Messengers – July 3, 2020

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
Matthew 10:1

Messengers

Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson—ever heard any of those names before? Most likely. Not only are they some of the NBA’s best, but they also played together on the 1992 Men’s Olympic basketball team. When NBA players were given the green light to play in the Olympics, the players selected were professional basketball’s best scorer, best passer, best defender, best shooter, and best rebounder. They were known as the Dream Team.

You would think, with so much hanging in the balance, that Jesus would have assembled a “dream team” of disciples. This was a one of a kind moment in history. God had come to save the world. And his gospel would need to go out from there across hundreds of nations, over thousands of years, to billions of people.

But Jesus didn’t put together the dream team. How surprising, how unexpected! Instead, he called people to be his disciples who didn’t always “get it” and didn’t always have all the answers. Jesus called people with emotional baggage, character flaws, checkered pasts, confidence issues, and family drama. He had come not to call the healthy but the sick. And he started by calling these disciples.

Perhaps it’s obvious how much the disciples he called to follow him have in common with the people he calls to follow him today. A dream team of disciples we are not. That’s not denying that God’s people indeed have a variety of gifts and talents. What it is saying is that we don’t have to be supermen or superwomen to be useful in God’s kingdom.

Our names won’t find their way into any history books, most likely. They probably won’t mean much to people who live 100 years from now. But we can make a big difference in the lives of the people around us right now as Jesus works through us in their lives. So we follow him as the disciples did—learning from him, caring like him, serving for him. Superstars? Not at all. We’re just happy to be on the team.

Prayer:
What a privilege it is to be called your disciples, Lord Jesus. Bless me in my service! Amen.