What does it mean to be a messenger?
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2012 · 9 September 2012
This evening we come to the 10th chapter of Matthew. In our ongoing study of this marvelous account of our Lord's life and ministry, we find ourselves beginning a new section here. The first verse is the calling and the commissioning of the disciples. And then in the second verse they are sent out as apostles.
It is a change in the pattern of ministry for our Lord; it is a critical part of the training of the twelve. We are going to learn much about discipleship, about what our Lord did, and what He taught as He trained the men who would carry on the ministry. I believe that as we together go through this chapter, our lives are going to be dramatically affected in regard to our service.
Now remember from our last study together that our Jesus saw Israel and the whole world as a large field to be harvested. That's why in Matthew 9:37 He said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” So everybody should be involved. He looked at that multitude as it stretched out across the world and He saw all men as a field to be harvested.
We have to realize that the harvest means judgment. They were the sheep, either to be gathered in or to be cast out. And they had been betrayed by their shepherds, who were false shepherds, who had mutilated them and left them for dead. And when Jesus saw people that way He was moved with compassion, it says in Matthew 9:36.
Literally He felt their pain. And out of that He calls on His disciples, in verse 38 and asks them to pray, and He asks them to pray that God will send forth laborers. Because it is clear that He Himself can't do it all. And so we enter a new dimension in Matthew as the Lord begins to add to His own ministry these twelve men who are to reach the field that is to be harvested.
That is where we are in Matthew 10. That one solitary person, Jesus Christ has moved through the field alone, until now. And now He is going to call twelve others as ministers. He's going to commission them as His personal ambassadors and send them out. And chapter 10 is the record of their initial sending to warn men of the inevitable judgment.
But before we get to verse 5 we have to look at the first four verses, they're very simple in terms of what they say, and yet hidden behind them is some tremendous richness that I want you to see. Now for this evening I just want to mention three features of the first four verses. First let us look at their initiation, then their impact, and then their identity. We see their initiation in verse 1, their impact in verse 1, and then their identity is given in verses 2 through 4 as He names all twelve of them.
Now some of the things behind His preparation and calling of these men are very important because they apply in your own life. We are going to look at the way Jesus prepared and called these twelve, and this is also helps our own understanding of discipleship. We need to learn how we should disciple someone else and how God is going to disciple us.
First let's look at the initiation of the apostles, and we only have one statement, Matthew 10:1, “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power.” And as I was reading that I thought, now how did He do that? How did He get them to the place where He called them and then sent them?
Disciple means learner, apostle means ‘to be sent’. First they were learners then they were sent. And so this is their transition from being learners in verse 1 to being sent in verse 2, they've been trained and now they're sent. It's time to evangelize, it's time to tell others the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
There were basically four phases in Christ's training of the twelve. Number one was their salvation or their conversion. And if you look at John 1:35-51, you find there an illustration of the initial calling to faith or calling to salvation that our Lord used in the lives of these twelve disciples.
He called many, but there it pinpoints several of them in John 1, who are well known to us. And that is the initial calling; they were called to Christ to believe Him. But then after that they went back to their secular employment, back to their homes. And after that came a second phase, and that is recorded for us in Matthew 4:18-22.
"He saw two brethren, Simon, called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. He said unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Now, they had already been saved in the sense that we believe in conversion, they had already believed and affirmed that He was the Messiah as in John 1.
But now He is calling them to leave their secular employment, and to leave their homes, and to follow Him totally. This is their calling into ministry. And He's going to make them into fishers of men. This was their education, they were to follow Jesus around for three years to be trained.
And their training was not simple, for wherever Jesus went there was a large number of disciples. Some stuck around and according to John 6 some left and followed Him no more. But in the midst of this group were these special twelve and they were being trained along with everybody else, but even more specifically because the Lord knew that these twelve were special.
Now we see a third phase of their training. First to conversion, then to ministry, thirdly, they are to be sent out, and that's were we come to Matthew 10:1. This is not the final phase this is the third phase, and this is a sending out, and Mark tells us they were sent out two by two, they weren't ready to go alone yet; they had to have one another along for support.
And the Lord stayed with them very closely in this phase three. He was like a mother eagle watching His eaglets as they begin to fly, He was always there and they're always checking back in all the time, and letting Him know how it was going. This was their internship, this was the time to go out on their first short term missions assignment, and get a feel for how it was out there.
Then we know there was also a fourth phase of the twelve, and that was after the resurrection and after the ascension. When Christ went back into heaven He sent the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came into them and they then scattered and went into all the world disciplining the nations, and that was the final phase of the twelve.
So as we come to chapter 10 we are in phase three. This is their first experience alone in the mission field, and He doesn't let them out very far, but just far enough to learn where the trouble is going to come from. They were hand-picked by Jesus from all the other disciples who followed Him, He even hand-picked Judas because that was in the prophetic plan as well.
