Well, please have a seat and let's pray together.
Father God, we're so conscious that blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord
and who meditates on this law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever they do prospers.
Father God, we long so much to be those kind of people.
So Lord, as we take time together to meditate and think about your words,
Father, would you use it to do your work and send your spirit that it might be alive,
that it might be dynamic and that it might bring about transformation in our lives for your glory alone.
Amen.
This morning we're just looking at five verses in Luke's Gospel.
I called it the Diverse Dozen and I love that photo until I realised this morning that there's only 11 people sitting on the ledge.
I thought I might get away with it by saying the 12th was taking the photo.
But we'll just go with it.
The 20th of October 1968 was a day that the world changed.
After the 20th of October, that is 48 years ago last Thursday, nothing would ever be the same again.
It was a day that the world changed.
That is, the world of high jumping.
It was on the 20th of October 1968 in Mexico City at the Olympics that Richard Douglas Fosbury, the American athlete,
jumped over the high jump in a way that no one had ever jumped before.
Up until that moment, everyone had used the technique called the barrel roll,
where you'd run up to the bar forwards, you would then push off with your main foot and you would roll over it like this,
with a bit more grace and a bit more height.
Richard Douglas Fosbury, however, during his time at university, had developed a new technique,
famously called the Fosbury flop, where you would run up in the same manner,
except at a slight angle you would push off from your dominant foot,
and you would arch your back and go off over backwards.
Richard Fosbury changed the game.
He laid a fresh foundation for the way that high jump would be done from that moment on.
No one looked back.
And what goes on in these seemingly five innocuous verses,
in the middle of Luke chapter 6,
is an absolute game changer.
After this moment, nothing would be the same again.
It would be a fresh foundation, a defining moment.
What happens in these verses is almost a miracle that no one notices.
So I've greatly enjoyed looking at it, and if you would turn to Luke chapter 6,
and verse 12, I'll read it.
One of those days, Luke writes, Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray,
and spent the night praying to God.
When morning came, he called his twelve disciples to him,
whom he also designated apostles.
Simon, whom he named Peter.
Simon's brother Andrew.
James, John.
Philip, Bartholomew.
Matthew, Thomas.
James, son of Alphaeus.
Simon, who was called the Zealot.
Judas, son of James.
And Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Wonderful verses.
And the first thing I want us to see is that this is a radical move.
This is a radical move in Jesus' ministry and in world history.
What happens in these five verses?
You have to say Jesus has done some pretty remarkable things so far in Luke's gospel.
He has declared himself to be the spirit-anointed preacher that Isaiah foresaw
800 years before Jesus turned up.
When in the synagogue at Nazareth, he says,
Jesus has driven out demons and they have submitted to his authority.
Jesus has taught with authority and everyone has been amazed.
We have never heard teaching like this before.
Jesus has healed many people of all sorts of diseases,
even that most stigmatized of disorders, leprosy.
Jesus has blown fishermen's minds by orchestrating a miraculous catch of fish.
It takes quite a lot to blow fishermen's minds with catching fish.
And yet Jesus has done it.
Jesus has read people's thoughts.
He's claimed to have authority to forgive sins.
And just to prove the point, he's told a paralyzed man to get up and walk.
Jesus has clashed with religious leaders over their interpretation of the law
and his claim to be Lord of the Sabbath
and the Son of Man who has authority to forgive sins.
All this has been radical, never before seen and never to be seen again
through the ministry and life of one man.
And yet what goes on here in Luke chapter 6 is more radical than all of that put together.
As Jesus goes up on a mountainside to pray,
he spends the whole night praying to God.
That phrase, the whole night, has already been used in Luke's gospel
for how Peter toiled all night fishing.
It's the same phrase.
Jesus has been toiling all night in prayer.
The incarnate Son communing with the Eternal Father on a mountainside in Galilee.
And he does that because this is a seismic shift,
a change moment,
a watershed episode in redemptive history.
Jesus spends the whole night laboring prayer,
in prayer to find the Father's will as to who should be his 12 designated apostles.
Jesus then descends the mountain having spent the whole night in prayer.
He calls all of his disciples to him,
this big group that have been following him,
as we have in his journey around Galilee.
