Morning, welcome to our weekly Bible talk. I hope you're doing well. We've come here to Mark chapter three, verse 13. So get your Bibles open, Mark 3, 13. Let me pray and then we'll jump right into it. Pray with me. Father in heaven, thank you for your word. Your word is what you've used to create the universe. It's what you use to sustain the universe. It's what you use to give us life, to give us faith, to transform us, to preserve us. Thank you, Lord, for the living word of God. Help us to treasure it now. Open our minds and our hearts by your spirit that we might receive it with faith Renew our minds, transform us. We pray that you'd help me to make comments that bring out the proper meaning and intent of this passage. And give us grace that we might be doers of your word, not hearers only. For Jesus we pray, amen. I won't say a lot to set the context today. I remind you, Mark is all about the identity of Jesus, who he is, why he's here, what it means that he's the son of God, what it means that he's the Messiah. We've seen him do several things so far to prove that he is God's Messiah. He's filling scripture, he's casting out demons, he's performing miracles, he's teaching, he's gathering followers. And as we've seen, he's becoming incredibly popular. He was a celebrity in his day. But again, like I've mentioned many times before, don't confuse that celebrity status with everybody actually believing in him with saving faith. There are a lot of people that were drawn to Jesus just for free food, just for a healing, just so that he'd bless their kids or something like that, and they didn't actually have saving faith. So keep that in mind, even when we talk about giant crowds. coming to Jesus. Let's begin in verse 13. Follow along as I read God's word. Matthew 3, 13. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed 12, whom he also named apostles, so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the 12, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thaddeus, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, He is out of his mind. Now, what can we say about this? Now, first, you can see that this is a pretty significant event in Jesus' life. He's calling his apostles. Now, the apostles are huge in the New Testament. They are the eyewitnesses of Jesus and his ministry, and they become the foundation stones of the church. That's the whole argument of the book of Ephesians. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. So these individuals, some of them, they're kind of simple folks. not all of them were, but they were tax collectors, they were fishermen. Some of them we don't actually know a whole lot about them. You can read Fox's Book of Martyrs as to what these guys did, but do realize that not all of what's in Fox's Book of Martyrs is technically Precise. Some of it was legendary. Some of it, you know, just kind of myths that grew up over time. So we don't know a lot about some of these apostles, but they are apostles, which means the word apostle means sent ones. They're given a special mission by Jesus and they really do function in a very unique role in the Bible. Keep in mind, there are not apostles today. Apostles were limited to the first century, they were uniquely called by Jesus, they had to see Jesus firsthand, and they were given the authority to perform miracles on demand, to cast out demons on demand, and to write Scripture. And as we read the Bible here at Trinity, that whole apostolic age came to an end in the first century. With the death of the last apostle, that whole age kind of wrapped up and there aren't any apostles anymore, we move on, and that's part of the reason why we're not still writing Scripture today. If you ever run into somebody that claims to be an apostle, which there are denominations out there that, you know, they say this guy is our apostle or there are these churches that claim, you know, that this Sunday we're going to have Apostle Larry with us, you might ask them, do you write scripture? Typically, he's going to say no. You know, the Bible's concluded. We don't write any scripture anymore. But you might ask them, why don't you write scripture? Because the apostles in the first century had the authority to do that. Apostles today essentially, unless they're cult leaders, they essentially claim, no, you can't write New Scripture. And right there that tells you there's something different about what the Apostle Larry claims to be doing compared to say the Apostle Peter claims to be doing. But anyway, this is a very important point in the ministry of Jesus. He's calling these apostles, and you'll notice he goes up on a mountain. Now it's fascinating to notice the way in which mountains function in Scripture. It's almost like whenever you get to a mountain, anticipate something really, really important is going to take place here. For instance, the way that the Garden of Eden seems to be structured. It seems to be on a mountain because the rivers are flowing away from it. After the ark, it comes to rest on Mount Ararat. When Moses received the Ten Commandments, where is he? He's on a mountain, and you know the cloud and the trumpet horn and whatnot. There's Mount Zion, which becomes Jerusalem. There's Mount Calvary, where Jesus is crucified. It is interesting to trace mountains throughout Scripture, and here Jesus, when it comes time for him to call these apostles, who again are going to be the foundation stones of the church, he calls them from a