The Commissioning of the Called - Part 1

The Men of the Commission — (Vs. 1-4)

They are referred to here first as “disciples.” — (Vs. 1)

“Disciple” — Greek (mathētēs) — “learner”

Used of a person who follows after and seeks to learn from another. A disciple is not only a partaker of information, but also one who seeks to become like his or her teacher.

Luke 6:40 KJV 1900

40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

Discipleship is about modifying one’s entire lifestyle, it’s about learning, growing and molding oneself to be like to imitate the one doing the teaching.

And that’s what these men were doing.

They were first disciples.

They were being taught.

They were learning how to be like their teacher, Jesus.

Secondly, they are referred to here as “apostles.” — (Vs. 2)

“Apostle” — Greek (apostolos) — “Messenger”

Speaks of someone who has been sent out with a specific message or mission.

In the New Testament it speaks of those who were called into the ministry of sharing the gospel.

Many times, the apostles were given special power or gifts to prove the message they were delivering.

Here, they were given power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease the Bible says.

Thirdly, I want you to notice what’s not said about these men.

Do you see St. Matthew or St. Peter or St. John anywhere in the scripture here?

The answer is no. What you do see is simply men’s names with the exception of humble Matthew who records after his name “the publican”.

Bro. Bobby what are you trying to say here?

What I want you to see is that oftentimes we lift these men up on pedestals as if they were 10 feet tall and bulletproof!

We talk about them as if they were perfect people who walked around in white robes but the reality of the situation is that these 12 men, they were ordinary men who lived ordinary lives, I’d dare say most of them less than ordinary, and they worked ordinary or less than ordinary jobs just like you and I.

They were special because they were the first ones called but if they could stand here before you today I believe each and every one would tell you this… “The only thing good about me is Jesus!”

Listen, they were tax collectors and fishermen.

They had egos and attitudes.

They had curious minds and cursing tongues.

They were human just like we are!

They were ordinary men called to deliver an extraordinary message!

These were the men Jesus called to send on mission!

I feel like so many times we read about these men and we immortalize them and yes, don’t get me wrong, they were immortalized but not for who they were but for what they did for God!

And the application I don’t want you to miss here is this…anyone who is willing to devote their lives fully, completely, wholeheartedly, to the call of God and His will for their lives, can be who these men were!

Now, I’m not saying that you will be able to go around and cast out demons, and heal the sick, and raise the dead…these were special powers given to these men by Jesus to accomplish the mission at hand…but, what I am saying is this…

Jesus took ordinary men and made them extraordinary in the eyes of the world because of the life they were willing to live! A life surrendered and submitted to God!

Jesus said to each of these men, follow me and that’s exactly what they did and if you are willing to follow Him this morning, I assure you that He can take ordinary little ole you and do extraordinary things with you!

Now before I move on, I want you to see one more thing…at what point did these men become apostles?

After they had been disciples.

So many people want to skip to the going before the getting.

You gotta get the getting, the learning, the discipleship portion before you get to the going portion.

It wasn’t until these men had followed Jesus, watched His every move, seen Him in prayer and in action, that He sent them on mission.

If you want to be on mission for God, don’t forget the mentorship portion first!

Get in God’s word, read of Him, learn of Him, meditate on Him and then you will be prepared for the mission at hand!

Now that we know a little bit about the men of the commission, next, let’s look at the mission itself.

The Mission of the Commission — (Vs. 5-8)

When it comes to the mission, I want us to look very briefly at the who, the what and the why of the mission but before we get to that, I want you to see something interesting here.

The Bible says here in Verse 5 that “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them saying.”

This word “commanded” here has a few different very interesting meanings.

William Barclay writes — This word in the Greek has four special usages.

(1) It is the regular word of military command; Jesus was like a general sending his commanders out on a campaign and briefing them before they went.

(2) It is the word used of calling one’s friends to one’s help. Jesus was like a man with a great ideal summoning his friends to make that ideal come true.

(3) It is the word which is used of a teacher giving rules and principles to students. Jesus was like a teacher sending his students out into the world, equipped with his teaching and his message.

