Matt. 10:1

10 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

Originally when I planned to preach this sermon, I had intended on only preaching 9:35-9:38. However, after taking some time to study, reflect, and even hear from other preachers it became obvious that 10:1 must be attached to 9:35-38. If we were to look back at 9:35 we would be reminded of Christ’s ministry as one of teaching and healing. Now, here in 10:1 after Christ has called His disciples to be laborers in the harvest, they go out into that harvest working in the exact way He did. As He had gone out healing every disease and every affliction, they go out and heal every disease and every affliction.

What we find here, is the literal representation of what it means to be a follower of Christ that labors in the harvest. Laborers go and act as the Lord commands because they are His disciples whom He has given authority to. The disciples here in this verse have been given power to heal every physical disease and every physical affliction all for the purpose of bringing about new birth into the family of God.

As the one who is teaching over this passage, I cannot and will not overlook the unique authority given to the disciples of Christ. They are His twelve whom He has entrusted the great authority to bring growth in the kingdom. The authority given to them is much different than the authority that has been passed down to those who also bear the title of being in Christ. We will not sit at the Lord’s side in the day of judgement as He promised His twelve. We will not experience ministry and life as they did who He gave authority to, but we who must follow in their example should desire to act and follow Jesus as they did! While they made mistakes, they still chose to pursue lives that modeled true discipleship and boldness! As they were bold, we must be bold as well and reflect our new identities in Christ that we have been given!

Consider with me a golfer. In golf, a player plays 18 holes to shoot his lowest score possible. For that golfer to succeed he must practice repeatedly to get better and master his craft. There are a variety of ways in which he can choose to practice to become better but he must discern accordingly and seek help along the way to reach different goals he may set for himself. For him to succeed, he must be bold and stretch himself in new ways from before. He must not limit himself to practicing one thing and one thing only, instead, he must regularly try new things to excel. If he were to spend all his time in books reading about the history of golf and the philosophy of golf, he will never get better unless he goes out and plays the sport he feels destined to play.

If golf doesn’t work well for you, consider a songwriter. The song writer spends any given length of time penning lyrics and notes to a song to compose something beautiful. For her to see results in their work, the songwriter must regularly associate herself with the world of music and form habits that increase their skill in their profession. Again, like the golfer, there are variety of ways she can choose to do so, but also like the golfer, she must be wise in how she spends her time and seek help along the way because she cannot succeed alone. Neither should she limit herself to one way of thinking because by doing so she will never reach new heights or excel in her craft. If she was to waste her time studying music history and music philosophy all the time, she may increase in knowledge, but she will not live out and putting her skills to practice the thing she feels destined to do.

What does the parable of the golfer and the songwriter have to do with Matthew 10:1? The answer is this… We must act and live as we are called to do. If we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came to save us from the sin of the world, we must no longer remain seated as students under his teaching. Instead, we must do as we are called, in prayer, living as His disciples laboring in His harvest!

Jesus did not die for us so that we would gladly claim our place in heaven and not care about anything or anyone else in the world, Jesus died so that His laborers whom he calls into His harvest would gather more people into the family of God! This is the love of our blessed Savior! His love is not limited to a select group of people. It is not limited to the self-righteous but extended to the unrighteous! He came not to heal those who are perfectly healthy but came to heal the sick and desperate in need! He promised not abundance to the rich but instead the kingdom of God to the poor! Each of us here in this room who have experienced the work of God in our lives already know such things to be true, but how often are we so caught up with our lives to be blind to the ministry Jesus wants us to be a part of?

Jesus is real. He came teaching in synagogues proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. He looks at creation right now at the throne next to the Father as He did with the crowds having compassion because here exists a people who are harassed and helpless as sheep with no shepherd. He speaks to us currently through His word, saying, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

As we move transition to the climax of our service, the Lord’s Table, would we desire that upon hearing His call that we go and follow Him as His disciples did His work as laborers in His harvest.

Amen