God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled AIR (Appoint, Instruct, Report).
My focus is Luke 10:1-20. … Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I
rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we
rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds
and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most
Holy Trinity. Amen.
Because I am sometimes
curious about trivia, I wanted to see how many movies were made with the word
appoint or appointment in them. Dozens. Most of these movies were made before I
was born, which is why I never saw any of them. The same goes for books. So,
other than using appointment within the context of our doctors, dentists,
attorneys and accountants, the word has a limited use in our English language.
To appoint means
to officially set, fix or name something or someone. It also means to provide
with complete and usually appropriate or elegant furnishings or equipment. It
comes to us from the French who got it from the Latin word, appunctare,
which means to bring back to the point or restore. Two smaller Latin words, ad,
meaning to, and punctum, meaning a point, were joined to form appoint.
In our Gospel
today, Jesus appointed 70 or 72, depending on which translation you read. I
won’t quibble over the specific amount. I would, however, like to take a moment
to distinguish this group from the Twelve Jesus sent ahead of him at the
beginning of chapter nine. There is a distinction between the Twelve, Apostles
and disciples.
Among all the
people Jesus encountered there are the famous (Peter, John the Baptist, his
mother, Mary Magdalene) and the infamous (Judas Iscariot, Herod, Pontius
Pilate). The Gospels name individuals (Martha, Mary, Lazarus, Jairus,
Zacchaeus) and others are anonymous (rich young man, man born blind, widow at
the treasury). There are followers and would-be followers. We read of would-be
followers last Sunday (Luke 9:51-62).
Disciples are
those who accept and spread Jesus’ message. The 72 individuals in today’s
passage are among the disciples, and because they were sent by Jesus on a
mission, we can also refer to them as apostles. Other Apostles (with a capital
A) were sent by the Church, specifically, Matthias, Barnabas and Paul. Paul
warns the Corinthians to be on guard against super apostles and false apostles
who lead people astray.[1] Then there are the Twelve
chosen by Jesus. We read of the Twelve in Mark 3, Matthew 10 and Luke 6. Though
the list of names varies slightly, these men were with Jesus continually, and received
special instruction and training.[2] These Twelve Apostles
instructed all the disciples, that is, the Church, to choose seven good men to
tend to the needs of the Church.[3] Today, the Church
continues to call and appoint men and women as pastors, deaconesses, teachers
and other positions to serve God’s people, but only after they have been
trained and certified by the Church.
Personally, even
though I had been ordained in 1987, and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
accepted that ordination as valid, I still had to undergo study and training
before I was appointed as a pastor. Now, I hope I don’t disappoint you if I
move onto my second point, Instruct.
Although our
version reads, “And he said to them,” other versions explicitly
use the word instruct in some form. Instruct means to teach, train,
inform or impart knowledge. My colloquy process into the Synod included reading
and understanding not only the Book of Concord, but also writings by Luther,
Walther and Peiper (the first two presidents of the Missouri Synod). I had to
know how to use Lutheran liturgical books and understand Lutheran lingo, like the
gradual, winkle and so on. The word instruct literally means to build.
Jesus built these
72 into teams that would further his message and ministry. His instructions to
these were similar to those he gave in chapter nine. They were to take no money
or other provisions. This meant that they would have to rely upon others’ hospitality
and bless those who offer it. They were to speak and act prophetically towards
those who rejected Christ’s teaching.
The tone is grim,
but Jesus’ instruction prepared these first Christian missionaries for the
rejection that would eventually be their lot. Luke seeks to incorporate the
rejection of Jesus in Jerusalem and the rejection of the Christian Gospel by
most of Israel into God’s plan of salvation. Rejection of the missionaries is
rejection of Jesus and ultimately God the Father. Luke wants readers, including
us, to know that rejection is painful, but God’s grace overcomes this pain and
wins through it. Keep in mind that rejection is painful but God’s grace
overcomes it as we turn to my final point, Report.
In verse 17, the
72 returned to report to Jesus what happened. The mission was a great success.
They returned in joy, and announced their victory over demonic power. Every translation
of this verse tells us that they reported their success with joy, great joy or
excitement. Jesus acknowledged their success, and then taught them to draw
confidence from it.
Jesus then pointed
to a greater reason for joy: that their “names are written in heaven.” This
means that they enjoy all the rights of citizenship in the kingdom. Jesus
borrowed this from the ancient custom where cities and kingdoms listed all
those people who enjoyed the rights of citizenship. He applied it to them
because they would enjoy all the rights, privileges and prospects in God’s
Kingdom. Hence, their joy, Christian joy, however, does not ultimately rest
upon personal achievement. It rests upon a deep sense of relationship with God
and a knowledge of the destiny to which that relationship leads.[4]
This report and its
accompanying joy led me to wonder how family members and friends carry out
their apostolic ministry. I asked them to report how they are living their
apostolic mission. In view of this passage (10:1-20), some responded with brief
replies, and others with long, detailed answers. I gleaned from their answers a
few sentences to share.
