Jesus Ministry Method

Matthew 10:1

Matthew 10:1-4, And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. Our blessed Lord saw Israel, and the whole world as a vast field to be harvested.

Matthew 9:37, Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Jesus could see the multitude coming to Him and He could see all men as a field to be harvested.

The harvest is judgment. Jesus saw them considering the inevitability of judgement coming. They were grain,

• either to be burned or to be barned,
• to be gathered in or to be cast out.

They had been betrayed by their shepherds, who had mangled them, mauled them, and mutilated them and left them for dead. When Jesus saw people that way He was moved with compassion. Out of that He calls on His disciples, in verse 38 and He asks them to pray that God will send forth labourers. Because He Himself can't do it, and so we enter a new dimen-sion in the gospel of Matthew as the Lord begins to add to His own ministry these twelve men who can increase the potential for reaching the field that inevitability is to be harvested.

So, the Lord asks them to pray. V 1, calling and the commissioning of the disciples. V 2, sent as apostles. It is a change in the pattern of ministry for our Lord, it is a critical part of the training of the twelve.

A new phase in Matthew's presentation of the work of the King Himself. As we go through this 10th chapter, we are going to learn so much about discipleship. We will learn about what our Lord did, what He taught as He trained the men who would carry the baton after He gave it to them.

As we go through this chapter our lives are going to be dramatically affected, as it touches us in regard to our service rendered to Jesus Christ. V 1, He calls the very ones He asked to pray to do the ministry themselves.

Matthew 9:38, Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” First pray.

Matthew 10:6, But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Secondly go.

Matthew 10:7, And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

Thirdly preach. The very ones who were the ones praying are the ones who become the ones going and preaching. When they had begun to see the world as Christ saw it, When they had looked with the eyes of Jesus, When they had felt with the heart of compassion that He had, Then they would begin to

• Pray,
• Go, and
• Preach.

Prayer is never enough, you can't content yourself with just praying, there must be the willingness to go. Martin Luther and his praying friend story. I think that's where we are in Matthew 10. That one solitary person, Jesus Christ as one solitary person has moved through the field, alone, until now. Now He is going to call twelve others as ministers.

He is going to commission them as His personal ambassadors and send them out.

Matthew 10 is the record of their initial sending to assist in warning men of the inevitable harvest of judgment. From verse 5 until the end of this chapter we have the most marvellous instruction about discipleship. 1. Commencement,

2. Impact, and

3. Identity. V 1, Commencement V 1, Impact V 2- 4, Identity. 1. Commencement. V 1, And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

How did Jesus get them involved? How did He get them to the place where He called them and then sent them? The Greek word meaning is that face to face calling so that one can receive a commission from the other. This is an official commissioning.

This is the commissioning of the disciples. They are the disciples in verse 1, They are the apostles in verse 2. They were disciples when they were learning. They were apostles when they were sent. Disciple means learner, mathetes.

Apostle is apostello it means to be sent. They were learners then they were sent. This is their transition from being learners in verse 1 to being sent in verse 2. They have been trained and now they are sent. Our Lord is calling them to work with Him. He is calling them to gather some of the lost, mauled, exhausted and prostrate shepherdess sheep before the reapers.

It's time to evangelize, it's time to preach the kingdom, it's time as verse 6 says to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and going to preach and tell them the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is a critical point in the training of the twelve.

There were basically four phases in Christ's training of the twelve.

• a) Salvation

Their salvation or their conversion.

John 1:35-51, we find there an illustration of the initial calling to faith. Calling to conversion or calling to salvation that our Lord used in the lives of these twelve. He called many, but there it pinpoints several of them in John 1, who are well known to us.

They were called to Christ in a conversion sense. But then after that they went back to their jobs, back to their secular employment, back to their homes.

• b) Ministry Training

Matthew 4:18-22, And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee

their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. They had already been converted or saved. They had already believed in Christ. They had already affirmed that He was the Messiah as they did in John 1.

