Unforgivable

Life of Christ 65

        We come today to one of the thorniest passages of Scripture in the entire Bible (Matthew 12.22-37). For years it baffled me, and it also apparently baffled the vast majority of Christians for every time I would ask a question about it I would get an hesitant answer, and very few answers matched. Go ahead, pick five Christians you know today and ask them, 'What is the unforgivable sin?' and see just what kind of hemming and hawing you get as a response. It wasn't until I began to study the life of Christ in depth that I understood it, but once I did it became a very precious passage instead of a very thorny one.

          A hinge is that on which something pivots, transitioning from one direction or place to another. Matthew 12 is, to me, the hinge on which the entire arc of the life of Christ pivots, and once you see that so much else that you see in His life begins to make sense. It is almost universally misunderstood, and rarely viewed as an important epoch in the life of Christ, but it is absolutely huge. In fact, if you continue to follow along with me as I blog through the life of Christ I will refer to this point again and again so I urge you to read carefully and thoughtfully.

          Jesus is with a crowd of people, and someone brings to Him an incredibly afflicted man. This man was physically blind, verbally challenged or mute, and on top of both of these, he was demon possessed. Jesus, driven by compassion, and in order to authenticate His claims, miraculously heals him. The reaction of the common people in the crowd is to begin to believe that He just might be their Messiah (Matthew 12.23).

          The Pharisees, who have obviously spent some time thinking about how precisely to combat Jesus, come up with an ingenious plan. They cannot deny the authenticity of Jesus' miracles, as they used to, so they cease trying. Instead, what they will do is to seek to convince the Jewish people that although the miracles in question were genuine they were actually an evidence of Jesus' evil and wickedness rather than an evidence of His messiahship. 'But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of devils' (Matthew 12.24).

          This is a clever idea because if it is believed there is then no miracle Jesus can do in order to get beyond it, for each miracle He does would only be a further proof that He was evil. Thus, in one masterstroke, all of His miraculous works, done for the past year and a half, and any future works, are all made null and void, and in fact, become a huge net minus in the argument on His side of the equation.

          J. W. Shepard explains it this way:

They regarded Jesus, as not only temporarily, but permanently, possessed by a demon, that is, as the constant vehicle of Satanic influence. And this demon was, according to them none other than Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Thus, in their view, it was really Satan who acted in and through Him; and Jesus, instead of being recognized as the Son of God, was regarded as an incarnation of Satan; instead of being owned as the Messiah, was denounced and treated as the representative of the Kingdom of Darkness.

          Jesus' reaction to this is to explain that such a position is illogical at best. It was illogical because you don't fight yourself if you plan on winning (Matthew 12.25-26). It was also illogical because if it was true the Pharisees, who had their own exorcists, would have been just as guilty (Matthew 12.27).

          The reality was that everything came to bear at just this moment. Jesus had come to offer Himself to Israel as her King and Messiah. He sought to shepherd her, spiritually, along the paths of righteousness. In doing this, He presented a completely different vision for national Israel than the current one largely structured by the Pharisees' extra-biblical and vain traditions. This is why He was so revolutionary in His own day. For the past almost two years there has been a tug of war going on for Israel's soul, with Jesus on one end of the rope and the Pharisees on the other. The winner gets Israel and the loser gets rejected. Jesus knows this, and He knows that if He wins the argument He wins it all, humanly speaking and earthly speaking. 'But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you' (Matthew 12.28).

          This moment, this decision, by the common people of Israel, is absolutely monumental. How monumental? If they make the wrong decision it would be absolutely unforgivable. 'Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men' (Matthew 12.31). It was precisely because this was such an important decision that Jesus told them they needed to consider what they would say very, very carefully. 'But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned' (Matthew 12.36-37).

          What was their decision? Well, obviously, it was to side with the Pharisees as revealed by the rest of the story of Jesus' life. In other words, Israel corporately chose, right here in Matthew 12, to yield to the Pharisees' vision and call and to reject the claims of Jesus Christ. This decision would, of course, later be corporately ratified by the blood thirsty crowd in front of Pilate's palace as it chanted 'away with this man, and release unto us Barabbas' (Luke 23.18), but it was initially made right here in Matthew 12.

          The unforgivable sin was committed by the Israel of Jesus' generation when it rejected Christ and His works with the excuse the Pharisees provided, that Jesus did His works possessed by the devil rather than in the power of the Holy Spirit. And God didn't forgive that generation. He would later extract from them an human price of blood and destruction such as is still spoken of in awed tones amongst those who study it via the Roman Empire's destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, and the corresponding dissolving of the nation of Israel for the following two millennia.

          Dwight Pentecost, who spent decades teaching the life of Christ in seminary, said it this way in his book on the subject:

Christ was warning that generation in Israel that if they rejected the Father’s testimony and the Spirit’s testimony to His person and His work, there was to be no further evidence that could be given. Their sins would stand unforgiven and result in temporal judgment on that generation. That judgment ultimately fell in A.D. 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed. This sin, then, was not viewed as the sin of an individual but rather as the sin of the nation, and this sin brought that whole generation under divine judgment.

          Edersheim largely concurs, and places this story as the hinge pivot in the life of Christ:

We venture to assert that this accounts for the whole after-history up to the Cross…Once arrived at this conclusion, that the miracles which Christ did were due to the power of Satan, and that He was the representative of the Evil One, their course was rationally and morally chosen. To regard every fresh manifestation of Christ’s Power as only a fuller development of the power of Satan, and to oppose it with increasing determination and hostility, even to the Cross: such was henceforth the natural progress of this history.

          How does this change everything? Because this massively wrong decision on the part of Israel is unforgivable, and thus irrevocable, and because once they made it Jesus shifts the entire focus of His ministry. He begins, really for the first time, to emphasize to the Apostles His death and resurrection (Matthew 12.38-42). He also ceases to preach open sermons to the crowds, and instead hides truth in the guise of parables (Matthew 13.3). Following this commission of the unforgivable sin on the part of Israel, Jesus transitions His ministry from being one of miracles and sermons offering Himself to Israel and persuading them to accept Him toward a ministry of mentoring the Twelve and preparing the Church.

