PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Luke 10:8-16
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“Heal the sick and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 10:9)
Jesus sends his disciples to share peace and healing with people.
And yet some people refuse it, and Jesus describes how they will one day regret it.
God does not force grace on anyone; we all have the freedom to “not welcome” it (v.10).
On judgment day, God will allow people to have what they freely chose.
Hades is the Greek idea of the afterlife, the end of life as we know it.
Jesus uses that idea to impress on the disciples how important their mission is.
People need grace, your job is to bring it to them so they can receive it!
Notice that their task is not to bring warnings of hades, but blessings of grace.
Peace and heal people, treat them with mercy and love, overwhelm them with grace.
Bringing grace, not condemnation, is our calling; people are free to welcome or reject it.
I fear we focus too much on warning about hades, and not enough on blessing with grace.
People are not rejecting our kindness, they’re rejecting judgmental words and actions.
Not all will accept God’s grace, but many more will, if they actually experience it as grace.
Are we rejecting our mission to bring grace (peace and healing), and will we one day regret it?
PRAYER
Lord, you have been kind (gracious) to me; help me not to reject your grace by refusing to share it with others. How can they respond to your grace unless I actually show it to them first?
Not welcome here – people holding up their hands and telling you to stay away. I don’t recall that ever happen to me. I do recall as a 3 year old having a locked door in front of my face – being told I’m not allowed to enter (my cousins were having a bath) – not understanding that there was a difference between boys and girls. Yet, with Jesus some villages did not want him to come in. Is it a work of the ‘deceiver’ to prevent the Good News from coming in? Consider nations like Saudi Arabia – yet radio and media are able to penetrate even as believers working there (especially Pilipino maids and workers) are now allowed to share their faith. Not welcome there. Jesus not welcome. Jesus is welcome in my heart – but even sometimes I’m not receptive to what He is teaching me. Help me to welcome your discipline, teaching and care!
Hearing.
Hearing the Word of the Lord requires a response. Hearing means doing.
Hearing His Word demands a response of the heart to do. Not my way but His Way. His Way is Life. His Way is walking in His SonShine. His Way is the Way of truth and grace.
1 Grace and truth shall mark the way
Where the Lord His own will lead,
If His word they still obey
And His testimonies heed.
2 For Thy Name’s sake hear Thou me,
For Thy mercy, Lord, I wait;
Pardon my iniquity,
For my sin is very great.
3 He who walks in godly fear
In the pat of truth shall go;
Peace shall be his portion here,
And his sons all good shall know.
4 They that fear and love the Lord
Shall Jehovah’s friendship know;
He will grace to them accord,
And His faithful covenant show.