mountain. Now, you'll notice how many there are. How many are there? There are 12. Now, does the number 12 remind you of anything, especially in the Old Testament? There were 12 tribes of Israel. You remember that? So what seems to be going on here is that Jesus is starting to establish a new community, a new community made up not of 12 ethnic tribes of Hebrews, but of 12 believers who are to become the foundation stones of the church. Now, what I'm about to say is not agreed upon by everybody, but I actually see Jesus sort of beginning to build his church here. The church doesn't really get its kick off until the day of Pentecost. You know, by Pentecost, things are totally new, brand new administration in the plan of God, but it's almost like the snowball starts growing here with him gathering these individuals, and it's interesting that none of them come from the priestly tribe. Be careful there. Actually, I think Matthew was from the priestly tribe, but none of them were a professional clergy. That's what I meant to say. You know, you don't see the Pharisees, you don't see the chief priests in these apostles that he's called, but again, they're more common ordinary folks. That's going to be the nucleus of his new community. And as you can see, he gives them authority to cast out demons and to preach. These were to be connected and the one was to prove the other. I'm speaking on behalf of God. In a way, I'm prophesying because I'm gonna be speaking God's words, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. And how do I prove that I'm speaking for God? I can cast out demons, which you're seeing a lot of similarities between what Jesus did and what he authorized his apostles to do. Jesus preaches, he casts out demons, his apostles preach, and they cast out demons. And the signs and the wonders are to indicate that these are actually apostles sent from God. Now again, for the sake of time, I won't go into a long argument as to why we don't think signs and wonders are for today. But you do see sort of a hint of it here that they're meant to verify the apostles as apostles. They're meant to verify apostles as the uniquely sent ones from God. And if there aren't any of these uniquely sent ones from God today, like I just mentioned, it would stand to reason that the apostolic gifts designed to verify that would also not be for today. That discussion I know always takes up loads and loads of time. We go all over the place whenever it comes up, say in Sunday school, so I don't want to pursue it now for the sake of time. But do maybe see the connection here between apostles being appointed apostles and them getting this special authority from Jesus to do some of the things that they did. Well, anyway, he appointed 12, and you'll notice their names. There's Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter. Now, this is interesting. It's one of the things that Jesus does. He renames some of his apostles, just totally exercising sovereign freedom. Your name was Simon. I'm going to call you Peter. It kind of harkens back to the book of Genesis when Adam names the animals. And then when Adam names Eve, he's demonstrating his authority over the animals and his authority in the household. So also here there's probably the idea that Jesus has authority over his apostles. Yes, they have this supernatural authority, but at the same time they're still Jesus' apostles under his leadership. James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James. You remember these guys, they left their father to follow Jesus earlier on. So there is a period of time in which some of these disciples are not apostles, but then they become apostles later on. So there does seem to be this kind of interesting, at least with James and John, and probably some of the other ones, this overlap where they're not apostles yet, but at this point they become apostles. to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder. Evidently they were really aggressive or bombastic type guys. That seems to be the idea there. Andrew, Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot. Now if you look at some of the parallel passages, some of these guys have different names. I can't remember off the top of my head right now, but I think Nathanael in one passage is called maybe Bartholomew in another passage. They're the same guy, they're just using different names. And realize that was extremely common in the first century for people to have multiple names. And honestly, it's still sort of common today. You can go by your full name, you can go by a nickname, you can go by a middle name. That sort of thing seems to be pretty common to human experience. So don't get confused. If you look at the list of 12 apostles, say, in Matthew, and then you compare it to say, Luke, and you see some slight differences, don't think that's a contradiction. It's just they're going by different names. You know, just like sometimes, you know, to my mother, I am Timmy, and I will be Timmy probably until I die. To those who know me here in church, I'm Pastor Tim. To others in the military, I'm Timothy. So, you know, there's a name there. And in other contexts, I'm, you know, Chaplain Raymond or whatever. So in some sense, the context determines what name you're called. And again, you see that sort of thing reflected in Scripture. It's not an indication of a contradiction at all. Now if you look at verse 19, Judas Iscariot, and then in the next phrase, who betrayed him? Now it is interesting