Our
daughter-in-law, Kendra, wrote, “Once a month we have what’s called Dinners on
Us at our church. We provide free meals to people in our community. We do this
as a family. I have recently started being on the prayer request team where I
speak with the people who come through and ask what their needs are. The kids
love to hand out the meals and talk to the people. We serve close to 100 meals
each week and then pray for these people as a church. We are seeing prayers
answered!”
Joe from Illinois reported
that his wife and he have been teaching Tai Chi and Kung Fu for 14 years and 24
years respectively. “These are Chinese arts, but we always are careful not to
embrace any Eastern mysticism. The classes give us the opportunity to let
people know, subtly, about the Lord and his working in our lives. People pick
up on the different way that we encourage others. We always offer to pray for
anyone who is having issues.
Because we are
adoptive parents of 2 daughters from China, we also share the many ways the
Lord directly blessed us in the adoption process. It is always a challenge how
and when to testify to others. We are never as bold as we would like to be.
Everyone is eager to ‘unfriend’ someone rather than discuss their differences.”
Joe then added, “When
I used to do a monthly Jail Ministry, it was much easier to talk about Jesus to
inmates who knew they had failed. Our prayer is to be bolder and take more
risks.”
For several years,
Pastor Bob relied upon me for pulpit supply. He wrote extensively about his
wife’s and his apostolic works as well as their congregation’s. “Beside the
personal sharing of Jesus with friends and family, we are involved in mission
activities in Honduras and in the US. I travel to Honduras and Michele travels
on the youth mission camps with Trinity.” As a couple, they financially support
Compassion International, Hearts for Honduras, and Muslim Outreach.
Pastor Bob
continued to tell me that in 1996, when he became the Pastor of Trinity
Lutheran, the congregation was not sponsoring any missionaries. Now the
congregation supports San Pablo Hispanic Ministry in Aurora, IL; Missionary
Michael and Naomi Ersland who are Lutheran Bible Translators; Deaconess Lori
Wilbert and her prison ministry; and Messiah for Muslims, an outreach to
Muslims in Chicagoland.
Pastor Bob challenges
people to pray about getting personally involved in sharing Christ by (1) asking
God to show me how I might get personally involved; (2) asking God to reveal
how I might financially support missions; and (3) begin to see and be renewed
in seeing that I am a missionary to my neighbor. To do that, he concludes, I
must have a personal walk with Jesus.
Friends, you and I
must have a personal walk with Jesus. Recall that I said earlier that Christian
joy does not ultimately rest upon achievement. It rests upon a deep sense of
relationship with God and a knowledge of the destiny to which that relationship
leads. I repeat this quote because among my friends, I count as many reports on
how Christians witness their apostolic work as we read in our Gospel passage
today. In this congregation, you open your homes to others and witness God’s
Kingdom. You participated as volunteers in Vacation Bible School. You supply
our Blessing Cupboard. You do all the administrative and maintenance work that
allows me to focus on preaching, praying and visiting those in need.
My point in illustrating
how you and others witness to Christ through unique apostolic works is to give
ideas on how each of us might share the Gospel with others who need to hear it.
True, as Joe said, it is easier to talk about Jesus to inmates who know they
failed, but that opportunity may not avail itself to us. Our prayer is to be
bolder and take more risks. As Kendra said, we are seeing prayers answered.
Friends, I want
you to see prayers answered. Maybe they will be answered in ways you do not
expect. When Cindy and I returned to Pennsylvania in March 2020, I planned to
just be retired. I did not have a call, and the area team leader for the
security company I had worked for in Illinois told me that there was no work
for me in Pennsylvania. And then, Tom Bradshaw called me, and the team leader
also found an opportunity for work. God answered prayers in ways I did not
expect.
Every Sunday, I come
here to preach and lead worship for 30-40 people. It’s a small number, but …
and there’s always a big but … the Word of God is powerful and active, and each
time we gather, God graces you with a life-changing message: the Good News of
Jesus changes lives. The Good News of Jesus changes lives. The Good News has
changed my life. The Good News has changed your life. If we want to report back
to God and one another that the Good News of Jesus has changed someone else’s
life this week, all we have to do is walk with Jesus, pray to the Holy Spirit
to be bolder and take more risks, and see prayers answered. This week, do that,
and when you do, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, will keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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