          Before this, He came to be Israel's Messiah; after this, He came to be humanity's sacrifice. Before this, He came to be Israel's King; after this, He came to suffer and die. Before this, He came to place the Jews on top; after this, He turned to the Church. Before this, He openly displayed His power; after this, He hid His purposes. Before this, His aim was national; after this, His aim encompassed the entire world. Before this, He looked for a crown; after this, He looked for a cross. Before this, He looked for a kingdom; after this, He looked for a tomb. Before this, He looked for a coronation; after this, He looked for a crucifixion.

          I find this story to be both heartbreaking and precious. It is heartbreaking when you think of Israel, and what she will soon suffer, and what she will suffer for millennia as a result. It is heartbreaking when you think of Jesus, of how wonderfully good He was, and how all that He said and did was so mindlessly and foolishly and hurtfully rejected. It is heartbreaking when you think of the Father, who millennia before had chosen Abraham, and entrusted his seed to form the national vessel designed solely to receive this messiah, only to see the people He had prepared reject that messiah.

          At the same time, it is precious, when you think of the atonement, and how mercy would be obtained for us at the cost of this very rejection. It is precious, for with such an evil rejection the way to God's larger plan was made plain, and the redemption of humanity was enabled. It is precious, for when the devil fought so hard and thought he had won so much, in actuality, he only sealed his own doom. It is precious, for without Calvary you and I would be on our way to hell, and without the rejection in Matthew 12 there would be no Calvary. It is precious, for with this awful, heartbreaking rejection, came the birth of the one thing that has means so much to you and I, and to the world, the Church.

          This corporate rejection of Christ, this unforgivable sin, could only be committed by the nation of Israel in Jesus' day, yet to every individual who has ever drawn breath since comes the same decision. The consequences of such an individual decision, in our day, are not as nationally important, but they are as personally important. The single most important question you will ever answer is, 'What think ye of Christ?'

          Your life swings on the hinge pivot of the answer, just as it did for the Israel of Jesus' day two thousand years ago.

If you would like to hear the audio version of this blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 36, 'Unforgivable'.

Not Alone in the Foxhole

          Life of Christ 64

          As we enter our story today (Luke 8.1-3) we find Jesus dealing with an increasing hardness of heart on the part of the people to whom He ministers. He will deal with the developing resistance by continuing His compassionate ministry, but orientating it more and more toward the training of the Twelve.

          It was relatively recently that He had formalized His relationship with these men, and selected them to be His Apostles. Now, as He travels from town to town to preach He is accompanied, on a full time basis, by these men, and on occasion by some women believers as well.

          I do not believe that discouragement, in and of itself, is a sin, and thus I do not believe I am ascribing sin to our Saviour when I propose that as resistance to Him hardened so did His discouragement about that resistance. But amongst so much discouraging resistance there gathered about Him a band of faithful men and women who served the Lord and His cause.

          In my experience, the dedicated follower of Jesus Christ will always find himself in the minority (Matthew 7.13-14). When this experience first came to be experienced by me I initially found that it was a hard thing with which to deal. As a young man the Christian high school I attended was at a low point, spiritually speaking, in no small part due to the hypocrisy of the main pastor. The most visible result of this was an almost complete rejection of the rules as most of the students ran pell-mell in the opposite direction. I was faced, for the first time, with the opportunity to swim upstream against the prevailing current of spiritual atrophy.

          By God's grace, I did swim upstream against that current, but I was exceedingly lonely. I didn't get invited to the parties on the weekend at which the wine coolers were passed around. I wasn't called over to join the others at the lunch tables as the conversation revolved ungodly activities. I was, gently at first, and then more harshly as time went on, mocked for my decision to swim upstream. Much older now I recognize in such ostracism a basic insecurity and convicted sense of sin, but back then all I noticed was that I was pretty much on my own.

          In the process of this first opportunity I learned many valuable lessons that have stood me in good stead in the decades since, and one of the most valuable was this: no matter how discouraging serving the Lord gets He always grants you some faithful few to serve alongside. Yes, the vast majority of the young people around me went the wrong way for a while, but not all of them did. Two young people, in particular, bucked the trend along with me, and I found much comfort and encouragement in that. (Not coincidentally, they have been happily married for many years, and, together with their children, serve as the pastor and family of a Baptist church in eastern Pennsylvania.)

          I see this same pattern repeated elsewhere in Scripture. Elijah, whose discouragement had bloomed into a severe suicidal depression, thought he was the only one left in the battle against Ahab and Jezebel. God kindly, yet firmly, informed him that he was mistaken. 'Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him' (I Kings 19.18). Why did God specifically tell Elijah this? Because there is great comfort, even when you know you are vastly outnumbered still, in seeing a few others right there in the foxhole with you. If you don't believe me, ask Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah; they'll confirm it.

          It is fair to say that no one understood the load that Jesus carried, or precisely that with which He was faced. It is also fair to say that no mere mortal has ever experienced the satanic pressure He did, increasingly resistant to Him every step of the way. But even on the cross, at the very depth of His existence and the height of Satan's, He wasn't alone.

          God is good to us, isn't He? Yes, He oft calls us to swim upstream against the prevailing current of the day, but He doesn't send us on our way alone. 'And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him' (Luke 8.1).

If you would like to listen to the audio version of the blog you will find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 35, 'The Fellowship in Following Christ'.

Which of Them Will Love Him Most?

  Life of Christ 63

 

de Gastmahl im Hause Simon by Pierre Subleyras, 1737

          One of the things that every ethnicity in the Middle East does well is hospitality. It is almost always quickly and genuinely and warmly extended, not just to friends, but also to foes. In accordance with this, a Pharisee names Simon invited Jesus to his home for a meal, and Jesus consented to come (Luke 7.36-50).

