1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
1. Who were these guys?
These were just regular folks, they were not educated, they were not wealthy, or influential, or well known, fishermen, tax collector and some local Galilean working guys. Yet Jesus sends them out to do impossible jobs?
5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10 take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep. 11 “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
2. Why were they “not” to go to the Gentiles and the Samaritans?
Jesus ministry was to the Jew first. The scriptures many times speak in terms of “to the Jew first and then the gentiles”. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. Romans 3:1-2 (NASB)
3. How could he say the, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand’ when we still live in a fallen world?
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.Col. 1:15-18
I believe when He talks about the kingdom of heaven at this point , He is speaking of Himself. It was as close as your hand. He was so close you could reach out and touch Him.
“My kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36
4. Freely received, freely give? What’s this about?
They did nothing to receive this gift, don’t expect others to do anything other than receive the gospel. If they receive help from those they evangelize, it must not be in payment for what they have done.
Remember Simon the magician trying to by the power of the Holy Spirit.
20 But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! Acts 8:20
5. What is He talking about when He says, “let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you?”
A blessing was taken very seriously. It wasn’t like saying “have a nice day”
“And whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 “And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him; but if not, it will return to you. Luke 10:5-6
Have you ever gone door to door and had the door slammed in your face? One of the customs of the day was that if you met somebody on the road you were to offer a blessing on that person. Peace “shalom” but if it turns out that that person was a gentile, you were to go back and take back the blessing.
6. Why send them out with so little preparation and provision?
The preparation had been done. That was why Jesus could say
“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Matt. 9:36
This was going to be a short term missionary journey with very limited focus and temporary instruction given through verse 15
Luke 22:35-36 When I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. 36 And he said unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet; and he that hath none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword.
16 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 “Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. 18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. 19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, 20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. 22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
7. What modern term would we use for a person who was “wise as serpents and harmless a doves”
Street wise
8. How can we say that vs 16 to 23 refer to a latter missionary undertaking?
This kind of persecution didn’t take place until after the Day of Pentecost.
It talks about Gentiles, who previously they were to avoid.
It talks about “The Spirit of your Father who speaks in you”
Who would that be? The Holy Spirit, who would not come into the believers until after the Day of Pentecost in the future.
9. Who was known for persecuting the believers during the beginnings of the Jerusalem church?
Saul of Tarsus who later became St. Paul.
10. When they persecute you what are you to do?
Flee. Its how the early church spread so fast.
11. What record do we have of these things Jesus is warning them about really happened?
Peter preaches to the Sanhedrin Acts 4
Peter speaks “filled with the Holy Spirit” Acts 4:8
Apostles thrown into prison Acts 5
Apostles beaten Acts 5
Stephen stoned Acts 7
James killed by Herod Acts 12
Paul is stoned Acts 14
Paul and Silas thrown into jail in Philpi Acts16
Paul on trial before the Sanhedrin Acts 23
12. By the way, whatever happened to these Apostles? Did they retire and move to Florida?
Philip, the disciple from Bethsaida was beaten thrown into prison and then crucified in Heliopolis.
Matthew the tax collector was preaching in Ethiopia when he was killed with a sword.
James the brother of Jesus at age 94 was beaten , stoned and then had his brains bashed out with a fullers club.
Matthias the Apostle who took Judas’s place was stoned and then beheaded
Andrew the brother of Peter preached the gospel throughout Asia and was arrested and crucified at Edessa. St. Andrews Cross.
Mark was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria in front of Serapis their pagan idol.
Peter was crucified upside down.
Paul was beheaded in Rome.
Jude the brother of James was crucified.
Bartholomew translated the gospel of Matthew in the language of India, and was beaten to death in India.
Thomas called Didymus preached the gospel in Parthia and India and was thrust through with a spear by an angry pagan priest.
Luke was hanged on an olive tree by idolatrous priest in Greece.
Barnabus of Cyprus was martyred in 73 A.D.
Simon the Zealot preached in Mauritania and Africa and eventually got to Britain where he was crucified in 74 A.D.
