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Sermon Transcript

Introduction: If you look around this morning, everyone who is here is not here by accident. Everyone person here, especially if you consider yourself Christian, we are a product of people pointing us to Jesus. I stand before you as product of two particular people who were willing to point Jesus to me and their lives with me. The first people were my parents. They never stopped tell me and my siblings about Jesus came to seek and save the lost. The other person was my high school youth pastor. He would take me out to eat, ask how my life, and remind me of who Jesus is. And as we continue in our series through Luke, our text shows this type of impact that we all have experienced began with Jesus an His disciples. The basic truth of our text is that to be a follower of Jesus is to be mobilized by Him for a mission that has an eternal impact on people like we see at this very moment in the room.

You see, back in December, we began our series going verse-verse through the book of Luke. In the previous chapters, we see Jesus perform supernatural miracle that seem to defy the laws of science and reality. And Luke is using all these miracles to answer the question: Who is Jesus? I love how Pastor Kevin DeYoung answers: “The Son of the living God. He was the one they had been waiting for: the Son of David….the one to deliver us from captivity…Yahweh in the flesh, the one to establish God’s reign and rule, the one to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, freedom to the prisoners and proclaim good news to the poor, the lamb of God come to take away the sins of the world.” Now, in our text, we see Jesus sending His disciples to go out and “proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God.” Basically, the mission Jesus has given to all his disciples is to tell others that King Jesus has come to save sinners and bring them into the kingdom. Family, we all need to pay attention to this text this morning. If you ignore this text, you will buy into the lie that followers or disciples of Jesus are not just spiritual observers. And you will miss out on how Jesus uses normal people like us to make an eternal impact on others. So our big idea today is: “Follow Jesus by proclaiming the kingdom of God.” And out text doesn’t focus on how we do this, but why. We proclaim the kingdom because

  • Jesus sends his disciples on mission
  • Jesus provides for the mission

Body:

  1. Jesus sends his disciples on mission (9:1-9)
  2. First, we see that Jesus sends his disciples on the mission. The text opens with saying that Jesus gave his original 12 disciples/apostles the power and authority not just over demons and to heal the sick, but to proclaim the kingdom of God. Now, I love how Dr. Phillip Ryken defines the kingdom of God, “God‘s kingdom is God’s rule, his royal authority and sovereign reign. The kingdom is present wherever God exercises his kingly power, and wherever people honor and serve him as their King.” I love watching videos of college athletes being told that they are getting a scholarship for college. Its not just information, they see it as good news that impacts their lives! Other religions or worldview will say, “Just do ____ or Don’t do ___ and you will fix your life”; good advice. But Christianity is different, at the center of our faith is not good advice but good news! It’s the good news that the Kingdom of God is near to all people! That Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth and lived a perfect life, died on a cross, and three days later, rose from the dead. And although we have failed God and deserve nothing but judgment, if you turn to confess and trust in Jesus, you are forgiven and welcomed into the kingdom of God! The good news of the Kingdom of God is the best news you will ever hear!
  3. And the truth is, that the original disciples had a special job in salvation history. But as we said earlier, the call to proclaim the gospel is in a sense for everyone who follows Jesus today. But seeing this call might be a little overwhelming, you may think, “Man, more rules to follow?” But when we look at these verses, does something look familiar as Jesus sends out His disciples? Luke 4:43 says, “But he said to them, “It is necessary for me to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.” Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom wasn’t a mission the disciples made up; it first belonged to Jesus. Jesus was training His disciples to do exactly what He was doing. Let’s let that sink in for a moment. Jesus’s mission is not a burden but a blessing because it does not come from humans but it comes from Jesus! Do we understand that as disciples of Jesus, His mission is now our mission? Do we see that the Gospel doesn’t just bring us from death to life, but also makes us participants in Christ’s mission to make broken and messed up people right with God? When we proclaim the kingdom of God, we are following in the footsteps of our savior!
  4. And consider how Jesus trains His disciples to proclaim the kingdom. Jesus tells His disciples to proclaim the kingdom with: 1. Vs.2b says they weren’t the focus of their words, Jesus and God’s kingdom were. What Jesus has called us to say is this: “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 2. Dependence. He tells them not to take extra cloths or supplies. This doesn’t mean that we are not allowed to use resources, but it was meant to teach them to be fully dependent. One of the ways we do that today is through committing everything we do to prayer; it’s the language of dependence. 3. Urgency. Jesus mentions dusting their feet off if people don’t receive them. It was a way of saying, “You heard the gospel, I pray you listen.” When we see people reject the gospel, don’t be discouraged. God opens hearts, just keep sharing and pouring into others. 4. Love. They healed and cast out demons. The disciples were meeting the needs of others. We do the same as we pray for the sick, hurting, and give to the church to help meet needs. If you want to define what “proclaiming the kingdom” is, it is this: Telling others that King Jesus has come to save sinners in word and action.
  5. And the text says that Jesus trained and set out his disciples, with: power and authority. Dr. Philip Ryken explains: “they had both the ability and the right to carry out their commission.” Jesus gave them the right and ability to point others to Him, and it eventually made a political ruler like King Herod ask questions about Jesus. Now, the encouragement is if we depend on Jesus’s power and authority and are faithful to point others to Him and not ourselves, you can trust what Isaiah 55:11 promises that God’s word never returns empty; He will work. But there is also a warning. Pastor H.B. chares says, “Herod wanted to see Jesus like one might want to see a magic show. He had a restless conscience but an unrepentant heart. Seeking Jesus out of curiosity will only lead to more confusion; seeking Him out of desperation leads to life.” You see because of all our disobeying, and rejecting of God, we have been separated from Him and placed under the judgment for sin. And if your relationship with Jesus is based upon liking Him, that isn’t the same as following Him. One day we will stand before Him and have to answer for how we lived our lives. And interest in Jesus won’t save you, only trust in His life, death, and resurrection will! Jesus is too important to be “interested” in only. Today, Jesus is calling you to confess how you have failed and trust in his work to make you right with God! Come and receive prayer if that is you! And if you are still skeptical, we would love to answer any questions you have!
  6. Implication: And for those who you have been following Jesus for a while, “Are you living like Jesus has sent you on a mission?” Do you see yourself as a a saved sinner who is sent by Jesus to your home, work, school, or neighborhood? I believe one of the best ways we can do this is by prioritizing Christ’s mission above every other “mission” we have. Let me explain myself. I am not saying that none of your other priorities matter (family, jobs, school, etc.) but what I am saying is that all of us in one way or another tend to view ourselves more as students, teachers, or employees and not as agents of Jesus’s mission. Our church is a product of this idea. In 2022, 39 people committed to plant Citylight church. They didn’t see themselves just as teachers, parents, or people seeking their own comfort. They saw the opportunity to proclaim the gospel this time and season of their lives. And God has used their efforts to see people restored, loved, and baptized! Family, disciples proclaim the kingdom because Jesus has sent us on mission!
