Sent
Notes
Transcript
I know that we are starting to enter vacation season. Seems like these days people go on more trips than ever. I remember as a kid we would go on one to maybe two vacations a year. Most of the time these were planned out several months in advance and you could count down on your calendar until the day arrived. I was a kid and time was kept differently, so I just knew the month we would go and the anticipation would build as we got into the month we were to go.
I remember one time when I was living in Greenwood, SC that my dad came home from work and we just spontaneously decided to go to the beach. Whether he and my mom had planned that out or not I’m not sure, but we went and had a great time.
But you know, as a kid you don’t have to worry about a lot of that adult stuff that we have to worry about now. I never asked how we paid for these trips. I never was concerned with what hotel we would stay in or where we would eat. I didn’t even really have to worry too much about packing my luggage. I would sometimes get my things together, but my mom or dad would come and check to make sure I had everything.
As I’ve become an adult, I still don’t have to worry too much about packing because God has given me a wife who is the most meticulous person I have ever met. She is a list person and has seven different lists to help her never forget anything. I’m more of the mindset that there is always a Walmart nearby if I forget something. That isn’t always the best way to be, but it makes me think about our passage this morning.
This morning, we are going to be looking at a miniature version of a great commission. Now, we are all familiar with the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20. I was doing an interview this week with Pastor Bill Crooms for his On Mission 365 show and he asked me the question of what would I say to someone who said we aren’t called to be on missions and I referred to the Great Commission and that this was a commission given to ALL people. We know that because Jesus says that He will be with us to the end of the age.
I mention that because we are going to see some principles here with this mini great commission that are similar to the big one, yet are different. Let’s take a look at this trip Jesus calls His disciples to go on.
They were sent and so are we!
1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,
10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.
12 As you enter the house, greet it.
13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.
15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
Pray
There is a sense of urgency generated by the last passage we looked at that the harvest in plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Jesus has just commissioned the disciples to pray for workers into the harvest and now He commissions 12 to be apostles
The Word Apostle means “Sent One”
They are both Disciples - which implies a learner and one who follows the way of his master - and Apostles - which means someone sent on a mission.
Jesus sends out these disciples and tells them not to even pack their luggage. They were like me as a child when I was just told to get in the car, because we were going.
As we look at this commission, we need to observe a few things that are true for us and a few that were unique to the disciples.
1. We Are Called (v. 1-2)
1. We Are Called (v. 1-2)
1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
You cannot be sent before you are called. You must be saved first!
2. We Are Sent (vv. 5-8)
2. We Are Sent (vv. 5-8)
A. Go
A. Go
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Jesus tells them to go. Don’t waver on it. Don’t sit back and figure out if you have the funds to go. Don’t make up excuses. Go.
We see a similar language in this mini version of the great commission as we do in the great commission in verse 7.
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Compare this with Matthew 28:18-19
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
The word there for “go” in Matthew 28 is translated in a similar way as verse 7 of Matthew 10 that means as we go, share.
Notice that the process is that we go first and look for opportunities to share. This does not mean that Jesus did not have His Disciples organized or send them out to certain regions, but it does mean that they were to go and look for opportunities to share.
We talk ourselves out of going. We come up with excuses to stay. We say that God has called others or that we can’t do it because of x, y, and z.
We ought to go and look. This is one of the reasons that prayer walking can be effective in evangelism. We go and we see the need and God will put people in our pathways.
If you are inclined to stay, remember that Jesus gives us His Great Commission based on his authority.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Notice also how many times in Matthew 10 Jesus uses the word “go.” There are at least nine times using 2 different Greek words that Jesus tells them to go.
How many times does Jesus have to tell you to go? As we go, what are we to do?
B. Proclaim
B. Proclaim
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
We are not going on a humanitarian aid campaign. We may do these things, but we are going to proclaim the gospel.
If we engage in mission work without proclaiming the gospel, that is not missions. Missions involves accomplishing the mission. Notice mission and missions are differentiated with one letter - an s.
Missions is the many ways we seek to accomplish the mission - no s. The mission is singular. Go and tell people about the gospel. But missions is the many ways we do this.
Let’s see it more clearly in the next thing we see Jesus call the Disciples to do.
C. Minister/Serve
C. Minister/Serve
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
We need to understand that the sending out of the Disciples does not imply that everyone is sent with the same authority or ability.
These disciples were demonstrating, like Jesus, that the Kingdom of God had come. The miracles were evidence of this.