John was taken from Ephesus to Rome where he was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. He escaped without injury, and later the emperor Domition had him banished to the Isle of Patmos.
During this period over 2000 Christians were martyred in Jerusalem alone.
24 “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! 26 “So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
IF THEY ATTACKED JESUS, A MAN WHO HAD NO SIN, So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.” Luke 23:4, God in the flesh. Do you really think you will escape persecution?
God knows everything and nobody will escape judgment. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Bookof Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Rev. 20:12-13
Ultimately there will be no secrets. The evil that men do will be revealed and judged. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to remember that the unfairness that we suffer at the hands of the unrighteous will be dealt with. “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Rom 12:19
I urge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 2Tim. 4:1-2
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many
sparrows.
13. What about evolution?
Naturalism the religion of liberalism, teaches that we humans have the same value as a bird, a lizard, a baboon, or a maggot. We are just the product of mere chance, a roll of the dice. There is no design to the universe, no purpose or plan. So as a result we have no value, other than what we establish for ourselves. We are valuable as long as we can produce, if we have things we are valuable. If we have wealth or talent or looks we have value. But what happens when we begin to lose those things.
But the bible tells me that I have value because the Creator of the universe says I do. The foundational document of our republic, the Declaration of Independence, tells us “we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, life , liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. Maggots and baboons don’t share those rights, despite what groups like PETA want us to believe.
God has to keep every proton in the universe in order, and He is concerned about the number of hairs on my head. But really this is the verse that God used to get my attention.
Most of us have not had to face persecution of the kind that happens in many other countries and has murdered and hurt believers throughout history.
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
22 Chapter chronicling the torture and murder of countless millions of Christians, much of which was done by the so called “church”
10 Major periods of persecution under the Roman emperors.
South America, and the Middle East in various “Inquisitions”. The bible was taken away from the common folk and all authority concerning spiritual matters was centralized in Rome.
The Story Of Two Russian Soldiers Who Did Not Want To Worship With Hypocrites.
“What are you doing here?” they shouted. “Worshipping your imaginary God?” The church members cowered in the pews, wondering if there were more soldiers and more guns outside.
“All those who are faithful to God, move to the right side of the church,” said one of the soldiers, his face a mask of hatred. “You will be shot for your faith. You who wish to go home and keep your life, stand on the left side. You must decide to live or die. Those who are faithful to this ‘God’ will die. Those who deny him can live freely.”
Ten minutes earlier, everyone had sung praises equally. Now it was a question of life and death. Some stood to the left, looking sadly or waving apologetically to those on the right. Some stood on the right, their eyes closed in last-minute prayers.
“You on the left are free to go,” one of the soldiers said moments later. Those people filed out, taking one last look at those who would soon be dead. When only those on the right remained, the soldiers put down their weapons. “We, too, are Christians,” they said, “but we wish to worship without hypocrites”
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
“‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law– 36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
14. I thought Jesus was the “prince of peace” and now he says he didn’t come to bring peace but a sword?
He came to bring peace between us and God. His very presence brings opposition.
A man’s enemies will be members of his own household.
37 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me
What is your number one priority. I loved my father and mother, but their gone. I love my son and daughter, but they’ve both moved out and are living their own lives. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
How do we take up our cross and follow Him?
What did the cross represent? Death. Dying to ones self.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Gal 2:20
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
We are not called to be suicide bombers to be rewarded with 70 virgins or Kamikaze pilots in order protect the Emperor.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain [Phil. 1:21].
40 “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
15. Reward? What Rewards?
Rev 22:12-14 Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to come to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.
- MSN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes
- NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.
- JVM ….J Vernon McGee,
- ACC …. Adam Clarke’s Commentary
- BN …..Barnes Notes
- WBC…… Wycliffe Bible Commentary
- CN …… Constables Notes
- IC……….Ironside Commentary
- NET………Net Bible Study Notes.
- JFB…………..Jamieson Fausset Brown Commentary
- VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies
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