"Jesus Called Them One by One..."

by Steve Hale

"And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.
And they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve,that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have 'power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons" (Mk 3:13-15, NKJV).
In all, there were 14 apostles send forth by our Lord. The original twelve included: Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Thomas, Matthew, Bartholomew, James the less, Simon, Thaddeus, and Judas Iscariot ( Mark 3:16-19). Matthias eventually took the place of Judas ( Acts 1:23-26). Finally, Paul was called to be an apostle "out of due season" ( Acts 9:15-19).
The term apostle itself comes from the Greek word apostolos. This word means "one sent forth." In the New Testament, there are three sets of people who were "sent forth. "
First, Jesus Christ Himself is called an apostle: "...consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus" ( Hebrews 3:1). Jesus was an apostle in the sense that He was sent forth by the Father to save us from our sins (2 Cor. 5:21).
Second Paul and Barnabas are called apostles ( Acts 13:2). They were sent forth to do mission work by the church at Antioch: This is significant in that Barnabas was not an apostle of Jesus Christ, even though he was a disciple of Jesus Christ. He was an apostle (along with Paul), or one sent forth, by the Antioch church.
Third, there are the apostles sent forth by our Lord. These fourteen men were from various backgrounds, and show the dynamic of Jesus making diverse men one.
For example, Matthew was a tax collector, hated and despised among his fellow Jews ( Mark 2:13-14) while Simon was of the sect known as Zealots (Mk: 3:18). These Zealots were determined to throw off the yoke of Rome. To the Jews, Matthew was a traitor while Simon was a Patriot. Christ made these two into one!
There was no hierarchy among the ap?stles as, vve read of no rank among them. Peter is never mentioned as the Head apostle. Three of the apostles, Peter, James, and John, seem to have been closer to Jesus ( Matthew 17:1ff.). However, even these men had not rank above the others.
The apostles have an interesting and dynamic history. We will be smdying them for the next few weeks.

• Speaking Plainly - Jul 27, 2003
• Making God Your God - Dec 10, 2000
• Imagine You See Jesus' Hand and Ask "What Happened?" - Sep 29, 2000
• The Authority of Christ's Apostles - Jul 18, 1999
• Agape Love - Jan 03, 1999