Today we will talk about what kind of people Jesus chose to help him spread his message.
Jesus chose 12 disciples. They are also called the twelve apostles. They traveled with him and he taught them and instructed them. They where to continue to spread his message after he was gone.
Lets try to learn a little bit more about them.
Out of the 12 there was one that would betray him. The same as it was then it is now, you never know for sure who is who. That is why we need to make sure we know who we are listening to. I am sure Jesus knew that one of them was going to betray him, but I bet none of the disciples knew. Ever heard the old saying: Don't judge a book by its cover.
Here is a list of the disciples:
MT 10:2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Lets see where some they came from:
Peter - also called Simon, was a fisherman.
Andrew (Peter's brother) - was a fisherman. He brought Peter to Jesus.
James son of Zebedee - was the brother of John and a fisherman.
John son of Zebedee - was the brother of James, lived in Galilee and was a fisherman.
Philip - Native of Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.
Bartholomew - it doesn't say where he is from or what he did before.
Thomas - nick named the doubting Thomas. This is because of what he said in the following scripture. This is from the Gospel of John, from the part after Jesus rose from the dead. JN 20:25 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
Matthew - was a tax collector, but was called by Jesus to be a disciple.
Him? Tax collectors where not liked at all. A lot of people considered them traitors, because
they collected taxes for the Romans who was occupying Israel at the time. Also they where known to be crooks.
James - was the son of Alphaeus
Thaddaeus - it doesn't say where he is from or what he did before
Simon the Zealot - he was known for two things: Religious zeal and for membership in the party of the Zealots. The Zealots where a Jewish patriotic party considered violent; fanatical.
Judas Iscariot - was chosen as an apostle even so he was going to betray Jesus. He was the treasurer of the disciples.
This was a quick run down of the disciples. Did you notice anything about them?
Lets see:
(4) of them where fisherman, in other words basic hard working people
(6) of them it doesn't say what they did before they knew Jesus
(1) it says he was a tax collector
(1) just says he belonged to a patriotic party
Does that tell you anything?
Here is what I think it tells us:
It doesn't matter where we come from, Jesus can use us. Jesus chose basic "regular" people from everyday life. It does not get into detail as to who they where, it just tells us who they became. That's what's important. Good or bad it didn't matter, Jesus could use them.
Jesus chose untrained inexperienced people that didn't think they already knew it all. People like that are easier to teach. He also chose people that where considered "bad". He had no problem with them.
If you don't know Jesus already, then chances are that you have not developed wrong opinions or bad habits. This will make you easy to teach. Just like the tax collector, Jesus can use you.
It starts with this (my favorite passage):
RO 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