  7. Jesus provides for the mission (9:10-17)
  8. Lastly, Jesus provides for the mission. The text finishes with the disciples returning from their mission trips to help Jesus as He preaches and heals many in the crowd of 5,000 people. But there was a problem: the people were hungry and there was not enough food to feed them. And Jesus tells His disciples to feed the people, they start to panic. Now, this scene is funny. The disciples had never seen Jesus fail to meet a need. And they also experienced Jesus do using them powerfully on their mission trips. And its easy to judge them, but we all do the same thing; we all suffer from spiritual amnesia! How many times have we let fear, anxiety, and frustration saturate our lives and even cause us to last out at others because we think this is the time Jesus won’t come through for us? The text shows us that one of the main causes for spiritual amnesia is: self-sufficiency or depending on ourselves instead of God. Once again, Dr. Ryken points out, “They were acting like men without a God, thinking only in terms of what they had on hand and what they had the ability to provide from their own resources…” What produces spiritual amnesia in our lives and even paralyzes us from proclaiming the kingdom is when we think we bring something to the table. The greatest threat to engaging in the mission is not our lack of resources or outside persecution, it is our self-sufficiency!
  9. But do you notice what Jesus does with their limited resources (fish and bread)? It says that Jesus looked up to heaven and blessed the food? Luke is using language from Exodus 16:4, where God sent bread from heaven to provide for His OT people Israel after freeing them from slavery in Egypt. God used Israel’s empty stomachs to melt away their self-sufficiency; to melt away idea that they were strong enough to make it on their own. The desert taught them that God would provide for their needs. Jesus was using this situation to melt away the self-sufficiency of His disciples. He was reminding them that if He is sending them out on His mission, He would provide everything they need to do the mission. Family, Jesus will use the situations where we feel so limited and weak to break any self-sufficiency in us. Pastor H.B. Charles says, “God often breaks what He intends to use. If you want to be a vessel of blessing in the hands of Christ, don’t be surprised when you find yourself in the middle of a breaking process.” Jesus is too good to let self-sufficiency grow in us!
  10. And after blessing the food, Jesus broke it up and gave it to His disciples to share. This reminds me of the cookouts my family would do in the summer, we would break apart the meat and share it together. But what is happening here is Jesus is giving them an illustration of what He was going to sacrifice for the lost. These are the same action-words used to describe the Last Supper/communion Jesus did with His disciples. When we take communion, we remember Jesus’s body broken and blood shed for us; to save us Jesus became our bread of life. Because of our disobeying and rejection of God/sin, we are naturally under judgment. But Jesus came not only meet our temporary needs, but He lived and absorbed the wrath of God, and resurrected so that all those who trust in Him would have their greatest need met: forgiveness of sin. This is why Jessus said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.” To save us Jesus became our bread of life in the wilderness of our sin and brokenness. Family, if Jesus has already taken care of your greatest need, what need is too big for Him? Especially for His mission! The encouragement here is that Jesus isn’t just give us what we need for the mission, He is what we need; and we have Him!
  11. So, if Jesus provides everything we need for the mission (primarily Himself), how do we continually avoid falling into spiritual amnesia? Do you notice Jesus kept handing the bread and fish to His disciples, and they kept giving it to the people? The crowd didn’t even realize what was happening, they just knew the disciples were bring them the food Jesus provided. The main way we avoid self-sufficiency is by first feasting on the gospel ourselves! Like an instrument, our hearts need to be retuned to the gospel repeatedly; they need to feast on the gospel. Practically, this truth shapes our services. We come together every week to: sing God’s word, to read His word throughout the service, to preach his word, and to see his word in baptism and communion. And after feasting on the gospel, I send you all to take the word to our city! This is why we constantly encourage you to be present for Sunday worship, CG’s and GG’s. You can’t fight self-sufficiency, enjoy Jesus’s provision, and proclaim the kingdom if you are spiritually starving. Family, you can’t give what you don’t have. Our text reminds us that Jesus invites us to feast on the gospel and to invite others to that feast.
  12. Implication: So, “What opportunities has Jesus given you to proclaim the kingdom?” Is it with your job? Your family members or kids at home? Or to serve in our church as we proclaim the gospel every Sunday? Whatever it is, let me give you some steps you can take to engage in this mission. First, If Christ has saved you, celebrate by singing and taking communion; remember how God He has been to you! Second, pray. We would love to pray for Jesus to give you clarity or to give you the boldness and trust to embrace His mission! Family, don’t take this moment for granted! Enjoy the gospel this morning and be encouraged to proclaim it as you leave! Proclaim the good news of the kingdom because Jesus provides!

Conclusion:

To finish, let remind you of how important our text is. If Jesus has saved you, He has invited to bring hope and light into this broken world. The world doesn’t need more podcasts, YouTube videos, philosophies or self help. What the world needs most is good news, and He has mobilized you to share that news of King Jesus saving lost sinners through His life, death, and resurrection! Let’s be a church that understands this. Let’s be a church that proclaims the kingdom of God!