Author: KingdomLink

Knowing that apostleship is a role that is ordained by God, and knowing that Jesus only called the twelve apostles after an entire night of prayer, one might think that such a call is both a high honor and a particular blessing. It is, but that is not the point. Jesus has already blessed them with Himself. He has poured into their lives day by day. He has walked with them, shared plates with them and slept under the same roof as them. For some time now, actually. He has shown them what it is to heal, what it is to deliver from the demonic, what it is to preach, what it is to perform miracles. He has blessed them abundantly, far more than any man could reasonably ask. So now comes the point of all that blessing. After listing the apostles, Matthew immediately notes, “These twelve Jesus sent out…”  

Jesus was seeking to expand the ministry. The lost tribes of Israel were too many for one man to reach, no matter how effective the ministry was. Besides, it is not that Jesus wanted to reach the lost merely by teaching – in that case He could have created mass printing in His day. It is not that Jesus wanted to reach them merely by preaching – in that case He could have created television in His day. No, He wanted lost people to see His care and compassion the eyes of those He sent. He wanted lost people to know His touch through the hands of those He sent. He wanted lost people to know His love for them by going to where they were instead of expecting them to come to Him. 

It is astonishing, that though He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and has all authority to send people to go where He might not be willing to go, or do what He might not want to do – Jesus only commissions His disciples after modeling what going actually entailed. He doesn’t ask anyone to do what He Himself did not actually do. He had been traveling with the disciples. He had been walking along dusty roads in the middle-eastern heat, eating meager rations and getting thirsty. He had been living in crowded conditions. He had eaten food off the same plate as the poor and lowly. He had washed His feet with the same dirty water, and wiped them dry with the same dirty rag. Such was His love for the lost. Such was His care for those who He knew would call out for His crucifixion when the mob turned. Such was His compassion for those He understood were dead in their trespasses and sins, and entirely unable to help themselves in any way, manner, shape, form or function. 

It is for these same reasons that Jesus stlll sends people out today. Of course, today we have radio, and television, and all sorts of means of mass-communication through satellite and web-based applications. But for the lost, even if and when we get mass-holographic communication, it still won’t be the same as seeing the Gospel in action through someone who actually comes to them with the Good News. 

Matthew writes about Jesus’ commission of the twelve. Later, John will write Jesus’ words of commission to all of us, “Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” He sends us the way the Father sent Him: in human form. With human voices. With human touch, human compassion and human limitation. All this is by God’s design, that in the same form we were lost we might be recovered.

Amen. 

Jesus was sent by God the Father and was God’s best missionary, the true model for Christian mission.

Samuel Escobar

APPLICATION: Intentionality

He came for us only after setting aside His divine form and glory. Let us go for others with confidence in the same manner.  

“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.”

The Scriptures are full of lists of people. The lists differ, from genealogical records and tribe membership to the order of kings or inclusion in a particular group (as in David’s mighty men, or those Paul is thanking at the end of his epistles). Lists can be found in most books of the Bible, and each of those lists are included in God’s Word under divine prerogative. That means they are purposeful. For instance, we know that the genealogical record of Christ’s family line ties Him to David and the tribe of Judah. Knowing that grows our faith as we understand how Christ fulfilled prophesy. The lists of Scripture are purposeful and meaningful.

That purpose and meaning differs from list to list as the purpose and meaning of each book of Scripture differs. So it is not a surprise to us to see the list of apostles that Matthew provides here is not in chronological order. Matthew is writing with a largely Jewish readership in mind. While John details how Andrew came to know Christ before Simon Peter in his Gospel, and the Gospel of Luke walks us through the mechanics of Jesus formally calling both Simon and Andrew while they worked in the fishing boat, Matthew lists the names in a particular order, and for a particular reason.