          In the Jewish culture of Jesus' day they often ate formal meals reclining around a low table, lying on their left elbow, with their feet stretched out behind them. As Jesus was eating, a woman crept up unobtrusively behind Him until she was standing above His feet. Suddenly, much to her embarrassment, she began to cry, and the tears began to roll down her face and onto Jesus' feet below her. At this she knelt, and gently wiped away her tears from His feet, and then on impulse, kissed His feet, and anointed them with oil.

          As you can imagine, such a scene brought the dinner table conversation to a screeching halt. The problem, though, was actually worse than just a strange interruption. This woman was known around town as 'a sinner' (Luke 7.37), a polite turn of phrase for an exceedingly impolite woman. In plain language, she was a prostitute, and everybody knew it.

          How had she gotten in? Wherever Jesus went a crowd gathered or followed, and this occasion would have been no different. Lining the open portico of the dining area would have been all of Simon's servants, as well as some of the townspeople, probably. She mingled, unnoticed, in that crush of people until her actions shrieked to be addressed.

          Why had she come? She doesn't say. In fact, she doesn't say a solitary word of any kind in our story, but her actions speak volumes to me. Somehow she had heard of Jesus, and to hear of Jesus was to hear of His compassion. Perhaps she had even heard the message I addressed in yesterday's blog post, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest' (Matthew 11.28). Her heart, weighed down with the accumulated burden of hundreds of illicit sexual encounters, and the corresponding complete emptiness and brokenness that comes with such a lifestyle, cried out for that rest. She thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame, and nothing satisfying there she found, and in the depths to which she had fallen she cried out, without words, for forgiveness and healing literally at the feet of Jesus. She wept her pain and repentance and plea for mercy silently onto the feet of Jesus, and then loved Him so tenderly when that rest stole into her aching soul.

          Simon's response to this highly unusual event, not verbalized, but clearly evident to Jesus, was criticism. After all, if He was such a great spiritual giant, how could He let this woman, this sinner, this foul creature, touch Him? Either He didn't care that a woman of the streets was making a fool of herself and of Him, or He didn't know, and in either case He wasn't very impressive.

          Jesus, as He often did, used the opportunity presented to Him to give a tremendous lesson. He began it by telling a story. Briefly, there are two debtors involved, one that had been forgiven a very small debt, and the other a very large one. Jesus then asked Simon a question, 'which of them will love him most?' (Luke 7.42). Simon correctly answers that the one who had the greatest debt erased, and thus the greatest burden lived from his shoulders, surely loved the creditor most.

          With his own mouth Simon the Pharisee damned himself. His problem with Jesus wasn't an intellectual misunderstanding of the claims of Jesus Christ, or even a healthy skepticism towards a man who wanted to be Israel's messiah. Simon's problem was pride. That pride was illustrated by Simon's actions as a host contrasted with the woman's actions as a heartbroken sinner. Simon didn't offer Jesus the common courtesy of water for His feet, but the woman did. Simon didn't greet Jesus with a kiss, but the woman did. Simon didn't offer His guest any perfumed ointment, but the woman did.

          Why hadn't Simon done these things? Very simply, because He didn't love Jesus. Why didn't Simon love Jesus? Because He didn't think Jesus had forgiven him of anything. Why wasn't Simon forgiven of anything? Because he didn't think he needed to be forgiven. In Simon's mind, what was there to be forgiven for, after all, he was a Pharisee, not a prostitute. But the woman, living with the knowledge, to the bitter dregs, of her own deep sinfulness, loved Jesus so much more precisely because she understood that in Him was rest for her soul.

          The reason people don't love Jesus is because they love themselves. Simon had the classic pharisaically inflated sense of his own goodness, when the actual scriptural truth was that there was nothing in the least lovely about him in the eyes of God. I know that because the same is true of me. My heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17.9). All my righteousness are as filthy rags, let alone my sins (Isaiah 64.6). Yet, O how He loves me (John 3.16)! When I view these undeniable truths in the full light of day how can my heart not help but swell with love for Him? 'We love him, because he first loved us' (I John 4.19).

          On the one hand we have Simon the Pharisee, an esteemed man, especially in his own mind. On the other hand we have a nameless, voiceless woman, a prostitute by trade. Which of them loved Jesus the most? The one who knew she had been forgiven.

If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 34, 'Which of Them Will Love Him Most?'

Woe or Rest?

  Life of Christ 62

The Capernaum synagogue in which Jesus probably preached

          There were two major geographical areas in the Israel of Jesus' day. Judea, which was in the south, was where Jerusalem was located. Although it was relatively poor, the people that lived there were considered more spiritual, since they were closer to the Temple. Of course, more Pharisees and rabbis chose to live in this region, so their influence was commensurately high. Galilee, on the other hand, was in the north, and as the larger and more populous region, it had pull, but not the spiritual influence that Judea had. So far, in our journey through the life of Christ, we have seen Him spend the bulk of His ministry in Galilee.

          One would expect Galilee to be receptive of Him. He was her native son. The Pharisees were less influential there than Judea. Jesus, the best preacher the world has ever seen, gave most of His sermons there. In addition, He had done most of His miracles in this region.

          At first, this was indeed the case. There was an initial enthusiasm that surrounded the new rabbi, and the crowds flocked to Him, and marveled at His words and works. But as time progressed, and the Pharisees infiltrated the reaction of the common people, resistance toward His message hardened. Galilee never did develop the blood lust toward Jesus that Judea had (John 7.1), but neither did she choose to believe in the claims of Christ. She rejected His astounding sermons and explained away His jaw dropping miracles.

          Increasingly, this growing resistance wore on Jesus. After months of patient work, powerful preaching, constant travel, and authenticating miracles produced not belief, but hardness of heart, Jesus has had enough. In the story under discussion today (Matthew 11.20-30) He displays neither frustration, temper, or pique, but He does pronounce, out of a holy anger, judgment on these cities that had seen so much and yet had refused to believe.

