Sent Two By Two

"And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits." Mark 6:7 ESV

What does this passage say to you? I woke up thinking about this. I think that evangelism works this way today also. It is God pairing together two or more people, sometimes strangers or people who have little in common, and sending them out So that they can bring people back to Him after a witness of power on those two people's lives.

This isn't about me being a nice person at work. That's fine but it isn't necessarily evangelism. I see a structure. I see people going out that have a place... a place where a person is manifested... to bring people home to.

I have seen people leave the structure that allows them to evangelize and then that aspect of their life drys up. I have seasons like that. Let's face it not everyone has the make up to disciple people in faith one on one. Most people need a group or at least the support of a group. I was always taught that winning someone and then leaving them undiscipled is paramount to abandoning a child. You just don't do it and I see the logic of that. A person who believes in Jesus has become new. They have a new identity and they need someone as a guide or it would be very easy to get lost in the woods.

I'm very glad God used a group of people to come and get me. That imperfect team had the power of love. I saw that love and that imperfection. It was a group that could live as imperfect people made perfect in a thinking atmosphere of grace and truth. I go because that group went and I don't have to be perfect to do it. I do however need a place to bring people home to where they can meet Jesus.

I'm not saying that 'place' needs to have a name over the door and a cross on the wall but how else does this 'two by two' dynamic happen? What does that passage say to you? Can you afford to tear it out of your Bible or write it off as being written to some other group of people? There was a power placed on those two people. If we live outside that structure isn't it right to say that we might also be living without that power?

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Comparing Two Sendings

"The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, 'Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town...' " - Matthew 10:2-14 ESV

"And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe...' " - Mark 16:15-17 ESV

I am looking this morning at these two 'sendings'.

One takes place when the disciples are first chosen and the other happens years later after Christ's resurrection.

I am looking at the first sending like an internship. It is focused. It is within the culture. Jesus is going out also and doing the same thing.

The second sending is broad. These men are going to take what they learned in that focused time and bring it into all the world. Jesus is in Heaven now. They will now lead the mission.

Structured focus is very good for new people. People learn team dynamics. Just saying things like, 'We are all going to go out in small groups and then we will meet at the fountain at 1:15pm. Stay in your groups. Pray when someone else in your group is speaking to someone. Be led but be at the meeting place on time.' is so valuable.

People need this before they 'go into all the world' and leave their familiar culture and the relative safety of familiar surroundings.

"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin..." - Zechariah 4:10a NLT

Yes!

Not that the first sending was small. It was vital.

I'm praying that God would raise up leaders who have focused ministries so that others would be discipled and become leaders who want to go outside the walls and minister in far away lands.

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Being His Disciple

I woke up with this next passage on my mind...

"Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 'If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." - Luke 14:25-27 ESV

Jesus taught in a Hebrew style. He uses parallelisms. The Psalms and Proverbs is full of them. This would classify as a synonymous parallelism. One statement builds on and is equivalent to the next. Claiming co-crucifixion with Christ and hating sentimental attachments with people go hand in hand.

"And Jesus said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.' Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" - Luke 9:60-62 ESV

When I was growing up we had a term for people who made a claim to be something they admired but did not resemble. It was 'poser'. They wore the shirt but lacked the commitment or qualities of the band or movement they claimed to be a part of.

Jesus was making a statement here. His cross was a part of who He was. In a fallen world the cross is where a holy person goes. You can't be called a disciple if you have no cross. You can't be HIS disciple unless you have HIS cross.

This isn't salvation. Salvation is believing in Christ. This is discipleship and there are other benefits involved in discipleship. Intimacy is one. If you want to 'know' Jesus then you have to be where He Is. Wearing a Christian T-shirt doesn't make you a disciple. Identification with His cross and detachment from the controlling influences of sentimentality are key ingredients.

