Sunday, September 8,
2019
An author recently made the point
that people leave church “because too many churches are about things beyond or
instead of the work of Jesus Christ.”[i] I disagree.
Beyond the work of Jesus or
instead of the work of Jesus; I agree many churches serve their own agendas
instead of God’s, I just don’t know if that’s why people leave church and stay
away from church.
As Luke chapter 9 ends, Jesus is
frustrated with people who are moving away from him because they don’t want any
part of his agenda. “I’ll follow you
Jesus, but first let me go and bury my father” (9:59). Jesus responds, “Let the dead bury their own
dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Jesus’ reaction doesn’t sound very
sympathetic. Hey Jesus, how about, ‘Oh,
I’m so sorry your father is dead.’ Let the dead bury their own dead? What kind of response is that? Maybe the Lord of creation and the Savior of
the universe needed to spend a semester in a basic pastoral class?
Or, maybe Jesus knew something about
the guy who wanted to hang out at the graveside when it was time to hit the
mission field. To the guy who wanted to
say goodbye to mom and pop first, Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the
plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Reading the Gospels in their
totality, we know that Jesus cries at funerals and says his goodbyes. The point here is not that he was cold to
people who were in grief or who had to make big decisions. The point Jesus wanted his followers to see
and wants us to see is the decision to follow Him is the biggest decision a
person will ever make. Once you say,
“Jesus is my Lord,” then He truly is; Lord of your marriage and your wedding
day; Lord of whether you decide to marry and whom; Lord of your kids and your
job. We say “Jesus is Lord,” but do we
understand what we are saying?
There may be some people who stay
away from church because people in the church have agenda’s that are different
than God’s and the church misrepresents Jesus.
I think just as many people stay away from church because they sense
what Jesus wants from us – our very lives; and they don’t want to give Him that
much control.
Turning the page from Luke 9 to Luke
10, Jesus has moved on from the hesitant disciples. He’s got 70 who are ready to go wherever he
says to go. This is all before the
resurrection, before his followers realize that He is God in the flesh, Messiah
and Savior, and Savior for not just Israel but the entire world. The 70 were Jewish disciples traveling in
Jewish territory to announce that in the coming of Jesus, the Kingdom of God
has come near. What we see in Luke 10 is
a prelude to the Great Commission Jesus will give his followers after
resurrection; after he rose from the grave he sent them to Jerusalem, all Judea
and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
As Luke 10 shows us, even before the crucifixion and resurrection, to
follow Jesus and to be one of His own is to be sent to tell the world about
Him.
There’s no such thing as a Christian
who is not sent. If we want the title
‘Christ-follower’, then we embrace the commission to go and tell about
Jesus. Maybe you are sent to the
neighborhood where you live, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, or Durham. Maybe you are sent to your workplace. You do your work with great effort and
integrity. In that setting, God will
open the door to spiritual conversations with co-workers; in that moment you share
your faith. Maybe you are sent to UNC’s
campus or to a particular group on campus, a fraternity or gathering of
students with a particular major or a dormitory. That becomes your mission field. The moment we say “Yes” to God, “Yes, I want
to receive forgiveness of sins and give my life to Jesus;” in that moment, we
are called to go and tell. We are all
sent.
In upcoming weeks, we will look at
the ways God equips us as we set out on the mission he lays before us. God doesn’t just say to you or me “Go get
‘em, Tiger!” God gives Spiritual gifts;
this is mentioned in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and briefly in 1
Peter 4. God works in the opportunities
we have in life; we see this in the stories of Peter, Philip, and Paul, all
told in the book of acts. God uses skills
and talents we develop in life as He did with the artisan Bezalel in the book
of Exodus, and the song writer Asaph whom we meet in Kings and Chronicles. God speaks through our individual
personalities. Think of the shy, timid Timothy or Barnabas, the
encourager. Spiritual gifts,
personality, skills, experiences, and heart’s passion – God looks into your
life, takes what you bring to the table, enhances it, and speaks through you to
the world.
Our mission at HillSong is to follow
Jesus, love others, and share hope. We
do that through ministries here at our church, ministries our church does out
in the community, and through God at work in our members as we go about our
lives. You have a part to play based on
the unique combination of traits that make you who you are. Whether you have been in our church for 20
years or today is you first day with us, you have a part to play in the way God
brings good news of salvation to Chapel Hill through us.
