As we have been seeing, this section of Luke describes Christ's teachings about the New Covenant and how it is radically different from the Old. In this particular portion, we see Jesus calling his apostles. He chose these men to perpetuate the new thing He was doing.
First, we see Christ going up on the mountain to pray. We don't know how He prayed or what the nature of His prayers were. But we do see Him spending the whole night in communion with His Father. Amazing!
After His night of prayer, Jesus called the disciples and the apostles. What is a disciple? A disciple is a follower of a particular person.
Jesus called many disciples, but he only called twelve apostles. The word "apostle" means "sent one" and these twelve were a special group of men, given to the church to lead and guide.
We know almost nothing about some of the apostles. They did their work without much acclaim and were not recorded in the annals of history. Yet they were faithful servants. We should keep this in mind when we read about the history of the church. We certainly no little about many other significant people who served God faithfully.
Perhaps we will one day find that the men who did the greatest works in church history were neglected by the historians. Particularly, we know that by the 3rd or 4th century, much error had crept into the church. Were there any true Christians? Of course! But the enemies of the truth were the ones in power, and they were the ones writing the history, so of course we don't hear much from the faithful believers!
Jesus was establishing the method by which truth would be handed down. He would speak to the apostles. Then the apostles would teach other men directly, who would in turn teach other men. This pattern can be seen in 2 Tim 1:13,14 where we see Paul telling Timothy to guard the teaching he was receiving from Paul. The pattern is always one of one individual passing on the truth to another. It's an organic and real thing -- the giver and receiver of the truth have a relationship with each other. This has been turned on its head with the modern seminary approach, where students are taught in classrooms without the close relationship to the teacher that we see in the Bible.
The early church lived a lifestyle that was completely different from those around them. When asked why their lifestyle was so different, they responded, "We are followers of Jesus." Simply embracing the objective facts of the gospel will not produce life. Perhaps this is why we see deadness in the churches around us -- the pastors have been taught in a system with an overemphasis on the learning of facts and skills, but without the emphasis on the changed life of a life of faith. Faith must be mixed with knowledge to produce a fragrant life.
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