“
Luke
10:1-11, 16-20
It might do us well
to take a moment to hear again the main point of the sermon from last week as
our starting place for this week.
Discipleship that doesn’t ask anything from us, that costs us nothing,
that sacrifices nothing, and that challenges us with nothing, is worth
nothing. Discipleship is costly and it
is sacrificial. Jesus never said it
would be easy.
And the challenge of
discipleship, the challenge of the very
We know that being a disciple is
not for those looking for an easy way of things. We know that being a disciple is not for
those who only want an after death insurance policy. We know that being a disciple requires
disciple, practice, commitment, forgiveness, and a whole lot of faith. And we wouldn’t want it any other way. We want to be a part of something real and
concrete. We want to be a part of
something meaningful and purposeful. We
want to be a part of something that actually matters, something that has
eternal implications, something that has cosmic
significance.
Yes, discipleship is
challenging. It costs us our comfort,
our independence, and our life. It
requires us to make radical changes in how we live, in how we act, in what we
say, and in the way we relate to others.
It mandates a new way to be in the world, a new way to envision the
world, a new way that rightly puts God at the center of life itself. But only by the grace of God, this is way in
which we choose to live, because we know that it is the right way, that it is
the way of righteousness.
Even in knowing that discipleship
is challenging, we still want to be disciples of Jesus Christ, because we know
that God has great plans not just for each one of us, but also for the whole of
creation, and do I dare say that we want to be a part of God’s great plan. Yes, discipleship is challenging, because to
be a part of God’s great plan means that we are also called to participate in
that great plan, in God’s mission in the world, a mission that is none other
than the ever expanding reign of God’s kingdom, a mission to the ends of the
earth.
Well, no wonder discipleship is so challenging, because to
be a disciple means to be a participant in a daunting task, in a mission
impossible that leaves many of us to wonder how little ol’
me can make any difference at all. The
world is such a big place. Mass media
and modern transportation has certainly made our world a lot smaller, but it is
still a long airplane ride across the oceans.
Not to mention that all of us would be reluctant to characterize
ourselves as missionaries, especially compared to the great missionaries of the
past and present.
Can we possibly
compare ourselves to people such as David Livingstone, who was one of the greatest missionaries
and explorers of the African continent, spending 30 years there pioneering the
abolition of the slave trade, and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Or how about Englishman William Carey, who
spent his missionary years in
Or people such as George Whitefield, who came to the American colonies
at least 7 times preaching in open fields to crowds numbering in the thousands;
or Ann Judson who went to Burmah to teach, and
translated the Gospel of Matthew into Siamese; or Clara Swain, the world’s
first female medical missionary to India; and who can forget Mother Theresa.
Even the scriptures themselves tell us of the great missionaries of the
early church, people such as Peter, Andrew, James and Jon, Stephan and Philip,
Paul and Paul’s companions, and all those who went to the ends of the known
world preaching the gospel and giving their life for the sake of Jesus Christ. These are the ones forever inscribed in the
annals of church history as the greatest missionaries of the Christian
faith. How can we possibly compare
ourselves to them?
The problem isn’t that the mission is impossible, but that we think to
little of ourselves, that we think we can’t make an impact as Christ’s
disciples in the world. But the message
of Luke’s gospel is that we can make an impact, and we don’t have to be one of
the apostles, a great missionary, or even seminary trained to do what Jesus
calls us to do. We only have to be
willing to do it, and willing to do it together.
In our reading for this morning, Jesus
calls seventy people to go and proclaim the
My friends, the Bible is filled with
people who didn’t think they could make a difference – people who came up with
all sorts of reasons to not respond to God’s call to go. Elijah said that his nerves couldn’t take
it. Isaiah said that he wasn’t pious or
pure enough. Jeremiah said that he was
too young, and Moses said that he was too old, that he was already retired, that
he didn’t speak well, and that there were others more qualified.
The seventy faced a daunting task to go out to all the cities where
Jesus was going and preach the gospel.
I’m sure they probably didn’t think they were equipped enough, or
prepared enough. But what they
discovered was that through Jesus, their work was successful, purpose-filled,
and joyfully surprising. Jesus doesn’t
call us based on age, religious piety, or our qualifications, but solely on the
fact that we are his disciples, and that he is the one who has given us the authority
and the promise that we will be successful.
.
A church engaged in mission is a church that is alive. A church were the model of the seventy is
enacted is a church that is at work for the gospel. Too many churches these days are dying
because the work of the church is carried on the shoulders of the few rather
than the many. This isn’t just about
asking for volunteers for VBS, Sunday school teachers, ushers, or serving on
committees, this is about the intentionality of our discipleship, the intentionality
of evangelism and the outward living of our faith.
In God’s kingdom, there is a role for the great missionary and seminary
trained, but there is also a role for the those who
are the willing, the willing people of God who roll up their sleeves and do
what needs doing. The real pastors and
ministers of the church you’ll never see or hear up here, but the future
existence of this church depends entirely on how mobilized our congregational
members become.
Last month was my two year anniversary
here as your pastor. Over the course of
the last two years, we have continued to grow this church faithfully and
spiritually. We have started new
programs such as our Sunday nights in March and November, Bible study, and the
Men’s Fellowship. We continue to do more
and more fellowship activities, provide assistance to those
in need in our community, improve our worship and music, develop Sunday
school, care for our members, and maintain our church building. And we continue to have people visit and
join, one of just a hand full of churches in this Presbytery to do so.
But where we go from here is not just up to the elders or me, but also
all of you. Only together will we
determine the mission of this church over the coming years. Only together will we determine the long-term
impact of this church in this community.
I invite you to join with your elders and me in forming the model of
Luke’s seventy. You’re not too old, too
young, too retired, or too unworthy to make a real difference in the life of
this church. You just have to be willing.
Never forget that the mission we have been called to go and do is not a
mission that is beyond the shores of our country, but beyond the threshold of
the church doors. Out there is the
mission field. Out there is where we are
being sent. Out there is where in the
name of Jesus Christ the mission impossible becomes the mission not impossible,
but only when we come together in the model of Luke’s seventy.
By doing so, we will not only change lives in this community, but we
will also be participates in God’s expanding kingdom. We may not get our names scratched in the
annals of church history, we may not find ourselves immortalized the
stain-class memory of the church, and we may not be known beyond the borders of
our town, but we can be assured that we will have our names written in heaven,
and that is indeed something in which to rejoice. Amen.