Jesus, the Disciples and the Church: Jesus: Part 1

Jesus, the Disciples and the Church

Who was Jesus, who were His disciples, and who were the members of the early church? Why did Jesus choose the men that He did to be His disciples? Why did God send Jesus from heaven to earth? That's what this series is about.

Jesus: Part 1

Why Jesus Came: Part 1

Much of modern day American Christianity teaches that Jesus came to save me so that I can have a personal relationship with God. It is heavily focused on God's love, grace, mercy, family, and what God has done and can do for me:

• Jesus died for me, so that I will go to heaven when I die

• Jesus died for me, so that I can have a better life

• God will help me to become a better husband, wife, father, mother, employee, and person

• God will bless me and give me good things and a good life

• God's grace and mercy covers all my sins

The message of several of the top Christian songs of 2021 is that "God is good because of what He has done for me". God is good and I'm forever grateful for what He's done for me, but the truth is, God is good even if He hasn't done anything for me. Most new music of the Christian genre is more about "me" than about God, and could be considered idolatry by way of self worship.

They also have heavy emphasis on Jesus's grace and mercy, as if those are His only characteristics. I suppose that's because songs about God's judgement and wrath won't sell albums or get people to come to their church. 

Though having a relationship with God is extremely important, and it's true that God is a God of mercy and grace and He does bless us and places extremely high value on family and personal integrity, there is a much bigger picture that goes beyond those things. God's plan is to  build an everlasting Kingdom comprised of a people who have been reconciled back to Him, and who faithfully worship Him, and where He can be among them. The people of His Kingdom are His children, thereby making them mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters with one another - ie a spiritual family. This spiritual family is the body of Christ, also known as the church. The reason God sent Jesus to earth was to begin the establishment of His Kingdom.

 When you read the Bible, you will run across various verses and passages that provide reasons of why Jesus came. Each one applies to us individually in our personal relationships with God, but they ultimately point to the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

The following passages identify some of the reasons God sent Jesus to come down from heaven to us.

To Defeat the Devil and His Works

Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. - 1 John 3:7‭-‬10 

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, - Hebrews 2:14

To Defeat Death

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, - Hebrews 2:14

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. - John 10:10

To Set His People Free From the Fear of Death and the Devil's Bondage

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. - Hebrews 2:14‭-‬16

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” - Luke 4:18‭-‬19 

To Atone for the Sins of the People

Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

To Preach the Good News of the Kingdom to the Poor, Wherever God Would Send Him 

And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. - Luke 4:42‭-‬44

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” - Luke 4:18‭-‬19 

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” - Mark 1:14‭-‬15

To Call His People to Return to God

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matthew 4:17

And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” - Luke 5:30‭-‬32

To Seek and to Save the Lost

And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” - Luke 19:8‭-‬10 

To Save the World 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

John 3:16‭-‬18

To Do the Will of the Father

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” - John 6:35‭-‬40 

To Judge the World

Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him. And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains. - John 9:38‭-‬41

To Be the Door to Salvation

Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. - John 10:7-9

To Provide the Way to Reconciliation with God

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. - John 14:6

To Provide an Abundant Life

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. - John 10:10

To Give His Life for His People

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. -John 10:11

To Bring the Gentiles Into His Sheep Fold

I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. - John 10:14‭-‬16

“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet. - Matthew 21:33‭-‬46

To Implement and Be the Mediator of the New Covenant that God Established Between He and His People 

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. - Matthew 26:26‭-‬28

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel - Hebrews 12:22‭-‬24

But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. - Hebrews 8:6‭-‬13