Chosen, Called and Appointed    Mark 3;  13 -19

Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason -- February 12, 2006

To: Jesus, Son of Joseph
Woodcrafter's Carpenter Shop
Nazareth 25922

From: Jordan Management Consultants

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

 Sincerely,

Jordan Management Consultants

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I am sure that you have guessed by now that our text for today in Mark 3:13-19a deals with the calling of the 12 disciples.

            “And he went up to the mountain and summoned those he himself wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out demons.” Mark 3:13-15

The very first thing that we see in our text for today is that He called those he preferred.

Jesus had a preference. He exercised that preference. Our text says that he called or summoned those whom He Himself actually wanted to be his closest disciples.

That is those whom he called to follow him in that intimate relationship of his closest disciples.

The end result of his choosing these men was the fact that responsibility for the choice was his and his alone. He assumed responsibility for the choice. He called the 12 disciples to himself. They were the ones out of all the people who had been following him he wanted to be with him. The choice obviously proceeded from his infinite wisdom and understanding. And when he called them it was not because they themselves wanted him to and asked him to do so. For that reason there could be no personal responsibility for that calling on the part of these disciples.

His call set them free from responsibility. What that means is this:  If there was a mistake of some sort…Jesus made it. If there were defects in these men, He would have to deal with them and remedy the situation in regards to them. They were not responsible for the calling or for the equipping that would have to follow the calling.

They did not choose to be his disciples. Remember Jesus said, “You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you to bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.”

Jesus did the choosing. And because of this he is responsible for these men.

Having said that…the call of Jesus to be his disciples left these men in a place of very real responsibility. 

            It called these men to confidence in the wisdom of His choice,

            It called them to obedience to his commands.

            It called them to yield to his power.

Here is a group of men, just ordinary men. It is a strange mixed group. Most of the men are Galileans. But there is one Judean. They are not very many upon which to establish one’s work of reaching the world with the good news. There are not very many wise among them. Some of these men are full of themselves at the time of their choosing by Jesus. There are others who are so retiring and unobtrusive that we know next to nothing about them.

Yet they were his choice. They had powers and abilities that he needed and could use. They were chosen because they also were capable of appropriating His power.

R.H. Hutton in his Theological Essays said this:

“The chosen apostles themselves misunderstand and misinterpret their Master. Peter, after being told that his confession is the Rock on which the church should be built, is spoken of as a tempter and an offence to his Master. He is spoken of as one who savors not of the things which are of God, but of those which are of men. John is twice rebuked for his revengeful spirit and once for his short sited ambition. Judas’ treachery is predicted….we have evidence which no none could have managed to forge, that Christ deliberately chose materials of which it would have been impossible for anyone to build a great organization, unless he would otherwise provide, and continue to provide the power necessary for the church to stand.”

The point of this is the following:  Christ Jesus chose these people. These people were the building material for the church and obvious evidence that he would have to provide the power to do the work He was calling us to.

            He chose men who were utterly inadequate for the task in mind. He knew that he would have to empower them for the work he called them to. And nothing has changed to day. He still chooses inadequate men and women today. God lays hold of our capacities, sanctifies them and cleans them and fills them with the power of the Holy Spirit.

After choosing the twelve to be with him, He appoints those he had chosen:

1.      to be with him

2.      to go out and preach

3.      to go out with authority to cast out demons

The first of these is essential and foundational. He called them to a special training scheme that would be comprised of consistent, continuous intimate nearness to Jesus. He spent a great deal of time with them privately. He gave of himself more fully to these men than to anyone else. He devoted himself to them.

Their appointment was to be with him. The importance of being with him is that of being in very close association with him. The end result was that these men who were called to be with him were men through whom he could act unhindered.

He appointed them to be his apostles. Originally, the word apostle meant: to set apart. Over time it came to mean those who were sent out. And the suggestion of the word is that he only sent out those whom he has set apart.

