This subject and passage are most appropriate on a Sunday when we’ve been baptising people because I want to talk about what being baptised is a picture of.
Many years ago, when I was an 18 year old student, at university, studying Mathematics and piano in my spare time, I had a teacher called Belinda Heather. (80s former concert pianist)
I was learning a particularly tricky runs in the left hand <ppt: start music>
I was struggling – she did something I’d seen her do before
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, here wizened fingers would land on mine and she would play it on the backs of my hands – so I could feel the way to play it.
Suddenly it all became more obvious … <ppt: music stop>
And then she said <ppt:title> “now you do it”
That’s what Jesus is doing with his disciples here <ppt: Matthew 10>
They’d seen him minister – bring God’s power and blessing to people’s lives – and he’s saying the really unnerving thing: “OK, now you do it!”
Matthew 10:1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him
Instantly we see there’s something missing
Jesus has already got his group of 12 and here they just burst in on the scene – we’re missing any description of them being called as apostles!
In fact the only account we have of a disciple being called in Matthew’s gospel, is the call of Matthew himself (ch 9)
And even that account, Matthew frames to make one particular point
“I am a tax collector, therefore I’m one of the despised, class of people that a person like Jesus probably should be seen dead with!
Principle? …
Christ calls the really unlikely people
9:10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples (oh! So Jesus has already got some disciples!). 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘Listen! It is not the healthy who need a doctor, its’ the sick!.
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What we’re going to see in ch 10 is Jesus sending us, his disciples, to do that task of bringing spiritual health to the spiritually sick.
13 But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” [you Pharisees are so strung up on getting all your sacrifices just right, when actually God wants you be merciful to the burdened and needy]
“For I have not come to call the righteous [like you think you are], but sinners.[like this riff-raff I’m having a really good meal with right now]’
Christ calls the really unlikely people
That gives me hope for our church!
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And conversely he leaves on one side people who think they know it all, and have their religion all buttoned down.
If you were writing the story of your life, which incidents would you put in?
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We’ve already noticed how carefully Matthew chooses his incidents he puts in his biography of Jesus
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For Matthew it’s the commissioning that matters!
Now you’re a disciple, a Christ follower what are you going to do for Him?
Question? …
what are you going to do for him?
Just suppose Jesus repeated this commission to us today …
If he was here today and laid his hands on each of us, what would he ask you to do?
I think we would take that commission very seriously indeed!
I sometimes hear it said “all that matters is that I just am a disciple, I just need to “be” and not worry too much about the “do” – that’s a secondary issue
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Suppose I said to Rosi “I’m just going to“be” your husband, just “be”, “be”, “be”
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It wouldn’t take long before I’d hear that tell-tale (sigh) sound which means “get your back side off that couch and do something round here!”
Principle? …
You can’t be without doing, and you can’t do without being!
Principle is this: It is impossible to “be” a follower of Christ without “do”ing the will of Christ – because the one validates the other.
And maybe God’s word for you this morning is just that.
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You came expecting a wonderful, ethereal experience – and if that’s been God’s gift for you this morning then praise God!
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Being in his presence is wonderful, but it’s incomplete without doing his will.
Think about some of the great personal experiences of God in the Bible
Moses
Moses – burning bush – God speaks to him from in and around the bush – God’s first words to him? “… now god. I am sending you to Pharaoah to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10)
Elijah
Elijah – he was a rock bottom, on the verge of suicide. A still small voice came to him. It was God saying “Elijah, you’re not alone, and this is not the end! I have a task for you to do! God an appoint your successor and his ministry will be twice what yours has been!” (1 Kings 19:15-18)
Paul
Paul – Amazing encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus – blinding light – voice from heaven. And what was the first thing Christ said to him? (Acts 22:10) “Get up and go to Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do”
and what the Lord is saying ‘get your back side off your seat and “do” something – as part of the church’s ministry – to extend my kingdom here on earth, through Victoria. Today I’ve got a commission for you.”, “you can make a difference!”
Q. Jesus give them a list or a task to do straight away? No he didn’t
He did something much more profound
:1 (still!) Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and illness.
When I’m given authority to do something, from that moment on I have the right to do it. That right is conferred on my by a higher authority.
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That’s what Jesus is doing here, He’s delegating authority to his disciples to do things. (we’ll see what they are in a moment)
→ we minister under Christ’s own authority
And – there’s something else going on here.
So far as the disciples were concerned (all had Jewish backgrounds), who was the only person who has authority to quell evil and heal sickness? – only God does!
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Now authority can only be delegated by someone who already has it!
If I said “I give you authority to go and have a free meal at the Grand” that would be ridiculous, But if the manager of the hotel said that to you – then go an enjoy!
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Only the person with the authority can delegate that authority.
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Now here Jesus is giving his disciples authority to do things that they knew only God can do.
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… So who does that make Jesus?!
(Implicitly Jesus is showing that He’s God in human form.)
And I can imagine (because I might be like this) the disciples didn’t fully get it.
