Latest / Reformed Thinking / The King’s Authorized Messengers: Authority, Apostolic Witness, and True Discipleship (Matthew 10:1–4)

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The King’s Authorized Messengers: Authority, Apostolic Witness, and True Discipleship (Matthew 10:1–4) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to the Deep Dive. Our mission, as always, is to
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  take a specific stack of source material and really pull out the
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  core insights for you. And today our focus is Matthew
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  chapter 10, specifically the 1st 4 verses.
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  Right, it might look like just a list of names at first glance,
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  but what we want to do is extract the statement it makes
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  on Kingdom authority. Exactly where it comes from,
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  what it looks like, and maybe most surprisingly, the kind of
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  people Christ chooses to wield it.
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  And that surprise factor hits you right away way, doesn't it?
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  I mean, if you were launching a global movement, human wisdom
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  says you go for the best and brightest.
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  Oh. Absolutely.
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  You'd be scouting the philosophers in Athens, the
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  generals in Rome, or at the very least the top rabbinical schools
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  in Jerusalem. You'd want power, influence,
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  money. But that's not what the king
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  does. Not at all.
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  It's a completely different logic.
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  He bypasses all of that and walks to the shores of Galilee.
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  He chooses the weak to shame the strong, you know.
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  So the very selection of these men, these unpolished,
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  politically charged, sometimes spiritually dense men, it's a
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  statement in itself. It's a living demonstration of
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  sovereign election. It forces you to stop looking at
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  the qualifications of the servant and to look only at the
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  majesty of the master who called.
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  Them and this moment doesn't just come out of nowhere, it's
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  set up perfectly by the end of Chapter 9.
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  It is. Jesus sees the crowds and his
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  heart goes out to them. He says.
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  They're harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
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  Then he gives a command. He tells his disciples, Pray
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  earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers
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  into his harvest. And that's the beautiful
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  connection. Matthew 10, verse one is the
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  immediate answer to that prayer. It's just a stunning principle
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  of God's economy. What's that?
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  The King often uses the very people he commands to pray as
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  the answer to their own prayers. So this commissioning isn't some
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  cold strategic decision. It's born out of Christ's
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  compassion for suffering people. OK, so we're seeing the King's
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  ambassadors being formally commissioned.
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  We're seeing the foundation of the church being laid right in
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  front of us. That's it.
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  So what's the one big idea we're trying to pull out of this text
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  today? The proposition is this.
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  The Kingdom is built on sovereign calling and delegated
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  authority. It is not built on human talent,
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  not on merit, not on some clever organizational chart.
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  And we need to get specific about what that call and that
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  authority actually look like. We do because it defines
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  everything about what Christian service is meant to be.
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  All right, let's get into it. Matthew 10 verse one.
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  And he called to him his 12 disciples and gave them
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  authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal
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  every disease and every affliction.
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  That's a lot packed into one sentence.
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  It is, and the very first thing we have to see is the source.
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  The whole thing starts with Christ's action.
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  He's moving his ministry from being a solo act, if you will,
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  to one that's multiplied through his chosen representatives.
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  And it begins with that one action he called to him.
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  The Greek word there, proscalessimenos, is
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  interesting. It's not a casual invitation, is
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  it? No, not at all.
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  That word choice is so important it signifies A purposeful,
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  deliberate summons to himself. Jesus isn't putting up a flyer
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  saying volunteers want it. He's issuing a divine recall.
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  A command, really. He's not interviewing
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  candidates. He's not checking resumes.
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  This is a sovereign summons. It's Christ's initiative from
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  start to finish. So this moment really grounds
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  the whole idea of ministry. It does.
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  It tells us that service, just like salvation, begins with
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  God's choice. Later on in John's gospel, Jesus
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  says it plainly. You did not choose me, but I
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  chose you. That's a.
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  Huge shift in perspective. The legitimacy of a ministry
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  doesn't come from human ambition or even a sense of personal
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  calling. It rests entirely on the King's
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  initiative, These men, as we'll see, we're not qualified by
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  their backgrounds. You have fisherman, a tax
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  collector, a political radical. So their qualification wasn't
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  something they brought to the table.
