The Master’s Men Part 2b (Luke 6:14b-15a)

If you have ever looked at your own faith and thought, “I have failed too many times to be useful,” we want to challenge that assumption. The thread running through these disciples is not their polish, their confidence, or their spiritual pedigree. It is the steady reality that Jesus chooses people who disappoint Him and then shows them, over and over, that He will not fail them. 

We spend time with Philip, the practical “facts and figures” disciple, and watch Jesus put a spotlight on his instincts during the feeding of the 5,000. When the math says “impossible,” Jesus invites Philip to see that faith is not built on what we can calculate, budget, or control. A child’s simple lunch becomes the perfect illustration of God’s pattern: He does not need impressive offerings, just an available heart that will place what it has into His hands. 

Then we meet Nathanael Bartholomew, who has no hidden agenda but does have a blunt prejudice about Nazareth until Jesus reveals divine knowledge and wins his immediate confession. We also touch Matthew’s calling as a despised tax collector, a clear reminder that Jesus does not call qualified people; He qualifies the people He calls. Finally, we rethink Thomas, not only as the skeptic but as the first to say he is willing to die with Jesus, a picture of love that stays even when optimism is gone. 

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Transcript

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You know, if the Lord removed from among us today all the disciples who regularly fail him, none of us would be here today. Thomas will go on all the way to India, where he will serve the majority of his life before being martyred. The Lord doesn't choose disciples who will never fail him. He

Grace For Failing Disciples

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chooses disciples and shows us all that he will never fail. Next, Luke mentions here in this list a disciple by the name of Philip. Now let me introduce and by giving him another principle to tuck away for encouragement. The Lord chose his disciples, not because of their impressive ability, but because of their availability. Maybe you were like me as I grew up. My mother sort of drummed that into our hearts that availability is the greatest stability. No other disciple

Philip Chosen For Availability

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probably fleshes that out any more or any better than Philip. Now you might confuse Philip with Philip, who plays a prominent role in the early church. In the early chapters of the book of Acts, chapter six, he becomes one of the deacons. This Philip does. And then in chapter eight, he becomes a rather famous evangelist among the Samaritans, holding rallies, performing miracles. Hundreds of people come to faith in Christ, and then that particular Philip is whisked away by the Spirit of God. You remember to that Ethiopian who's puzzling over that passage in the book of Isaiah, and Philip shows up suddenly and explains it to him, and the man is converted. Don't confuse that Philip, the evangelist deacon, with this Philip, the apostle. Philip the deacon was a lot more dynamic and seemed to do a lot more for the gospel. In fact, we actually know very little about Philip the Apostle. The only thing we really know about him is from four brief sentences that are scattered through the Gospel by John. John's the only one who mentions him. Chapter 1, chapter 6, chapter 12, and chapter 14. In his classic work on the disciples, published in 1937, one of my favorite authors, G. Campbell Morgan, writes that Philip was simply an unimpressive man. He came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, more than likely, then attended the same synagogue, would have been known to them. It's quite possible they would have wondered why Philip was chosen. He seems, in these four brief sentences, slow to catch on to facts, the physical reality of things. He's quick on that, I should say, but he's slow to pick up on the miraculous possibility. He's what one author called a facts and figures kind of guy who went by the book. When we see him appearing, he wants to figure out whatever's going on. He was, one author said, the beam counter among the disciples. If a calculator had been invented back then, Philip would have owned two of them. He would have owned the one that has all the things. I still don't know what they mean to do all those calculations. In fact, there is one classic scene where he shows up individually and has an opportunity to demonstrate faith in the miraculous, in the power of Christ. In fact, Jesus is about to test him personally. Now, don't mistake Jesus. This test is not to discourage him, it is to develop him. But it shows

The Feeding Test And The Math

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up in John 6, where Jesus is preaching in the open air to as many as 15, perhaps 20,000 people, if not more. The men alone are estimated by the Apostle John to number around 5,000. In John 6, verse 10. Well, it's getting late. You more than likely know this account, and the massive crowd has had nothing to eat, and so Jesus turns to Philip. There's only time this happens. He turns to Philip, and Jesus, the text says, said to Philip, Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? He said this to Testum, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip, in other words, where in the world are we gonna buy enough bread to feed all these people? And Philip's probably wondering, why am I getting this pop quiz here? And more than likely, you know, Jesus did ask him, because he was from that region, he knew where the bakery was. Um, but even more likely, he had become the apostolic, one author called him, the apostolic administrator. He was the one who worked on what you could figure out. That's that was the limit. So you can kind of see Philip, you know, pulling at a scratch pad, let's see, 5,000 men, carry the two, you know. Lord, we don't have the money. We can't do this. And right about then, Andrew shows up and says, Hey, I found a little boy who's willing to donate his lunch. Let's see, he looks inside the sack, got five little pieces of barley bread and two little pickled fish. And Philip, I think he was wondering, Andrew, you're out of your mind. Look at the facts. That'll never work. Why even bring up a lunch? It's almost, there are more reasons, but it's almost as if Jesus aims this miracle at the heart of Philip. It isn't what you can see. It isn't what you can calculate. It isn't what you can add up, it isn't what you can figure out. It isn't how much you have in the bank. It is what you it's what you place in in the hands of the master artist by faith in him. Maybe you came in there today. And this is for you. Lord, I I can't I can't figure this one out. There's no way through this dilemma. There's no way around it. I've got all the facts in front of me, I've done all the pros and cons. I've calculated all the options. This isn't gonna work. And the Lord moves with the smallest gesture of faith. I mean, I mean, this offering, this is a ridiculously inadequate suggestion. There's a kid with a lunch. The Lord doesn't need impressive offerings. He he doesn't he doesn't just use impressive people. He's not looking for impressive faith. Just availability and the offering of something so simple like five little pieces of coarse barley bread and a couple of pickled fish to help it go down. Jesus chose of facts and figures, methodical, organized man to be his disciples. Let me add a principle before moving on. Jesus doesn't choose disciples with the same personalities. That's because he plans to reach different kinds of people. In different kinds of places, in different kinds of ways. Philip never forgot this lesson of impossibilities.

