Give the Gospel

Good morning, welcome to NHCC. Please open your Bibles to Luke 9.

New sermon series next week as we enter back into Ephesians 2. (Bring your Scripture Journal).

Who enters into our church? What are the needs?

How do we, as a church family, display both the grace and truth of Jesus?

What sort of sacrifices must we make on behalf of others in service to God?

This morning- What is at the root of everything? What shapes and defines our message, our behavior, our kindness, our welcome?

To answer this, we must return to the ministry of Jesus and His disciples.

Read Luke 9:1-6- “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”

Pray.

What we read about here is the mission of Jesus, shown initially in His own ministry, but now extended out and given to the disciples.

All disciples are meant to possess the content of this ministry, even if its not the exact form of ministry.

Keep in mind, Jesus is giving instruction for his disciples to go out and do short-term ministry.

Would be unwise to take all of his instruction and apply it exactly to our lives: to the lives of pastors, the lives of missionaries, or the lives of Christians in the secular workplace.

What we can do is draw out the principles and content that are obvious in their application today.

Rich young ruler as an example. Jesus is likely not telling all followers to sell all that they have. But the principle of His instruction applies to all. What stands in our way? With what are we unwilling to part on Christ’s behalf?

Let’s begin by looking at the content of the mission.

1. A description of the mission.

We ought to consider that for this phase of their life, the disciples gave everything to Jesus.

Remember dropping the fishing nets.

To what were the disciples committing their lives?

Luke 9:1-2- “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”

Boiling the contents of this mission down to two easy-to-remember words- message and mercy.

This was what Jesus sent His disciples, His followers, out to do.

Notice something important about this mission- Message always comes first. Always throughout our text. Remember the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

Luke 4:14-15- “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”

Luke 4- Jesus teaches in the synagogue at Nazareth. Enrages his listeners to the point that they are looking to throw Him off a cliff.

Luke 4:43- “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.”

We tend to believe that mercy precedes message, that somehow we must set the stage, but we simply don’t find it to be the case in Jesus’ ministry.

If anything, the message is given priority in that it is always listed first, even in our text this morning.

Perfectly good reason for this- Mercy proves the message. The message is given and is then shown, or illustrated.

Consider what is being proclaimed in the message of the gospel.

We are sinners deserving God’s wrath.

More pointedly- there is something wrong with us. We aren’t as we ought to be.

Christ, in His great mercy, receives God’s wrath in our place.

Through faith in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, our sin is forgiven, removed, the wrath of God turned away.

We are made right.

Remember the disciples- proclaim the gospel AND heal the sick, cast out demons. What are they doing?

They’re proving the spiritual by way of the physical.

They’re taking what is broken and making it whole. Eyes made to see, ears made to hear, demonic possession cleansed.

What they are doing, however, is incomplete. Our sick bodies, even when made well, will get sick again.

This is where the message is crucial. The physical will once again become sick, but the spiritual will not. In Jesus is found eternal life.

This is spiritual life that will not be taken away, will not be harmed or stolen.

1 Peter 1:3-4- “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you...”

The gift of physical healing would one day fade, but not this spiritual life.

Please hear me- mercy without message is terribly incomplete.

We may convince ourselves that people don’t need the message of the gospel, they just need to see it in practice. They need kindness to be shown.

We end up meeting their physical needs without ever touching the spiritual.

Someone comes to you with a gunshot wound and you begin treating the paper-cut on their finger. Helpful? Sure, but not really.

The opposite is true. Like telling the kids I love them when my behavior hasn’t shown it. Message must also be accompanied with mercy and compassion.

Jesus sent out His disciples to preach the gospel and care for people. We today are called to the same mission.

2. A foundation for the mission.

Perhaps we find that we have the desire for a mission of message and mercy, but constantly find ourselves to be frustrated. We can’t seem to do what needs to be done.

Everything about our text reminds us that Jesus is at the core of what the disciples are doing. Two major ways of seeing this:

First, Jesus calls the disciples to Himself before sending them out.

Luke 9:1- “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases...”

Second, Jesus tells them not to take anything.

Luke 9:3- “And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.”

Depend on God. He will provide for them.

We are reminded that disciples of Jesus rely only on Jesus. He has taught them everything they need. He has also equipped them with everything they need.

The same will be true for us. As followers of Jesus, we rely entirely on Jesus.

But this is a pretty vague statement, isn’t it? We know to rely on Jesus, how how?

In what ways?

Jesus redefines for us who people are.

People are not merely flesh and blood. They are not the sum of their bad habits, their material poverty, their frustrating behaviors, or their persistent sins, though this is how we tend to look at people. It causes us to see them as less valuable.

Jesus saw the lost as sheep without a shepherd. He saw both value and need. We are meant to see people the same way- sinners in need of forgiveness.

Jesus redefines for us what this life is all about.

Not only do we see people differently, Jesus causes us to redefine a meaningful life.

Mark 1:38- “And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

Dropping in value, I hope, is the perfect job, the perfect family, the perfect income, the perfect hobbies, the perfect house, car, etc.

Rising in value is the Kingdom of God, God’s purposes in this world.

Jesus redefines for us what we need to accomplish such a life.

Jesus is the bread, water, good shepherd, light of the world.

Food, water, provision, protection, light. All necessities.

“Let the king of my heart be the fire inside my veins…”

We seek Jesus, and as we do, our life changes.

3. An application of the mission.

What is the most important thing that we have to give to anyone who comes through our doors, Christian or non-Christian alike?

It’s the gospel, given compassionately. The message of the gospel and the mercy that proves it.

Maybe this sounds overwhelming to you. You think of it as simply preaching to everyone who comes in.

What does this look like, realistically? We share Jesus. And this is quite simple.

It may not involve walking the Roman road with everyone who comes in. Instead:

We ask how we can be of help.

We discuss what we love about Jesus and the church.

We share a bit of our own lives and testimony.

Some practical guidelines (reminder that next week is the first Sunday after VBS):

Say hello.

Saying over and over- Our desire is that people would be seen, would be valued, would be welcomed.

This is more than simply us seeing them. People need to know that they are seen and valued. Our actions must make a difference in how a person experiences NHCC.

Invite to your life, invite to your seat.

We have spoken of incarnational ministry, meaning that we invite people into our lives, and we engage with their lives.

Perhaps you’re struck with panic over such a commitment to a person. Then start small.

Remember, some people who enter our doors have never been here before. Maybe they know no one, maybe they don’t even know what the Church is.

They don’t have any idea what to expect.

You’re compassionate hello will mean the world to them.

Maybe you aren’t ready to invite them out to lunch, but maybe you can invite them to sit with you.

Be Jesus.

Read the gospels, be changed by the gospels.

Galatians 2:20- “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Live the life that Jesus lived, portray Him to the world that desperately needs Him.