Luke 9:1-6 (3)
The Gospel of Luke • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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-Well, we’ve come to a new chapter this morning (Luke 9).
As always, I would encourage you to...
turn there
follow along.
I mentioned to you briefly last week, that...
…Chapter 9 marks something of a turning point in Jesus’ earthly ministry.
It does so in a couple of different ways:
That (as many commentators believe) it marks the beginning of Jesus’ third year of public ministry
Up until this point, Jesus’ mission had been largely solitary:
With the exception of John the Baptist, who...
Prepared the way for Jesus’ arrival...
Attested to his Messianic identity...
…Jesus was pretty much the only one that had been...
Preaching,
Performing miraculous attesting signs.
...But now, as he enters into this final year or so (presumably)...
He calls and places his Apostles...
…into something of a ministerial internship...
…wherein, they would begin to follow in his footsteps.
-And that’s where our text picks up this morning.
Please follow along as I read.
Luke 9:1–6 (ESV)
1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,
2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.
4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.
5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
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Pray
-Before we jump back in in at Verse 1...
Try to remember what had happened in chapter 6...
…that had precipitated this event.
Luke had told us there, that Jesus...
Luke 6:12 (ESV)
12 ...went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.
And then after this long night of...
Intercession
Seeking the will of his Father...
…That,
Luke 6:13 (ESV)
13...when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles:
Remember that that word “apostle” . . .
…is distinct from the word “disciple”
He had dozens of “disciples”
But from that large group he chose only ONE of those dozens...
…to be his Apostles:
R.C. Sproul explains the difference:
A disciple means a learner, a follower of a rabbinic teacher, whereas an apostle is a person who has been delegated specific authority to represent the one who sends that person on a mission. — Sproul
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The closest example I can think of, is that of...
A king’s emissary
A nation’s foreign ambassador.
A disciple possesses no inherent authority...
An apostle speaks with the King’s authority...
…because it's been formally delegated to him...
…by the King.
It’s the King’s prerogative to decide...
If
When
To Whom...
…He will deign to delegate his authority.
And Jesus, (In accordance with the will of the Father)...
…Chose these twelve men...
…to be his authoritative royal emissaries.
And while this wouldn’t be their full and final commission from the King...
This assignment would be a decisive turning point...
…in their lives and ministries.
Nothing would be the same for them...
…from this point forward.
And it began with that summons that we saw in:
Luke 9:1 (ESV)
1 And he called the twelve together...
So, he essentially calls a meeting...
…with those that he had chosen before...
And he delivers to them...
…what had only been alluded to before:
Luke 9:1 (ESV)
1 ...he . . . gave them power and authority . . .
Power denotes ability...
Authority denotes the right to implement that power!
This is what apostles (emissaries) have to have delegated to them...
…in order to represent their sovereign, right?
-Now, notice the scope of this authority:
Luke 9:1 (ESV)
1 ...he . . . gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,
Why these things in particular?
Because that’s what Jesus had been doing!
Because it needed to be clear that these were his men!
You see, their authority wasn’t intrinsic...
it was vested!
It was Christ at work… In them… and through them!
They only have power insofar as they...
Represent him...
Do his work.
-Now, in Verse 2 we see what he does after having equipped them...
…with this representative power and authority:
He puts them to work:
Luke 9:2 (ESV)
2 and he sent them out...
“sent them out” = appostello
This is what a missionary is in relationship to a local church
Sent out by their authority
Operates as an extension of their authority
“Missionary” is just from the Latin word...
…instead of the Greek.
-Now, look at what Jesus sends them out to do...
It’s what he had been doing:
Luke 9:2 (ESV)
2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
Do you ever wonder why these two are so often coupled together?
There’s a really good reason for it.
One that we talk about a lot!
The miracles were meant to attest to the message!
They were meant to be the stamp of heaven...
…upon the new revelation that was being given by God...
…during this unique period of time.
We see this asserted in retrospect clearly in:
Hebrews 2:1–4 (ESV)
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard...
3...It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
They were never meant to be an end, in and of themselves...
They were meant to prove who was genuinely speaking for God.
Sproul, makes another important observation here:
This is why the church for centuries has made a distinction between apostolic authority and lesser human authorities in the church. Only those who are chosen, selected and empowered by Christ himself are considered apostles. — R.C. Sproul
-Now, we get a little clearer understanding of their commission...
…when we examine the other two gospel writers:
Mark tells us something unique about the Methodology:
Mark 6:7 (ESV)
7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two...
If you’ll recall...
…this is something we see in the book of Acts as well.
And, the older I get, the more wisdom I see in this.
It provides...
Emotional, mental, and spiritual support
Logistical advantages
Much needed accountability!
(Not to mention the satisfying of the multiple-witness burden-of-proof)
I believe that we are woefully remiss...
…to overlook this in our missionary endeavors today.
-Now, Matthew adds a lot!
He has 42 verses to Luke’s 6!
But, notice what he tells us up-front...
...about the scope of this initial assignment:
Matthew 10:5–8 (ESV)
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
Don’t overlook that little caveat!
The gospel ministry is not a commercial enterprise!
