We ought to be aware as Christians that we are part of a work of God that spans human history itself. It is a work to show God's glory and his power. It is a work to be known and revered by his creatures, that God would be the object of man's worship. He has made us so that we would call out with the Psalmist, "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" As another has said, "evangelism exists, because worship doesn't". Solomon prayed at the consecration of Israel's first temple, a house for the LORD, in 1 Kings 8, "that all the peoples of the earth might know your name, to fear you as do your people Israel." So the mission was global, always, from the beginning. Yet in the wisdom and providence of God, only in Christ would his redemption of man truly globalise as foretold. You see, we are here primarily to be a testimony to the wondrous glories of God and his grace revealed in Jesus Christ.

The Puritan Richard Baxter put it this way: "We have a greater work to do here than merely securing our own salvation. We are members of the world and the church, and we must labour to do good to many. We are trusted with our master's talents for his service, in our places to do our best to propagate his truth and his grace and church and to bring home souls and honour his cause and edify his flock and further the salvation of as many as we can."

Now, no Christian need be intimidated by such a statement as this; Jesus knows our limitations. He knows our weaknesses and our frailties. And he has among his number in his church Charles Spurgeons, his Billy Grahams, his George Whitefields. Yes, he has those, but he has in his number ordinary Christians like you and me, lesser gifted, yet equally entrusted with the gospel. The apostle Paul says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels; the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us."

With these things in mind, we come in Matthew's gospel to an early example of the great mission of God to come through the person of Jesus Christ. Here we see that we have a Saviour who sends. Jesus, at this point, has already called the twelve disciples. After Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension, they will engage the world with the gospel. But as with you and me, Jesus starts small. He doesn't send us out on the big mission before we have learned things in the small mission. They have spent time with Jesus, and now we see that he sends them on a short-term mission trip as preachers of the kingdom, that Israel might hear that her Messiah has come and be warned of the consequences of unbelief.

The Sending Of the Twelve

First of all, the first heading I have for you is in the first four verses: the sending of the twelve. Just summarising again by looking at verse one: "Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness."

Now, I will not take for granted that all of us here are well versed with who exactly the twelve disciples are, what the apostles of Christ are, or what their purpose is. A few comments here. The church of God and his design is not without ordered structure. Think of the twelve tribes of Israel: a nation descended from Jacob through Abraham, segmented by design into twelve tribes and circled around a figurehead, a leader who represented the Lord to them, mediated the Lord's presence. Think of Moses or David, for example. Yet now, in the New Covenant Church, a new structure is established: no longer twelve tribes, but twelve apostles. Since Jesus is the Jewish people's Messiah, we should not be surprised that he chooses for himself twelve disciples, just as there were twelve tribes. It is not without the design of Christ. It fits the mould of what Matthew is burdened to show: that Jesus, around whom the plans and purposes of God are clearly revealed. We must be united to him if we are to share in the blessing of salvation from the wages of sin. So the Messiah is reconstituting around himself a people of God, symbolised by this choosing of twelve disciples.

As the reformer John Calvin put it here, "It is not without reason therefore that the Lord, by appointing as it were twelve patriarchs, declared the restoration of the church."

Now, the role that these men would play should not be understated. It was through the apostles that God turned the world upside down, to put it mildly, through the preaching of the gospel. We sit in this building this morning because of what the Spirit accomplished through the work and preaching of these apostles here in Matthew 10. We do. They were ministers of Christ. They were New Covenant prophets. They were champions of the gospel, warriors for the faith. So it is no wonder that, as Luke records, before Jesus chose these twelve, the Lord spent a whole night in prayer on the mountain.

But why here in Matthew 10 does Jesus send them out on this short-term mission trip? Well, the answer is that Jesus is beginning to prepare his inner twelve disciples for their ministry later after his departure. This is training ground for them.

Before they were sent out by Jesus, they spent time with Jesus. Especially in the latter half of Jesus' four-year ministry, Jesus focuses on pouring out himself into the twelve disciples to prepare them for the work to come. See, in Matthew 10, we are quite a way along into the ministry of Jesus at this point. The chronology of events, when we look at all the different gospels, would most agree that the twelve disciples were likely called before the Sermon on the Mount, and that happened in Matthew 5:7. Thus, they have already spent a great deal of time with Jesus. Christ trains them, and now we see that he delegates authority to them so that they would get field experience, real-life experience for Christ.

What I am saying is most clearly expressed in Mark 3:14: "He appointed twelve so that they would be with him and that he could send them out to preach." These were the men who, with the exception of Judas the betrayer, would be leaders in the fledgling church after Christ's ascension. They would be martyrs of Christ, and so to love Christ even greater than their own lives would first require that they spend time with him. These would be the men who, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 2, endure all things for the sake of the elect. So what more did they need but to intimately know the Chief Shepherd themselves so they could lead others to the Shepherd? These were the men who would appoint and delegate authority to others in the church. So first, they must know what it was to be sent and empowered by Christ themselves.

