Monday, July 02, 2012

Jesus' Men

Matthew 10: Jesus called 12 ordinary  men: fishermen, a tax-collector, a zealot, most seemingly average.  What characteristics distinguished these men from their peers?  They all had loyalty to Jesus.  They forsook everything to follow him: family, career, hometowns.  Years before, God told the prophet Samuel, that God looks past men's outward appearance to men's hearts. 

Jesus did not call a member of the priestly cast, a Roman Legionnaire, a scribe or a lawyer.  He completely bypassed the members of Israel's most devout sect.  He chose 12 men, ordinary  men, whose extraordinary devotion to Jesus and the mission he had given to them changed the world within a few generations.

We are all here because of these men.  If these 12 had failed, what other alternative did Christ have?

Jesus did not command us to plant churches.  He did not tell us to start Bible studies.  He told us to make disciples.  By concentrating on the men and women that God brings into our lives who are most loyal to Jesus, can we replicate the actions and methods of Jesus today?


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