(4) It is the word which is regularly used for an imperial command. Jesus was like a king dispatching his ambassadors into the world to carry out his orders and to speak for him.

And so we see Jesus here, He’s called these 12 men to His side and He’s commissioning them with a task, a mission to complete.

Now let’s look at the who of the mission.

The Who — (Vs. 5-6)

This is the first time Jesus has commissioned any of the called to this point.

Thus far, we have seen Jesus do all the healing and preaching and raising from the dead but that’s all about to change.

And even though we are already in Chapter 10 of Matthew’s gospel, we are still very early in Jesus ministry.

Now, one thing I want you to notice here about the mission at hand is who Jesus sends these disciples to.

Who does Jesus tell them to go to?

The Jews, right?

Jesus refers them as “the lost sheep of Israel.”

This first mission was for God’s chosen people.

Notice Jesus tells them specifically not to go to the gentiles or the Samaritans but to the Jews only.

Well does that mean Jesus didn’t care about the gentiles and Samaritans as well?

Absolutely not!

If you will remember, in Johns gospel, there’s a story there of how Jesus made a divine detour through Samaria and met the woman at the well.

Everyone remember that?

And then, at the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus leaves the disciples of then and as an ongoing commission to all disciples down through the ages, the command to go unto all the nations and teach them and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

And then in Acts 1 just before Jesus ascends back up into Heaven, He tells the disciples that once the Holy Ghost comes, they were to be witnesses of Him in Jerusalem, in all Judaea, in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth!

Us gentiles, we’re in that last part, Amen!

We are the uttermost part of the earth!

And Jesus came for us too, Amen!

So, we see the Who of the Mission but what was the What of the Mission?

What was the Mission?

The What — (Vs. 7-8)

The mission was first and foremost to PREACH!

“Preach” — (kēryssō) in the Greek

Means to proclaim and refers to publicly proclaiming a message.

One writer said it means “to make a public proclamation with such gravity, formality, and authority as must be heeded” (Wuest) — Butler Commentary

Their mission was to proclaim a message and to preach it in such a way that people would heed the proclamation!

What was the message?

The same message that Jesus proclaimed when He started His ministry… “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

But what exactly did that mean?

The phrase “at hand” that Jesus uses here is the Greek word (engizō) and it means to come near.

The kingdom of heaven has come near!

And dear friend there will only ever be one other time its any closer and that’s in the very end when a new heaven and a new earth shall be created because the old heaven and the old earth shall pass away and then heaven itself as we know it will descend upon earth and God will make His abode with man forevermore!

The kingdom of heaven is at hand…it has come near!

The one and only Son of God, manifested in flesh, was physically walking, talking, teaching and healing mankind!

I want you to just think of that for a second and let it sink in!

God was walking with man!

The one who the Jews had longed for, prayed for, fasted for was actually here right before their very eyes and what did they do?

They rejected Him, despised Him, beat Him, mocked Him, spat upon Him and had Him crucified!

He came unto His own and His own received Him not!

I found what John Phillips, one of my favorite commentators, said...

Had the Jews accepted Christ as Messiah at that time, the visible kingdom would have been set up at once. But the message went unheeded and the immediate offer of the kingdom was withdrawn. A new commission (the great commission of Matthew 28) was given for a new dispensation.

These men who had been called for this special mission, were to take this message, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and share it with the lost sheep of Israel.

And they were to use the power given unto them by the one and only Son of God, to prove the message.

Jesus tells them as they go to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out devils!

“Freely you have received, freely give!”

Does anyone know what this verse is a picture of?

It’s a picture of GRACE!

GOD’S RICHES AT CHRISTS EXPENSE!

They had done nothing to deserve these gifts and therefore as they were free to them, they were to use them to their fullest capabilities to help those they came in contact with.

Now, this would be a good spot to stop for a quick word of application.

Every person sitting here under the sound of my voice today has gifts of some sort.

God has gifted you with special abilities and opportunities that not every other person has.

Just as these disciples, you did nothing on your own accord to deserve them.

James 1:17 KJV 1900

17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

And since you and I didn’t nothing to deserve them, then it only stands to reason, as we have freely received, we should freely give of our gifts to help further the kingdom of God as well.

