29
January, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
BLACKBOARD LESSON
FEBRUARY 25, 1934 THE TWELVE SENT FORTH M atthew 9 :35 to 11:1
Lesson T ext :Matt. 9 :35-38;10 :l-8,32,,33. Golden T ext : “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his har vest” (Matt. 9:37, 38). Outline and Exposition I. T he N eed for the T welve (9:35-38) ££ e y esus went about all the cities and ■ villages,” performing a threefold ministry (v. 35). First, He was teaching in the synagogues. Before He could give the truth of the kingdom which He had come to establish, He necessarily had to disabuse the people’s minds of much they thought was truth, but which, in reality, was error. Even today, there is much that passes for truth that is nothing more than the thoughts and ideas of men, and there is much traditional teaching that has nothing but old age to recommend it. Second, He was preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The prophets had spoken of a kingdom which would be without any of the distresses which other kingdoms knew; it was this good news that Jesus was preaching. There is a distinction be tween the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of the grace of God. The former is the good news of an earthly kingdom, righteously administered, while the latter is the good news of individual salvation for all men, of whatever race or color they may be. Third, Jesus was healing every sickness and every disease among the peo ple. The prophets had said that when the kingdom came, these conditions would be the order of the day, and Jesus was here giving proof that He was the promised Messiah who should usher in that king dom. The multitudes became so great, and they presented such a picture of distress, being like sheep without a shepherd (v. 36), that Jesus was moved with compas sion for them. His is the heart of a true shepherd; the sorrows of men touched Him, then as well as today. The Christian should train himself to look out upon the world through the compassionate eyes of Jesus and let what is seen move the heart as it moved the heart of the Compassionate One. In view of the great need, Jesus exhorted His disciples to pray that laborers should be sent forth into the harvest (vs. 37, 38) —the Lord’s laborers sent into the Lord’s harvest. And the way to have them sent was to pray. Prayer is always the re course in every time of need. Sometimes it is necessary to hold discussions with men about the need and the way to meet it, but more time should be spent discussing it with God. We are to pray that laborers be sent forth. Do we dare ask ourselves the question, “How many laborers are on the field because we have prayed?” And if many are not there, is it because of un uttered prayer? Prayer still remains the greatest, albeit the almost untouched, re source for the settling of all the troubles of the church. It is important to speak to men about God, but it is vital to speak to God about men. Until the latter is done, it will be of little avail to speak to men. II. S ending F orth the T welve ( ID :l-8) In Luke’s Gospel, it is said that the Lord chose the twelve after being all night in prayer. Before the Lord did any great work, He went to prayer; and after any
great deed was completed, He retired to some lonely place for prayer. After choosing the twelve, the Lord be stowed power upon them for the work into which He was about to send them (v. 1). A mystery is seen here: Judas Iscariot was among the chosen ones, and he received the same power that the others did. This mystery will perhaps never be solved until we get to glory, but it speaks to us now of how close one may be to Jesus, and yet remain untouched by His grace and un saved by His power. Jesus gave to the twelve power over un clean spirits and power to heal all manner of disease and sickness. He not only per formed miracles Himself, but He trans ferred that power to others—another sign of His deity. A power beyond any that may be found in man is needed to do the work of the Lord. The names of the twelve are given (vs. 2-4). Each man was known to the Lord, and with each one’s peculiarity of temper ament—Judas’ as well as the others’— Jesus was familiar. Why He chose Judas, no one can say. But that He did was in ful fillment of Scripture; hence, what Judas was, as well as what he finally became, was no surprise either to God or to Christ. The commission of the twelve is given in verses 5 to 8. They were told where to go. They must not go among the Gentiles, or even among the Samaritans—only to the Jews. They were told what to preach. They were to preach the gospel of the kingdom, because it was to the Jews that the kingdom had been promised. The gospel of grace is to be preached to all men everywhere, irrespective of race. Confusion results from not making a clear distinction between these “gospels.” And they were told what to do. They were to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out demons. Their doing of these things would be their credentials that they were sent by the Lord, for these were the credentials of Jesus Himself. Disease, demons, and even death, were all subject to them. Very different was their power from that of the so-called divine healers of today. Their method was to give as freely as they had received. They had received freely, that is, without any cause or reason in themselves. They were to give the same way, that is, without any cause or reason in the ones to whom they were sent. It was pure grace which bestowed the power upon them, it was to be by pure grace that
they were to bestow it on others. It was not their attainment in holiness which gave them their power, but it was given through the grace of the Lord. III. T he P romise to the T welve (10:32, 33). As they stood for the Lord before men, He would stand for them before God. They were going out among a hostile peo ple, a people who were actually against Christ, although they accepted His work of healing, etc. But while the world would be hostile, it would be possible for the Lord’s followers always to stand out for Christ, and as they did so, the Lord would stand for them before the Father. On the other hand, those who denied Christ before men would be denied before' God. This does not mean that the Lord’s confession of them before God depended upon their service, but it does mean that their position before Him and their fellow ship with Him depended upon their faith fulness to the trust He reposed in them. And this is as true today as it was then. Here is no question of salvation, but of service. Points and Problems The “sickness” and “disease” of 9:35 are not precisely the same thing. The first is the Greek word nosos, which properly means “disease” and is so translated in Matthew 4 :24, Mark 1 :34, Luke 4 :40, 6 :17, 9 :1, and Acts 19:12. The other word is malakia, which means bodily weakness or infirmity. In verse 38, the verb translated “send forth” is very strong, suggesting almost violent action. It is ekballo, literally mean ing “to cast forth,” and is the usual word employed in the New Testament to speak of the casting out of demons! In the de liberate choice of this word, may there not be at least a suggestion as to the divine power required to tear men away from their selfish and worldly interests and to get them started in the business of soul-winning and missionary effort? Let
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