"5 These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; 6 but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. 9 Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, 10 or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. 11 And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. 12 As you enter the house, give it your greeting. 13 If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. 14 Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15 Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city."
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As we look at the world today, it is often difficult to that God is still on the throne and that He is still in control, it looks as though wickedness and evil are winning that battle between right and wrong. I believe that God is still very near today. We have the opportunity to
embrace Him, to participate in His Kingdom, to be a part of it every day. Living in this fallen world, we often get distracted from the daily opportunities to catch the glimpse of God and His kingdom, we fail to realize, that in spite of what's happening, He is right here beside us.
I see far too many Christians getting caught up in the world, cheap and easy grace, and the shining distractions of the world. Our natural tendency is to get caught up in political matters, social causes, networking and connecting for personal gain and advancement opportunities rather than being caught up in the things of God and His Kingdom. Churches and Christians tend to be more focused on pleasing the world than pleasing the God we claim to serve.
In our text today, Jesus isn’t just speaking of a church, He is speaking to each us and our individual lives. Having a higher opinion of ourselves than we ought, we often shrug off His words, believing they apply to the other guy and not applying to us!
Let's us pray
Heavenly Father,
All for Your glory and Christs' sake
It is in His name we pray and ask these things
Amen
Today's Message: The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand
What a tremendous honor and privilege it is to be studying the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. I pray that you have been learning from the deep and profound truths that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you individually and to all of us as as His Church, as I have. This has been a wonderful experience. That's what happens when you thoroughly examine the text through expository teaching.
"These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: “Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city."
Let's look at verse 5, "These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them: "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans."
The first thing we notice, is that upon sending out the twelve, Jesus gave them very specific instructions for their first short-term mission. It the Greek, instruct is a military term, a command given from a superior to an inferior; a commander to a soldier, it's the word "paraggelló," derived from two words, pará, "from close-beside" and aggéllō, give a command that demands attention, with choice but to respond. Fully authorized because one has gone through all the proper training. "Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans." The Lord instructs them with these are very defined instructions sending to to the people of Israel as the starting point. Verse 6, "but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." I believe this speaks a powerful lesson to all us today. One in which we need to listen to and apply on the principles of missionary work; to start with the people with our own households, families and neighbors and places of work. "The lost sheep of the house of Israel" is simply referring to the Jews.
Here, we see that the Kingdom of God came first to the chosen people of God; I am grateful to God that He later expanded His family to include even more people like you and me. God has shown incredible mercy toward us in Christ. I cannot speak for you or anyone else, but I am still in awe that He chose me, not only to be a part of His Kingdom family but called me to preach the Gospel to others; entrusting me with such a great honor and privilege, of which I confess, I am unworthy. A calling that I believe that must be taken seriously. One must be sure of his calling before just going out willy-nilly preaching the Gospel to others.
I am often asked the question "How do you know you're called?" I believe the first sign is a strong desire that God puts in one's heart. The second sign is a conformation from others, those around you primarily in the church. Having someone else affirm the call to preach. Many today are not called, not ordained and untrained and ill-equipped in instructing people of God. I believe that God sets the terms of our calling, He commands our obedience in ministry, to preach His Word not our personal opinion or well intended philosophy. Allow me to remind those in ministry, you are not the head of the church, Christ is! God gives His people very clear objectives. I believe that we must keep that in focus.
In John 13, Jesus made this very, very clear! "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him." The twelve were not only called, they were sent. God's call to ministry is binding on our lives, we are under His divine orders to preach the Word as He commands; a principle that I believe that many of those in ministry have chosen to ignore today. Christ associated with sinners in order to save, He never attempted to win the lost by becoming one of them. Grace without truth is completely worthless; truth without grace is just mean.
In the parallel passage, in Mark 6, he tells us Jesus sent them in pairs or two by two, a practice I believe more preachers should
be using today, or a companion in the congregation who upholds the same biblical beliefs. No need to turn there, I'll just quickly read it to you. "And He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt— but to wear sandals; and He added, "Do not put on two tunics." And He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them." They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them."
Allow me to point out something, at the end of verse 6, "and do not enter any city of the Samaritans." Jesus was not saying there's something wrong with those Samaritans, they don't deserve My Word. They were barely qualified in reaching their own people, much less the Gentiles or Samaritans. The Samaritans were believed to be a corrupted people, they were hated by Jews because they were the result of intermarriage between the Jew with the Gentile. Being a Samaritan was unforgivable in the minds of the Jews. We know from Scripture. Jesus didn't have an issue with the Samaritans. In fact, in John 4, He first revealed His Messiahship to a Samaritan woman, who had five husbands, and the one with whom she was living was not her husband at Jacob's well in Sychar. He even used a Samaritan as a clear illustration as to how we are to love our neighbors.
The Jews were God's chosen people to bring salvation to the world, meaning it comes through them. Salvation was never intended to be exclusively for them as they had believed. Even Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, always started in the synagogues first, God's chosen people just did not understand their mission.
Notice verse 7, Jesus not only called them, He sent them out and commanded them to preach "And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’" To go in the Greek is the word "poreúomai," which means to leave, depart or go away. They were willing to go, they weren't forced against their will, they
rightly responded to the divine commission given to them by God. As Christians, every time we open our
mouths, the things of God and His Kingdom should come out. Not our
personal political opinions.
Since no one knows the day or the hour of Christ's return, we must take every precaution to ensure that when He does, He finds proclaiming the kingdom, taking the Gospel to the world. Not arguing over which translation is better or whether or not we support a political candidate or party! Jesus has called us to proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come and to continue to do the work that He which He has begun. The twelve not only knew exactly where they were to go but exactly what they were to preach, they needed a specific area of focus. Jesus made it simple and clear. I believe this speaks to us who are instructing others, many of us have lost our focus, the urgency of Christ's message, the immanency of His return. The Kingdom of Heaven and the urgency of its imminence.
Let's look at verse 8 before we conclude today's message. "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give." Jesus knew the twelve needed something that would make them believable, to make them convincing, to show that they represented of God. They were not part of the existing religious establishment, they had formal education or seminary degrees. They weren't even from Jerusalem. They were twelve ordinary, uneducated, imperfect men from Galilee. Jesus gave them credentials that were more than sufficient; Signs, wonders, and mighty deeds. That was their proof.
Remember in John 3, when Jesus met with Nicodemus, who said "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." In other words, having the ability to do these things marks them out as being sent from God. Healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, casting out demons is an act compassion and mercy on those who are in need. Because God has compassion and mercy on the poor, the sick and the suffering, so to shall we who claim to represent Him. We are never more like Christ except when we help the poor and the needy, visit and care for the sick and suffering, demonstrating His love and compassion. That beloved, is when the heart of God is revealed.
In Closing..
Today, pastors tend to focus on congregations size, church budgets, fund raising, programs and renovation projects rather than teaching the Word of God. Since revenge is our default nature, for us to show mercy indicates that we are acting outside our nature in response to the Holy Spirit flowing through us, pouring out onto others. I believe there is something not only beautiful but powerful in being in the presence who is revealing God's character, controlled by the Spirit of God.
When we shift our focus from ourselves and begin to focus on Christ, we desire to see people come to Christ and really get to know Christ and grow in Him. When we help someone, when we give someone hope, when we pour ourselves into another, showing love, mercy and compassion on them, that is when we know that we are doing God's work.
May it be so..
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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