Luke 6:12 - 16, Chosen to Serve

To listen to preaching? And of course, the answer is yes. Very fascinating to me, back in the Reformation days, over 200 pastors and theologians got together, and they came up with a variety of things about theology.

And included in this theological treaty was not just things about the Trinity, the deity of Jesus, His little resurrection, but how to preach, and also how to listen to the Word of God. Listen to what it says about how someone should preach.

Very fascinating. They that are called to labor in the ministry of the Word are to preach, how do you preach? Sound doctrine, diligently, in season and out of season, plainly, not enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and in power.

Faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God, wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers. Zealously, with fervent love to God and the souls of His people. Sincerely, aiming at His glory and their conversion, edification, and salvation.

Isn't that amazing? How are you to preach? That's a lot of responsibility. But of course, the follow up is, if preaching is that important, and it is, I think of Paul, by the inspiration of the Spirit, who said, preach the Word, right?

In season, out of season. If preaching is important, listening is important as well. If you think about sheer numbers of the minutes of a worship service, the majority of the time we have in our worship service on Sunday mornings and at Sunday nights is the preaching of God's Word.

And so while we know singing's worship, while we know giving's worship, while we know prayer's worship, preaching's worship, but also, how do you listen to a sermon? That's very, very important. And that's actually part of worship.

So these group of men got together, and they also answered this question. What is required of those that hear the word preached? I have my responsibilities. You have your responsibilities. And according to these wise men, what did they say?

Not the three wise men, but these wise men. What's required? It is required of those who hear the word preached that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, prayer, examine what they hear by scriptures, receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind as the word of God, that they meditate and confer of it, hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.

Good words.

Important words. And I rejoiced this morning that I know you love preaching, and I know you come with attentive hearts. And it's almost like when I hear preaching, I think I'm kind of like a little bird in the nest.

And I just think, you know, I hope my mother or my father sparrow comes and gives me the big worm of the word.

Does that make sense?

No, I don't think so. Particularly on my part, it says that I'm to make sure that I apply themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers. And so today, if you'll take your Bible and turn to Luke chapter 6, I want to make sure I connect the dots between theology and methodology.

I did that last week, and I want to do that this week as well. And so it'll be an interesting form of a sermon today, but we'll be in Luke chapter 6. And I want to make sure that you, the congregation, get what I'm saying so that your responsibility of hearing properly is easier for you.

I'm going to try to make it easier for you to obey those exhortations from those men that come from scripture. So today, we're going to be in Luke chapter 6, verses 12 through 16 again. But I want to draw some things out so that you can understand some theological things behind the scenes that will make it easier for you to apply yourself with diligence, preparation, and prayer.

So last week, we looked at two things, and we're going to review them today. And that is the prayer life of Jesus, verse 12, and the lordship of Jesus, verses 13 through 16, the prayer life of Jesus, and then also the sovereignty of Jesus.

And as we're looking through the gospel of Jesus, according to Luke, we see, in fact, Jesus, the God-man. Remember, we have the triune God, and the triune God made a decision among itself that, in fact, he himself, that the Lord Jesus would take on human flesh, and that he would live among us.

And when we watch Jesus in the gospel of Luke, remember he's not primarily an example. Of course, Jesus is an example. We watch him suffer, and we say, that's how we should suffer, First Peter. But primarily, he's a representative.

Adam failed, and now this last Adam, he's not going to fail. Primarily, Jesus is a substitute, because we just look at an example. And if you look at Jesus' example of perfect living, you need more than an example, because if you see his example and don't do it, then you need a substitute.

So we're watching Jesus in the gospel of Jesus, according to Luke, and it's all eyes on Jesus. And what's he like? And so we see today his prayer life and his sovereignty. And remember the prayer life in verse 12.

In these days, he, Jesus, went out to the mountain to pray. And all night, he continued in prayer to God. And of course, the next section is choosing the disciples. And so Jesus prayed many things, certainly, if it's all night prayer.

It wasn't just one request, but the tie-in request is he's asking for wisdom from the Father as a true Jesus, the true man. Who do I choose? Jesus doesn't do anything of his own initiative. He speaks the things that the Father has taught him, John 8.

And now Jesus is praying. And we learned last week that when we look at Jesus' prayer life, the first thing we shouldn't do is say, we should pray more. I tried to convince you last week that the first thing we should do when we see that Jesus prayed is to think, you know what?

He didn't stop praying when he went to heaven. Hebrews chapter 7, he lives to make intercession for us. He keeps praying for us. And to know that Jesus is praying for us, not just praying for Peter on earth, but praying for us in heaven should give us great motivation.

