Ep. 18. Matthew 10 Pt. 1 - Did Jesus Give Christians the Power to Heal?

This is the Bible show. Welcome folks to another episode of the Bible show. My name is Sam joining me is Will. And we're continuing our series in the Gospel of Matthew. Today we're going to be in Matthew chapter 10, where Jesus is going to take his 12 apostles. He's assembled the team, and now he's about to send them out with some instructions that when you hear them, you're like, "Do I want to be on this team?" This is not like the greatest invitation or sales pitch if you're trying to make it sound like following Jesus is easy and it's going to give you your best life now and all of those things. He's going to say discipleship is a costly thing. So like where are we at? If you're just joining us right now, you know, the end of Matthew 8 and 9, Jesus has just gone on this miraculous frenzy where he's doing all sorts of incredible feats he's showing that he has mastery over like so many different domains. He's healing sickness, he's healing leprosy, he's casting out demons, he's calming storms, he's forgiving sins, he's healing paralyzed people, he's all of these things and it says that he's healing every disease and it says that he's casting out demons everywhere he goes and every town like it is all over the place, superlative language. And so at the end of the last chapter, everybody, including the apostles, like when he calms the storm, what's their question? What sort of man can do this, right? And that's the right question because only the supernatural could make sense of that. And so everybody's wrestling with who is this guy. Something is supernatural about him and either you conclude he's the Lord or he's a demon like the Pharisees. At the end of Matthew 9, they come to the conclusion this guy is doing this by the power of Satan and by the way, like tradition, all the writings of the Jews back in the day that rejected Jesus, said that he was practicing sorcery and these things. And so after that, Jesus then begins to take a kind of a much harder tone toward the spiritual leadership that existed in Israel during that day. And you'll remember like he's referring to Israel as being like sheep without a shepherd and we talked about what that means. Like they're desperate, they're, they're spooked, they're scared, they don't know where to go and nobody goes and loves them. They've got these religious leaders that are just oppressive who don't care about them who aren't chasing after the law sheep. They're only concerned about their own reputations and enrichment and all of that stuff. And so Jesus is going to conclude Matthew 9 with a famous statement where he says, "Man, the harvest is plentiful. Look how eager they are for any kind of hope." But the laborers are few. And so now you jump into Matthew 10 and it's like, "Okay, laborers, let's go out and gather up the harvest." And that's kind of where we're at, where he's going to call them and explain to them what does it look like to be a laborer and the fields of Christian ministry? And it's like, like we talked about, it's sobering. It's a lot, yeah. And in his comments, it's going to be rapid fire. Jesus is talking and almost all of this. But it's going to raise some interesting questions. So for example, I'm just going to list out some of them. What differentiates an apostle from a disciple? Interesting. Like, do we still have healing powers that were granted to the apostles? Like he says to them, you go do these things, miraculous things. Can we still do those things? Is there something deficient in us that keeps us from doing those things? Number three, does God still doom the miraculous through his church at all? Like, do we still believe that he moves? Does he still, still heal the sick and cast out demons and those kinds of things? Next, we're going to see Jesus prohibits his apostles from going into Gentile territories. That raises a question that some people bring up and be like, is this racism? Like, what is Jesus doing there? And there's a really beautiful explanation to that. Why does he forbid apostles from making financial gains during their mission? That's another thing where it's like, wait a minute, should we be paying pastors? Like, how do we understand that? How do we understand missionaries and those kinds of things? Another one where there's so much confusion is Jesus is going to talk, he's going to make a statement where it sounds like different sins are liable to different levels of judgment by God. Like, in our society, you'll hear all sin is the same, right? Well, not according to Jesus, you know, all sin separates, but not all sin is punished the same. Next, why would Jesus deliberately send apostles into a ministry filled with persecution? Good question. Because that's like, hey, if you're the good shepherd, like, you're doing, you're telling them, I want you to go amongst the wolves. And then what's the purpose and point of suffering for Jesus in this life? And in order to do ministry, you have to kind of resolve to yourself that I belong to the Lord. And if he gives me a life of prosperity and ease and faithfulness and all of those things, then glory be. But if he calls me in that faithfulness to suffer for his namesake, glory be. And so that's a big swallow. But that's where this chapter is going to go. So any thoughts on that? Oh, ready to go. All right. So verse number one, it says he called to him his 12 disciples. Okay? So there's a crowd. There's a lot of disciples. But 12 of them have kind of become the primary apostles that he's calling. And it says he gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction. And I want you to notice right out of the gates because this is going to answer some of the questions we get into later. He calls the 12, right? Yeah. Peter and Andrew James John. I mean, he goes to the list. He says, all right, you guys come here and it says he gave them authority to do all of these miracles. So what is he not doing? Give it to everyone. If you believe in me, you're going to have it. Like he's not screaming to the crowds. He's coming to these specific 12 and he's giving them authority. And the word there for authority, exusion, it's vested authority. So it's not like Jesus is saying, hey, when you get there, you know, ask me and we'll see, you know, if you can cast out demons. It's like, no, no, no. I deputize you. You, Peter, Andrew, James, John, you have authority to do these things on your own. Like, and it's authority. It's the word for power is dunamis where we get dynamite. That's one thing. This is exercised authority. You have the right and jurisdiction to act in these miraculous ways. And in some sense, Jesus is like, okay, I'm multiplying myself because before this, it's Jesus who's healing and casting out demons. One at a time and now he looks at the 12 and he's like, you go replicate this. Go. And they can do it on their own. And which is kind of a wild thought. Like Judas is going to be casting out demons. Interesting, because he doesn't really cast the main one out. Right? He's going to be overtaken by a demon, right? He's saving himself at the last supper. And yet, he's going to be one of the 12. That's interesting. That shows not to use his authority in that. Right? Think about that. How wild is that? That this is a man who has authority to speak authoritatively to the demonic realm and say, leave. And he doesn't. With the chief of all the demonic realm. It's kind of a weird thing to imagine. He just lays down his authority and allows Satan to take him kind of wild. Anyway, he's hoping to wake Israel from its slumber. You've got to remember like chapter 9 and 10. It's not like they had chapter breaks when Matthew writes his gospel. It ends with Jesus kind of saying, like Israel's not taking care of its people. And now he's going to commission the people that they would have looked down on. From Galilee, which is kind of like, you're not Judea. And it's fishermen and it's tax collectors. And it's all these people that now have the authority to do things that the most notable prophets of the Old Testament only have the authority to do. And so it's almost like he's using the weak to shame the strong and mighty. And all these scribes and Pharisees are going to be like, wait a minute. They're doing things that we can't do. And it's interesting if you go back and you look kind of in the historical record. Like people wrote about this, so I'm going to give you about the apostles doing stuff. So there's a guy named Quadratus who was a bishop of Athens and the early church. He's born at around 60 AD. And so