J.C. Ryle's Devotional Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke. Section 32. Choosing of the Twelve Apostles. Luke Chapter 6, verses 12 through 19.

And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles. Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which was also the traitor.

And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all of Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed, and the whole multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

These verses describe the appointment of our Lord Jesus Christ's twelve apostles. That appointment was the beginning of the Christian ministry. It was the first ordination and an ordination conducted by the great head of the church himself. Since the day when the events here recorded took place, there have been many thousands of ordinations. Myriads of bishops, elders, and deacons have been called to the office of the ministry, and often with far more pomp and splendor than we read of here. But never was there so solemn an ordination as this. Never were men ordained who have done so much for the Church and the world as these twelve apostles.

Let us observe, firstly, in these verses, that when our Lord ordained His first ministers, He did it after much prayer. We read that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. When the morning came, He called His disciples unto Him, and He chose twelve of them, whom He named apostles.

We need not doubt that there is a deep significance in this special mention of our Lord's praying upon this occasion. It was intended to be a perpetual lesson to the Church of Christ. It was meant to show the great importance of prayer and intercession on behalf of ministers and particularly at the time of their ordination. Those to whom the responsible office of ordaining is committed should pray that they may not lay hands on anyone hastily. Those who offer themselves for ordination should pray that they may not take up work for which they are unfit, nor run without being sent. The lay members of the church, not least, should pray that none may be ordained but men who are inwardly moved by the Holy Spirit.

Happy are those ordinations in which all concerned have the mind that was in Christ, and come together in a prayerful spirit. Do we desire to help forward the cause of pure and undefiled religion in the world? Then let us never forget to pray for ministers and especially for young men about to enter the ministry. The progress of the gospel under God will always depend much on the character and conduct of those who profess to preach it. An unconverted minister can never be expected to do good to souls. He cannot teach properly what he does not feel experimentally. From such men let us pray daily that the church may be delivered. Converted ministers are God's special gift. Man cannot create them. If we would have good ministers then we must remember our Lord's example and pray for them. Their work is heavy, their responsibility is enormous, their strength is small. Let us see that we support them and hold up their hands by our prayers.

In this and in too many other cases the words of James are often sadly applicable. You have not because you ask not. James chapter 4 verse 2. We do not ask God to raise up a constant supply of converted young men to fill our pulpits. And God chastises our neglect by withholding them.

Let us observe, secondly, how little we are told of the worldly position of the first ministers of the Christian Church. Four of them, we know, were fishermen. One of them, at least, was a tax collector. Most of them, probably, were Galileans. Not one of them, so far as we can see from the New Testament, was great, or rich, or noble, or highly connected. Not one was a Pharisee, or scribe, or priest, or ruler, or elder among the people. All were apparently unlearned and ignorant men. Acts chapter 4 verse 13. All were poor.

There's something deeply instructive in the fact which is now before us. It shows us that our Lord Jesus Christ's kingdom was entirely independent of help from this world. His church was not built by might or by power but by the spirit of the living God. Zechariah chapter 4 verse 6. It supplies us with an unanswerable proof of the divine origin of Christianity, a religion which turned the world upside down while its first preachers were all poor men, must needs have been from heaven.

If the apostles had possessed money to give their hearers, or been followed by armies to compel them, then an infidel might well deny that there was anything astonishing in their success. But the poverty of our Lord's disciples cuts away such arguments from beneath the infidel's feet. With a doctrine most unpalatable to the natural heart, with nothing whatever to bribe or compel obedience, a few lowly Galileans shook the world and changed the face of the Roman Empire.

One thing alone can account for this. The gospel of Christ, which these men proclaimed, was the truth of God. Let us remember these things if we ever strive to do any work for Christ, and beware of leaning on an arm of flesh. Let us watch against the secret inclination which is natural to all to look to money, or learning, or high patronage, or great men's support for success. If we want to do good for souls, then we must not look first to the powers of this world. We should begin just where the Church of Christ began. We should seek pastors filled with the Holy Spirit.

Let us observe lastly in these verses that one whom our Lord chose to be an apostle was a false disciple and a traitor. That man was Judas Iscariot.

We cannot for a moment doubt that in choosing Judas Iscariot our Lord Jesus knew well what he was doing. He could read hearts, certainly saw from the beginning that notwithstanding his profession of piety, Judas was a graceless man and would one day betray him.

Why, then, did he appoint him to be an apostle? The question is one which has perplexed many, yet it admits of a satisfactory answer. Like everything which our Lord did, it was done advisedly, deliberately, and with deep wisdom. It conveyed lessons of high importance to the whole Church of Christ.

The choice of Judas was meant to teach ministers humility. They are not to suppose that ordination necessarily conveys grace, or that once ordained they cannot err. On the contrary, they are to remember that one ordained by Christ himself was a wretched hypocrite. Let the minister who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Again, the choice of Judas was meant to teach the lay members of the church not to make idols of ministers. They are to esteem them highly, in love, for their work's sake. But they are not to bow down to them as infallible, and honour them with an unscriptural honour. They are meant to remember that ministers may be successors of Judas Iscariot, as well as of Peter and Paul.

The name of Judas should be a standing warning to cease from man. Let no man glory in men.

1 Corinthians 3.21

Finally, our Lord's choice of Judas was meant to teach the whole church that it must not expect to see a perfectly pure communion in the present state of things. The wheat and the tares, the good fish and the bad will always be found side by side until the Lord comes again. It is vain to look for perfection in visible churches. We shall never find it. A Judas was found even among the apostles. Converted and unconverted people will always be found mixed together in all congregations.