Tuesday: Commissioning of the Apostles
Read Luke 9:1-6 and Matthew 10:5-15. What spiritual truths can we learn from the verses about how Jesus called these men?
Luke describes the commissioning of the apostles as a three-step process.
Image © Providence Collection from GoodSalt.com
First, Jesus called them together (Luke 9:1). The word call or calling is as vital to Christian mission as it is to Christian vocabulary. Before it can become a theological term, it must become a personal experience. The apostles must heed the One who calls, come to Him, and be together.
Both the obedience to Him who calls and the surrender of everything to Him are essential to experience the unity that is essential for the mission to succeed.
Second, Jesus gave them power and authority
(Luke 9:1, NKJV). Jesus never sends His emissaries empty-handed. Nor does He expect us to be His representatives in our own strength. Our education, culture, status, wealth, or intelligence are powerless to accomplish His mission. It is Christ who enables, equips, and empowers. The Greek word for power
is dynamis, from which we derive dynamo,
a source of light, and dynamite,
a source of energy that can plow through a mountain. The power and authority that Jesus gives is sufficient to crush the devil and defeat his purposes. Jesus is our power. As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings.
-Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 333.
Third, Jesus sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick
(Luke 9:2, NKJV). Preaching and healing go together, and the mission of the disciples is to care for the whole person-body, mind, and soul. Sin and Satan have captured the whole person, and the whole person must be brought under the sanctifying power of Jesus.
The life of discipleship can be maintained only when that life is totally given to Christ, with nothing coming in between. Neither gold nor silver, neither father nor mother, neither spouse nor child, neither life nor death, neither the contingencies of today nor the emergencies of tomorrow shall come between the disciple and Christ. Christ, His kingdom, and the witness to a lost world alone matter.
Take nothing for the journey
(Luke 9:3, NKJV). What principle is expressed here that’s important for us to understand and to experience for ourselves?
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Unfortunately, this comment is going to be a long one for the sake of those who cannot or will not go to references. For those I have included lengthy quotes.
To me this lesson raises an important question about being a disciple and doing what Jesus did. We have been sent out with a specific message to give to the world but I wonder about this as I read Bible texts such as, "for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts" (Rom. 2:14-15 NKJV). You see the context is that the Gentiles who choose to sin and the good Jews or Christians who sin under the law and are judge by it are set in opposition to Gentiles who do not know the law but do it anyway. When I read things from Ellen White such as:
I wonder what actually is the saving message we are to give. If people are going to be saved without knowing Jesus or the law or being baptized then what is it that makes them save to save?
I read some of the past comments this quarter where there is a moaning and groaning over our presentation of diet and I think properly so for we often major in minors and make mountains out of molehills. Like the Pharisees we strain out a gnat and swallow a camel (Mat 23:24). Like them we tend to focus on the lesser things while bypassing the "weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith" (Matt. 23:23 NKJV). Maybe what we need to do is to rediscover what the real message Jesus was giving to the people of that time. So I ask that everyone read carefully what Ellen White has to say about the message Jesus was giving and why He said what He did in the following quote.
The first portion of the quote that drew my attention was:
"the Son of God, came to earth to reveal the character of the Father to men, that they might worship him in spirit and in truth"
This gives me a different perspective, the focus is not "to save me" but on enabling true worship of the Father.
The second section was - the reason why we need to know the true character of the Father:"that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them."
So from this quote the mission of Jesus and thus ours is to reveal the wonderful character of God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit so that each one may be filled to over flowing with divine love.
Yes, Shirley, your conclusion you reach, "So from this quote the mission of Jesus and thus ours is to reveal the wonderful character of God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit so that each one may be filled to over flowing with divine love" I believe has a lot to do with it but I wonder if it might not be incomplete. I also wouldn't exclude the aspect that He came to save us, I think His mission was to save but let me gently nudge your intellect into a broader picture.
