Luke 9:1 - 6
And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.[a] 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.” 6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. v1 - What does it mean that Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases?
2. v1 - Do we have this authority today?
3. v2 - Has Jesus sent us out to proclaim the kingdom of God? What does it look like to do so?
4. v2 - Has Jesus sent us out to heal?
5. v3 - Most of us aren't going on journeys. Should we?
6. v5 - How should we apply shaking the dust from our feet?
7. v6 - Why aren't we going from village to village preaching the gospel?
8. v6 - Why aren't we healing everywhere now?
https://hartmangroupdevotionsmark.blogspot.com/2018/05/mark-66-13-then-jesus-went-around.html says:
ReplyDeleteThese scriptures warn us that just because someone (including ourselves) believe in Jesus or uses Jesus' name does not mean they (or we) have the faith and authority from God to cast out evil spirits. Casting out demons is serious business and not to be taken lightly. Anyone taking on themselves the driving out of these spirits had better be well grounded in the scriptures and have an ample portion of God's Holy Spirit! Those who wrongly ASSUME they have the power and authority to cast out demons can suffer some very real painful consequences, as seven sons mentioned in the New Testament found out.
Those who saw or heard of what happened quickly learned not to take the name and authority of Jesus Christ lightly --- and especially not to ASSUME they had God's authority to do whatever they pleased. If God has not ordained you to use His name for casting out demons, do not think you can simply conjure up some faith and do it anyway.
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Factors about authority:
I. To receive authority, one must be submitted to authority.
II. A certain amount of faith is required.
III. To exercise authority one must act (usually by speaking).
IV. The authority is limited by the one giving the authority.
V. We are to use the authority.
VI. Authority must be acknowledged.
VII. Power must also accompany authority.
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My 2 cents on does authority come and go and do we have authority:
I'm not crystal clear on how it all works. But, I believe it does NOT work in the following manner: God has given us blanket authority to heal and cast out demons whenever we want. And I don't believe that we activate this power by just believing hard enough.
The way I think it works is that God gives us a mission (which may be long or short term), and with that mission He will give us the authority to do what He wants done. Our faith comes in play and it looks like: We hear what God is telling us, we believe what God is telling us, and we do what God is telling us.
God gave the disciples a mission and they went out to do it. I think that this was an example of Jesus giving the disciples a mission, and we shouldn't interpret it as Jesus was giving us all that mission. Jesus has missions for us. But we have so little faith (we don't hear Him, we don't believe Him when we do hear Him, or we don't do what He says when we hear and believe Him).
So, if we all had perfect faith, would there be a lot of healing and casting out demons? It's not possible to answer. I believe that God has specific missions for us at specific times - which may or may not involve miracles. So, if we all had perfect faith, would a lot of people feel Christ's love? Absolutely!
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteBeing faithful means that we do that work for Christ whether we want to or not, whether it’s convenient or not, whether it seems to be doing any good or not. If God has called us to some task, role, ministry, or job—however small—we must do it faithfully. Jesus later said, “He who is faithful in little is faithful in much.”
Too many Christians consider Sunday Service the primary responsibility of their Christian life, but they forget that when they walk out the church doors on Sunday they are entering the MISSION FIELD just as did the first disciples!
That is the dynamo of God, the Holy Spirit of God. When you receive Christ, God doesn't just wind you up and let you go. God puts His power into you. What a wonderful gospel.
Adrian Rogers commenting on power in Acts 1:8+ asked "Now what kind of power is this? Is this physical power? No. Economic power? No. Political power? No. It is spiritual power. I would be a fool, an absolute sheer fool to attempt to preach without the anointing, the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God is power. Similarly, the disciple would have been impotent and foolish if they went out without the dunamis of God.