In everything we do, we do it all for the glory of God!

We see the who and the what but why?

Why did Jesus give these disciples, these apostles power to do all these things and send them forth with this specific message?

The Why — (Vs. 6)

Look back with me at Verse 6 really quick.

Who was the mission for?

The “lost sheep of Israel.”

Special emphasis on the word “lost.”

The word lost here carries the sense of being separated.

Here was a people, a chosen people, God’s chosen people more specifically, but they had come to a point in history where they were separated from their God!

In times past, God had been in the presence of His people by way of pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day.

He had spoken to His people specifically through men who had been set apart called prophets.

But for the last 400 years now, there had been no word from God!

The light of Israel had grown drastically dim and the people of God had become separated from their God!

Just as a sheep might get separated from it’s shepherd, the people of God, as lost sheep, were separated from their shepherd!

Worse to think of than that, is the fact that their shepherd came to save them and they killed Him on a tree!

The reason for the mission was to reunite the lost sheep of Israel with their shepherd.

And not only were they lost in the sense of being separated but this word lost also means to perish!

The chosen people of God were perishing because they had been separated from God.

Why do we preach today?

Why is it imperative that everyone who has seen, tasted and experienced that God is good share that good news with others?

Because people are perishing every single day!

The number of people coming to Christ is going in the wrong direction!

When you have studies showing that Christianity is diminishing instead of growing, we have a major problem!

Let me ask you something this morning…if God has been good to you please say, Amen!

Ok, if God has been good to you when was the last time you told someone that?

Is it hard to say, “God has been good to me?”

No, it’s not!

Listen, God’s not asking you as He did these men to go and heal the sick, raise the dead and cast out demons.

But we all, if we have been saved and born again by the great grace of God, we all have something to be thankful for, Amen!

Freely we have received, freely we ought to share with others!

That’s the mission for every child of God!

To share the good news of Jesus Christ with as many lost people as we possibly can before Christ’s return.

The kingdom of heaven was at hand for the lost sheep of Israel and one day, maybe sooner than later, the king of that kingdom is going to return, Amen!

Let’s be on mission for Him until either He returns or calls us to His side…that’s all He asks us to do.

So far, we’ve looked at the men of the mission and the mission itself. Now, I want to very briefly look at the mindset Jesus tells these men to have while on mission.

The Mindset of the Commission — (Vs. 9-10)

The mindset of the commission has everything to do with their focus.

Don’t worry!

Just focus on the mission and the message and God will provide the means!

How many times do we let our worries detour us from the mission at hand?

If we focused on the mission of sharing Jesus as much as we focused on our worries, our churches would be growing instead of declining.

Our pews would be completely full instead of half empty.

Our worries would be less and our lives would be more joyous, Amen!

Who doesn’t want more joy and happiness in their lives?

I know I could use more.

The mindset of the mission had to be focused on the message and that has to be our mindset as well.

We must be focused on the mission and the message instead of our means and when we focus on the mission and the message God will provide the means, Amen?

And lastly this morning, I want to finish it out by looking at the manners of the mission.

The Mannerisms of the Mission — (Vs. 11-15)

Jesus says to the disciples here, when you enter a city, ask around and find someone who is worthy.

The word worthy speaks of “being suitable.”

John G Butler said — the word “worthy” used here simply means a good home, a wholesome place to stay. The disciples were to stay in reputable places.

And he tells the disciples when they found a place that was suitable to stay at that same place until their work was finished.

He goes on to say when/if you do find a place that is worthy and you come into that house, salute it.

The word “salute” means to greet, to be happy about, to welcome and receive.

Basically, be thankful for that house and be kind to those who bring you in.

And then He goes on to say, “if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it but if it be not worthy let your peace return to you.”

Matthew 10:12–13 NLT

12 When you enter the home, give it your blessing. 13 If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing.

If the house they ended up staying in was a blessing to them, then they were to pray a special blessing upon it but if not, then no blessing would come upon that place.

I like what John Phillips said...

The Lord promised to honor such a draft drawn on Himself, and He is no man’s debtor. — John Phillips

If we have the ability to be a blessing to others don’t you think we should do so?

