Sheep among wolves

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

“I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Sibling will betray sibling to death and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this town, flee to the next, for truly I tell you, you will not have finished going through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 10:5-23, NRSVue)

I feel this, “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

So many comments on social media call me a false prophet, a spawn of the evil one, and the like. All for saying God loves everyone and not calling out others sin.

Jesus here sends out the twelve and tells them when people listen and accept the message enjoy their hospitality and if they do not accept the message shake off the dust and be on your way. Jesus does not tell us to berate them and call out their sin. Jesus tells us to live our lives for him and tell others about him. Not be their judge but to love them and if they do not want the love, move on to others.

So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves and live love out loud.

God knows

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life:

“I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death. (Revelation 2:8-11, NRSVue)

God knows your heart.

You can quote all the verses you want and say all the platitudes you like.

You can speak about the will of God and following where They are leading.

And you might fool the world.

But God knows you are part of a synagogue of satan.

Actually live the life God called you to live.

Love as They love.

Focus

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

“I know your works, your toil and your endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring and bearing up for the sake of my name and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, then, from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:1-7, NRSVue)

You do not like those who use faith for gain or use the name of God for their benefit, but where is your focus?

Are we looking to Jesus and fixing our eyes on Him?

Or are we drifting away?

Where is your focus?

Focus on Jesus and what He is calling and leading us to.

Cross-eyed

“A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!

“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

“Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 10:24-39, NRSVue)

This reading reminds me of Hebrews 12:2 Fix your eyes upon Jesus the author and perfector of our faith. This is how I remember it from my youth. And I remember seeing things then that said this is the cross-eyed text.

But I have also told congregations that is you are looking at Jesus, and you see his face, you don’t really understand your place. If we are following Jesus we will see the back of his head. And when we follow Jesus, we will sometimes make others upset. This will put family members against family members and make people unhappy with the things we do and say.

Jesus is not about keeping the status quo, but about including all.

So fix your eyes upon Jesus and see the back of his head as you follow him into the streets to welcome all.

uncovered

When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees became hostile to him and began to interrogate him about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Meanwhile, when the crowd had gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops. (Luke 11:53—12:3, NRSVue)

Anything you do will be made known. Anything you do that you think is done in secret will be made known.

And God already knows the things you do.

Live your life and love out loud.

What can God do?

Then the high priest took action; he and all who were with him (that is, the sect of the Sadducees), being filled with jealousy, arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.” When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.

When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole body of the elders of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the temple police went there, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what might be going on. Then someone arrived and announced, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” Then the captain went with the temple police and brought them, but without violence, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. (Acts 5:17-26, NRSVue)

The religious leaders of the day had the apostles arrested and put in prison, and God released them so they could continue to give their message to the world. God can do whatever God wants to do, and will do what is necessary through us or despite us.

Religious Leaders will not stand in the way of God, and neither will any of us.

God’s will will be done in all the earth. As Jesus said, if these do not cry out, the rocks will.

Do not think anything is beyond the doing of God.

humans

Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,
“What are humans that you are mindful of them
    or mortals that you care for them?
You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
    you have crowned them with glory and honor,
    subjecting all things under their feet.”
Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:5-9, NRSVue)

The world we live in is not subject to angels, but to humans.

Humanity, which was created in the image of God, is who the world is subject to.

Humanity who is a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor, is over all things of this world.

So what are we to God?

A precious creation that is loved dearly. We need to lift each other up and see the other as God see all of us.

As beloved.

disciples or apostles?

Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

He came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. (Luke 6:12-19, NRSVue)

Here, as in Matthew, Jesus called the disciples and named the apostles. So, which are they, Jesus, disciples or apostles?

And what is the difference?

A disciple is one who learns. An Apostle is one who is sent.

So can one who learns, be one who is sent?

And can one who is sent, be one who learns?

Yes, you can be both. I find it interesting that both the authors of Matthew and Luke chose to use both words here. We seem to use them in the church interchangeably, even though their original meanings are two different things.

So, which are you?

A disciple?

An apostle?

Or both?

Called through

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere, just as it is among you, and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will go on doing the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:13—3:5, NRSVue)

You have been called through the gospel.

Called to give light and love to the world.

Called to give mercy and grace in all you do.

You were called and strengthened by God through Their grace.

May you always be directed to the love and grace of God in Christ to be beacons of hope in the world.

in vain?

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we decided to be left alone in Athens and sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you for the sake of your faith, so that no one would be shaken by these persecutions. Indeed, you yourselves know that this is what we are destined for. In fact, when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer persecution; so it turned out, as you know. For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith; I was afraid that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor had been in vain. (1 Thessalonians 3:1-5, NRSVue)

Paul here says, “I was afraid that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor had been in vain.”

Do we ever labor in vain if we labor in the love of the Lord?

When we share the good news of the grace of God, that is a seed planted or a love note left, and is never in vain. It is a way to give mercy and love to a world living in darkness and fear.

We never labor in vain, even if the labor is not accepted, it is a service done in the love of the Lord and a way we help the world see God’s love.

Live love out loud.