PCI Essentials part 5 - Courage
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Introduction
Let me read two examples of courage...
Desmond Doss
Doss’ religion forbade him from carrying a gun or threatening another human life, which was very inconvenient when he was drafted into the Second World War. So Doss was a conscientious objector - someone who objects to violence - placed as a non-combatant, and was the target of ridicule from the other soldiers.
He was serving as a field medic in Okinawa when the Japanese attacked his unit on top of a cliff, cutting down nearly every man. Doss quickly rigged up a stretcher that could be lowered by a series of ropes and pulleys to the ground below. Then, by himself and under fire, he retrieved each soldier in his unit one at a time and lowered them to safety.
Irena Sendler
When the Nazis invaded her native Poland and rounded up all the Jews into a walled-in ghetto, Sendler knew what was going to happen. She was a social worker and got credentials as a nurse so she could sneak food and medicine into the ghetto.
What she snuck out was even more phenomenal: It’s estimated that Sendler and her group helped get approximately 2500 children out of the ghetto—sedated and placed in the bottom of toolboxes or lying in burlap sacks at the bottom of her truck—and sent them through a network of likeminded comrades to Christian orphanages, where they were given new identities. She kept their real names in a jar buried in her backyard.
Sendler was eventually caught by the Nazis, who imprisoned and tortured her, breaking both of her legs. When the war ended she devoted herself to reuniting children with their families, though it proved nearly impossible to do so.
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These are acts of courage! Real life acts of courage.
And you’ve got to ask yourself, why would someone do these acts of courage and bravery? What possesses someone to go to such lengths, putting themselves in such danger for the sake of people they don’t even know?
And I’m sure there are many answers for this, but one that stands out for me is this...
These people faced the danger and even death because they believed in something bigger than themselves. They believed in something bigger than the danger they faced.
They were prepared to face the torture, the ridicule, the imprisonment because they believed that saving the lives of children or saving the lives of soldiers was more important than their own comfort.
Saving people’s lives is, or at least SHOULD BE, more important than our own comfort.
Let’s imagine for a second that we have a modern day Noah’s Ark happening in Lisburn.
Imagine for a second that God speaks to you - like you really hear an audible voice from God and he says that he’s going to destroy the world again by a flood (and yes, I know, the rainbow is the promise that God won’t do that again). So, let’s say God tells you he’s going to destroy the world by fire. He’s going to burn the place up, except for the churches in the country. All churches will be saved.
And God tells this to YOU. And it’s going to happen in 3 day’s time.
What would you do?
Would you run into a church and stay there?
Or would you spend those 3 days getting everyone you know into a church?
Would you spread the world that God is sending fire on the earth but if anyone is in a church they will be saved from the fire. Would you take those 3 days running around telling people this, warning them of this fire that it coming?
Or would you run into a church yourself - save yourself and forget about getting anyone else with you?
I think most people would at least tell their friends and family.
Would you tell others too?
And what about those people who don’t believe you and ridicule you about this? Would you care about that if you could get even SOME people into the churches to be safe? Would you be like Desmond Doss or like Irena Sendler and face the danger and the ridicule in order to save people’s lives?
Pause
Of course that sounds a bit far fetched - independence day kinda stuff. I’m showing my age, what’s the latest disaster end-of-the-world movie?
Truth is, what I’ve described is not far from the truth.
God will not ever flood the world again - the rainbow promises us that.
But God WILL destroy the world with fire...
3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”
5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
And the ungodly are those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour - those who have not trusted in him for the forgiveness of their sins.
And we have the good news that those who trust in Jesus Christ, who have their sins forgiven will escape this judgement of fire and will instead live in paradise.
And not only do we have this good news, we are asked to pass this on to those who do not believe so that they too can escape this judgement.
So my imaginary story wasn’t that far off. The difference is that being in a church building doesn’t save us - being part of the church - the community of believers through our faith in Jesus is what saves us.
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Question is…do we have the same bravery and courage that Desmond Doss and Irena Sendler had?
Do we believe that saving the lives of men, women and children is more important than our own comfort?
And if so, how can we go into the world as sheep amongst wolves? Cos, let’s face it…that IS scary and it takes a level of courage that most of us don’t have.