          The word He uses here, 'woe', is pregnant with implication. It is an expression of deep grief. But it isn't an expression of His own deep grief about the hardness of the Galileans. No, it is an expression of the emotion the Galilean cities would feel when the judgment for their disbelief comes. 'Woe to thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida!' (Matthew 11.21). In this sense it reminds me of the global reaction when the new Babylon is destroyed by God's judging hand. In fact, that reaction, 'Alas, alas, that great city' (Revelation 18.19) uses the same Greek word that is translated 'woe' in Matthew 11. In other words, when this judgment comes, great sorrow will be felt by those who experience it.

          To help drive through the depth of meaning in the word Jesus used look at some of its synonyms: adversity, anguish, burden, calamity, catastrophe, disaster, gloom, hardship, headache, misery, misfortune, pain, tragedy, trouble, affliction, agony, care, cataclysm, curse, dejection, depression, distress, grief, heartache, heartbreak, lamentation, melancholy, rue, sadness, sorrow, trial, tribulation, unhappiness, wretchedness, bemoaning, deploring, and grieving.

          Why would all this come? Because, in spite of Jesus' amazing ministry, their response was unbelief and a refusal to yield to His claims.

          Jesus then compares these Galilean cities in which He had ministered to several Gentile cities that the Jews of Jesus' day knew well. He asserted that if He had done the same amount of ministry in them as He had done in Galilee they would have humbly yielded to Him (Matthew 11.21-23). Consequently, judgment will come, and that an awful one. In this sense He likened it to the fire and brimstone that fell on Sodom, and said that Capernaum's judgment would be worse.

The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
 John Martin, 1852

          Jesus had said and done things no one in the world had seen. Their response was to become increasingly hard hearted. His response was to pronounce judgment, and to declare that this judgment would bring them to the place of woe.

          I do not know of a single passage of Scripture in which there is contained such a complete contrast as there is here in Matthew 11, other than perhaps Deuteronomy 30. There, Moses places blessing on the one hand and cursing on the other hand, and asks Israel to choose. To me, this is exactly what the Prophet greater than Moses does in our story. He places woe on one side and then places rest on the other, and asks Israel to choose.

          And what a rest it is! The word implies the refreshment and relaxation that follows hard labor. To drive home the point look at some of its synonyms: vacation, calm, comfort, downtime, dreaminess, ease, holiday, idleness, leisure, nap, peace, quiescence, quiet, quietude, recess, recreation, refreshment, relaxation, relief, repose, respite, siesta, silence, sleep, somnolence, stillness, tranquility.

          Jesus offers this rest to those who choose to come to Him. He is telling these hard hearted people that He isn't trying to take advantage of them, or walk to a throne over their crushed and bleeding bodies. Rather, if they will believe Him, and accept His claims, He will pour on them the tremendous blessing of rest.

          This rest is better than a rest for your body; it is a rest for your soul (Matthew 11.29). When your body is tired or sick you can rest for a comparatively short period of time and recover, but when your soul is shattered into a million tiny jagged fragments all the kings horses and all the kings men can't put it back together again – but Jesus can.

          We see here, then, laid out before the people of Galilee two completely different scenarios, and their destination was determined by their own choice. If they hardened their heart still further to Him they would experience woe. If they yielded to Him in humility, repentance, and faith, He would furnish them rest.

          Beloved, I am absolutely convinced, from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet, that this choice not only faced the Galileans of Jesus' generation, but also faces the people of our own day. It is the same choice that has come to each generation, including our generation: woe or rest?

          The gracious working of God in a life is a curious thing. In some it produces repentance, faith, and obedience. In some it produces hardness and rebellion. What it never produces is neutrality. And the more of Himself that God has graciously given to you the more true this is.

          Twenty five years ago I watched, for the very first time, a group of young people who grew up in Christian homes, faced with the decision of whether to yield, in humility, to the claims of Christ, or to, in hardheartedness, reject His claim on their life. After going our separate ways after high school, and moving geographically to another section of the country, I reconnected with many of them via Facebook recently. It was downright eerie to see what had happened in their lives. Perhaps I would not have noticed it as much if the transition had been gradual, but suddenly I was confronted with the fully formed lives and families of those whom I knew back in high school. With not a shred of coincidence, I noticed that, by and large, those who back then had chosen the path of hardness and rebellion were living now in a state of woe. On the other hand, those who had chosen back then the path of humility and obedience, well, their life had yielded to them the peaceable fruit of rest for their souls.

          Blessing or cursing? Woe or rest? The choice is yours, my friend, and it rests upon what you do with the claims of Jesus Christ upon your life. Will you harden or will you yield?

If you would like to listen to the audio version of the blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 33, 'Woe or Rest'.

As Ye Go

  Life of Christ 61

          Recently, we saw Jesus formally choose the twelve men from His group of disciples that would become the Apostles. Now we find Him issuing the Apostles with their marching orders, so to speak, and at the same time explaining to them what they could expect and how they were to conduct themselves (Luke 9.1-6, Matthew 10).

          Jesus told them that they were to travel light, depending upon God to provide for them (Luke 9.3). It isn't the specifics of these instructions that I think are the point, but the larger underlying principle or philosophy. That principle says that while the preacher has to earn a living he is not to be preoccupied with money or material things.

          I'm a preacher's kid. That came with a built in set of advantages and liabilities. I learned, at a very young age, that money, and the things that money could buy, just weren't very important to my dad. As a preacher now myself such things aren't supposed to be important to me either.

          Jesus also told them that their message would not be widely accepted (Luke 9.5, Matthew 10.17-18, 22). When we convey to people the requirement that they must repent of their sin, place their faith in the unseen Christ, and adjust the entirety of their life to His we should expect it to be as unpopular in our day as it was in His. If you are looking for popularity active Christianity is the exact wrong religion for you. Once you understand and accept this it makes things so much easier. You develop a bit of a thick skin without developing a cynical heart. You understand that people are rejecting Christ, not you, and so you don't take it personally. You realize, ahead of time, that most of the time you won't be well received. You also learn to greatly rejoice when the gospel is accepted, not just for the blessing it conveys to that person, but because you understand how rare such acceptance is. Success, then, becomes less and less about the response and more and more about obedience to your Saviour, and faithfulness in carrying out that obedience.  

