There is a story about two missionaries
who were going door to door. They knocked on the door of one woman who was not
happy to see them. She told them in no uncertain terms that she did not want to
hear their message and slammed the door in their faces. To her surprise,
however, the door did not close and, in fact, almost magically bounced back
open. She tried again, really putting her back into it and slammed the door
again with the same amazing results-the door bounced back open. Convinced that
one of the missionaries was sticking their foot in the door, she reared back to
give it a third slam. She felt this would really teach them a lesson. But
before she could act, one of them stopped her and politely said, "Ma'am,
before you do that again, you really should move your cat".
We don't see many door-to-door sales
people anymore, do we? Why not? First of all, nobody's home any more, are they?
At least, not in the daytime. And at night, with so much to do, and after
husband and wife have worked all day, most people don't want to be bothered
with strangers at the door. So, at least in one respect, we live in a world
that is different than the one in which Jesus appointed seventy emissaries and
told them to go out two-by-two into the towns and villages from house to house
and heal the sick and to tell everyone who would listen that the Kingdom of God
is near.
Jesus and politicians have a lot in
common. Both struggle to get their message out. Both send out advance men to
prepare the way and to excite the people for their arrival and their messages.
The seventy disciples represented the universal mission to all
nations-including the Gentiles and the Samaritans. Their discipleship had a
multiplying effect because people wanted to hear the message-just like people want
to hear the message today. The seventy were delegated to discover new
opportunities that were there to bring the message to the people and the people
into the kingdom.
Why did Jesus send 70? Some scholars
believe that the seventy missionaries represented the 70 nations of the world
that were listed in Genesis 10. By appointing seventy, Jesus was announcing
God's intention to take the news to the entire world. They were sent in pairs
because their work was difficult, even with helpers. These men were sent into a
vast field with very few workers to help them. They were to pray for more
labourers to join them-just like we have to pray for more helpers today when we
fulfill the same mission. The seventy were successful in their first attempt at
spreading the Gospel. They conquered their fears and did what they were told.
Sometimes we in the church are not
willing to follow some of Christ's directions most of the time. Are they too
difficult? Do we do only what is the easiest? What we fail to do most often is
to not really ask something in Jesus' name and expect it to come true. We only
respond in partial faith, or we try to make our desires God's desires. The task
Christ gives us is not easy, but He helps us and supports us. Nothing is
impossible with Christ.
The 70 disciples were totally
defenseless. They were totally dependent on Christ and the reception of the
people they met. We can be sure today that God is there with us. It is no
secret that our world has a lot of problems such as violence, war, crime and
famine. Around the world today, the collapse of civil societies sobers us. We
are descending toward individualisms that block our responsibilities for each
other, including those who are poor. When it comes to our ways of living, some
of us may think that we can escape the consequences of our wasteful lifestyles,
deliberate ignorance of others' poverty, and reluctance to combat injustice. We
act as if we don't have to pay for what we've done. The only way we can escape
our problem-filled world is through peace-the peace that only Christ provides.
We are to proclaim that peace, which is the arrival of God’s kingdom and
ushered in by Jesus.
The church must also look at its own
checkered past. All we have to do is to look at the residential schools issue,
especially the issue of how native students were treated. We must ask ourselves
is we are converts or Christ’s disciples.
By God's grace, and because of the Holy
Spirit, the consequences of our living on earth can lead towards wonderful
things that don't break any law-such as helping one another and doing good
deeds. We must go out into the world because there are people in great need. We
must go out as caring people who identify with them in their hurt and their
need. We must go out with the hope and realization that when we minister to the
least and the lowest, we encounter Christ. When we feed the hungry or visit the
sick or prisoners, we obey Christ. We can be so at one with Christ that Christ
will live and act through us. He calls us to identify with those he came to
save. The worst thing we can do is to make a person who is in need or in the
middle of a crisis feel rejected or inferior. Sometimes those we minister to
will do more for us than we will do for them.
When Jesus said, "I am sending you
like lambs among wolves", he was acknowledging the ferocity of the
opposition that true followers of Christ would encounter. The image of the lamb
is an image of self-sacrifice-the Pascal Lamb, who is slain to redeem His
people. Any follower of Christ must also be an imitator of Christ. If we are to
be like Christ, we can expect the same treatment he received. The image of the
lamb is also a reminder that the kingdom of God will be marked by peace and
reconciliation. We must confront the attitudes and behaviours that do not
reflect God's intentions. The word “lambs” implies that religious commitment
can’t be compelled by force. This sets Christianity apart from other religions,
especially the radical elements of Islam.
