Episode Transcript
CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
Matthew 10:7–10 NIV
“As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
“Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts—no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep.”
CONSIDER
So I've been in church all my life. At least I would estimate I have been in church at least 80 percent of the Sundays I've been alive. It comes to around 2,500 Sundays. I've been in hundreds and hundreds of classes and Bible studies. I've done countless local mission projects and even international and overseas mission trips. You too? Okay, so I'll see your worship services and classes and Bible studies and I'll raise you a master of divinity—yep, a post graduate degree from one of the best seminaries in the world.
In all that Christian education, training, equipping, learning, and study, never have I ever had any teacher, leader, trainer, preacher, or professor tell me this is how to do ministry in the way of Jesus:
“As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give."
And yet, this is how Jesus does it. Ready for some Gospelling?
1. Jesus has shown us the movement of consecration—to receive the approval of the Father and to respond with the baptism of belonging. (Matthew 3–4)
2. He has shown us the mindset of transformation—to receive the revelation of the Word of God—hearing the teaching on the kingdom of heaven—and to respond by putting it into practice. (Matthew 5–7)
3. Now he leads us into the miracle of demonstration—to receive the authority of Jesus and to respond by acting as his agent in the world—giving away what you have freely received.
Here's the message: The kingdom of heaven has come near.
Here's the mission: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.
Here's the movement: Freely you have received; freely give.
I wonder where we might be today had we put more emphasis on teaching and training and equipping like Jesus does. Instead of full-court consecration we have focused on church membership. Instead of developing a transformational model we have spent enormous energy and resources on developing an educational system. Instead of beholding and becoming we have settled for believing and behaving. And instead of a demonstration of the in-breaking kingdom of God we . . . (you can fill in that blank). It has all resulted in an inflation of information at the cost of revelation and the amassing of knowledge about God to the detriment of growing in knowing Jesus.
Meanwhile Jesus never stopped saying:
1. Heal the sick.
2. Raise the dead.
3. Cleanse the lepers.
4. Drive out demons.
Freely you have received. Freely give.
But what if we haven't actually received? That would be a problem, wouldn't it? What if, in fact, we are actually giving what we are actually receiving? It reminds me of what a sage prophet once said to me: "You can teach what you know, but you will only reproduce who you are."
PRAY
Lord Jesus, would you reproduce yourself in me? And could you then reproduce yourself in others through me? I want to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons. I want to freely receive so I can freely give. Can we keep it that simple? Praying in your name, amen.