          The world rejected Jesus. It rejected the Apostles. It rejected the early Church. It rejected the maturing Church. And it has kept doing that all the way down to our lifetime, and it will keep doing that until Jesus returns (Matthew 10.24-25). Yes, He graciously brings times of revival and seasons of refreshing. Yes, there are brands snatched from the burning that bring us great joy. But, by and large, the message of the gospel and its commands will always be rejected.

          At the same time, Jesus accompanied this somewhat grim message with the encouraging thought that God would always take care of His own (Matthew 10.28-31). I've watched God take care of my parents for 40 years. I've watched God take care of me and mine for almost twenty. Opposition, discouragement, frustration, lack, and attack come, yes, but God always provides just enough strength, encouragement, blessing, provision, and defense to cover it all.

          He always has, and He always will.

If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog you may find it here in our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 32, 'He Sent Them to Preach'.

He That Was Dead Sat Up

  Life of Christ 60

          Yesterday, He preached the Sermon on the Mount. Yesterday, after He finished that greatest of sermons, He walked into Capernaum and healed the centurion's servant from a distance. But today, for some reason, Jesus woke up and decided to walk 25 miles south along the shore of Galilee, in the direction of Nazareth, toward the little town of Nain. It would have taken Him most of the day, and He would have arrived in late afternoon, not coincidentally, the time at which most Jewish funerals were held.

          Yesterday, an already bereft widow woman had lost her only son in death. After the initial shock, preparations would have begun for an immediate burial. As an open display of her grief, the widow would have torn her clothes. Her son's body would have been laid on the ground, hair and nails cut, washed, anointed, and clothed in his best. The widowed mother would then have taken a seat on the floor, with her back turned to her son, and eaten the plainest meal possible, without any prayer of blessing.

          Kind neighbors would have, meanwhile, quickly hired a few musicians and at least one professional mourning woman to precede the casket on the journey to the cemetery. Their task was to lead the profession, meanwhile expressing loudly the grief all felt, and shouting words of praise for the dead young man all along the way.

          As the procession formed up outside the house, the chairs in the house would be turned upside down, and the young man laid, open faced, with his arms across his chest, on a bier carried by those same neighbors, now barefoot in respect. In front, the mourning women began to stroll the 10 minute walk to the tombs cut from the rocks just east of Nain, followed by the widow just in front of the bier, and then all of their friends and family. Along the way, as the procession wound through the little town, the townspeople stopped their tasks and stood in silent respect as the bier passed.

          And so it was that Death met Life, and was conquered.

         He heard it, perhaps, before He saw it, that funeral procession. He heard the cymbals and trumpets in front, and the ululations of the mourning women. As He drew near He, too, would have stepped to the side of the road and paused in respect. Perhaps that was all He intended to do. After all, He, the Prince of Life, had attended numerous funerals before, including His own earthly father's. In none of those had He intervened.

          What made Him intervene in this one? The grief of the mother, already widowed, now childless, and His great heart of compassion, in tender love, bade Him leave the side of the street, walk into the middle of the procession, and take the grief-stricken mother by the hand, and speak the command to her, 'Weep not.'

          The procession would have been forced to come to an unseemly halt. It could not continue with the mother standing still, and she could not continue with this strange Man standing in front of her. The cymbals quieted, the trumpeters drifted into silence, the mourning women found their voices strangely choked as Life Himself walked into the middle of their procession of death.

          What a strange thing to do! What an even more strange thing to say! 'Don't cry' is something we say to someone who has spilled the milk, or skinned a knee. It is a statement that kindly belittles the sorrow as being not really worth sorrowing about. It isn't something you say to a widow woman on her way to bury her only son. What you say is 'Weep, and I'll weep with you.' What you say is 'Weep, it is good for you.' What you say is 'Weep, for he was an amazing boy.' But Jesus didn't. He compassionately, but firmly, interrupted her publicly private grief, and told her to stop weeping.

          And then He did the unthinkable. He walked around her, and reached His hands out toward the bier. No. He wouldn't. Would He? After all, to touch the bier of the dead was the greatest possible defilement for a Jew. Greater than touching a Gentile, greater than touching a leper, to touch a dead body, or the casket and bier, was the greatest of all defilements. What kind of a Jew would do such a thing?

          The kind who had nothing to fear from the defilement of the dead. He knew that young man was about to be dead no longer. 'And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up' (Luke 7.14-15).       

          The pall bearers, motionless at the whim of this stranger, nearly dropped the bier in sheer surprise. The family and friends who clustered around to see the disturbance gave voice to one voiceless gasp. The onlookers at the city gate, standing in respectful silence, rubbed their eyes in confusion and puzzlement. The mourning women at the front, ready at a moment to resume their chants, stood stock still in open mouthed amazement. And the mother, the precious widowed mother, nearly fainted as her boy opened his mouth, and called to her from the atop the center of his own funeral bier.

          Jesus, calmly, takes the boy by the hand, helps him climb down out of the wicker basket that contained him, and walked him over to his mother, and they hugged as no two people on earth had ever hugged before. And the tears flowed again, like water over thirsty ground, now refreshing and rejoicing where just moments ago they had salted their path with sorrow.

          The humble Galilean peasantry of the region thought they had already seen it all. They had seen this Rabbi burst on the scene with strange events at a wedding in Cana. They had heard Him preach in their synagogues and on their mountains sermons like no other. They had watched Him heal the sick, cleanse the leper, and cast out the unclean spirits. Now, stupendously, He had broken up a funeral procession, and delivered a dead young man back, in vigorous health, to the bosom of his mother. 'And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people' (Luke 7.16).

