Throughout the years, I have taught Matthew several times and now am in the process of teaching it two more times. We just finished Matthew in our Thursday night Bible study held in our home and we are a little more than half way through our study with the Soul Sisters that I spend time with each Thursday morning. My cousin, Dr. Stanley Toussaint, of Dallas Theological Seminary, actually wrote his ThD. dissertation on this most interesting Gospel back in 1960 and wrote a book entitled “Behold the King” on Matthew.
Although I have taught the book several times, I have never read Stanley’s take on Matthew until this time through. He is such a well known scholar and theologian that I find it is filled with nuggets that, in many cases, are beyond my knowledge level. I was blessed to have met him and followed him at DTS until his death in 2017. Thankfully, his writings and many of his class videos survive him. In fact, Dallas is offering a free online class on the book of Revelation that he authored – I am just starting to watch it… Although we are really second cousins (my Dad taught Stanley to swim when they were young), I was absolutely in awe of his knowledge of the Scripture.
Matthew, a Jew, wrote the Gospel to the Jewish people of Israel and the book contains fascinating stories of John the Baptist, the birth of Jesus and, particularly, great content on His teaching during His ministry years. The famous Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7) is considered one of the foundational pieces of the New Testament and the Olivet Discourse is near the end of the book (chapters 23 – 25) with the primary teachings happening in Mathew 24. I’m between these two bookends, there are three other discourses; the Mission Discourse with the commissioning of the apostles (chapter 10), the Parabolic Discourse (chapters 13) and the Discourse on the Church (chapter 18).
I have found the Mission discourse exceptionally fascinating. This section of the book contains a review of the disciples and then their commissioning to do great things. I have always been drawn to learn more about the apostolic positions and this chapter doesn’t disappoint. When I was in seminary, I was taught that there were certain requirements to be considered an apostle. Among them, a disciple had to be taught directly by Jesus Himself (for three years), had to interact with Jesus during His post resurrection ministry and had to be empowered by our Savior with gifts of healing and miracles.
We all know that Jesus called the twelve disciples but Judas Iscariot betrayed Him and delivered Jesus to His enemies for thirty pieces of silver. Judas then died so he did not meet the requirement of witnessing the post resurrection ministry of Jesus, disqualifying him from an apostolic position. However, Saul, later renamed Paul, had a miraculous encounter with the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus. Paul was struck blind, had his sight restored and then claimed apostolic position after a three year stint abroad, claiming to having been taught by Jesus Himself.
It is thought that Paul also witnessed the crucifixion in person, which some theologians believe to also be a requirement for apostolic status. Regardless, it is clear that Jesus Himself appointed Paul to his apostolic position with the mission of reaching the gentiles for Christ.
There is great debate on whether the office of apostle exists today or not. Personally, I believe that Jesus empowered these first century individuals with unique gifts that were not carried on to succeeding disciples after the death of John, the last apostle to die, near the end of the first century. But understanding this can be a slippery slope. Can Jesus empower people today to do miracles? Absolutely! Can Jesus perform miracles from heaven and heal the sick, raise the dead, etc.? Absolutely! But I have yet to meet or hear of a person who can perform miracles on demand, heal the sick on demand, control nature on demand or do any of the things that the first century apostles were empowered to do. It is truly a magnificent study that I was privileged to engage in during my seminary years and I have never lost my zeal for studying the apostles and their special gifts, as well as the commands of Jesus to them.
Our verse for tonight has always jumped off the page to me. Of course, it occurs in Matthew’s account of the ministry of Jesus. Matthew gives us the details on Matthew 10:1-8, “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”
Please notice the change from the office of disciple to apostle when Jesus gave them special authority. And even Paul claims in Romans 15:9 that he was done miracles (the power or signs and wonders) through the power of the Spirit of God. Luke also mentions in Acts 9:11-12 that Paul has performed miracles such as healing the sick and driving out demons.
My encouragement this evening is that Jesus possess unlimited power to advance the kingdom of God. And through these special apostles, He healed the sick, drove out evil spirits, raised the dead and many other miracles in the mid first century. My prayer is that we will still depend on the Father and His Son, in addition to the Holy Spirit, to perform miracles in our lives as they see fit. After all, we know that all things work together for good! Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…