He notes that first is Simon Peter. Matthew uses virtually the identical wording from 4:18, “Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew.” He also uses identical wording from 4:21, where he had listed, “James son of Zebedee and his brother John.” The Gospel writer had also previously identified himself (Matthew) as a tax collector (9:9), even though by the point of writing it is obvious that Matthew was no longer working in that trade. He lists Judas last, explicitly calling him out as a traitor to Jesus. Matthew wants us to know that God knows our humble beginnings. He also wants us to know that calling super-cedes our beginnings, and that what we do with our calling matters.

Everyone who knows Christ is on God’s list. We know this because the Revelation also notes that on the judgment day, “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire,” and Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” Nevertheless, the fact that we are on God’s list does not mean we equal in reward. What some do with their lives for Christ is clearly and obviously more than what others do with their lives for Christ. Although we all stand before Him as sinners saved by grace, the manner in which we reflect Him and His glory matters.

John Nollard wrote, “The listing of the twelve names clearly points to a unique role, but for the most part Matthew labours to present the Twelve as patterning something which belongs more broadly to Christian identity and role.” That unique role, and the pattern Matthew is hinting at, is the ultimate identity that Christ assigns to His people. It is an identity rooted in Him, filled with meaning and purpose, flushed with blessing and to God’s very great glory. As John will later write in his Revelation, “The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

The kingdom of God topples our cherished priorities and demands of disciples new ones. It takes from those who follow Jesus things they would keep, and gives to them things they could not imagine.

James Edwards

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Thank God that He wrote your name in His book of Life with the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Knowing He did that for you, what are you doing for Him? 

“He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out  evil spirits  and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles…”

The Scripture tells us that the impartation of authority Jesus gave the disciples in Matthew 10:1 had an immediate effect – even before the disciples begin to use that authority. In the very next verse, these same disciples are suddenly referred to as apostles. The difference in the two terms is significant.

A disciple is a student, an apprentice, pupil, or perhaps an adherent. A disciple is a committed follower. A follower who is following out of their own interest – disciples are driven forward entirely out of internal personal motivation. That is a tremendous thing, and a good deal more useful to the Lord’s work than simply another one of the admiring crowd who do little but look on and ‘like’ what Jesus does. A disciple does much more than a mere admirer does. A disciple is one who is actively seeking – by observation, listening and learning – to be like their teacher. We who study the Bible know that this is the goal of life – to be Christ-like. In fact, the very reason we read the Scripture and related material (like devotionals) is because we want to be more like the Jesus we are following! Being and becoming a faithful disciple is a high and noble calling.

Not only that, it is a calling that Jesus values. So much so that He will later mandate that His followers go and make disciples! It is something we value too, because disciples ‘belong’ to their master. Simply put, disciples of Christ are God’s redeemed and restored people. As Jesus later confessed of those God gave Him, “I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” This is a tremendous truth – a surety of our salvation. Yet though offered to ‘whosoever will’, it is not accepted by many – a disciple is one of the few!

An apostle differs from a disciple in only three ways. Firstly, an apostle is a disciple who has been given authority to speak on behalf of THE authority. Not just to speak (virtually all disciples can communicate in some way, and all are called to speak truthfully), but to speak on behalf of the sender. And that is the second way they differ from a disciple. The word translated for us as “apostle” means a delegate or envoy or messenger. Matthew is telling us that from this point on the disciples have a whole new calling. They are no longer fishermen and tax collectors and the like who are following Jesus out of a deep sense of commitment. From here on, they are sent by Him to do His work. They are commissioned by Him, and that’s the third difference between disciples and apostles. Disciples are there by calling. Apostles are commissioned to be co-workers. Co-workers with Christ in His Kingdom. They have moved from being observers and learners to being fellow workers on behalf of Christ to the glory of the Father.

That has huge spiritual implications, because to be sent with His authority is an awesome gift. It is a calling by the divine to do the work of the divine with the power of the divine on account of the authority of the divine. What Christ did for the twelve (and what the Spirit does for all disciples from the day of Pentacost to our day following the Great Commission) grants us the ability to speak into the spiritual realm – even to command the spiritual realm from the realm of the physical! 

