Missions Paul

“God protect me today, get me through this ordeal, don’t let me fail you, don’t let me back down, turn back, give up, I will have succeeded today if I’ve not denied you.”

Christians who live out the gospel all over the world will pray this prayer and for some they pray it daily. In prison or in hiding, a refugee or spat at in the street, this is their prayer.

Four days ago a friend sent me the headlines of a newspaper in a Pakistan city I have preached in:

“Two Christian women face the death penalty in Pakistan for removing a sticker carrying a verse from the Koran from a Muslim colleague’s locker they were asked to clean.”

Can you imagine their prayer today?

Jesus is commissioning his disciples into a short mission’s trip but half-way through this account the vocabulary changes. It appears that Jesus has the great commission in mind when the Twelve will go so much further than the lost sheep of Israel.

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10 v 16)

Sheep, wolves, snakes and doves, what is Jesus saying?

It will be tough.

Jesus tells them they are not going to lost sheep but that they are the sheep who are sent amongst a world of wolves. This is how we know Jesus is thinking longer term when they are reaching the world with the gospel.

The picture is easy to imagine: wolves don’t eat nicely or moderately, they are savage, messy and greedy, they will eat their prey even while it still has breath.

So flee or fight but whatever you do then make sure you know the intention is not to spare you anything.

The Apostle Paul warned the Ephesus Church that ‘wolves’ would come among them (Acts 20:29). He knew that wolves exist not only outside the church but they also deceive with wearing the clothing of the sheep they have just killed to cause more damage from within (Matthew 7:15).

It will be tough.

Jesus changes the language again. So not only are we the sheep but we are also to be the snakes. Throughout the Bible the snake is seen as evil, deceptive and dangerous. In the same breath he says we are also to be like doves and we understand perfectly that image, peace, stillness, beauty and of course the Holy Spirit. Jesus is saying we should be like both the snake and the dove.

We need to be wary of what we walk into, don’t be blinkered, be wise. However, be innocent, harmless, otherwise your wariness will turn into cynicism and you will become devious.

We need to walk with purity of intent, peacefully, calmly. However, have your wits about you, be wise, don’t be fooled otherwise you will become naïve.

What amazing truths Jesus taught the Twelve which are still applicable in our day.

What are you facing today?

If you as a Christian do have a difficult time because of your faith in Jesus and perhaps you do get some form of persecution then under that kind of attack remind yourself that there are people in your family of God where leaving is not an option. Maybe you are a Pastor and you cannot see it but you know something is wrong with your Church, hidden wolves have appeared and the sheep are hurting. One day you’ll stand in heaven with those who had to lay their life down for the gospel and they’ll say to you. ‘It was tough down there wasn’t it? It was tough’. And they’ll ask you a question, ‘How was it for you?’

I want to be able to respond and say ‘well, I don’t understand why I didn’t have the same persecution, but like you I never backed down when it got tough’.

After telling the Twelve to stay in whatever house welcomes them until they leave that town, Jesus now tells them what to do if they can find no one to welcome them.

The Jews on returning home from Gentile territory would before they entered the borders of their Holy Land would shake the Gentile dust from their feet so as not to contaminate their sacred space.

“Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.” (Matthew 10 v 11-15)

Today you may want to move on and yet you believe God wants you to stay and that is right that you be obedient. Jesus is not saying that today wherever you are you must not persevere.

But Jesus has said they must travel light and now must keep going and if they get hurt by not receiving a warm welcome then to do what is culturally the practice at that time and remove the dust. Don’t contaminate your future by the rejection you are now receiving.

However, if you are not being made welcome and you are unable to stay then move on so long as you can move on without taking hurt with you.

So before they go they know that they will experience failure with some people and towns that they take the gospel to. Some places fail and it isn’t anything to do with the minister.

The problem is many move on carrying hurts and bitter memories with them. They never shook the dust off and as a result make a mess for the people they meet ahead of their path.

Some go through life having the same arguments but with different people simply because of the dust on their feet.

This was a unique short term mission’s trip by Jesus sending his disciples to proclaim and do what they had seen him do. This chapter is not a rule book for missionaries but at the heart of what Jesus said are principles for every one of us who try to live as Christians in our world.

“Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave.” (Matthew 10 v 9-10)

Get going – stop delaying by talking and planning what you are going to do. Jesus doesn’t seem concerned over a lot of details rather he is very keen to get them going.

Stay focused on the mission – no money, no bag, no extra shirt, no extra sandals and no staff. There isn’t much left to be distracted from the mission. This is not about you. Jesus doesn’t seem concerned whether they will have enough resources to share the gospel.