In talking about this – being on
mission, being called, being equipped – why do we start with Luke 10, the story
of Jesus sending 70 out? Why not begin
with standard spiritual gift lists in 1 Corinthian 12 and Romans 12? Why start here?
The gifts are important but we don’t
start there because we don’t people to become “gift-obsessed.” Is my
gift serving? Oh my gosh! I thought I had the gift of prophecy! Now what do I do? I can’t speak truth to power. I can’t prophecy. I have to stay in my spiritual gift lane but
I don’t like the lane God assigned me. We
don’t want that. We believe great joy
comes when we serve God in the church in our areas of gifting and
strength. But prophets can serve; just
read the stories of Elisha in 2nd Kings. And servants can prophesy. Ask Amos.
We want to know our gifts but not be gift-obsessed.
A bigger reason to start our
conversation about being equipped to do God’s work with the story of the
sending of the 70 in Luke 10 is what Jesus does there for the disciples. It’s more important than Spiritual gifting. The Spirit of Jesus goes with them.
He sends them with no
provisions. They are workers sent to
harvest the souls of people who respond positively to God’s invitation. Do you want your sins forgiven? Do you want to follow Jesus? The workers are sent to tell everyone how
important this invitation is. We workers
are to guide people to Jesus so they can be born again and see His glory in
their lives.
Sent without provisions or supplies,
Jesus tells them they will face opposition.
“I am sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves.” When we step out on mission, two types of
wolves await us. There are evil forces,
demons, and temptations from Satan. This
is supernatural opposition. It is real
and will confront us when we step out in Jesus’ name.
The
second type of wolf is the spirit of fallen humanity. People and institutions give in to temptation
to sin. They declare that they don’t
need God and you don’t either. These are
the builders of the tower of Babel. This
is humanity’s willful rejection of God. Both
types of wolves will draw us away from God and down the path that leads to our
destruction.
How can we possibly succeed? What chance does a sheep have in conflict
with a pack of hungry, snarling wolves?
Just one; we survive if we stay connected to the shepherd. Before we take stock of our spiritual gifts
we have to establish that link with Jesus.
This means we are so committed that
we’d be willing to follow Jesus even in the midst of mourning a lost loved
one. We’d answer his call even if we
missed the chance to say good bye. Jesus
would not lead us to hurt our families or be hurt by them. But our commitment to Him puts him
absolutely first in our lives, so we would do whatever he asked no matter what
it is. We move forward trusting that he
is with us and that he will only ask us to do life-producing things and to go
places where we can share love. And we
trust that’s he with us every step of the way.
Before we have spiritual gifts, talents, or other attributes, we have
Jesus because he has us.
The seventy Jesus commissions in
Luke 10 go unnamed. We could speculate
that some of these are the heroes of the faith we later meet by name in the
book of Acts. In Luke they are anonymous
believers that trust Jesus. So, he sends
them. How does it go?
Luke 10:17, “The seventy returned
with joy.” It sounded ominous, “I am
sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” But they trusted him. The put their hand to the plow and did not
look back. To Jesus, they proclaimed
with wonder, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” In
Jesus name. Jesus joined them in
their triumph. He tells them, “I watched
Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on
snakes and scorpions, and over the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt
you” (10:18b-19).
When they headed out, they didn’t
need supplies. They had the one thing
they needed: Jesus. Snakes and scorpions
and demonic enemies and human temptations all await us when we head out to do
the work of Jesus, whether it be in our church, on campus, in our town, or on
the job. Multiple manifestations of evil
oppose the advance of the Gospel.
Starting now, we have what we need to step out boldly.
No, not “what” we need; we have who
we need. When we turn to Him in faith,
we have the Holy Spirit of the Resurrected Christ in us, before us, and holding
us so that no threat is as powerful as the one who sends us and walks with
us. What do sheep need to face ravenous wolves? The shepherd!
We have the shepherd, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.
I don’t know why people stay away
from church. I do know the Spirit that
draws each one of us to God’s embrace also sends us into the world in Jesus’
name, stays with us as we go, and rejoices with us when we return.
AMEN
Well said.
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