HG069-70pt1 Mark 6:1-13, Luke 9:1-6, Matthew 13:54-58, 9:35-10:23

Matthew 13:54–58 NIV

54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” 58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Matthew 9:35–10:23 NIV

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts—no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

We return this week to the Gospels. We have read the chapter 13 part first as this happened first before the part in chapters 9 & 10.

(Mat 13:54-58)

And straight off the bat we find him in His home town, the people that knew Him and His family. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Publius the Syrian, who lived in 2 b.c. coined the phrase. In Aesop’s fable, a fox had never before seen a lion, and when he first met the king of the beasts, the fox was nearly frightened to death. At their second meeting, the fox was not frightened quite as much; and the third time he met the lion, the fox went up and chatted with him! “And so it is,” Aesop concluded, “that familiarity makes even the most frightening things seem quite harmless.”

It seems that they knew Jesus so well that they did not believe the stories that they had been told about him. The stories had no effect upon them. They had seen enough of Jesus in his work, his life, his words, his actions and there was evidence for them right there – who was like Jesus? Who had seen him sin? Yet no matter how you cut it a prophet just gains no honour at home. Again it would seem that who Jesus is escaped them; it seems so blindingly obvious to us as we read that we think; oh come on – how stupid are you? But this familiarity they had with Him and His earthly family and knowledge of their trade made them miss what was clear to others. There is blindness on people’s hearts that would keep them from the Kingdom of God – and only the Holy Spirit can cut through and shine the light on what, to us, is so plain.

Have we unbelieving family, friends? Those who knew us from before? No matter what we say or do we cannot save them; our reliance is upon God, the Holy Spirit, to open their eyes and even then they may refuse but with our fervent prayers the opportunities they have will be many whether through us or other Christians.

Is this not the son of Mary? they asked. Absolutely, He is. This is the same Mary who treasured up all these things in her heart. But did she really know who Jesus was? Certainly she did not completely understand though she herself had experienced the marvel of miracles in her own life, especially of His birth. She got there in the end, she was in the upper room with the disciples at Pentecost.

Sometimes we find that we are not understood by our own families because we seek to put Jesus first. It is a fact that non-Christian families are not always pleased when a member becomes a Christian. Their own family can become their enemies. In many nations you could lose your life or be imprisoned because of your own family turning against you. This is especially true in certain Muslim nations such as Pakistan or Iran. In other places people can accuse you of being in a cult because we appear to be fanatics because we want to put the Gospel into practice. Do you think if there was persecution here we would follow Jesus more nearly?

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Mat 9:35-10:23

The Kingdom of God is not stopped just because the people of Nazareth are faithless and have a low expectation of Jesus but as happened on many occasions when there is apathy or opposition the ministry expands into other areas. God is still on the march and so Jesus goes on a preaching circuit around the villages and towns. Still God says: I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail. When opposition arises then new opportunities come about elsewhere.

The harvest is plentiful, He said, when He saw the crowds looking like scattered sheep without a shepherd; therefore pray for more workers. Even Jesus looking at them said I cannot do it all on my own. So, not only does Jesus go travelling He starts to share the workload so that it can expand all the more. Remember Moses said that He would raise up a prophet like unto himself. Moses, we heard on Wednesday (Deuteronomy 1:9-17), arranged for there to be leaders to help him in the work and so Jesus here calls the twelve to Him, who were His followers and had seen from the beginning the works of Jesus. We know that Peter, Andrew, Matthew, James and John left their jobs, their very trades, to follow Jesus simply on the say so of Jesus. “Come along!” And along they went.

So along they came and away they were sent! The twelve disciples were the first to be sent out. They were to take nothing with them but rely upon God to supply their need and they were to go out and copy what they had seen as apprentices of the Master and because of that they were successful in their work.

We are not told about anyone rejecting the gospel but I’m sure Jesus would not have mentioned it if it were not going to happen. No instruction from the Lord is without merit or reason. The Gospel goes into a world hostile to its message of repent and believe! As sheep among wolves be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. What does this mean? Sheep and wolves need little explanation but to be wise as snakes? What is this about?

