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JESUS TRAINS HIS DISCIPLES FOR FUTURE GOSPEL MINISTRY

Question

JESUS TRAINS HIS DISCIPLES FOR FUTURE GOSPEL MINISTRY

 

Matthew 9:35-10:42

Key Verse: 10:5

 

     These twelve Jesus sent out with the following

     instructions: Do not go among the Gentiles or enter

     any town of the Samaritans. 

 

STUDY QUESTIONS

 

1. Read 9:35-10:4. What were the characteristics of Jesus' ministry.

   How did he view the crowds? Why? What was his purpose in calling and

   training disciples? How did he equip them? What were their names?

 

2. Read verses 5-6. What was his first fieldwork instruction? Why this

   limit? Read verses 7-8. What was their message? Why is this so

   important? What did Jesus instruct them to do? Why? Read verses

   9-10.  How did he teach them to overcome material problems? Why?

 

3. Read verses 11-16. How were they to begin working in each village?

   What gift did they give those who received them? What is the result

   of not receiving Jesus' disciples? How did Jesus feel about sending

   out his disciples? Why?

 

4. Read verses 17-20. How were disciples to handle persecution? Read

   verses 21-23. Who would hate them and why? What must disciples do?

 

5. Read verses 24-25a. How can we be like Jesus? Read verses 25b-31.

   Whom should we fear and why? Of whom should we not be afraid?  Why?

   Read verses 32-42.What does it mean that Jesus did not come to bring

   peace but a sword? What does it mean to receive Jesus?

 

 

 

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Message

JESUS TRAINS HIS DISCIPLES FOR FUTURE GOSPEL MINISTRY

 

Matthew 9:35-10:42

Key Verse: 10:5

 

     These twelve Jesus sent out with the following

     instructions: Do not go among the Gentiles or enter

     any town of the Samaritans. 

 

When we review what we have studied thus far, Jesus messianic ministry

is heartbreaking and we feel divine mercy. Jesus messianic ministry is

a gospel ministry to us. But the time of Jesus earthly messianic

ministry was only three years. His messianic ministry time was greatly

limited. So Jesus worked harder. Jesus went through all the towns and

villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the

kingdom of God and healing every disease and sickness. But in three

years it is impossible to heal the people of the whole world, because

those who are sick and diseased are more than the healthy people. It is

amazing that Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in

their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing

every disease and sickness. Indeed Jesus messianic ministry was divine

mercy and divine compassion and divine love for all sinful mankind. In

this passage Jesus trains his disciples for future gospel ministry.

 

First, the harvest is plentiful. At that time, the chosen people Israel

were downtrodden by the Romans. And they were poor and helpless.  Jesus

was not discouraged, but he proclaimed the kingdom of God and healed

the sick. Therefore we can say that Jesus  earthly messianic ministry

is summarized with two words: preaching the kingdom of God and healing

the sick. Here we learn that Jesus wanted to save people from their

sins and also he wanted to heal all sick and diseased people.  Jesus

was followed by huge crowds of people. After working hard, Jesus must

have been tired. But when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them

because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Do you have this kind of feeling toward a huge number of sick people?

But Jesus knew that they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without

a shepherd. Here Jesus not only had compassion on the sick but also saw

the root problem: that is, they were helpless because they had no

shepherds. David said,  The Lord is my Shepherd.  So he had no problem.

To Jesus  eyes, so many people had no shepherds, so they were helpless.

So Jesus said in verse 37,  The harvest is plentiful but the workers

are few.  It was a time of utter despair. It was a time of harassment

and helplessness to the people under the yoke of the Roman Empire.

 

But Jesus did not think so. To Jesus, the crowds of sick people were

like a plentiful harvest which would make them abundant and rich. The

problem was that the workers are very few. He could not get many

workers all at once. So he asked his disciples to ask the Lord of the

harvest to send out workers into his harvest field. What an

incomparably poetic expression in expressing his shepherd heart for the

people. In UBF we have 1,400 missionaries in 78 countries. We may think

we have enough workers for the harvest. But this is wrong.  We must ask

God to send us many more workers to participate in the harvest of our

Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In this part, it is very meaningful when Jesus said,  sheep without a

shepherd...The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Can you

see the world like this? Or do you just say,  The world is crazy. I m

crazy, too.

 

Second, Jesus trains his twelve disciples to be future workers. Jesus

really wanted to continue his messianic ministry until the world

changed. So he began to train his twelve disciples. Look at verse . "He

called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out

evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness." Matthew

introduces the disciples  names in verses 2-4. Let s read verses 2-4.

 

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; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector;

James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas

Iscariot, who betrayed him.  They were largely men from the proletariat

class. But they had learning minds and obedient hearts, better than

anybody in the world. And Jesus also gave them instructions as they

went out for fieldwork training. There are several instructions.

 

Instruction one: Jesus said,  Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel

(6) It means start the work from small things. It is easy for anybody

to try to do big things and despair. But Jesus wanted them to start

from the lost sheep of Israel.

 

Instruction two: preach the kingdom of heaven and heal whoever you meet

(7,8). Look at verse 7.  As you go, preach this message:  The kingdom

of heaven is near.   First and last of all, Jesus wanted his disciples

to preach the message of the kingdom of God. Here we learn that when we

teach the Bible one to one, if we have no deep desire to plant the

kingdom of God in sheep s hearts, we are not really teaching the Bible.

There must be the kingdom of God in our hearts when we preach the

gospel. Our life must be focused on the kingdom of God, not the White

House where President Clinton lives. At the same time, we must heal the

sick. The deep spiritual meaning of healing the sick is to practice

divine mercy to the needy and helpless.