It isn't a works program. It is a value system. I want to have God's value system and I look to Jesus to see what that means. The way into that system is through His cross. He has born the pain of it. We pick it up and there are echoes. Not everyone will like what we are doing. Our life no longer belongs to us. Our hands rest on a plow that moves straight ahead without deviation. We plow straight lines of grace thinking. If we fail we repent and get back up again and say, 'That wasn't Jesus but the fact that I can rebound is evidence of His place in my life.'

Why say we follow Christ if we don't resemble Him? It is only going to confuse people and later it will all burn up like wood and hay on a fire.

No, Let's pick up His cross. It is a light burden and an easy yoke if we have forsaken everything else.

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Get On The Boat

It is funny when you suddenly see that there has been a 'theme' in your meditation that you didn't know was there.

I realize mine has been, 'What Jesus had and didn't have.'

"That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 'He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.' Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' Another of the disciples said to him, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' And Jesus said to him, 'Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.' And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him." - Matthew 8:16-23 ESV

It is easy to lament about what we do or don't have. Jesus was aware of the voids in His life and yet He was without sin.

There are trade off aren't there?

Most of us are not rich but we have things that Jesus didn't have. Creature comforts. A set of mugs. Curtains. We buy the cheese we like at the store. We ride instead of walk. We get this instead of that.

Part of me says, 'There is nothing wrong with that.' but another part says, 'I want to be with Jesus... I want to be like Jesus...'

People want more but I often think people have too much. Societies have too much. Individuals are distant because what they have is blocking them from intimacy and provides temptation.

I'm not preaching poverty.

I just want to get on the boat when it is time to get on the boat. Some never pull away from shore because what they have holds them back from what Jesus has.

I identify with this person who wants to bury their father. They want time to do what is honorable. They want to make memories. They don't want to aleinate their family. I get it. Sure I do. Which one of us doesn't get that?

But...

The boat is leaving. Jesus is moving. He Is alive and going forward. He won't apologize for it either.

I want to encourage you to go with Him. I'm not telling you to give up everything but you already know that your ten suitcases aren't going to fit on that little boat. Your plans of comfort and security are not going to work fully into that trip.

The boat is going to depart today. Jesus Is going in an uncomfortable direction. Go with Him by faith. It won't be easy but you won't regret it... Later... I promise you... we won't regret it.

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The Things Concerning Himself

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." - John 20:30-31 ESV

"That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." - Luke 24:13-27 ESV

Wow. Wouldn't it be awesome to hear that Bible study! It isn't recorded but if we search the scriptures and learn from people who are looking for Jesus in the scriptures I believe in time we find and hear what they heard. It isn't given to us in Luke 24 but at the same time God doesn't want to hide those truths from us either. He is just as ready to give us what He gave them.

I wonder if in Heaven all the dots will be connected and we will be shown when we heard what they heard. Hidden in some angelic archive might just be all the 'where's and 'when's of our life. We may see there that we heard some of what Cleopas heard this Sunday morning at Church... or next week at a Bible class... or 2 years from now on a foreign field.

I want to hear because I believe but the converse is also true... I believe because I hear. We need to hear. It gives us momentum and maintains a momentum.

Letters. TV. Radio and Internet are great tools but there is nothing like walking with someone as they reveal Jesus in the scriptures. There is no substitute. These disciples didn't know it was Jesus walking with them. They just saw a person willing to be part of their life who knew God. We need that.

Let's never stop looking and hearing. God has freshness for us when we are looking for Jesus in God's book.

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Take Up Your Bed And Walk

"Jesus said to him, Get up, take up your bed, and walk.' And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, 'It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.' But he answered them, 'The man who healed me, that man said to me, "Take up your bed, and walk." ' They asked him, 'Who is the man who said to you, "Take up your bed and walk?" ' Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place." - John 5:8-13 ESV

Jesus told this man to do something. He did not want the man to rest in the same place he had been resting for the last thirty eight years. Is it work to move your bed? The religious people of the day thought so.