Different Personalities Same Mission

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He will make his life available, and over the years he will pioneer the gospel into modern-day Turkey, and he will eventually be stoned to death, but not before leading multitudes to faith in Christ through his careful, pathodical pattern and faithful witness. Now Luke's gospel goes on to mention another apostle. His name is Bartholomew. We're told in John's Gospel that Philip actually brought Bartholomew to meet Jesus. This disciple can be a little confusing as to his name. Bartholomew is Aramaic. It's what we might call a last name, even though they didn't

Nathanael Without Guile Or Roots

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have last names then. But Bar means son. Bar, the son of Thalomeu, you could say it in English, or more accurately, the son of Ptolmai. The Gospel of Matthew, Mark, and the Gospel of Luke refer only to Bartholomew. John refers only to Nathaniel, but all four of them pair him here with Philip, which helps confirm this apostle's name was Nathanael Bartholomew, or Nathaniel the son of Ptolemy. Now, if you didn't think there was much to read about Philip, you had even less about Nathaniel. In fact, to this day, we've uncovered barely any history of Nathaniel before meeting Christ. We have no account of his family life. We really don't know anything about his father except his name. We don't know the name of his mother or siblings. Just a few phrases in the scriptures are given about him. Jesus in John chapter 1 will commend Nathaniel as being an authentic Israelite in whom is no guile. In other words, Nathaniel doesn't have any hidden agenda when he becomes a disciple. And if you know, if you're older in the faith, you know a lot of these disciples had a lot of agendas. James and John, how can we work our way to the front of the line? Judas, Simon, how can we overthrow Rome? Not this one. Nathaniel has no agenda, no ulterior motive. But he does go down in history as saying, the one time he speaks, something rather embarrassing. But when he's told by Philip that they have found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, Philip says, Nathaniel responds bluntly by saying, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? John 1.46. How would you like that on your spiritual resume? You're the one who said, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? I mean, to put it in our modern name, I guess it might be like saying, you know, Jesus, we found the Messiah, Jesus, and he comes from Raleigh. Or better yet, Chapel Hill. Anybody here from Chapel Hill? Two. Two good things come out of Chapel Hill, right back there. All right. That's it. It's essentially what Nathaniel was saying. Like, I don't know where the Messiah is going to come from, but it can't be Nazareth. Nothing good comes out of there. But then Jesus demonstrates his omniscience to Nathaniel, and he says, You know, I saw you the other day under the fig tree. I knew what you were thinking. Well, only God could do that. And just as matter-of-factly, his mind being completely blown away, he responds to the Lord by saying immediately, You are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. He's a quick study. I love this guy. I'm going to believe in you right now. Right here. Quick. To follow Jesus. We know of no other family member who came along with him. We know nothing of his roots, his past, his pedigree, his spiritual upbringing. Let me put it into a principal form. The Lord does not choose disciples because of their spiritual heritage. He chooses them to begin a spiritual heritage. And maybe you can identify with this disciple today. You're the first of your entire family, extended family, to follow Christ. Maybe you're the only guy or gal to believe the gospel message and become a disciple of Jesus. And I want you to take from this encouragement. Don't be discouraged about your future, what the Lord might do with you, your ministry potential, because your grandfather, you know, wasn't a church planter or your uncle wasn't a you know missionary or whatever. God is not handicapped by your past. He isn't hindered in his plans by the fact that you didn't grow up in a family dedicated to Christ. You're the first one. Jesus chooses among his twelve somebody like you who will begin a spiritual heritage. Didn't handicap Nathaniel either. Didn't slow him down. He's going to go on to reach the northern portion of Iran and touch into the southern portion of Russia. He will be eventually martyred for his faith and leave behind a legacy of faithfulness. Let me briefly mention two more disciples. Luke mentions next in his list here the apostle Matthew. He's already made an appearance in our exposition through the gospel by Luke, so I won't spend much time on him. We devoted an entire sermon to him. But if you weren't with us and you're new in the faith, he's a tax collector. Which means you probably wouldn't hang around him. He had abandoned his nation. He cared