you can imagine him as a young child is still alive when people who saw the ministry of Jesus, right? They're still overlapping when he's a child. He dies in 129 AD and he writes this. Our Savior's works, moreover, were always present for they were real. Consisting of those who had been healed of their diseases, those who were raised from the dead and who were not only seen while they were being healed and raised up, but were afterwards always constantly present. Nor did they remain only during the sojourn of the Savior on earth. Listen to this, but also a considerable time after his departure and indeed some of them have survived even down to our own times. And so here you have a guy who's living, you know, generations after Jesus, who's like, yeah, the miracles didn't stop. His apostles, that stuff continued, like even to our own times, like the people who were hearing about my letter that I'm writing right now, like they're still miraculous stuff that was happening in your lifetime. from the Apostles. John, we think, lived into the 90s. And so this stuff is it continued long beyond, you know, 33 AD. That's interesting. Just, I mean, you never think about that. Like, you know, the paralytic, we don't know how old he was, but, you know, he could have still been living for decades and decades and decades after. And he's a grandfather telling, like, "Hey, I'm at Jesus and this is what he did for me." And just the power of that testimony. Yeah. Jairus says, "Daughters 12. Who knows how long does she live?" And like, let me tell you a story. I was dead. Yeah. Right? And so there's another guy whose name is Porfrey, who's a third century skeptic, right? So Roman, third century, which is the two hundreds, which makes that confusing. And again, never claims that the miraculous feats of the Apostles were fables. He's not like, "Oh, yeah, the Bible's making that up." Those guys never did anything. Instead, he just like the Romans, when they talked about Jesus, said that the Apostles were magicians. Okay. So they're doing crazy stuff. He says, "They were poor and country-dwelling men. Certain wonders were worked with magical arts so that they might receive riches from the rich and impressionable women whom they had led astray." And so what's wrong with that? Just the whole thing. They weren't rich. You know, they lived a life of poverty and they were crucified and others things because of it. Yeah. Right? And so they're like, "They did this because they were selfish, huckstered." Like, come on. But notice what they acknowledge. Even the enemies of Christianity are like the Apostles, did some wild things. Not sure how to explain it. We'll call them magicians. Yes. But that is seared into the ancient world. So kind of a cool little apologetic thing that the stuff that Jesus is about to command them to do, they did, right? And so the number 12, when he calls the 12th, this is like the 12 patriarchs, which is important because who is he going to send them out to? They are going out to, we're going to see in a minute, to just Israel. And so he gives them the same scope of authority he was exercising. So it's going to say, "Heal every disease." That's stuff that he did. And so question, do we, today, you and I sitting here still have the same authority that was vested in the 12 Apostles. There'd be a lot more healing if we did, I would think. Right. Like, we would, I mean, I would use it more if I had that. Yeah. We would put churches down or hospitals out of business, right? Like, you wouldn't need a doctor. It's like, I'm going to go see Sam and Will. They have authority to do all of these things. And so you don't see that. And I don't think it's a one-to-one. There's a lot of people who teach, you know, that that continues today. And, you know, that there are people vested personally with the power to heal. That I decide you can be healed or not. It's up to Sam Kasten Smith, because I have the vested power to do it on my own commissioned by Jesus to do these things. And the reality is, like, I pray like crazy. And sometimes it's not up to me. Like, God still heals. He honors prayer sometimes. And you do, I've seen some miraculous stories where, like, I was convinced a certain outcome was coming in the flesh. And then God totally surprised and answered prayer and brought to Himself glory. But that does not rest in Sam Kasten Smith. If it did, my mom would be alive, right? But we stand in the victory of the one who has disarmed all powers, right? It's in terms of casting out demons. Colossians 2.15 says he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphant over them in him. And so every demon on this side of the cross, remember, he's commissioning them before the cross, at the cross, the demonic realm is put to an open shame. They are triumphed over. He has given his church dominion to command them to flee to all of those things, right? Like, there is some sense in which there's authority there. But in terms of, you know, we're still called to anoint, right? We're told to, to lay on hands to pray for the sick. Like, we are required to do that. And there is something that is spiritually vested in the church, but it's not vested authority to make the decision, yes or no, this person is healed or not. The individual from always happens every time they speak of it. Right. And this would be the equivalent. It's different of me going up and saying, you're healed versus being like the friends who lower the paralytic to Jesus. Our job is to put people in the presence of Jesus. He is the one to heal. Now, there will be some who claim, oh, God still calls apostles. And it's like, okay, you know, I have not seen somebody who definitively has the gift of healing anymore. That just, you're healed, you're not like, otherwise he would be worldwide famous, very busy, mobbed by everybody who can get to him, like Jesus was. So in one sense, I mean, you get people who say, you know, that, you know, if you're a Christian, you have authority, you can just do it. If you believe strong enough, then you have the authority to do these things. And I'm like, I don't think that's the way it works. That was given to the 12. And then you have people on the other side that are like, this doesn't happen at all anymore. The miraculous is done. And that is, that's wild. And that's totally unbiblical. The scriptures, you know, are going to decimate that idea through the prophets, through the writings and the New Testament. And so I think both of those go through and go to the extreme, right? You know, and as Christians, I think, you know, you believe you don't put God in a box, you don't want to do that. But you should also be, as this passage later on is going to tell you, you need to be as wise as serpents and not be gullible to be taken in by people that are false teachers. I think the right mix is an organization we work with Alpha. You know, they have a line that says, we used to pray for no one to get healed. And no one was healed. And now we pray for everyone to be healed and sometimes God heals them. Yeah. And that feels like the right, right mix of the two. Yeah. I agree with that. And I do, by the way, I do believe that God anoints certain people with powerful intercessory ministries, right? Like the, and I think that is because they are so disciplined and prayer and they pray a lot, you see a lot more things happening around those people because they put themselves in the presence of God. And they're, they're lowering so many different people into the presence of the Lord, besieging him. There's a word besieging him to heal that you start noticing man, like people who get prayed for by that person. There's a lot there. And I think part of that is an anointing on intercessory. I don't think it's them being like, I have the power of healing. I don't, I have to struggle with that one. But I do think that there's intercessory anointing, you know, anyway, that, that's where I am on that. You, you good with that? Yeah. All right. So verse two, it says, the names of the 12 Apostles are these. And then we get a list of, you know, Simon, who is called Peter, 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 Alfias and Thaddeus, Simon the Zele and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. And so this, like, there's a difference between disciples and Apostles. And this is where it's like he's introducing Apostles. Um, and Luke 6, 13, it says, when the day came, he called his disciples and chose from them 12 whom he named Apostles. That's Luke 6, 13. So it's like group of disciples, but they're not necessarily Apostles. Yeah. Boom. We're