And then he calls 12.
12 particular disciples whom he designates apostles.
And you have to say, that doesn't seem that radical
until you superimpose it onto Israel's history
and realize that the only other person who went up a mountain to commune with God
and then descended and called 12 people to himself to teach them God's law was Moses.
That the foundation of Israel's covenant relationship with God
would be based on the teaching of Moses to these 12 men
who were to disseminate it to all of the 12 tribes of Israel.
And here Jesus radically changes course
and calls 12 new men
to redefine the way that the covenant is going to operate.
Jesus calls these 12 men to reimagine, reinvent, and redefine
how God would commune with his people.
He is laying a fresh foundation of the way that things are going to be from now on,
now that the King of Glory has come into the world.
These 12, these 12 men to be his spokesmen,
to declare this life-changing, eternity-securing, sin-forgiving message
to the entire world.
These people who are going to be his ambassadors.
As Jesus lays the fresh foundation,
the radical moment in redemptive history.
And you have to say it was truly necessary
because most of chapter 5 has been taken up with
Jesus clashing with the religious leaders.
The people whose responsibility has been teaching Old Testament law to the people
and defining it in the smallest minutiae possible
that the law has become big
and God has become small in the equation.
We left chapter 11 with the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law being furious
and beginning to discuss with one another
what they might do with Jesus.
A similar account in Matthew talks about how they might destroy Jesus.
That it seems that there is a no-through road now
in the way that things have become
in Old Testament law.
And now that Messiah has come,
the game has changed.
And he chooses a new team
with a new mission.
He chooses them to be the new wineskins
into which to pour this new covenant message
in order that there might be hope
for everyone well beyond
the borders of Israel.
This is the seismic shift
that Paul writes about in the book of Romans.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight
by works of the law.
That's what the Pharisees thought.
Rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
But now, apart from the law,
the righteousness of God has been made known
to which the law and the prophets testify.
The righteousness is given through faith
in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
That is a game changer.
That the law now is not a way to be saved,
but it's a way to show our necessity of Jesus
in order to be saved.
This is a game changer,
a fresh foundation of the superior covenant
that will make the old covenant obsolete and passé.
And this is great news for us.
This fresh foundation,
because let's be clear,
not many of us in here are ethnically Jewish.
And yet, in choosing these twelve,
Jesus is making known
that the doors are open.
A new and living way is being forged
through Jesus Christ.
This new covenant is not going to be based on obedience to the law,
but on acceptance of the good news of Jesus Christ.
It is not going to be about obeying laws written on stone tablets.
It's going to be about God working on us to sear that law onto our hearts
and help us obey it from the inside out through the indwelling Holy Spirit,
which is secured through faith in Jesus Christ.
One not secured on our performance,
but one that is eternally secure on the performance of another.
Jesus Christ,
who perfectly obeys the law for us,
because we couldn't.
And Jesus chooses these twelve apostles
to make that known to everyone.
Exactly what Paul talks about in Ephesians 2.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers.
That's talking about Gentiles, which is us.
But fellow citizens with God's people
and also members of his household
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets
with Jesus Christ himself as the chief cornerstone.
This is a radical move.
This is a watershed moment.
This is a seismic shift.
As the twelve tribes of Israel
are superseded
by these twelve new apostles that Jesus chooses
and designates to be his spokesmen,
his official declarers,
these heralds of the way things now are.
that God's people will no longer be defined by race.
They will be defined by grace.
Meaning that the doors are flung open.
And everyone who will look on the sun
and trust him are welcome.
Everyone who will believe their message
can be a part of God's people forever.
That is a radical move.
But then see also,
it is a random mix of people.
Twelve.
Three sets of brothers.
At least four fishermen.
And whenever they're listed,
they're always listed in four groups.
The first four are always
Simon, Peter, Andrew, James and John.
These are seemingly the inner circle
who are privy to more of Jesus
than maybe the rest.
It'll be these four
that go into Jairus' daughter
when she's dead.
It'll be these four
that are up the mountain
on the day that Jesus is transfigured.
These four always appear first.
Simon, Peter, is always number one.
But in the different list,
the other three kind of switch around a bit
for a bit of variety.
