share. Many scholars think he was the type who was always obstinate about his negative point of view and pessimistic about any positive perspective.
Among these twelve men, there were not only conflicting temperaments, but there were also more serious, political, professional, and cultural differences that threatened the disciples’ capacity for unity. For example, MATTHEW was a tax collector. Now, having an employee of the IRS in a group could pose problems even today but in the 1st century, having a tax collector in a group of Jews was a recipe for disaster. These revenue collectors had sold themselves out for their own financial gain in the service of the enemy, the oppressive Roman Empire. They worked for the vile, pagan Romans and made a living by being a part of their subjugation of God’s people. It would be an understatement to say that tax collectors were not popular people. They were hated and despised. Now, if tax collectors were gun powder, zealots were the match. And SIMON, was a ZEALOT…Some think JUDE was as well. This meant that they were members of the resistance force plotting against the Romans. Think of them as Michigan Militiamen thrown in with an ATF agent and you get the picture. It is amazing that SIMON or JUDE didn’t slit MATTHEW’S throat one night and yet they obviously forgot their differences and worked together to turn the world upside down.
And then there was NATHANIEL, who, as Christ noted, was squeaky clean-a Jew with no guile. Throw him in with MATTHEW, whose very occupation as a government bureaucrat would make him suspect as being one with a compromised integrity. Then to all this add four or five fishermen and well….you see what I mean? This diverse group had every reason in the book NOT to get along…and yet they did! They worked together…side by side…they experienced amazing UNITY! Why? How?
Well, I like how Joseph Stowell, president of Moody Bible Institute explains it: When lives are consumed with the preeminence, presence, and passion of Christ, then personal agendas and idiosyncrasies fade into the background. Jesus’ presence with these disciples transcended all those factors that would tend to create division. You see, Christ has a wonderful way of lifting us above and beyond our differences and calling us to an agenda so compelling that followers can’t afford NOT to get along. We become ONE when we love God and are devoted to the furtherance of His kingdom. These twelve men had a powerful unity because they ceased to be consumed with their differences when they became consumed with Christ. And we should note that their unity was an answer to Jesus’ last prayer that night in the Garden of Gesthemane. Remember? When Jesus knew the cross was near, He prayed one final time for His followers both then and now. John 17 records that Jesus did not pray for our success or safety or happiness. He prayed for our UNITY. Listen to His prayer in verse 20,
I pray for these followers, but I am also praying for all those who will believe in Me because of their teaching. Father, I pray that they can be ONE. As You are in Me and I am in You, I pray that they can also be one in Us. Then the world will believe that You sent Me.
Jesus uttered these words because He knew that our success at His great commission depended on our unity. He knew that this quality of miraculous ONENESS in spite of diversity is a powerful magnet to draw lost people to God. In fact I think it should have precedence in OUR prayers. We should join the Apostle Paul and make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. This is why I tell you every Sunday that as members of this church we are CALLED TO PEACE.
Now, this does not mean we compromise our convictions or beliefs. We don’t abandon the truths of scripture. Remember those familiar words of St. Augustine? As Christians we have freedom in the non-essentials….UNITY in the essentials…and LOVE in all things. Embracing UNITY does not mean that you can believe whatever you want. UNITY would be impossible under those conditions. But it does mean we understand how important UNITY is and so we constantly guard our attitudes and do everything we can to cherish and protect unity. We don’t waste our time arguing over things that don’t really matter. We have too much work to do…work that affects eternity.
Another thing we should note is that diversity of gifts and talents is a good thing. God sends us people whom He has given different gifts and abilities. This makes it possible for us as a church to be good at several different things. I mean, what if all of us were good evangelists but that is all. If this were true we would win lot’s of people to Christ, but our church would be made up of only immature, baby Christians. We need Christians who are gifted as disciplers and teachers…to mature new believers. We need Christians who are gifted as administrators or encouragers, gifted givers, in fact, the less diverse a church is…the weaker it is!
One reason our mission trip to New Hampshire was so effective this past week was our diversity.
We had people who were gifted at working with children, others who were obviously skilled at relating to teens and others whom God had designed to minister to parents. We had a gifted actor, children who had been to VBS at Redland and who knew the memory verse and music. Several of us had done canvassing before. And our unity, our mutual commitment to Christ, melded us into an unbeatable team.