going to limit it down to just 12 that are Apostles. And so a disciple is a student. It's a follower. It's an imitator. It's like, you're, you're my teacher, my leader, my Lord, I'm following after you. Anybody who is an authentic Christian is a disciple of Jesus. Not everybody who follows Jesus is an Apostle. So what is an Apostle then? An Apostle and Paul, when you read his writings, he's constantly like, I'm an Apostle approving it. He's proving it. Here's my qualifications. And so we kind of get the definition of what an Apostle is, a lot from Paul. And it's, you're personally chosen and commissioned by Jesus. Like the voice of Jesus personally spoke this to you. That's correct. Like Jesus is not, Jesus has not come to me and said, I'm investing you with Apostolic authority. You're going to be, you know, the spirit's going to inspire you to write scriptures. For example, that's like an Apostolic thing. God is calling you to go off and to, to sent ministry commissioning you with a specific thing. He's personally taught and given the gospel by Jesus. You're an eyewitness of the risen resurrection, like the resurrected Jesus, like these things come. And when Paul is making the case that he is an Apostle, those are the things he point to. So like I'm off the list. Like I've not seen the risen Jesus. He has not audibly come to me and explained gospel. He has not come and, you know, commissioned me with particular authorities outside of what scripture gives to all disciples. But you see the difference, right? Yeah. And in this list, I love this. No priests, no Pharisees, no Sadducees, no scribes, no rabbis. It's like no Sanhedrin members, Ristocrats, royalty, nothing. You get four fishermen. You have the ones we know. You get a tax collector, a zealot and a traitor. Like that's the list. Again, it's interesting that even I didn't even realize that that's how Judas is described and labeled early on in the gospel. Kind of just like. It's not a great label for them. So then it says Matthew labels them apostolon, which is that the Greek word there means sent one. Oppo means like away from and sent away. You're the one, so disciples come in. By the way, they're gonna be sent out too, but disciples is like come learn, come be under authority, but apostles are like now your commission to go out. They're given specific missions. And so they go out with Christ's authority. And so here's some just like interesting details about a few of them. First Simon who's called the Peter. When it says first is Protoss, all the list of the apostles, he's always the first one. And I think, I think it's safe to say that's not necessarily, it's not chronological because Andrew, remember, is meets Jesus before Peter. This is positional. Like it just recognizes he's kind of the lead guy. He's gonna be the leader of the 12. And then you get the inner circle, which is Peter, James and John, then the full 12. But Peter's kind of the pinnacle of kind of the leaders, the spokesperson or whatever. Matthew is described as a telonis, which in Greek is a tax collector, but remember there's a difference between a publican and like the junior tax collectors. This is the word that tells you he's a junior. So he's not, but he's the author of the gospel we're reading is the tax collector. And it's like he wants you to know, even as he's writing chapter 10, he's the tax collector. - This is who I was. - He wants you to know his shameful past. It's like John and his gospel won't refer to himself as John, he's just the apostle whom Jesus loved. That's his identity. For Matthew, it's like I want you to remember, I was Levi, tax collector, now a Matthew gift of God and moving on. Bartholomew, which this is one of them that causes confusion and John's gospel, he's called Nathaniel, but then you get Bartholomew. We hear Bartholomew and it's a first name, but Bartholomew and Hebrew means son of Tolmai. - Okay. - So like Bar Mitzvah, Bartholomew, Tolmai, you get son of Tolmai. So that's who that is. Those are John Pears, Philip with Nathaniel as well. So here he's Philip and Bartholomew. It's the same guy, okay. Thaddeus is Jude. So if you ever hear St. Jude or watch the commercials that are just like gut wrenching, you know, they're rough to watch. And a beautiful ministry, by the way. But that's St. Jude, is Thaddeus. That's his other name. And then the last one, Judas Iscariot. The Iscariot is not part of his name, I don't think. - Okay. - So it comes from an expression that means a man of Karyath. And then the question is like, okay, well, what does that mean? First one, there is a town called Karyath Hezran. It's in South Judah. And so all the other apostles are all from Galilee. The one that would come from South from Judah, which is the preferred region, is going to be the traitor. That's the most popular view, I would say. And I think it's interesting. The next one is he's a man from the cities 'cause Karyath means city. So this is a city dweller. The rest of them are country bumpkins and fishermen and remote areas. This guy's from the city. Maybe Jerusalem, some people fear eyes. We don't know for sure. And then the last one say that the word Ascariot is a twist of the word Ascari, which is the word for dagger. It's like an assassin. He has got a dagger. That one's not as popular, but it is a theory out there. So all of these guys are ordained as the 12 commissioned, given authority, sent out preaching the gospel, outwardly identifying with the covenant community. And yet what's wild is one of the apostles is not regenerate. One of the apostles never come to faith. And it's like, I used to wonder this. Why do you think Jesus deliberately chose one of these guys that's commissioned with authority in the church, healing power in the church, power over the supernatural to be a traitor. 'Cause it's not a mistake. He's not like, oh, that's bad up. You know, I already bring one of them that walks in them for three years and he does all of this for so close to him, just to be betrayed by them. So one of them is like it's clear the prophets talked about how he would be betrayed by a close friend, right? So that's already in the prophetic, like the Old Testament's describing the Messiah, that's gonna happen. So this fulfills the scripture. But beyond that, I think there is a very real sense in which it's helpful for us to recognize that the visible is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the invisible, right? 'Cause you would look at the 12 and you'd be like, those are the guys. Like that's the best. If Jesus is the guy, then the 12 that are following him publicly and identifying with him publicly, those are the guys that are gonna be in heaven, you know, raining alongside of him. And Jesus gives us one of them who's lost, who he says it would be better for him not to be born. He's not going to be in heaven. And Jesus makes that, I think, pretty clear. And that's the same with our churches. You know, you can outwardly identify, you can walk, you can do the things, you can come say, Lord Lord. You can do all those things. And yet, if you don't know him, if you're loyalty and your surrender is not in him, at the end of the day, it's not worth anything. And so there is a visible church. It's good to be a part of that. You know, God does a lot of really beautiful things, it means a grace, everything else that come into the visible church, but it's more important that you're part of the invisible church that nobody can read your heart. You can do all the external things, but the internal matters and Judas does not have the internal. And so last thing on this versus, you'll notice they're broken up into groups of two. You're like, so kind of paired off, right? See that, like Peter and Andrew, James, and John, Philip, and Bartholomew. Why do you think they're peered up into? Very like Noah's Ark kind of. That's gonna work, yeah. I think that's part of it, but then also to this. And Mark seven, when it says he sent them out two by two. So he's gonna send them two by two and giving them authority over unclean spirits in the Old Testament according to the law, Deuteronomy, 1915. Wherever you go, if you're giving testimony, it says that it's required to have the testimony of two to three witnesses to establish a matter. And so when you send two people, 'cause you're testifying of Jesus, two people are required to establish it. And I think Jesus is following the pattern of the law. Two witnesses must go to every town. And it's just smart that they have a body. Body system. (laughing) The ancient body system was an effect. Maybe it's just a body system, it could be. All right, so verse five, it says, then Jesus sent out instructing them. Now this is where you're like, that doesn't sound like Jesus. Go nowhere among the Gentiles. You're like, that doesn't sound right? He's very pro Gentile, like that's kind of weird. So expanding, isn't it? Yeah, so go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans. I mean, most of the Jews of that day would have been like, rock on. Yeah, we're not doing that. