Mission Impossible

English Standard Version Chapter 10

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. 9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 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. 15 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.

Persecution Will Come

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 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. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 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.

24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 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.

Have No Fear

26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Not Peace, but a Sword

34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Rewards

40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

In Luke 10 he records Jesus sending out 72 disciples under much the same circumstances

I don’t know if this is the same event, or if there were two different events

But whatever the case,

Can we stop for just a moment and put ourselves in the shoes of these disciples?

Who were they?

Well, they are all named at the beginning of this chapter

they were fishermen

one was a tax collector

common, ordinary men with common ordinary jobs

regular people, like you and like me

how long is this into them following Jesus, I’m not sure, but they had been traveling around with Him for a little while

And why did they follow Him in the first place? Why did Peter and Andrew, who were in the middle of what they were doing, fishing, making a living, simply leave their nets and follow Him?

Why did James and John, who were with their father, mending their nets, just get up and follow Him, leaving all their means of making a living in the boat?

Why?

You farmers.

It’s harvest time. If you were in the middle of the corn field in your combine bringing in the harvest, and suddenly you look down to your left, and there is Jesus hanging onto the ladder, beckoning you to get out and come with Him

What would you do?

Would you shut your combine off, leave it there in the middle of the field and head off after Him?

You truck drivers

You come back home after a week on the road, park your truck, climb out, and there’s Jesus.

And He says, “Hey, follow me”. He doesn’t tell you where you are going. He just wants you to walk with Him.

what would you do?

Would you park your truck and follow Him?

Why did these men follow Jesus?

could have been curiosity

could have been something about Jesus’ commanding presence.

Did they think that they were just going “over there” to see something and then they would be right back?

I simply don’t know what it was that made these men just get up, leave their livelihood behind and follow Jesus

I don’t know

But I’m fairly certain of one thing

When Jesus suddenly calls them together and says

“Alright men! You’ve seen me in action. Now it’s your turn!”

You’ve heard the message that I have been teaching. Now it’s your turn!”

My guess is, they were probably frozen in their tracks

WHAT?

You want ME to go out there and preach?

You want ME to go out there and do what you are doing, Jesus?

I mean, come on, you gotta remember. I’m just a regular guy. I’m just a fisherman

I’m willing to follow you where ever YOU go, LORD, but now you’re sending me?

Can you imagine their momentary panic?

You know, as I read the Gospels, I’m just struck over and over by Jesus’ mission

His mission was clear, and He expected His followers to be on the same mission

There was no half heartedness about Him.

He was like a general on the battlefield

He was like a coach during the super bowl

He was focused and He expected His followers to be as well!

And He basically, in this passage that I read, summed up His mission and said, this is now your mission

And He throws them in cold turkey.

Except that they weren’t really going in cold turkey, because they had already been with Him. They had already seen Him at work

They had already heard His message:

His message—The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand

repent and believe the good news!

Matthew 9:35 “35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

They knew what He had been teaching. Had they been listening?

This was going to be the test!

They had already witnessed His work.

What was His work? Bearing witness to the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven.

How did He do that?

Matthew 9:35 “35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.”

And now Jesus is sending out His followers and saying, “Look, you’ve heard what I’ve taught if you were paying attention. You have seen what I’m doing.

Now you go out and do the same”

Preach what I have been preaching

Matthew 10:7 “7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

Go out to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel”, that is, the Jewish people. their own people

and preach the good news that the Kingdom of Heaven is here

Do what I’ve been doing

Matthew 10:8 “8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.”

Bear witness to the message about the Kingdom of Heaven by performing miracles

Proclaim God’s power over sickness and death and the demons by exerting God’s power over these things

But do it freely!

You guys aren’t performers. You are not to do these things for hire. Even if people offer you money, don’t take it

You have been given this power freely, now use it generously and freely.

Live as I have been living

9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff

don’t even take luggage with you

don’t take extra tunics or cloaks or extra shoes

don’t even take money

you left everything behind to follow me,

now continue that life. Go out there and leave everything behind, and leave the rest up to God

Oh, and BTW, if, after all of that, you think that this is going to be a picnic, it’s not!

you guys are going to be like sheep among the wolves

that’s quite a picture

I’ve got a sheep and I’ve got a wolf. My money is on the wolf any day of the week

I’d rather be the wolf

But no, you are going to be the sheep,

and you are going to be surrounded by wolves who would like nothing more than to get a nice juicy mouthful of you!

So, what that in mind, your responsibility is not to go out there armed to the teeth, and ready to conquer the world

No, your responsibility is to be wise!

You need to be wise like a serpent

But innocent and harmless as a dove

Your main weapon and defense in this mission that I’m sending you on is Godly wisdom!

it’s not force. It’s Godly wisdom

And He goes on to say

It’s not just the authorities that are going to come after you

the Jewish authorities

the Roman authorities

It’s even going to be family members

brothers will betray brothers

fathers will deliver children over to death

children will rise up against parents

in fact, everyone is going to hate you for my sake!

man, this just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?

What a life, eh?

What a mission, eh?

Do you think these guys are starting to sweat just a bit?

Do you think that they’re starting to say,

“Man, Jesus, you aren’t doing anything to sweeten this deal!