When I am faced with questions like this I usually revert back to considering the great controversy and think of texts such as, "For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men" (1 Cor. 4:9 NKJV) and "To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-- things which angels desire to look into" (1 Pet. 1:12 NKJV). So we are dealing here with a problem that spans the entire universe not just earth and draws their attention as it does ours.
The reason why 1/3 of the angels sided with Satan was because they were deceived into thinking that God wasn't what He said He was and that apparently has been our problem ever since the same thing happened in Eden. Maybe this is the reason why Jesus also said, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (Jn 17:3 NKJV) and "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (Jn. 12:32 NKJV). Everything Jesus did was to straighten out the concept of God's character that Satan has twisted and lied about.
To me that is why all our preaching and evangelism must be done to the same end but we seemed to have misunderstood Christ's mission and have contorted much of what He said into our own crooked way of thinking. As Jesus once said, "For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves" (Matt. 23:15 NKJV).
We take a lot of what Jesus told us and turn it into some rite or something we must do in order to be saved when in fact He was only teaching something about God that we desperately needed. Because of that what caught my eye more than anything in the quotes I included was this, "He urged upon men the necessity of prayer, repentance, confession, and the abandonment of sin. He taught them honesty, forbearance, mercy, and compassion, enjoining upon them to love, not only those who loved them, but those who hated them, who treated them despitefully. In this he was revealing to them the character of the Father, who is long-suffering, merciful, and gracious, slow to anger, and full of goodness and truth."
One of my favorite quotes is this:
Hi Tyler,
I agree!
God wants us to worship Him in truth and in spirit...God requires his people to shine as lights in the world. It is not merely the ministers who are required to do this, but every disciple of Christ. Their conversation should be heavenly.
It is true Tyler we often major in the minors.While the health is the right arm of the everlasting gospel it is not a means of gaining salvation or a test of faith.In fact we should all embrace the original diet.The truth is God's light is to be should every where and by the aid of the Holy Spirit and we must avail ourselves.
What did Jesus mean by saying " Go not into the way of Gentiles, and into any city of Samaritans enter ye not"?
Jesus first sent them to the Jews, later on Jesus commissioned them to go into all the world.
Why the Jews first? I believe these are some of the reasons:
The Jews were the chosen children of God, John tells "he came to his own", if the Jews as a nation had accepted Jesus as the Messiah all heaven would rejoice and they would have been such a powerful force to take the good news to the whole world. It all goes back to the reason why Jesus and the Father chose one family to receive "the oracles of God" to share with the rest of the world.
Another reason why he sent them to the Jews, was their level of understanding of Jesus mission, at this stage they didn't understand that the good news was for everyone.
"The disciples on their first missionary tour were to go only to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” If they had now preached the gospel to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, they would have lost their influence with the Jews. By exciting the prejudice of the Pharisees they would have involved themselves in controversy which would have discouraged them at the outset of their labors. Even the apostles were slow to understand that the gospel was to be carried to all nations. Until they themselves could grasp this truth they were not prepared to labor for the Gentiles. If the Jews would receive the gospel, God purposed to make them His messengers to the Gentiles. Therefore they were first to hear the message." – {DA 351.1}
What is our mission? To preach the gospel. Paul tells us why in Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation...". Within the message of the gospel "the righteousness of God is revealed" Romans 1:17. What is God's righteousness? His character..... love. This is the message that if not resisted will save mind, body and soul. It is our mission. EGW said this: "As Christ’s ambassadors, they are to search the Scriptures, to seek for the truths that have been hidden beneath the rubbish of error. And every ray of light received is to be communicated to others. One interest will prevail, one subject will swallow up every other,—Christ our righteousness.
“This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.” This is what needs to be brought into the experience of every worker, high or low, in all our institutions, in all our churches. God wants every soul to return to the first love. He wants all to have the gold of faith and love, so that they can draw from the treasure to impart to others who need it." RH 12-23-1890.
One interest will prevail, one subject will swallow up every other, Christ our righteousness... It is all about His story of love and sacrifice for a fallen race. This, if not resisted, will draw all men to Him. That is our mission, everything else is a complementary tool.