And then secondly, I think it is fair to say, what's our prayer life like? Now, if you were here last week and you heard the sermon, hopefully, you got encouraged and convicted. How was your prayer life this week?

Did anything change this week when you realized, Jesus is praying for me. And in light of that, I ought to pray more. I tried to give you a few practical things last week, even when I get in the car. My first thing that I do is I turn on the radio.

And two weeks ago, I didn't even turn it on. This week, I actually turned it on. I thought, OK, what am I going to do? And I'm not trying to be a legalist. I'm not saying you can't listen to radio. I'm just saying, for me, I'm already in the car.

I might as well be praying. And if it helps you, I do a couple of things like this. This is my daily habit when I'm in the car. What do they teach you in driver's ed? Hands at what position? 10 and 2.

So I put my hands at the 10 and 2 position. And I'm a public school kid, so that's my education. So I'm not that smart. And so I just have to have ways to help me. And so maybe this would help you. I have 10 fingers, 10 and 2.

I'm driving. The radio is off. I'm thinking, you know, I'd like to have a better prayer life. I'd want to be dependent on the Lord. I want to not waste time. You never waste time when you're praying. And so I just have 10 fingers, and I do things like this.

This is every day.

I get in the car. I say, the Lord is my shepherd. And I dwell on that. I say, thank you. And I've got worries today and concerns today. But I know you're my shepherd. You guide, protect, and lead me. And I can just rest in you.

The Lord is my shepherd. And then I always do these five fingers. When I was in the hospital, thought I was going to die of COVID. They smuggled in some food. They smuggled in ivermectin. They smuggled in all kinds of things.

But Luke smuggled in a little index card.

With his kind of bad writing.

He's like a typical Abendroth male, can't print. And it said, Hebrews 13, I will never leave you and I'll forsake you. I have that to this day. And so the Lord is my shepherd. I will never leave you. No matter what happens, God, you'll never leave me.

Thank you.

And then I think, well, I've got 10 fingers. I might as well keep going. And so then I think, you know what? I pray for Kim, Haley, Maddie, Gracie, Luke, Hannah, Marty, Eleazar, Amos, and Clara. And so I use my hands to pray for the 10 right on down the line.

And then I do things like this.

Here we go.

Here's the third round of 10. All hands on deck, 10 and 2. I'm not kidding. This is what I do. And if I can help you just do anything like this, then I want to encourage you to do that. Our Father who art in heaven, I'm thankful that you're my Father and their Father as well.

And you protect and you provide. I try to do good things as a father. How much more do you, this exalted great God? Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your name is holy and you are wonderful and you are different, yet you care for us.

Our Father who art in heaven, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Your kingdom is going to come. Oh, Lord Jesus, come on earth. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. God, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I work through. And guess what I do with this hand? Any guesses? Give me this day my daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not to temptation, but deliver me from evil. And so I 10 and 2. My flesh wants to say W-E-E-I, sports radio. And I just think I should just spend some good time praying. And you could do it as a housewife.

You could do it as a man who's babysitting.

You could do it anything.

So I'm just thinking hands. One other thing that I thought was really practical over the years, I've thought to myself that one guy was probably right when he said you can look at your hand and you can pray for people.

The pinky, the people that are the least significant in life doesn't raise up very high. Your ring finger, it's your weakest finger. Pray for people that are weak and sick. You go to your tallest finger, your middle finger, and it's for leaders and those in positions of authority in the church or in government.

Your index finger, the teachers, the pointers, the preachers, et cetera. And then finally, you get to the thumb that is the least significant.

And it points to you and you pray for yourself.

So that's my theology of preaching with hands. Got it? My point is simple. Jesus prayed. He's truly human. He's perfectly human. He's verily human. And Jesus prays. He's dependent upon the Father and the God man prays.

And if the sinless, spotless, holy, undefiled Lamb of God prays, well, we should be thankful that he still prays. But also, we should say to ourself, I should probably do some things in my own life to pray more.

Well, not only that, we look at verses 13 through 16 about the sovereignty of Jesus. Now, of course, we know Jesus is sovereign. We've seen him heal. We've seen him forgive. We've seen him do all kinds of things in this gospel.

We'll see a lot more, too. But here, he calls and he names. And when you're sovereign, you get to name and you get to choose. Parents are sovereign over their children. They get to name their children.

And here, we see both Jesus choosing and naming,.

Particular people.