          To me, the application of this is startlingly obvious: 'Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me' (John 14.6). He is the way we ought to live. He is the truth for which men seek. He is the life which conquers the greatest foe of humanity, death. Paul said it this way in his first letter to the church at Corinth:

15.51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

          Beloved, when your God can conquer death you are most definitely on the winning side. In Him we find such safety. In Him we find such security. In Him we find such comfort. In Him we find such hope. 'And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand' (John 10.28).

          One day, if the Lord tarry His coming, I will lie down, but I will sit back up when He calls my name. One day, if the Lord tarry His coming, those in Christ whom you love will lie down, but they will sit back up when He calls their name. 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living' (Matthew 22.32). Praise Him, beloved. Thank Him, beloved. And let us spread the news of this wonderful eternal life far and wide.

          There are no cemeteries in Heaven. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 31, 'He That Was Dead Sat Up'.

Four Lessons From a Centurion

  Life of Christ 59

  

        In the last post I brought you the story of Jesus’ healing of the Roman centurion’s servant (Matthew 8.5-13). I see four lessons here, and I offer them for your profit today.

         First, there is here a rebuke of the Jewish nation. This was not just for rejecting Him, though that is bad enough, but the rebuke is that it was His own chosen people, Israel, that would reject Him. Paul said in Romans 3 that there were great advantages in being Jew because to them had been given so many spiritual blessings that hadn’t been given to any other nation. For instance, though the moral commands of God have always been binding on the entire world the Torah itself was a very Hebrew book. It is true that there are scriptural evidences for God appearing or speaking to nations and cultures outside of Israel but it is also true that the vast majority of God’s revelation came via Hebrew prophets. Additionally, as a people in the time of Christ they had two millennia of history displaying Jehovah’s protecting hand on their nation.

          Jesus would elsewhere say ‘unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required’ (Luke 12.48). The nation of Israel was God’s chosen vessel, specifically designed and prepared over a period of many centuries to receive in human form God’s very Son from Heaven. Of all the nations and peoples to reject Him, that it should be this nation and this people was unspeakable.

          I see in this aspect of the centurion’s story both a great sadness and a great caution. I am saddened at what God had done to Him by His own people, and I am cautious because we are His people in this dispensation, and to whom much is given much is required.

Isaac Blessing Jacob, Govert Flinck, 1638

          Secondly, there is here a statement of equality. ‘Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 8.11). No one was more esteemed in the Jewish mind than the fathers, and here, Jesus, to a crowd of Jews in a Jewish city, explicitly places believing Gentiles on the same level as the fathers.

          Supreme Court Justice Charles Evans Hughes was a Baptist. Upon moving to Washington, D.C. he chose a Baptist church, and went forward to join it on a particularly Sunday morning. The same morning a number of others had come but the pastor, excited by the honor bestowed upon his church, attempted to begin the introductions with Justice Hughes. Calmly, yet kindly, Justice Hughes refused to be first, saying, ‘Pastor, please start at the other end of the line. The ground is level at the foot of the cross.’

                    I do not care if you are a native born citizen of the United States, a naturalized American, a legal visa holder, or an illegal immigrant, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. I do not care if you were raised in church since Shep was a pup, or if this is your very first Sunday to darken the doors of a church, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. I do not care if you are Caucasian, Latino, Asian, African, Polish, Assyrian, Filipino, Indian, Italian, German, or Irish, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. I do not care if your 401k is maxed out for the year already or if all your cash is tied up in debt, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. I do not care if you have so many degrees behind your name you are a thermometer or if you spent the best three years of your life in the 8th grade, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. I do not care if you are tall or short, light or dark, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, respected or neglected, a dreamboat or a shipwreck, the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

          We will all of us get to Heaven the same way, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We will all of us sing in the greatest choir in history assembled with the millions on that glassy sea facing that emerald rainbow encircled throne. We will all of us walk the streets of gold and kneel prostrate at His feet for the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

         Thirdly, there is here a statement of unity. If we are all equal in the eyes of God, sinners saved by grace, then there ought not be any separation amongst us. One of the most reprehensible aspects of American history is the whole notion of ‘separate but equal’, the now cast aside idea of the Jim Crow South that whites and blacks should have separate drinking fountains, restaurants, and schools while at the same time pretending they were equal. The simple truth is that when you separate out an entire group or class there is no equality. As a young man I heard preachers still maintaining that black people and white people should attend separate churches. Such an opinion is complete anathema to the entire tenor of the New Testament, both in the life of Christ and in the life of the early Church. Not just equality, but unity is to be the watchword in God’s churches.

          Fourthly, there is here a call for missions. Jesus explicitly said that ‘many’ Gentiles would be in the Kingdom. Well, how do those ‘many’ come to Christ from nations far to the east and far to the west of Palestine? Very simply, somebody had to leave the comfort of their own native land and take the Gospel to a foreign people. And they did, and the succeeding centuries of Church history are replete with wonderful examples of this. Beloved, we in our day have a solemn responsibility to continue this great heritage.

          When Mandy and I first moved to the inner city of Chicago ten years ago we spent much of that first year or two undergoing a great culture shock. She grew up on a farm on a rural Pennsylvania hillside. I grew up in self-contained Ohio village of 4000 people. Together, we spent our first years of ministry and marriage in a patch town on the Ohio Pennsylvania line that was so small the entire borough didn’t have a single stop light. Upon arrival here we found ourselves in a place that was different in every possible respect from any other place we had lived. The politics were different. The languages were different. The congestion was different. The foods were different. The crime and grime were different. Even the Caucasians in our church had a different culture, being city people, than that to which we were accustomed. Frankly, it wasn’t very much fun at the beginning, to put it mildly, but we rested secure in the knowledge that God had called us to this very needy part of the world. In this we learned a great lesson: Christians at ease in their comfort zone will never reach the world.

          Is your giving in a comfort zone? Is your prayer life in a comfort zone? Is your soul winning in a comfort zone? The only way that the early Church did such a wonderful job reaching their world is that the small group composed almost exclusively of Jews at the very beginning left their comfort zone, and took the Gospel to the Gentiles to their east and west.