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  No, their qualification was contained within the call
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  itself. The one who calls is the one who
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  qualifies. That's a source of immense
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  comfort, but also deep humility. You can't boast about something
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  you didn't earn. OK, so they're summoned, they're
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  called to him first, and then once they're gathered, he equips
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  them. Right.
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  And the equipment he gives them is authority.
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  The Greek is exusion. Our sources make a big deal
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  about distinguishing that word exusia from another Greek word
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  for power dynamis. Why is that so critical?
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  It's it's everything for understanding how the Kingdom
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  works. Dynamis is raw power, its brute
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  strength, the ability to physically do something.
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  Like a superhero's power. Sort of, yeah.
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  But exusia is different. It's legal, right?
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  It's jurisdiction. It's the badge of office.
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  It's the right to act delegated from a higher power.
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  OK, let's make that concrete for someone listening.
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  The analogy our sources use is a traffic officer.
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  That's a perfect illustration. That officer, as a person, has
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  no dynamis to stop a 10 ton truck.
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  If he tried to stop it with his own strength, he'd be a pancake,
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  right? But he holds up his hand and
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  that massive truck screeches to a halt.
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  Why? Not because it's his personal
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  strength, but because he has the exusia of the state.
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  The authority of the entire government is behind that hand
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  gesture. So the apostles are given the
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  badge of the King. They're acting with his legal
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  sanction. Yes, and that is a massive
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  theological implication. It points directly to the deity
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  of Christ. How so?
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  Well think about the Old Testament prophets like Elijah
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  or Moses. They could exercise dynamis
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  great power, but it was always through prayer they were asking
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  Yahweh to act. They were conduits for power,
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  not the source. Exactly.
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  No prophet in the Old Testament ever had the inherent authority
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  to then delegate that power to someone else.
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  Only God can do that. Yeah, so when Jesus just gives
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  them authority, he's acting as the God of Israel.
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  He's sharing his own royal prerogative.
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  So when Peter casts out a demon, the demon isn't obeying Peter,
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  it's obeying the king who sent Peter.
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  That's it. Their authority is entirely
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  derivative. It comes from Christ, and it's
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  accountable to Christ. They're carrying the badge, not
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  manufacturing the power. OK.
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  So that's the source of the authority.
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  What about its scope? The text is very specific over
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  unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease
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  and every affliction. And that word every is key in
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  the Greek. It's Pisan, it's comprehensive.
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  This isn't a hit or miss ability.
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  It's total jurisdiction in these areas.
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  That feels unique. It's not something we see today,
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  is it? Pastors don't just walk into a
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  hospital and empty it out. No, they don't.
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  And this is where we have to understand the specific
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  historical role of the apostles. This sweeping authority served a
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  very particular purpose. Which?
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  Was to authenticate them. These were, as Paul would later
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  call them, the signs of a true apostle.
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  They were foundational. Their signs served to validate
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  the new revelation they were bringing the gospel of the
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  Kingdom before the New Testament was written down and collected.
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  It's like a king sending an ambassador to a foreign land
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  with a unique seal to prove he really speaks for the king.
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  A perfect analogy, right? Once the official treaties are
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  written and signed, once the Canon of scripture is complete,
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  you don't need the special seal anymore.
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  You just point to the documents. This gets at the theological
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  position often called cessationism, right?
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  The idea that these specific sign gifts ceased with the
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  Apostolic age. Right, because their purpose was
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  foundational. Ephesians 2.20 says the church
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  is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
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  You only lay a foundation once. You don't keep digging it up and
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  laying it again. You build on top of it.
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  We stand on that foundation today.
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  We don't try to replicate it. So claiming that specific
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  comprehensive Apostolic authority today is, I think, to
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  misunderstand its unique role in redemptive history.
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  So our confidence today isn't in seeking new signs or new
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  apostles. Our confidence is in the
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  completed Apostolic testimony, which is the Scriptures.
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  The authority is now in the Word they delivered, and Christ works
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  through the ordinary means of grace, preaching, prayer, the
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  sacraments. OK, that's a really helpful
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  clarification. Let's move from the office
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  itself to the men who filled it. Verse 2 The names of the 12
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  apostles are these. And just that little shift in
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  title is huge. From disciples to apostles.
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  Yes, they were mathati, which means learners or students.
