"Sent Out - Part 1"_Matthew 10a_Jun 23 2024

Intro and Scripture Reading

Matthew 10

We’ll be looking at the the first 25 verses

Title of my sermon: “Sent Out - Part 1”

We’re going to learn how Jesus sent out his disciples

This is a long discourse by Jesus

Outline:

The Twelve Apostles

Jesus Sends the Twelve

Jesus Warns of Persecution

Look with me, starting verse 5

Matthew 10:5–15 ESV

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Verse 16...

Matthew 10:16–25 ESV

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.

(Pray…)

Understanding the Passage

There are two extreme ways to interpret what Jesus says here in Chapter 10

Anything Jesus said must be completely and literally applied to our lives - he gave his disciples these instructions, but all of it applies to us

Jesus was only speaking to his disciples - these words are an historic record of what he said only. None of this applies to us today

We need to be careful to avoid both of those extremes

The Bible is always descriptive but not always prescriptive

The Bible is written FOR everyone - but not all instructions are for everyone...

Chapter 10 simple explanation:

Jesus sending out his disciples - to continue the work he was already doing

His disciples were simply being commanded to imitate him

Notice in your Bible:

In verse 1 of Chapter 10, the Twelve are called “disciples”

In the very next verse, they are called “apostles”

This is the first time in the NT we see this word

The word “disciples” is a general term - there were hundreds, or thousands of disciples around back then

Today, we’re all disciples of Jesus

“Apostle” was a special assignment from the Lord Jesus himself

Matthew 10 contains special instructions for the Twelve Apostles of Jesus

Not everything Jesus said to those apostles can be applied to us

The “Twelve” were disciples of Jesus - but they were designated, from Jesus, as special disciples: Apostles

Here’s the point in all of this:

We can’t take this chapter out of context

Just because he gave instructions to his Twelve, it doesn’t mean it all applies to us

We no longer have Apostles today

The apostolic age is over

Recently, I saw a video of local pastor who was receiving his so-called apostle designation in front of his church

He was on the stage, emotional and crying, holding hands with his wife

And the person (probably an elder) included, “Oh, yeah - this is also for your wife. She too is now an apostle”

You don’t become an apostle because you want to increase your rank and become more popular

And you don’t get to throw in your wife as an apostle

His church now calls him an apostle - and not because of a single Bible verse is he called that

Not a single verse says that we can become apostles

I’ve heard people tell me - if Jesus said it, I need to do it (meaning literally)

Well, I can think of several times that doesn’t hold true

Remember, back in Chapter 8? When Jesus healed and cleansed the leper -

He instructed him to “show yourself to the priest and offer the gift that Moses commanded”

Does that mean that Christians today have to go to a priest if God heals them of a skin disease?

Jesus said that to fulfill the Mosaic Law they were still under - not to instruct us to go find a priest

When Jesus walked on Earth, the Old Covenant was still in effect

The New Covenant didn’t happen until the death, resurrection, and arguably the ascension of Jesus Christ

By the way, in Matt 10, Jesus limits his instructions to his apostles to Israel only

That can’t meant for us

People have used Matt 10 as a literal application to themselves

That based on this, they have the power and the authority to:

Heal the sick

Cleanse lepers

Cast out demons

I’d like to know if they also have the power and the authority to raise the dead as verse 8 talks about

If folks think they are a modern-day apostle who have the ability to heal every disease and every affliction -

Then why don’t they walk down the halls of hospitals and heal everyone?

Things become more clear to us in Matt 28 where Jesus tells his apostles to “make disciples of all nations”

By the way, no Bible verse tells us to make apostles -

We are to make disciples

The NT epistles help us to fully understand things

You have to read the entire Bible to understand its true meaning

Otherwise, you’ll come away with some weird ideas

The Bible interprets itself

Use Scripture to understand Scripture

I’ve also heard pastors quote verses 19 & 20 - the part where Jesus tells his disciples to not be anxious what to say because the Spirit will be speaking through them...

I’ve heard pastors use that as an excuse to never prepare for their sermons

In that case, I feel sorry for their church -

who has to listen to some guy ramble on and on every Sunday

If it’s true - that someone is so spiritual they only rely on the Spirit -

Then why bother reading the Bible?

Let alone, studying the Bible?