Now sadly, there are many who twist the sending of the twelve and the delegation of supernatural authority here as something that is normative for ordinary Christians. They were sent to heal, they say, so it must be the same for us. We should expect to be able to perform Matthew 10:1 for ourselves, is the claim of many.

So the question might be: do Christians today have the same commission as the twelve do here? Well, firstly, understand that a capital A Apostle was an exclusive, one-time office in the church; in church history. The book of Acts in the Bible is the Acts of the Apostles, a book with the first chapter and the last chapter. There are no such apostles today. For example, one of the prerequisites of being appointed as an apostle was that you had to be a witness to the resurrected Christ; Acts 1:22, a criterion employed when the betrayer Judas was replaced. Therefore, Bishop Apostle Brian Tamaki in Auckland has no business using this title of apostle. He only does so to drum up authority for himself. He has no business taking this title to himself. Such people, as there are others, should be marked and avoided.

Secondly, whilst some non-apostles did receive such extraordinary gifts in the New Testament and powerful ministry, it was always a delegated authority from apostles, such as Stephen in Acts 6:8. Nowhere is there a record of anyone with supernatural sign gifts outside of the apostolic laying on of hands, and it ended with them. No one could delegate but the apostles.

Now, with that statement, the reality that I have essentially run a sword through the belly of is much of Pentecostalism today. The Pentecostal church tries to teach that the sign gifts here in Matthew 10:1 are operative today. These special sign gifts, however, died out with the apostles. These gifts of healing and so on have ceased. Once the foundation of a house is laid, once the concrete slab is down, you don't keep building the foundation. These gifts confirmed the gospel. They went hand in hand with the message of the gospel until the church was firmly established. Then they passed.

In Hebrews 2, it says, "After it, that is the message of the gospel, was first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard. God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will." You see, miracles in the Bible are associated with fresh revelation from God, not otherwise. Walter Chantry says here, "Miracles are God's attestation to the divine mission of those who bring his fresh revelations to us."

Now, certainly, we all pray that God would heal and that he would work in our lives and others' lives. But to say that the gift of healing is bestowed upon certain individuals is a very different thing and is foolishness; it does not match up with the biblical data.

A couple of applications before we move on here. First of all, we noted just earlier that nearness to Jesus was a prerequisite before their being sent. They have spent time with Jesus; now they are sent by Jesus. And so it would be for us. If you want to be of use to Christ and his kingdom in small things as well as big things, if you want to see what God can do with ordinary men and women. I always think of Moses, who had a stutter, and let us see how the Lord used him even when he was eighty years old to deliver Israel from Egypt. If we want to see what God will do with ordinary men and women, we must walk closely with him. Nearness to Christ is what matters; not gifts, not great talents, not great intellect, but to walk after Christ, to be called by him.

So we must drink deeply at the well of Christ and his word and be transformed into his image ever so gradually, that we might be used by him. Robert Murray McCheyne so famously said, "It is not great talents that God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus." This is true for the apostles, and it is true for you and me. What happens inside the four walls of the church facilitates the training and nearness to Christ so that we will be useful outside the four walls of the church for Christ. All these things that we have, like our men's ministry, our women's Bible study, our Tuesday study, all of this is preparation. It is getting near to Christ. It is becoming familiar with his word and serving his people so that we will be useful for Christ outside the walls of the church. We learn and hear how to show Christian love and how to serve our brothers and sisters in Christ so that we are equipped to serve those outside more effectively with the gospel in our daily lives. That is what is going on here in principle.

Our second application here would be this: see, even in Jesus' twelve, there is a tremendous variety of personalities. I had never noticed this before, and I noticed it for the first time when I was studying this text. There is something of a microcosm of the Christ Church as a whole here. Alexander Bruce puts it this way: "It is the church in miniature or germ."

Take Simon the Zealot. Did you see his name in the list? Simon the Zealot. We know next to nothing about this apostle. His name appears; it flashes up. He is one of the twelve. We know nothing about him, really. He did not write any Scripture; there is not much record of him. But Simon the ZEALOT tells us a lot about him. Before being called to apostleship, he would have been a militant Jewish patriot who would have formerly hated those such as Matthew the tax collector. Remember, the tax collector was a frowned-upon Jewish betrayer. And now we have Simon the Zealot, and we have Matthew the tax collector, two unlikely men serving as Christ's apostles. What does this teach us? Is the church not the same? Are we not full of all different personalities and types of people and preferences and views and so on? Christ brings them together, and he says, "I pray that they would be one", they'd be unified around what? Around me and around the gospel. Christ has done this even in his apostles. So it is to be for us. Christ makes all the difference.