Well, thankfully we can take some comfort and strength from our passage today.
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In today’s passage, Jesus sends out the 12 disciples and he tells them that he’s sending them as sheep amongst wolves...
16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
And their quest - their mission - is to preach that the kingdom of heaven is near, they are to heal the sick and cleanse the lepers, drive out demons and even raise the dead!
7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
That’s pretty impressive stuff right there.
But you might think - hang on a second, these are Jesus’ disciples. I mean, these are his right hand men. Of course they’re going to be able to do this amazing stuff. This is stuff that the ORIGINAL disciples did. Nobody else did this.
OK, but think about the disciples - remember the list of the disciples from the start of the passage…There was a tax collector, a few fishermen, a zealot, and a thief. These weren’t special people.
They were ordinary people with a special friend.
[The disciples were ordinary people with a special friend]
But I hear what you’re saying - they WERE the 12 disciples, so they were pretty special in some ways too.
But then what do we make of Luke 10, which we read out a few weeks ago at the evening service...
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
Now we’ve got a problem - these weren’t just the 12 disciples. These were 72 other people who Jesus sends out and also gives them the power and authority to do stuff that they wouldn’t normally be able to do on their own.
So that’s not really an excuse.
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And then in Matthew 28, Jesus sends his disciples out saying this...
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
And this is what we’ve looked at a few times…Jesus tells his disciples to make MORE disciples. And as disciples of Jesus this is a command to us too.
We are commanded by Jesus himself to spread the good news that Jesus offers salvation from this firey judgement that is coming - that Jesus can free them from their sin give them new life - eternal life.
And Jesus gives US the same power and authority he gave the 12 disciples and the same power and authority that he gave the 72 others. Power to heal the sick, power to even raise the dead.
Because there is more than 1 way to be sick, and there is more than 1 way to be dead.
We can be physically sick, but we can be spiritually sick.
We can be physically dead, but we can also be spiritually dead.
And Jesus gives us the power to heal the sick and raise the dead, because there are people all around us who are spiritually sick - who think they are right with God because they come to church or maybe they don’t even come to church but they think they’re a decent enough person who hasn’t done any harm. In fact, these aren’t just spiritually sick - these people are spiritually dead…dead in their sins....
And they are going to be judged for their sin because they haven’t asked Jesus for their forgiveness, and they’re facing this firey judgement.
And then there are people who are spiritually dead - who don’t believe in God or Jesus - who have no interest in him whatsoever. And these people are also facing this firey judgement and will miss out on eternal life if SOMEBODY doesn’t tell them that there is life to be found in Jesus Christ.
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And this is where we come in. We are all commissioned by Jesus to go into the world and proclaim that the kingdom of God is at hand and it is found in Jesus Christ.
But while this takes immense courage, look at the last verse on the screen…Jesus says, ‘Surely I am with you always.’
We often take this out of context and use it to remind ourselves that we are not alone in this life - that Jesus is always with us.
Now that IS TRUE, but in the context of this passage, Jesus is saying that he has given US his authority - the authority from God himself - authority over sickness and death - authority over life...and that while we go as sheep amongst wolves HE WILL BE WITH US ALWAYS!
This verse is not a general ‘I am with you’ verse - this is a specific promise that as we step out into the world for Jesus, while it takes immense courage, we are NOT on our own, because Jesus is with us through his Holy Spirit…and HE gives us the authority, the ability and the COURAGE to tell others about Jesus.
And when we DO do this, that’s when we’ll see the power of God manifested in us. That’s when we’ll see the sick be healed and the dead raised, because there’s more than one way to be sick and there’s more than one way to be dead.
But so often, we don’t SEE any of this…and I think one of the reasons why we don’t see any of this is because we’re NOT engaging the world.
So many times we don’t see any power of God because we’re not relying on the power of God…we’re not doing anything that requires the power of God.
The power of God is manifested when we go out into the world and heal the sick and raise the dead. If we stay in our churches or our homes and never go out and spread the gospel, then we won’t see any of this kind of power in action.
But it is hard. It takes courage. And when I was preparing this sermon, the question I asked earlier, burned in me…Do I believe that saving the lives of men, woman and children is more important than my own comfort?
