TWELVE ORDINARY MENby

John MacArthur

Given An Uncommon Mission

1 Cor. 1:26-29

Chapter 1COMMON MEN, UNCOMMON CALLING

If you were Jesus, how might you have proceeded to get the message about the kingdom of God spread throughout the world? What sort of strategy might you have pursued?

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[Jesus] chose to work through the instrumentality of those few

fallible individuals rather than advance His agenda through mob

force, military might, personal popularity, or a public-relations

campaign. (continue)

From a human perspective, the future of the church and the long-term success of the gospel depended entirely on the faithfulness of that handful of disciples. There was no plan B if they failed. (Zech 4:6)Twelve Ordinary Men, p. 3

Four Phases of Their Calling

• Called to Conversion• Called to Ministry• Called to Apostleship• Called to Martyrdom

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The Call To Apostleship

• The Timing• The Twelve• The Teacher• The Task and • The Training

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The Timing(Luke 6)

• Conflict with the scribes and Pharisees

• In “these days” He calls The 12• Change in His ministerial focus• Rejected by Jewish religious

establishment• The 12 would have to come from the

anti-establishment

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The Twelve• What about qualifications?• Who could meet the standards?• Unworthy nobodies are all God has• (Satan says: “Unworthy = Useless”)

1 Cor. 1:20-21• Man does NOT make the Apostle!• Apostles are among the Heroes of the

Bible• Where are man’s great minds? Not in the

church, because God gets the glory!

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The Teacher

• He prays all night (Lk. 6:12)• He chooses from among the multitude.• Many desert Him after “hard sayings.”

(Dynamics of John 6)• He did NOT ask for volunteers.

(John 15:16)• Why 12? (Luke 22:29-30)

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The Task

• “Pulled in” then “pushed out.”• The timeline of their preparation:

- They would follow Jesus on a part-time basis. - Mt. 4 is when He calls them to follow Him exclusively. - Later He will give them the gift of authority

and miracle power- Finally He will send them out on short-term

missions.- After His death, return, and ascension they

would take the gospel into the entire world.

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

Their Uncommon Task• Preach the New Kingdom to Israel• Found the church and lead it through its early

growth.• Channels through which the New Testament

would to be written. (Eph. 3:5) • The source of all true church doctrine. (Acts 2:42)• To edify the church. (Eph. 4:11,12)• To set the standard for godliness and true

spirituality. (They set a standard to emulate.)• To use their miraculous powers to confirm the

word. (Heb. 2:3,4)

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The Training

• They became full-time students • They sat at the feet of the Master

Teacher. (18 months, best seminary training ever!)

• The scriptures do not whitewash their blemishes. (Matt. 15:16-17) (Luke 24:25)

- They were lacking in many important areas.

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The Training

• They lacked spiritualunderstanding.

• They lacked humility.

• They lacked faith.

• They lacked commitment.

• They lacked power.

• Jesus just kept teaching. (Acts 1:1-3)

• Jesus continued to model servant-hood.

• Jesus kept doing signs and wonders. (John 20:30)

• Jesus continued to pray for them (John 17: 11-26)

• Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8)

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The ConclusionWhy didn’t Jesus just pick other men?

Common Men…

An Uncommon Calling

The weak things of this world confound the mighty of the world (1 Cor. 1:26-29)

Consider how they come to be viewed after the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them – Acts 4:6-13

The same should be said of every true disciple of Christ! (Luke 6:40)

1 Corinthians 1:26-29   26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many

wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

   27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things

of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

   28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not,

to bring to nought things that are:

   29That no flesh should glory in his presence.

“Some might imagine that if Christ had wanted His message to have maximum impact, He could have played off His popularity more effectively. Modern conventional wisdom would suggest that Jesus ought to have done everything possible to exploit His fame, tone down the controversy that arose out of His teaching, and employ whatever strategies He could use to maximize the crowds around Him.”

Twelve Ordinary Men, p. 2

Zechariah 4:6:   6Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.