We have the greatest miracle that we can give to someone in preaching to a lost soul the gospel and watching God save them.
While we are not given the same miraculous signs and wonders of the disciples, we are given the ability to accomplish the work God calls us to.
Missions involves the many ways we can accomplish the mission of sharing the gospel.
That might be construction or medical knowledge, working with kids, listening, feeding, serving, etc.
All of these are things we do on a mission trip. However, these are not just things that should be reserved for a trip.
Another thing that Bill asked me in his On Mission 365 interview was why do we need to go on a mission trip. I believe these trips spark in us a desire to do missions and it gives us ideas for how we can do mission work in our own backyard.
Acts 1:8 tells us where we are to do mission work and by what power.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We are to go to foreign lands and other states, but we are also to go to our Jerusalem and Judea - where we live and our surrounding region. We are to go to our Samaria - the place we don’t want to go to the people we don’t like. And we are called to go to the ends of the earth with the mission of spreading the gospel.
He also asked me what would I say to someone who says, “I think we should just stay right here and not go.”
I say, then where are you going and what are you doing? You cannot go locally and not feel a call to go globally!
But now notice that we do not go in our own strength.
3. We Are Equipped (vv. 9-13)
3. We Are Equipped (vv. 9-13)
9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,
10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.
12 As you enter the house, greet it.
13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
God has given us spiritual gifts and physical gifts to use for the mission that He has called us to.
Spiritual gifts are in the spirit realm and are things that we didn’t have prior to salvation. Sometimes we over focus on these things like the Corinthians did. These are things like teaching and faith and in the first century context, miracles.
Now again, I believe God still works miracles in our lives but I think it is mostly done through prayer and not through the laying on of hands of someone like you normally might think of a miracle worker doing. This accomplishes a couple of things when God operates like this.
It puts the focus on God as the miracle working God and healer.
It grows our faith.
I could tell you a thousand stories today of miracles God has done in answer to prayer. You can discover these by reading about them in the biographies of missionaries, but you will notice that they are almost always an answer to prayer.
And yet....we don’t like to pray. So if we don’t like to pray, is it any wonder we don’t seem to see God move miraculously among us.
So, let’s keep in mind a couple of things about these miracles this morning that Jesus grants to His disciples.
A. They were to depend upon God to provide for their needs
A. They were to depend upon God to provide for their needs
These are missionaries and not local pastors.
It is inappropriate to apply this passage to pastors receiving a wage from their churches because God specifically said in multiple places that the pastor should get his living by preaching the gospel. God is not inconsistent.
B. They Were Given Authority and Ability
B. They Were Given Authority and Ability
As the Disciples had received from the Lord, they were to give. Notice how so many of the signs and wonders teachers want you to “sow a seed of blessing” in order to get a miracle. God never tells us to do this. In fact, He tells us the opposite.
The disciples were to freely serve at the generosity of the people for this particular mission.
Compare what Jesus said in Luke 10:4 with Luke 22:36.
4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
36 He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.
The last thing we want to notice this morning is perhaps the most encouraging.
4. We Are Released (vv. 14-15)
4. We Are Released (vv. 14-15)
14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.
15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
Our Commission is to herald the coming King
The Disciples heralded Jesus was coming like a town crier before the king came in. We herald the second coming of the king and for the people to get ready for his arrival.
We are not responsible for whether people get ready or respond to our message, but we are responsible for whether we complete our mission
We are workers in the field. God has to cause the seed to germinate. He has to grow the seed and He has to bring it to harvest.
The worker can help get the soil in the right conditions. He can scatter the seed and attempt to keep the weed pressure down and the pests at bay. He can fertilize and give the soil the nutrients that it needs to grow, but he cannot make the plant grow and produce a harvest.
He watches and when God makes the harvest ready, he gathers in as much as he can.
That’s the way it is with the spiritual harvest as well. We are just to go and proclaim the gospel. Help make the soil ready by pre-evangelism questions and giving solid answers as best you can to people’s objections or concerns.
However, ultimately you are called to proclaim the gospel and leave the results up to God.
Conclusion
You have been drafted into the service of the Lord. The question that must be asked is not, are you going somewhere, but where are you going?
What people has God called you to reach?
Who are you called to serve?
If you are here today and you have not trusted in Christ as your savior, do you see what great lengths God has gone to to call a people to take the gospel to you?
He desires to save you. Will you surrender to Him?