Leading a Rebellion: Jesus Rebelled by the Disciples He Chose

Leading a Rebellion: Jesus Rebelled by the Disciples He Chose

Luke 6:12-16

Rebel: Anyone who goes against authority, control, or tradition.

Introduction: Imagine you were the founder of a new religious movement—this is not a weird cult, but one actually endorsed by God, who would you hand pick as your core leaders? I would pick someone like John Maxwell for his leadership skills. Billy Graham, for his evangelistic zeal. Maybe a Tim Tebow for the pop culture outreach. A John MacArthur for his vast Biblical knowledge. Chris Tomlin for his worship skills. I would choose Bnall for his administrative skills. And I would pick me to reach the youth, because…well because I’m all that.

            You might not pick the same names, or even find the same skill sets to be important as I did, but you would probably identify some needs and see who was best at fitting those needs.

            In its infancy, Christianity was viewed as a sect of Judaism. Sometimes the rulers threw out cases against Christians brought to them by Jews because they viewed it as a squabble about slight variances in their religion. Almost all of the early Christians were Jews first. This meant that they still worshiped in the synagogues, and still would have been able to teach that Christ was the long expected Messiah at the synagogues. Much of this changed as the message went out across the Roman Empire and it was either accepted or rejected. Once a decision was made the synagogues either became Christian churches or were closed to the idea of hearing any more about Jesus.

            We could argue around and around over whether Jesus was starting a new religion or was just the perfection of Judaism, but either way you look at it, we have Christianity and we have Judaism today—two separate entities. Jesus, as the founder of Christianity, had His choice of whoever He wanted to begin His new religion. And He was God so He could kind of make people do it.

The Rebellion: Jesus’ choice of his leaders was in direct opposition to what everyone else probably would have made, but that’s what makes Him such a powerful leader—He could see the depths of people’s hearts and their future potential, whereas we can’t. Jesus rebelled by not choosing the best and the brightest of the day, but actually some low down counter-cultural characters.

            We don’t know the occupations of all 12 of the original apostles but we do know some of them. Five of the twelve were either known to be fishermen or are believed to be fishermen. There were two sets of fishermen brothers: Peter and Andrew, and James and John. Phillip was also believed to be a fisherman.

Scripture: Luke 5:1-11

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, ² and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”^{[a] 11} And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

            What do we know about fishermen? They were very hard working people. They spent all of their time on boats, and/or cleaning fish. It was a very tasking job. If you have ever seen one of those off shore fishing shows, they probably would have behaved very similarly. They were very coarse and uneducated.

            Matthew, we know, was a tax collector. We studied him a few weeks ago.

Scripture Luke 5:27-32

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

            Tax collector’s made their living by collecting taxes from their countrymen and giving it to the occupying Roman Empire. If Rome was collecting $100 per person, the tax collector would collect $150 and keep the $50 for themselves. Tax collectors were hated, and viewed as traitors.

            There is little known about the other six apostle’s backgrounds, other than Bartholomew, aka Nathaniel, who was believed to be of noble descent. Perhaps he didn’t have to work. Two of them, Simon and Jude were called Zealots. They may have been part of a rebellious group, whose goal was to overthrow Roman control of Israel.

            It seems like a rag-tag group of people—five fishermen, and a tax collector. I would argue that none of them would make it through the first round of elimination in a pastor search committee today. Here’s a random job requirement for a SBC pastor position. I’ve seen better, and I’ve seen worse.

“Candidates' personal character and financial standing must be above reproach both inside and outside the church. The Candidates must demonstrate a strong commitment to his family.
Candidates must possess at least a Master of Divinity Degree from an accredited theological seminary
Candidate must have at least five (5) years of senior level pastoral experience, including managing a staff. Candidates with at least ten (10) years of significant related ministry experience including experience in church ministry leadership, e.g., Assistant Pastor, Executive Pastor, Associate Minister, Youth Minister, or similar will also be considered.
All Candidates must be licensed and ordained in the Southern Baptist Church and agree with the teachings of the Baptist Faith and Message.
- The ability to prepare and deliver Biblically sound, inspirational, and Spirit-filled sermons
- A heart for discipleship and the ability to provide strong Bible-based teaching and study that is relevant, engaging and understandable
- A strong grasp and passion for doctrine and theology to equip the flock to contend for and defend the faith
- A deep passion for the caring and shepherding of the flock via visitation, prayer, counseling and other needs
- Strong interpersonal skills, including effective conflict resolution
- Accessibility and sensitivity to the physical, spiritual, cultural and socio-economic needs of all members of the congregation
- A vision for developing a church membership that is strongly rooted in the Word of God
- A commitment to growing and encouraging the spiritual development of children, youth, young adults and families in the congregation
- An openness to consider new ideas and approaches; including an openness to different worship styles and non-traditional ministries
- A proven record as a skilled administrator and manager of church staff, programs and resources

Application: Jesus rebelled by the people He intentionally hung out with. He wasn’t shallow. He didn’t care what people thought of His friends. He saw the depths of their hearts and their future potential.

            You can rebel by the people you hang out with. Judge people by their character, not by the front they put on for show.