So, to answer our question of the day, hese unknown disciples did amazing things…were able to do amazing things because…of their focus on things of eternal significance…because of their amazing unity…and then there was one other factor…that I believe was key to their success…
3. …they followed the right Person.
They left everything, their tax collecting career….their fishing nets…their involvement in the anti-Roman underground….and they followed Jesus Christ as Lord and Master. This choice made all the difference in the world for these men and it still does for us. You see all of us are created…designed to follow. But most people these days forget this…and in fact yearn instead to LEAD. You could accurately say that we live in a day and age in which unprecedented attention is paid to LEADERSHIP. You can’t walk into a bookstore without seeing shelves that bulge with books on the subject, books on visionary leadership, strategic leadership, team-building leadership. You can get books about what goes in to making great corporate leaders, political leaders, military leaders, nonprofit leaders. There’s a whole genre of best sellers out now about leaders in history, everything from: Leadership Lessons Of Abraham Lincoln, to Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun. But no where can you find books on what it takes to make a great FOLLOWER.This is because in our culture there is this general idea that following is what you get stuck with if you don’t get to lead. It’s like a T-shirt I heard of that says, If you ain’t the lead dog the scenery never changes.
Everyone wants to be a pitcher or a quarterback or a cheerleader. Everyone wants to be the team captain. No one…or rather, very few want to follow. But as I said, the truth is following is a fundamental part of our lives. Think of it. We enter this world as little followers. We follow our parents around and learn from them and imitate them and model them..and drive them crazy. But we’re not just BORN with the need to follow while we are little. It goes deeper than that. You see, a follower is what we are at the core of who our being. God created us to follow. Being made in His image means we are designed for a following relationship with our Creator.
Adam and Eve were given responsibilities that defined how they were to follow and then were released to enjoy all God had made. Life turned sour when these first followers decided to be independent…to lead…to do what they wanted instead of obeying God’s commands. And it is still the same for us. Life only works when we choose to FOLLOW God. Joe Stowell says, Self-management is not only the essence of the first sin. It is the very character of sin itself.
Think about it. Adam and Eve gained anything but a better and more independent life when they decided to do things their way instead of God’s. Everything broke around them. They became enslaved. And ironically they didn’t cease to follow. They instead got locked into following their misguided, misdirected fallen instincts instead of God. Once proud, productive followers of their Creator, after their sin, they struggled as pawns of an adversary who was bent on their destruction.
My point is we all follow something in life…self and sin…or God. The only freedom we have is to choose Who or what we will follow. And just like Adam and Eve the truth is the more we do life OUR way the more we lose our independence. People say they take a drink but so often they discover that the drink takes them. They choose to DO drugs but find out that drugs do them.
When we put career or sensual pleasure first in our lives we become enslaved. If we follow anything in life other than God we destroy ourselves because, we are built to follow the One in Whose image we were created. We are designed to live connectedly with God…Who cares for us, Who with superior wisdom and power can guide and protect us…Someone in Whom we could find fulfilment and satisfaction.
Douglas Coupland, the author of several best-selling books once said, Here is my secret. I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again, so I pray that you are in a quiet rom as you hear these words. My secret is that I need God…I am sick and can no longer make it alone. I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem to be capable of giving; to help me be kind as I no longer seem capable of kindness, to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.
To be happy and fulfilled, we need something more in life than we can supply ourselves. Could it be that your life is crumbling around you because you have not chosen to follow God? Are you miserable because like millions of others you have decided to orient your life around accumulating money or pleasure or prestige…instead of God? Are you …laying up treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt and where thieves break in and steal… instead of in heaven…the only place where anything really lasts?
Remember, when Jesus entered history He made an incredible claim. He said, I am THE way and the truth and the life. Are you following THE way or YOUR way? These unknown disciples would tell you that life only works when we follow the right Person. Today I invite you to follow their example and abandon whatever lesser lords you serve and give your heart…your life…your allegiance to Jesus Christ. Decide right now to follow Him. If you are here and are a Christian ask Your Master this morning where He is leading You. Perhaps He is telling you that you need to follow His leadership more closely in the way you relate to your spouse or your children. Maybe He is telling you that you have not been following Him when it comes to the way you do your job or interact with your co-workers or neighbors. He could be guiding you…leading you…to join this church. But….whatever God leads you to do…I advise you to do it.
And if that involves walking this aisle and making your decision public, now is the time to do so.
Won’t you come as we stand now and sing?