Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You

by John F. MacArthur Jr.

There's another striking reality in this. When Jesus chose the Twelve to be His official representatives—preachers of the gospel who would carry both His message and His authority—He didn't choose a single rabbi. He didn't choose a scribe. He didn't choose a Pharisee. He didn't choose a Sadducee. He didn't choose a priest. Not one of the men He chose came from the religious establishment.

The choosing of the twelve apostles was a judgment against institutionalized Judaism. It was a renunciation of those men and their organizations, which had become totally corrupt. That is why the Lord didn't choose one recognized religious leader. He chose instead men who were not theologically trained—fishermen, a tax collector, and

Their rejection of Him was complete. They were hostile to the gospel He preached. They despised the doctrines of grace He stood for, spurned the repentance He demanded, looked with disdain upon the forgiveness He offered, and repudiated the faith He epitomized. In spite of the many miracles that proved His messianic credentials—despite actually seeing Him cast out demons, heal every conceivable sickness, and raise dead people to life—they would not accept the fact that He was God in human flesh. They hated Him. They hated His message. He was a threat to their power. And they desperately wanted to see Him dead. So when it was time for Jesus to select twelve apostles, He naturally did not choose people from the establishment that was so determined to destroy Him. He turned instead to His own humble followers and selected twelve simple, ordinary, working-class men.

Many Christians become discouraged and disheartened when their spiritual life and witness suffer because of sin or failure. We tend to think we're worthless nobodies—and left to ourselves, that would be true! But worthless nobodies are just the kind of people God uses, because that is all He has to work with.

God chooses the humble, the lowly, the meek, and the weak so that there's never any question about the source of power when their lives change the world. It's not the man; it's the truth of God and the power of God in the man.

To say He spent the whole night requires several words in English. It's only one word in the Greek: dianuktereuo. The word is significant. It speaks of enduring at a task through the night. The word could not be used of sleeping all night. It's not an expression you would use if you wanted to say it was dark all night. It has the sense of toiling through the night, staying at a task all night. It suggests that He remained awake through the darkness until morning and that He was persevering all that time in prayer with an immense weight of duty upon Him.

Luke 6:13 says, "He chose twelve whom He also named apostles." The title alone was significant. The Greek verb apostello means "to send out." The noun form, apostolos, means "one who is sent." The English word apostle is a transliteration, rather than a translation, of the Greek word. The apostles were "sent ones." But they were not mere messengers.The Greek word for "messenger" was angelos, from which we get our word "angel." An apostolos was something more significant than a courier or a herald; apostolos conveyed the idea of an ambassador, a delegate, an official representative.

The word has an exact parallel in Aramaic—shaliah. (Remember that the common language in Israel in Jesus' time—the language Jesus Himself spoke—was not Hebrew, but Aramaic.) In that first-century Jewish culture, the shaliah was an official representative of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of Israel. A shaliah exercised the full rights of the Sanhedrin. He spoke for them, and when he spoke, he spoke with their authority. He was owed the same respect and deference as the council itself. But he never delivered his own message; his task was to deliver the message of the group whom he represented. The office of a shaliah was well known. Shaliah were sent out to settle legal or religious disputes, and they acted with the full authority of the whole council. Some prominent rabbis also had their shaliah, "sent ones" who taught their message and represented them with their full authority. Even the Jewish Mishnah (a collection of oral traditions originally conceived as a commentary on the Law) recognized the role of the shaliah. It says, "The one sent by the man is as the man himself." So the nature of the office was well known to the Jewish people.

They were also examples of virtue. Ephesians 3:5 calls them "holy apostles ."They set a standard for godliness and true spirituality. They were the first examples for believers to emulate. They were men of character and integrity, and they set the standard for all who would subsequently become leaders in the church.

