Worth Repeating - October 23, 2017

Luke 4: 42, 43 At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” (NIV)

Jesus was committed to making disciples, not attracting crowds of consumers.*

Jesus has been preaching, and healing, and driving out evil spirits in Capernaum and the people there did not want to let him leave. Can you blame them? His miracles improved their lives – and who doesn’t love a good sermon? Perhaps Jesus was touched by their desire to keep him with them, but it was time to for him to move on. They had heard his message; now it was someone else’s turn to hear it. This, he said, was why he was sent.

Aren’t we like those Capernaumites? We have heard the gospel – and we hear it week after week from the comfort of our church pews. We enjoy hearing our preachers proclaim truth. We love to worship together with fellow believers. It feels good to be with our church family on Sunday morning. But Jesus expected us to carry on with his mission after he was gone. His last words before he returned to heaven weren’t, “Sit and listen.” He said, “Go and disciple.” Isn’t it time for us to share the gospel with those who haven’t heard it yet? 

Even as we have made discipling and baptizing the imperatives of the Great Commission, it seems at times the focus of our local ministries has overlooked Jesus’ first instruction to “go.”*