WWUTT 1991 Jesus Sends Out the Twelve (Matthew 10:1-15)

Jesus sent out his disciples to go and preach the gospel, and as we are disciples of Jesus Christ even now, we must go out with the gospel also, so that people will hear and believe and be saved when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Matthew, we are up to chapter 10, which is actually the second discourse in Matthew's gospel.

The first is the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 through 7. The second discourse is chapter 10, with Jesus appointing his disciples.

Let me begin by reading verses 1 -15 out of the Legacy Standard Bible, hear the word of the

Lord. And summoning his twelve disciples, Jesus gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Now the names of the twelve disciples are these. The first Simon, who is called

Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector,

James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus, Simon the zealot, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out, after instructing them, saying, Do not go in the way of the

Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.

Do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worthy of his support.

And whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy of it, and stay there until you leave.

Now as you enter the house, give it your greeting, and if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

And whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you leave that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.

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.

When we got to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, we had read that the people were astonished at Jesus' teaching because he spoke with authority and not as one of their scribes.

We saw that word authority come up several times in chapters 8 and 9 concerning Jesus' authority over sickness and disease, and even the ability to cast out demons.

This beginning of chapter 10 is the last place where we see that word authority appear, until I believe we get to the very close of Matthew's Gospel, which of course is the

Great Commission in Matthew 28. And it's there that Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

So this is the section that has been highlighting Christ's authority, and here at the start of chapter 10,

Jesus says to his disciples that he's giving them his authority.

Now that's not to say that we should translate that into the Great Commission that's given there in Matthew 28, for Jesus doesn't say there,

I'm giving you authority to do these things. But right here, as he's sending his disciples just to the house of Israel, they are being given the same authority that Jesus has to cast out demons and heal diseases.

Let's look at the beginning of it here, where Jesus calls his 12, and we read their names, and then we have the discourse.

So starting in verse 1, summoning his 12 disciples. This is actually the first place where we see a mention of 12 disciples in the

New Testament. We've seen previously Jesus call the first disciples, you had

Peter and Andrew, James and John, that was at the end of chapter 4, but we haven't seen anything said about the other disciples and how many there were until we get here to chapter 10.

So Jesus summoned the 12. Now there are some things that are assumed here, like the way that Matthew writes about this, it's assumed that you already know that, that you know that Jesus had 12 disciples.

It's why he puts it that way. And summoning his 12 disciples, Jesus gave them authority.

It's not like Matthew is saying, Jesus summoned his disciples, and guess what? He had 12 of them. But it is pretty well known at the time that Matthew has written this gospel that Jesus had 12 disciples.

And just consider also what's said in verse 4 about Judas, Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

So even as Matthew is writing all of these things, it's pretty well established among people who have heard about Christ up to this point that there's this guy named

Judas who betrayed him, and it was because of what Judas did that Jesus was crucified. Of course, we're going to read about Judas' betrayal a little bit later on in the gospel.

So the 12 disciples mentioned in verse 1, and then their names are given in verse 2.

But notice what's said there at the start of verse 2. Now, the names of the 12 apostles are these.

So they're disciples in verse 1. And remember, disciple is a word that means learner. They're apostles in verse 2.

It could be that Matthew uses this word in reference to the office of apostle, especially given that they were 12, and they hold these positions of authority where Jesus is going to give to them the ability to heal diseases and perform many miracles that will authenticate the word that they go out preaching is the word that comes from God.

That doesn't come until after Pentecost. But nonetheless, of course, that would have happened by the time that Matthew has written this gospel.

So it could be that he is referencing the office. The other possibility is that he's just using the word because of what it literally means.

It means sent one. So disciple is a learner, and an apostle is one who is sent.

As Jesus is sending them out here to the house of Israel, that could very well be the application.

It's just in reference to the fact that he is sending them out. But you still could take it as the office also.

So the names of the 12 apostles are these. The first, Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother.

Those were the first two that we saw called back in chapter four. And James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother.

They were the next two. And all four of these are fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James, and John.

And James and John, of course, also referred to as the sons of thunder. Maybe we'll get to why a little bit later on.

Then the next names we have are Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector,

James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus. Now, we don't know what all of these men did.

In fact, these men right here in the middle, we don't really know their occupations except for the fact that Matthew includes himself and says the tax collector.