As disciples we too have an accountability as to how we use the precious and magnificent promises (2 Pe 1:4+) God has granted us, for Peter reminds us that "EACH ONE (THAT'S YOU BELOVED) has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards (STEWARDS WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE WHEN THE MASTER RETURNS ) of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies (THE ENABLING POWER OF THE SPIRIT); so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Pe 4:10-11+)
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteMatthew adds “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." (Mt 10:5-6)
Mark adds another detail not found in Luke (or Matthew): And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits (Mk 6:7+)
Perform healing - The purpose of healing (and the other signs described above in Matthew's version) is to authenticate their apostolic ministry which in turn would confirm the truth of their Gospel message. Paul said "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles." (2 Cor. 12:12). The signs were not for the purpose of simply demonstrating supernatural power but they were to create wonder and give a taste of the character of the goodness of God (Ps 34:8) and the nature of His coming Kingdom. The phrase Freely...freely used in Mt 10:8 means they received these powers as a gift and were to use them expecting nothing in return (no personal gain or advantage), instead using them only for the glory of God. This is true of all God's children - His spiritual gifts given by His Spirit are to be used not for our acclaim but for His glory (1 Pe 4:11+).
John MacArthur reminds of an important truth about Jesus' earthly life that many saints often overlook - "One of the amazing elements of the life of Christ was that when He became incarnate and came into the world and started His ministry, He set aside,the independent use of His divine attributes. He didn't cease to be God, He didn't stop being what He was, He just set aside any independent use of His own attributes and He yielded Himself to the power of the Holy Spirit."
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSteven Cole on what is the role of divine healing, signs and wonders today -
In our day, there are segments of the church that argue that we are to emphasize divine healing along with the gospel. The late John Wimber, founder of the Vineyard movement, claimed that the “greater works” that Jesus predicted that His followers would do after receiving the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:12) include signs and wonders. If we are not regularly seeing God use us to perform miracles, then we are not proclaiming the gospel as we ought.
What shall we say to this? First, God is just as able to perform miracles through His servants today as He always has been. We must be careful not to limit God’s power because of our unbelief (Mk 6:5, Mar 6:6). But, having said that, we must also be careful to understand the place of miracles in God’s working. While there are miracles reported throughout the Bible, they mainly occur in clusters around the time of the exodus, during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, and during the time of Christ and the apostles. The purpose of those increased miracles was to authenticate the word of God or His messengers during critical times in the history of His people. But once the purpose for the miracles had been accomplished, the miracles decreased in frequency.
For example, the Book of Hebrews was written to a second-generation church of mostly Jewish Christians who were tempted to go back to Judaism. The author is trying to convince them of the superiority of Jesus. In Heb 2:3-4, he states, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” He is saying that the truth of the gospel was authenticated by these miracles performed by those who had been with Jesus, namely, the apostles.
But—here’s the point—if signs and wonders were still common in the church, why didn’t he appeal to their current experience? It would have been a much stronger argument to appeal to their common experience of miracles as a proof of Christianity than to appeal to miracles they had not even seen. Or, if the Hebrews were not experiencing such miracles, but should have been, he would have exhorted them to believe God for such things in their midst. But apparently such miracles had generally ceased. His appeal was to the authenticating nature of such signs as performed by the apostles and reported to these people as evidence of the true identity of Jesus as both Lord and Christ.
Another reason I do not believe that we should be emphasizing signs and wonders when we proclaim the gospel is that both Jesus and Paul censured those who sought for such things. The Jews saw Jesus multiply the loaves and fishes and yet they challenged Him to perform more signs (Jn 6:2, Jn 6:26, Jo 6:30). But they would not submit to Him or believe in Him. Paul said, “The Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Co 1:22-24).
