- Gospels and Acts(NT) Matthew 9:35~10:42
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?
Manuscript
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.