But otherwise, and Becky and I were talking about this on the podcast this past Friday as well, we don't know what all the disciples did.

Some of them never even speak. You never even see them share a line of dialogue anywhere in the

Gospels or in Acts, Bartholomew being one of those. He never says anything.

And yet, this is a man who was appointed by Christ to go out and perform these miracles.

Just because we don't see their name come up regularly in the New Testament or they haven't written a book that has their name or a letter, one of the epistles or something like that, that doesn't mean that they were any less important than the other apostles.

These 12 men were given such an incredible task, and all of them lost their lives except John.

And it wasn't like John lived to a ripe old age in the lap of luxury. John was exiled to the island of Patmos.

He was incredibly mistreated and abused, persecuted for preaching the

Gospel. But the other 11 were martyred. They all died preaching the Gospel of Christ.

These men who would give their lives for what it is that they were taught, what they had seen and heard, as John also puts it in 1

John 1. So the last couple that we have mentioned here in verse 4 are

Simon the Zealot and then Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. It's interesting that Matthew puts those two last.

I understand why he puts Judas last. Pretty key figure in the story and infamous on top of that.

But Simon the Zealot, right there next to Judas Iscariot. The Zealots were a group of men who were rebelling against the

Roman rule at that particular time. So Simon the Zealot had a pretty aggressive personality.

He had this probably political aspirations of overthrowing

Roman rule. And maybe the reason why he was following Jesus around was because he thought that Jesus was going to do that.

Here is the Messiah, the guy who is going to deliver us from this oppression by the Romans.

Of course, Jesus never tells his disciples to rise up and fight against anybody. When Peter tries to defend

Jesus and he fights the mob that has come to arrest Jesus, draws his sword and cuts off the servant of the high priest's ear,

Jesus tells him to put his sword away. I could be calling many legions of angels, we'll read about later on in Matthew's Gospel.

But Jesus was submitting to the will of his father that he should go and be crucified as a propitiation for our sins.

But anyway, we have here the last of these disciples mentioned, Simon the Zealot. Again, a guy that probably was a violent political activist and yet Jesus calls him to follow him and Simon, just like Matthew, gives up his zealous ways, at least as far as the

Zealots were concerned, and he followed Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Let's continue on with these instructions that Jesus gives to the 12 disciples. Verse 5, these 12

Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, do not go in the way of the Gentiles and do not enter any of the city or any city of the

Samaritans. Now we've already seen them go the way of the Gentiles. Remember when they went across the sea and came to the

Gadarenes and there was the two men with the evil spirits, Jesus cast them out into the pigs that went running down the hill into the lake and were drowned.

The Gadarenes was a Gentile area. Of course, that's indicated by the pigs that were there.

Jews did not raise pigs because they were unclean animals. Here in this particular case, Jesus is saying, don't go back to that territory, don't go back to that area.

Remember those people were really terrified of Jesus, who had this ability to cast those evil spirits out and drown all those pigs.

So they asked him to leave the region. For now, Jesus is not sending them to the Gentiles.

That would definitely happen later. In the commission that's given in Acts chapter 1, he says to his disciples, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Right here, Jesus is saying, don't even go into Samaria, don't go into the Gentile cities.

But, verse 6, rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This is a ministry, at least for this particular work, that's just going to be contained to Israel.

For, remember, just as the commission was given, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

So judgment begins with the house of Israel. The witnessing of the gospel would even begin with the house of Israel.

The Apostle Paul is saying in Romans 1 .16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the

Jew first, and also to the Greek. And if you know something about Paul's missionary journeys, you know that when he went into a city, he often went to the synagogue first, and taught there, and if he was rejected at the synagogue, then he would go to the

Gentiles. Here Jesus is saying, you're just going to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Verse 7, and as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

That's the same thing that John the Baptist preached in chapter 3, and then

Jesus came out of the wilderness preaching in chapter 4. And now he's telling his disciples to do the same.

Same authority that Jesus has, he's giving to his disciples and telling them to preach the same message.

Verse 8, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, freely you received, freely give.

As Jesus has blessed them and bestowed this authority on them, so they are not to withhold from anybody the blessing of healing.

Even if it seems like a person doesn't believe their message, yet they're supposed to heal anyone that they encounter.

If they're not going to believe, well, there's a judgment that'll come upon them. As Jesus will go on to explain here in just a moment, he says in verse 9, do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts.