When we do good to others, God sees that good and will bless us in return.

Proverbs 3:27 KJV 1900

27 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, When it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

And then Jesus goes on to say in Verses 14-15....

Listen, there’s going to be times when we share the good news of salvation with people and they want nothing of it.

There’s no need to sit and argue with them about it. That will get us nowhere.

Simply move on and pray for that person.

Don’t let it get the best of you.

Don’t let it get you down.

Can I tell you this right here, rejection, is the biggest reason why Christians don’t tell others more about Jesus.

It’s the fear of rejection. The fear of being turned down. The fear of making someone mad.

Listen, if they get mad at you for caring, then so be it!

Remember why you are doing it. Because you care about them and where they spend eternity!

Let them know that. Look I know you may not like what I’m saying but I want you to know the why behind why I’m telling you…it’s because I care about where you spend eternity!

I know what the outcome is and I don’t want to see you have to face it!

Let them know it’s not some sort of sales presentation but a plea for their eternal wellbeing!

And if you can ever get them to see it in that light, it will more often than not open the door for you to share that good news with them.

Closing

As we come to a close this morning, I just want to recap really quickly what we’ve learned thus far.

We started by looking at the men, how they were ordinary just like we are.

Ordinary men called upon to do an extraordinary job.

Now, there’s one last thing I want to show you really quickly here about these men and the job they were called to do.

Many times we say to ourselves… “well I just can’t do this or that. I’m not a good speaker or I’m not this or I’m not that.”

Let me show you something amazing that’s very easily overlooked.

Go back to Verse 1 with me.

Matthew 10:1 KJV 1900

1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Don’t miss the progression here.

What did Jesus do first before anything else?

He called His disciples unto Him, right?

There’s the call.

Then what did He do?

Then, He gave them power for the mission ahead.

Do you see that?

First there was the call, then there was the provision.

Now, pay attention with me here, what would have happened if one of those disciples had of said, “I’m not doing it. I’m not surrendering to the call?”

They would have missed the provision of power!

Do you see that?

They answered the call and then they were endued with power from on high to complete the mission at hand.

So many times we miss the blessing, the provision because we’re too afraid to answer the call!

If God is calling you to do something this morning and you’re letting your fears of inability to stand in the way, surrender to the call at once and remember, it’s not about you!

It’s about Him!

And when you understand that all important message and surrender to whatever it is God is calling you to do, then He will equip you for the task at hand!

Someone has well said, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called!”

God likes taking ordinary people and doing extraordinary things with them!

Then, we looked at the mission.

Why do we do all this?

Why are you here this morning?

You should be here for God, Amen.

To worship Him and learn of His word.

Can I just say, if you come to Church on Sunday mornings to simply listen to me preach, you’re coming for the wrong reason!

If you’re not coming to worship God, to learn of God, to take something from the teaching of God’s word and put it into practice, then you’re coming for the wrong reason!

We should always want to learn and grow in our walk and worship of God!

That’s why Jesus sent these men out. It was time for them to take their next step in their walk with Him.

It was time for them to grow spiritually!

And maybe you’re sitting here this morning and you haven’t taken a next step spiritually with God in a while.

What’s holding you back?

What’s keeping you from growing spiritually!

The reason for the mission was because of the lost and dear friend there’s as many lost people in the world today as there’s probably every been!

The fields are white with harvest but the laborers are few!

People are dying lost every single day and busting hell wide open!

They need you to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them! They need Jesus and you may be just the one that God has called to share Him with them!

Be on mission for Jesus. Be on mission for God for the kingdom of heaven is near!

If Jesus were to come back right now, who is one person you wish you would have told about Jesus?

Whoever just popped in your head, what’s stopping you from telling them about Him?

Ask God to help you share Him with them.

And lastly, we had the mindset and the mannerisms of the mission.

One of my life verses says...

Isaiah 26:3 KJV 1900

3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.

Listen, when you’re completely focused on Jesus and the mission He has for you, you will have little time to focus on anything else.

There’s no need to worry about anything but trust in God for everything and when we learn to do that, God will take care of the rest.