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Are you surprised by Jesus' choice of His leadership team? A close

reading of Luke 9 suggests that the Twelve were not exactly prize

recruits for a new spiritual movement.

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They showed some frightening patterns and embarrassing traits that might cause a manager to

wonder, "Who hired these people? How in the world can they

possibly get the job done?"

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Jesus recruited them, and He delegated real power and authority to them to get

the job done not just token responsibilities, as often happens when leaders "delegate" tasks to

subordinates.

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Luke 9:1 NET After Jesus called the twelve together, he gave them power and

authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to

heal the sick.

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3 He said to them, "Take nothing for your journey — no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, and do not take an extra tunic. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until

you leave the area.

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5 Wherever they do not receive you, as you leave that town, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."

6 Then they departed and went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing people

everywhere.

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When they reported back from their first assignment, He took them aside for a

"performance review" at a private place near Bethsaida, a small fishing

village on the north of Galilee and hometown to several team members.

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Luke 9:10 NET When the apostles returned, they told Jesus

everything they had done. Then he took them with him and they

withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida.

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From that point, the Twelve made seven identifiable mistakes that we might be tempted to assume

would disqualify them from leadership:

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(1) They acted from a short-sighted vision. When their retreat was

interrupted by a crowd eager to meet Jesus, all they could see was their limited resources in a

desert place.

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Luke 9:12 NET Now the day began to draw to a close, so the twelve came and said to Jesus, "Send the crowd

away, so they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside

and find lodging and food, because we are in an isolated place."

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13 But he said to them, "You give them something to eat." They

replied, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish — unless we go and buy food for all these

people."

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(2) Some of them fell asleep at a moment of great opportunity.

When Jesus met with Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest leaders in Israel's history, Peter, James, and John were caught napping.

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Luke 9:28 NET Now about eight days after these sayings, Jesus took

with him Peter, John, and James, and went up the mountain to pray.

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29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became very bright, a brilliant

white. 30 Then two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with him.

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31 They appeared in glorious splendor and spoke about his departure that he was about to

carry out at Jerusalem.

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32 Now Peter and those with him were quite sleepy, but as they

became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing

with him.

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(3.) They tried to preserve the status quo. Peter wanted to hang on to a good experience and build

monuments to it.

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Luke 9:33 NET Then as the men were starting to leave, Peter said to

Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three

shelters, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah" —

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not knowing what he was saying. 34 As he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them,

and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.

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35 Then a voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my

Chosen One. Listen to him!" 36 After the voice had spoken, Jesus

was found alone.

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So they kept silent and told no one at that time anything of what they

had seen. (4) They gave way to fear of the

unknown.

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Jesus healed an epileptic boy but then fear caused the Twelve not to ask

questions when they were confused.Luke 9:43 NET Then they were all

astonished at the mighty power of God.

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But while the entire crowd was amazed at everything Jesus was doing, he said to his disciples, 44

"Take these words to heart, for the Son of Man is going to be

betrayed into the hands of men."

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45 But they did not understand this statement; its meaning had been

concealed from them, so that they could not grasp it. Yet they were

afraid to ask him about this statement.

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(5) They competed to see who would be top dog. The disciples

argued over greatness and privilege rather than concern

themselves with serving others.

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Contrast that with Jesus' treatment of seekers, especially "children" and "the

least."Luke 9:46 NET Now an argument started

among the disciples as to which of them might be the greatest.

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47 But when Jesus discerned their innermost thoughts, he took a child, had

him stand by his side, 48 and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me

welcomes the one who sent me, for the one who is least among you all is the one

who is great."

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(6) They dallied in partisan politics. Encountering a rival teacher, the

disciples tried to claim exclusive rights to God's activity. By contrast, Jesus

included any and all who were sincerely interested in serving God in

His name.

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Luke 9:49 NET John answered, "Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he is not a disciple along with us." 50 But Jesus said to him, "Do not stop him, for whoever is not against

you is for you."

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(7) They plotted a dirty tricks campaign. When their ethnic

enemies proved inhospitable, the Twelve turned vicious. Jesus replied by issuing one of His

strongest rebukes.

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Luke 9:51 NET Now when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to

Jerusalem. 52 He sent messengers on ahead of him.

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As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for him, 53 but the villagers refused to welcome him, because he was determined

to go to Jerusalem.

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54 Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went on to another village.

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Despite these shortcomings, Jesus not only kept the Twelve on His team. He

kept them as His first team! He showed that undeveloped rookies can be developed into servant-leaders—

over time.

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Even though they were weak, competitive, self-centered,

unrealistic about themselves, and insensitive to others, He kept

working with them.

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The Lord's hopes were rewarded, but only after His death and

resurrection. Luke 9 is merely the beginning of the story.

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The outcome can be found in Acts, where Luke goes on to show that God uses empowered laypeople

like the Twelve—and like us today—to do His work.

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Can we as laity do the work of God? Absolutely! But as we do, we need to take a serious look at ourselves and ask God to help us purge out those

mistaken attitudes that we share with Jesus' early leaders. (Word In Life Study Bible)

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God uses ordinary people to do his work. Think about it, fishermen…

shepherds…tent makers…carpenters…tax collectors…

farmers…doctors…the list goes on.

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Let’s be careful how we think about this topic. One might say, “In

‘Bible times’ God used ordinary people to do His Work.” Notice on

the previous slide how this thought is stated.

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God uses ordinary people to do his work. Think about it, fishermen…

shepherds…tent makers…carpenters…tax collectors…

farmers…doctors…the list goes on.

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The difference is the tense of the verb use. Don’t limit God to only things He did through people in the past. He still does his work

through people today.

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Do we realize whether or not God uses us today is entirely up to us! That is the beauty of His Grace. We have the ability to say Yes I

want to do Your will or No I won’t!

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What’s your answer to Him?Yes or No?

He might not use you to slay a giant like David did…but he might use you to slay another type of giant.

Only He knows.