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And so the word sent there just isn't interesting little. Side note, is Abbas Dalin? What are you hearing that? - Apostle. - Apostle. It's the scent again. So he's sent away to go do these things. They're sent out. And so he gives this prohibition of a ministry to the Gentiles, and that makes no sense. 'Cause even in the Gospel of Matthew, what have we already seen? He's healed Gentiles. When the Maggi came, they're honored from a distance, right? They're gonna be the first to come in worship almost. Jesus, when he's just a toddler, you get Jesus praising the Centurion for having faith greater than anyone you'd ever met and all of Israel. You have Jesus for telling that the Gentiles in Matthew chapter 8, they're coming from the East and the West to sit at the table with Abraham and the patriarchs. Like he's very, very pro Gentile. At the end of Matthew, you're going to all nations making disciples of all nations, right? So clearly, Jesus is not saying this to exclude Gentiles from the kingdom of God. Instead, he is focusing exclusively on reviving the soul of Israel. Why? Remember how last chapter ended? Yeah, they're forsaken. They have no shepherd. They're all panicky. Like Israel, to whom the covenant was first given, has become a mess. They've become all about traditions. Their hearts are far from God. They're all freaking out and you know, oppressed under the weight of the law and tradition and everything else, they need a shepherd. And so before he ever turns and you know, says go out to the nations, he's like, I'm gonna give them a shepherd. We're going to at least throw out the effort to solidify and go to every single town and be like, God, your shepherd is here for you. You've been without a shepherd for centuries. He's here for you. He's come for you. Come to him. And so he is giving a remedy to what he just talked about at the end of Matthew chapter nine. It would be interesting just to go to the Jews who have, you know, who know the Scriptures, who should be waiting for this Messiah, you know, 'cause this group of all people and they come to faith in Jesus are so powerful, 'cause they'd be like, go out to be them like, hey, look, all these verses we know, all these Scriptures we know, this is the fulfillment of it. They're kind of the perfect group for that. Yeah. And the prophets, by the way, they foretold that God would come to rescue his people from their shepherds, which is kind of a weird thing. Like God's gonna come and rescue them from bad shepherds. This is Ezekiel 34, two to six. It's a longer passage, but just sit in this and like imagine Jesus, God in the flesh, for filling. what Ezekiel said was happening, "Thus as the Lord God, shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding yourselves, should not shepherd's feed the sheep, you eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you don't feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the straid you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you've ruled them, so they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered, they wondered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the face of all the earth, with none to search or seek for them, and so when he says we're going for the lost sheep of Israel, don't go to Gentile territories. What is he saying? He's saying I'm the good shepherd that leaves the 99 to go look for the one, Israel right now in this moment. I want to shore up anybody who is willing to come home to the shepherd's first, and then together from, you know, like he says in Acts, you know, from that center, go out, there's going to be an explosion, you know, just to the center, and then boom to the ends of the earth. But we're going to get this short up first, and so in the early church, the first converts, the earliest converts, overwhelmingly Jewish, right? I mean, it's pinnacles. It's Jews from every nation under heaven. They're all coming back. It's Jews that grab hold of this faith that we owe the earliest days of the new covenant to their faithfulness to then take it out to the Gentiles, and then the Gentile territories, you know, light up all over the world and overtake the number of Jews inside the Christian church. Does that make sense? Yeah. If you've been blessed by the Bible show or under the hood, we would be grateful if you would consider partnering with us. We are relying upon our listeners. And so if you're in a position to do so, and you believe in our mission, we would love it if you would consider clicking the link below to make a secure donation. It's totally tax deductible, and this will help ensure that this sort of content doesn't just continue, but it thrives back to the show. And so when Jesus sends out the apostles, this is a new class of shepherd. Like not the ones that are going to be like, oh, enrich yourself and forget about them and never ever be inconvenienced by the struggles of your sheep. Like when you read this chapter, it's like, I don't want you enriched. I don't want you doing the things that they did. I want you to go heal. I want you to give them freedom. I want you to do the kinds of things that they weren't doing in Ezekiel 34. I want them to experience the sort of shepherd that God is for them. And I want them to see that. And that's going to be, you know, one of the doctrines that you find in the New Testament is, you know, how do we relate? You know, Jew and Gentile and all that. Like listen to Romans 116 Paul says this, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And then he says this to the Jew first and also to the Greek, which shouldn't surprise us because Genesis 12, when God comes to form the covenant with Abraham, what does he say? I'm going to bring a seed through your line. In other words, it's going to come through you. And ultimately that Semitic line that is going to be the Jewish line. But the seed of the woman is coming. Why? Well, Genesis 12, 3 says, in you, all the families of earth shall be blessed. And so God is going to work through Israel first for the sake of all nations. And so having received that privilege, they're also held to a higher standard. Notice, notice in this chapter in verse 15, we'll get there. He says, truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town in Israel who rejects this message. So yeah, they're given primacy. They're given privilege. They're the first ones to receive the covenant. And yet the ones who reject me because they had more revelation, more access, more privilege. If they reject me, the judgment's going to be higher upon them as well. Worst than Sodom and Gomorrah, which is pretty wild. All right. And it says, and proclaim as you go, so this is a preaching ministry in addition to a healing ministry, right? Proclaim as you go, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What jumps out at you there? Who else has said that? John the Baptist and Jesus, yep. So it's like basically this message that has been being declared all along. I want you to declare now. So this whole idea of the kingdom of heaven, get that in your brain, the kingdom of God, all of that. That's what that means is drawing near. It's here. It's at hand. It's in front of you, contend with that. So all that we, you know, sitting around for centuries, wondering when is Ezekiel and Daniel and Isaiah and all, when is all this going to be fulfilled? And now you've got Jesus saying, okay, I've been preaching this. John's been preaching this. Now you go preach this. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It is here now. And as evidence for this, he continues and he tells them, heal the sick. Imagine hearing this for the first time, like there's no, there's no warm up for this. Like you go heal the sick training lessons, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. So all the things you've been seeing me do, you go do. You have received without paying. In other words, like you're doing, you're not qualified for being an apostle. You didn't come into this salvation because you earned it or paid a lump sum. Like you, you received without paying. So now you, you give without pay, right? Like I didn't come and say, okay, how much is this worth to you? Aborship cost, right? And he's like, you better not do that either. Like I want you to go and I want you to give this gospel and the beauty of hope and everything that's associated with what Jesus has brought. Give it without pay and notice where he goes next, acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts. So now what this is about, no bag for your journey. In other words, like, no bag like you should take a bag is like, I don't even want the appearance that you're coming to collect something. Get gold in there. Yeah. You're going, you know, simple clothes on your back, no money belt, no bag, you're not looking to collect. I don't want people looking at you seeing, you know, I'm coming with my duffel bag like, wow, what's he want? Got to fill it up. Nothing. Right? And then he says, or two tunics or sandals or a staff for the laborer deserves his food. In other words, where, where you're going, you don't get paid, you don't get a stipend, you don't collect, you're there, somebody's going to be hospitable to you. They're going to give you shelter and food, be content with that, take no more. Because remember what Israel's doing, what all the shepherds of Israel doing, take advantage for everyone. They're taking, oh man, they're living high on the hog and they're taking the best stuff and they're taking the fat and they're ignoring everybody else. They, I mean, they get the best of everything. I want you to take the worst. I want you to go out and I want you to be so simple in your ministry that absolutely nobody could say they're doing this because they're selfish. Yeah. They're doing, you know, like the idiot from the Roman world is like, oh, yeah, they're getting rich, literally not, you know, they're not allowed to have a bag. And so that is what is going on here. And so instead of sickness, they're the total opposite of what Israel had seen. Instead of sickness, they're bringing healing instead of death, they're commissioned with resurrection power, which you kind of wondered, did they do that? Doesn't tell us they did that. And why does it not? I don't know. But I mean, the same reason it doesn't give us specific instances of the healing lepers and everything else either. But instead of leprosy and isolation, they can bring restoration and communion instead of demonic oppression, they bring deliverance and freedom instead of greed. What are they doing? They're showing radical generosity. They're coming to pour themselves out. They're not storing up for selves. They're like, they're just absolutely emptying themselves. There's no bags here. We can't store up. And so instead of exploiting the salvation, they're not allowed to acquire silver, gold, or copper. I mean, you remember, think of Jesus and Peter and Pentecost. Gold and silver have I none. That continues. Yeah. And he's like, but what I do have, I give freely. So that ethic that Jesus is establishing early into his ministry, he's gone. It's going to continue. That was seared into them. They got that. And so if you're the law sheep and the only ministry you've ever known has come with a cost. And now they're coming, being like, I just, I just want to love you. Here's stuff for you. I want to heal your brother. I want to, I want to just help you. I want to preach a gospel of hope. I want you to hear about this Jesus guy. No, no, no, no, no, if it's kind enough of you to just give me a roof over my head and a meal. Keep us alive. No more, right? When you think of what it was like, you know, Jesus, you think of him going into the temple and what are they doing? You know, it's all the money changers exploiting all the pilgrims and exploiting them. Luke 16 for when Jesus, just after Jesus says, you can't serve God money. It says the Pharisees who lovers of money heard all these things and they ridiculed him. Luke 1240 says this, Jesus is talking about the religious leaders and he says they manipulated laws to devour widow's houses. So even the most vulnerable that would be thrown into chaos when their husbands died, you'd have the Pharisees that were like, let's use this situation literally to take from them as much as we can get for ourselves and leave them vulnerable. And so this is the ethic that's going to be radically different in the New Testament. you see in the New Testament Acts 8 where, you know, the Apostles are out doing this thing. right? They're healing people and it's amazing and revival is starting in an Acts chapter eight, you know, starting in verse 18, you have this guy Simon who's like, huh, he's known as a sorcerer and he's like, what do I have to pay to get the power of the spirit? Like, this would be great for my, you know, menu of services that I do and sell and they say, may your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor law in this matter for your heart is not right before God and then the guy repents. But that whole idea of being able to buy a religious office or a sacred author and if you know what's called, Simon, named after that guy. And it was such an egregious offense in the early church that it was given, you know, that name because it's like, no, you may not enrich yourself at the expense of gospel ministry. Like it, it's going to affect the credibility of why you're there in the first place. But Jesus also is going to close this out by saying the laborer deserves his food. So it's like, okay, you are going to get something, but it's surviving. You know, you're, you're not getting wealthy, you're not the mansion, not all that stuff. You should be able to, to have a life where you're taking care of, but not extravagant. So the church should provide compensation for the work of ministry, but every time a pastor goes and does some kind of spiritual service using his office, it's not like, here's the bill. You want baptism? 300 out. You know what I mean? Where it's like, and by the way, our church, like if we have weddings or funerals, we have facilities guys or people running the tech booth, like, they're working, right? So if you're going to pay them, that's okay. But as a pastor, myself, like, if you're, if you're giving anything, it's a gift offering, not, you know, I'm not using my office to be like, oh, really? Now I'll marry you for $1,000. Right? Well, some people, I probably should do that. But anyway, anyway, just price them out. Like, maybe not, anyway. And the data chase, you know what that is. It's one of the very earliest, right after the Bible's done. This is considered the teachings of the apostles put together in a compendium. Listen to what chapter 11 says, ready? Because this is kind of like gulp. I'm a pastor like gulp. Let every apostle that comes to you be received as the Lord, but he shall not remain except one day. If there's a need also the next, but if he remains three days, he's a false prophet. And when the apostle goes away, let him take nothing but bread until he lodges. But if he asks for money, he is a false prophet. Need to be on the move a lot, right? So yeah, you can't stay longer than two days. And if you, if you're traveling missionary and someone shows up in your town and it's like, I'm going to need a big collection. And they're like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's a charlatan who's looking to fleece you. You don't see what he's doing. He's just staying in mooching like the Dita chase like be aware. There's going to be people who come to fleece you in the name of Jesus. Don't allow it. Here's some standards, not biblical. But in that day, that's the ethic that they're looking at. That's the culture of the early church. Don't allow that to happen. And so you have the, the apostles that are going and they're not, they're not looking to get rich. They're being selfless. They're pouring out. And by the way, they're, they're doing these miracles. What is the purpose of the miracles? Like because yeah, it's the mercy of God. But it's not, oh, you're suffering. Let me, you know, you need to be comfortable in this life. And I want to take away every, that's not what this is about. These miracles are meant to give credibility to the spoken word. It's like kingdom of heaven is here. The kingdom of heaven is here. Let me show you a glimpse of what heaven's going to be like. There's no more blindness. There's no more demonic. There's no more leprosy. There's no more, you know, down the line. It's all going to be overthrown and to show you that I have authority as an ambassador from the kingdom of heaven. Let me give you a foretaste of what that's going to be