          …and I, for one, am heartily glad they did, for the Gospel would not have come to me, as a Gentile living far to the west of Palestine, if they had not. As God’s people we have no right to turn inward, focusing on ourselves and our own needs, while the world goes to hell. Jesus didn’t just come for His own people. He came for those to the east and west as well.

If you would like to listen to the audio version of the blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 30, 'Many Shall Come From the East and West'.

Many Shall Come From the East and the West

  Life of Christ 58

          In Jesus' recent ministry He has accomplished two stunning things, the ordaining of the Twelve, and the preaching of the Sermon on the Mount. (I skipped that in this series on the life of Christ since I intend to write much more about that in a later series.) These two things alone, if done by any other religious leader, would have assured him a place in world history. Following these, He returns to Capernaum, and does what many looking at His life would call just another routine miracle (Matthew 8.5-13), if there is such a thing.

         Upon entering town, Jesus is confronted by the messengers of a locally based centurion. A centurion was the basic commander of a unit of Roman infantry, and this one would have been in the service of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. This century or troop, historians tell us, was based in Capernaum, and contained troops that were recruited primarily from the Gentiles and Samaritans in the region.

          This particular centurion was not a Jewish proselyte. A proselyte was a Gentile who undertook the laborious process of converting to Judaism. This was occasionally done at the time, and although the Jews did not seek converts the authenticity and devotion of their religion did appeal to some around them. 'The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof' (Matthew 8.8). The Gentiles were deemed to defile any Jewish house into which they entered, and proselytes, non-ethnic Jews, were no longer considered to be Gentiles. Thus, obviously, this centurion was not a convert to Judaism. He was a Roman military leader of Gentile or Samaritan descent. This is a critical point and basic to the entirety of the whole aim of Jesus' remarks here.

          Although this centurion wasn't a Jew he was, at the same time, someone who clearly had a great deal of respect for the Jewish people and their religion. In fact, it was the Jewish community leaders in Capernaum who appealed to Jesus to heal the centurion's servant with this memorable line, 'That he was worthy for whom he should do this: for he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.'

          Jesus and the Apostles immediately begin to head toward the centurion's home, and the centurion, who out of respect didn't want Jesus to defile Himself as a Jew by entering a Gentile home, sent more friends to intercept Him, and to ask Him to just heal his servant from a distance.

          I am rather impressed with this centurion. He was a respectful man in a foreign culture. He was a religious man. He was a generous man. He was a man who cared for the people who worked for him. But beyond all of these, he was a man of faith.

          By now, everybody in Capernaum had heard Jesus and His sermons and miracles discussed multiple times, and this centurion had probably even heard the story of Jesus' second miracle at Cana, the one in which he healed the nobleman's son 25 miles away in Capernaum. The centurion must have believed this to be true, and thus believed Jesus, and this simple faith and belief moved Jesus very much (Matthew 8.10). I have said it before and I'll say it again, Jesus came looking for belief. He found it in this good man, in this Roman centurion.

          What makes this story stand out, however, are the comments which Jesus made immediately afterward which frame His point. Remember, Jesus rarely did a miracle for the miracle's sake, but rather in order to send a message. Thus far, it is true that Jesus' ministry had reached out to those whom the society of His day deemed to be unworthy. He had cleansed the lepers, and He had healed those with unclean spirits, but His only interaction so far with a Gentile was the woman at the well, and that was a private interaction to which only His disciples were privy.

          Here we see Him, for the very first time, in the most public manner possible, ministering by way of miracle to an out and out Gentile. And Jesus marks the occasion by drawing attention to it in the clearest possible manner. 'And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Matthew 8.11-12).

          Yes, He came to the Jews, but He was already preparing for the time when they would reject Him, and the Gospel would be carried primarily to and by non-Jews. This is the public genesis of that transition, and it is, in its own way, as crucial as the choosing of the Twelve or the Sermon on the Mount.

For Preachers, and Those to Whom They Preach

  Life of Christ 57

And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.

Mark 3.14

My dad praying over me at my ordination

          I believe scripture teaches that the office of apostle ended with the death of John around AD 90, but I also believe there are some practical lessons that can still be drawn from the story of the calling of the Twelve (Mark 3.13-19) in our day, both for preachers and those to whom they preach.

          First, to be ordained as a preacher in the Lord's work is a precious thing. 'This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work' (I Timothy 3.1). It is a precious thing to be called by the Lord, and to be placed into ministry (I Timothy 1.12) by Him. It is precious to be publicly marked by one of the Lord's churches as one of His men.  

        Years ago, upon first assuming the pastorate, my young church called together a council of experienced area pastors, and asked them to form an ordination committee for me. They kindly consented, and in the summer of 1998 I had the distinct pleasure standing before them and answering doctrinal questions for several hours. Following that, those men recommended to my church that I be ordained, and that evening has become a very precious one in my memory. My father, then still a pastor himself, preached the charge to the candidate, and then the men on the ordination council gathered around me to pray. It was a solemn and yet joyful occasion.

          I think of that moment often on Saturday nights as I walk through our church auditorium to make sure everything is in its place for the morrow. I look at my pulpit, built for me by my own brother, and feel again in my heart the great responsibility with which I am entrusted by the Lord and by my church. The call of the Lord upon my life and a regular opportunity to preach the Word of God is very precious to me.

          Secondly, those who would be ordained as the Lord's men must, first and foremost, be with Him. No, we cannot walk and talk with the physical Jesus as Peter, James, and John did two millennia ago on the Judean hillsides, but we certainly can be with Him. The call to preach is a call to walk with God. Being with Him protects me from the inevitable temptations of ministry, such as pride of position, intellect, and influence, or thinking that I am always right. Being with Him warms my heart for what He loves, such as holiness, and the lost world, and His own people. Being with Him rubs off on me, and I become like Him. Being with Him teaches me Who He is, and forms me into His image, and this, in turn, allows me to better minister as He would minister if He were here. To the extent that an ordained minister spends time with God we will find the extent of that man's understanding and application of what God actually designed New Testament church ministry to be all about.