Matthew Called Then Made New

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nothing for them or their faith or their God. He had sold out to Rome, purchasing from Rome the ability to become a tax collector whereby he could turn around and tax his own people, charge them more than their due, and line his pockets. He would have been considered despicable. He cared more about the emperor of Rome than he did the ruler of Israel. So Matthew is disqualified from the get-go, I would think. Jesus, I would think, would be making a blunder here. But here's what's happening. Again, let me put it in a principle form. Jesus did not call qualified people. He called people and then qualified them. And what I find intriguing is that the Lord will so change the heart of Matthew that Matthew will eventually, under the influence of the Spirit of God, write the gospel of Matthew, which is targeted to the nation Israel. He cares deeply for them. And he, through that gospel, introduces Jesus as the true king. Well, finally, let me introduce to you the disciple called Thomas. There will be more to say about Thomas. He'll appear, of course, as we give you the gospel by Luke, and I just want to give you a 30,000-foot view here. But let me point out one event that's not as well known. But first, let me deal with his nickname. If you're older in the faith, or maybe brand new, you probably still know that

Daring Thomas Behind The Nickname

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adjective that's tagged onto the name Thomas. It's sort of like Rahab got tagged, right? Rahab the harlot. And I'm sure she's embarrassed, but God wanted to give us a testimony of his grace throughout church history. Well, Thomas's uh nickname is not in the Bible. We've given it to him. Um, you may know it. Starts with the letter D, ends with I and G. On the count of three, say it nice and loudly, the whole thing. Ready? One, two, three. You're right. Daring Thomas. You could easily say that of him. Yes, his glass is always half empty. He's melancholy. He's actually a deep thinker. He is referred to as Thomas Abdymus, which means a twin. We don't know if he had a twin brother or a twin sister, but he was a twin. What we do know that is that he was quick to believe the Lord's promise of his coming death and slow to believe the Lord's promise of his coming resurrection. But I think we pin too much on Thomas. In fact, we're clearly told in Scripture that none of the disciples believed Jesus had risen from the dead. All of them doubted. In fact, in Mark's gospel, when Mary Magdalene ran to tell the disciples that she had seen the risen Lord, the Bible says, she went and told the disciples as they mourned and weather up there mourning and weeping, all of them, but when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. All of them are doubters. The reason you can call Thomas daring Thomas, as much as doubting Thomas, is because he is actually the first disciple to declare his willingness to die for Jesus. He's the first one. It happens earlier on. Took place in John's gospel. In John chapter 10, verse 33, the leaders are threatening to stone Jesus. They say to him, It is not for a good work that you are going to, that we're going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God. In other words, they got the message. They knew exactly who Jesus was claiming to be. God, incarnate, in the flesh. So they're going to kill him the first chance they get. And with that, Jesus leaves Judea. He leaves town with his disciples. But then they get a telegram, or however they got the word, that Jesus' close friend, Lazarus, is dying. And Jesus announces to his disciples, we're going back. And they're thinking, we're going back. We're going back to Judea. They're gathering stones. The first sight of you, you're dead. You're not going to make it. You're not going to survive. That's not a friendly place. And then Thomas says this. So Thomas called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go that we may die with him. Now get this. Thomas assumes Jesus is a goner. He is not an optimist. Who says, Oh, let's go with him because Jesus will be fine. Be any problem with Jesus. He's going to survive, no issues. It'll all work out. No, no, no. In his mind, Jesus, notice, he is going to die. This is it. But what he does not say here is, hey, fellas, and and the and and Lord, Lord, uh, if if you go back there, you're going to die. So it's been really nice knowing you. It's been the best two years of my life. Loved every minute of it. Farewell. No. He makes this incredible statement of courage. Jesus is going to die. So let's follow him to the death. Wow. But this is also a statement of love. Thomas is essentially saying, I don't want to be alive without him. If he dies, I don't want to go on living. That's how much Thomas loved him. I just as soon die if Jesus is going to die. So, Jesus, if you're going to go there, I know you're going to die. I want to die with you. Why don't we tag him with that? Daring. Thomas. Yes, he will disappoint the Lord. He will collapse in grief. Perhaps he felt it more deeply than the others. So let me put this in principle form. Here's a final timeless truth. Let's learn this from the life of Thomas. The Lord does not choose disciples who will never disappoint him. He shows his disciples that he will never disappoint them. You know, if the Lord removed from among us today all the disciples who regularly disappoint him and regularly

He Never Disappoints His Disciples

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fail him, none of us would be here today. Not one of us. Thomas will go on. In fact, he'll go all the way to India, where he will serve the majority of his life before being martyred. Ironically, run through with a spear. He is believed to have been buried in southern India. I have visited that site there in Chennai. In fact, to this day, many churches in southern India trace their spiritual roots back to the ministry of Thomas. Daring Thomas. The Lord doesn't choose disciples who will never fail him. He chooses disciples and shows us all that he will never fail us. That's amazing grace, isn't it? Amazing grace.