like. And now that you've seen that and you see that there's credibility in what I'm doing, look at the message. That's how you get there. Jesus is how you get there. All the, all the miracles they're doing is just a foretaste. I love the quote by Tim Keller where he says this, we modern people think of miracles as the suspension of the natural order, but Jesus meant them to be a restoration of the natural order. The Bible tells us God didn't originally make the world to have disease and hunger and death in it. And Jesus has come to redeem where it's wrong and heal the world where it's broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power, but also wonderful foretaste of what he's going to do with that power. Jesus's miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts that the world we all want is coming. And so the miracle is not be more comfortable here. It's, do you see what's coming? Yeah. Get with him. Jesus, the kingdom of heaven is here. Grab hold of him. He can take you to the place where all the pains and all the upside down sinful mess of this world is done away with. What do people picture like this is not how it's supposed to be? Like, yeah, you guys are living a world that's broken and all this sin and disease. It's not how God intended to be. Yeah, he's going to fix it. Yeah, and and they do that. Like the apostles hear this and they go do it. Like that, it's, you know, he'll raise the dead. I mean, wouldn't wouldn't you imagine that there's a longer conversation there, you know, like, uh, how does this work? Like is there a program? Should I be feeling something right now? Right? I told you, hey, fly to publics and turn the, you know, breadloafs and a gold bars. You'd be like, what? I mean, granted, I'm not Jesus with the thing. And I didn't see you do a bunch of stuff. That's true too. But they recognize there's authority in his word. Yeah, he told us to do this. He's the God who speaks all things into being. If he has told us to do this, okay, let's go. And they go out and they do these wild things. And so what I find really, I was thinking about this and it was a little, you know, convicting and apart, but it's like Jesus looks at them and says, go do these wild things and the only thing they need is his word. That is authority enough for them to carry out all the things that he's told. How many things do can we do in the authority of God's word? Maybe not casting out demons or anything like that. I don't know. But things that we can very plainly in the scriptures do. And I mean, it's, you think about the invitation to pray in the power and that. You think about the invitation to share the gospel and the power and that, like all of these things because when we, they go and they heal somebody who's maybe going to be healed for 15 years until they die. It's a temporal healing. And you sharing the gospel, you actually participate and the most powerful thing that they were doing, which is proclaiming. Because when you, when the spirit successfully uses you to draw someone into a relationship with Christ, what have, what have you just participated in? You've participated in a healing that takes care of every single one of the things that they were able to do for just a brief moment of the rest of that person's life. Sure. You, you heal everything that's wrong with them. You take away all of their anxieties eternally. God's doing it. But you're participating. If they have leprosy, that's gone. If they're blind, that's going to be gone. If they, you name it, they're going to be entirely healed. And God is like commissioning you with authority. Go to the ends of the earth. That's pretty to do this. And I will be with you even to the end of the age. Like he gives you that. I mean, it doesn't guarantee that everybody you talk to is going to accept Jesus. But if one does, you have a right to participate with authority in a ministry that brings eternal healing. And when you, when you put your eyes on it like that, it's like, that's every bit as big as what they were doing. Yeah. And just to think about even as a funeral that was a while ago, but just the man who died just told everyone about Jesus. And so people would come to faith. And then like that person was like, Oh, because I was brought to faith by this guy, then look at all that's under me. And just like, it was just this lineage of like, Oh, what telling one person about Jesus, just the eternal impact that that has after generation after generation, because the guy who was giving the test might have this is like, now just look at my just my family. Yeah. And it's all because he stopped in that moment in a weird moment. It was a kind of an odd story. But it was just like, he chose to do that. And now look at eternities are changed forever. Like, wow, what an impact. Yeah, I mean, it's like you play backward from your own story, you know, and you think about everybody I've ever shared Jesus with ultimately traces it to the faithfulness of a guy named Perry learned and a guy named Ryan Griffith, who took the time to explain Jesus to me. Yeah. And so then anyone I ever do, and then they ever do and spiritual family history of Jesus describes it like the kingdom of heavens, like a mustard seed. What happens? It just grows. It grows this exponential thing. And you have that you're entrusted and commissioned with that kind of power. I mean, the spirit's the one who brings to life, but you're invited to participate. Yeah. The fact that God is inviting you to have some human agency in that is just incredible. Yeah. And to return it. What a gift. Yeah. We should use it way more. All right. So verse 11, 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, which is like, you know, you pour a blessing of peace upon it. It's the idea that like, hey, house, you're looking great today. Anyway. So, but this again, clash is with a whole bunch of misconceptions that we have in modern day. One of which is being like the whole judge thing, what is this doing? Whatever town or village you enter, find out who's worthy in it. And there's people who are not worthy. You're kind of discriminating, you know? You're determining that person's not worthy of a house where it's gonna be the headquarters for gospel ink. Like what he's saying is go to a house where there's not gonna be scandal or accusation, right? The Greek word for worthy, by the way, is Axios, if you ever hear that. Like that's the word. And so you go in, you give a blessing and find out who's worthy. Like when it says find out, that's an intense word to other places. Like when Herod tells the Magi to search diligently for the child, that's the idea. You go in and you are very discriminating about what kind of house you stay in. Why? It's the same reason that Jesus like you better not take a dime because the moment you take a dime, the credibility of a grace, free gospel is surrendered, right? If you go into a town and you're staying at kind of a city place where everybody's like, oh, that, oh, your reputation's done. Well, you know what's happening in there? You know, they're no different than the world. He's like, you need to be discriminating to only be around things that are honorable, right? So it's like, I mean, if people thought, you know, that you had a studio apartment and a brothel, right? Or I'm, you know, living in the upstairs room of a strip club or something. Like people are gonna be like, yeah, there'd be questions. There would be questions. And rightly so. Like you should be like, that doesn't make sense. I'm not buying that one. Jesus is, I'm sorry for that one. I even wrote it down. I wrote it down and that's the bad part. But I'm thinking like, what would, yeah. Don't stay in those places. Like first century, there has to be better options. Things there. So Jesus is commanding them. Be careful about the company they keep. That is what's going on there. And so like Jesus, you know, oddly enough, is going to have dinner with tax collectors and drunks and all those kinds of things and he's made fun of for it. But those are people that are coming to him wanting authentic reformation or that are grateful that are coming to hear the message. He's not compromising publicly. He's calling out. He's using his prophetic ministry to call them to righteousness, to repent, to leave, to be healed, what this is saying. And by the way, and he's also Jesus. He's not influenced. I'm very influenced. Correct. Let's just make that clear to good point. We have sin natures. He does not. And the other thing that I love about this is it's not only, like, and by the way, he says you have to