Jesus knew the seventy would stand out
and was counting on it because they had a message to share-a message so vital
and life-changing that everyone needed to hear it. People still need to hear it
today. When we are changed by our encounter with Christ, we have the authority
and responsibility to tell everyone, by our words and by our lifestyle, that
the Kingdom of God has come near them. It defeats the powers of darkness and
evil, and brings the Kingdom of God among those who are lost and hurting. Jesus
told the 70 to proclaim the rule and reign of God in people’s hearts, and he
tells us to proclaim the same message today. We do this by respecting one
another, live in loving relationships, working to bring about social justice,
and reflecting the image of God in our works and deeds. As we pass through the
various stages of our lives and the changes they bring, we are still disciples
who have been sent to proclaim the Good News. God has sent us along with his
presence in the form of the Holy Spirit.
Satan’s power and authority over people
has been broken not only by Jesus, but also by the faithful people who follow
the Great Commission. When we stand against evil in any form, we are protesting
evil. The protest is reflected by Christ's instruction to the seventy to shake
the dust off of their shoes when they encountered a town where the people did
not want to hear the message. Judgment will be certain. God will deal with
those who reject us. When they reject us, they reject Him. We have a
choice-accept Him or reject Him.
A preacher was speaking at an open-air
crusade in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada one time. Billy Graham was to speak the following night, but
he arrived a day early. He came unannounced and sat on the grass with the
crowd. In front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening
attentively to the preaching. When the call came for people to come forward and
make a commitment to the Lord, the gentleman did not move. Dr. Graham tapped
the man on the shoulder and asked, "Would you like to accept Christ? I'll
be glad to walk down with you if you want to." The old man looked him up
and down, shook his head and said, "No, I think I'll just wait until the
big gun shows up tomorrow night". In the thinking of this man and in the
thinking of many people, winning souls for Christ is something that should be
reserved for the "big guns". Today's gospel story, however, shows us
that mission is for everyone, big guns and little shots alike, the clergy as
well as the laity. We are all called to be missionaries for Christ.
People of all ages still follow Jesus
today. That includes taking the good news to all people all over the world, in
spite of opposition from other faiths, governments that try to suppress the
message, and the influence of the secular world. Those who follow Christ are
the forerunners of the coming kingdom. We pray for the grace to be good
representatives of what we proclaim, proficient in our witness, and to assume a
personal ownership in the ultimate victory. Christ seeks us not in the temple
courts of the sacred and the sanctified, but in the scandalous, secular and
sinful world. When He seeks and saves us, it means our eternal destiny has been
decided. Salvation rests in God's care and keeping.
The only way to understand the
Christian life is to live it. It can only be understood if we follow Christ’s
example in the homeless shelter, at the local food bank, at a hospital bed, or
with a friend or neighbour who has just lost a loved one. We do this as
ordinary, fragile human beings. We need to give witness to God with our whole
lives, especially since we don't know when we will have an opportunity to show
God's love. Jesus calls us to go to everyone we know and touch them with the
ministry of God's love. We are called to be faithful witnesses of our Lord. All
we have to do is tell people about the love of Jesus, and say that he died for
all. We are not to do this alone. He has given us our church communities as
support networks that we can share our journey with.
We are called to travel light on the
road of faith. Too much stuff can be a problem. The more we accumulate, the
more our freedom is restricted. The more attached we are to our stuff, the
harder it is to hear the call of Jesus. Churches are also called to be in
mission, to be about the business of evangelism, to hear Jesus' instructions,
and to travel light. They are often so bogged down with business and concern
for facilities and so many other details that they can miss the voice of the
Lord-just like busy people can.
The Great Commission was possible
because of Christ's authority, power and dominion over heaven and earth.
Spiritual authority is a vertical chain of command with Jesus at the top. He
gives us a vision of what we can be and of what God can do in us and for us as
we make our way to Him and spread the Good News. Jesus has shown us that the
light is there-the light of hope and faith. We have to hold on to faith and to
hope in what He has shown us and to keep on going. We cannot be diverted from
our mission. We are not to give in to false promises. The most effective form
of evangelism is the way we live our lives and the example we set as
Christians. The best forms of evangelism come in small ways with random acts of
kindness. That's how we can defeat evil in the world. Our mission is the same
one that was given to the seventy. There is a deep hunger for God, the truth,
and sincere witnesses to Christ. We need to learn to work within that
authority, to step out and claim it, and use it in ministry.
A young hospital chaplain was serving
his internship in a large teaching hospital. While on call one night, he was
summoned to the room of a woman whose baby had been stillborn a few hours
earlier. “We want our baby baptized,” the young woman said, cradling her
lifeless daughter, her husband at her side. “Her name is Nicole”.