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  They've been in the classroom. Now they're commissioned as
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  Apostoloid sent one's authorized representatives.
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  The internship is over. The internship is over.
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  They're moving from observation to proclamation.
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  They're no longer just followers, they are now the
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  King's official delegates. And the number 12, it's
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  obviously not random. Oh, not at all.
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  The number 12 just screams Israel.
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  It's a deliberate echo of the 12 sons of Jacob, the 12 tribes.
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  So what is Jesus signaling by choosing 12?
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  He's signaling that he is reconstituting the true people
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  of God around himself. It shows both continuity with
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  the Old Covenant and the establishment of the New
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  Covenant community, the church he's forming, the true Israel.
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  Which again reinforces that this is a unique, unrepeatable group.
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  This roster is a closed list. It has to be.
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  The foundation is laid once by these specific historical men.
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  There are no new apostles because the foundation is set.
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  Now looking at the list itself, it seems to be arranged in
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  pairs, which reflects how they were sent out later.
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  But the order is telling, isn't it?
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  It starts with first Simon, who is called Peter.
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  Yes, the word protos first clearly points to Peter's
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  prominence. He's the leader, the spokesman.
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  Not necessarily the first one called, but the first in rank.
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  Right. He's the one who's always
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  speaking up, sometimes getting it right, sometimes getting it
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  spectacularly wrong, but he's the de facto leader.
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  It shows the Kingdom has structure.
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  It's not just a chaotic movement.
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  But we have to put up a big guardrail here, don't we?
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  This isn't establishing a papacy.
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  We absolutely must. Peter is prominent, yes, but
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  he's best understood as Primus interfers, first among equals.
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  He received the exact same authority in verse one as the
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  other 11. He has prominence, not
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  supremacy. And later in the New Testament,
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  in Galatians, we see Paul challenge Peter to his face.
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  A critical check and balance. If Peter were an infallible
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  Pope, Paul's rebuke would be unthinkable.
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  It shows they functioned as a corporate body of witnesses with
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  Christ and His gospel is the ultimate authority.
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  Not anyone, man. The list also includes brothers
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  Peter and Andrew, James and John.
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  And and that shows that this new calling reorders all other human
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  relationships. Their primary identity is now
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  Apostle, even before Brother, but they still serve together.
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  The mission is communal, not for isolated heroes.
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  And James and John, the sons of Thunder.
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  That says something about the personalities Jesus chose.
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  It really does. These were not meek and mild
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  men, naturally. They were fiery, ambitious guys
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  who once wanted to call down fire from heaven on a village.
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  And Jesus takes that raw material, that passion, and
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  redirects it for the Kingdom. Exactly.
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  He doesn't demand a certain personality type, he sanctifies
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  all types for his service. OK, now to get to what might be
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  the most shocking part of the whole roster, the juxtaposition
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  of two names, Matthew the tax collector and Simon the zealot.
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  Yeah, this is this is a political and social
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  impossibility. To a 1st century Jew, this is
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  like putting a wolf in a sheep in the same small cage.
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  It's a recipe for violence. Breakdown for us just how deep
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  the animosity would have been. First, Matthew.
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  Matthew the Publican, a tax collector.
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  He was a Jew who collaborated with the Roman occupiers.
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  He would bid for the right to collect taxes in a certain area
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  and then anything he collected over that amount was his profit.
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  So he was seen as a traitor. A traitor, an extortionist and
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  ritually unclean because of his constant contact with Gentiles,
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  he is profiting from the oppression of his own people.
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  He was the most despised person in town.
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  And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, you have Simon
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  the Zealot. The Zealots were Jewish
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  nationalists. They believe that paying taxes
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  to Caesar was an act of treason against God, the only true king
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  of Israel. They advocated for violent
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  revolution against Rome. Some of them, the Sicari were
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  basically assassins, right? Yes, they carry daggers to
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  assassinate Roman soldiers and just as importantly, Jewish
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  collaborators. Collaborators like Matthew.
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  Precisely in any other context, Simon's political and religious
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  duty, as he saw it, would be to put a knife in Matthew's back.
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  And yet here they are, in the same group, eating together,
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  praying together, sent on the same mission.
