The Work of the Disciple

2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; Galatians 6:1-16; Luke 10:1-12. 16-20

As you are mostly aware, I have some kids. I want to talk about three of my kids today for a few minutes.

My son Ian is an academic. The only thing Ian loves more than sitting in a classroom is teaching in a classroom. Ian loves reading books, writing papers, taking tests, and gathering together what we would call “book-learning.” Ian is a historian. When he was seventeen, I once sneaked a peek at his computer to see what he’d hidden on it. I found books and books and books by ancient Roman historians. But Ian does not like doing things with his hands – he almost flunked pre-school because his scissor skills were so poor. He hated finger-painting. And Ian hates the great outdoors; he can’t stand camping – we’ve joked he’s happy only when the temperature around him is between 70 and 71 degrees.

My daughter Jessie is just the opposite. Jessie loves doing things with her hands and meeting new people. While she was in high school, Jessie got her Certified Nursing Assistant certificate. Now, living in Alaska, she has just become a welder and is working at a gold mine repairing the trucks and other heavy equipment. Jessie loves the outdoors; she lives in a cabin without running water and loves it. She likes taking long hikes and looking at moose in -30 degree snow storms. And she really can’t stand sitting still in a classroom. But she learns quickly.

Andy, whom most of you know, is a mix of the two. Andy loves classroom discussions, he loves writing papers, he loves his academics, but he doesn't like reading textbooks much. And Andy is also an Eagle Scout who teaches camping and wilderness survival and personal fitness – as well as chess. Andy loves his laptop computer – he even took it to Boy Scout camp so he can take an online class this summer when he’s not hiking or tent-camping.

I tell you all of this because our topic today is the work of the disciple, a word that is usually translated as “student”, but that translation drops an awful lot of the original meaning. For a better definition might actually be “apprentice”.

Jesus did not send his disciples into a classroom with four walls to study old scrolls filled with ancient theology – but He did teach them Old Testament scripture. Jesus did not hand his disciples textbook upon textbook explaining what Christianity was – but He did teach them by showing them who Christ was. Jesus did not give his students pointless role-playing exercises or ask them to do the equivalent of welding two random pieces of iron together – Instead, Jesus walked around the countryside with the disciples, showed them how to talk to real-life people and then talked to the disciples about what He had done. Just as a carpenter’s apprentice learns by doing, the disciples learned by watching and doing. And sometimes, Jesus gave them assignments for them to complete without Him as part of their training. Today, we’ll talk about one of those assignments…

…And so the disciples were walking along the road. The entire band was there – the Twelve, as well as the hundred and twenty loyal men and women, and even a large group of the crowd of spectators. They had been walking through Samaria, heading south, heading toward Jerusalem. But now they entered the land of Judea, the land ruled from Jerusalem, inhabited by Jews once again. And Jesus decided to change the way He was operating.

Jesus called the Twelve together and the hundred and twenty, those loyal people who were committed to the Jesus Movement, but, for one reason or another, weren’t yet ready for the intense training the twelve disciples got. The hundred and twenty included people with names that would become famous later on, men like Barnabas, who would bring Paul into the fellowship and travel with him on his first missionary journey. The hundred and twenty included Jesus’ brothers, his mother, and Mary Magdalene and Salome, and John Mark, a teenager who would later travel with Peter and write the Gospel of Mark. Perhaps Apollos was there, perhaps Stephen, perhaps Phillip the Evangelist, Mathias was definitely there, as was Barsabbas, also known as Justus, the eventual replacement and runner-up for the job of joining the Eleven after Judas Iscariot had killed himself. There were many more names, men and women who were very committed to Jesus, but weren’t quite included in the top Twelve.

Jesus calls them all together and picks thirty-five or thirty-six teams of two people each to go out into the villages nearby. Can you imagine being hand-picked by Jesus to carry His word into the world? There were pairs of men who were best friends, men who were brothers, men who didn’t know each other well before that day but who grew to know each other well that day. There were probably married couples, and there may have even been pairs of women, sisters, friends, who were sent out, for Judea in those days was relatively safe if you knew how to act. Who would you have as your partner if you were called? Imagine standing with your partner, gathered around Jesus.

Then, that hot morning on the dusty road in Judea, near the border with Samaria where the people the Jews hated lived, Jesus gave you instructions.

“So listen up, everybody!

“There is a big harvest out there, but we don’t have enough workers. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field, people like yourselves who love me and love Our Father. Our Father wants to bring people home to Heaven – that is the harvest!

“ Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. I know you don’t have much training, and there are people out there who will want to send you running. But you’ll do well. Now, do not take a purse or bag or even sandals – I don’t want anyone to have an excuse to rob you; and do not greet anyone on the road – stay focused upon your mission and don’t dawdle!

“Go into a village and pick a house. Some of you go to the Judean villages and some to the Samaritan villages. Knock on the door and introduce yourself, and ask if you can speak with them for a few minutes. When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Some people you meet with will be gentle, friendly individuals – others will be paranoid nutcases, but that’s the way people are!

“ Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for you the worker deserves his wages. Accept their hospitality. Do not move around from house to house. One good conversation is enough for now.

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.

“ Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ Listen to them and pray with them. Point out that God has sent you today because God cares for them.

“ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town, for God gave them a chance and they would not listen.

“Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me, and you know that God has sent me.”

Those were the instructions Jesus gave to you and the other 70 or so men and women who were sent into the villages. And so you walked through the dust with your partner, not even carrying a testament, but tasting the dust as you walked around the hill to the next village. What would happen? What would you find?

When the loyal men and women who had followed Jesus’ instructions returned, they had wonderful stories to tell. Some told of how they had talked to old women and prayed with them. Others told of how they had met farmers working hard that day and how they had given them hope that God would not forget them even when their farms were having trouble. Still others told of shopkeepers and smiths, of hard-working men and women – and of beggars who were barely living. And some told of terrible encounters with men who ordered them to leave – and others told of praying for demons to leave a possessed girl – and the demons leaving. And you had stories to tell, also.

Jesus heard all their stories and rejoiced. “I saw Satan falling from Heaven while you were gone, “ He said. “the enemy knows that the counterattack has begun, and he is worried.”

“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. Keep up the good work!

“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. It is not the power that you have that is important. What is important is that your souls are saved and being saved because of your devotion to My work.”

And that evening, you and the other 70 or so slept well, for you knew that you were right with God and that you had found your purpose in life – to tell people about Jesus the Christ.

The work of the disciple, you see, is to learn to do as Christ did. Jesus Christ spent His days helping people and connecting them to God. Jesus did not spend His time explaining Christian theology to everyone He met – instead, He helped them and told them that God loved them. He forgave them. He looked for the damage in their hearts and souls and He did and said those deeds and words that would most heal that damage. And when He left the planet, His disciples explained how much He loved everyone to other people. His disciples loved people, they did extraordinary good deeds and they helped people understand that God does not hate sinners but wants to help sinners. The disciples explained that Jesus had died to take away the death that we all deserve for our actions and words, and the disciples led people into a good relationship with God.

And the hardest thing for every disciple to learn is this one simple teaching: "God does not have favorites." The first disciples were all Jews and they had to learn that God loves non-Jews too. The first disciples were mostly men and they had to learn that God loves women, too. The first disciples were adults and they had to learn that God loves children, too. And as time went on and on, every generation of disciples had to learn one more time that whoever you think you’re better than, God doesn’t love you a bit more – or less – than the person on the other side of the street or the town or the world whom you are looking down at in anger or disgust. This is perhaps the most difficult lesson to learn – that God loves us all and just like Saundra and I love Ian and Jessie and Andy and Heather and Hollie equally – tremendously, to the depths of our hearts – God loves you and the person beside you and the people you hate just as much – to the depths of God’s Being.

And it is our responsibility, it is our task, it is our work as disciples to accept that love ourselves. and then to love all people. Completely. As much as we love ourselves.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, one day called a conference together of all his preachers. It was the very first conference he called. At that conference, Wesley announced that the purpose of the conference was that “we might save our own souls and the souls of those who listen to us.” Loving others means we save our own souls first. And the best way to save your soul is to grow closer to Christ. And the best way to grow close to Christ is to walk with Him and introduce Him to others – as the first disciples did. They walked with Christ daily, watching Him work, listening to His words, and introducing Him to the people they met along the way.

And so, to you sitting here today, what will you do this holiday week? Will you speak of Vacation Bible School, will you speak of the Refit Exercise and Worship, will you simply speak of God’s Son, Jesus Christ and what you have learned about Him over the last three years? For Jesus is still sending people into the world – it is up to you to choose your village and the doors you knock on. It is up to you to spread the Word – Christ has died, Christ has risen. Christ will come again. Jesus Christ loves you and this can change everything in your life! It’s as simple as that!

So pick a partner, pick a neighborhood, pick a door, and knock.