This is a mercy mission, and we are not going out in order to collect money for ourselves.

That's not the purpose of this mission. It is just very simply to preach the gospel, and the message of your gospel will be authenticated by these miracles that you perform.

Don't get a bag for your journey or even two tunics or sandals or a staff for the worker is worthy of his support.

So don't take anything with you that might weigh you down or slow you down or anything that might tempt you to get comfortable or settled or take something for yourself.

But rather you are just supposed to be supported by the people that are there. A worker is worthy of his support, which is a reference back to the

Old Testament. A worker is worthy of his wages. So let the people take care of you and provide for you and feed you.

And when you're done with that town, you'll go on to the next. In whatever city or village you enter, it says in verse 11, inquire who is worthy in it and stay there until you leave.

Who is willing to give us lodging? Whose house can we come into and stay in?

And there's probably going to be somewhere in that town where the disciples could ask that and they'll say, oh, yeah, go to so and so's house.

He would be willing to take you in. Now, this might be an inn or something like that, which is the the word that's used in Luke chapter two.

You're probably familiar with Jesus being born in a in a stable.

It wasn't really in a stable. It was the lower room of the house. But he was born in the area where the animals sleep because there was no room in the inn.

The word for in Cataluma is actually the word for guest room. And it's the same word for the upper room later on in Luke's gospel, where Jesus would gather with his disciples for the last supper.

Same word, guest room, upper room. So it wasn't like they had hotels. This reference here is probably to the person in town that would be considered the inn.

They were the person who had the guest room. So inquire in whatever village you go into who's worthy and stay with them until you leave.

Verse 12. Now, as you enter the house, give it your greeting. That house is going to be blessed because they took in one of Jesus disciples and listen to the teaching.

Verse 13. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

So you're not to give that house any blessing, but you are to withhold giving a blessing to that house.

Whoever does not receive you nor heed your words as you leave that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.

That reference could be literal as in the disciples are walking out of the town and they they literally kick the dust off their feet or it could be something figurative.

But even if they're literally kicking the dust off their feet, that's supposed to be symbolic of the fact that your dirt stays with you.

We're not taking any of you with us. In fact, it was even a gesture of your lower than the

Gentiles. So that was a pretty serious rebuke to a city that would not receive us or our teaching.

The apostle Paul did this in Acts chapter 13. It was when he was visiting Corinth. Which chapter was that in?

I think that was Acts 18, where the Jews would not listen to him in the synagogue.

And so he shook his garment and said that your blood is on your own head. So his shaking of his garment was symbolic of I shake you off of me.

So Jesus says to his disciples to do the same. 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.

Now hold on to that comment is going to be a little while yet, but hold on to that comment because it comes back up again when we get to chapter 11,

Jesus telling his disciples that if they won't listen to your message, they won't hear you preach of the kingdom.

They won't believe even because of the miracles. Then it would be better for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than it will be for that city.

Because as Jesus will say later on in chapter 11, if Sodom and Gomorrah had the chance to see the miracles that were performed in you, then they would have believed.

Now we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, as is said in second

Peter chapter one. So it is important for us to read and see and understand and believe these things.

The miracles have been performed. All of this has been authenticated. What we read here in the gospel of Matthew is the word of God that has been written down for our benefit.

We're not being sent out to perform all of these miracles. All those miracles have already been performed and the word of God has been authenticated.

But just as we are disciples of Christ, we are learners of Jesus Christ and we are also being sent out, just as we'll read later on in the great commission in Matthew 28, we must go out with the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And if somebody will not receive our message, remember what Jesus said back in the sermon on the mount in Matthew seven verse six, don't cast your pearls before swine or give what is sacred to dogs.

So if they will not receive our message, then we take it back to us. We bring the blessing back to ourselves and then we go to the next person who is willing to listen.

But we continue to go out with the message of the gospel for it is only by faith in the gospel that a person can be forgiven their sins and have everlasting life with God.

Let's close with prayer. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read here regarding Jesus disciples and calling the 12 to himself and sending them out that they might go and preach the gospel because they went out and did this, even giving their lives for the sake of the gospel.

We have it here in the Bible that we are reading from. We have heard the word of God so that we may turn from our sin to the

Lord Jesus Christ and live, teach us to live according to these things day by day to the glory of your great name.

It is in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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