This was their relationship to Jesus. They were set apart by him and in the power of that setting apart, he sent them out.

Notice that he appointed them to be with him and to go out to preach. They were to act as a herald; that is, one with a message and with a formality, gravity and authority that must be listened to and obeyed.

They were also appointed with authority to cast out demons. They had authority to speak in Jesus’ name so that His power might become operative to cast out demons and they might have mastery over the underworld of evil.

These men were strengthened by Him for the work he called them to do. It was always His power and authority.

The third thing we should note about our text is this:  He surnamed three of the disciples. That simply means that Jesus imposed a name on them. He gave them a name that was in some way indicative of his authority and the outcome of their character.

Peter was called “rock”. Rock was a symbol of strength and stability. And Peter was the most changeable and vacillating one among the twelve disciples. Jesus did not name Peter some thing he could not be. The contradiction in Peter was not with his true nature, but with the experience of the man. He was a man of intellectual strength, emotion and strong will. Yet he was weak and frail. Jesus looks at what he can become and names him “rock”. It would be upon Peter that Jesus would build his church. Jesus visualizes what Peter can become. And apart from Jesus, Peter never would have become a rock.

James and John he named Boanerges which means “sons of thunder”. The capacity was there, but how different were these brothers. John is the dreamer, the visionary. He is the one who positions himself as the disciple Jesus loved. But of James we know very little. And that in itself tells us much of this man. He was quiet and retiring. And yet James yields himself and died by the sword of Herod. John eventually has his visions on the Isle of Patmos and writes them out for us in what we call the Book of Revelation.

The others were not surnamed.

Andrew was the first inquirer who brought his brother to see Jesus.

Philip was the first whom Jesus called.

Bartholomew is actually Nathanel, the guileless.

Matthew is the publican.

Thomas is the skeptic.

James, the less, is one about which we know nothing.

Thaddeus or Jude we shall hear speak once in the upper room and that is all.

Simon the Cananean or Zealot was a member of a radical political party that sought the death of all who would oppress Israel.

Peter and Andrew were brothers.

James and John were brothers.

James the less and Jude were brothers.

Philip and Bartholomew (Nathanel) may well have been brothers.

Thomas is called Didymus which means twin in Greek. He is paired with Matthew in Matthew, Mark and  Luke. It is possible that Matthew and Thomas were twins.

One other interesting thing is that John 19:25 seems to indicate that Salome, the wife of Zebedee, was a sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. That would make James and John cousins to Jesus as was John the Baptist.

And then there is Judas from Kerioth, or Judas Isacriot the only Judean among the group and the one who betrayed him. He too was chosen with the others. He too was appointed to be with Jesus, to preach the good news and to have authority to cast out demons. He so failed to respond to the fellowship and relationship available with Jesus that Satan entered into him.

What has all of this to do with us today?

Jesus is still choosing, calling and appointing people to be with him, to preach and to have authority over the demons.

We cannot choose to be apostles (missionaries today) pastors or such. We must be chosen. We must be called. We must be appointed to be with Him, to preach and to have that kind of authority.

When he has done that we will know it. And that means that the responsibility to make some thing out of it all is His responsibility. It is His church and not ours. It is his calling and not our going that matters.

We cannot just elect to go serve him. I have said this time and again:  I have been asked many times if I wanted by boys to follow me in the ministry. My answer has always been No! unless…God has called them. It would be difficult enough if God called them and impossible if they were only doing it because I wanted them to do it.

Years ago an old black Preacher was talking with a young minister who was having a terrible time making a go of it in the ministry. Finally the old man asked the young minister:  “Was you called or did you just went?”

If you are called to some ministry, then Christ will empower you to do the work involved in it that he has called you to. If he has chosen you, he will be responsible for you and the work you do. If he has called you and appointed you to the work, then he will empower you to do it. All you then have to do is be faithful to the calling and obey him.

Then you can leave the results to Him.

 --Dennis Gleason