Being Sent

Luke 22:35

And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.”

You will find the account of Jesus sending out the twelve in Luke 9:1-6, “And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”

Jan and I are in the home of our dear friends John and Brenda Davis, and I awoke and was having a hard time breathing, so I got out of bed and came into John’s study and after a time of prayer and reading, I began to look with interest at Luke 22:35.  Being in sales, I’m accustomed to asking a lot of questions, and this question came into my mind: Lord have You ever sent me out? 

And in the Gospel of John, Jesus made clear that as a follower of Christ we have been sent out; “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”  (John 17:18 ESV)  Now faith is a product of believing what has happened in what we time critters call the past, but is lived out in the present.  So ponder on what Jesus is saying to and about us in His conversation with the Father. 

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”  (John 17:20-23 ESV)

I am not sure what provision Jesus has sent you out with, but this I do know you and I have been sent, we have each based our faith on what the Holy Spirit whispered into these men’s hearts and minds, and what they reported on what You have said. 

And this is the message you have given, Jesus has conquered and paid our debt through His blood shed on the Cross, death and the grave have no hold on us as we receive by grace and faith this finished work.  Your mission is to tell others this truth; “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”   

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice