If He Used Them, He can use Us

The main purpose of this entry is to stir the believing reader up into understanding that if we wait until we are perfect before doing anything for God– then we would never do anything at all. Everybody knows the mistakes the disciples made: Peter rejecting Jesus but how different He was after the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. Everybody knows how the disciples all deserted Him in his final hours; everybody knows the issues of pride they had, but I think we need a reminder in order to realize these were all ordinary young guys, just average revolutionaries, and God used them mightily despite terribly obvious and pathetic character flaws probably few reading this may actually struggle with.

I’d like you to go away from this entry and read carefully and study Luke chapters 9-10 for yourself. But in the meantime, let’s look at some selections and let me show you my observations and some questions to provoke thought. One thing is for certain; I’m sick of hearing people say “well look at all the things wrong with the disciples, and God still used them.” Most people who say this ignore or just don’t pay attention to the fact that the disciples actually did something we don’t commonly do—heal the sick, and cast out devils, as detailed in the following selections of Scriptures.

Luke 9:1-6, 10a

And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,
and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.
And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.
And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
On their return the apostles told him all that they had done.

Did they have authority and power given to them?
In this passage, did they go and fail to heal anybody?

Luke 9:12-17

Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, “Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.”
But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish–unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”
For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”
And they did so, and had them all sit down.
And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets
of broken pieces.

What was the disciples’ original idea to do before this miracle happened?
Do you think Jesus wanted them/expected them to be the ones who provided the food/miracle?
Do you think that Jesus would have been as visibly involved if the disciples didn’t shrink back from this opportunity to put their trust in Him and demonstrate His provision?

Luke 9:32-36

Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.
And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”–not knowing what he said.
As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”
And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

What dumb thing do you notice the disciples did here in this passage (hint, none of the other Gospels document this detail)? They fell asleep!

Luke 9:38-42

And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.
And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and shatters him, and will hardly leave him.
And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”
While he was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

Did the man from the crowd merely ask the disciples to heal his son?
What did Jesus say before he healed the boy? Do you think this was directed at the disciples? If so, does this indicate He was tolerating a lot with them up until this point already?
Weren’t they given authority already at the beginning of this chapter to do this very task? So then what was the reason or one of the reasons they were unable to see this deliverance? (You might need to read the parallel in Matthew 17:14-21 for more straightforward of an answer).

Luke 9:46-48

An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.
But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side
and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

Why was this not the greatest time to be arguing about who was the greatest? Because they failed to heal a boy just moments earlier!
The word for argument, “dialogismos” literally means a “reasoned discourse.” I wonder what this conversation would have looked like! Right after being unable to heal a boy with authority they had already been given, they are found arguing and debating who was the greatest!
The account in Matthew has this argument taking place before the epileptic boy was brought to them. Either way, we see they clearly had issues of pride.

Luke 9:49-50

John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.”
But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.”

Is casting out demons the same thing as giving food to homeless people or something ‘nice’ like that? Does this require power FROM God?
How arrogant and elitist is that mentality that tries to stop others from doing good works unto the Lord because they’re not one of us?
We see one of the apostles trying to stop other people from doing the good works of the Lord—casting out demons is not the same thing as merely witnessing or handing out food to the poor! This is done with authority, you can’t just cast demons out of someone with your own good intentions (see the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:11-19). And, last time I read, just few moments earlier they failed to cast a spirit out of a boy, and now John is trying to stop someone else from doing it!

Luke 9:53-55

But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.
And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
But he turned and rebuked them.

What exactly did the disciples offer to do for Jesus?
Did they ask Jesus to do it, or did they indicate they would do it themselves? If so, would they have been able to offer to call fire down from heaven if they did not have authority to do so?
Does it seem odd to you that James and John had faith to wipe a people out, but either they, the other disciples, or all of them neglected to be able to heal the epileptic boy and do something GOOD for the cause of Christ?

Luke 10:1-2, 9

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

What do you notice about this passage?
Were the apostles doing anything that the Lord couldn’t empower others to do?
Could the Lord have been trying to do something about the disciples’ pride and arrogance, that He chose this point to be when He’d empower others to do the very things the twelve had already been doing?
Does it seem to you that it was only the original twelve disciples that were healing the sick? Then why do so many teach and preach that miracles ceased when the last apostle died, when they weren’t the only ones doing these things!?
Could it be that Jesus anointed these 72 others with this power, because as stated, the harvest is plentiful but there are not enough workers?
Could Jesus be taking this to the “next level”?

Luke 10:17-20

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

It clearly worked.  No question about it.

Some questions to consider:

• Have you ever messed up? Has the Lord still used you?
• Have you ever neglected to do something the Lord has told you to do?
• Have you ever fallen asleep in the presence of the Lord, or when you should have been praying?
• Have you ever said anything stupid in the presence of God?
• Have you ever prayed for someone and they didn’t get healed even though they begged you to heal them? What about praying for someone that didn’t get healed right away, but someone else prayed for, or laid hands on them and they got healed, like Jesus did here?
• Have you ever argued with people, through words or just behavior, that you think you’re the greatest in God’s kingdom (or at least carried yourself like you’re more spiritual than others)?
• Have you ever tried to stop others from doing things for God because they’re not a part of your group, church, denomination, circle, etc..?
• Have you ever offered to kill someone else for Jesus because they wouldn’t listen to Him?

If you have done anything these disciples have done wrong, then congratulations! You are just as capable of being used by God as they were!

If we’re going to study the things they did wrong and compare ourselves to them and think they were more immature or worse off than we are, then we need to make sure we’re doing the least of what they did; which includes things like healing the sick, casting out demons, standing up and boldly proclaiming the Gospel from the ‘upper room to the multitudes’ and so forth.

Anyway, this is a blog friendly version of my notes I prepared for the Bible study tonight at De Fakkel. I hope I encourage and challenge you to step out in faith, knowing that you’re a work in progress, and sometimes it’s through ministering for the Lord that your character issues are dealt with.