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  It's unbelievable. What could possibly unite to
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  people like? That only one thing the Gospel,
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  the call of the King, is so powerful that it completely
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  demolishes the idols of political identity and tribal
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  hatred. Jesus doesn't just ask them to
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  be civil, He makes them brothers.
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  Their unity is the proof of the message.
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  It is. It's a living, breathing
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  demonstration that union with Christ is a far greater reality
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  than any earthly division we can imagine.
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  And the application for us today is, well, it's pretty direct,
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  isn't it? It's incredibly relevant.
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  We live in an age of intense polarization, where political
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  labels often see more important than our identity in Christ,
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  even inside the church. This roster is a rebuke to that.
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  It is. It tells us the church is not a
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  political action committee or a social club for people who think
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  alike. It's a family of people who have
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  the same Savior. If Jesus can unite a tax
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  collector and a terrorist, he can certainly unite us across
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  our modern political divides. That's a powerful point, but the
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  list doesn't end on that high note of unity.
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  It ends with a dark, jarring conclusion.
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  It does. And Judas Iscariot, who also
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  betrayed him. Matthew just states it as a cold
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  fact. He brands him with his treachery
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  right from the start. There's no attempt to soften it.
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  Judas Iscariot, the man of Carioth, was likely the only
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  Judean in a group of Galileans, and he was the outsider in some
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  ways. And he was the treasurer, right,
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  Which suggests he had some practical skills.
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  He did. He was probably good with money,
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  organized, but none of that matters.
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  He is remembered for one thing, his betrayal.
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  The verb used, parody duty just means to hand over.
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  It's so clinical a transaction. Which brings us to the
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  unavoidable, difficult question, Why?
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  Why did Jesus, who knew what was in man's heart, choose a traitor
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  for his inner circle? This is one of the hardest
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  questions, but we can't shy away from it.
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  We have to reject the idea that Jesus was caught by surprise or
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  that he was just hoping Judas would turn out OK.
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  The choice was deliberate. Completely deliberate.
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  And this is where we have to lean on a Reformed understanding
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  of God's sovereignty. The Westminster Confession is
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  helpful here. In what way?
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  It teaches that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass.
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  He decrees all events, even the wicked acts of men, to
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  accomplish his own holy purposes.
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  But, and this is crucial, he does so in a way that he is
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  never the author of sin. So God ordained the betrayal,
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  but Judas is still 100% responsible for it.
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  Yes, that's the tension the Bible holds together.
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  The betrayal wasn't Plan B. It was the necessary ordained
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  mechanism to get Christ to the cross.
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  The Scriptures had to be fulfilled like Psalm 41.
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  The one who shared my bread has lifted his heel against me.
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  God used Judas's greed and malice to achieve the salvation
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  of the world. He did.
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  He is so sovereign that He can take the worst act of human
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  wickedness and turn it into the greatest act of divine love.
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  It shows that nothing, not even betrayal from within, can stop
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  God's plan. But Judas still chose to do it.
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  He absolutely did. He acted from his own evil
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  heart. He wanted money.
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  He was disillusioned. He made his choice and he is
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  fully culpable for it. God's sovereignty doesn't erase
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  human responsibility. The presence of Judas in this
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  group also serves as a permanent chilling warning for the church.
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  A terrifying warning, it forces us to distinguish between the
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  visible church, everyone who professes faith and shows up on
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  Sunday, and the invisible church, the truly regenerate,
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  the elect. And Judas was a member in good
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  standing of the visible church. He was a superstar in the
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  visible church. He was an apostle.
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  He held an office. He almost certainly performed
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  miracles under the authority given in verse 1.
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  He healed the sick. He cast out demons.
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  Outwardly, he looked just like the others.
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  Outwardly he was a success, and that just shatters our modern,
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  pragmatic way of looking at ministry, where we equate
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  outward fruitfulness or big numbers with God's blessing and
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  true salvation. A person can have all the gifts,
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  preach all the right words, and still be a son of destruction.
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  Yes, and that should drive every single one of us to serious self
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  examination. If one of the 12 could be lost,
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  then we have to take the command to make Our Calling and election
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  sure with the utmost seriousness.
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  Affiliation isn't enough. Activity isn't enough.
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  Position, gifting, theological knowledge, none of it is enough
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  Judas forces us to ask a deeper question.
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  Do I love the king himself or do I just love the benefits the
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  Kingdom might give me? That's.
