Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
Today, Pastor Michael is giving us a crash-course on the twelve disciples (apostles).
So who are the twelve? 1—Simon (renamed Peter) 2—James & 3—John (the “Sons of Thunder”—how cool is that!) 4—Andrew 5—Philip 6—Bartholomew 7—Matthew 8—Thomas 9—James 10—Thaddeus 11—Simon (the Zealot) and lastly (and for good reason, no doubt!) 12—Judas.
Some had already become prominent at this point, some had not but Jesus was calling them ...
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work!
Today, Pastor Michael is giving us a crash-course on the twelve disciples (apostles).
So who are the twelve? 1—Simon (renamed Peter) 2—James & 3—John (the “Sons of Thunder”—how cool is that!) 4—Andrew 5—Philip 6—Bartholomew 7—Matthew 8—Thomas 9—James 10—Thaddeus 11—Simon (the Zealot) and lastly (and for good reason, no doubt!) 12—Judas.
Some had already become prominent at this point, some had not but Jesus was calling them to higher responsibility.
The list is given four (4) times in the New Testament and while a bit different each time, Jesus doesn’t change up the roster.
There is always three (3) groups of four (4). Seems like there were always three subgroups. They are: Team Fireball, Team Comeback and Team Shadow (Michael’s summary, but darned good!).
Team Fireball—Simon Peter, the leader of Team Fireball. The most outspoken and active of all the apostles. A fisherman by trade. He was at the Transfiguration, Gethsemane, pretty much all of it. Pete was crucified by the Roman emperor Nero. James the son of Zebedeh, another fisherman, one of the Sons of Thunder. A much quieter guy than Peter, but he was gutsy. The first of the twelve to lay down his life, for the cause. James showed that you didn’t have to be loud…not all passion is loud! John, the brother of James, the second most famous of the Disciples, after Peter. John was closer to Jesus than any of the others, sitting next to Jesus at the Last Supper. The heart of the team, if Peter is the mouth and James is the gut of the team. The only one with Jesus when He was on the cross. The only prophet that lived a long, full life. John shows us that Jesus wants people with heart, not afraid to run away. The last member of Team Fireball, Andrew, is Simon Peter’s brother. Andrew wasn’t as prominent as some, but without his willingness to share Jesus with his brother, we might not have had the Apostles as they are known.
Team Comeback—Each of them has something stacked against them. Philip starts out the bunch, always asking questions, even asking Jesus, “Can you show us the Father?”. The man had questions. Jesus wants people that asks questions for the team. Bartholomew, also known as Nathaniel. Came from a fairly comfortable family background. The prejudiced one…he didn’t feel like Jesus from Nazareth was the Messiah. Jesus wants people that are willing to give up their assumptions! Next up is Matthew, also known as Levi, the tax collector working for the Romans. Not a super popular guy as a loyalist to the Romans, but he was not the man he was before. Jesus changes lives! Lastly, Thomas rounds out Team Comeback. Thomas was also known as Didymus, both meaning twins, which points to Thomas was likely a twin. Doubting Thomas is the name he’s known the best for and it stuck! Thomas’ doubt melted away when Jesus appeared before him. It’s okay to have honest doubts! Doubt is not a deal breaker, it’s a motivation.
Team Shadow—we don’t know that much about these guys, hence the “Shadow”. We’ll start with James, and we know almost nothing about this guy! Never recorded as saying anything interesting enough to record. We don’t know a lot about him but the team couldn’t have functioned without him. Not a spotlight person but the team needs him. Next up: Thaddeus, the ‘other’ Judas. Not the bad guy Judas. We are more than the assumptions that people have of us. Another Simon now shows up, Simon the Zealot. The activist, part of the political movement that wanted to get rid of the Romans, off the land. Last up, Judas, the betrayer. History’s greatest bad guy! Judas was eaten up with remorse after his betrayal, taking his own life. Not everybody who is on the team is really “ON” the team.
The twelve were not the sort of people we would expect. Different people, different personalities. Where one was weak, the others were strong! And they brought us the Good News of Jesus. Team work, makes the Dream Work!
Verses can be found today in Mark 3: 13-19.
Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
