Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Please turn in your Bibles to Matt 10.

I was feeling ambitious and earlier in the week I told my wife, “We are going to cover all of Chapter 10 Sunday.”

She responded, “Well I guess I’ll bring my dinner!”

My wife was correct in her assessment...I was biting off more than I could chew.

So, we will take Chapter 10 in 2 parts...today, looking at Matt 10:1-23.

From Matthew 9:35-11:1, Matthew is demonstrating that King Jesus has the authority to delegate authority.

In Matthew 9:35, Jesus taught, preached, and healed and was moved with compassion for the multitudes who were weary and scattered…like sheep without a shepherd…a plentiful harvest, but with few laborers.

Jesus saw this problem, so He gathered His disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.

And, then Jesus said, “Boys…good news!

You’re prayers have been answered.

God is sending you!” Well, He didn’t actually say that, but that’s what He did.

He empowered the Twelve Apostles and sent them.

In Matthew 10:5, we read “These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them...” This begins the Second Major Discourse of Jesus.

The first was the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7.

This Second Discourse is prepares the Twelve Apostles on the “The Mission and Martyrdom.”

I love that Jesus doesn’t just send them, He takes the time to prepare them.

And, how many times in our lives, looking back, has He done the same for us?

Today’s account is toward the end of Jesus’ second year of ministry, and Jesus is starting to turn His eyes away from the masses, and focusing on discipling His Twelve Apostles.

Jesus will still minister to the multitudes, but He will use these experiences as teaching moments for the Twelve to prepare them for His departure and beginning the early church.

If you are an outliner, here is a breakdown of this final teaching on Jesus’ Authority:

Matt 9:35-38 “Observation of the Problem” (as Jesus saw the weary multitude)

Matt 10:1-4 “Preparation of the Workers” (Jesus gives power to the Twelve, and pairs them up.)

From Matt 10:5-42: Jesus’ 2nd Major Discourse:

Matt 10:5-15 “Instructions about the Mission”

Matt 10:16-23 “Consequences of the Mission”

Matt 10:24-42 “Motivations for the Mission” (which we will cover next week).

Today’s message is entitled, “Sending the Twelve Part 1.”

Let’s Pray!

Matt 10:1 And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. 2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: first [notice how Matthew pairs them up…many believe this is how they were sent], Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; [2 pairs of brothers] 3 Philip and Bartholomew [paired in their friendship…John 1] ; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector [paired in personalities of healthy skepticism]; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananite [or Zealot], and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.” [I’m not really sure the connection of these last 2 pairings, but trust it made sense to Jesus.

But, it makes a lot of sense to me why Jesus didn’t pair Simon the Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector…Simon might have put a dagger in Matthew’s back.]

Last week, we thoroughly looked at these 12 Apostles, which is a title Matthew uses just once here in V2.

This crew is greatly diverse in many respects, and it’s an amazing work of God that these men were brought together for ministry.

In verse 1, we see Jesus grants power to the Apostles prior to sending them on their mission.

In Jesus’ ministry, He had been doing the work, and now He is empowering His disciples... granting them power over the demonic, and over disease.

The word “power,” in Gk. most often appears in the NT as either dunamis (miraculous power) or exousia (authoritative power), and less often kratos (dominion), or other Gk.

words for power…there’s at least 6 variants.

In the book of Acts and throughout the Epistles the early church is granted dunamis (miraculous power).

As in Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power [dunamis] when the Holy Spirit has come upon you...”

And, why were they given that power?

To be witnesses.

And, that’s no small thing as we will see today as Jesus teaches about persecution.

We need miraculous power to be witnesses.

Overall in Acts, 9x the word power is used.

7x as dunamis and 2x exousia.

The 2x exousia (authoritative power) is used...

1x refers to the authority Satan has.

In the Epistles, we see authority granted to Satan or Anti-Christ (“principalities and powers”) or to God, but not to Believers.

The 2nd occurence of exousia in Acts, is Acts 8:19 when Simon the Sorcerer says to Peter, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”

He wants authority to go around and heal at will (with the wrong motives), and Peter denies Simon.

The early church and church age was not granted exousia…the authority the Apostles had here in Matt 10.

The Twelve had the authority to heal and cast out demons at will.

We do not have that authority.

Repeatably... the NT word for the power we have been granted is dunamis…miraculous power.

It’s not until Rev 2:26 that God grants authority to the church.

Rev 2:26 “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power (exousia) over the nations...” which speaks about authority during Jesus’ Millennial Reign…so, yet future.

It’s important to understand that God has granted us power to be witnesses, but not unlimited power…not the authority to go around performing miracles whenever we think it is right.

God has all authority, and when a miracle aligns with His will, He can use us and channel His power through us, but we do not have the authority like the Twelve were given in this passage.

Matt 10:5-6 “These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans.

6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Starting here, in V5, Jesus begins His Second Major Discourse.

Verses 5-15 are “Instructions about the Mission.”

Prior to sending the Twelve, Matt 9:36-38 states: “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.

37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Prior to sending the Twelve, there were steps of observation and preparation.

First, Jesus saw there was a problem.

He saw the multitudes who were weary and scattered…they were not being shepherded by the Religious Leaders.

Second, He cared…He was moved with compassion.

It’s important to have the right heart attitude towards ministry.

Third, they prayed.

They didn’t just see the problem and go, they stopped to pray which is often overlooked, but needs to be a priority.

Fourth, they were empowered.

In Matt 10:1, Jesus gave them power.

In Acts 1, the disciples were to wait in Jerusalem until they were Baptized with the Holy Spirit…empowered to be witnesses.

Finally, Jesus sent and commanded the Twelve.

And, this is a good pattern for us to consider for ministry and missions as well.

I’m not suggesting this is His absolute pattern, but this is a good pattern.

As Jesus sends His Twelve, He instructs them first where not to go…they are not to leave the Galilee region, nor go to the Gentile regions (Tyre or Sidon in the North or Decapolis in the East), nor to Samaria in the South.

At this time, they were to focus on God’s covenant people.

Rom 1:16 states “…for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

God would reach the world with the gospel, but He would start with the Jews.

This term “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” looks to Israel as a whole and their poor condition.

Matt 9:36 told us Jesus “...was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”

“Lost sheep” also reflects words of the OT Prophets, such as...

Jer 50:6 “My people have been lost sheep.

Their shepherds have led them astray...”

Jesus continues instructing...

Matt 10:7-8 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons.

Freely you have received, freely give.”

The purpose of this mission trip is to preach.

The Twelve was not sent to teach, but to proclaim or herald the message to these lost sheep that, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

The Messiah is amongst the nation…a Prophet like Moses...the Son of David…the Anointed One…Immanuel…the Prince of Peace…they knew Him by many titles, and His time had come.

“The kingdom of heaven is at hand” should have been a familiar message, as John the Baptist said this in Matthew 3:2, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Jesus as well in Matt 4:17.

The Twelve were also granted power for miracles that would authenticate the message they were proclaiming.

Healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, and casting out demons were all Messianic signs.

And, these Twelve Apostles were His Ambassadors…what they did pointed to Jesus.

What we do in our lives should point to Jesus as well.

Jesus also states, “Freely you have received, freely give.”

Jesus freely gave the Twelve the commission to proclaim the Gospel, and freely gave them authority to perform these miracles.