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  The heart of transactional faith, isn't it?
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  I'll follow Jesus as long as He delivers what I want.
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  That's Judas. He wanted a political Messiah, A
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  worldly Kingdom. When it became clear Jesus
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  wasn't going to deliver that, he was ready to sell him for 30
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  pieces of silver. It's a stark warning against
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  following Christ for what we can get out of Him.
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  But as dark as this is, there's a strange comfort here too.
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  There is a very deep comfort. What is it?
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  The comfort is that the truth of the Gospel doesn't depend on the
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  moral perfection of its messengers.
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  If the very first leadership team Christ appointed included a
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  hypocrite and a traitor, then we shouldn't be completely undone
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  when leaders fail today. The church isn't built on the
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  perfection of its leader, no. The gospel survived Judas.
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  It will survive the wolves in our generation.
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  Our faith isn't in Peter or Paul or our local pastor.
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  Our faith is in Christ and Christ alone.
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  The failure of the messenger can never nullify the truth of the
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  message. OK, let's try to synthesize all
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  of this. We've looked at the call, the
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  roster, the traitor. What are the big takeaways for
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  us today? I think the first one has to be
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  about the nature of authority. Jesus summoned them, then he
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  gave them authority. It's all derivative.
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  It's all derivative, it's ministerial, and it's countable
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  to Him. It's not something you can
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  generate yourself through charisma or a business plan or
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  by building a huge following. All true spiritual authority
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  flows from Christ. And for us today, since the
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  apostles are gone, that authority is mediated through
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  their testimony. Right through the Scriptures,
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  pastors and teachers today don't have Apostolic authority.
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  They stand under Apostolic authority.
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  Their only job is to be faithful stewards of the Word that was
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  delivered once for all. We measure everything by that
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  standard. Everything.
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  The moment we start prioritizing trends or marketing or what
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  feels right over what the Word says, we've traded Christ's
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  authority for our own. The second big take away seems
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  to be about the pattern of how the Kingdom advances.
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  Yes, the sequence he calls them to him before he sends them out.
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  Communion before Commission. That's it.
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  So much of our modern church culture is hyper focused on
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  activity, on doing, on metrics. But this shows us that all
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  authentic service has to flow from a place of nearness to the
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  King. If you skip the come to me part,
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  the go for me part will lack power.
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  It will lack authority and eventually it will lack
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  substance. It becomes self generated
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  activism, not spirit empowered ministry.
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  And finally, the lessons from the roster itself, the mix of
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  people. Matthew the tax collector, Simon
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  the zealot, Peter the fisherman. It just cuts against all our
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  pride and our cynicism. God uses ordinary, flawed,
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  sometimes difficult people. The power is in the sender, not
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  the messenger. Always.
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  And if we could just grasp that, it would cure the Church of its
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  celebrity culture overnight. It would teach us to value quiet
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  faithfulness over charismatic personality.
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  The Kingdom is staffed by grace, and Christ loves to use
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  unremarkable people to do remarkable things.
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  So wrapping up our deep dive into Matthew 10.1 to 4, we've
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  seen the sovereign summons where Christ qualifies the
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  unqualified. We've seen the Kingdom roster,
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  where the gospel makes enemies into brothers.
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  And we've seen the shadow of treachery, A sobering lesson
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  that our faith must be in Christ alone.
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  The King builds his church on his authority, not on the
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  strength of his servants. And the message for you, for the
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  believer listening, is don't go looking for new apostles or new
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  revelations. We have the full and kind of
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  word in the Scriptures. Your call is to take up the
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  humble mantle of a disciple. You've been summoned.
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  You've been brought near. Now bear witness to the King.
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  And the final provocative thought we want to leave you
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  with is this. Judas Iscariot was the
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  treasurer, the administrator. He was arguably the most
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  competent one in the group when it came to practical earthly
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  matters. He was useful.
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  He even did miracles. But his heart was lost.
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  Given that external usefulness and spiritual gifting are no
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  guarantee of salvation, how does the visible success of a servant
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  today compared to the internal quiet work of Christ's
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  regenerating grace? And when you assess your own
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  spiritual life, what external metric might you be trusting in
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  more than the simple testimony of your own heart before the
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  King?