The next four are always
Philip, Bartholomew,
who some people call Nathaniel,
Matthew, who's also called Levi,
and Thomas.
They make fleeting appearances
in the Gospels.
They play like little cameo roles.
And then we get another three.
James, the lesser son of Alphaeus.
Simon, the zealot.
Judas, son of James,
sometimes called Thaddeus
so he doesn't get confused
with other Judas.
These three we know
next to nothing about.
And then finally,
Judas Iscariot.
Iscariot either because
he comes from the region of Judah
called Kerioth,
or maybe Judas Iscariot,
meaning he's the dagger man
who is thought to be
part of the same religious sect,
the same nationalist sect
as Simon the zealot.
It's a very diverse group.
It needs to be a very diverse group
if this universal message
is going to get to everyone.
It's going to take all sorts of people
to reach all sorts of people.
It's quite an awkward group as well.
You have got Levi,
or Matthew,
the tax collector.
That means
he is a Roman sympathizer.
He's in cahoots with the Romans
and actually working for them
to exhort money
from his own people.
Matthew, the tax collector,
in Jesus' top team
with Simon the zealot,
who is a nationalist,
who's part of a radical guerrilla movement
who wants to do anything
and everything
to throw the Romans out.
That must have been quite awkward
around the dinner table,
do you not think?
Matthew, the sympathizer
with Simon,
the hardcore nationalist.
Or what about Thomas,
who's famous for being
a little bit sceptical,
a little bit cynical,
a little bit slow on the uptake.
And then Peter,
who's famous for jumping in
with both feet,
one kind of slow and reticent,
the other speaking
before he's even thought.
Or what about James and John,
whose nickname is Boanerges,
which means sons of thunder
because they've got a bit
of a bad temper.
On their school report,
it would say they don't play well
with others.
Or you've got Nathaniel,
who is the deep-thinking Israelite,
the one Jesus says,
there is an Israelite
in whom there's no deceit.
And you've got Philip,
who's seemingly a bit slow,
having spent three years
with Jesus and says,
right, what is it all about?
When are we going to see God?
Such an odd group of people,
a random group.
And yet Jesus doesn't choose them
because of what they are.
He chooses them
because of what they will be made into
all by his grace.
So you have Simon Peter,
whose life is radically transformed.
The only time he doesn't speak
before he's thought
is when Jesus dies.
When he's being tried
and a little girl comes up to him
and says,
you're one of Jesus' followers.
And he says,
no, I'm not.
I swear I'm not.
I'm not.
Oh, why is the cock growing?
And yet we see
somebody who was so reticent
about being associated with Jesus
writes a letter in the New Testament
at the end of his life saying,
this is why you should stick out
like a sore thumb for Jesus Christ.
He's worried about that association
and at the end of his life says,
oh, you can crucify me
because of Jesus,
but can you do it upside down
because I'm not worthy
to die in the same way?
Or what about Thomas
who's seemingly cynical
and slow to believe,
runs all over Persia
and down into India
where he'll eventually die,
convincing people
that Jesus is worth
all of your life
and your eventual death.
Or what about James,
the church leader,
the first bishop of Jerusalem,
who was killed by Herod
and his brother, John,
who were seemingly
bad-tempered people,
John, at the end of his life,
wheeled out into church services
where his only sermon would be,
love one another.
Jesus doesn't choose these people
because of what they are in Luke 6.
He chooses them what they will be
all by his grace
through the power of his Holy Spirit.
Nobody in Luke 6
is thinking,
Jesus, you've done a brilliant job.
I'm sure as all the other disciples
are there going,
well, if he's in,
why aren't I in?
And yet Jesus knows
exactly what he's doing.
But you can say right here
in Luke 6
with this random mix,
you can say this is kind of
a microcosm of the people
that God chooses,
who saves by his grace
and calls them to be family,
to be a team together.
I look around this room
and I think,
what an eclectically weird mix
of people.
And yet what Jesus does here
in Luke 6
is exactly what Jesus
has been doing
ever since he laid
this fresh foundation
of making strangers
into family,
of making old and young,
rich and poor,
wise and foolish
together as one,
laid on this fresh foundation
in these apostles.