Interact with as many people as possible – depend on others for food and accommodation, don’t be independent. Jesus wants them to make decisions that mean they continually meet people.

This is a unique mission’s trip but there are wonderful truths still for us today.

GO – IMMEDIATELY, actions not words.

FOCUS – NO DISTRACTIONS, there will be provision.

INTERACT – PEOPLE need the Lord!

Jesus is sending his disciples out on a mini-mission.

As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. (Matthew 10 v 7-8)

They are to proclaim the famous message stemming from John the Baptist. He began to preach at a time when the Roman kingdom was all over the land. The thought that the prophesied kingdom of David would come again was fading. ‘Will we ever see the kingdom?’ The message was and still is, ‘Yes, it is near.’

But what kind of kingdom is coming? More to the point will they receive it? Matthew tell us as do the other gospel writers that the generation of Jesus missed it.

So a similar but hidden question is now posed throughout his gospel, will the readers of this gospel miss the kingdom again? In 2021 will the kingdom be missed?

They were to heal, raise, cleanse and drive out. They were to do what they had seen Jesus do. How?

When they came to Jesus they had left businesses and lifestyles to do so. They didn’t bring anything that would help them with such supernatural abilities. They didn’t have these abilities to bring but they had received from their Master his authority to do what he did.

They had to discover how to take the presence and power of Jesus into hopeless situations.

We still do.

Jesus has chosen his Twelve and is sending them out on a gospel trip. It will be their first practice mission before they eventually become full-time missionaries to the world.

“These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.” (Matthew 10 v5-6)

1. The opportune time is set within a context that is temporary.

God came to the nation who were preserving the Scriptures and trying to keep to the traditions of the Torah. Jesus goes first to Israel.

What the disciples had to learn was that this was a temporary context. Post-resurrection Jesus sends them to the world (Matthew 28:28; Acts 1:8) but we can see clearly how this was embedded into their missionary mind-set. Paul had a heart for the world but he believed, ‘first to the Jew then the Gentile’ (Romans 1:16). It took persecution to move the Church into mission to Samaria (Acts 8); it took a vision from heaven for Peter to truly see the Gentiles and then persuade the other apostles (Acts 10-11); it took the Holy Spirit intervention for Paul and Barnabas to be sent.

I sat with some leaders of a church which in its history had a move of God which saw many come to faith and the church building was filled to capacity. Their biggest challenge now is that they have members who for many years are wasting their life on the dreams of the past not realising that there are times when the opportune time is set within a context that is temporary. They are misunderstanding the past opportunity and they are in danger of missing a new one for their life now. Learn from the past, draw out its principles, but don’t live there for some contexts are temporary.

• Your opportunity can be given to someone else.

Do you ever wonder what would have happened if the Jews had grabbed that baton? They didn’t and so now the disciples go not only to Israel but to the whole world.

I know of a man who used to be an elder of a church. The Church was 1 mile outside of the town in a place where it was completely non-residential. The Pastor wanted to move the Church into the town to be where the population was. This elder refused and made sure the desire of the Pastor was thwarted. The disappointed Pastor moved on and God gave him the same opportunity but in a different place where the elders supported him and he moved the church into the centre of that town.

In the course of time the elder abandoned his wife and family and moved away to start life with another woman. Today his son is the Pastor of that church and has moved the people into the town and they have a newly built building.

• The restricted opportunity could be for your benefit.

Going to the Jews was far easier for these Jewish disciples than going to the Gentiles. They needed no cross-cultural preparation or understanding. The Church would discover the importance of these things.

Preparation is everything. These disciples at the time were so unpredictable in that they could react violently if the gospel was rejected wanting to call fire down from heaven (Luke 9). Far better to practice in the safety of ‘home’ first.

Some people look at the baton and want a different one.

There is a huge difference between a Pastor turning down an opportunity of leading a Church because there isn’t many members or little salary and a Pastor accepting it based on the fact that taking that baton right now gives him or her the benefit of seeing what God can do. One has stopped running before they start and the other is a person who keeps moving.

Know the time of the baton for you and when it comes from God make sure you grab it.

Yesterday once again I hosted a zoom induction of a new Pastor to our church in Malton. The Church has a history of great Pastors who have continued the story. This new Pastor takes the baton today and will Pastor the church not in the way it has been done before otherwise there would have been no need to pass the baton on. But he will do it his way, he will run his leg of the race the best he can and that is how it should be.

Jesus chose 12 disciples who would become the Church leaders (well, 11 of them).

