Jesus Sends Out His Disciples

Intro: As we continue to walk through the Life of Christ we come to a point in Jesus ministry where He begins to involve the disciples in his work. Up until this point, they had mostly been observational learners. They had seen Jesus love and compassion for people. They had benefited from both his private and public teaching, but now they had come to a point where it was time to go beyond being a spectator and join Jesus in His mission and work.

The time had come for the disciples to put into practice what they had learned. You see the mission of Christ was not informational but rather transformational.

The disciples were now called to take action and allow what they had been taught to impact the way that they lived.

So today I want you to wrestle with this thought. Many people today seem to believe the mission of Christ is sitting in a church service. They may not admit to themselves they believe this idea but their lives show they have never really answered the call to join Jesus in His work. So I ask you today have I allowed myself to continue down the path that Jesus has laid for his followers or have become knowledgeable yet immovable.

Matthew 10:1–31 CSB

1 Summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: First, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. 5 Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. 6 Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you received, freely give. 9 Don’t acquire gold, silver, or copper for your money-belts. 10 Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his food. 11 When you enter any town or village, find out who is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 Greet a household when you enter it, 13 and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it; but if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. 16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. 17 Beware of them, because they will hand you over to local courts and flog you in their synagogues. 18 You will even be brought before governors and kings because of me, to bear witness to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you are to speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour, 20 because it isn’t you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you. 21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. For truly I tell you, you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household! 26 “Therefore, don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered and nothing hidden that won’t be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper, proclaim on the housetops. 28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. 30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

I. Jesus calls His disciples into service.

As we already mentioned Jesus purpose in having disciples and training them was always to send them out and have them join him in his work.

They had now entered the part of their training when he would send them out into the world to do the very work they had been prepared to do.

As many of you know, I like to go on adventures sort of speak. I have spent a lot of time researching gear and saving up money for the essential equipment. I have read many articles and spent countless hours watching videos of those who were considered experts in the field of survival, primitive skills, and navigation. I listened to those who had experience talk about developing the right kind of mindset for enjoying and thriving in remote places.

There is now a whole multi-million dollar industry that revolves around this type of activity. However over the years, I have come to realize that there are many who have the right gear, have gone through training, but the closest they ever get to having an adventure themselves is watching others on TV or joining an online group or forum.

This type of person loves having the knowledge of an adventurer, loves hearing the stories of others and talking about “one day” but would just assume to live vicariously through the exploits of others.

Some talk a big game but are to afraid of the risk involved, others aren’t willing to experience the discomfort necessary to get out into the woods, and some are just too lazy to put into practice what they have learned.

Most of us would ask then what is the point of going through all of the training, if your never going to put it into practice?

For these type of people they are completely satisfied with the pursuit of knowledge and care little about the purpose of it. The more information that acquire the more accomplished they feel.

Because of this, mindset they actually have limited themselves. They may know what the book says but have no real practical experience. There path stops at observance and they will never grow further. They have limited their potential.

Over the years of ministry, I have observed that there are people in church today that have all the knowledge but have actually stopped growing in their walk with Christ for lack of practical experience. In every church there are some that if they were honest would admit they haven’t grown spiritually in years because of fear, discomfort, or simply laziness.

Yet Jesus in commissioning his disciples showed us that His intention was never informational but transformational. You can not grow with out joining the mission and putting into practice the information you already know. You will become or maybe already are stagnated.

Trans: In this next part we see that Jesus give his disciples everything they need to accomplish the mission.

II. Jesus Equips His Disciples for the Task at Hand.

Matthew 10:5–15 CSB

5 Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town. 6 Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you received, freely give. 9 Don’t acquire gold, silver, or copper for your money-belts. 10 Don’t take a traveling bag for the road, or an extra shirt, sandals, or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his food. 11 When you enter any town or village, find out who is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 Greet a household when you enter it, 13 and if the household is worthy, let your peace be on it; but if it is unworthy, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

So here we see that Jesus sent them to so the work without money, extra-clothes, a specific place to stay and food.

Now some of you may already be asking how then did Jesus equip them. He sent them out with literally nothing except one thing.