Preparing for a sermon means you study the passage you’re going to preach on

You’re saying that you’re so gifted, you don’t need to even open the Bible - just open your mouth

If you’re so connected with God’s Spirit, then you should know everything in the Bible

You should know all its deepest truths

Because the Spirit will just speak to you

There’s nothing in the Bible that tells us to stop studying it - or stop preparing sermon messages

If you want God to speak to you, read the Bible

What I’m saying is that we need to read Matt 10 in context -

and understand that Jesus was instructing his Twelve Apostles very specifically

Even in this context, we can still apply this passage to our lives

This commissioning of the disciples is meant for us too in one sense

Jesus is calling us to continue part of his mission on Earth:

Share the gospel with others

Love and show compassion for others

Make disciples of all nations - not just Jewish people - all people

Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

Teach them to observe all of Christ’s teaching

We are called to imitate Jesus

That’s the simple message of Chapter 10 - that his twelve disciples were to imitate Jesus - and we imitate Jesus

We are called to continue the mission of Jesus

That’s clear from the gospels

It’s clear from the Book of Acts

It’s clear from Paul’s letters

And it clear from the rest of the NT

There’s no mystery here

So here, Jesus is commissioning his disciples to go on a short-term mission

There are some key elements we can glean from this passage

Jesus sent out his twelve apostles

He limited their reach - “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”

It was not time to reach the whole world - that came later

In addition to healing, the disciples were called to share the good news of the kingdom

Jesus wanted his disciples to live simply - and don’t get bogged down with a lot of material possessions

So, how does any of this apply to us?

Here’s how it applies to us:

Jesus has sent us out to the world (based mainly on Matt 28 and the NT epistles)

We are no longer limited to who we can reach - we are called to reach the world

We are called to share the good news of the gospel

We are called to live simply

In and of itself, there is nothing wrong with wealth - but we need to be careful we’re not sharing a “wealth gospel”

In that sense, we are called to live simply - and not make wealth part of our gospel message

Verse 1 says Jesus gave them a specific and limited authority

The authority he gave them is found in verse 1:

Over unclean spirits

To cast them out

And to heal “every disease and every affliction” (verse 1)

That word, “affliction” is a special case of the original Greek word

My ESV says “affliction” - most Bibles say “sickness”

The word means: sickness, a weak sickness, calmness of the sea

“Affliction” is probably not the best English word to use

This Greek word for “weak sickness” only shows up three times in the NT - and only in Matthew - it’s always rendered as “every disease and every affliction”

The rest of the NT uses the word, “affliction” - but as a broader sense of suffering

Here, Jesus is giving them authority to specifically heal all types of sickness

In this discourse, Jesus only instructs his apostles to do a few things:

V. 7 Proclaim, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand”

V. 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons

The rest of this chapter is mostly about how they should go about doing this

And it promises suffering they will endure in order to obey his instructions

Do you remember, back in Chapter 4 - before Jesus even had his 12 disciples

Jesus preached “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and then it says that he preached the “gospel of the kingdom”

And it says he healed “every disease and every affliction (sickness)”

And now he’s sending his twelve disciples out to do the same thing

This is a model for us - we are to imitate Jesus

We reach out to the lost

We lovingly preach the gospel

We lovingly help people with their needs

In the first century, to heal somebody was a big deal - they had none of the medical technology we have

A lot of illnesses rendered you hopeless of getting better

Simple ailments back then were a scourge to the people

But a lot of those ailments today can be treated by going to the doctor

I’m not saying that God does not heal - I absolutely believe God heals today as he wills

I’m saying that a huge physical need back then was to treat their diseases

We still have the need for God to heal people - and to even cast out demons

But there are different needs today

Financial needs

Spiritual needs - correct doctrine

Health needs, where doctors can’t help

Back then - if you got leprosy, you had to live with it

Today - leprosy is treatable

It is extremely rare in the United States

But it’s still devastating in India, Brazil, and Indonesia

People with leprosy in other countries are still ostracized - many of them live in poverty, and have no access to medical treatment

In the First Century, there was no medical treatment

If you had leprosy, you were considered unclean - you lived away from general population - and you relied on God’s healing

In modern, Western Civilization we are blessed with amazing medical technology

There is nothing wrong with it

But it’s also like a double-edged sword

Our tendency as Christians in America - is to lean too much on technology

It gives us a false sense of security to the point where we think we don’t need faith in God

(My heart story…)

Today, an atheist can live a full, comfortable life - lulled into the notion they don’t need anything from the Lord

We are blessed in America - but we should never forget where our blessings come from

Conclusion

What should we get out of this chapter?

I think there are three main things to get from this:

It gives us a fuller understanding of who Jesus is

Jesus called his Twelve disciples to continue his earthly mission - and he calls us to continue this mission

This passage forces us to properly interpret the Bible

Passages like Matthew 10 force us to be disciplined in our proper interpretation

It encourages us to read more of the Bible to get more out of it

I pray everyone is a student of God’s word

(Pray…)

Communion

Matthew 26:26–28 ESV

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 22:19–20 ESV

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.