to keep in mind that the gospels are written after the fact of what took place. They're written with the end already in view, and here we are only in chapter three, but they're alluding to the fact that this Judas, they know he's gonna betray him. And do keep in mind the Gospels were written for those who had already, I shouldn't say exclusively for those who had already embraced Jesus, but largely for those who had already embraced Jesus for a fuller understanding of what he had done. So they would have known that Judas was the traitor, that Judas would betray him. And even Mark knows that this is coming and he's writing from that perspective. He's kind of writing with the end already in view that Jesus is gonna get betrayed, gonna die, but praise God he's gonna rise again three days later. So that's about it for the apostles, trying to think of things that we could pray in response to that. Thank God for these individuals. Again, they're the foundation stones of the church. They're part of why the New Testament's in the Bible. You ever wonder about that? I mean, the Old Testament concludes with Malachi, and for 400 years, there's silence. And then all of a sudden, scripture starts up again. What's going on there? Well, it's these individuals that start a brand new movement in redemptive history, and that's why we start adding books to the Bible again. So see their foundational place in redemptive history. They're a really big deal, so thank God for them. I remind you that all of these individuals, with the only exception of the Apostle John, went to their deaths as martyrs. Well, obviously Judas kills himself, but the other guys, they go to their deaths as martyrs, confessing Jesus, with the only exception of John. so maybe be inspired by their example in that regard, but also take a warning from Judas that you can look like, talk like, act like a true follower of Jesus and yet be a pretender. You know, from everything that we gather regarding Judas, it's not as if the apostles knew all along that he was faking it. You know, it's not like on the night when Jesus says, one of you is going to betray me. They didn't all turn to Judas and then said, hey, you know, we knew you were a snake all along, you know, get out of here. No, they were totally in the dark. Judas had somehow succeeded in totally deceiving them all along that he appeared and talked and act just like a true follower, but he actually wasn't. So take that as a warning. that just because you're maybe associated with a good church, or just because you know how to speak Christianese, or you've gone through a baptism or something like that, that does not necessarily mean you have saving faith. If Jesus had a Judas, then chances are pretty high that our churches do as well. And hopefully that's not you. Now, I don't say that to try to destroy your assurance of salvation, but I do say to try to help you, to motivate you, to look into your heart and to ask yourself, is my faith sincere? Is it real? Or am I just going through the motions for some other earthly reason? And we know that that was the case for Judas. Later on, you learn that he was the money bag holder and he used to just freely dip his hand into the money bag and take what he wanted. And you know, they're kind of like little breadcrumbs all along the way that Judas was not sincere. It's not as if he lost his salvation. The entire time he was not sincere. So might that be you? Might you be pretending to be a Christian for some earthly reason, but deep down you know that you actually don't believe these things? Take that lesson from Judas. Now I do want to say a couple of things about verses 20 and 21. I actually like these verses for kind of a peculiar reason. It says, then he went home and the crowd gathered again. So we see Jesus, he's been up on this mountain called the 12 apostles, kind of building the new nucleus of his new community. But then he goes back home to, remember Nazareth, that's where he's from. And all of a sudden they hear, oh, you know, the celebrity's back in town, let's go see him. So, you know, they're drawn to him. But look what happens, verse 21, when his family heard it, They went out to seize him for they were saying he's out of his mind. Now I remind you, Jesus did have a family. Now by family, we don't mean, you know, he was never married or anything like that, but this would have included his mother, Mary, who by this time, Joseph almost certainly would have died. There's no mention of Joseph in Jesus' adult life indicating he probably died, which was extremely common back in those days. Typically, men were slightly older than the women that they married. And throughout history, including today, men tend to engage in more dangerous work than women. And because of that, they often get killed. So if Joseph's a carpenter, which we know that he was, maybe a building fell on him. Maybe he got killed in carrying logs. We don't really know. We're just kind of guessing here. But it seems rather certain that Joseph is no longer living. But Mary is. And we do know that Mary and Joseph had additional children after Jesus was born. This is why you'll encounter from time to time phrases in the New Testament about Jesus' brothers and sisters even. Those would have been biological children of Joseph and Mary born after Jesus was born. You remember Jesus was born, the whole virgin birth thing. But as you can see here, they think Jesus is crazy. When his family heard it, they went out to seize him