28 Days: Day 25
SCRIPTURE
- Luke 9:1-6 (NIV) 1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 He told them: "Take nothing for the journey--no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. 4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. 5 If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them." 6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
OBSERVATION
The Twelve’s mission had a single purpose: they were to proclaim the kingdom of God. Proclaim refers to a herald’s formal, authoritative, public announcement of important truth. In an era before mass media, that was how important messages were communicated to the public, just as town criers would do in later times. In town after town, the apostles publicly proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand because the Lord, Savior, and King had arrived. They also announced that entrance to the kingdom was through repentance, with confession of sin, and faith in the Messiah.The preaching of the Twelve followed the pattern set by Jesus. In Luke 4:43 He announced, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” At the beginning of chapter 8, Luke recorded that “He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God”. As Luke noted in that same verse, “the twelve were with Him,” learning from His example. When He sent them out, the Twelve preached the same message that Jesus did. The church today has that same responsibility to preach exactly what Jesus did without altering it. The church’s message is not a social, political, philanthropic, or moral one. It is a message of sin, salvation, and forgiveness, which without being changed has been explained and enriched in the New Testament epistles.MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Luke 6-10.
UNDERSTANDING
Jesus gathered up His disciples and sent them out to the nations. The word is apostello or sent ones. That is exactly what He commissioned us to when He gave us the Great Commission. We are sent ones to the world.Two very simple thoughts about sent ones. A sent one makes the message of Jesus very simple and understandable. Our message as disciples does not have to be complicated. It is not about literally having better morals. The message of Christ is not meant to be a feel good, or a positive thinking message. It is a very, very simple message that we, as sinful people, are separated from a holy God. God loved us so much that Jesus went on the very first Heavenly mission trip in order to give Himself for us, so that we should live. We could be made right with Him, not by religion, not by works, but only by faith through the grace of God, believing in Jesus Christ. It is a very, very simple message, and we are called to take that message into all of the world very, very aggressively. Number two, a sent one makes compassion central. As disciples of Jesus, we should be the most compassionate, caring, and generous people on planet earth.
LIFE APPLICATION
Have you gotten the message yet? We are Great Commission people and GC people are called to be missionaries – across the street, at our jobs, in foreign lands. Will you go?