stay in that place for the entirety of your time in that town. Okay. Which means like pick somebody who's, and by the worthiness is somebody who's receptive to the gospel who cares about holiness, who's sincere is the idea. It's not like status and power and money and correct. Where are you going to get the best meal? That's right. And so with the reason why he says you have to stay there, is the moment you do a miracle, like the wealthy guys like, oh, I want to be a, so she got a bigger house. I got a bigger house and nicer bed. No, you're not going to play favorites and you know, help people maneuver social ladders, whatever like you stay with the person who offered you hospitality up front. All that makes sense. Yeah. All right. So verse 13 it says, and if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it's not worthy, let your peace return to you. What in the world does that mean? That means that a rejection of the gospel message can't harm your standing with God. Like when you come in and you put your blessing and you're like, oh, this house, this is where I'm staying, may peace be upon this house, and then they turn out to be not what you expected. Your peace doesn't leave you. It's not like, oh, you chose badly, you're a bad apostle, you messed up, now you can't get your peace back. The idea is you still leave with your peace. Like it's coming back to you. You don't have to worry that if you do the wrong thing, but lay your peace down. You should be putting blessings on the houses where you stay, which in the scripture, that's like a thing. You ever think about like going over to a friend's house and like blessing the house as you enter? Bless the family as you enter, like he's saying, there's something to that, does he? It's not just doing that for, you know, giggles. There's something to that that holds power. Bless a house of your friends and make sense it's the environment we live in. Yeah. He says, and if anybody will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. So you go into the house and it's shalom if they reject your message, which is like, that means it's unworthy. Like you're checking out who's worthy. Well, if they reject your message, not worthy. And so then it says that you leave and you shake the dust off your feet. So I did like a deep dive on this, trying to find what is that? Cause dust is what is that always symbolizing death? It's death, right? You'll return to the dust. You're, you know, you repent, throw dust. All of that is emblematic of death. But in the Mishnav, oh, a lot, 18, six. Of course. You'll be excited about this. It says this, a person who travels in the land of the Gentiles over mountain or rocks becomes unclean. And so there's a tradition that when Jewish travelers, the land itself of the Gentiles, this is not biblical, it's tradition, was unclean. Like if you walk on Gentile territories and you come back into Israel, you're bringing unclean things into Israel's shake off all that dust and any remnants that you brought from Gentile territory, right? So now that's a dig, you get it? Jesus is like you guys think you're so special. You think you're so high and mighty that when you go anywhere else in God's creation where Gentile lives, you think that dust is corrupting to where when you come back into the land, you shake it off. Gotta get rid of them. Now I'm telling my apostles that when they go into these Jewish towns, the people of Israel, the people of Israel inside the land of Israel, that if you reject the Messiah, when they leave, shake the dust off. 'Cause you're unclean. Because you're unclean. That's the idea. And that is a powerful, powerful statement that calls out the self-righteousness of Israel treating everybody else bad. And Jesus is like you've walked away from God. You've rejected His Messiah. You've done all the things that you accused them of doing and now shake the dust off your feet if they're hostile, shake the dust. And again, the only thing that makes you clean is how you respond to this message of Jesus being God and nothing else than none of your traditions. So it is the wake-up call that they need whether they're good or bad. Yeah, very good. That's exactly right. And one of the other ones, and this is speculative, shake it or leave it. Joshua, when, so when Joshua's bringing in the first kingdom of God, when they're coming into the Promised Land after Moses, they cross the Jordan, they're coming in for the conquest of the Promised Land, right? And what happens? God gives a promise in Joshua 13. And he says, "Every place that the soul of your foot will tread, I've given to you." So there's something about a foot stepping on the land that's like, that's going to be given to you, right? So on the flip side of that, if the apostles are walking in to a territory, it's like, okay, this is now receiving gospel, kingdom of heaven, kind of stuff, but if they reject it, shake that dust off, meaning, it's not part of the kingdom, right? It's not conquest as part of the kingdom. And Isaiah 52, 7, it also, you know, talking about the feet of the evangelist, how beautiful on the mountains, which is interesting in light of the Mishnah, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bring good news, who publishes peace. You hear that? So what do they do? They come in and they pronounce peace on the house. And then if they don't, they shake the dust off their feet. Well, this is saying how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, who publish Shalom, who bring good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says of Zion, your God reigns. There's something going on there with feet, I think. Maybe, you take it or leave it. I mean, he talks a lot about it. That's interesting. When Jesus talks like we have four gospels, you know, a limited amount of what they chose to put in it, of what they learned from Jesus since these moments. So it is interesting to think about him like why? Yeah, yeah. But I mean, again, if you read this and you don't, you're not into it, you might think, oh, this is favoritism and he's, you know, disin the Gentiles, but all throughout this, this is a rebuke of what they had been doing, the failures of their leaders. And like, if you're unwilling to accept this, then you're going to be dust shaken off. Then the Kudagra, you know, and in terms of kind of a rebuke comes in Matthew 10, 15, where it says, he says, truly I say to you. So it's like he's stopping here for a moment and he's like, I want you to know how serious this is. Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town that rejects this message, where you're shaking the dust off. And so why, where I'm going with this one, and I think it's kind of interesting, is some people wrongly assume that all sin is equally heinous to God. Yeah, it's like equitable. Right. And it's true, 100% true, that all sin separates you from God, from the white lie to the genocide, any sin that falls short of the perfections of God separates you from him forever. You're going to need a tonement, you need a savior, you're every bit as liable to hell as anyone else, that's a sinner, right, which is all of us. But it's not true that all sin is treated equally by God. It's just not, and you hear that all the time. People, you know, when you talk about something, well, that's just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, and it's like, no, it's not. How is that different than this? Correct. So James 3-1, I'll give you three examples. James 3.1 says, "Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness." What does that mean? We know more, so we're going to be held to a higher accountability. We're teaching people that could dissuade a lot of people. But if you're held to a higher standard, they're standard. And there's greater strictness. That means there's a scale, right? There's a spectrum on your responsibility. And so if you're a horrible false teacher, if you mess up a doctrine or two in a sermon, you know, like, so there's accountability. Romans 268 talks about how he will render according to each one according to his works, Wrath and Fury. So he's coming according to his works in the judgment, which means somebody who's got a crazy rap sheet of sin, according to his works, he's going to be judged much differently than somebody who's, you know, let a decently honorable life in terms of men, but messes up. Jesus, when he is talking to Pilate, said, "He who delivered me over to you has the greater sin." When he rebukes the Pharisees, he says, "They have neglected the weightier matters of the law." You hear that? Like, there are things