But that doesn’t mean they (or we) stop being disciples. An apostle is always a disciple first. An apostle may have authority and power and commissioning, but they are first and foremost His disciples, sent to do His will, speak His truth and cooperate with His Spirit. Apostles have an authority and power and commissioning, but they have no autonomy. And that is a powerful truth that every apostle (and every disciple) must remember. 

The power which Christ has vested in His Church is one that does not imply the exercise of force, but is concerned only with the understandings and convictions of men. To the Church Christ has given the power of the Spirit, the force of truth, the might of saving grace, the influence of spiritual authority; and in the administration of that power, through means of the ministry of the Word and the dispensation of ordinances, the Christian society claims no right over the persons and properties, but only appeals to the hearts and consciences of men.

James Bannerman

APPLICATION: Worship

Our authority and our power and our calling and commissioning and all that we ever truly did have, have now or will have, all come from Christ. Worship Him! 

Jesus has been modeling what ministry looks like to all who care to watch Him. He is doing that by preaching repentance, calling people to God’s Kingdom and traveling through the area demonstrating the reality of God’s Kingdom, “teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” 

To this point, Jesus has been very public in His ministry. He taught extensively from the sermon mount and He healed people along the way. He freed people from demonic oppression and possession whenever He encountered them and whenever they were brought to Him. He even raised the dead!

All of this has been in close proximity to the disciples. He has been teaching them how to respond to sickness, to the demonic and to the myriad of human need in a broken world. He has modelled preaching and teaching and the operation of the spiritual gifts of  spiritual discernment and healing and as ways of revealing the Kingdom to others. Yet to this point He hasn’t asked His disciples to actually do anything more than simply follow. They have simply been observers. No doubt keen observers, because they left everything to follow this man Jesus. But they were just observers, watching and listening – drinking in all they could of the work and methods He was demonstrating. 

Called to follow, they were patiently waiting for their Master to call them to the work itself. Now that moment finally arrives, “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” 

Every Christian is supposed to do as Jesus did. But there are prerequisites to spiritual ministry. One cannot simply make a personal decision for Christ and immediately start to wage spiritual war. To overcome the demonic, one must have more than a wish to be able to do so. One must have more than words and more than a cloak and tunic. One must have understood something of the protocols of heaven. For without understanding of how, one will be lost for practicalities.

Jesus spent significant time with the disciples so they could see how He dealt with spirits of infirmity (in healing all manner of disease), how He dealt with spirits of incapacity (in healing all manner of handicap) and how He dealt with spirits of oppression (in casting out the demonic). They have seen and observed and learned much. One must also have the Word of God entrenched in your being. For without God’s Word, one cannot speak past the boundary of our physical world. Jesus has preached and taught so that the disciples might know the Word of God better than they have evener known it. They have heard Him from the sermon mount, along the way and in homes and synagogues throughout the area. He has prepared them well. 

Yet Jesus knew they must have even more than all that observation could grant. They must have spiritual authority. For without authority, they will be decimated by counterattack. It is the authority of Christ that gives a disciple the ability to not merely force a demon out of its chosen place, but to direct it away from those it would cause harm to. Spiritual ministry requires authority, and the disciple who purposes to act without first receiving an impartation of authority is headed to disaster! 

If Satan can defeat a Christian leader, he can cripple a whole ministry and discredit the cause of Christ.

Warren  Wiersbe

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

The same Christ who gave authority to the apostles still gives authority to His disciples today. Thank God for thee authority He has given you to be salt and light, bringing His peace, righteousness and joy in the Holy Spirit wherever you go. 

 Every missionary effort starts with prayer. It cannot start with programs and preaching,  or with carefully laid out plans. Those things are essential and needed, but the first and most important thing is always to pray. 

“Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

It is interesting that Jesus, looking with the crowds and being filled with Compassion by God’s Spirit, tells His disciples to pray. He could’ve just sent them. After all, He has divine prerogative. Besides, they are His followers. They would certainly do whatever He wanted them to do, and they’d do that of their own free will. They had made the choice to follow, so it would not have been out of place for Him to tell them to go and make disciples right then and there. But He does not. He tells them instead to pray. 

More than pray, He tells them to petition the Lord on account of two observations. Firstly that the harvest is ready, and secondly that there were not enough workers for it. Surely the Lord clearly knew that very well. Jesus knew it. His disciples may not have seen what He saw, but just before He told them to pray, He had just commented in their hearing, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” So we know that He both knew the time had come to begin the harvest, and He knew that there were not enough workers. Yet He asks the disciples to pray and tell God these same two facts. 

The late Armin Gesswein said, “Prayer is not everything, but everything is by prayer.”  What he meant is that everything in God’s Kingdom is by prayer. God – in His sovereignty – has chosen to only act in response to prayer. To then accomplish His will, we need to listen to Him prompt us as to what and how to best pray. That is true in every circumstance (to Armin’s point), but most especially true regarding the mission of God. 

After all, the mission of God is His mission. To save lost souls is not something we ourselves can do. We can go, and we can preach, and we can minister in His Name. But we cannot quicken the dead, and all those we reach with the Gospel are dead in their sins. We cannot reach into someone’s soul and liven it just enough to hear the Good News. And even if we could, we could not arrange all the circumstances of their lives so that right then just happens to be the right time for the message to be heard, so that they willfully respond to the Good News. That is all God’s work. It is not our work, but it is a work we participate in by His great grace to us. Praise His Name, when we do participate, He is faithful to do His work!

But we must first participate by praying. Praying about the harvest, and praying about the need for workers. When we do that, the Lord begins the greater work. The work of changing us into people who see the world as He sees it, and who see the opportunity as He sees it. We pray, and He changes our hearts. Then we begin to see what participation really is. And only then can we participate in that harvest. 

So we pray for the harvest, and we pray for workers of the harvest, so that we ourselves might be made into harvesters, and so that we might be partnered with the Lord of the harvest. 

Our prayer for them becomes the very tool God uses to change us, so that we might be used in His harvest. Amen.

Before we pray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray Him to empty us.

D.L. Moody

APPLICATION: Intentionality

We first pray for the harvest. Then we pray for harvesters. Then we find ourselves ready to join in the harvest. So…pray!

Jesus is going throughout Israel, teaching and preaching and healing. Moved with   compassion as He sees the crowds, He makes an observation, “Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”” 

Jesus’ analogy does not require a background in agriculture to understand. He is saying that there are many, many people who are ready to come into the Kingdom of God. He is also saying that there are only a few workers actually doing the Kingdom work of helping people enter His Kingdom. The ‘harvest’ of souls is plentiful, but the reapers of souls are few. 

One might think that with Jesus saying that over 2000 years ago, by our day it would be a very different circumstance. Sadly, that isn’t so. We may now have the technology to finally count how many different people groups there are (~16000), and we may now have communication tools like radio, television and the web, and travel technology like high speed trains and jets that previous generations could only dream of. Yet to our day only ~9000 of those people groups have a viable expression of Christ’s Kingdom. 

That means that ~7000 people groups do not have any expression of Jesus in their heart culture, and some of those 9000 groups have but a handful of viable expressions – even though people groups can number in the tens and hundreds of millions of souls. 

It is true that there is a great mission effort underway. But it is also true that there are increasing political and cultural roadblocks toward that effort, and a huge demonic effort by the enemy to lull Christians into complacency and consumerism. Most sadly, many born-again believers never even try to share their faith, and the very great majority will not make even modest efforts to cross cultural barriers for Jesus Christ. “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few,” is an observation that is just as true today as it was when Jesus said it to His handful of disciples over 2000 years ago. 