 

Instruction three: drive out demons. Sometimes something happens while

we are preaching or teaching the Bible. Something happens. Our

relationships so frequently break up. We don t want to see our sheep

when they are crooked and rebellious. But we should not see them

horizontally. We must see them from God s point of view. Especially we

must see the devil in their hearts. We must try to fight with the devil

in their hearts. The other day one shepherd was greatly betrayed by his

lovely sheep. He could not understand, so he was discouraged and

tortured himself. Later, he realized that it was not a matter of human

relationship but the work of the devil. When he prayed that God would

deal with the devil, his sheep soon got better. When the sheep was with

the devil, he was like the devil. When he was with Jesus, he looked

like a heavenly prince. It is very important to cast out the devil as

Jesus instructed. How can we cast out the devil? We must depend on God

and pray and give people one word of God. Then as soon as the devil

hears the word of God, he runs away like a 100-meter track runner. Let

s read verse 8 together.  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those

who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely

give.

 

Instruction four: depend on God only. Look at verse 9. "Do not take

along any gold or silver or copper in our belts..." When we carry out

gospel ministry, soon we confront a financial problem. So many of our

coworkers, even in UBF, put one foot in the world and put the other

foot in the work of God. So their ministry has remained under ten

attendants at the Sunday worship service for the last ten years. How

can we depend on God only, even about financial matters? It is a matter

of faith. Our UBF founder was a regular church pastor. But he took care

of several students and then the number grew to 400 very soon. Then he

resigned the pastor's position and kept on helping students. At first

he and his family suffered because of no food. But soon God solved the

financial problem. This servant of God has never worried about the

financial problem since those first five years of suffering at the

initial stage of pioneering. It is unbelievable. But those who have

faith can believe. Some of our American forefathers shared five kernels

of corn at each meal. Their situation was made worse by the attack of

American Indians. But they depended on God absolutely.  Now America has

become the richest country in the world.

 

Instruction five: let your peace rest on them. Whenever the disciples

went into the towns and villages, they had to search for some worthy

person there so that they might stay at his house until they left. At

that time, to serve one or two meals was to do a great favor. So the

disciples had to be careful in speaking to people. To do so, the

disciples must have the peace of God in their hearts. It means they

must believe God and his Son Jesus Christ as their Savior and receive

peace from God. This peace is not worldly peace which lasts not more

than five minutes. In other words, the disciples must boldly speak the

gospel message so that others may believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus

Christ and experience the peace of God and the joy of heaven and have a

living hope of the kingdom of God. The disciples were not to be daunted

by a house owner just because he gave them something to eat.

 

If people did not welcome the gospel of the kingdom, the disciples were

to shake the dust off their feet when they left that home or town,

believing that God s condemnation will be greater and more unbearable

for that town than for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment. When

he sent out his disciples, Jesus felt he was sending them like sheep

among wolves. But Jesus wanted them to have absolute faith.

 

Instruction six: believe the work of the Holy Spirit. Look at verses

17-20.  Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the

local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will

be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the

Gentiles. 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, for it will

not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through

you.  The disciples of Jesus must depend on the work of the Holy

Spirit, and then in any situation they can overcome public persecutions

and unbearable hardships. In this time of amorality and violence, to

become a disciple of Jesus seems to be indeed stupid and running a

losing business. In addition, much persecution is always waiting for

us.  But we must believe the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit

is our Counselor and Comforter and the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and

courage to win the victory with the gospel of Jesus whatever situation

we are in.

 

Instruction seven: stand firm to the end (21-23). The disciples needed

to know that all men would hate them because of Jesus. Jesus teaching

is the kingdom of God. Jesus  teaching also includes to live a holy

life, as God is holy. Jesus  teaching challenges immoral and violent

people. Jesus  teaching warns ungodly people that they will be

condemned. So they unconditionally hate the disciples of Jesus.

Yesterday, one may have been a good brother. But tomorrow he becomes a

bitter enemy when he hears about Jesus, for he realizes that he is

being warned about his corrupted and violent life. The father of one of

our members hates a servant of God unconditionally and spent a lot of

money to persecute him, not because the servant of God does not look

handsome or did something wrong, but because the servant of God seemed

to publicize his public sinner s life to the whole world. Therefore we

must be wise and know how to talk to such people and how to escape from

them and how to avoid them. Look at verses 22-23.  All men will hate

you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

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.  This concludes Jesus' instructions to his

disciples before sending them out on this short trainig mission.

 

Third, the disciples must be like Jesus. Look at verses 24-25a.  A

student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is

enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his

master.  Jesus is the Son of God who has the power and glory of God.

But evil people criticized Jesus by calling him Beelzebub. So they will

criticize his disciples. Therefore we must be like Jesus, not like

worldly people. Worldly people are always deceiving and being deceived.

And they hide in the darkness, doing many evil things. But their

wrongdoing will be revealed to the world. Therefore the disciples must

not be afraid of those who kill the body; they must fear the One who

can destroy both soul and body in hell. Our life span is in the hand of

God (28). So we don t have to be afraid.

 

Fourth, Jesus came to bring a sword. The people of the world do not

acknowledge the name of God. With their mouths they say they are

Christians. So many worldly people are 100% Christians and at the same

time, according to the situation, 100% non-Christians. When they want

to prove themselves to be reliable persons, they say they are

Christians. But when they intentionally do evil things, they say,  I

don t know Jesus.  It is because they believe that God is love and that

he does not condemn anybody. But verse 34 says,  Do not suppose that I

have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace,

but a sword.  God is love. But the sword of God is flashing in the

souls of evil men. Therefore we must love Jesus more than our father

and mother. Anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Jesus is not

worthy of Jesus.

 

Today we learn that we must master the basic principles of discipleship

of Jesus Christ. It is to have faith in God and give our lives for the

glory of God. May God establish you as one of the honorable disciples

of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

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