But now He is calling them to leave the nets, to leave the secular employment, to leave their homes, and to follow Him exclusively and totally. This is their calling, if you will, into ministry. They had been called to salvation, that's phase one.

Now they are called to attach themselves to Him permanently, that's phase two. Jesus was going to make them into fishers of men. This was their education.

• They were called out of their employment,
• They were called away from their livelihood,
• They were grown men,
• They were called away from everything they ever knew about making a living and

• They were called to follow Jesus around for three years to be trained.

This was their schooling. Their training encompassed a lot of people, for wherever Jesus went there was a large number of disciples. Some stayed back and some left and followed Him no more.

John 6:66.

But in the midst of this group were these special twelve, and they were being trained along with everybody else, and perhaps even more specifically because the Lord knew that the twelve were special.

• c) Sent out

This is the third phase of their training. They are to be sent out, Matthew 10:1.

Mark 6:7, And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.

They were sent out two by two, they weren't ready to go alone yet, they had to have one another along for support.

The Lord stuck with them very closely in phase three. He was like a sort of a mother eagle watching His eaglets as they begin to fly. He was always there. They were always checking back and letting Him know how it was going.

This was their internship. This was the time for them to go out on their first short term missions’ assignment. Get a feel for how it was out there, to do an internship. After a season of this personal labour, they returned to the Lord, and they remained again a long time with the Lord being taught more and more.

They learned better now because they had been out there, and they knew where the trouble was. They knew what they needed to know and there was a little more desperation when they came back scarred a little bit from this first shot at being on their own.

• d) Making Disciples.

Fourth phase of the training of the twelve, and that was after the resurrection and after the ascension.

When Christ went back into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came into them, and they then scattered and went into all the world discipling the nations. That was the final sending of the twelve. As we come into Matthew chapter 10, we are in phase three.

This is their first experience alone in the field. He doesn't let them out very far, but just far enough to learn where the trouble is going to come from. Their commissioning into ministry. They were hand-picked by Jesus from all the other disciples who followed Him. He knew they were to be the ones.

He even hand-picked Judas because that fit the prophetic plan as well. He chose these twelve men to be the ones who would go throughout the world to establish the church and verify His Messiahship and affirm His resurrection from the dead as well as His atoning death.

He taught them and taught them that they might be the representatives of the dynamic of the Gospel.

Now, in the process of training them, phase two and phase three, Jesus was basically overcoming five manifest problems that they had. These problems are very common in the process of discipling, I know the Lord is working with me, because in a small sense I am one sent. I am not an official apostle, nobody is today, but I am also sent to the word is still true of me, I've been sent to preach the Word, so have you.

As I look at how the Lord works in my life, I can see parallels as to how He worked in their lives. One thing really excites me and that is that He didn't have a lot to work with in their case, and He still doesn't in my case, and that's very gratifying.

He really had a scruffy group of guys. By the time you get to the end of the story you wonder whether He could ever pull it off with them. Some people might question His ability on that basis alone. It's a marvellous insight into the honesty of God, as He sees Christ dealing with men who are weak.

But as we move to that let me just tell you a little about the training process, and a little about their initiation and a couple of things in the background.

• i) Chosen Sovereignly

They play a critical role in the history - of the world and in eternity as well, and God had it all laid out so that they were chosen sovereignly. V 1, "He called unto him his twelve disciples."

Mark 3:13, And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him.

It was His choice, His will, His sovereign purpose. There was no executive search. They were called by the sovereign will and purpose of God. He knew the men He wanted, and they were not consulted and neither was anybody else consulted but God the Father.

It was foreordained like Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Apostle.

John 15:16, You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit,

and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. Sovereignly God chose these individuals, and that has always been God's pattern.

• God chose Israel.
• He chose the apostles,
• He chooses His church,
• He chooses those who serve Him within His church.

