Sunday, July 21, 2013

The Apostles' Power - Cost of Discipleship Pt 115

Chapter 22 - The Apostles

Mat 10:1  And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Mat 10:2  Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
Mat 10:3  Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
Mat 10:4  Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

Bonhoeffer- 'The prayer has been heard.  The Father has revealed his will to the Son.  Jesus calls his twelve disciples and sends them into the harvest. He makes them his "apostles," his messengers and fellow-workers.  "And gave them power," for the power is all-important. It is not a word or a doctrine they received, but effective power, without which the work could not be done.  They need a power stronger than that of the prince of this world, the devil. The disciples know the devil's power well enough, although it is his cleverest trick to deny his power and to pretend that he does not exist. It is just this supreme cunning of his that must be countered: he must be brought to light, and overcome through the power of the Christ. In this work the apostles stand by the side of Christ himself, and help him to do his work. So Jesus imparts to them a share in the highest gift he possesses, his power over unclean spirits, and over the devil who has taken possession of the human race. In virtue of this commission the disciples have become like Christ. They do the works of Christ.'

Mar 6:7  And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits

Mat_10:1  And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Luk_9:1  Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.

The twelve disciples are called to Jesus's side.  Jesus then gave them POWER. This power was NOT for a single selfish act, not for a single moment of glory of their own.  The POWER came from JESUS, and it was to HIM all the glory would go. The disciples KNEW they had absolutely NO POWER of their own, NONE! If they for a moment even thought, they, through their own manufactured power were doing any of the miracles they would have instantly lost the power. The power only exists for them to use because of their connection with CHRIST, and that connection was SELFLESS. They gave up everything to follow Him. We wonder at the idea of giving up our cherished life for Christ and convince ourselves that it is the LAST thing we have to do, why? Because we cannot stand the thought that we have to GIVE up anything, especially the things that bring us comfort and ease, the things that are our life as we know it. Change it up, for Christ? That's old time stuff, that's for the original disciples, not the modern disciples.  We TALK ourselves out of self denial. We make a case for why WE are not supposed to carry any cross at all.  The disciples did their part, they weren't all just sitting around bored out of their minds just waiting for something to come along. They had families, they had lives, busy lives. Their call to follow Jesus was special, was amazing, was something we can only imagine and yet, we are called too! 

The disciples were given power by Jesus and He knew they would NOT abuse the power. They were not to use it for ANY selfish gain whatsoever, but rather to ONLY help others!

They were to have power over the unclean spirits that were filling the lives of people, keeping them captive to Satan and by any means. The power over those unclean spirits was to DRIVE them out of those they were infecting! The power was to set the evil spirit filled captives free, free from all that would keep them from truly following Christ should they choose to do so. Not a single person would be able to say they were held captive by an evil spirit so they couldn't follow Christ. He FREES those who desire to be free to follow HIM, to follow the TRUTH!

The disciples were given power to heal ALL manner of sickness and disease.  Just imagine! We come across sick people all the time, our families are filled with them. From the young to the old the sick are endless. Just imagine being given the power of Jesus to heal ALL manner of sickness, all manner of disease! Your family members, your friends, strangers, all of them, you could heal them all, but NOT you, the POWER OF JESUS working through YOU! The power given to you by Jesus who KNEW it would not be misused, that it would not corrupt you, that you would give all glory to the giver of the power!

We abuse so much of our lives in NOT giving the glory to God where it belongs!  Any thing good in us comes from GOD! We possess no goodness of our own, yet we imagine we do so that we do not have to give glory to God, but keep the glory for ourselves.

Please LORD, help us to give you all the glory for all!  We know you are the Giver of power to those who are YOURS, wholly YOURS.   We aren't asking for power, the disciples did NOT ask for power. They received of Christ what He chose to GIVE to them.  Lord, we only ask You to give to us what you will, and for us to recognize the gifts You've given us, and for us to USE all that you would have us use for YOUR GLORY no matter what that power is- great or tiny, all for YOU and YOURS!

All by YOUR LOVE! YOUR MERCY! YOUR HOLY SPIRIT, the COMFORTER YOU WOULD GIVE TO US WHO LOVE YOU, and our love for you is because YOU love us!

Please LORD, help us, keep us, know us, bless us, help us to be selfless, not selfish, all through YOU!

Glory to YOU God!
Praise to YOU God!
Thanksgiving to YOU god!


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