Now, in the process of training them, in phase two and phase three, Jesus was overcoming five problems that they had. These five problems are common in the process of discipling. In a small sense I am also sent, and so are you. Sometimes you wonder whether He could ever teach them, and it's a marvelous insight into the honesty of God, as we see Christ dealing with common weak men.
First of all they were chosen sovereignly, and God had it all laid out that way. It says in Matthew 10:1, "And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him.” In fact in Mark 3:13-14 it says, “13 And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. 14 Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach.” It was His sovereign choice. There was no executive search.
Jesus says in John 15:16, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit." And He chooses those who serve Him within His church, so that we who are representing Him are the called according to His purpose. But secondly they were chosen after a night of prayer.
And as we select those that we will teach, it should be only after great prayer, so that God can show us who it is that we are to give ourselves to. Look at Luke 6:12-13, "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles.”
They were chosen as the submissive Son in His humility sought only the will of the Father. And in John 17:12 He affirms that indeed they were the ones the Father wanted, given by the Father to the Son, He says, " Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” In John 17:6 it says, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”
And thirdly, and this is our focus, they were chosen to be trained. Training is an essential part, and for them it was a training of three years, they left their nets, they left their boats, they left their tax collecting stands, and they walked with Jesus. There are a lot of people who are called to Christ and maybe called to the ministry and they just want to go even if they don't know where to or to do what.
But Jesus knew they needed to be taught to become disciples, before they could be sent. Moses spent forty years being trained, Paul only three years, and these men also three. Some of us have spent three year, four or five years in seminary, others have spent years and years not in a formal education but learning the Word of God, maybe being taught by another Christian.
But there has to be a training time before one can be sent. And I can't imagine any greater thrill than to have been trained by the Lord Jesus Himself, can you? And in Matthew 11:29 He said to the group which included them, "Learn of me." Learning doesn't just happen because you sit in a class and hear a lecture, learning really happens when you watch a holy person walk through life. Well it's good to see their shortcomings because it gives us hope that God can use us too with all our faults.
Now let me come to the five things Jesus had to work with, to overcome, and you're going to see them in your own life. Number one, they lacked spiritual understanding. That's a tough way to begin but that's exactly what He had, they were blind and they didn't understand the parables. Every time the Lord says to them, do you understand this? You know what they always say? Yes Lord. Did they understand? No, they didn't understand.
It was so hard to get through all of their prejudices and their preconceived attitudes. Jesus spoke of the Pharisees in Matthew 15:14-16, "They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding?”
Now they had a second problem, lack of humility. They were a proud and envious group. Well let us hear the Lord talk about them in Mark 9:33-34, "Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.”
Now, how did Jesus deal with it? He gave them a demonstration of His own humility. He likened Himself here to a servant. In John 13 He washed their feet and then He said you should do the same in your love to one another as they were loved by Jesus. A new commandment, love one another as I have loved you. He overcame their lack of understanding by instruction; and He overcame their lack of humility by example.
They had a third problem, lack of faith. In fact the most common phrase Jesus ever said to them was this, "0 you of little faith." He would do so many things and still they didn't see. In fact in Mark 4:40 He says to them, "How is it that you have no faith?" How can it be that after all of this you still don't believe?
How can it be? At the end of Mark 16:14 it says, “And He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.” They didn't even believe reports of the resurrection. How did He deal with their unbelief? By miracles, by showing them His power over and over. In fact He did the miracles primarily for the disciples, not for the crowds.
The disciples needed to be sure and confident, they needed to know the resurrection really happened, so He appeared to them again and again and He let them touch Him and feel Him and see Him, they had to know for sure. Acts 1:3, "by many infallible proofs." So He overcame their lack of understanding with teaching, He overcame their lack of humility by example, and He overcame their lack of faith by miracles. All of this was part of the teaching process.
They had a fourth problem, lack of commitment. They would say, we will never forsake You, but when there came a crisis they were gone. And Peter was denying and Judas was betraying and the other ten just split. In Mark 14:50 it says, " Then they all forsook Him and fled.”
How did Jesus deal with that? Luke 22:31-32, “And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” How did Jesus deal with their lack of commitment? He dealt with it through prayer.
Fifth problem they had was a lack of power. They were weak and helpless. For an illustration of that let us look at Matthew 17:15, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.”
Who do you think He was talking to? Matthew 17: 18-21, “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith...nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
How did He deal with that? In John 20:22, "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” And in Acts 1:8 it says, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus believed in the men He had chosen and what was more, He had absolute confidence in His own power to make them what He wanted them to be. There's hope for us. How did they know that they'd been with Jesus? They did the same things Jesus did. They said the same thing Jesus said, they loved the same way Jesus loved. Finally, the job was done, and they went out as living mirrors to reflect Christ. This is the example for us too. Let us pray.