To be wise as snakes tells us to go with caution, quietly with intelligence, quick to see danger and quick to escape, knows when to strike or not for it seeks its own preservation. Doves are symbols of peace and therefore tells us to be innocent and pure. Put together these are how we should be among the people whom we seek to preach the Gospel to.

Not long after, according to Luke 10, Jesus sent out 70 disciples two by two with near enough the same instructions with the added proviso that they were not to go from house to house. Today we live at a time when door-knocking is a social taboo due to a number of reasons such as door-to-door salesmen, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the lack that we have of hospitality and want of privacy. This does not mean that we should not but we also need to realise that we will not have many open doors. So we need to start to get creative about the way we are going to reach out to our communities with the Gospel. How do we preach good news to those who will not hear in the way that they may have done in the past? Our vision is to reach every household in Manselton with the Gospel.

It takes a team effort. Sending them out two by two was clever as one will stir the other and two minds are better than one. After all when the apostles were named in Scripture it was often in twos such as James and John, and Peter and Andrew. When Paul in the Book of Acts was sent on his missionary journeys he rarely alone. It seems to be a biblical principle that the work of God in our mission field of Manselton, Swansea and the world is not to be done alone. The exception for Paul was when he was alone in Athens for a time and so, sometimes, we need to take the opportunities presented whether we are alone or not.

So then, this passage and the one in Luke says we should not take anything with us. Now I want you to use your imagination. If I said ‘I’m going to end the service now and send you into Manselton to speak to those on the streets right now and all you have is your voice so let us go out and preach the Gospel and heal the sick.’

How would that make you feel? Scared? Excited? Shocked? Don’t care? Personally, I really want to do this despite how I feel.

Maybe now you get the feeling that the disciples would have had. I think that they were scared. Were they thinking who is going to receive us? Were they thinking how are they going to eat without going to the local Co-op, CKs or Aldis if they have to leave behind their money and their visa cards?

The harvest is plentiful. What a promise! There are many just waiting to come into the Kingdom and Reign of God but because there is no one working they do not enter. What failures we are then seeing our churches are not full!

Romans 10:14–15 NKJV

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Here it uses the word ‘sent’ and it means “to send someone with a special commission to represent another and to accomplish his work.” We are representing Jesus at all times whether we want to or not – we are his Ambassadors sent for a purpose – to share Him with others no matter what others think.

When we look around Manselton we see people in need of good news; the fellowship here does not exist just for us. Someone told us about the Gospel – a friend, a mother or even a stranger.

What is your story? Why is Jesus good news for you? Is it not something you can share? Perhaps you should share it with us too!

“We are not all evangelists” is the excuse often given as if that actually excludes us from witnessing to others about what we know about Jesus and what he has done in our lives. We are not all Pastors but we are all called to care for one another and bear one another’s burdens. We are not all Apostles but we are all sent to make ambassadors. We are not all teachers but we are all to teach others to obey Jesus’ commands, especially that of loving one another. Just because we don’t have a particular upfront ministry does not exclude us from doing the work. If anything you have heard from me is that we are all called to ministry, to serve. This is not supposed to be a fellowship of pew-sitters but go-getters. The work is for all of us. And there is a great deal to be done.

Though the harvest is plentiful Jesus warns us, fairly, that there are few who will be saved and that many will actively oppose us. But we are light in this very dark world. And we are called to work whilst it is still day.

What has the Lord said to you today? We can say it has been a lovely service and say that Chris did a really great job playing for us today as she usually does. The sermon was nice! Or, perhaps, it is time to consider whether we are called to comfortable Christian living or to step out in Christ to reach every household in Manselton with the Gospel and it might just be you who has an idea of how to do this. Make sure you share it with me!

I want to spend a little time for us to consider what the Lord wants each of us to do.

Now, go and do it!

Benediction

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. In the name of Christ. Amen.

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