Matthew 10:1 CSB

1 Summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.

He sent them out under his authority. You see when God give us a mission to accomplish the details of the how are irrelevant. The only thing we need to accomplish the work that God has given us to do is his authority.

Pretty crazy to think about huh? How often are we paralyzed by not knowing the “how” of the mission? We can get so wrapped up in the “what’s” and the “hows” that we never actually launch out into the unknown of the Kingdom adventure.

If God has sent you. You are going as his representative under his authority. That is all that you need....The equipping wasn’t physical. The equipping was operating in faith resting in the authority of the one that sent you.

Now there is some confusion over this passage that I want to clear up. Some have looked at this passage of scripture and have tried to apply the same authority that Jesus gave to the twelve to everyone.

There are those that believe that every Christians should have the authority to heal, raise the dead and etc. But I think it is important to point out that Jesus had other disciples beside the twelve. Yet the passage is clear he only gave this type of authority/gifting to the twelve.

Matthew 10:1 CSB

1 Summoning his twelve disciples, he gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out and to heal every disease and sickness.

He summoned the 12 and gave “THEM” authority. its very clear.

Then in Matthew 10:5

Matthew 10:5 CSB

5 Jesus sent out these twelve after giving them instructions: “Don’t take the road that leads to the Gentiles, and don’t enter any Samaritan town.

We see that Jesus sent out “these twelve” - the phrase “these twelve” is a “Near demonstrative pronoun” meaning it is a key element to understanding the passage. These were the key people the author is referring too, only them.

Matthew is making it clear that it was only them who were given this type of authority. He did not send out all of his disciples with the power to raise the dead. He sent out “these 12”

Why only these 12? Twelve was symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel. Later as the church was established it became very important for the world to understand that these twelve came spoke and acted as representatives of Christ. The early Christians needed to know that these men acted on behalf of Christ. It was these men that God chose to speak through in firmly establishing the church.

In the Bible there are prescriptive elements and descriptive elements. For instance, Jesus gave Peter for a short period of time “authority” if you will to walk on the water.

This was never intended to be a pattern for us to follow. In fact, we never see later a situation where the disciples get into a boat to cross over a body of what and Peter instead says you all go ahead I’ll walk. It’s descriptive.

Here in this passage it was made very clear that only the “apostles” were given this authority in this way. It is interesting they that Matthew uses this term , Apostles here. The apostles were those disciples that witnesses the resurrected savior. Jesus had not died yet, so Matthew is foreshadowing what is to come, The foundation of the church

However, this is not to say that the time for miracles has come to an end. God is all powerful. holy, and can do as he pleases.

In fact, in places where the church has not been firmly established you see many of these same miracles taking place.

III.Jesus Prepares His Disciples for the Dangers They Will Face.

Matthew 10:16–25 CSB

16 “Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. 17 Beware of them, because they will hand you over to local courts and flog you in their synagogues. 18 You will even be brought before governors and kings because of me, to bear witness to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they hand you over, don’t worry about how or what you are to speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour, 20 because it isn’t you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you. 21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. For truly I tell you, you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. 24 A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household!

Here we see that Jesus paints a picture of what his disciples both then and now can expect.

Jesus gives us some imagery of sheep among wolves. sometimes we look at this idea and think that this means we are weak and powerless.

This is not the imagery here but rather the emphasis is not on the behavior of the sheep but on the wolves.

Wolves hunt down sheep. They are not some passive force that just happens to attack sheep. They delight it in it.

They do it with premeditation. They plan for it. Jesus is giving us a description of the enemy.

IV. Jesus Reminds His Disciples Who They Represent.

Matthew 10:26–31 CSB

26 “Therefore, don’t be afraid of them, since there is nothing covered that won’t be uncovered and nothing hidden that won’t be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. What you hear in a whisper, proclaim on the housetops. 28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. 30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Conclusion: The lord will provide you with everything you need to accomplish all that He has called you to do. Will you be a person that never becomes a mature christian because youve chosen it. Or will you put away fear, laziness, and comfort for the sake of the mission?