27 Feb You only feel outnumbered
Happy Tuesday everyone!
I do hope you’ve got your “Oh Look! It’s Summer.” plan in place.
I get a case of the giggles listening to the scaremongering weather-folks out of Sydney telling me how catastrophically hot it’s going to be. They should come work in my garden for a while…they’d know hot. Sure, 35-40 or so gets uncomfortable, but most of us have access to cold water, air conditioning of some kind & adequate shelter. AND if we don’t need to get out in it, we don’t. So, it’s still Summer. You know how to deal with that until Autumn then Winter rolls around in due course. God has arranged things nicely that way.
We also know we need to be praying for the folks in harm’s way in Victoria right now. Nigh every Summer that burden falls on some other community. This year we pray for Victoria.
What else do we need to know…
- Zoom Bible Study Catch-up – Psalm 25:4-7 & Mark 9:30-37
Friday 1 Match 2024 @ 1:00 PM
Join Zoom Meeting — https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83006349720 — Meeting ID: 830 0634 9720
- World Day of Prayer @ St. John’s Anglican Church – also Friday March 1st, @ 10:00 a.m.
- Living Water Fellowship Morning of Prayer – Saturday March 2nd @10:00 a.m. @ 85 Red Hill Road (That’s Paul & Philippa’s place)
- Giving Beyond Ourselves this Sunday and Morning Tea – GBO for March is CareVan – an amazing local ministry that serves & serves again! As always…God loves a cheerful giver!
- GBO for April is Church Missionary Society (more details about this as we get closer to April)
- Ladies Fellowship – 10:00 a.m. Thursday March 14th @ 74 Plumpton Road (That’s Trevor & Sue’s place)
- Church Picnic – 7th April immediately following Worship @ the Botannic Gardens – we’re trying to organize a LWF train ride! (more details about this too as we get closer to April)
Wow! Look at the number of opportunities God provides for us to engage as his people in this community & our wider world. Pick several and engage!
My daily Bible reading has me in Luke at the moment. As I read Luke 10…we read about Jesus sending out a second group of his disciples (1-12 & then 17-20). I’m always intrigued about this sending of the 72 because in Lk 9 he does the same, with almost the exact same commission, with the 12. But upon their return the next series of events suggest they’ve learned nothing from their experience…so now 72 others are dispatched for the work of Christ & his kingdom. Here’s a question…Would you take the job they did, given this part of the sending:
“The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveller’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road. Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you….If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’ But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!’”
How do you like that? They’ve been assigned a job knowing there’s more work than workers. They appear outnumbered, undersupplied, at every possible disadvantage with no guarantees of even a safe place to eat or sleep. The likelihood of rejection is high. Would you take that job? Most Christians in my experience say “No.” We just don’t see the world as a missionary adventure to which we are called…and we leave it to someone else. Surveys tell us, most Christians share the gospel with someone outside their own family less than one time in their life. We might invite someone to worship now and again, but most often with the same enthusiasm we’d use to invite them to have a root canal. The magnitude of the experience overwhelms us…so we don’t. It’s blatant disobedience on our part…but there we are.
But in their obedience, the 72 report back: When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” As ambassadors of the Prince of Peace (not the king of punishment), the church often falters simply because we don’t venture into the places where we are sent obediently expecting Jesus to accomplish his work through us. We assume we’re defeated before we get out of the starting blocks. I’m reminded on a similar event in 2 Kings 6…where the Aramean king sends his vast army to trap & kill the prophet Elisha. At night the army surrounds the small city where Elisha & his servant are sleeping & at daybreak the servant is frightened by the huge horde of soldiers & chariots lying in wait. But Elisha says, “Don’t be afraid! For there are more on our side than on theirs!” & as God opens the young man’s eyes he sees, “the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.”
I think we forget that we are more than adequately supplied by the Holy Spirit & the power of the resurrection. We forget the victory is already ours in Jesus Christ. We forget “the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.” 1 John 4:4 And there’s this…regarding the 72…“Yes,” Jesus told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, & you can walk among snakes & scorpions & crush them. Nothing will injure you. But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” Now, like the servant of Elisha, they can see that backing up their obedience was more power than they ever imagined. They had a hand in knocking Satan off his high horse. They possess authority unmatched among people. They are protected against their enemies by the very power of Christ himself AND they’re assured of an eternal unassailable relationship with the Father. All of that is ours in Christ. You only feel outnumbered…no weapon fashioned against you will stand.
Let’s live that assured obedience this week.
See you Sunday…or hopefully out and about before then!
John
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