Discipleship involves moving our place of rest but Jesus disappears and the man is just left with words. It's interesting really because Jesus didn't do this with many people. He told Peter and John to follow him. They had a clear idea of who he was but this man had an identity in his sickness. He spent his days with sick frustrated people like himself who just couldn't get up fast enough. Jesus gave him words and gave him a commission like he gave Abram long before. He told him to leave what was familiar and enter into a new kind of rest.

"Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.' The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him." - John 5:14-15 ESV

Jesus found the man in the temple. The man was in God's house.

We pray a prayer with people but their identity will linger near to the place they find rest. Alcohol. Sentimental attachments. Illness. Sports. Fiction. Politics. Salvation is real but unless it moves to discipleship there is a real danger that it will lapse back and the person won't 'find Jesus' again except in times of great strife. The temple is where we find Him.

"[Others] Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

[She] My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies." - Song of Songs 6:1-3 ESV

The girl had lost her beloved in the chapter before. He had gone to feed his flock among the lilies. The once sick man lost Jesus temporarily but found him in the temple.

We find Him at Church where people gather together and ponder His word. We find Him where Pastors feed their flock lilies (grace words). That is where we live in our new identity and find a new place to put our bed.

Moving the bed seems like work but really it isn't. It is establishing a new place to rest far away from a victim mentality.

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Endure Hardship

"You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." - 2 Timothy 2:1-7 NASB

We are not soldiers, athletes or farmers for God. Our goals are different but those vocations have qualities that we bring to our cause and our cause is clear. We entrust grace thinking to faithful people.

Soldiers share in hardship together. What is expressed here is the team aspect of our calling.

Athletes must have an internal mindset to push themselves and compete within certain boundaries so they are not disqualified. This isn't team. This is singular determination and commitment. This is learning to run inside the lines so that our effort is not disqualified.

A farmer lives on what he or she is doing. He doesn't plant to please others. The carrots his family doesn't eat are for sale and He makes sure there are a lot of carrots.

"By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us." - 1 John 4:17-19 NASB

A disciple studies under a master to make what the master makes. That ancient disciples swept the floors, cooked the food and did menial tasks for the master to be close to him so that they could learn.

If Jesus is our Lord we have taken on a love apprenticeship. When we follow Him we learn to love and learn the doctrines of love. Hardship, sweat and tears go hand in hand with the joy, learning and laughter.

Faithful witnesses of the cross say, 'It is finished. He is risen. Cease from striving. God has loved you with a perfect love.'

If this is true and can be a provision for every suffering person on the planet then comfort must take a backseat. Our liberty is real and becomes focused. We plant so that there will be more than we ourselves can eat.

This love will cast out all fear.

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Those Who Get To Ride

"I have seen slaves on horses, and princes walking on the ground like slaves." - Ecclesiastes 10:7 ESV

This verse is from Spurgeon's morning devotional.

This is so true. I know some real spiritual giants that slave all day at hard jobs and when you talk to them you marvel at their wisdom and compassion and then on the other side of the coin there are people who 'won the lucky sperm contest.' They were born into wealth or power yet they lack the utility, integrity or wisdom to use that advantage in a very useful way.

A horse is a vehicle. Something that allows swift and powerful movement. You sit higher on a horse so you have a clearer vantage point of the surrounding terrain.

Here is the verse I got this morning as an answer to this dilemma.  

"Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:30-31 ESV

Eagles have a higher vantage point than horses and those forced to run gain stamina and strength.

"And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on." - 2 Samuel 18:9 ESV

This is the spiritual danger of pride and exaltation. Pride is expressed in long hair in the scriptures. In the old testament men were to have short hair as a witness to the angels. That long hair matched with an exalted position can leave a man 'suspended between heaven and earth' and vulnerable.

"For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." - Galatians 6:8-10 ESV

I am not one who believes that poverty and lowly living are the lot of spiritual people. Yes, It happens in the world but success also happens. It is usually because people see value where no one sees it and nurtures that value through time and resources. We have young princes in our homes, communities and Churches. Let us do good to them and to everyone.