The real issue of the gospel is sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn 16:8). People can gawk at miracles, but if they are not convicted about their sin and need for a Savior, they will not be saved from God’s judgment. The miracles that Christ and the apostles performed authenticate Jesus as the promised Savior. While we can pray that God would graciously heal a person of some disease, and He may do it miraculously, our emphasis should be on the person’s need of a Savior from sin. Jesus is the powerful Lord who can save every person who believes in Him.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteBeloved, we are simply soldiering sojourners residing temporarily on earth, "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." (Php 3:20-21-note) We are charged by Jesus to travel light and depend on the provisions of God. Dear saint (set apart by God and for God's purposes) are you entangled by the world, by its gadgets and glitz and glamour? Paul exhorted his young disciple Timothy in view of the shortness of our time on earth, the gravity of the spiritual battle we wage (every soul we encounter is on the precipice of eternity) and the the dangers of the lusts of the flesh, etc, (1 Jn 2:16-17-note) to "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." (2 Ti 2:3-4-note)
The clear implication is that they were not to depend on their natural resources but God's supernatural resources. They were on a journey for Jesus (just as we are beloved) and as such were to "travel light!" While possessions can be nice, the sad truth is that too often our possessions end up possessing us in the form of causing worry and anxiety to outright spiritual bondage! Jesus' words still hold true - Travel Light!
Jesus is not issuing a call to poverty, but a call to urgency. The disciples of Jesus were (and are) to travel light and be quick about their business of proclaiming the Kingdom of God while today is still called today because the night cometh when no man can work! Are you busy about your Master's business?
Bag (4082)(pera) is a knapsack, or leather pouch used by travelers. It was used for carrying personal belongings, or food and supplies. An inscription suggests that pēra could be a type of “begging bag” in which funds were collected (Moulton-Milligan).
Steven Cole - Later, Jesus refers back to this incident and comments on how they did not lack anything (Lu 22:35-36). But He then changes the instruction and tells them to take along money and other provisions. Why the change? Apparently, here Jesus was concerned both about the urgency of their going immediately and the vital lesson they needed to learn about trusting God to provide for their basic needs. That lesson is further underscored in the next incident, the feeding of the 5,000. While Jesus’ instructions to the twelve on this occasion are not to be applied literally, there is a valid principle here for all of His followers, namely, that our focus in life should not be on acquiring the world’s junk, but on spreading the message of God’s kingdom. In other words, “Seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and all these things [our basic needs] will be added unto you” (Mt 6:33). Our focus should be on ministry, not on things. If it is, we can trust Him to provide for our needs (not all our wants).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteWhatever house you enter stay there - The disciples were to rely on those to whom they would go for nourishment. "Jesus telling his disciples to stay with them in one house contrasts with the practice of religious philosophers in the ancient world who went from house to house begging."
Luke 9:5 "And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."
"but if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet." (Mt 10:13b-14)
John MacArthur adds that the phrase "let your peace return to you" "was an Oriental expression signifying withdrawal of favor or blessing. It is not that such a household would have a blessing and then lose it, but that the offer of peace was never received and is therefore withdrawn. The greatest blessing of God is worthless for a person who will not accept it. God's gospel is offered to all the world, and it has power to save all the world, but it is powerless to save or help even a single person who will not have Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior." (cf. John 5:40).
MacArthur comments on shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them - "When they came back into Israel from a Gentile country, many Jews would literally shake as much dust off their feet as possible in order not to bring pagan soil into their homeland. For the apostles to shake the dust off their feet while leaving a Jewish house or town would be to treat the inhabitants like Gentiles—whom most Jews considered to be out of God's reach. It is not that we are to turn away from those who reject the gospel at first hearing or even after several hearings. Had that practice been followed, many believers would not be in the kingdom today. Jesus was not speaking of those who are slow to understand or believe but of those who, after hearing a clear testimony of the gospel and seeing dramatic and irrefutable signs of confirmation, continue to resist and oppose it. When a person's mind is firmly set against God, we should turn our efforts to others.
Matthew adds another statement by Jesus “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. (Mt 10:15+)
What Jesus is saying is that rejection of the disciples’ message was a serious sin worse even than the gross rebellion of Sodom and Gomorrah! And of course we know about the judgment of those sinful towns. His point was that the judgment of the Gospel rejecters in Israel would be greater because of the greater light they received.
Question: What does it mean to shake the dust off your feet?
Shaking the dust off one’s feet conveys the same idea as our modern phrase “I wash my hands of it.” Shaking the dust off the feet is a symbolic indication that one has done all that can be done in a situation and therefore carries no further responsibility for it. Shaking the dust off their feet was, in effect, saying that those who rejected God’s truth would not be allowed to hinder the furtherance of the gospel.
