Called for Kingdom agenda

Rev Enoch Thompson | March 21, 2023 | Matthew 10:1-4

KEY VERSE:

He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. Matthew 10:1(NIV)

MESSAGE:

When we were in primary school, we used to sing a song in the local language which translates into the following:

You have left home to come to school,

For what purpose did you come?

If you came to school to learn,

Then don’t you be so playful.

Do your best oh my dear friend,

And work hard and work with joy.

I find this childhood song a lifelong song which challenges us to understand the purpose of our every station in life and calls us to be up and doing.

Out text today records the commissioning of the Twelve. The names of the individuals given in verses 2 to 4 are those of a selected few among the teeming crowds that followed the Lord. By this time in the Lord’s ministry, it had become clear to all that these Twelve were an inner closer group whose companionship with the Lord Jesus had become a regular feature of His Movement. Loose association and regular attachment must be taken to another level, and this the Master did when He called the Twelve and assigned them specific Kingdom roles.

The Twelve was an assortment of individuals from different backgrounds, professions, and temperaments. And yet the Master called them and moulded them into one group around a common assignment. Their assignment is spelt out in verse 1: “He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” Matt 10:1 (NIV). In summary, they were to become His agents and assistants in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The mission of destroying the work of Satan and sin in the lives of humans, and to bring them into the liberty of the rule of God in their hearts and in their lives, was demonstrated by the Lord’s teaching of Kingdom principles with divine authority, His miracles of healing, and the casting out of demons. The provision of wine at Cana in Galilee and the feeding of the multitudes were all an announcement that the Kingdom had come.

Into this praiseworthy assignment was the Twelve called. And they did their work so well that two thousand years later the Gospel and its positive effects are still advancing across the world. Our reflection today is to ask ourselves whether, in our own minds, we are aware of our calling and our commission in our time and space. We are saved by grace and not by works, and while we do not work to be saved, we are saved to work (Eph. 2:8-10). Our task is to demonstrate the transforming grace and power of God by a new life that reflects the divine nature in us (2 Pet. 1:4; 2 Cor. 5:17). By that and by our word of testimony we are to spread the Good News of that same saving grace and introduce Christ to the world. This is the Great Commission, and for that, we were called and saved.

FEET AND HANDS FOR THE MESSAGE:

Your Christian calling is not simply for your sake. God does not call us to make us comfortable. He comforts us so we can become His agents in comforting others. When we share the Gospel we are bringing divine comfort to harassed human souls and fulfilling our purpose in our salvation.

PRAYER:

Lord, please help me to know the purpose of my calling and of my blessings, and to go out there and share Christ accurately. For your dear Name’s sake, Amen.

THERE SHALL BE SHOWERS OF BLESSING.

SHOWERS! BLESSINGS!!