Introduction: Have you been on a mission trip? If you speak to your
neighbor about the gospel, is that a mission trip? If you find that
people don’t want to hear what you have to say about the gospel, what
should you do? Keep trying? Make your presentation more
interesting? Our study this week is about how Jesus called the
disciples and sent them out as His representatives. If you want to
represent Jesus, come with me and let’s explore what the Gospel of
Luke has to teach us!
- The Call
- Read Luke 5:1-3. What kind of use did Jesus find for a
fishing boat? (Innovative thinking! He used it as a stage
to present His teaching.) - Read Luke 5:4-5. Since Jesus thought a boat should be used
as a stage, what did Simon Peter think about Jesus’
fishing advice? (He did not think Jesus was an expert. The
time to fish was at night, and they caught nothing that
night.) - Why did Peter follow Jesus’ suggestion? (Because
Jesus asked him to do it. Whether Peter was humoring
Jesus or whether he was doing it to show respect, we
do not know.) - Read Luke 5:6-7. Is Jesus excellent at fishing?
- Read Luke 5:8-10. How would Simon Peter answer the prior
question? (Peter thinks this is a miracle, and not that
Jesus is “excellent at fishing.”) - Why does Peter ask Jesus to leave? (He realizes the
difference between Jesus’ pure and divine nature, and
his sinful life.) - Have you ever reacted this way to Jesus?
- Focus on Luke 5:10. Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid.” Afraid
of what? Being close to Jesus? Recognizing our sinful
nature? - What does this say about recognizing that we are
sinful and still witnessing? - Read Luke 5:11. What have they sacrificed?
- Read Matthew 4:19-20 and John 21:3. The Matthew 4
call seems to be before Luke 5 and the John 21
account is after Jesus’ death and resurrection. When
Luke says ( Luke 5:11) that Peter, James and John
“left everything,” what does he mean? (They left the
fish. It may also mean that they left the fishing
business until after Jesus was crucified.) - Read John 21:4-6 and John 21:15. Do you think it is a
coincidence that Jesus begins His call to service both
times with an incredible catch of fish? (I don’t think so.
Jesus is saying that He will supply their needs. He called
them to follow as a disciple when He was here, and He
called them to follow as disciples and witnesses after He
returned to heaven.) - The Commission
- Read Luke 6:12-16. What special thing has happened here?
(Out of all the disciples who were following Jesus, He
selected twelve and gave a special commission to them.) - Notice the way Jesus prepared to make the selection.
When you have important decisions to make, do you
spend time in prayer? - Read Luke 6:16 again. How could this happen? We have our
perfect Lord, who spends all night praying, and one turns
out to be a traitor! (We all have free choice. Some
failures, even when we make the choice, are not our
fault.) - Mission
- Read Luke 9:1-2. This is the first “mission” trip for the
apostles. Notice that these two verses describe how the
apostles were equipped and their mission. Let’s talk about
how they were equipped. What kind of power were they
given? (Power over all demons and disease.) - What do think it means that they had power over
demons and diseases? (They had the power over
everything that can go wrong. They could perform
miracles.) - Is this possible for us today?
- I just attended some programs about evangelizing. The
leaders mentioned nothing like this. Is this a
serious omission? Can you imagine the success
Christians would have in evangelizing if they were
equipped with power do perform miracles? - Re-read Luke 9:2. What is the mission? (To preach and to
heal.) - Aside from packing in the crowds, why do you think
they were told to heal? (We need to consider the
dynamics of this. God loves us. He wants to relieve
misery at the same time as we hear the good news
about the gospel.) - If you are not equipped to heal, what could you do to
relieve misery as part of evangelizing? - Read Luke 9:3. This sounds like poor preparation. Why did
Jesus give this instruction? - Is Jesus making a point about the level of faith this
would require? - Is Jesus making a point about how evangelistic
efforts should be funded? - Who will be doing the funding? (It appears that
the people who hear the good news provide the
support for the apostles.) - In the evangelistic efforts I’ve seen most
recently, we seem anxious to say we are not
collecting money. Have we gotten things
backwards? - Read Luke 9:4. What is the purpose for this instruction?
- Read Luke 9:5. What are the apostles to expect? (That
people will welcome them.) - What do you expect in your evangelistic endeavors?
(You need to wrestle the people into belief?) - How does this suggest we should modify our approach
to making disciples? (What if we just go where we
were welcomed, and leave alone those who do not
welcome us.) - This seems to be a radical suggestion. What
problems do you see, if any, with this
suggestion? - Read Luke 9:6-7. Did Jesus’ plan work? (Yes! Even Herod
heard about it!) - Read Luke 9:10. Why is the report important? (No doubt
they had exciting and encouraging stories!) - Read Luke 10:1-2. You might have said to yourself about
the previous story, “These are the twelve apostles, I’m
doubtful these instructions apply to me.” What does this
text tell us? (We now have a mission for those who are not
apostles.) - Read Luke 10:3-4. Is there danger? (Yes, there are
“wolves” and people on the road to avoid.) - How are they to prepare? (The exact same way as the
apostles – which is to say they have no material
preparation.) - Read Luke 10:5-6. What is this “peace?” Are you missing
peace in your life? - Read Luke 10:7. We speculated before on who should pay and
why. How do these verses clarify this? (The people you are
evangelizing should pay because “the worker deserves his
wages.”) - Each year I pay a substantial amount of money to help
support mission trips. These trips are not to
evangelize me. Are my contributions a mistake? (My
understanding is the people being evangelized cannot
afford to pay.) - Read Luke 10:8-12. This reinforces the idea of preaching
where we are welcomed. Should we apply this rule today, or
does this apply to a different culture? - Notice the mission. It is the same as for the twelve
apostles. Must we have the “heal the sick” component
of the mission if we have any hope of being welcomed? - For those living in the United States, can you think
of anywhere you would hold an evangelistic effort
that is welcomed? - Read Luke 10:17-21. Was this mission trip a success?
- Friend, will you pray that God will reveal the “hidden”
things about evangelism to us? Would you like the joy and
peace of sharing the gospel with others? Why not commit to
exploring this further? - Next week: Christ as the Lord of the Sabbath.