You want us to preach what you preach

you want us to do what you do

you want us to live like you live

and in this middle of it all, everyone is going to hate us and be out for our blood?

Yeah, that’s what I’m saying

This is what I experience, and you, as my students aren’t above me.

They hate me. They say that my power comes from the prince of demons

Why do you think that these things won’t happen to you?

But don’t worry.

Don’t be scared of them

When you are dragged in front of the court and answers are demanded from you,

Dont worry

The Holy Spirit will give you words to say

When they prepare to put you to death, don’t be scared

Don’t fear those who only have the power to kill the body

There is nothing about you that escapes the attention of your Heavenly Father

He knows about even the sparrows that fall to the ground

And you are of much more value than a sparrow.

So don’t be afraid.

If you have the courage to go out there and proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven and acknowledge my Father in Heaven

I will also acknowledge you before my Father

And as He wraps up this commission, He leaves them with some last challenging words

Don’t mistake why I have come. Don’t make the mistake of misunderstanding why I am here.

My call on your life is so radical that it is going to bring some division among you

Your family members won’t even understand what you are doing

And if you try to please your family members and that becomes more important than my call

Then, unfortunately, you are not worthy of me.

Folks, this is about as hard as it gets

But as far as I can tell, the call is still the same. I don’t know that Jesus has ever come back and amended His mission to say

“At your convenience...”

Go whenever you can find some time

Figure out what message causes the least controversy

make sure that you take plenty of stuff along because you’re going to need it

And if persecution breaks out against you, better get out of there!

and if your family has some issues with you going on my mission, well, you know, family relationships are pretty important, so maybe just stay put for the time being

I don’t think that these are concessions that Jesus has ever made!

And we know this, I think, but it’s quite another thing to live like we know it, isn’t it

So often, we know in our heads what Jesus has said and what He expects of us,

But we often live pragmatically

We live in a way that makes sense to us

It’s a way for us to keep our lives in order

You know, I’ve been going through the Sermon on the Mount with my students at Pathway

And we’ve taken a pretty hard look at Jesus’ statements of

“You have heard that is has been said...but I say unto you”

Lust=adultery

anger=murder

if someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn your left and let him have a go at that one too

If someone forces you to serve them, do over and above what they’ve forced you to do

And just this past week, as we were wrapping up this discussion,

I asked them,

“So, what do you think about what Jesus is saying?

Is it possible to live like this?

Is it realistic to live like this?

Are we allowed to interpret it however makes sense to us?

And I would ask the same about the passage that we read today!

Does this make sense to us? Does this seem realistic or practical, that He would ask this of His disciples

or that He would ask this of me?

I hope that it never does seem realistic or practical to us

It’s not supposed to!

If being a disciple of Jesus were realistic

And if it were practical

If joining Him on His mission were realistic and practical

Then we could just go out there and do it.

The problem is, we never would

Because we simply wouldn’t want to.

That’s why He said, “I am sending you”

It’s going to be hard, but don’t fear

They are going to persecute you and demand answers from you, but be at peace. The Spirit of your Father in heaven will give you words to say

He will speak through you”

In other words, His mission for us, is just that: HIS mission.

The call is to go spread the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven and to make disciples, Jesus followers.

That is our call

And it is impossible without His power flowing through us

But you know, the task is still in front of us

Before sending His disciples out, Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send workers out into His field”

And the harvest is still plentiful, and the workers are still few

The other weekend on the hayride, I made friends with a young man from

Sudan

Population—51 million

Unreached—over 48 million. That’s 95%!

I met a man who is here with his wife and children from

Gaza

Gaza/West Bank

Population—5.5 million

Unreached—over 5.4 million

I chatted over pie and ice cream with a couple of brilliant young men from

India

Population—1.45 Billion!

Unreached—almost 1.4 Billion!

I even chatted briefly with a young man from

Ghana, West Africa

Population—35 million

Unreached—1.8 million (5%)

So, the task is great,

In fact, the mission seems impossible

But the LORD of the Harvest is still seeking workers who will bring in the harvest

As we wrap up this morning, some questions for you

Where do you see yourself in the mission of Jesus? Do you understand what His mission is? Do you understand that you are part of His mission

that all people over the earth will hear the good news of the Kingdom and have a chance to respond

What is Jesus asking of you this morning?

I still think about these disciples of Jesus

They had been hanging out with Jesus for a while and they had been faithful followers

They loved Jesus, and they loved being with Him

But in this passages, Jesus is saying, “I have more for you to do”

I’m glad that you love me and like to be with me, but it’s time now for you all to step up and do something that you never thought you would do

Go out there on the front lines.

The question for us is, Is this our story as well? Have you been faithful in following Jesus? And is Jesus asking you to go farther? To step out and do something that you never thought you would do?

And I’m not talking about starting a business or something like that

I’m talking about going out on the front lines with the good news of the Kingdom

And if we are reluctant to seriously ask God to send us, then perhaps the next question should be

what security or comfort might I be holding on to instead of opening my hands fully and releasing all that I have for His sake and for the sake of the call?

The mission is clear. The call is clear.

And our response should be clear as well.