          Thirdly, God's men must preach. Preaching is forthtelling. Preaching is being God's herald. Preaching is confronting the spirit of the age with the ageless commandments of an unbending God. Preaching is laying out the reasons, and persuading and exhorting and compelling men to yield to God.

          Preaching is, by its very nature, designed to be confrontational, which is why it is more and more disliked in an increasingly permissive age. Yet it is this very confrontational preaching, this delivering, without apology, of God's message that is so desperately needed in our generation. It is needed by me. It is needed by my family. It is needed by my city, my state, and my country.

          Preaching is the primary public ministry to which God's men are commissioned, and if they don't get around to answering your email, forgive them. If they don't attend every birthday party for every child in the church, forgive them. If they closet themselves, hour upon hour, in private to dig out the truths of God's Word, forgive them. If they step on your toes, or peel back your scalp just a little now and then, forgive them. If they seem filled with a sense of the importance of their message, forgive them. If they never rest satisfied with the level of your relationship with God, and are always pushing you to grow, forgive them. If they will brook no opposition or meddling with their preaching, forgive them. If they insist that preaching maintain the place of primacy in the life and services of the local church, forgive them. This is exactly their commission.

The pastors on my ordination council, left to right:
Ron Royalty, Tom Brennan, Joe Grimaldi, myself, Tom Grant,
Bob Ross, Don Barth, and Michael Setser

          Beloved, the preachers of our day are not apostles, but God is still in the preacher ordaining business. They will not be hard to spot. We will notice them by their fervent love for the Lord, by the way they walk with Him, by the resemblance they carry to Him, by their high view of preaching, by their fearless proclamation of the truth, and by their thirst for opportunities to minister in the Word.

          Let us pray and beseech Him that He will favor His church by calling some few from our midst.

         

If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 28, 'He Ordained Twelve'.

He Ordained Twelve

  Life of Christ 56

  

      

       We have traveled with Christ through His birth, and His younger years. We have seen His entrance into public ministry. We have journeyed with Him, down to Judea, and throughout Galilee. We have seen Him begin to do miracles, and to preach, and to claim deity and the messiahship of Israel. Along with this we have seen the gradual ramp up of opposition to Him on the part of Israel's religious leadership, and specifically the Pharisees. In the last blog post, we saw this opposition go from veiled and underhanded and implied to an open desire and plan to kill Him.

          As the opposition to Him grows more open, more hostile, and more organized throughout this second year we will see Him begin to transition His ministry. No, He will not leave off the miracles and the public preaching by any means, but what He does do is add another dimension, a mentoring dimension.

          Jesus knew all along that the Jews would reject Him. He spoke of it at the very beginning of His ministry when He cleansed the Temple (John 2.19). I also believe that not only did He know that the rejection would happen, but that He knew to the day when He would die (Daniel 9.26), and I will explain more of that later. Of course, this doesn't mean that He didn't offer Himself genuinely to Israel as her messiah, but it does inform our understanding of what He did, when He did it, and why He did it.

          Since He knows He is going to be rejected, and as He sees the opposition to Him growing, He shifts His main point of emphasis from being the offering of Himself to the Jewish people as their messiah to a training and preparing of the Church for His absence.

          The New Testament tells us that the Church is the body of Christ on this earth in this dispensation until He returns (Ephesians 1.22-23). The New Testament tells us that the human foundation of this Church was the Apostles (Ephesians 2.20). It only makes sense for Him to take more and more time and effort now, in the light of the growing hostile opposition of the Pharisees, to prepare the human foundation of the institution He is going to start, the Church, that will propagate His doctrine after He leaves.

          Jesus, knowing how important this decision is, and just how much hangs on it, spends all night in prayer prior to making it (Luke 6.12). As dawn breaks over the mountain, He returns to His little group of followers and asks them to assemble all the disciples together (Luke 6.13). In our day we often use the term 'apostle' and 'disciple' interchangeably, but that is not actually scriptural. The word 'disciple' just means learner or follower, and it has the idea behind it of someone who has disciplined themselves to follow and to learn so deeply that it has become an ingrained habit. In this sense, all of the dedicated followers of Jesus Christ were disciples.

          Out of this group, number unknown, Christ chooses twelve men. 'And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples; and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles' (Luke 6.13). The word 'apostle' literally means messenger, or one that has been formally commissioned to carry a message and then sent on his way. At this point, after publicly choosing from amongst the group of disciples the twelve He wanted, He ordained them with some kind of formal ceremony: 'And he ordained twelve' (Mark 3.14).

          Jesus appointed or ordained them to do three things. First, He ordained them to be with Him. His specific chosen method of teaching involved them traveling with Him, living with Him, and serving alongside of Him as He ministered from place to place. While He did that He would often provoke conversations with them, ask them questions, and welcome questions from them. It was an informal course of study, but an exceedingly practical one, designed to build them while they ministered, and designed to turn them out in His own image.

          Secondly, He ordained them to preach. At first, they would mostly listen, but as time went by, increasingly, they would be the ones standing up in front of the crowds persuading them to accept Christ and to follow God.

          Thirdly, He ordained them to work miracles. Jesus gave them a similar power for similar reasons that He Himself had, and the Apostles used this power often in the book of Acts to establish their authenticity as God's messengers, the equivalent of the Old Testament prophets, to the Jews in the New Testament age. Of course, as Baptists we believe that these sign gifts were limited to the Apostolic era, and have ceased in our day, but they were active in their day.

          Jesus revolutionized so many things, and one of the chief tools that He used in that process was the choosing, training, and launching of the twelve Apostles. The enemies of the early Church labeled them as 'these that have turned the world upside down' (Acts 17.6). With Jesus as your helper, have you turned anybody's world upside down?