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Sent out in Mission

Luke 10: 1 – 12

Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 23 Jan, 2005

TODAY I want to emphasise how community and mission go together. It is important, because we must become a church in mission. We need to be more than a few people in mission.

  When Jesus began his mission, he chose disciples and got them to come with him while he did the mission work. But, as time went by, he increasingly gave them responsibility for mission.

  In Luke 9, we seen how Jesus sent the 12 out, two by two, into the villages with the message of the Kingdom of God.

  In Luke 10, we see how Jesus sent out 72 others in a very similar way.

  Where were the 12? Jesus takes them aside privately after the 72 get back with their reports. Maybe the 12 went out with the 72.

  Maybe, with the experience of their own mission behind them, the 12 were able to lead the 72. Did they went out in groups of 6, each led by one of the 12? Did those 6 then split up into groups of two to visit different villages in the same region? We don’t know.

  But we don’t need to know the precise mechanics of the operation. We aren’t called to be mechanics. We are called to be drivers.

  There are a few things we all really must see in this passage before we tackle any details.

  First, this mission included healing, preaching the good news of the Kingdom, and delivering people from satanic oppression. And these things were not done by special saints. The Apostles had gone out first, as we read in Chapter 9; but then the ordinary saints went out as well and did the same kinds of thing.

  Don’t believe that lie, that only apostles work miracles. Ordinary Christians have always been used by Jesus our Lord to work miracles, and we need to believe that and begin living it out.

  Don’t wait for a pastor or an archbishop or a Grand Poohbah to do the mission and then call you in to clear the tables. You do it; in Christ, you have authority!

  Some time back, I met a rather timid lady down in Marrickville, just outside Fosseys.

  She told me that she had a vision for mission, a picture in her mind of making a difference in Marrickville in the name of Christ.

  But she felt that she had no right to start a project. Her priest had to be the one to have the idea and get the ball rolling.

  I instructed her about her authority in Christ. I talked about how she could exercise authority and leadership without opposing the authority of the appointed leadership of her church.

  She went and did what she needed to do. Later, she said, “When you told me that I have authority, that was the turning point for me.”

  That lady has begun a quite important ministry in this area, and it is being noticed in other towns, and people sometimes even ask this lady to come and tell them how to do what she has done here.

  You have authority.

  Another thing, another preliminary consideration, is that the chain of mission can’t stop with us. We are required to pray that more workers will be raised up to do the same kind of work.

  What began with Jesus spread to the 12 and then to the 72 and then to those who followed them and so on, in ever widening waves.

  The third preliminary is that Jesus never gave a methodology — he gave a message. It’s like Al-Qaeda. Someone said that that is the major franchising operation in the world today. To be Al-Qaeda is to work within a policy framework, but each operation is independent and finds its own methods and plans.

  So one al-Qaeda operation crashes aircraft, one blows up a building, one lets off bombs on a train, and Usama bin Laden doesn’t direct all of those things. But he might say, “I won't support that, because it doesn’t achieve our aims,” or “I will provide funds for that, because it will work.”

  We have a Lord, who has given us a mission, given us a policy framework. If we work within that framework, he will support our mission; if not, he will not.

  So let’s think about being in mission.

  First, mission is about being sent out.

  Jesus said,

³ Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

  When I was first called into ministry, I was about 17, and I had no idea about exactly what kind of ministry it should be. All I knew was that God wanted me in full time service.

  It was scary. I didn’t know if he wanted me to be a minister, or a missionary or what. I’ve told you how afraid I was that I might have to be a missionary living in a grass hut somewhere.

  Even when I was in college, I had a nasty experience when a missionary speaker told us how he had gone into college to train to be a pastor, but heard the call to overseas mission while he was in a college chapel service.

  I always felt uneasy about Chapel services after that!

  It was because God had called me into full–time service, not into a specific area of service.

  In a sense, it is always like that. The framework remains constant, the methods change.

  Second, mission is about working in community.

  We read,

[Jesus] ...sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.

  John Wesley famously said, “There is no such thing as a solitary Christian.” And that thought lay behind his development of the Methodist classes and societies. Even the Jehovahs Witnesses go out two by two, attempting to follow the gospel pattern — and it works.

  When Christians do God’s work in God’s way, God’s blessings will follow.

  When you go out in mission, choose a companion to go with. Extra wisdom will ensure you get extra results. And you will spur each other on when the going is tough and you need a friend.

  I will make a comment here, though: it’s best not to go with your wife or your husband, at least at first.

  I have a friend who was a pastor not far from here. He was puzzled for a long time. The deacons would enthusiastically adopt some plan, and nothing got done. Then, a few weeks later, things would start happening.

  Finally my friend worked it out.

  No decision of the deacons was ever ratified until it had been discussed in the kitchen by the deacons’ wives. My friend called it “The Kitchen Club.”

