Our 74th Word is Apostles

The simple definition of apostles is eyewitnesses of Christ who were sent by Him to share the good news and lead the “church”.

“With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all.” (Acts 4:33)

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In the Old Testament, the Lord sent prophets. In the New Testament, He sent apostles.

Matthew gives us a list of the men handpicked by Jesus: “These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew: James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Ajlphaeus, and Thaddaeous; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him” (Matthew 10: 2-4)

According to Mark’s gospel, an apostle’s job description had two parts: being with Jesus and being sent out to preach by Jesus (Mark 3:14).

“One who is sent out on behalf of another”, that is the literal and technical meaning of the word apostle. The idea is that of a messenger, envoy, or emissary. From the church’s beginning in Acts 2, the apostles of Jesus preached that He was and is the Christ, God’s Son, Israel’s Messiah and King, the world’s Savior.

The apostles broadcast the truth of Christ’s resurrection. They passed on His teachings. they performed the same kinds of eye-opening miracles that Jesus had done (Acts 2:43; 5:12). Like Christ, they were persecuted by government officials and religious leaders (Acts 5:40-41), with at least one, James, being martyred before Luke even finished the book of Acts (Acts 12: 1-3). Together with Paul (Acts9), a late addition to their number, the apostles wrote, or in a few cases supervised, the writing of the New Testament documents.

When we think about the character of Jesus and the mission of Jesus, we can’t help feeling shocked at the apostles Jesus chose to represent Him. They weren’t exactly a lineup of all-stars. Often prideful, self-centered, skeptical, judgmental, and unreliable, none of the original twelve had formal biblical or theological training either. At the most critical moment, they all left Jesus high and dry except for John.

Yet because of Christ’s fierce love, they were forgiven. And through His resurrection power, they were transformed.

He sent them out (Matthew 28: 18-20). They went. The world has never been the same.

We don’t get to be Apostles (capital A). Qualifying for that elite role required being an eyewitness of Jesus’s resurrection.

We can, however, be apostles (lowercase a). In the spirit of Mark 3;14, every believer can be “with Jesus” and be sent out by Him to declare the good news.

Maybe at the start of each day we could co-opt the prophet Isaiah’s prayer: “Here I am. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8).

Question to Ponder

1. If you could have lunch with any three of the apostles, who would you want to each a meal with and why?