We need to learn of the Lord not to carry out our ministry by ourselves. Not even the Lord Jesus always carried out His ministry by Himself. First He selected the twelve and later, the seventy. From this we see that both in the ministry and in the church life we need to learn to be diligent and faithful ourselves and also learn how to raise up certain ones to help us.
It is not very difficult to carry out our ministry by ourselves. In fact, there is the tendency for teachers and preachers to do everything by themselves. Among Christians today there is not the common practice of sharing the ministry with others, the practice of teaching, appointing, and perfecting others to fulfill the same ministry. But according to Paul’s word in Ephesians 4, the ministry of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers is to perfect the saints so that the saints may carry on the work of the ministry. The Lord’s ministry was to perfect the apostles, and the apostles’ ministry was to perfect the saints. By this we see that God’s move on earth is not with an individual; His move is with groups of people.
In the Gospels we first have a group of twelve and later a group of seventy. The Lord’s appointing the apostles to preach certainly is a significant auxiliary act for His gospel service. We all need to follow the Lord in this matter. The elders in a local church need to learn how to raise up others. After a period of time, the elders should no longer be alone caring for the church; they should raise up others to join them in this responsibility.
The Lord made the selection of the twelve in the early part of His ministry. The ones He chose certainly were not very mature. Two of them, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, were given the name Boanerges, which means sons of thunder. The Greek word “Boanerges” comes from Aramaic. This name was added to James and John by the Lord because of their impetuosity (see Luke 9:54-55; Mark 9:38). In chapter nine of Mark we have an example of John’s “thundering.” But by the time he wrote his Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation this thunder had lost its roar.
Another one of the twelve selected by the Lord Jesus was Simon the Cananaean (Mark 3:18). The word “Cananaean” comes from the Hebrew kanná, zealous. This refers to a Galilean sect known as the Zealots; it does not refer to the land of Canaan (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). The Zealots were extremely patriotic and loved the Jewish traditions and practices. The Lord chose one of these Zealots to be an apostle.
One of the twelve, Matthew, was formerly a tax collector. In his list of the twelve apostles Matthew specifically designates himself as the tax collector (Matt. 10:3). This may indicate that he remembered his salvation with gratitude. Even a despised and sinful tax collector could become an apostle of the Slave-Savior.
The last of the twelve mentioned by Mark is Judas Iscariot. The word “Iscariot,” a Greek word, probably comes from Hebrew and means a man of Kerioth. Kerioth was in Judah (Josh. 15:25). Thus, Judas was the only apostle from Judea; all the rest were Galileans.
As we consider what brothers may bear the eldership in a local church, it may seem to us that no one is qualified. For example, we may say, “This brother seems quite good, and he loves the Lord very much. But what about his background?” If the Lord Jesus had considered the twelve in this way, who could have been chosen? Matthew would certainly have been excluded. How could the Lord have chosen a tax collector to be one of the twelve apostles? We may think that the Lord should have chosen a scribe. But one of those He selected was in fact a tax collector.
We need to learn from the Lord that the natural view is different from the view that is according to spiritual insight. The Lord made His choice according to His spiritual insight, not according to man’s natural view. James and John had a terrible temper, a temper that could thunder. We would never have chosen them to be apostles, but the Lord did. From the natural point of view, no one would be qualified to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus. James and John, Simon the Zealot, Matthew the tax collector—none would be qualified. Praise the Lord that He did not make His choice according to the natural point of view!
If we have a natural view of the saints in the church life, we may feel that we are the only ones qualified to do certain things. For example, there may be just one elder in a particular locality. This elder may say that there is a need for at least two more elders. However, this brother may go on to say, “Yes, this one is good in certain ways. Yet he is not that good.” Eventually, according to the natural view, only this one brother himself is qualified. Years may go by, and he remains the only one who seems suitable to bear the responsibility of the eldership. There are not the “twelve,” much less the “seventy,” to help him. He is the only one in his local church qualified to be an elder.
The Lord Jesus, on the contrary, chose the unqualified ones to be His apostles. The twelve were not qualified, and we are not qualified either. Nevertheless, in the Lord’s move there is the need for helpers. Hence, one of the Lord’s auxiliary acts in carrying out His ministry was to select certain unqualified ones to be His apostles.
Eventually, Peter was confirmed by what happened on the day of Pentecost. I do not believe that Peter had a high degree of education. Nevertheless, not long after the Lord Jesus was crucified and resurrected, Peter could stand up on the day of Pentecost as a leading apostle. The Roman Church regards Peter as the first pope. But this “pope” was a fisherman who was selected by the Lord and then confirmed on the day of Pentecost.
It is very important for us to learn not to view the Lord’s ministry or the church according to the natural concept. The Lord did not choose Nicodemus to be one of the twelve. The Lord did not choose any learned ones. Instead, the ones He chose seem rather peculiar. We have seen that to James and John He even gave the name “sons of thunder.” Often when they spoke they were thundering. If we had been there, our attitude might have been, “Put these two aside until they stop thundering. Once they have changed and their thunder has lost its roar, then we can use them in the ministry.” This is our concept, the natural concept. But it is not the view of the Lord Jesus. In your locality are you able to use the sons of thunder in the service of the church? We must learn of the Lord to use even such ones in the gospel service.
We have seen that the Lord Jesus turned from the crowd and then asked for a little boat to be made ready for Him. His action was not natural. Everything He did was in the spirit. Likewise, His appointing of the twelve was not natural, but was altogether in the spirit. Although He knew that Judas would betray Him, He still appointed him to be one of the twelve. Naturally speaking, no one would appoint such a one as Judas. But, acting according to the spirit, the Lord Jesus chose even him.
Mark 3:20 and 21 say, “And He comes into a house; and a crowd comes together again, so that they could not even eat bread. And hearing it, His relatives went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, He is beside Himself.” This indicates the busyness, diligence, and faithfulness of the Slave-Savior as the Slave of God in His evangelical service.
It is not easy to analyze or systematize the Lord’s actions. There seems to be a contradiction between the Lord’s behavior in averting the crowd in 3:7-12 and His behavior in 3:20-21. First He avoided the crowd. But when He was in the house and the crowd came together, He did not try to get away from the crowd. According to what He did in 3:7-12, we would expect Him to stay away from the crowd in order to finish eating. We would expect Him to say, “I am eating now, and I don’t have time to be with you.” However, He acted in a different way. He stopped eating and took care of the urgent need of those in the crowd.
When the Lord’s relatives heard of the situation, they went out to lay hold of Him, saying that He was beside Himself. This exclamation expressed natural concern on the part of the Slave-Savior’s relatives regarding Him. As we shall see in the next message, this opened the way for the scribes to blaspheme Him (v. 22).
The Lord’s relatives, perhaps His brothers in the flesh, thought that He was beside Himself. They were concerned because He cared only for the crowd and not for His eating.
We should not try to analyze in a natural way what seemed to be the contradictory behavior of the Lord. When the crowd pressed upon Him, the Lord sought to avoid the crowd. But when the crowd afforded Him opportunities to minister life to people, He would not care for His eating. We need to differentiate these two matters—the pressing of the crowd and the opportunity to minister life.