Luke chapter 9, verses 1 to 6. Then he called his twelve disciples
together and gave them power and authority over all devils
and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the
kingdom of God and to heal the sick. And he said unto them,
Take nothing for your journey, neither staves nor script, neither
bread, neither money, neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever
house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. And whosoever
will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off
the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.
and they departed and went through the towns preaching the gospel
and healing everywhere. Amen. May the Lord bless this
little reading from his word. It's useful for us to remember
that this period, this is the period of the disciples' training
and preparation for their later apostolic ministry, when the
Lord had ascended on high and entered once again into heaven. We've been thinking a little
bit in recent days about the run-up to the crucifixion and
then the Lord's resurrection and then his ascension into heaven
and the coming of the Holy Spirit. That was still some time ahead. This is during the Lord's own
ministry, that three-year ministry that he had. And on this occasion,
the sending forth of the 12 apostles is not exclusively and perhaps
even principally for the benefit of those who heard the disciple's
message, but for the disciple's own instruction and experience
and confidence. Now, having said that, I have
no doubt but that the Lord, in sending out the disciples, intended
that much good would flow to the men and women to whom they
ministered, because they were going to minister in Christ's
name in the towns and cities of Galilee and Judea. But I'm also sure that much of
the benefit of this undertaking was gained by the apostles themselves. And it reminds us that there
is a place, if I can put it like this, there is a place for practising. Seasoned, mature preachers are
not made overnight. And young men coming into the
ministry have to learn and test their gifts and discover their
calling, as yet without perhaps being in full possession of all
the skills and provisions that they will ultimately be gifted
with from the Lord. And this sending forth was instituted
by the Lord. before the sacrificial death
of the Saviour on the cross, and before the coming of the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It also included Judas Iscariot
amongst those who were here sent out. And he would later, of course,
be revealed as a son of perdition. It occurred at a time when the
disciples' own appreciation of the nature and content of the
gospel was partial and limited. Remember that the disciples,
right up to the time of the Lord's death and beyond, were still
expecting the establishment of a national physical kingdom centred
in Jerusalem. Nevertheless, All that said,
the Lord sent them and he empowered them that they should gather
experience from the activity and confidence in the task of
preaching and ministering for which they had been chosen, that
is, to carry the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth
for the saving of Christ's church. Now, I think nevertheless, we
can draw several principles that are key in this episode, that
are general even for the ministry today. And that's what we're
going to just touch upon lightly in the next few minutes. The
first one is this. The Lord equips his ministers. And the first thing we notice
in these verses is that the power and authority for the Apostle's
ministry was bestowed by the Lord himself. He called the disciples
to him and he gave them authority to preach in his name and he
empowered them to do so. Now, we at once realise the spiritual
nature of this task. These enablings by Christ were
not gifts of a physical or a natural kind. It wasn't eloquence that
he gave them. It wasn't charisma that he bestowed. It wasn't intelligence or the
ability to tell a good story or to hold an audience. It wasn't
even a doctrinal primer or a confession of faith. The Lord gave power
and authority, His power and His authority, to contend with
sin and with the spiritual enemies of men's souls and bodies, devils
and diseases. And this, I think, is a continuing
principle of preaching the gospel. Only a preacher who comes with
the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ himself will
ever be equipped to do your soul good. Many people can motivate audience. They can thrill, they can challenge,
they can entertain but only an authorised and an empowered preacher
can touch a man's soul, touch a woman's soul or heal a sinner's
broken heart. Only an authorised and an empowered
preacher can do this because only such a one can truly preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I think we can all benefit
from this insight. Contrary to what we are led to
believe today, it isn't a Bible college or a theological seminary
that enables and equips preachers. It is Christ. It isn't a church
board that authorises a minister of the gospel, it's Christ. The
Lord calls believing men to minister his word and he authorises and
he equips and he empowers them to do so. And it's such a man
and only such a man that can do a sinner good. Others might
titillate itching ears, but they will never and can never feed
the souls of those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
So that's the first thing that we learn from these verses. The
Lord equips his ministers. The second thing is this, that
he sends them And here again we see the necessity of the Lord's
hand in establishing and maintaining a gospel ministry, the gospel
call. The Lord must himself prepare
a man to preach. And only men who are themselves
quickened and converted and taught of God will be sent out into
the ministry by Christ. Here's what I mean. Unless a
man knows Christ and has been taught by Christ personally,