We must not forget that we are left on earth for a particular reason. That reason is to pursue God’s mission. The whole point of the Christian life is Christlikeness, but what is Christlikeness without participation in what Christ was and is doing? Jesus is on mission – working the ‘fields’ of people, reaping a great multitude of people from every nation and tribe and language and tongue. To this very day – by His Holy Spirit – Christ inspires and prompts, leads and directs people that they might be able, gifted and encouraged to join in the harvest effort. 

We do not cease being God’s own if we know Jesus but do not engage in His mission. The thief on the cross was still saved, after all. But we do miss the much deeper experience of Him if we do not enjoin His effort. We miss the joy of fruitfulness if we do not join His effort. We miss a greater experience of His peace, a greater experience of His power, a greater experience of His presence if we do not join His effort. Worse of all, we miss the eternal reward of having put our hand to the task for His glory. 

Perhaps in the here and now, that seems to matter little to us. It does not seem like we are losing out much by not participating in the mission of God. But if we bring our Lord little in the way of eternal glory, what should we expect that we get to share in with Him when we get to eternity?  

“According to thy faith be it unto thee” was Christ’s great law of healing and blessing in His earthly ministry. This was what He meant when He said “with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.”

A.B. Simpson

APPLICATION: Intentionality

If the Lord has given to you a season of planting for His glory, then be about planting. If the Lord has given to you a season of watering for His glory, then be about watering. If the Lord has given you a season of harvest for His glory, then be about harvesting. And if the Lord has given you a season of cold winter suffering for His glory, then be about suffering.

We’ve all seen large groups of people. The stadium packed with fans. The  main  square/street in town completely filled with partiers or protestors. The line-up of cars stretched out to the horizon in a traffic jam. The great mob of people rushing to and fro in a mall in December. We’ve all looked out over a city from a high place, and wondered at the great numbers of people who call that place home. 

What do you think of when you see the crowds? Do you think of the great quantity of food that is needed to sustain them? Do you think of the ill intent of some among them? Do you think of the mindlessness of the mob and wonder if common sense has a home there? What emotions fill your heart when you see them? Wonderment? Frustration? Fear? Anger? Matthew recorded for us what Jesus saw when He looked at the crowds, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

God looks out at the crowds, and He knows the needs and hurts and disappointments of each one. He knows how sin has twisted and distorted life for every individual that the Spirit formed from conception. He looks and sees a vast graveyard of the walking dead of humanity. For they are all dead in their trespasses and sins. Completely helpless to do anything at all to rescue themselves. Worse, they are harassed. The enemy of their souls is not content to sit idly by and watch them stumble into eternal destruction. He and his minions do all they can all the time to further entangle them in sin and foolishness. He constantly lies to them, telling them they are not worthwhile, not loved, not noticed or cared for. Worse still, he constantly incites those he has oppressed and possessed toward ever more destructive behavior, furthering both their own misery and the misery of all around. 

Jesus looks out to the crowds and sees how the enemy is harassing them. He sees how unable they are to help themselves. He notes that they are but sheep being led to the slaughter, and those He Himself had appointed to shepherd them to safety are absent. Unaccounted for. The shepherds have chased after sin too. They have fed their pride, and in their arrogance they distain the crowd and care nothing for them. The crowd is shepherdless. 

Jesus sees these things, knows these facts, and is filled with compassion.

After you strip away the obvious, and after you look beyond the petty motivations, and after you look past the all too human faults, you see the true condition of people. 

That is a spiritual exercise. An exercise which does not yield a conclusion so much as it yields a feeling. A deep, entirely spiritual emotion, whelming up from the soul. It is not an emotion you can walk away from or shake off, because it is God’s heart for people. It is compassion, and as John Nolland said, “Compassion involves so identifying with the situation of others that one is prepared to act for their benefit.” 

Those who lead and those who govern must have this same compassion for the crowd they look upon. Without God’s heart for those we lead – without compassion – one’s behaviour becomes entirely motivated by one’s own condition. 

And that – well, that never works out for the best. 

