Sermon Tone Analysis

The Savior's Plan for Our Service

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew 10:1-7

Sermon by Rick Crandall

(Prepared December 10, 2021)

MESSAGE:

*My wife is a planner.

And I'm talking about an extraordinary planner.

Some of us are making plans for Christmas.

Mary's already thinking about next Christmas!

--- at least a little bit anyway.

*And when it comes to her planning, I'm not talking about big-picture stuff.

I'm talking about intricate little details.

I know this because she likes to tell me all about them.

Unfortunately, it all starts to run together after about 15 or 20 seconds, so she has to repeat herself a good bit.

But don't get me wrong.

Mary's planning has been very good for me.

When we met 48 years ago, I was basically a leaf in the wind.

*And planning in general is a very good thing, especially when you are making godly plans.

After all, our God is the greatest planner of all!

Psalm 33:11 in the NKJ says, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations."

*God's planning is surely evident in the order of His creation, the revelation of His Word, and in the cross of Jesus Christ.

When Peter and John were released by the authorities in Acts 4:23-28, the Scripture says:

23.

And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.

24.

So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them,

25. who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: 'Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things?

26. the kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.'

27.

For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together

28. to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done."

*In 2 Timothy 1:8-10, Paul confirmed that God had planned the cross before the beginning of time.

Here the Apostle said:

8. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

9. who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,

10. but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

*Christians: God planned to give us the grace we have in Jesus before time began!

He is the greatest planner of all.

And God surely has a plan for our lives.

Jeremiah 29:11 in the New Living Translation says: "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD.

"They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

*God has a perfect plan for our lives.

And today's Scripture helps us understand the Savior's plan for our service.

1. FIRST: JESUS CALLS US TO HIS SERVICE.

*We see this truth in the first part of vs.1 where the Lord "called His twelve disciples to Him."

*This wasn't the first time Jesus called these men to follow Him.

For example, Matthew 4:18-22 says:

18.

Now Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.

19.

And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.''

20.

Then they immediately left their nets and followed Him.

21.

And going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets.

And He called them,

22. and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

*Here in Matthew 10, Jesus called 12 of His disciples to Him, because He had special service for them to perform.

Luke 6:12-13 explains, "Now it came to pass in those days that He (Jesus) went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

And when it was day, He called His disciples to Him; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles."

*The Lord had special service for these 12 men to perform.

But Jesus also has special service for us.

Jesus calls all people to come to Him for salvation, and He calls all Christians to come to Him for service.

*We rejoice in the Lord's salvation!

We love to focus on that, and we should.

But we must not forget our call to His service.

In Ephesians 2:8-10 Paul tells all Christians: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

*In Matthew 20:26-28, Jesus said, "Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.

And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.''

*Then in Matthew 25:21, Jesus said one of the best things we can hope to hear in Heaven: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.

Enter into the joy of your lord."

*God's plan is for us to serve the Lord humbly and faithfully, wherever, and however He calls us to serve.

Then one day we will get to hear Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

2. JESUS CALLS US TO HIS SERVICE, AND HE EQUIPS US FOR HIS SERVICE.

*Look how Jesus equipped the 12 disciples at the end of vs. 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."

*Jesus gave them all they needed to serve the Lord.

He gave them all they needed to win great victories for God.

And Jesus will equip us to do everything He wants us to do.

As David Guinn likes to say, "God does not call the equipped.

He equips the called."

*Of course, Jesus has not given us the same degree of power He gave the Apostles.

Down in vs. 8, He told them to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons."

Imagine the media rush, if somebody walked through Saint Francis Hospital healing the sick, cleansing lepers, and raising the dead!

*The Lord could give us the same degree of power if He wanted to.

And that might seem nice at times, but God knows best about these things.

And Jesus gave the Apostles this incredible power mostly as a witness of who He was.

*We see this truth in the beginning of the next chapter when John the Baptist is in prison.

In Matthew 11:3 John sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?''

Then in Matthew 11:4-6, Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.''

*On top of that, remember this astounding truth: Judas Iscariot had all of that power, witnessed all of those miracles, and still, he betrayed our Savior!

*You see, God's plan for us is not mainly about getting His power.

It's about us turning to Jesus Christ, trusting in Him, and following Him as our Lord and Savior.

It's about being glad to serve God any way He sees fit, realizing that Jesus will equip us for everything He asks us to do.

*And maybe we don't have the power to heal like the Apostles did in vs. 1, but we have more power than we realize!

Think about the power of prayer.

And think about the power of our witness.

*Robert Sumner told about a missionary in Alaska, named Everett Bachelder.

Everett and his wife, Mina, operated the Nome Gospel Home for over 30 years.

*One of the ways they shared the Gospel was by tossing more than a thousand mayonnaise jars and ketchup bottles into the Bering Sea.

They were all crammed with Scripture messages written in a hundred different languages.

Kids from local churches helped Everett prepare the jars and bottles.

*Now that may seem like a waste of time, but over the years, the wind and waves carried the story of God's love to the far corners of the earth.

Everett got responses from as far as 10,000 miles away!

*One time a man in Singapore, was broken hearted over a romance gone sour.