But when they forsook their jobs, they by no means became idle. They became full-time students, learners—disciples. Now the next eighteen months of their lives would be filled with even more intensive training—the best seminary education ever. They had the example of Christ perpetually before them. They could listen to His teaching, ask Him questions, watch how He dealt with people, and enjoy intimate fellowship with Him in every kind of setting. He gave them ministry opportunities, instructing them and sending them out on special assignments. He graciously encouraged them, lovingly corrected them, and patiently instructed them. That is how the best learning always occurs. It isn't just information passed on; its one life invested in another.

But it was not an easy process. The Twelve could be amazingly thick headed. There was a reason they weren't the academic elite. Jesus Himself often said things like, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand?" (Matthew 15:16—17; cf. 16:9). "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe" (Luke 24:25). It is significant that Scripture doesn't cover their defects. The point is not to portray them as superholy luminaries or to elevate them above mere mortals. If that were the aim, there would be no reason to record their character flaws. But instead of whitewashing the blemishes, Scripture seems to make a great deal of their human weaknesses. It's a brilliant reminder that "[our] faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:5).

A second problem that made the learning process difficult for the disciples is that they lacked humility.

Third, not only did they lack understanding and humility, but they also lacked faith.

Fourth, they lacked commitment.

Fifth, they lacked power.

We're inclined to look at this group with all their weaknesses and wonder why Jesus did not simply pick a different group of men. Why would He single out men with no understanding, no humility, no faith, no commitment, and no power? Simply this: His strength is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Again we see how He chooses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty. No one could ever examine this group of men and conclude that they did what they did because of their own innate abilities. There is no human explanation for the influence of the apostles. The glory goes to God alone.

Acts 4:13 says this about how the people of Jerusalem perceived the apostles: "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus." The Greek text says people perceived that they were "aggramatoi . . . idiotai"—literally, "illiterate ignoramuses." And that was true from a worldly viewpoint. But it was obvious that they had been with Jesus. The same thing should be said of every true disciple. Luke 6:40 says, "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher."

In other words, the poor person who gives everything he or she has is giving a greater gift than rich people who gave much more out of their abundance. God's ability to use a gift is in no way hindered or enhanced by the size of that gift. And it is the sacrificial faithfulness of the giver, not the size of the gift, that is the true measure of the gift's significance.

That's a difficult concept for the human mind to comprehend. But somehow, Andrew seemed instinctively to know that he was not wasting Jesus' time by bringing such a paltry gift. It is not the greatness of the gift that counts, but rather the greatness of the God to whom it is given. Andrew set the stage for the miracle. Of course, Jesus didn't even need to have that boy's lunch in order to serve the crowd. He could have created food from nothing just as easily. But the way He fed the five thousand illustrates the way God always works. He takes the sacrificial and often insignificant gifts of people who give faithfully, and He multiplies them to accomplish monumental things.

Some people won't play in the band unless they can hit the big drum. James and John had that tendency. So did Peter. But not Andrew. He is never named as a participant in the big debates. He was more concerned about bringing people to Jesus than about who got the credit or who was in charge. He had little craving for honor. We never hear him say anything unless it related to bringing someone to Jesus.

Andrew is the very picture of all those who labor quietly in humble places, "not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" (Ephesians 6:6). He was not an impressive pillar like Peter, James, and John. He was a humbler stone. He was one of those rare people who is willing to take second place and to be in the place of support. He did not mind being hidden as long as the work was being done.

By the governor's orders, those who crucified him lashed him to his cross instead of nailing him, in order to prolong his sufferings. (Tradition says it was a saltire, or an X-shaped cross.) By most accounts, he hung on the cross for two days, exhorting passersby to turn to Christ for salvation. After a lifetime of ministry in the shadow of his more famous brother and in the service of His Lord, he met a similar fate as theirs, remaining faithful and still endeavoring to bring people to Christ, right to the end.

Thank God for people like Andrew. They're the quiet individuals, laboring faithfully but inconspicuously, giving insignificant, sacrificial gifts, who accomplish the most for the Lord. They don't receive much recognition, but they don't seek it. They only want to hear the Lord say, "Well done."