We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

APPLICATION: Intentionality

What do you see when you look upon those you lead? Does God’s heart for them well up within you? Ask God for more of His heart for those you influence, that you might lead well. 

In Matthew 4, the Gospel writer summarized Jesus’ early ministry; “Jesus
Photo by James Ahlberg on Unsplash went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.” Now he writes, “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.”

Between those two summaries, Jesus has done much. He provided the bulk of His teaching to the crowds, healed diseases, demonstrated sovereignty over the wind and waves, casted out the demonic, forgave sin, called Matthew into ministry, raised the dead and restored sight to the blind and speech to the mute. In short, between those two summaries Jesus has completely fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesy of Messiah.

For Isaiah had prophetically written, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.” Truly, chapters 5-7 of Matthew are good news, and all of it was preached to the poor! Every time Jesus saw a point of Law He saw something of the character of God. So all of Jesus’ teaching – whether beatitudes or greater explanation of the Law – points to a God who loves His created children and wants the very best for them. So much so, that He calls us to be His reflection for others.

Isaiah had written, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.” So Jesus has ministered to those who were crushed in spirit. He healed the leper. He healed the centurion’s servant. He healed Peter’s mother-in-law. He healed the paralytic. He healed the woman who had almost lost hope on account of her persistent bleeding. He raised Jarius’ daughter – who was dead and beyond hope – to life.

Isaiah had written, “He has sent me to […] proclaim freedom for the captives.” So Jesus freed those who were captive to demonic oppression and possession. He ministered to the demon-possessed at the beginning of His teaching, and again at Peter’s house, “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word.” He cast out the demons from the two demon-possessed men in the Gadarenes, and also from the man who was mute.

Finally, Isaiah had written, “He has sent me to […] proclaim […] release from darkness for the prisoners.” To that point, Jesus restored sight to the blind and speech to the man who was mute. From the absence of sensory input to the absence of ability, Jesus has released, freed and restored.

Matthew is not even halfway done writing his Gospel, but already we can see how Jesus truly and fully fulfilled the prophetic mandate of Messiah!

Did I offer peace today? Did I bring a smile to someone’s face? Did I say words of healing? Did I let go of my anger and resentment? Did I forgive? Did I love? These are the real questions. I must trust that the little bit of love that I sow now will bear many fruits, here in this world and the life to come.

Henri Nouwen

APPLICATION: Intentionality

We are Christians. The word means literally, ‘little Christs’. How are we fulfilling the Messianic agenda? Are we bringing the Kingdom of God to others today and celebrating that the Kingdom of God can come through us, or are we about our own agenda and still waiting till He appears in power? 

Jesus has been ministering to all who are brought to Him and to all who sought Him out. Each and every time, those He touched, those He spoke to and those around Him were better off. Every time people met Him they could see, hear and experience the Kingdom of God breaking in. Jesus is anointed of God and He leaves a trail of evidence behind Him that He is anointed of God. The poor have heard good news preached, the prisoners of sin have been freed, the blind have their sight restored, those oppressed by demonic spirits are released. The lame walk, and the mute speak again! It truly is exactly as Jesus said it was in His first public address (see Luke 4:16-21).

One might think that such profound works of God would lead people to draw obvious conclusions. But they do not. In fact, though they are being ministered to constantly, the crowd is simply “amazed”. Their conclusion (as it is) is simply a remark that no one has ever seen anything like what is happening before. They are so caught up in what is going on they do not see or appreciate that God Himself has come to Israel. They only want to see more, to hear more and experience more. To them, Jesus is a traveling festival of cool stuff.

That’s disappointing for sure. Far worse though, is that the better educated and more capable are coming to conclusions. Negative ones! “The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”” Sadly, the Pharisees to this point have not even had a face to face conversation with Jesus. They’ve just talked to His disciples, and that only to criticize Him.