And when the day came, verses 13 through 16, he called his disciples and chose from them 12, whom he named apostles. Apostle means to be sent out. Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew, his brother, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the zealot, and Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And so these verses go together. Verse 12 and 13 go together. Jesus is up all night. He's praying and he gets wisdom from the Father and now he chooses. And of course, he doesn't choose 11. He doesn't choose 13.

He doesn't choose 496. He chooses 12 because you should be thinking, Old Testament, how many tribes? 12, you see the plan of God. You see the continuity of God working back in Israel and now working now.

Jesus chooses 12 on purpose, not accidentally. He calls all these disciples together and then chooses from some of them. And he chooses them not based on how many fish they caught, how many taxes they collected, how good they were, how good they'd be in the future, foreseen works.

He chooses them because he is the Lord. He personally summons them and calls them. So here's where I want to help you connect the dots and just kind of slow down. We could get to the next section of verses, but I just want to slow down here for a minute.

Jesus prayed and Jesus chose. Jesus prayed and Jesus chose. How does prayer and sovereignty go together?

You ever ask yourself that question?

He chose and he prayed.

How do those go together?

If God is sovereign, why pray?

Have you ever heard that?

If God's in charge, why would you ever pray? I mean, you don't have to pray. He's going to do what he wants to do anyway. So I want to think about that for a little bit right now. I want to connect the dots.

Jesus prays and Jesus chooses. So if God is sovereign, why pray?

Let me give you a few reasons.

Number one, because you're commanded to pray. God commands you to pray. We don't have to figure out everything. We're finite. Our minds are tainted by sin. And so we don't need to know every little detail.

But if God says to pray, and this is the God that loves you, redeems you, rescued you, you're forgiven, you're right in God's eyes, the hope of heaven. And if he says, I'd like you to pray, is there anything you wouldn't do out of gratitude for the Lord?

And so 1 Thessalonians 5, pray without ceasing. Ephesians 6 .18, praying at all times in the spirit and all prayer and supplication. Matthew 6, Jesus assumed you'd pray, but when you pray. And of course, the verses that you know from Philippians 4, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God.

And so God is good.

He has a law.

Remember, when you ever think about God's law, don't think about God's law floating around outside abstractly out there. Always think of God's law. It's God's good pleasure to give us the law, to guide us, and to glorify himself.

And this good, merciful God says, I want you to pray. And so the first reason we want to pray, even though God is sovereign, is because he's told us to. Secondly, why pray if God's sovereign? Well, because he hears your prayers.

God hears your prayers. If ever I go to a football stadium, and I haven't been to a big game lately, but if I go to the University of Nebraska Memorial Stadium, I think there's 80 ,000 people there. And I'm thinking to myself, I can't believe that God knows every thought.

I can't believe if 80 ,000 people were praying, God would know everything that they're praying. I mean, just imagine if everybody's talking, and you're like, this is just cutting through the noise, but God knows his children.

He's present and omnipotent, and he's omniscient, and so he can hear our prayer. And so therefore, Psalm 55 says, cast your burden on the Lord, and he'll sustain you. He'll never permit the righteous to be moved.

Why pray if God's sovereign? Because he hears you. He understands. He is known by you. Remember the prophets of Baal? They're trying to get God's attention. Remember Elijah, the mountain, and everything else?

And what were they doing? They're cutting themselves, bleeding, trying to call on this God that they don't know. I found a prayer that is called the prayer to every God. And when you don't know the Father, and you don't know the Son, and you don't know the Spirit, and you don't know how to pray, you haven't been instructed to pray, you don't know to whom you're praying, this is someone that was really hurting, and this is thousands of years old, and they were crying out to a God they didn't know.

They were crying out to a God that they didn't know if he even would listen. And here's part of the prayer. May the fury of my Lord's heart be quieted to me. May the God who is not known be quieted to me.

May the God whom I know or do not know be quieted to me. May the heart of my God be quieted to me. In ignorance, I have eaten the forbidden fruit of my God. In ignorance, I've set foot on that forbidden by my goddess.

Oh, Lord, my transgressions are great. Great are my sins. The transgression which I've committed, I don't know. The sin which I've done, I don't know. The forbidden thing that I've eaten, I don't know.

And he goes on and on and on.

I don't know you, but I know I've done something because something's wrong in my life.

Help.

But God answers our prayer because he's our Father.

We know him.

He knows us.

I just alluded to it, but number three, why pray of God's sovereign? Answer. Because God answers prayer. God answers prayer. Just for a moment before I read any scripture, is there anything in your life that you can think of right now that you were really praying and praying and praying about and God answered?

The one that I think about most often is I was a custodian at Grace Church. And so we would, my shift started at 3 .30. I was laid off a corporate American. At 3 .30, we would meet, and we'd get ready for our assignments.

