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*Intro* – I saw a cartoon the other day that showed a skeleton lying on its stomach, propped up by its elbows.
The skeletal head is still pointed directly at the hands which are holding an I-phone.
The guy obviously died while playing video games and texting.
It could happen, couldn’t it?
Putting something good ahead of something necessary – like eating!
But that is so human.
It’s so easy for us to get so focused on the insignificant that we miss the necessary.
Jesus’ commission in Luke 10:1-16 urges us otherwise.
Here’s what is necessary says Jesus.
Here’s your commission.
So far we’ve looked at the commission summary given by our Lord to each of us, the challenge of the commission (fields of people ready for harvest, but with few workers) and the commands of the commission – pray and go!
Today we continue by looking at the conditions the commission.
*IV.
The Conditions*
Jesus warns right out of the chute – this is not going to be easy – so here is what you need to know.
The atmosphere and the attitudes.
*A.
The Atmosphere*
V. 3, “Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.”
Jesus is no prosperity gospel preacher.
He isn’t.
He never builds false illusions the cost of representing Him in this world.
It is absolutely the highest privilege that one can have.
But it is dangerous.
Lambs among wolves.
In preparing for this I read some accounts of wolf attacks on human beings.
I’ll spare you the gory details, but they are vicious animals who leave behind nothing but bones.
Sometimes humans are able to fend them off using firearms or axes or other weapons.
But imagine being a lamb among a whole pack of wolves.
This is a vivid picture of absolute helplesness.
What’s the point?
It is twofold.
First, Jesus is saying, “Expect persecution.”
A lamb among wolves is going to be attacked.
It’s not a question of “if”; only a question of “when.”
Second, He is showing us that we are totally dependent on Him.
A lamb is toast – unless help comes from elsewhere.
Here’s the Christian life: John 15:18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
Persecution is automatic for followers of Christ.
We don’t have to seek it out.
It just happens.
We must be sure it’s our message and not our attitude that stirs it up, but it will come!
Jesus is telling the 72 – “Expect it guys.
I know the danger, and I’m sending you anyway!”
Why does this happen?
Jesus explains in John 15:21, “But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’”
People are not naturally neutral toward a God who says, “I love you, but you are accountable.
And since you can never measure up, your only hope is to accept the death of my son as your own.
People love the love part – hate the accountability part.
I’m grateful we do not face the life-threatening persecution that is rampant in other parts of our world.
But as our own society grows more Godless, the persecution will intensify.
People willingly agree with God about other people’s evil (the whole US hates the Nation of Islam killing Xn children) -- but they do not take kindly to having their personal sin called out.
Thus our society, while we condemn Islam, has looked on with approval as 60 million parents have murdered their own children in our own country in the past 40 years –abortion without consequence.
To speak against it is to be called an extremist.
We define sexuality in our own terms, and even in churches have accepted that premarital sexual relationships are not sinful but normal.
Some even posit adultery as a positive good.
To speak against that is to be labeled the hopeless relic of an earlier age.
And the tolerance of homosexuality has reached the point where to speak against it will soon be labeled a hate-crime, subject to imprisonment.
It’s coming and it will only get worse unless we turn to God as a culture.
We have been insulated for so long by the moderating influence of biblical principles that we have forgotten that persecution is a normal part of Christian existence.
Short of a revival, such protection will soon be gone.
Many of you could testify right now that if you were completely obedient to your Lord’s commands regarding integrity, you would risk advancement or lose your job.
Surprised?
No. God says in II Tim 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
Period.
So why does Jesus send us out “as lambs in the midst of wolves”?
Doesn’t He care that we will be persecuted?
Of course He does.
But He also knows – it will be the means of some coming to Him.
Not long ago in CA a woman named Barbara Robidoux was intrigued with a neighbor named Michelle.
Michelle lived a graceful, joyful, Christian life and was dubbed by Barbara the neighborhood “Bible Thumper.”
Each summer during VBS, she would take a van full of kids.
She was constantly visible in the neighborhood providing help wherever it was needed.
Barbara looked for flaws but what she found was compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
One afternoon, Michelle’s son was attacked by a group of neighborhood bullies.
He barged into the house, tears falling, having been pelted with stones accompanied by jeers of “Jesus freak!
Jesus freak!” Barbara happened to be there and she watched as Michelle calmly comforted her son and prayed for the salvation of the bullies.
Barbara asked how she could remain so composed and why she didn’t call the police.
Michelle responded, “I’m so angry I can hardly talk, but my Lord’s instructions in Rom 12:14 are, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”
You can guess the rest, can’t you?
Barbara was haunted by the incident.
She began to press Michelle in detail about her faith and listened carefully to her answers.
It wasn’t long before she testified, “I don’t know if any of the neighborhood children found Christ that summer because of Michelle’s touch.
But I know I did!
I found Him because one family lived it in my neighborhood, and they lived it daily.”
Does that mean that every persecution leads to someone getting saved?
No.
But often it will; that makes it worth every insult, doesn’t it?
Jesus sends us for a purpose – and He goes with us to bring others to Himself.
This is true Christianity.
True Christianity is not the cars and jewelry and big houses and cruises of the prosperity gospel preachers; true Christianity is the converts of the persecution gospel that Jesus preached.
*B.
The Attitudes (Travel Light)*
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