that are more important to God. And so like a white lie is not as evil as the murder of three small children. Stealing a penitent work is not as egregious as taking bread from a starving orphan. A drunken bar fight, mutually among idiots, is not as bad as punching someone who's like a mentally disabled quadriplegic who's entirely helpless. There's a difference. And you recognize it, we know that, God recognizes it as well. And so this comment that they're going to be judged harsher, you know, Sodom, then Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom was utterly wicked, like cesspool of greed, you had all the sexual anarchy, the lack of hospitality we're told in Ezekiel was a big deal. And so who did Sodom fail to show hospitality to? Two angels. Two angels that show up to bring, you know, out of the city is real on the other hand. The people of God have failed to show hospitality to God himself in the flesh to his angels, to his prophets, to his apostles. And it's saying, your list of a failure in the covenant realm of hospitality is far greater than what Sodom did. Sodom had grow stuff, don't get me wrong. But the hospitality, egregiousness is real is the one who's, who's abandoned. I mean, Jesus calls it the city that stones the prophets that are sent to are talking about Jerusalem, right? Like it is a place that does not like when God draws near, and ironically they're the people of God. Now some of them do. There's faithful people everywhere, but Israel is not getting a lot of praise here from Jesus. He's like, my covenant people have really dropped the ball. Their shepherds are terrible. The leaders are terrible, and they are the ones who stone the prophets that come to them. Don't like when God draws near. But even the myths of that, the grace of Jesus to say, I'm going to send my toe of apostles to you guys first, because you still have a chance. That's right. I don't like the Gentiles who may have never heard all of this. You guys have been saying no for thousands of years, and yet here we are. Yeah, this is calling the question mercifully, unbelievably gracious, but it's calling the question like, okay, let's go. This is it. This is what everything's been pointing to from being waiting for is right here. From Genesis 3, the seed of the woman is here. We're ready to crush the head of the serpent. Let's do this. He's here. It's still going to be met with your messing up our cards, so we don't want you. You're demonic. It's crazy. And so where we're going to close today in verse 16, you know, and then Jesus is going to talk about how they're going to face a lot of suffering. But he says this. It's not a surprise. It's not a con job where he's like, no, it's going to be great. Come follow me. He says, behold, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. And this is one of the, it's a wild call because Jesus is coming. He will become the Lamb of God who he's not naive. He knows what is facing him in Jerusalem to show love to a people that are this hardhearted. There are going to be wolves that are going to put him on a cross. He's not naive to it. He's also not just, yay, let me throw myself in there and let's get this over like he's not looking forward to it. He doesn't go out of his way to expedite it. He's wise as a serpent. He knows exactly what needs to happen for the greatest amount of ministry. He knows how to navigate all these things, and yet he remains harmless as a dove. He never lowers himself to their level. He never schemes how to destroy him in his humanity. But he says like, this is going to be the cost of discipleship here. I'm sending you to do all these wild things to people that have hated God and walked away from God. And there may be their lost sheep and they're scared and they don't know what's going on and you're going to go rescue them, but the leaders have been hard against God for a long time. And I want you to know that when I send you, it's not only the lost sheep you're going to find. I'm sending you out in the middle of wolves. Yeah. And you are to be like sheep and what, I mean sheep, what they're, it's not a great fighting animal, right? Like they're, they're dumb. They're slow. They don't have claws. They don't have fangs. Like he's saying you need to be willing to be absolutely annihilated for the sake of taking a message of love to the lost sheep. But I don't want you to become morally like a serpent. I want you to know and think like a serpent and know what they're up to and be able to be wise and to navigate all that stuff. But I want you to remain as innocent and harmless as a dove. You game and they go. And that part of this calling, you know, is not different for us. Jesus, later on, not talking to just the 12 is going to say, if you're unwilling to take up your cross and follow me, you're not worthy of me. And by the way, worthy again, same word, same word. Like you've got to be to where you say man, that's terrifying. I don't like the sound of that and yet the lost sheep and the glory of God are worth my life. That's a big call. Yeah, not easy, not easy at all. But Jesus again, it's not sugarcoating it and being like, just come to church and you know, yay, like no, following after him as an authentic disciple means you need to be willing to lay down everything to love others the way he's loved you. And that kind of love changes the world. When you see it, when you experience it, and he's like, it might cost you a lot, but take that kind of love and let them experience it because it's been absent here for centuries. And what a gift it is that we see the disciples call because I mean, outside of Judas, we see that they all don't just say yes to this call, but they continue with the call and at the end of their lives, they don't recant and say, hey, it wasn't worthwhile. But every single one of them will rather go to their death or die of natural causes and exile and ever give this up. And it's like, yeah, thank goodness, it's worthwhile. And it's not Pollyanna either. Like you go through the writings of the Apostles. And I mean, they will tell you it was really hard. And they went through tremendous suffering and fellowship and the sufferings of Jesus and Paul, you know, in the beginnings of Second Corinthians talks about how he just spared even of life the suffering was so hard. And his hope was in the power of the resurrection of Christ, which infused his ministry with power that could bring resurrection to the dark and dying world that hated everything. And that's where they delighted is they knew that even though this might be a temporary suffering. Oh, man, the glory that's coming, if makes all the suffering, all the loss, Paul says it's like sewage and comparison to knowing Christ. And when you value him and his mission and his people to that kind of degree, it begins to give you a little bit of a resolve like these guys and we're not near these guys. But we should want to become like these guys, you know, just Lord, I don't even want to pray this. But if you have a road of suffering ahead for me that can be used for your glory, like your worth it. And he does for each of us, yeah, pray not a lot of suffering, but you're totally worth it. If that's the road you have for me, so just make me faithful and and I'll trust you with the rest. Amen. Well, I guess we'll just ask that now, yeah. Be careful. Yeah. Jesus, praise you for who you are, the true God who entered into earth, the true God who loved these apostles that you love, your children God that you went to a cross verse that she resurrected, that you call us to this Lord. So give us eyes to see who you are. Give us a deep desire to want to be called by you God. Give us a deep trust that says, hey, whatever you call us to, we will go and do, but give us the experience of your love and your grace and your mercy in the midst of the suffering that you call us to. God, would you give us eyes to see the people we interact with each and every day, not just as problems or as people to be avoided, but as eternal souls that you have put in our lives, God, would you give us courage and would you give us that opportunity, God, just to speak to him, to preach God. Would you send to each of us out today just like you've sent out the apostles? Our ministries may look different, Lord, but there's people, there's lost sheep out there that you have called, that you want to call into your family through the Holy Spirit using us in this life. So we just thank you for your orange, your name we pray, amen. Amen. I want to thank you so much for watching. 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