"take nothing 4 the journey". 2cor.12:9 God's grace was sufficient for them. If we concern ourselves with God's business He takes care of our business. Had they been well equipped with all necessities, in addition to the power to work miracles, they would have become proud at some point. It helped to humble them before God and the people they were to minister to. Mathew20:26-28. May be they would have abandoned the mission if they were'nt in need of anything. In proverbs Agur prayed to God to give him just enough lest he abandons Him prov.30:9. May be it also helped their faith grow over time due to this dependence. And also not worrying ie living one day at a time. Jesus taught us to ask for only "this day's daily bread" not for a week's, month's or year's. The principles to learn and apply in our lives from this text r many. GOD bless this blog. It makes me understand my lesson more. Interesting too.
Thanks Joan for enlightening me! I now understand why relying on God alone is vital in our mission. God bless!
David, the first time Christ sent out His disciples, He told them to take nothing for the journey. But later, near the end of His life, He said, "But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one!" (Luke 22:36 NLT)
good work made every one of us to knowhim
"Sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick"
Jesus sent His disciples to heal the sick. This did not mean that they had to cure every disease in the world only(which they could by the way) but also to heal the inward spirits that had been marred by sin. There were those who had been broken hearted, those whose consiences that Satan had battered for years, those whose minds had not been in the right state for long. Jesus sent the word to be preached unto these such that they may find that healing. Most of the time, one author said, that outward sickness is an out pour of the inward. We are to learn that when we have been commission by the King and given the power and authority, it is our duty to heal the seen and the unseen. God wants us to worship Him in spirit and in truth and those spirits can only worship Him when they have been freed from the bondage of sin.
What moral lesson do we learn from the fact that Jesus chose Judas as one of His disciples though He knew that he was unfaithful? Does it mean that God works with sinners?
David you raise an important question that is not easy to answer for Jesus did say, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?" (Jn. 6:70 NKJV). What I think actually happened is that Jesus allowed him in but didn't give him a formal call as He did the rest of the disciples.
The Lord Jesus told us why He chose Judas to be an apostle in John 13:18; 17:12. He said it was to fulfill Ps 41:9 - "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
If Jesus says he chose the twelve, he means what he said, so he did choose Judas to be one of the twelve. So why did he choose Judas?
Firstly the Word tells us the Father loves the world so much he will try anything and everything to reconcile everyone to himself.
Secondly to teach us pride goes before a fall, to warn us that not all who appear to be followers have truly submitted their will to the LORD.
Thirdly to encourage us to never give up trying to reach even those who seem to a hopeless case because he didn't.
Jesus told those who wished to follow Him to 'take their cross daily and follow Him.' What does it mean? Some people wear cross necklaces as a result of this command! Are they right. Kindly help me understand this.
People will always attempt to apply spiritual lessons in a literal way just like the woman who read, "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you (Matt. 5:30 NKJV) and decided to take a cleaver and literally lop of her hand off because to her it made her sin. And then there is:
And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?" So they said, "Nothing." Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me:`And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For the things concerning Me have an end." So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough" (Lk. 22:35-38 NKJV). In that last sentence one can picture Jesus sighing as if to say, "will they ever learn the real lessons?" "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (Jn. 6:63 NKJV).
Hi David,
I believe if we want to know what Jesus meant when he said take up your cross daily we need to look at the context, see verses below.
Firstly and most importantly he meant "follow me" and he goes onto to explain that following him was not going to be easy, they would be persecuted, they might be killed and they would not be popular.
Secondly I believe he was asking them to commit their lives to him every day, it is not a one time decision, it is a daily surrendering of all your plans to His will, it is depending on his power and not your own.
It was an interesting comment by Jesus if we remember that he said that to them before he was crucified, so what could it have meant to them at that stage? At that time, any who rebelled against the spiritual leaders or the Roman oppressors could find themselves being crucified. So could Jesus be telling them - in spite of the danger - follow me!
Finally I believe that Jesus was trying to get them to understand that he was offering them eternal life with Him and that our eternal life is much more important than this temporary life on earth.