Scripture reading: Psalm 100.

Sermon text: Matthew 9:35-10:23.

Introduction

Tell me, honestly: When you read the title of this sermon, what did you infer I was asking? When you hear, “Are you ready to go,” do you think of heaven?

If so, this sermon’s for you.

For too long, the Church in America has focused more on an eternal life in heaven than on life here in our present. I fear that we’re now reaping the results of this focus. We’ve been too heavenly minded to be any earthly good; now, we look around and realize that our society has moved past the issues we so long considered crucial.

What happened?

We forgot the command of Jesus: “Go.” Jesus never told His disciples to focus on heaven, to obsess about heaven to the detriment of His command to evangelize the world. In the passage of today’s sermon, Jesus’ command to “go” challenges us to take up the command in our community. Regardless of others’ issues with society, we must go into our community and tell everyone of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom is here! Christ is risen! Are you ready to go and tell others this good news?

Sermon

When this passage opens, Jesus has already visited numerous towns in Galilee, “teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.” As He traveled through Galilee, He saw a hunger for spiritual life. He saw that the legalism of the Pharisees and the ritualism of the Sadducees had left the people spiritually famished. Only the good news of the kingdom would feed the souls of the people He saw.

Jesus had already prepared a plan to continue His work after His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Jesus planned to take a select few of His followers and pour His life into them over the course of the next few years. For this reason, Jesus chose 12 men from all walks of life to prepare for His mission to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth.

Like today’s Church, the disciples reflected a wide range of personalities and occupations. Jesus chose fishermen and tax collectors; reflective, spiritually aware individuals and impulsive, shoot-from-the-hip personalities. Jesus even chose a man we would consider a terrorist: Simon the Canaanite is elsewhere referred to as “Simon the Zealot” (Luke 6:15, Acts 1:13).

Jesus also chose the man who would prove a traitor: Judas Iscariot.

After choosing these men, Jesus immediately sent them out into Jewish villages. The passage of this sending tells us a great deal about what Jesus expects of us today.

First, Jesus told them where to go. In this case, Jesus told them not to bother with the Gentiles and Samaritans; reaching Israel would take all their efforts for this trip. I would say that of all we read in this passage, this command alone does not apply to us. We find ourselves in a different situation from the original Apostles in that we live in an era of the New Covenant of Jesus’ blood. We know we have a command to carry the gospel to all nations and peoples.

Still, Jesus told them to go to specific people with whom we can relate: “The lost sheep of Israel.” We all know we have “lost sheep” in our communities and lives. We alone can carry the news of the kingdom of heaven to these people.

Second, Jesus told the disciples the words to say: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” We prayed this morning, “Thy kingdom come.” However, we know that while the kingdom of heaven remains, in one way, in the future of the world, we also know that because of Jesus’ resurrection, the kingdom of heaven also, in another way, exists in the world today. We must not only tell the world of the kingdom’s presence, we must live the kingdom’s presence in our lives.

Jesus told His disciples to “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.” While many people think that these commands no longer apply because we no longer see them, missionaries and Christians from other parts of the world tell us of incidents of these occurrences. It seems the gospel, in God’s way, gives evidence of its truth as it spreads into new territory. Once the gospel takes root in a land, Christians there must learn to live by faith, not by sight (John 20:29). Remember that miracles happen in God’s timing, not in ours, and that God is not a command performer. He allows miracles only where and when He wills them.

The next words tell us of an important component in our mission to the world. Jesus told the disciples, in effect, not to charge for what they performed or preached. These men needed to learn to trust Jesus to provide for them. Also, they needed to realize that any miracle they performed came not from them, but from God. They could charge no one for what God had done.

What about today? The Church, very early in its history, realized the necessity of providing for its ministers. The Old Testament had provided a precedent as the Law provided for the priests from the sacrifices of the people. St. Paul would later confirm this in his letters to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 9). However, St. Paul would also give an example of ministers who worked outside the congregation to provide for their ministry as well.

Still, the lesson applies today. We must learn to trust God for His provision as we obey His command to carry the gospel to the world. (I’d recommend the sermon about worry from 25 May.)

Jesus also gave the disciples, and us, a wonderful command regarding hospitality. Jesus told the disciples to stay in the first home to which they were invited. This prevented a serious problem. The disciples could not go into a village and accept room and board from a poor family, only to abandon this family if they later earned the respectability to receive an invitation from the more powerful families of the village.

In essence, Jesus taught the disciples that everyone was equal in the eyes of God. Social prestige would hold no sway in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus also told the disciples of an inevitability: opposition. Not everyone would accept their message of the kingdom of heaven. Not everyone would accept the good news of the kingdom. Some would simply ignore them and their message, but others would actively oppose them, even to the point of violence. However, Jesus told them that when — not if — this happens, “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”

History tells us the truth of this reality. Of the 11 disciples (not counting Judas) Jesus called that day, 10 of them died a violent death in His service. The Roman theologian Tertullian would later write, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” The Church experienced its greatest expansion in the twentieth century — the same century that recorded the greatest number of martyrdoms in our history.

Nonetheless, Jesus’ command remained firm: “Go.” The disciples were to spread the news of the kingdom of heaven in spite of opposition, knowing that God would provide for them in all circumstances of life.

Jesus gave the disciples words of great comfort. Although they would be “hated by all for my name’s sake,” Jesus told them, “but the one who endures to the end will be saved.” At times in our spiritual lives and missions, we must exhibit endurance. There is no place in the mission of the Church for those easily discouraged. Unfortunately, endurance comes best through suffering. Therefore, we should, as St. James would later write, “Count it all joy, my brothers,* when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:2-3). When we endure in suffering, we demonstrate the presence of God in our lives and the reality of our salvation.

Jesus’ last words may puzzle us. “You will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” In some way, this has been fulfilled, even though Jesus has not yet returned. We have no doubt that the disciples understood His meaning.

We know that the disciples accomplished their mission. They returned with stories of God’s provision and power. We also know they continued the mission after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. We sit here today because of their efforts.

So, what do we do? Do we remain here when those Jesus sent brought salvation to us?

We must take the gospel of the kingdom of heaven into our community: to all ages, to all races, to all social and economic levels. We must trust God to provide for us as we accept this challenge. We must also realize that we are not commanded to worry about the opposition. We must let God worry about the opposition.

We must also realize that the message hasn’t changed; the kingdom of heaven is here, and we must spread this news. However, something has changed, and I think for the better. I see the generations that succeed us as more interested in serving God now than worrying about heaven later. These generations want to do something to fight the injustices they see in our society; they will not tolerate racism and economic oppression. These generations want to serve as stewards of God’s creation. We cannot tell them of the hope of heaven and expect them to excitedly await their deaths. They wish to live for the gospel — and I’m glad. Perhaps our society would benefit from a generation willing to work for the kingdom instead of waiting for its eventual fulfillment.

Will we meet the challenge? Will we give our children an example to follow? Jesus says, “Go.” Are you ready to go? Are you ready to tell others of the kingdom of heaven?

Therefore, I tell you, as Jesus has told me, the disciples of His time, and everyone He has ever called to salvation: “Go.” Go beyond your own resources, trusting in God’s provision. Go beyond your own courage, trusting in God’s protection and purpose. Go beyond your own boundaries, trusting that God is already there, with joys beyond imagining in this life. Tell the world of a kingdom now, in preparation for an eternity to come.