The intern didn’t know what to do. He
asked the young parents to wait a few minutes and then come to the chapel.
Meanwhile, he tried to find a more experienced chaplain to take over. He was
not successful. What was he to do? What was he to say? Baptize a stillborn?
This situation had not been covered in either his theological training or his
training in pastoral care. He tried to think of what he could say to minister
to this couple in their grief.
But when they arrived at the chapel,
the words he had hoped to say did not come. Instead, and almost without
realizing what he was doing, he took a tissue, wiped at the tears in the eyes
of the parents, then wiped his own tears and touched the tissue to the baby’s
head and said, “Nicole, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.
He said nothing else---the tears were
more eloquent than words could have been.
We must always be willing to discover
new opportunities for doing God’s work in our world. The old ways of doing
things may not always work in our modern society. After all, if Jesus was here
on earth today, he would likely use the Internet, social networks, cellular
phone applications and other modern tools to proclaim His message and do His
work in our world.
We must also be persistent, especially
when we face barriers to seeking the kingdom of God. Persistence does indeed pay off. Remember the
parable of the persistent widow who constantly pestered the judge to hear her
case until he finally gave in. If people don’t respond to our message about the
Good News, we must move on to others who do respond. If they refuse an
invitation to come to church, we must move on to those who are willing to
accept the invitation. Resistance is a sign of vitality and an occasion for
ministry.
Our chief goal must be salvation and
faithfulness. We must point people to Christ, and not to ourselves. We have to
offer Christ’s love and compassion. We are to witness to people and rejoice by
being faithful. When I say that we must witness to people, I do not mean that
we have to go door to door like the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses do. We
can witness to people by the way we lead our lives; by donating food, money or
time to the local food bank; by visiting
with a sick person at home or in the hospital; or by offering sympathy and
comfort to a friend or neighbour who has just lost a loved one. We are to
minister to people by getting to know them and being genuinely concerned about
their needs. Unless we love people, we will hinder God’s work here on earth in
some way. We are forerunners of the coming Kingdom, just like the 70 disciples
were “advance men” for Jesus. We must always pray for the grace to be good
representatives of what we proclaim. In other words, we must practice what we
preach.
If we stand firm in our mission, Satan
will fail in his mission. Satan will fall when we trust Jesus with our lives.
Satan will fall when we stand firm against all forces of evil, just like the
Axis powers in World War II fell when they faced the determination and unity of
the Allies. Satan will fall when we exercise the power of Christ obediently in
faith and belief. Satan will fall when we are so at one with Christ that Christ
lives and acts through us.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
ESV
Study Bible, part of Wordsearch Bible software package
2.
Charles
F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, New American Standard Bible version
3.
Matthew
Henry Concise Commentary, part of Wordsearch Bible software program
4.
Barnes’
Commentary on the New Testament, part of Wordsearch Bible software package.
5.
Jude
Siciliano, OP, “First Impressions: 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time,
Year C”. Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org
6.
Rev.
Christopher Henry, “The Nearness of the Kingdom”. Retrieved from www.day1.orgh
7.
Rev.
Dr. James D. Kegel, “A Guide for Ministers”. Retrieved from www.sermonwriter.org
8.
Rev.
Charles Hoffacker, “Do Not Be Afraid”. Retrieved from www.sermonwriter.org
9.
Pastor
Vince Gerhardy, “Words and Deeds”. Retrieved from www.sermonwriter.org
10. Abingdon Commentary. Retrieved from www.esermons.com
11. W. Robert McClelland, “A Seeking
Savior”. Retrieved from www.esermons.com
12. Leonard Sweet, “Get a Peace of the
Rock”. Retrieved from www.esermons.com
13. Maurice Fenerty, “How to Get the Job
Done”. Retrieved from www.esermons.com
14. David Cartwright, “Ministering When
You Are Not Welcome”. Retrieved from www.esermons.com
15. Leonard Sweet, “The Kingdom of God
has Come Close”. Retrieved from www.esermons.com
16. Maxie Dunnam, “I Saw Satan Fall”.
Retrieved from www.esermons.com
17. King Duncan, “Nobody Wants to Make
House Calls”. Retrieved from www. esermons.com
18. Caroly R. Gibson, “Travel Light”.
Retrieved from www.esermons.com
19. Adrian Rogers, “Understanding
Kingdom Authority”. Retrieved from www.lwf.org
Grandma has a family lesson on service based on Luke 10:1-24. You’ll find it here:
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Blessings!
Grandma
A heat touching sermon. Thanks!
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