One Life: Sent

MESSAGE: One Life: Sent: (podcast)
SCRIPTURE: Luke 6.12-16



I’m posting this a tad early because I’m going on a mini-vacation Sunday afternoon and won’t be back until Tuesday, and I didn’t want to wait that long in the week to post.

The very first thing we see in this passage is Jesus spending ALL NIGHT in prayer before he’s about to make a very significant decision when it comes to his ministry on earth, and the ministry that will continue after he leaves. The lesson? Prayer is important. Important enough to spend LOTS of time in it – especially in the dawning of a big life decision. Spend time seeking God.

Then Jesus calls his disciples to himself. A disciple (mathetes) is literally someone who is a student, or a learner. So in other words, Jesus has students and he calls them together for class. That being said, ANYONE who followed Jesus to learn from what he sand and did was his disciple. So at this point in the scripture, there could’ve been potentially hundreds of people that Jesus calls together. But Jesus’ focus is on 12 specific disciples of his, and he makes them apostles.

What is an apostle? Good question. An apostle (apostolos) is literally an ambassador or a messenger: he that is sent. Jesus is saying to 12 of his disciples here that they have graduated to the next level. He is now making them apostles.

This doesn’t mean that they STOP learning (being disciples), however. The text says that he ALSO made them apostles. They are to be sent out, and always learning as they go. Now they’ve just got another job of going out and delivering the message.

Who is an apostle? Another good question. Check out Hebrews 3.1:

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.

Jesus was an Apostle. He came to earth as the ambassador of God, sent to deliver to the people of earth the message of salvation through repentance and faith in his life, death and resurrection and sacrifice for sin. In a very real and literal way, Jesus was a messenger – he was an ambassador with a job to do – thus, by the literal sense of the word, Jesus was an apostle.

Usually, when the New Testament uses the word “apostle,” it’s speaking specifically about the 12 that are called here in this passage from Luke. They got the honor of being the original apostles of Jesus Christ. But also (and in a more generic sense), all believers are apostles. Check out Romans 1.5:

Through Him and for his name’s sake, we have received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the nations to the obedience that comes from faith.

It would appear here that when an individual comes to Christ for salvation, he or she receives 2 things: 1) saving grace – unmerited favor through the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross, and 2) apostleship – the state of having been sent into the world with the gospel of Jesus. Why do we receive apostleship? Paul says: “to call people from among all the nations to the obedience that comes from faith.” In other words, so that all may people may come to faith in Christ to the glory of God. So then the answer to the question “Who is an apostle” when we look at the example of the lives of the disciples is: ANYONE who follows Christ and will bring his gospel to the world. So, in some form or in some sense, you my friend, are an apostle of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Where is an apostle sent? Look at Matthew 10.5-6:

These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Where is an apostle sent? To the people where they live. Jesus sends his disciples out to preach the kingdom of God, and he basically says, “Go to the people you know.” Don’t go to the Gentiles or Samaritans yet – go to the peeps within your sphere of influence. Go to the peeps you rub shoulders with – who speak same language as you – the peeps you know. But that’s not the only place an apostle is sent to. Look at Matthew 28.19:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Where is an apostle sent? To the nations. After telling them to go to the people within their sphere of influence, Jesus then tells his disciples out to preach the gospel to people they DON’T know. But even more than that – we’re talking people in other countries. People who speak different languages and live in different cultures that seem weird and foreign to us. People you DON’T rub shoulders with – countries where there aren’t any other Christians to preach the gospel to them. Jesus tells his disciples (apostles): GO TO THEM.

But there’s even another place that Jesus sends his apostles:

John 17.15, 18, 21 – I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 18) As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 21) …that they may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Where is an apostle sent? To the world. This is a rather generic sending, but it’s worthy of examination. First, Jesus sent his disciples to places they were familiar with & knew well – pretty specific. Then, Jesus gets a little more abstract and sends them into “all the nations” – places that are unfamiliar and maybe even a little scary or intimidating. Then Jesus bottoms out in the abstract department by NOT narrowing down who his disciples were to go to at all: not just a certain city, not just a certain people-group, not even just a certain country, but to the ENTIRE WORLD. In other words, the apostle is sent to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to each and every individual in the world. That’s a lot of people! True, but think of it like this: the apostle of Jesus Christ is to bring the gospel to each and every individual in his or her world: the people you work with – the people you go to school with – your friends – your family – the guy you pass walking down the street – the people standing in line behind you at the Kwiki Mart – everyone who walks into and out of your world is someone that you have been commissioned to bring the gospel to.

So, we’ve answered the questions of what an apostle is, who apostles are, and where an apostle is sent. So then, what does an apostle do? Here are a couple good examples: when Jesus SENDS the apostles out in Matthew 10 (read it for yourself – I’ll just summarize), he gives them instructions about what they’re supposed to DO: preach the gospel, do incredible things in the name of God, give freely to all, depend upon God for all things, go into the world, be filled with the Spirit, be like Christ, expect to be hated for his message, conquer fear with boldness in Christ, trust God to provide, preach from the housetops, don’t fear hatred and persecution, and deny all else to follow Christ. This is what the disciples (the learners) did when they became ambassadors – when they were sent out to preach the gospel. This is what an apostle DOES – read Matthew 10 for the specifics.

Another good example is the entire book of Acts – “The Acts of the Apostles.” What did the apostles do? They went about preaching the gospel and their stories are in the book of Acts. It’s the things that they did as they went about preaching the gospel. Basically all the things that Jesus told his disciples to do when he sent them out. This is literally all they do in the book of acts – go out into the world, and be witnesses to the gospel through the power of God in their lives. And because they were OBEDIENT to the call to go, the gospel went out among the nations and spread, and people came to Christ. All because a group of regular, average guys who all came from different backgrounds, lifestyles, careers, social statuses were focused on being obedient to do what they had been SENT to do.

One of my recent seminary assignments was to go over my past with a fine toothed comb and examine how God has been working in my life (even in my childhood) to prepare me for where I am right now, and to prepare me for where he may lead me in the future. It was an extremely beneficial exercise, and I’d encourage you to do the same. How has God worked in your life to prepare you to be who you are today in order to go into the world and preach the gospel to all creatures? Do you realize that you are, in some sense, an apostle of Jesus Christ? That you have been SENT with the good news of the gospel? If you do realize this biblical fact, then you must ask yourself some questions:

Where will you go? Will you go to the people who you work with? To the people you live with? To your family? To the people you live next door to? To the people you go to school with? To that guy across the street who you always wave to but never talk to? Will you go to the nations? Will you go across the ocean to an unreached country that needs to hear the gospel? Will you go to live and minister in uncomfortable and unfamiliar places? Will you go to the world? Will you walk down the street and pass a guy on the sidewalk, and will your heart break because you KNOW that this guy needs Jesus? Will you reach out in compassion with the gospel to the person standing in line behind you? If you are to be an apostle, you MUST go SOMEWHERE – these are your choices.

What will you do? Will you preach? Will you preach from the housetops? Will you do incredible things in the name of God? Will you go about giving freely to all? Will you depend upon God for all things in life? Will you go into the world? Will you be filled with the Spirit? Will you strive to be like Christ? Will you receive hatred and persecution with gladness because you trust God? Will you conquer fear with boldness in Christ? Will you trust God to provide in any and every situation? Will you deny all else to follow Christ?

But the bottom line is WILL YOU BE OBEDIENT? If you are to be a disciple of Christ, if you are to be an apostle of Christ, if you are to be a follower of Christ, if you are to be a servant of Christ, IF YOU ARE TO BE A CHRISTIAN these are decisions you MUST make, because:

Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.