“These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.” (Matthew 10 v 2-4)

Which one was the best leader? Who was the best preacher? Who pastored in the most caring way? Could any play music (an added bonus!)? Who was the best digitally?!

Any member of a church that stays in it long enough has the privilege perhaps of compare and contrast on the Pastors that lead their church. We all know this experience from both sides.

Well now can you imagine following on from the 12 disciples that Jesus chose?

But of course we know the good and the bad of most of them. Let us take a very brief look …

Simon Peter known for one thing, the denial, but was used in many ways for example in receiving revelation from heaven: “Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16

Andrew who struggled to see what Jesus was wanting him to see: John 6: 9 “There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many people?”

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who desired promotion to have the best seats in Heaven: Mark 10:37 “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

Phillip who struggled to do the math of faith: John 6:9 “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

Bartholomew also known as Nathanel was spotted by Jesus even before he knew about him: John 1:48 “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Thomas had courage but lacked faith, John 11: 16, John 20: 25, “Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him… So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!… But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Matthew also known as Levi was quick to leave everything and follow Jesus, Luke 5:27-28 “After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.”

James son of Alphaeus is also known as the less, the lesser or the younger, Mark 15: 40 “Now some women also were watching from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and Salome.” But nothing more is said of him.

Thaddeus also known as Jude who wrote the epistle has nothing said of him in the gospels

Simon the zealot listed but no more information on him either.

Judas Iscariot known for one thing alone.

The more you know these first 12 disciples the more you realise how human, sinful and actually it is not too difficult to follow on from them! You see it is often our rose-tinted glasses that make people bigger than they actually are.

Jesus chose these men, imperfect, ambitious, faith-less people that they were. They all had good attributes but for some we will never know what they were as no-one decided to write anything about them!

Therefore, you can do it, you can carry your own baton as a disciple of Jesus, you may have many reasons to disqualify yourself but these are no more or less than the 12 men above. If Jesus wanted them then he sure does want you. S grab hold of that baton and run your own race today.

Today is going to be great. I have another zoom induction service of a Pastor commencing in his new church. I will bring the church and Pastor together for a new day and season and I am praying the years ahead are wonderful ones and that together they will impact their town and area with the gospel.

In our next chapter of Matthew today we read of a new day for the disciples. Jesus is getting them ready to go out on a short Missions trip for Him. What is important in this opening verse is that Jesus expects them to go together, the other gospels have Jesus sending them out in two’s.

“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” (Matthew 10 v 1)

The social distancing that has been needed since the start of this pandemic has only heightened the fact that we are social beings and when that is taken away we struggle. The vast majority want to be together again and it is what we are looking forward to.

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him, together.

• Community is more important to Jesus than it has been for us over the years, we realise that now.
• Our calling and our destiny is better discovered and expressed through community than trying to convince a community of our individual, personal revelation of the ministry Jesus wants us to do.

Jesus gave them authority, together.

• ‘Bless me’ should be changed to ‘bless us’ and ‘fill me’ changed to ‘fill us’ and so on.
• Singing songs together then we should sing songs more about us rather than me. There is a place for personal worship but perhaps the powerful moments are also in the understanding that Jesus wants to pour out His Spirit on us.

Jesus gave them authority, together, to drive out and heal.

• We were never meant to go it alone.
• Driving out demons and healing is just too much for an individual anointed one man/woman band. Maybe there are too many temptations for stardom. If the team conquer Everest it’s not important which foot got there first, the team did. The gospel was meant to be shared together and when we minister to people it should be done at least with another if possible.

How are your horizontal relationships? Who are you walking with? Who is holding you accountable and who is laughing with you? Share your life, it is better that way.

God hasn’t finished with your life.

You may already know this and are waiting for some divine destiny to unravel. I have great news for you! I know what it is!

The HARVEST.

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9 v 36-38)

It is PLENTIFUL

The aim of mission is that individuals come to know Jesus as Lord and Saviour. But that happens in a variety of ways through medical missions, education, reaching the poor, the orphans and the widows, social justice, helping business enterprise, evangelism and church planting. Even where you are right now without going overseas there would be a variety of ways to reach many people with the message of God’s love. The harvest is indeed plentiful. Let’s be creative. But also let us not be blinded to the many hidden and sub-cultures within people groups all over the world. The harvest is plentiful. It is not enough to say ‘God has called me to reach the Jews’. The Jews in the UK, Russia and in Israel may share the same history but they don’t share the same language and problems. Every nation will have a caste system of some kind, recognised or not, which cuts through language and ethnicity. I have a friend who is church planting in London. All his churches are Chinese. They all speak Chinese so I think. But one church I am translated in to speaks Mandarin and another Cantonese. They don’t understand one another. Even though I just think they are the same people. The harvest is plentiful. Then we can look at the unreached people groups defined by the fact that there is no movement within which can adequately reach the people without outside cross-cultural help. The hidden, lost people groups. Then there are the least evangelised people groups. 25% of the world population still have little or no access to the gospel. The harvest is plentiful.