The Mission Of the Twelve

Moving on to a second heading, consider with me the mission of the twelve in verses five to ten. The mission of the twelve. I will not read these verses again, but by way of a first sub-point, note the particular mission field that they have. Christ is limiting this short-term campaign to only the Jews, or as he says, the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

There are various explanations for why Christ commands it this way here. One possible reason is that these men are yet novices; they are really not prepared. They do not have the right mindset yet to be able to take this message into the Gentile world. However, what is more likely here is that Jesus is again revealing himself as the awaited Shepherd of Israel, who comes first for Israel. The promised one of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is here; the Jews need to hear it, see it, and believe it. Jeremiah 50:6 said, "My people have become lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray. They have made them turn aside on mountains; they have gone along from mountain to hill and have forgotten their resting place."

And so it is to these that Christ commissions his disciples, that they might know of the Saviour's coming and be led to him.

But this restriction is temporary. It is going to be reversed. Later, of course, after Jesus' resurrection, they, along with the church as a whole, are commissioned into the whole world, to Jew and to Gentile. Christianity is to cross every border, every nation, every community, every home. It is to enter into every heart. That is our mandate. Matthew 28:18: "And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, 'All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.'"

But for now, their scope fell to the Jews.

A second sub-point here is that we need to see the details of their message and ministry. Look at verses 7-8: "As you go, preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons."

The point is that they were to announce the arrival of the kingdom foretold in Scripture to the Jews. This was their primary vocation. He sent them to preach, and sign gifts, mentioned again in verse eight, accompanied and validated that message preached. Why? Because miracles are associated with fresh revelation from God.

They were to announce the dawn of the messianic age. They were to announce that message which Jesus had commanded. And that is worthwhile noting, isn't it? It is the same for us. Do you want to know how people are saved in God's economy of salvation for mankind? Well, you tell them what the Bible tells you to tell them and not otherwise. If they shall be saved, then that message that Jesus has instructed us to tell them will save them. So we need not dress it up or pretend that we need to do all sorts of things to dress up Jesus to make him appear more beautiful. He is already beautiful. So those with eyes to see and ears to hear, give them what the Bible tells you to give them. As Paul says to the Romans, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

A third sub-point here: look at the means of their ministry from verses 9-10. "Do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts or a bag for your journey or even two coats or sandals or a staff for the worker is worthy of his support." The point here is that this short-term mission assignment was of such priority and urgency that God would provide for their needs and they need not worry about anything else. What is meant here is somewhat confused by the awkward translation of this verb, to "take" or to "acquire". But the meaning here is simply that they were not to acquire anything beyond what they already had with them.

Now follow me on this important point: just as Jesus' command to go to the Jews was reversed later, so was this command. Jesus would later in Luke 22, with his last words to the twelve apostles, tell them to take provisions. Buy what you need. Get what you need. If you are lacking something, go get it. It was very different from this command here. He would even tell them to buy a sword for their mission to be used for self-defence, no doubt. Luke 22:35: "And he said to them, 'When I sent you out with the money belt and bag and sandals, you did not lack anything, did you?' They said, 'No, nothing.' And he said to them, 'Buy now; whoever has a money belt is to take it along. Likewise, also a bag. And whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.'"

Let us draw the principle here, and it is this: Jesus sent out his men in different contexts and different times to different people. The point is that they were to be prepared differently considering whatever the mission was. Take, for instance, the apostle Paul. Paul generally supported himself in his mission so that he would not be a burden to the churches, and he felt that necessary. But he always believed that the worker, that is, the ministers of the gospel, are worthy of the church's support. As he says, "The ox shall not be muzzled while it is threshing," 1 Corinthians 9:9-11. So context drives the need. Some churches have ministers who are bi-vocational. Some are fully supported. Each context is different. We arrange, however we must, for the best propagation of the gospel we possibly can. If a church cannot afford to support a pastor full-time, then they must do whatever they can in their own context. The point is: the context drives the need. Whatever advances the gospel best.

Closing off the second main point: this application struck me, and it might you. Notice how the apostles here, their ministry starts small, very particular. Only go to the Jews first, and they would not have gone far either in the early stages. Then the mission went global. It is going to be the same for us. Our mission for Christ does not begin when we go on some short-term mission trip to Fiji or somewhere else. I am not disparaging that. The mission begins right where we are. In fact, it begins so locally that it is in your own household. And it goes from there in concentric circles. If you are a Christian, it is the place God has you now. Our mission field, we might say, begins locally near to us, and it broadens from there. Take up this mantle, believer. Do not let age be a factor. Do not let intellect be a factor. Do not let your gifting that you perceive in yourself be a factor. Just walk closely and obediently with Jesus, watching and praying to see how he can use you in his harvest that is happening.