Now I don't think we can move on
until we've looked at verse 16,
the whole Judas Iscariot problem.
We read it with chilling effect.
Judas Iscariot
who became a traitor.
This man Judas
who has become infamous,
whose name has become synonymous
with being a turncoat.
And I guess it always prompts
the question in our mind,
who is responsible
for Judas' betrayal?
Why did Jesus choose Judas
knowing he would betray him?
Was Judas set up as a patsy,
a mere pawn
from the very beginning?
Who's responsible
for Judas' betrayal?
Was it divine sovereignty
or human responsibility?
And the answer is yes.
The Bible is full of this tension.
Joseph and his brothers
in Genesis.
Where they do what they want to do
but only actually fulfill
God's plan in the end.
You meant it for evil
but God meant it for good.
Even Jesus' death.
Indeed, Herod Pontius Pilate
says in Acts 4,
met together with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel
in this city
to conspire against
your holy servant Jesus
whom you appointed.
They did what your power
and will
had decided beforehand
should happen.
Gentiles,
they did what they wanted
to do
but because of God's sovereignty
only actually did
what God
had ordained
should happen.
It's kind of like
the rings in the Olympics.
You need both.
You need to hold on to both
at the same time
or else you
flip like this.
You need to hold both things
in tension.
Great quote is this.
The truth does not lie
in one extreme
or the other
nor in the middle.
The truth lies in both extremes
held together.
The truth does not lie
in one extreme
or the other
much less does it lie
in the middle.
The truth lies in both extremes
held together.
Judas betrayed Jesus
as a result
of his opportunistic
selfish hatred
of Jesus Christ.
Judas betrayed
Jesus
as an agent
to fulfill
God's eternal plan.
It's what theologians
call antimony
holding two things
seemingly opposed
in tension.
Spurgeon was asked
how do you reconcile
human responsibility
with divine sovereignty
to which Spurgeon
simply said
I don't reconcile
friends.
before we leave
Judas though
the scary thing is
no one suspects
Judas.
You read all through
the Gospels
so when Jesus
at the Last Supper
says one of you
will betray me
everybody's not pointing
and saying
there's Judas.
Judas has played
a blinder.
He's hidden
in plain sight.
He has all the
right answers.
He goes to all
the discipleship
meetings.
Everyone thinks
he's a good guy.
He plays his role.
He dons the mask.
He blends in
and I think the
scariest thing
is as a church
leader
is we may not
be betrayers
like Judas
but we can happily
play a part.
We can say
all the right things
sing all the right
things
do all the right
things
use the best
language we can
have so much
theological
knowledge
it would blow
your mind
but at the end
of the day
it was all for show
and not for keeps
and so I wonder
if Judas
doesn't just
make us question
how does divine
sovereignty
and human
responsibility
fit together
I think it invites
us to
challenge our
own hearts
am I on
Jesus team
or simply
in the
Brunsfield
club
because the
scary thing
is Judas
had every
opportunity
and hung
out forever
with Jesus
and the
crew
but he was
never really
in it
so easy
day after
day
Sunday
after Sunday
week
after week
month
after month
year
after year
decade
after decade
just come
to church
that's what
I do
and let's
let Judas
challenge us
but whether
this is all
for show
or whether
it's really
for keeps
whether I
have a
fascination
with Jesus
and his
church
or whether
I know
Jesus
and love
his church
because that's
a real
difference
finally
and with
this
I come
into land
it seems
like a
pretty risky
method
we've already
heard in
chapter 6
verse 11
the cross
looming
large on
the horizon
that it's
not going
to end
well for
Jesus
that he
is going
to be
killed
according
to the
father's
will
and his
work is
going to
have to
be left
to others
and he
chooses
these
twelve
he chooses
these people
to be his
ambassadors
his designated
official
spokesman
and as we've
already said
none of these
people are on
anybody's
shortlist
to be in
the boardroom
of any
global
enterprise
if this
is
Jesus
crack
team
of
world
dominating
missionaries
then at
Luke 6
it seems
the project
is a
total
non-starter
and a
damp
squib
before
anyone's
gone
anywhere
when
Jesus