But we would pray first. 15, 20 minutes, I thought, this is kind of nice, praying on the clock. I was making $8 an hour at the time. So I think I got paid $2 to pray that day. And there's a guy named Patrick.

I still know Patrick. I see him once in a while. And Patrick was a college student at Masters University, which is 17 miles away. And so he was here at Campus of Grace Church. And he said, I need a car to go back and forth between work and church and the university, and I don't have a car.

All right, let's pray for Patrick to have a car. Probably 22 at the time. So we had walkie-talkies. We all go to our assignments to clean and pick up and sort up chairs and pick up trash and everything.

I get the phone call on the walkie-talkie. Meet me at the gym. Everybody, meet me at the gym.

It's Patrick.

OK, I don't know, is somebody hurt, somebody bleeding? Who knows? We get there, and he goes, I've just been given a car. And we, of course, seminary students that were walking in the spirit, we're like Acts chapter 12.

Peter's in jail. The church is praying all night. Peter shows up at the door. Who must it be? And they're like, don't bother us. We're praying for Peter to get out of jail. And he said, I went into a pastor's office.

The pastor said, how are you? How can I encourage you? What can I pray for you for? What can I pray for you about? And he said, I really need a car. He said, I had a car, and I was going to give it away, and so here's the keys to the car.

And we're like, that was so encouraging.

But you know what?

I thought God's sovereign, so we shouldn't pray. If he was going to get the car, he should have got the car. But no, God is pleased to answer prayer, because then we do what? We praise him.

We thank him.

We say, thank you for that, Lord. It's an answer to prayer. Psalm 99, verse 6, they called upon the Lord, and he answered them. Jesus said, whatever you ask in my name, that will I do. That the Father may be glorified in the Son, like he was with Patrick in the car.

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. And certainly the Lord Jesus, he knew God was sovereign, and he prayed, and his prayers were answered, and the 12 were chosen. I met a man once, and he said, what I do is I get a spiral notebook, and I write down the prayer request that somebody gives me or my own, and then date answered.

And he said, then, when friends say to me, I don't believe that God is real, I say to him, here are my seven spiral notebooks with prayer request and prayers answered, and I hand them the seven spiral notebooks.

That man was named Wynn. Listen to what Jesus said. Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks, finds, and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.

What man is there among you when his son asks him for a loaf, will give him a stone? If he asks for a fish, he not will give him a snake, will he? If you then, parents being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give you what is good to those that ask you?

Why pray since God's sovereign? He hears prayers, and he answers them. To stop there just for a second, is there anything in your life that's really bothering you, troubling you, weighing you down, heavy hearted about, can't sleep about?

Certainly you've prayed, haven't you?

Please do.

Why pray if God's sovereign? Let me give you another reason. Number four, because God ordains the means and the ends.

The means are prayer.

The end is that answered prayer. So God works in both prayer and the end. The end is determined, and there are no means. The same thing could be true when it comes to evangelism. God saves who he wants.

Why does he use us to preach the word? Because God ordains the means and the end. All right, here's another reason to pray. Well, let's make it true or false for fun. True or false, prayer changes things.

Prayer changes things. Does prayer change God's eternal decree? Does prayer change God himself? But I wonder, answer those questions or no, I wonder if prayer changes you. I wonder if you don't have a job, and you pray for a job, and God gives you a job, is your employment status changed?

I'd like to have a spouse. I'd like to have a spouse. I finally get a spouse. And you go, I'm no longer single. I'm married. I think that's different. I've got a loved one, a spouse, who's not a Christian, children who are not Christians.

And I pray, and I pray, and I pray, and I pray, and I pray. And then one day in God's timing, he answers the prayer. The lights go on, and you say, does God change things through prayer? Certainly not his will.

Certainly not his essence. Certainly not his decree. But God changes people, things, has enough in himself.

To do it.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry, what? Everything to God in prayer. Jesus prays. God's sovereign. How do they go together? Dear beloved, you don't even need to know.

They're not enemies, Spurgeon said. They're friends. Prayer, sovereignty, evangelism, sovereignty, they go together.

We teach both.

We embrace both. Now, here's my next question. I want to focus on this the rest of time. Jesus prays in verse 12. The answer to prayer is found in verses 13 and following. We see the wisdom from God. We see his sovereign choice.

Here's my question now. Why were those men chosen? Why were they chosen? By the way, God could do whatever he wants. Why does he need these guys? To what end, for what purpose were they chosen? And by the way, I'll expand it a little bit.

