Petitcodiac Mennonite Church

Continue The Ministry Of Jesus

Delivered October 8, 2006
by Pastors Marilyn and Eric Henderson

Text: Mt. 9.35-10.16

Thesis: Followers of Jesus hear and recognize God's call and invitation and accept authority to continue the ministry of Jesus.

Purpose: To invite followers of Jesus to accept his authority to continue the ministry of Jesus.

Introduction: We're grateful to be here. We're grateful for your gracious invitation to come and for all the help you've freely offered in moving us and helping us unload, etc., since we arrived. And for scheduling a carry-in dinner today! As we thought and prayed about our first Sunday with you, God brought this text to Eric's mind. We believe Matthew 9.35-10.15 may have profound implications for our relationships with God, with the Petitcodiac Mennonite body of believers and the people with whom we have contact. As we summarize the context and the text, listen for what you think might be the text's implications for us all. We will invite you to share what you've heard from the text and from God after the message and during the sharing time.

9.35-38: Jesus went and the kingdom of god came near.

• Jesus comes as Immanuel - 1.23
• Jesus also called for repentance
• Jesus was called into the wilderness and was tempted regarding his use of power
• Jesus begins calling disciples - inviting women and men to follow him and learn
• Jesus healed, taught, blessed are the poor in spirit, the hungry, the merciful
• Jesus changed the focus of the laws and taught kingdom lifestyle
• Jesus cleansed, raised from the dead, drove out spirits, healed

Disciples lived with Jesus for several years, observing and working with Jesus in all that he did - teaching, healing, casting out demons.

10.1-4 Jesus called/summoned and gave authority

• The larger group of disciples had been observers
• 12 selected from the larger group
• Jesus empowers, enables and commissions - gives them the right, permission and the responsibility - to do what they've observed him do. They are to use the power given them by Jesus (the same power given Jesus by God) to further and display the kingdom of heaven

10.5-15 Jesus sends the 12 with instructions

• Proclaim the good news
• Heal
• Cleanse
• Cast out demons
• Raise the dead
• All without pay
• Relying on the hospitality of others

These were simple instructions not so simply carried out.

Application: What does this mean for the Petitcodiac Mennonite congregation? What might it mean for us to follow the example of Jesus here and now?

• We must continually keep the life of Jesus in front of us by studying the gospels, by meditating on the gospels, by reading books, by discussing the implications of following Jesus with other followers and by spending time listening to God and discerning what it means in the community of believers.
• As Anabaptist Mennonites, we believe that Jesus spoke not only to the women and men who first heard him but spoke also to us.
• Jesus was the Suffering Servant and invites us to experience new life through suffering as God's servants and the servants of others.
• Following Jesus is seeking for and fully obeying the will of God the Father rather than operating on the basis of our own wills and what we want to do.

What might it mean for us to both answer Jesus' call and accept the authority Jesus gives us as his followers in order to continue his ministry?

• We have choices to make - either to accept Jesus' call and authority to further the kingdom of God or to reject God's invitation to become Jesus' follower and join in furthering the kingdom of God.
• We must ask for and depend on God's authority, continually keeping in mind that we have been given authority from God - it is not anything we can claim for our own.
• Jesus is the one who calls and empowers - we aren't to decide who is in and who is out. In other words, Peter had no say in Jesus' decision to choose Judas Iscariot, no matter what he may have known about Judas' character or previous background.
• In order to minister with integrity, we must acknowledge the power we've been given and use it responsibly and sensitively to further God's kingdom, not our own.

What might it mean for us to accept God's invitation to join in proclaiming the kingdom of God?

• We understand Jesus to be our highest authority. Jesus' instructions are life-giving and are in direct opposition to the evil that can be hidden throughout culture, society and institutions.
• We may be asked to accept hospitality from those who don't know Jesus. We may need to be open to other ways of doing things.
• Our ministry is dependant on the hospitality and openness of those to whom we are called to minister.
• What we are called to do may be something other than that with which we are currently familiar or comfortable.
• Our ability to minister here among you all is dependant on your openness and hospitality to us. And the reverse is also true - you are dependant on our openness and hospitality to you.

Invitation: God invites us to be followers of Jesus, accepting his authority to continue the ministry Jesus began. We need to choose to open our lives to God's invitation to be Jesus' followers and act with the authority he gives those who choose him.

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