  He even caught the secretary’s wife tearing strips off the poor man for having agreed to some plan that she didn’t think was a good idea for the church.

  A husband and wife without anyone else involved can become exclusive; and usually one wears the trousers, so it does not become a true community. There are too many power issues.

  But a husband and a wife and another couple can be a very powerful combination, because you have two who have become one flesh, going into mission with two who have become one flesh.

  Some time back we had a couple attached to this church who wanted to be involved in outreach and mission, but they didn’t want to team up with other people. But they had to talk to me, because I was the pastor.

  I noticed that the husband seemed to want to really negotiate and be part of the church’s outreach, but that his wife always gave him a hard look and pulled him back if he started getting too involved.

  Eventually, they both left, but the husband kept up contact for a while afterwards, while the wife didn’t seem to want to talk to us at all.

  Third, travel light.

  Jesus said,

⁴ Do not take a purse or bag or sandals;

  Last week, one of the girls at work left us to begin a masters degree at Newcastle University. She needed a laptop computer, and I lent her my little Dell laptop for the first month until she gets settled and knows what she needs.

  What surprised me was how light my computer bag was when it just had a computer in it! I always seem to have a camera, a tape recorder, a low-powered microscope, several magazines, some letters that I should get around to answering, and a newspaper and a New Testament in there, and they weigh my bag down.

  In fact, I discover that my two nephews call me, “Inspector Gadget” because I always seem to have the tool someone will need.

  That’s not really the way to be in mission, though! The early Christians didn’t even take a New Testament with them, because they didn’t have a New Testament to take.

  Our CEO at work likes to use modern technology when we have our Christmas party and CEO’s speech. Unfortunately, the modern technology often fails, and we are unable to hear the important things she tells us all!

  A PowerPoint presentation can look really great, but it usually achieves much less than just being there for someone.

  Mission depends on Jesus, not on our equipment.

  I have a friend, a truly delightful young woman, who will discuss most topics with me. She’s still a bit uneasy about the gospel, but even there, I get the impression that she thinks I am a safe person to talk to about it.

  But if I did a presentation, I know she could always do a better one – she is very clever; if I gave her a book, if she wanted, she could find one equally interesting but holding an opposite view.

  So we just talk. Once a year we have lunch together and talk all lunchtime. A couple of times a year we go down for coffee and chat for 15 minutes, if one of us is stressed or worried or something. We listen to each other. I have all the equipment I need: two ears and an open mind.

  And I pray. The time will come...

  Technology will break down at the critical moment; money will be held up in the post, but the word of the Lord remains forever.

  I know that different kinds of mission require different support. If you find your calling is to capture hearts and minds with PowerPoint presentations, do it — but don’t overload yourself with high tech. equipment. Focus on the goal rather than on the means of reaching that goal.

  Fourth, bless people.

  Jesus said,

^{LK 10:5} “When you enter a house, first say, `Peace to this house.’ ⁶ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.

  This should be basic, but it’s not. We still need to be reminded.

  Jesus didn’t suffer hypocrites gladly, and, if we wish someone God’ blessing, then we act so as to bring blessing to that person.

  Part of that blessing is to bring good news. As Jesus said,

...eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’

  Chris and I have a friend, an unusual person in many ways, and I would have to say that, if she says she will do 10 inches for you, she does a foot, just to be sure. And, if she sees a need, she does something about it. When Chris was in hospital after our trip to England, she was one of the first to come to visit, though it was very inconvenient for her to come.

  She blesses people.

  We need to bless people.

  Finally, don’t waste your life.

  Jesus said,

...when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’

  There are four kinds of people in the world: those who start something and walk away expecting that someone else will finish it, those who never start anything, those who start something and see it through, and those who don’t generally start something, but keep plodding on once they begin. I tend to be in that last bracket.

  When I was a teenager, I saw how little churches suffered from having pastors who lasted for three years and then moved on. I said I wouldn’t do that to a church, and I suppose I haven’t.

  But sometimes you just keep bashing your head against a brick wall, and no one even notices.

  Jesus says, “Make a decision. Are they likely to change? If not, don’t stay. Pack up, move on, it’s their decision not to hear, and not your fault.”

  There are plenty of places where people will listen. Move on, move ahead, and see the Holy Spirit at work.

  Summary:

  Every word here refers to us in Marrickville. The fields around us are white unto harvest. And we are the only ones who can reach the people we are among.

  Therefore, as much as Jesus sent those 72 out, he also sends you and me to reach out community.

  When Jesus sent the 12 out, we read,

...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.

  The only difference between what Jesus told the 12 and what he told the 72 is that the 12 knew they had authority to cast out demons, while the 72 only discovered that they had that authority once they were forced to try.

  You have all the authority you need to be in mission.

  You need to find that partner in mission and start doing it.

  Do God’s work in God’ way and God’s blessing will follow.

  Gentlemen, ladies, choose your partners, and go!

AMEN

© Peter R. Green 2005. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)