The need to PRAY for WORKERS

A prayer movement began in England in 1782 led by the Nottingham Baptist Association. Every month churches would meet solely to pray for mission and expansion. It wasn’t long into those meetings that a man drew a map of the world and joined in the prayers, pouring out his own life in prayer for the lost. This man, William Carey, known as the father of modern missions rose into the work of reaching the lost from the place of prayer. We need such movements again. We are living in a new season where for over the last decade at least the Church has been reawakened to the call to pray for the people of the world. New ministries and movements of prayer are emerging. A fresh burden to pray for a release of workers is being seen right across the globe. This is not a movement in the UK to send workers to the four corners of the world. No, this is a world-wide desire and call to pray. Movements of prayer are taking place in Africa and Asia to raise up workers for the harvest. The world is poised for global mission like never before.

It is waiting.

For you.

Overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro is the world’s largest statue constructed between 1922 and 1932, Christ the Redeemer. It is an amazing picture for the whole of Brazil’s Christian faith. Christ the Redeemer has His arms stretched out to the whole world today. No one is beyond His reach.
“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9 v 35-37)

The crowds were there. They can be found. Jesus moved throughout the region, teaching, proclaiming and healing and as he did he saw them, the harassed and helpless crowds, directionless and uncared for.

We only see what is there when we move.

They were not led by still waters instead their lives were storm-raged and rudderless.

What had happened to these people?

Who was to blame? Them or their shepherds? Maybe both.

The Bible is full of a God who loves as a shepherd.

Joseph described God, “God who has been my shepherd all my life” (Genesis 48:15)

Isaiah prophesies, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” (40:11)

And of course David says, “The Lord is my shepherd.” (Psalm 23:1)

This shepherd is the defender of the vulnerable.

Our God was and is always on the side of the powerless and of justice for the poor, needy and vulnerable.

Most people who are downtrodden by abusive power are those who had little power to begin with, God gives them particular attention and has a special place in his heart for them.

The word ‘compassion’ comes from the words to ‘suffer with’ and is rooted in God’s covenant with us His people. He came to us, suffered for us and rose so that we might also be raised.

He saved you. He heard you. He turned to you. He was gracious to you. He gave righteousness to you. He protected you. He has been good to you. He delivered you. He dried your eyes. He steadied your feet. He brought you to life. In the presence of suffering, in the presence of liars, in the presence of all His people, even in the presence of death, He freed you, freed you to serve, freed you to praise and freed you to live. For the ones who have fallen on hard times. For the tattered and the torn and those who have been forgotten. For the ones that have run out of second chances, burnt every bridge, and hit rock bottom… You are never too dirty, never too deep, never too far, to find hope, find relief, to find a Compassionate Saviour. You were once part of the crowds and now you are called to move towards them.
Today may God open your eyes to see what Jesus sees.
Today may your heart be broken for the broken.
Today may you not give up until those around you are helped.
Don’t run from the mission God has called you to, but be the follower of Christ in the mission to the crowds.

In 29 years of being a Pastor/leader I have found the attacks within the Church are more regular and more damaging than any attack from outside. Every attack has centred around offence that a decision or action caused discomfort, change or disregard to how things are usually done or should be done.

“While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”(Matthew 9 v 32-34)

Contrast 1: The healed blind men left the house and disobediently began talking about Jesus. As they leave a demon-possessed unable to talk was brought in.

When a Church is unable to evangelise the problem may well be a spiritual one.

Contrast 2: The openness of the crowds who are surprised that they are witnessing such activity in their generation (Nothing like this has ever been seen …) expose the closed and insecure Pharisees who assume that if this was God He would work through them (It is by the prince of demons …)

When the culture of a Church is worshipped then it can dismiss the ways of God.

Contrast 3: The blind could see and the mute could speak but the seeing Pharisees were blind and their accusations of Jesus only silenced the spiritual warfare taking place in their own hearts.

When a Church opposes a move of God their condition can be worse than the demonised outside of it.

God still moves today.

When He does He usually offends those who are not moving.