And I do believe that it is more important, but I am scared to do this....because Jesus doesn’t sugar-coat it. We are going out as sheep among wolves. That’s not all sweetness and fairies - it’s brutal. But I’ve got to remember that this is a command from Jesus for me to do, but I’ve also got to remember that Jesus will be with me throughout it ALL.
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Jesus took ordinary men and did extraordinary things with them.
Jesus took ordinary fish and bread and fed 5000 people with them.
There was nothing special in the bread. There was nothing special in the fish. There was nothing special in the disciples…the common denominator in all of this was the power of Jesus.
Jesus can take ordinary things and do the extraordinary with them. But oftentimes we only see the extraordinary when we step out in faith and courage.
Apart from this the disciples didn’t do anything else that was terribly extraordinary…OK, Peter walked on water…but who was with him when he did? Jesus.
And ok, in Acts, they spoke in tongues, healed the sick, even raised the dead…but who was with them when they did? The Holy Spirit.
Yous see, they did these miraculous, amazing, spectacular things when they stepped out in faith and courage.
But they could only do it because God was with them.
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Sometimes people who are normally shy need a little dutch courage in order to talk to people of the opposite sex at a bar or a club. I’m sure you’ve heard that expression. Dutch courage is that little bit of alcohol that is needed to rid yourself of inhibitions and give you the courage to approach members of the opposite sex.
Because alcohol makes you do things you wouldn’t normally be able to do on your own.
Paul says, in Ephesians 5:18...
18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit,
Paul notices the difference here. Because while alcohol can make you do things you wouldn’t normally do on your own, and it gives people the courage to do things they wouldn’t normally be able to do, there’s a better way…instead be filled with the Spirit.
Because the Holy Spirit enables us to do things that we wouldn’t normally be able to do on our own and it is the Holy Spirit who gives people the courage to do things they wouldn’t normally be able to do.
So in order to be able to tell our friends, our loved ones, even those we don’t know about Jesus, it takes courage that comes from the Holy Spirit - it takes an ability that we don’t have - but the Spirit does have it. And when we are filled with the Spirit we can do things that we can’t normally do on our own.
And that means we need to pray…pray for this power in our lives - pray as a church for this power to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to our neighbourhoods. And we need to pray for the Holy Spirit to give us the courage to do it.
And we’re not going into WHAT we say or HOW we say it....All I’m saying today is that some of us....maybe all of us... need the courage to do something.
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Back to my imaginary scene earlier…Who would you tell about this fire that was going to destroy Lisburn?
Your friends?
Your family?
Anyone who will listen?
And the question that burned me was... do I believe that saving the lives of men, women and children is more important than my own comfort?
Let me rephrase that.
Do I believe that saving the lives of people whom I LOVE and care about is more important than my own comfort?
That makes it slightly different.
Because I have friends who are not Christians - who are spiritually sick, who are spiritually dead. And I have been given the power and authority over sickness and death through the Holy Spirit. I have family who are not Christians - who are spiritually sick, who are spiritually dead. And I have been given the power and authority over sickness and death through the Holy Spirit.
And so the question for me is...Do I love my family and friends enough to tell them the good news that Jesus Christ loves them and will save them from firey judgement if they put their trust in him?
I say I do, but do I really? Would I not rather keep the peace and say nothing than to bring this gospel to them? Would I not rather keep my friendship and not annoy them and just let them be judged rather than making a fuss?
Do I really have the courage to do this?
I’m not sure I do…but I want to. I want to have the courage to do this. So I am praying that I will be filled with the Holy Spirit to enable me to do what I could never do on my own - to give me the authority over sickness and death and to speak words of life to my family and my friends, in the hope that miraculous things - extraordinary things happen in their lives.
But when we realise that we have the power and authority of God HIMSELF, who is WITH US wherever we go, then maybe - just maybe, that might give us the courage to step out and tell people that Jesus loves them.
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Jesus takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. He did it with the 12 disciples. He did it with the 72 others, and he can do it with me and you...
…but he gives us the courage to do it through his Spirit. And he equips us to be able to do it through his Spirit, and he will be with us as we do it, through his Spirit.
And so we pray, Holy Spirit come.
Let’s pray.