I am always encouraged by one of the applications of the story of Balaam in the Old Testament. If God can use a donkey, he can certainly use me. I have always found comfort in that. Because we are not much. We are not much. But we have an almighty God and a great Christ. No matter what gifts we have, we can still tell people that there is a way by which man can be saved from our ruin. That Jesus is the perfect substitute for sinners. That though our world is dying and man's natural state is of an enemy of God, God loves to save those who will call out upon him because he died for them on a cross. He was buried, and he was raised, and he is ascended. And he will now saved to the uttermost all who will come to him. It does not take much to tell people that. It really does not. We just have to pray for some courage.

The Manner Of the Twelve

Finally, our last heading is the manner of the twelve in verses 11-15. The manner of the twelve. These words are serious and solemn words. There was a lady who came to one of our Christmas services this year, last year rather. She was not saved. She was invited by a friend of mine, and out of the blue she came. She went away and told my friend the preaching was very serious, she said. It is a serious message. It is a solemn message. And we see that here in these verses 11-15.

There are essentially only two kinds of households that the disciples are going to encounter: the believing household and the unbelieving household. It is zeroes and ones. It is black and white. The worthy house is the believing house; the house that wants to hear, to open, to be receptive to its messengers and the message. These are to receive a blessing of peace, Jesus says. But then there are those households that do not want to hear and thus reject the good news of the kingdom and do not offer hospitality as a consequence. For these, the disciples are told, you will notice, to shake off the dust on their sandals. What does this mean? That is an unusual thing. You probably have not seen anyone in New Zealand do that, take off their shoes and dust them off, what does it mean?

What Jesus is saying is that the urgency of this message of the kingdom was such that for any Jewish household that rejected this message, the disciples were to figuratively symbolise that rejection by shaking off the dust on one's shoes as a sign of separation, a sign of disconnecting oneself from the repercussions of unbelief; removing themselves from the responsibility for their fate as a response to their unbelief. Verse 15 is where such an act is illustrated and explains why it is so serious.

Verse 15: "Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city."

In other words, than for that home, that city, that town, that people who reject the message of the Messiah. We all know what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. You have heard the term sodomy. You know what God did there in Genesis when his wrath was revealed from heaven and consumed a people with fire and brimstone. It is going to be more tolerable for them than for the Jew who does not believe upon their Messiah. That is the solemn message. The final judgment will be more tolerable for people upon whom God rains sulphur and brimstone and fire than it will be for those who are given the promises of the Messiah, yet rejected him and crucified him and want nothing to do with him, and cry out, "We have no king but Caesar."

In simple terms, brothers and sisters, what this means is that God's just judgment is measured according to the light received. We will be judged by the measure of the light received. Every sermon that you hear where Christ is faithfully proclaimed is held in judgment upon us. All the light that is shed from his word that enters into our minds, all the truth that is rejected becomes a source of judgment. To hear about Jesus and reject Jesus is the greatest damnable offensive sin that man can commit, and it is proof of man's depravity.

You have undoubtedly heard of the city of New Orleans in the USA. What you may not know about the city of New Orleans is that it is a wee bit like the Netherlands, actually. It is a city below sea level, which brings all sorts of interesting problems. And when, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina came to the US and the city of New Orleans, protected by its levees and flood walls, was under threat of catastrophic flooding, and finally in two thousand five it came. Now, what is interesting is that one commentator said, "We have seen in the last four days a modern city move from being totally twenty-first century into the third world."

You see, there were warnings for years and years that one day a flood was going to come and New Orleans was going to be completely awash with water, billions and billions of dollars of damage. Inactivity in response to known threats led to unpreparedness, and in two thousand five it finally happened. Another commentator on this event said there were few hazards in the United States more studied by scientists and engineers, and there was ample warning that a strong storm could cause the city of New Orleans to flood. Yet they did nothing.

That is how it is with the gospel. There is a Saviour, there is a Redeemer! We do not have to do anything because he has done it all. We just have to believe in him. They do not want to hear it. They do not want to know about it. They are warned. We are being warned in God's word of what is coming upon the unbelieving world. There is a flood of judgment coming upon the enemies of Christ and his gospel. Because Christianity is a salvific religion, that means it is therefore one of judgment at the same time.

Oh, friends, hear the word of Christ and know for certain this morning that you are at rest in him, because judgment is coming. There is but one escape. We are warned in his word, and none will have excuse on that day. Everyone will be judged according to the measure of light that he or she received. May we hear Christ's solemn warning this morning as he sends out his twelve to preach.