So that we who are representing Him are the called according to His purpose.

ii) Chosen by Prayer

They were chosen after a night of prayer. Christ chose whom He would but marvellously and wonderfully in His submission to the Father it occurred only after He sought the Father's will. This is such a wonderful thing in terms of discipling.

As we select those that we will pour our life into it should be only after great prayer, so that God can show us who it is that we are to give ourselves to.

Luke 6:12-13, Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer

to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also

named apostles

They were chosen sovereignly, They were chosen after a night of prayer as the submissive Son in His humility sought only the will of the Father. John 17 He affirms that indeed they were the ones the Father wanted, given by the Father to the Son.

John 17:6-7, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. He affirmed that they were the gift of God.

These very special men were chosen by God and affirmed by the Son after all night of prayer. So, they were chosen sovereignly, they were chosen through prayer. iii) Chosen to be trained. Training is an essential part.

They weren't chosen just to be sent out, there must be a training time. For them it was a training of three years, walking with the Lord, they left their nets, they left their boats, they left their crops, they left their businesses, they left their tax collecting stands, they left everything, and they wandered around behind Jesus.

Jesus knew they needed to be trained, to be taught, to become disciples, mathetes, learners, before they could be sent. Moses spent forty years being trained. Paul only three years. Moses must have been a very tough case.

But there must be a training time before one can be sent. Can't imagine any greater thrill than to have been trained by the Lord Himself!

Matthew 11:29, Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Learning doesn't happen because you sit in a class and hear a lecture, learning really happens when you watch a holy man, or woman walk through life. That's when you learn. You learn from the pattern, and the consistency of life and that's what discipleship is, it isn't ten weeks in a class it's walking with a godly person and feeling their heartbeat and hearing them speak and seeing them pray and spending time.

It wasn't any easy job to train this 12, the best of their leader, Peter still didn't have a clue what he was doing even after the resurrection. They were really a defective group. It is good to see their defects because it gives us hope that God can use us.

1. Lack of spiritual understanding

They have one basic problem which is they do not understand spiritual truth. Tough way to begin but that's exactly what they were.

• They were blind,
• They were thick,
• They were dull,
• They were stupid.
• They didn't understand the parables.

Every time the Lord says to them, do you understand this? Yes Lord. Always say Yes Lord.

Did they understand? No, they didn't understand. But they were so dull they did not know they did not understand. They didn't understand the precepts He taught, it was so hard to get through all their prejudices and their preconceived attitudes.

Matthew 15:15-17, Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? He rebuked them, haven't you got it yet?

Luke 18:31-34, Then He took the twelve aside and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. 32 For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. 33 They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.” 34 But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

None of them. If I were the Lord at that point I would say, are You sure these are the right twelve? They have been together a long, yet couldn't they have understood some of this? None of this? But all the while they were saying, yes Lord, we understand.

Don't be fooled by those who think they understand what you say, be sure they do. They didn't grasp the parables, They didn't grasp the precepts They didn't even understand the suffering of Christ.

Matthew 16:22-23, Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Still don't understand. This is the way it always went. After the resurrection and Peter had seen the risen Christ, Peter and all his friends went back to fishing.

Can you imagine? Went right back to where they started.

The Lord comes up there and of course He rerouted all the fish in the sea, so none went near their boat, they were never going to be able to fish again. He gets them all into the shore and in effect He says, what is going on?

Do you love Me, Peter? Then feed My sheep, that's what I called you to do. Jesus is clear in John 21 and Peter still doesn't understand his role.

• They didn't understand their role.
• They didn't understand the purpose of Christ's sufferings.
• They didn't understand the principles.
• They didn't understand the parables.

Lack of understanding. Part of the discipleship process, you must overcome that.

How did Jesus’ deal with that? Simply by teaching, teaching, teaching, teaching, teaching.

Acts 1:3, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Just teaching, teaching, teaching, teaching. He dealt with their lack of understanding by instruction 2. Lack of humility.

