Get Off the Bench

Introduction

Use basketball benchwarmer illustration.

Verse 7

Jesus calls his 12 apostles

Jesus sent them out on mission

two by two

not alone

companion

partnership

interdependency

Jesus delegates authority to them.

They don’t have inherent power/authority.

Authority over spiritual realm.

Their work was spiritual in nature.

APPLICATION: The work of the Kingdom isn’t inherently physical. Kingdom work is spiritual in nature. many churches focus on programs and policies (all important things), but fail to forget that the essence of our work is spiritual in nature.

(Spiritual blindness)

This is true not just for evangelism, but for sanctification. How many of us are trying to gain victory of our sins, but are trusting in worldly or fleshly solution? How many of us are turning to the wisdom of the world to overcome our struggles as opposed to trusting in the Spirit of God through the Word of God. Maybe it’s because we forgotten that kingdom work is essentially spiritual and there’s more than meets the eyes.

,

They’re doing what Jesus did :

Jesus gave them instruction, preparation, and now delegation.

Jesus doesn’t accompany them.

He’s taking off the training wheels.

Jesus gives them responsibility.

He’s preparing them for when it’s time for Him to leave to go to the Father and give them the great commission ().

Next level of training.

APPLICATION: The phrase, “Don’t be a fool, stay in school.” I think some Christians practically live that saying out and always stay in the classroom of Christianity and never graduate. They accumulate piles and piles of knowledge and never put their knowledge and degree into practice. Many Christians come to church Sunday after Sunday, attend Bible study after Bible study, but how much of what you’re learning are you putting into practice in your everyday life. How many of you call yourselves disciples? How many of you are making disciples?

Verse 8-9

He “charged” them - The greek word was a military term with regards to giving an order.

to take nothing for their journey except a staff.

minimalistic approach.

Support for walking.

No bread, no bag, no money in their belts but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

In one sense we have to understand the cultural context in which Jesus is speaking into.

The Jewish culture is big on hospitality.

It was very common for strangers to be welcomed into people’s home.

With their call to be minimalistic and leave themselves at the mercy of others to provide for them, God was essentially telling them to rely on Him and trust Him to provide.

The command to be minimalistic is more cultural, but the principle of trusting in God to provide is universal.

In our efforts to proclaim the gospel to those around us, we not worry about provision.

We must trust that God will provide everything we need and the resources necessary to reach our community with the gospel.

Our main concern and focus when it comes to answering God’s call to serve Him isn’t about our provision, rather it should be to trust in our Provider.

God’s ultimately the One responsible to complete and His mission.

Verses 10-11

The apostles are sent to engage people with the message of the kingdom.

They’re not commanded by Jesus to tell people to go to the Synagogue.

Receive = believe

“listen” implies that the disciples are to speak and use their mouths. They’re not silent messengers.

Regardless, if whether or not anyone receives their message, they’re still called to obey.

They’re not called to force people to receive the message.

We have to be careful with our tactics and approach.

This was the mistake of the Crusades and the Spanish inquisition.

Forced conversion.

God’s in charge of the results and converting people.

If they reject, their blood will be on their hands and not on yours.

Shake the dust off your feet.

Signifies treating them as Gentiles who reject God.

Whenever Israelites came back to the the promised land after coming from a Gentile nation, they would shake the dust off their feet and their clothing to dissociate themselves from their pollution as well as the the ultimate judgment.

We simply obey by proclaiming.

APPLICATION: When was the last time you’ve shared the gospel with someone?

Co-worker

family

friend

neighbor

stranger

Verses 12-13

They proclaimed - referring to their activity/action.

Should “repent” - referring to the content.

There’s a tendency for people to live unbalanced lives.

For example, you might see someone that works out in the gym and his chest is pops out and he probably benches 225 lbs. However, when you look down he seems to have chicken legs. He works hard on his upper body muscles and strength, but doesn’t spend much time working out his legs. That’s not good and that’s not healthy.

Or a person can be going to the gym rigorously at the gym 3–5 days a week, but spends his time outside of the gym constantly eating junk food. That’s not good or healthy.

We kind of do something similar when we tell people about Jesus and His gospel.

Sometimes, the emphasis is always on the love of God.

We quote from our memory bank without needing to open our bibles, but do we ever tell people about , which says, “whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God”?

We ‘re quick to highlight God’s grace, but do we ever tell them about the wrath of God or His discipline?

I think sometimes we’re ashamed to tell people about that.

Maybe we’re afraid of rejection.

Maybe we’re afraid of reaction.

Whatever the reason might be, if we’re constantly only telling people about certain attributes of God and silent on others, we essentially tell people about a god of our own imagination.

We essentially repackage God to be a god that we think people will like or accept.

The message of repentance is part of the gospel message.

The reality is that the whole world is in rebellion against God.

The fallen world wants nothing to do with The Creator and instead wants to be the creator of their own world, the captain of their own destiny.

The world doesn’t want to live under God’s rule and reign.

The call to repentance in an indictment on people’s sinful condition and rebellious attitude towards God.

God created sexual intimacy, but the world isn’t satisfied with God’s ways so people turn to pornography, commit adultery, sleep around, or redefine sexuality (guising their movement as a civil rights issue, just so they can continue to live in their sin).

God is the Provider of all things, but when people don’t get what they want when they want it they steal, or burn their bodies out by working hours upon hours just to make money. and all this at the expense of their own health and their family. Therefore, a husband can be a hard worker for his family, but is he a loving husband or father?

God is the Author of Speech and Creator of words. Therefore, He gives us the blueprint of how what comes out of our mouths and how they come out. They should always be loving and kind words. But instead, we use our words to cut and destroy our neighbors.

You see why our message is unpopular to our world? The world doesn’t want to be told what to do by God, and instead they want to live as if they were god and set the rules.

The message of repentance is a message to turn from our own way of doing life which leads to death and instead to turn to God, submit to His loving rule and as a result our lives find purpose and flourishing as He intended.

We mustn’t be silent, church.

And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

Not necessarily a universal command that all of us should start casting out demons and healing the sick.

The point of this being included in the text is that the message of the apostles were affirmed through the casting out of demons and healing.

Their message is authenticated through the casting out of demons and healing.

The casting out of demons and healing is a sign that the Kingdom of God is at hand and is upon you.

This broken world as we see it and know is coming to an end.

It’s been invaded by God’s heavenly kingdom.

And one day, Christ will return to completely eradicate all that stands in opposition to His will be His glorious kingdom.

No more pain.

No more diseases.

No more tears.

No more wars.

Just joy unending.

Conclusion

Church, do you sense both the privilege and urgency in all of this? The privilege of our calling. that you’ve given be a part of what God is doing in the world? Reclaiming it to re-establish His rule and reign. This gives the ‘why’ of why we do discipleship whole another meaning. God has taken us out of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of His Beloved Son. And now enlists us to proclaim the gospel to others that others might partake.

But, also the urgency of our calling. Christ is coming back. We don’t have time to waste. Christ is coming back sooner than we think.