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But when, later that day, or in the next few days, Thaddeus (or whoever) casts out an evil spirit and it goes or Alpheaus lays his hands on someone sick and they recover. I can imagine the thought going through their heads “what is this that I’ve been given here?!” What power, what authority, what dynamic have I been trusted with?!
I believe that if we do what Jesus did, when we copy his methods and rely on his power, we will be blessed as he promised us.
And there will be times when we, personally, will go out on a limb and risk praying with someone (for example) and see God work in their lives and we will reel back on our haunches amazed at the power that God has trusted into our hands.
→ we minister under Christ’s own authority
:2 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; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
We know about Simon Peter, James, John
There are short references to Philip and Thomas
But nothing about James (Alpheus’s son), Thaddeus or Simon the zealot.
We would expect these people to be the heroes of the story!
Being the people working alongside Jesus to build the church
But we know nothing about at about some of them . They only appear in the Bible when the list of the 12 is being reeled off. All we do know is that Jesus couldn’t have done his ministry without them.
→ you may never be famous, but God still has a purpose for your life!
And now for something else that’s surprising …
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.
6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
A curious phrase! These are God’s people, but they’re lost! (lost sheep)
These are God-fearing, Bible believing, Sabbath keeping Children of Israel, but there’s something lost about them. They’re missing something
We use the word ‘lost’ in three senses
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We might mean that ‘lost’ in the sense they are a lost cause. They’re no-hopers. God has given up on them. But we can discount that because the whole point of the chapter is that God is going to do something about them!
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Alternatively ‘lost’ could mean God is looking for them and hasn’t found them yet. (God knows where his people are, so doesn’t make sense!)
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Which leaves us with the third meaning of ‘lost’ – to do with not knowing where they are. They’d had so many different ideas and rituals and rules and religious observances expected of them, they no longer knew where they stood in relation to God.
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They’d just – lost their way!
And Jesus says to his disciples “these people, on the inside of God’s favour and blessing, are to be the ones you’re to go and minister to”
These are people inside the church!
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7 As you go, proclaim this message: “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” 8 Heal those who are ill, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Jesus is describing a situation where their message will be received”
There’s a harvest that’s plentiful, and you are the workers. God’s agents to the lost people of Israel
Jesus telling them something every encouraging
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“Look guys – there is a spiritual harvest just waiting for you!”
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You want to do something valuable?”
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You want your life to count for something?
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then here it is! – get into spiritual harvest collection!
That’s what our church is all about!
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In fact, in Luke’s gospel, Jesus says the harvest is so great that there just aren’t enough people to go and collect it!
Some ideas
plough back in
Something we can all do easily is to plough God’s favour back in
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If God has blessed you or done something in your experience – tell someone
plough it back into the field!
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If you want more life – give your life
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If you want more joy – give your joy
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If you want more prayer – give your prayer
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If you want more love – give your love
Church can be like a football match – 22 people in desperate need of rest and 22,000 in desperate need of exercise
pray for our leaders
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Pastors, Corel leadership team, the wider group of leaders, the small group leaders, the worship leaders etc
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Someone once said “If we prayed for our leaders as much as we criticised them we would see revival in a week”
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“Esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1Thess 5)
Don’t worry if things come to a halt
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There is a time of waiting
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there is also a time of fruitfulness
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God has not forgotten you or let you down.
What they were like
16 ‘I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Vivid picture >>>
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it points to the danger / helplessness
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they were weak and inexperienced and I’m sure they felt it!
→ we will feel vulnerable
We can feel like that too – but feelings are notoriously unreliable in this area
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go up and down (like a cargo of yo-yos from Hong Kong – sunk 164 times!)
We think we must “feel” spiritual in order to be used by the Lord – not necessarily true
A principle we’ve discovered – esp on Alpha & CE –
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If we act out of obedience, God acts in power
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If I do what he has asked me to do, He does what He has promised to do
Why is this?
we walk by faith and not by sight! “If God is for us, who can be against us?
“My strength (says Christ) is made perfect (made obvious, seen for what it is) in your weakness”
And if you get into a fix?
19 …do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
I believe God is speaking today to three categories of people
-1- You’re unsure about Christ and how he fits into life (maybe not been to church before)
Someone said to Rosi – knew she was a Christian
“you’re so serene – and I think I know why – but I’m not sure I’m ready to go there yet.”
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complete welcome card – we’ll get in touch – at least we can open a conversation.
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God is on your case – that’s why you’re here today!
-2- You may be a Christian who has never been baptised and you’ve seen it happen this morning and realise – this is Christ’s call on my life. This is the next thing I have to do for him.
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I want you to come to the front.
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I’m not going to ask you to join the church, or make a speech
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You don’t have to be an extrovert
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But I just want you to show that you’re not ashamed of your Lord
-3- You may be a Christian and realised that you’ve never been commissioned for the work God has called you to do – whatever that is!
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To do something for him (
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I want you to come to the front too.
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We’re not going to go into detail about what that might look like
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We are, however going to pray and call down God’s blessing on your work for him.
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I just want you to show that you’re not ashamed of Him
Ministry team to from during last Song.