They were a proud, jealous, envious bunch. Notice our Lord walking down the road and they were walking behind Him, elbowing each other, and pushing.

Mark 9:33-35, Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you [f]disputed among yourselves on the road?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. 35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

Selfless, humble souls? All the time our dear Lord is walking along they are back fighting about who is going to be the greatest.

And Jesus sat them down and He brought a little child, and He gave them a lesson on humility.

What a rebuke? Matthew 20. Now the argument got hot about who would be the greatest. James and John had enough audacity to get their mother into the deal.

Matthew 20:20-24, Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.” 22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.” 23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.” 24 And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.

Jesus was talking about was martyrdom, persecution. The other ten were mad that James and John were going to get those places, and not them.

Matthew 20:27, And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave— You got it all wrong, and so He had to teach them. He used Himself as an example.

Matthew 20:28, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Jesus dealt with it by giving them a demonstration of His own humility. He likened Himself to a little child, in Mark 9. He likened Himself here to a servant. In John ¹³ He washed their feet and then He said you should do in your love to one another as I have done to you.

John 13:13-14, You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. He overcame their lack of understand-ing by instruction. He overcame their lack of humility by example. He used an example of His own life as a teaching tool.

3. Lack of faith. Repeatedly, the most common phrase He ever said to them was this, "Oh you little faith." He would do so many things and still they didn't see.

Mark 4:40, But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” How can it be that after all of this you still don't believe?

How can it be?

Mark 16:14, Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

They didn't even believe reports of the resurrection. Now what a bunch to work with, and how do you ever transform them into those who can change the world?

How did He deal with their unbelief? By miracles and mighty deeds. Showing them His power over and over. Jesus did the miracles primarily for the disciples, not for the crowds, they were secondary.

The disciples needed to be sure and confident. They needed to know the resurrection really happened. Jesus appeared to them, and He appeared to them again. Jesus let them touch Him. Jesus let them feel Him. They could let them see Him.

Acts 1:3, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. He overcame their lack of understanding with teaching. He overcame their lack of humility with example. He overcame their lack of faith by miracles and mighty deeds. All of this was part of the teaching process. 4. Lack of commitment.

They would say, we will never forsake You. Why everyone may forsake You.

Matthew 26:31-35, Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, And the sheep of the flock

will be scattered.’ 32 But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

35 Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples. They really talked it up, but when it came down to the crisis of that terrible hour they were gone. Peter was denying and Judas was betraying and the other ten just split, got out of there. They couldn't handle it, they were gone.

When He called His disciples, "they forsook all."

Luke 5:11, So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.

They deserted Christ when they saw the swords and the staves and the lanterns and the Romans.

Mark 14:50, Then they all forsook Him and fled.

When they started to smell death, they got out.

How did Jesus’ deal with that?

Luke 22:31-32, And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Jesus dealt their lack of commitment with it through prayer. Lack of understanding by teaching them. Lack of humility be an example. Lack of faith by mighty miracles. Lack of commitment by prayer. 5. Lack of power.

They were impotent, they had a lack of power. They were weak and helpless.

Matthew 17:14-21, And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And

Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Great faith, intense prayer. They were impotent, they didn't have power.

How did Jesus’ deal with that?

John 20:21-22, So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:8, But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Conclusion

The disciples were chosen sovereignly by God to be the associates of Christ to found the church. They were chosen through prayer. They were chosen to be trained. In their training they had to overcome,

• a lack of spiritual understanding through instruction,
• a lack of humility through example,
• a lack of faith through wondrous miracles,
• a lack of commitment through prayer, and
• a lack of power through the agency of the Spirit of God in their lives.

The lesson for us is the same when you disciple somebody you are going to have the same problems with the same remedies.

John 3:1-2, There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

They could acknowledge that God was Jesus.

Acts 4:13, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained

men, they marvelled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. The world acknowledged that the apostles have been with Jesus.