It’s not meant to be a means of gain!
It is NOT to be made merchandise of!
I fear that too many, of even our Reformed brethren...
…have tragically lost sight of this admonition.
-But, why does Jesus restrict their evangelism here?
Paul answers this for us in:
Romans 15:8–9 (ESV)
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. . .
What were they proclaiming?
The arrival of the promised Kingdom
In the arrival of the promised Messianic King.
This/He, was/is the fulfillment of God’s promise to bless the Nation.
You can see this in what Peter said in:
Acts 3:25–26 (ESV)
25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
You see, this was it!
Jesus… was it!
He was/is the Restoration and the then future glory of Israel!
He was the blessing promised to the Fathers!
And in our text, he’s sending out his emissaries to...
Announce his arrival
Prove it with signs and wonders
And their response is going to be what determines...
…whether his arrival brings them...
Covenant Blessing
Covenant Prosecution
-Now, go back to Luke 9:3.
There, Jesus tells them more about the...
…methodology of this missionary endeavor.
(And we need to remember that this is a very specific dispensation of ministry)
(We need to be careful not to apply this more broadly than is appropriate)
(But, the principles behind the instructions are universal...
…and very much needed for us today)
First, he tells them:
Luke 9:3 (ESV)
3 . . . “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.
These were all just everyday items used by a 1st century traveller
But, we need understand what he is and isn’t saying here.
He isn’t saying, “you need to strip yourself naked and go.”
He’s saying, “make no additional preparations before you go.”
Essentially: “Take what you have on you now, and go.”
Matthew carries that connotation:
Matthew 10:9–10 (ESV)
9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts,
10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
For whom are they working?
Jesus (in an immediate sense)
God the Father (in an ultimate sense)
So, what is Jesus getting at?
He’s telling them to...
Go!
Go in faith
Go, trusting that the Lord will provide what is needed for them to accomplish his work!
Is there an applicable lesson in that for us today...
…as we endeavor to do the work of ministry, but face...
budget deficits, and
soaring inflation?
What is it?
That IF we really ARE doing HIS work...
…then he will provide the means to do it...
…the way HE wants it to be done!
And, if we’re not doing HIS work, HIS way...
…then we need to fail!
Amen?
-Now, look at Verse 4:
Luke 9:4 (ESV)
4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.
Matthew, again, gives us more insight:
Matthew 10:11 (ESV)
11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.
What do you suppose would be the litmus for that?
How they responded to Christ!
-Now, what is Jesus telling them practically, here?
Well, he’s telling them...
Not to move about from house to house while they’re in one area.
Don’t waste time trying to improve your accommodations.
Focus on the task at hand.
Let the proclamation of the gospel and its attestation...
…be your first priority.
You see, there’s an urgency in this commission.
This was something of a Blitz Krieg strategy.
At this point, the’re NOT...
Planting Churches
Making disciples (in a technical sense)
Teaching them to obey all that Christ command (per se)...
They’re spreading the word...
…and spreading it fast!
Again, I remind you that this was a particular dispensation of ministry...
…and not a paradigm that we need to follow to the letter.
-Now, look at Verse 5.
Luke 9:5 (ESV)
5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
Leon Morris explains what this means:
“There was a rabbinic idea that the dust of Gentile lands carried defilement, and strict Jews are said to have removed it from their shoes whenever they returned to Palestine from abroad.
The disciples’ shaking of the dust from their feet … declared in symbol that Israelites who rejected the kingdom were no better than Gentiles. They did not belong to the people of God.” — Leon Morris
Notice what Matthew adds:
Matthew 10:15 (ESV)
15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
Let me put it simply:
“it’s better to be an ignorant sodomite (ignorant of the gospel)...
…than to be an informed, but unregenerate cultural christian...
…who knows the Word of God...
…but casts it aside!
The greater the light...
…the greater the transgression.
(Does this mean we should trivialize the sin of sodomy?)
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
1,000 X NO!
What it means is that we should take...
The Word of God
The Gospel of Jesus Christ...
…that Seriously!
-Brethren, let me show you something…
...before we move on to finish with verse 6.
I want you to see what else Jesus told the Apostles...
…as he sent them on this mission.
Here again, the principles are universal and applicable...
…even if some of the particulars may not be:
We’ll just read the highlights...
But, do take note of what this means for...
The Christian Ministry (Throughout the ages)
The Normal Christian life:
Matthew 10:16–42 (ESV)
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,
18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
21 Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,
22 and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.
25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,
33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
This is what he told them.
This is what he called them to.
And, make no mistake...
…this is what he calls US to today.
This is a reality that we’re only now beginning to see in our nation...
...and it’s a frightening proposition...
But, we must faithfully serve our King...
…and entrust our lives and fortunes...
…and even our very souls...
…to Him!
The Apostles leave us an example to follow in Verse 6:
Luke 9:6 (ESV)
6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
-Brethren, this needs to be our prayer...
…as we face increasing hostility in our society:
It was the prayer of the Apostolic Church...
…as they faced the same thing.
Acts 4:29 (ESV)
29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
Amen?
Let’s pray it now!