Why does God choose anyone? If you're a Christian, you've been chosen.

Why?

For what purpose? Wouldn't it be interesting if you got saved, and the second you got saved, you just go straight to heaven? Or maybe when you got baptized, you'd go straight to heaven? I guess if we held somebody under long enough, that could be the case.

Matter of fact, when I used to do the baptism, Steve does them now. But when I used to do them, I would say, now, when you come up out of the water, don't start speaking in tongues. Because if you do, I'm dunking you back under.

We're not having that around here. So here's what's happening. We're looking at this passage. And I'm just stepping back a little bit. We could read through it fast. We could preach through it fast.

Yeah, Jesus prayed.

He chose.

But I'm just trying to get you to think a little bit grander. I'm trying to get you to connect the dots and to think through, what are the implications of such.

A passage?

It's not always good to read the Bible fast. Could Jesus praise? Jesus is sovereign. They go together in God's mind. That's true.

It's good.

I can see some lessons for myself in all that. But the question is, why did he choose? Why does he choose anybody? Why doesn't he just take them to heaven upon their regeneration? I'd like you to turn your Bible to Matthew chapter 10, because Matthew and Mark tell us why he chose the 12.

Luke doesn't say. Luke gives us tidbits that Mark doesn't give us, like he prayed all night. But Mark and Matthew tell us why these men are chosen. Of course, Jesus is going to die one day. And then these men are going to take the message and go forward.

But specifically, we're going to learn about how these men preach and have authority to cast out demons, according to Mark. And like their master, they're going to follow in his footsteps. So Matthew chapter 10.

By the way, when you read this chapter, there are some things at the end of this chapter where you go, I had no idea it had to do with the disciples. And I'll show you what I mean. So chapter 10, verse 1, you see, he called to him his 12 disciples, gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out.

Then he tells you their names. Verse 5, these 12 Jesus sent out, instructed them, go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

That start, to the Jew first and the Gentiles after. And proclaim as you go, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You receive without pain, give without pay.

Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, et cetera. Verse 16, behold, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be wise as serpents. Be innocent as doves.

Beware of men. They will deliver you over to the courts, flog you in their synagogues. You'll be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. See what Jesus is doing?

This is called seminary in a day. Marching orders, preparation, guidance, instruction,.

Equipping.

Why am I going to choose you? Because you have ministry to do for my sake. He says in verse 26, if you jump down to verse 26, so have no fear of them. Nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.

What I tell you in the dark, say in the light. And what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. Now these next few verses, we kind of make them for our own whether we're going to talk about hell or talk about how God cares for us.

But these were for the 12, primarily, specifically. Dear 12, verse 28, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. 12, rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. And by the way, this is the tender care of the Lord Jesus and the Father for you 12 to go out for gospel ministry.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than the sparrows.

I'm going to give you the mission.

And I'm gonna provide for you and I'm going to care for you. And I'm instructing you and equipping you. So in light of that, to connect some of the dots again, to make it as practical as I can, I wanna ask some questions and give you some answers about why would Jesus choose anyone for gospel ministry?

Why would he choose you and would it even matter? Is there a reason? This all leads to ministry and service for the Lord Jesus because God doesn't need your good works. Who does?

The Lord Jesus.

No, you.

So I'm gonna try to drive home the importance of service now in ministry. Before I start, let me say this. Probably 25 to 30 of the people at Bethlehem Bible Church do the typical 80 of the work. And man, I look around the room and I just see, I'm not trying to demean anyone, I see workhorses.

I see faithful behind the scenes working. I never have to think to myself of certain people as I see you. These people, they don't understand ministry, they show up late, they don't do anything. So many of you work and minister for the Lord Jesus and use your service and gifts.

Thank you, the elders are thankful for you and you give us joy. Some though, on the flip side, they, you, you show up at Sunday morning and then you leave. By the way, I'm glad you come for Lord's Day worship, I'm glad you come for what we call the ordinary means of grace.

But I hope as you watch this unfold in scripture, you're gonna say, I need to have a ministry. I need to serve. If it's guilt in Adam, grace in Christ Jesus, it's gratitude and service, I need to serve because when God chooses people, He chooses them to serve.

Now some of you have ministries we don't know about, it's behind the scenes, it's a prayer ministry, you're doing things that we don't know about. But there are many, I'm certain, that come to the church, you come for Sunday morning and that's it.

So may I say, let me try to put a little spur or a burr under your saddle. You're not smiling. Because when Jesus chooses people, He chooses them to serve. That's my point, yes, Jesus prayed and Jesus chose, but why did He choose?