Ministry begins with the work of blessing people with the reality of God. That blessing is a mirror that reveals truth. Both the truth of God, and also the truth of who those being blessed really are. It reveals God because it is an act of God, done by the power of the Spirit of God, by the anointed of God. So it always draws a crowd. Some in that crowd will see God in the blessing and immediately recognize that they belong with Him (and so are changed). But the great majority are ambivalent about God. They see the works of God and are amazed, but they not changed. The blessing means as much to them as a street festival performance. They see the work of God but they cannot recognize it for what it is because their ambivalence toward Him clouds their sight. At most, they’ll take advantage of the blessing as just a random blessing (for no particular reason at all).

Sadly, a few will go much further in the wrong direction by reflecting their own rejection of God. They damn what is happening without even speaking to those involved, reacting to the blessing with hatred because they’ve already given their souls over to their own darkness. Even more sadly, some of those are the very ‘servants of God’ that society looks to for guidance and direction in the things of God.

Time, power and money will make you more of what you already are. That’s why the work of ministry is so important. Blessing people with the reality of God at least lets them see who they are, before they etch that character in the stone of eternity.

Ministers are powerless people who have nothing to boast of except their weaknesses. But when the Lord whom they serve fills them with His blessing they will move mountains and change the hearts of people wherever they go.

Henri Nouwen

APPLICATION: Intentionality

How are you bringing the blessing of God to others today? Are you ready for the responses – both positive and negative? 

One would think that in our modern world, everyone who cannot speak or is mentally disturbed in some way is a victim of circumstance. We are taught to see their condition as entirely medical and clearly beyond the level of care all but the most highly trained can offer. Often it is, but that does not negate the fact that these conditions can also be spiritual in nature. Even if their medical condition is beyond us as a society, the spiritual condition has a remedy that all God’s people can put into effect. For the spiritual must always bow to the Name of Jesus.

Every disciple of Christ has His authority to cast out the demonic, and every disciple of Christ can at least pray for healing.

In our reading of Matthew to date, we’ve just seen Jesus find a home to rest in after raising Jarius’ daughter from the dead. Once there, two blind men asked to be seen. When He healed them, He warned them not to tell anyone, so His journey out of town could be unhindered by the crowds that sought Him everywhere He went. But when the formerly blind men left the house, they spread the news about Him all over. The result was a crowd waiting in the morning with at the sick and possessed. “While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.””

This is not just another case of Jesus casting out the demonic and speaking physical health into someone. It is a ministry to one who was considered beyond help, because a mute person is someone who has never had the ability to speak, or has lost that ability through physical damage. To ‘cure’ that would be to rebuild their vocal cords. If they’ve never spoken before, it would also require many, many weeks of speech therapy! Yet in one moment of power, Jesus casts out the demon, repairs the physical body and gives their ability to speak. It is a three-for-one spiritual healing!

The result of this deliverance ministry is not only another soul made completely well. It is also the amazement of the crowd. In fact, the crowd is so astonished they take note that this particular level of healing had never been seen in Israel. That was true. This kind of trifold healing had never been done before.

Israel had seen people raised from the dead (notably the widow of Zaraphath’s son whom Elijah raised, and the Shunammite woman’s son, whom Elisha raised), and Israel had seen a mute person speak again (notably Zechariah), and Israel had seen many demoniacs delivered (all of them by Jesus). But this case stands out even more than all those, because this particular fellow’s condition was thought to be totally beyond help. But as it turned out, Jesus was well able to speak peace and health to even this level of disability.

Our Lord is not limited by precedent. He can do what has never been done before. He can bring health to even the most hopeless of cases. He is as unlimited in ability to influence and change our world as an author is to influence and change the world they created on the page.

Our high and privileged calling is to do the will of God in the power of God for the glory of God.

J.I. Packer

APPLICATION: Worship

The day is quickly coming when all disease, handicap and injury will be made moot forever. Praise God that all at once, the dead in Christ will rise, the mortal will put on immortality and the corruptible will put on incorruptibility.