Embedded within this symbolic gesture was the implication that God also saw the dust-shaking and would judge people accordingly. There was a spiritual significance to a disciple of Jesus shaking the dust off his feet. It was a statement of finality about people who had been given the truth and who had rejected it. On their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas put Jesus’ words into practice. They had been preaching in Pisidian Antioch, but some of the Jewish leaders of that city stirred up persecution against the missionaries and had them expelled from the region. “So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium” (Acts 13:51+).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-9-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteMark adds some detail
They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. (Mark 6:12-13)
Comment: Repeatedly we see that in the proclamation of the Gospel both John the Baptist (Mk 1:4; Mt. 3:2) and Jesus (Mk 1:15; Mt 4:17) emphasized repentance, the apostles declared that sinners must turn from sin and believe the gospel (cf. Acts 3:19; 17:30). The practical question to ask is when we proclaim the Gospel as preachers and teachers and lay witnesses are we explaining to the hearers that repentance is an integral component of the reception of the Gospel that leads to salvation?
Steven Cole - Our text records the first instance of the disciples going out under Jesus’ command to preach the gospel. Up till now, they had watched Him do it, but now He sends them out to proclaim the kingdom of God. We would be mistaken if we took these verses as normative for all believers or even for all those who are called to preach. It was a unique situation and Jesus gave unique instructions which He later modified (Lu 22:35-36). But even so, there are some principles here that we can apply as we seek to proclaim the good news of Christ as He has commanded us to do.
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. v1 - What does it mean that Jesus gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases?
Jesus sent the disciples out on a mission and gave them the authority to do these things. Although, later they were on other missions (in which the saints laid hands on them and commissioned them) and able to do these things, I believe that this authority was given to them for their specific mission.
2. v1 - Do we have this authority today?
Only if Jesus sends us on a specific mission requiring the things. We have our marching orders - to bring the Gospel to the whole earth. I believe that we also are sent on specific missions at certain times to certain places or people. For these missions, we are given the power and authority we need to accomplish the mission. If an Army private is sent to deliver a message, he is probably not given a bazooka unless the mission requires one.
3. v2 - Has Jesus sent us out to proclaim the kingdom of God? What does it look like to do so?
I think that our overall goal as Christ followers is to bring glory to God. A huge factor in this is proclaiming the kingdom of God. (I think we wouldn't be doing a very good job of bringing glory to God without proclaiming His kingdom). Proclaiming the kingdom means bringing glory to God in everything we do and say. Our proclamation will be clear to everyone who gets to know us, unless we are not proclaiming.
4. v2 - Has Jesus sent us out to heal?
8. v6 - Why aren't we healing everywhere now?
We have a general mission to bring glory to God's name, and then we have specific missions that do that. In general, we are not equipped to heal unless Jesus sends out on a specific mission that requires healing. We don't see a lot of it because we live in a society that has no faith, and/or because we are not doing our specific missions.
5. v3 - Most of us aren't going on journeys. Should we?
7. v6 - Why aren't we going from village to village preaching the gospel?
Going on a journey is a specific mission. I don't know if God is not giving more of us that specific mission, or if a lot of us aren't listening. My guess is that God won't send us out on specific missions if we aren't interested in going.
6. v5 - How should we apply shaking the dust from our feet?
When the Holy Spirit reveals to us that we are done in that place. Shaking the dust from our feet is symbolic for ending a mission to a particular place and showing the people there that we won't bother them anymore. People shouldn't get the impression that doors of opportunity are open forever.
Very insightful entry. I would add that today one does still know of healings, exorcisms and miracles (like supernatural dreams and visions) but most often on the frontiers of the gospel which would corroborate the idea that God uses those tools for specific missions. It may also be tied to the fact that those going into unreached areas also often have a deep and vibrant faith. The miracles one sees here in the west most often do not have as big an impact as plain relational evangelism and annointed preaching.
ReplyDelete