he will never be sent by Christ, no matter what he says and what
he claims. No one has a calling to preach
in Jesus' name or preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, except
they are themselves saved sinners. and have been called and sent
of the Lord as his ambassador and his representative to other
sinful men and women. And woe betides those who run
unsent and who are mere blind leaders of the blind. And again,
it isn't the natural abilities that qualify a gospel preacher,
but spiritual, spiritual understanding, spiritual life and insight, the
gifts to communicate the gospel of free grace. It's a spiritual
activity and it takes place at a spiritual level. Paul emphasises
this point when he says in Romans 10, for whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Hey, there's a few messages in
that little passage, which is too much for today. But they
can't even be a preacher unless they have been sent. If you're
going to believe, then you must hear the gospel. If you're going
to hear the gospel, you need a preacher. And if you're going
to be a preacher, then it's only because the Lord Jesus Christ
has sent you. How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. No unbeliever is ever sent by
the Lord to preach the glad tidings and good things of the gospel. A man must first know Christ
for himself, or he has no word to preach, no calling from the
Lord, and no right to be speaking in Christ's name. Here's another
point worth noting. The Lord provides for his ministers. Another thing that we learn from
this passage is that the disciples were not to make provision for
themselves of material goods. Listen, not even a change of
clothing were these men permitted to take with them. Not food,
not money, not a bag of bits and bobs, not even two sticks. One walking stick was all they
were provided with. it appears, and the coat that
they were wearing. And here I think is the lesson.
It is this, that the Lord will provide for the needs of his
preachers. And he does. He always has, and
he always will, because Christ is no man's debtor. However,
let us note that in principle, he does so by laying the practical
needs of his ministers upon the hearts of those who benefit from
their ministry. Food and hospitality were to
be expected from those to whom the apostles were sent and to
whom they preached. And those who gained spiritual
nourishment were indebted to supply practical nourishment,
help and support to their benefactors. And those who labour in the word
and doctrine should be supported and supplied with their practical
needs as any workman worthy of his hire might expect. Paul again
says, even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel
should live of the gospel. In the Old Testament, people
tithed. They gave a tenth of all that
they had for the upkeep of divine ministry. Now we do not insist
upon tithing as a legal obligation. Many churches do. Yet every believer
whom the Lord has blessed with spiritual life and material sufficiency
must understand that all their worldly goods are His. And what
have we that we have not received from His bounty? The New Testament
church took collections for the poor to ease need, to support
one another in hardship, as well as maintain their ministers and
facilitate preaching at home and abroad. And without doubt,
the Lord expected his disciples to be provided for as they ministered
by those to whom they ministered. Now this is not a request for
money or gifts on my part, but it is a biblical principle that
we all ought to understand. And my fourth point and last
point is this. The Lord confirms his ministers'
success. The Lord confirmed his disciples'
ministry by granting success in their work. And again, we
remember that this was not the full apostolic commission of
later times. Yet here the disciples learned
and realised that they had both power and purpose in the service
of Christ the Messiah. They preached the gospel as Christ
had preached it to them and as Christ had taught them. Let us
remember, we've read it already in Luke's Gospel, chapter 4 it
was I think, let us remember that the Lord had identified
himself as the Messiah and declared that he was the anointed one
sent by God to save his peoples from their sins and to establish
his kingdom. He had said when he stood up
to preach in the synagogue in Nazareth, he said, the spirit
of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken
hearted. to preach deliverance to the
captives and recovering the sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And then he turned to his congregation and he says, what you see here
today is the fulfilment. of these very things that Isaiah
had prophesied concerning the Messiah all those years ago. This day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. And the disciples knew that. They had had that preached to
them. They had heard Christ proclaiming
it to those around about. It was the gospel of the kingdom
of God and As many as heard it, believed it in faith and were
healed by the power and work of the Holy Spirit upon that
foundation. When the disciples returned from
this ministry, they were thrilled at what had happened and what
they'd seen. And nevertheless, the Lord reminded
them that all they had was given to them by grace. both in their
own souls and in what they had seen in the lives of others.
And let no preacher imagine that their power or their achievements
are in any way of their own making. Neither is he that planteth anything,
neither is he that watereth. but God that giveth the increase. The minister is nothing, just
a voice in the wilderness. Nevertheless, by the foolishness
of preaching and out of the weakness of the earthen vessel, the Lord
has promised to gather his sheep, to save his elect, and to build
his temple, his dwelling place, his body of living stones. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today. Amen. Thank you, Lord.