for they were saying he's out of his mind. And put yourself in their shoes. I can understand why they'd think Jesus is crazy. I mean, imagine you've got a son who's, you know, let's say he's 33 at this time. We don't know exactly how old Jesus was. The New Testament says when he was around 30, he began his ministry. What's around 30? Is around 30, 32? Could be. Is around 30, 28? Could be. So we don't know exactly how old Jesus was. But let's say, you know, let's say he's 30. And imagine you've got a son, he's 30, and he is under the impression that he has basically magical powers. And, you know, if you don't fully buy into that, you could easily think, okay, my poor son, he's crazy. We need to put, you know, get the men in white coats to go carry him away. And that seems to be what his brothers and sisters are doing, and even the Virgin Mary, which is, you know, by this time she's not a virgin, but Mary, his mother, she's thinking that Jesus is out of his mind, which is Kind of interesting, because that's not how we typically think of Mary. We assume that Mary was on board with Jesus all along, but this indicates that not necessarily. And it's interesting, it doesn't say simply his siblings thought he was crazy, or simply his brothers, simply his sisters, but his family, which again, almost certainly would have included Jesus. Pardon me, the Virgin Mary. So, you know, again, keep that in mind that the Virgin Mary, as much as we admire her and thank God for her and see her as a woman of faith, there were apparently times that her faith was a little weak and she was questioning what's up with Jesus. Jesus totally lost his mind. And I think there is a practical lesson to be drawn from that. Do realize that the world will often interpret godliness as insanity. The world will often interpret true holiness as if you're totally out of your mind and you've lost it. They did that to Jesus. Actually, they've done this throughout the Bible. They thought that of Moses. They probably thought that of Noah when he's building this ark. Oh, he's absolutely nuts. They'll think that today. If Christians stand where we should stand on marriage and cultural issues and abortion and whatnot. Don't be surprised if the world thinks, oh, there's something wrong with you Christians. You have some mental illness. Realize that's the sort of thing they did to Jesus. And, you know, just like Jesus tells us, if they treated me this way, they'll probably treat you that way as well. So let's pray for grace to prepare ourselves for that. Now to give you the rest of the story, obviously Mary, you know, eventually whatever was going on here, she gets straightened out. And we know that in Acts chapter one or two, I can't remember, she's with the rest of the disciples praying. Some of Jesus' siblings came to saving faith. Did you know that James, the guy who wrote the book of James, and Jude, the guy who wrote the book of Jude, are Jesus' half biological brothers? They came to saving faith, and it's 1 Corinthians 15 that indicates that James, I think it was James, James came to faith after Jesus' resurrection. But it doesn't seem like all of his siblings came to saving faith. Apparently he had others that, for whatever reason, didn't trust in Jesus. And that's a little bit of a shocking thought to imagine, that you could live with Jesus, grow up in his house, hear his words, observe his ministry, and still reject him as the Messiah. But evidently some of Jesus' biological siblings did do that. And again, that's such a powerful reminder to us. You know, let's beg God for His mercy on our children. We can do the best job we can to teach them, bring them to church, communicate the gospel to them, but if God's Spirit does not work, they will not be saved. So also for us we can sit in a good church and hear good sermons and and see God's power on display But again, if God doesn't open our eyes, we'll think it's all silly and nonsense So beg God for a work of his spirit because it's theoretically possible to grow up in the presence of Jesus But still to reject him as Savior and Messiah That's probably it for today. We'll conclude there maybe a little shorter today than normal, but that's okay Let me pray and we'll be done Father in heaven, thank you for this passage and the opportunity to talk about the way in which Jesus called his apostles. We praise you for their central role in scripture, for the way that they are the foundation of the New Testament church. Lord, we do pray for a clearer understanding of how they function in scripture and how we should look at them. Father, we do praise you for the way that even though Jesus' family initially rejected him, eventually Mary and some of his brothers came to embrace him. We do pray for those that we know and love who are maybe around Christian influence, hearing good sermons, attending church, and yet they don't see it yet. Please open their eyes and please save every last individual connected to this Bible talk here who's hearing good teaching, hearing good preaching, but not yet born again. Please save them by your grace. We also pray for any that might be kind of in the Judas category that are pretending to be believers but are not. Lord, please have mercy on them and bring them to true saving faith before it's too late. Bless now the remainder of your day. Help us to love those with whom we interact and bring us back to study your word together later. In Jesus we pray, amen. Thank you for tuning in. Have a great day.