"And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power." - 1 Corinthians 6:14 ESV

Yes, He will.

"And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt." - 1 Samuel 18:4 ESV

We have a robe of righteousness, a shield of faith and a Bible as sword. Let's give those things away to the princes we meet. Each believer in God is a prince in His eyes. To be born from above means to be born into royalty.

I would rather cup my hands to lift a man up to ride as an eagle than to help him up onto his high horse.

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Be Ye Followers of Me

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." - 1 Corinthians 11:1 KJV

Would I have followed The Apostle Paul? That has been my question this morning. It made me take a little time to pour over the books he wrote to see what he taught again. Instead of looking at it as doctrine alone... I am looked at these books as what a man was teaching. Paul knew grace. He understood so much. He valued people greatly. He loved. He had boldness. He was a hard worker... making tents to pay his way.

He also made mistakes. He was so bold that is must have seemed dangerous to his team. He loved his fellow Isrealites so much that he would have gone to Hell for them. People thought his study had driven him mad.

He wasn't Jesus. Jesus lost no one. None of his disciples died while He was walking on the Earth. How much more dangerous to follow some one like Paul who relied so heavily on grace and mercy.

How can we follow anyone who isn't Jesus? Good question.

Who will lead us into personal victories? Who will take new territory? Who can provide a covering? The world needs men who lead and men who follow.

In part it must have been what Paul believed and who he was that made anyone want to follow Him. But, It was also where he was going and His connection to Christ.

This is a polarizing concept. I know it is. Many consider the risk too high to ever attach themselves to any man saved by grace. Some people who have been burned in relationships feel that way about marriage. Never again... until they meet the right one.

A nice church can be a nice place to hide... or perhaps a solitary life of faith is also. But, If you are connected to a man of God you will take the land. There will be victories and the dirty stalls that come with them on the outside and there will be conversions in the hidden territories of the soul also.

Time is too precious to hide out. I want all that God has to offer.

Come and See...

"You will only be able to take a person as far as you have gone yourself." -John C. Maxwell (quoting Les Parrot)

A variation of this quote was attributed to my Pastor who has since gone home to be with the Lord. It really typifies his life as a believer. He was a man who constantly communicated a 'Go all the way with God' attitude. That is the kind of attitude I admire. I have made decisions to this end and I am determined to keep making them. From what I can see... going with God is the best possible way I can spend my life so I am going to God all the way with Him. Why settle for anything else?

The above statement is the reason that no priest or man can take you to Heaven. He has not been there himself so how could he take you there. I want to follow the one who has conquered death. I can follow the faith of a man (see Heb 13:7) but they will not save me. They can't save me. Jesus can.

I can cast all my care on the one who sits in Heaven because He is in a place to carry them. I can go with Him through any situation because He has traveled that way before and found the victory that no one else can find.

To talk about grace is one thing... to 'go there' is another. What about mercy and love? If we don't dive deep who will? Maybe we have had great examples to follow... people we have known who walked the walk right before our eyes. Perhaps we have read about great people and what they have done. The Bible is full of people whose faith we can follow but the decision is ultimately ours.

We can live in mediocrity or we can go for it. We can pray or we can just talk about it. We can follow God or we can just live in excuses. We can just read a verse or two every once in a while or we can tear apart the scriptures and see how they work. Not in striving but in Love. Our eyes can be on the floor or on the horizon.

Do you want to tell your children, 'Follow God I used to and it was great.' or to have a bar stool ministry of some kind? Can any of us afford to live only in what was?

If Jesus is going somewhere I want to be on that bus! Jesus wants us on the bus also if we have the gutz to get on it. Grace and mercy have paved the way to this kind of adventure.

Today is the day. I want to go far today. I want to live where God has taken me because from the vantage point of Heaven I will have something real to say. I want to find rest in Christ so that I can say to the restless, 'I have found a place for you to rest.' I want to say,

"Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" Jn 4:29 ESV