reads
out
his
team
sheet
everybody
is
thinking
really
these
guys
Thaddeus
he doesn't
seem to
have a
clue
Philip
honestly
he seems
a bit
dim
John
MacArthur
writes
the propagation
of the
gospel
and the
founding
of the
church
hinged
entirely
on
twelve
men
whose
most
outstanding
characteristic
was their
ordinariness
no one
is picking
these twelve
guys
no one
has them
on their
team
sheet
except
Jesus
and let's
be honest
no one's
got us
on their
team
sheet
to
transform
Brunsfield
or Edinburgh
with the
message of
Jesus
Christ
none of
us are
getting
chosen
for that
correct
team
by human
standards
and yet
that is
God's
absolute
modus
operandi
this is
how he
always
works
he always
chooses
nobodies
and by
his grace
makes them
somebodies
in order
that they
might go
and tell
everybody
about him
he reminds
this prideful
church in
1 Corinthians
of that
brothers and
sisters
think of
what you
were when
you were
called
not many
of you
were wise
by human
standards
not many
were influential
not many
were of
noble birth
but God
chose the
foolish things
of the world
to shame
the wise
God chose
the weak
things of
the world
to shame
the strong
God chose
the lowly
things of
this world
and the
despised
things and
the things
that are
not
to nullify
the things
that are
so that
no one
may boast
before him
let's be honest
no one's
choosing any
of us
except God
and yet
the very
reason that
God chooses
us so that
when we're
transformed by
his grace
and make
Jesus known
to others
only he gets
the glory
which is
exactly what
he ordains
to happen
from the
very beginning
so that
no one
may boast
John MacArthur
again
the 2000
year triumph
of the
apostolic
endeavour
is a
testimony
to the
wisdom
and power
of the
divine
strategy
if we were
choosing this
by human
standards
we'd have
all been
left on
the bench
and yet
Jesus calls
us to be
a member
of his
team
to turn
the world
upside down
which is
exactly what
they comment
the disciples
did
in Acts
17
and we
know it
works
the fact
we're here
today
sharing this
apostolic
gospel
with each
other
is testimony
that it
works
that this
gospel
these 12
people would
even get
the gospel
to Scotland
and we're
here because
of it
and we
know that
it works
in the end
because in
Revelation 21
verse 4
it says
this
the walls
of the
city
had 12
foundations
and on them
were the names
of the 12
apostles of the
Lamb
that this
eternal
kingdom
that Jesus
came to
inaugurate
and will
one day
be built
it worked
and this
foundation
was set
and their
names
are on the
foundations
no one
except God
would choose
us
and yet
God's
speciality
is to
use weak
scared
fragile
and timid
people
to bring
his son
glory
to make
his son
known
to put
on display
the transformation
that his
grace
brings about
and so
we're not
able to do
this task
but trusting
in God
is more
than possible
it's more
than possible
because God's
power
is
and has
always been
made perfect
in our
weakness
let's pray
Father God
we're here
this morning
and
the only
thing that
we have
is our
outstanding
ordinariness
and yet
Lord
we're so
conscious
that you're
the God
who places
the treasure
of your
gospel
in jars
of clay
so that
everyone
would see
that this
all-surpassing
power
the all-surpassing
power
of the
apostolic
gospel
handed from
Jesus
to these
twelve
men
that everyone
would see
that that
power
comes from
you
and not
from us
and so
Lord
we're conscious
of our
fragility
we're conscious
of our
brittleness
we're conscious
of our
unimpressiveness
and yet
Lord
we're asking
that you
would send
us out
from this
place
to make
much of
Jesus
in and
through
our
lives
so that
people
would see
that this
all-surpassing
power is
from you
and not
from us
that we
might not
boast about
what we've
done
or what we
can do
but you
would blow
our minds
with all
that you
are
and all
that you're
able to
do
even through
us
so Lord
thank you
that you've
chosen us
to be on
your team
Father God
thank you
that you're
still choosing
people to
be on your
team
and so Lord
we'd ask
that if there
were any
today still
in the stands
as spectators
Lord you
would call
them to
yourself
and Father
that they
would enter
the fray
as members
of your
family
who have
the eternal
hope of
being with
you forever
in the new
creation
so bless us
and help us
in Jesus
glorious and
wise and
powerful name
Amen