When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony against them.” So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere (Lk.9:1-6).
In the passage above, Luke tells us of the moment Jesus gifted the twelve apostles and sent them out on their own. I think there are two important lessons we can draw from this account. First, the twelve had been living with Jesus and seeing him heal the sick and cast out demons on a daily basis. Perhaps, he had invited them to do some of those things themselves as he was training them to carry on his ministry after his departure. But the presence of the Master had been a security blanket for these followers of his. If they stumbled or fell short he would instruct them or pick up where they had failed and finish the job.
But now, it was time for them to try their wings. Not only was he sending them out without him, but he was telling them to take no staff, no bag, no bread, and no money as they went. The crucial result of this outing would be for them to learn that the Father would provide and work through them supernaturally as they preached, healed and delivered. Many of us, and perhaps myself as well, have rarely been put in a position in which we would fail, be imprisoned, starve, or die without his miraculous intervention. When we do find ourselves in those circumstances and see the Father keep his promises in supernatural ways, our faith can blossom.
We actually need to let the Holy Spirit put us in those positions more often that we normally do. Sharing our faith with someone hostile to the gospel, sharing a word we believe is from the Lord with a stranger at our favorite coffee shop, or praying for a man we just met at the grocery story to stand up and walk away from his wheel chair are moments in which we will be foolish failures, unless God shows up. The axiom is true that unless we take risks, no faith is required. But when we do risk, faith grows. Even if our prayers do not heal on that occasion or if the “prophetic word” simply leaves the recipient puzzled, God is pleased that we stepped out in faith and that we risked failure doing what we believed he wanted us to do.
Remember when Peter saw Jesus walking on the Sea of Galilee and impulsively leaped from the boat to join his Rabbi. He took a few steps of faith, but then allowed the crashing waves to take his attention off Jesus. Of course, as he sank, Jesus pulled him out of the water. We may think Peter was foolish for doing such a thing, but as many have noted, no one else in the boat was even willing to try. I have to believe Jesus was more pleased with Peter at that moment than with the eleven others who huddled inside the boat.
Faith only grows when we see Jesus deliver us from difficulties that we know we would not have survived or succeeded in without his intervention. We need to look back and recognize his deliverance in our past but also be willing to step into risky situations in the present to do his will. As we do, faith grows and our spiritual gifts increase.
A second lesson here is more subtle. The text tells us that the twelve were given power and authority to heal, cast out demons, and preach with power. Judas was among those twelve and so we must assume that he also healed, cast out demons, and preached. The question becomes, “How could he have experienced those amazing manifestations of God through him, and still betray Jesus? Sometimes giftings run far ahead of character. Not only did he betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities, but we are told he also stole from the money people gave to fund the ministry of Jesus. Great gifts, no character.
As we seek to grow in spiritual gifts, we should seek even more to grow in character…to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Some men have been thrust into notoriety on the basis of their extraordinary gifts…preaching, healing, prophecy, and so forth. And yet, the weight of their “success” was more than their character could support. It’s not to say that true men of God cannot be ambushed by the enemy in a moment of vulnerability, but when influential leaders have been hiding sin for years, there is a flaw in their character.
Sometimes, the enemy convinces gifted people their notoriety, their large churches, and their leading roles at huge conferences are marks of God’s approval so they minimize their sin or somehow believe that God will give them a pass for their transgressions. Sometimes, they choose not to confess and deal with the sin because they believe it would cost them the notoriety and influence they love. However, God does not approve and eventually will reveal the sin if the man or woman does not confess and repent. The lesson is…in the kingdom of God, the fruit of the Spirit is always of greater value than the gifts of the Spirit. We must make sure the fruit always runs ahead of our gifts.
