“Take Nothing For Your Journey.”

“And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.” (Luke 9:1-3 ESV)

Chapter 9 begins with Jesus sending his 12 apostles out to proclaim the “Kingdom of God” and perform healings. As you read this section, you’ll notice that Jesus tells them to “Take nothing for your journey…” They were to depend totally on God’s provisions; they were to learn to depend on the Father, not on their own abilities.

What a powerful object lesson for His disciples. Jesus had been teaching them all along that, in their own power, they can do nothing, and He had total confidence that God would provide everything He needed as He did His Father’s will. But now it was their turn to learn this truth personally. Seeing God provide for others is a great blessing, but it doesn’t carry the same impact on our lives as seeing God provide for us personally. These twelve apostles were going to change the world; they were going to be telling others to trust in God and His salvation, and they needed to learn what Jesus already knew. If you are doing the Father’s Will, He will provide.

Then Luke shows us that Jesus started “preaching the kingdom of God, and healing the sick." Exactly what the apostles had been doing throughout Judea as they preached to and healed God’s chosen people. Again, Jesus knew the scope of the task before them and was showing them that God the Father is a promise-keeper.

Now, right after this object lesson, we see the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 men, not including the women and children that accompanied them. Remember, we have discussed that Luke’s account of Jesus' life and ministry was action-packed, quickly moving from miracle to teaching, then to another miracle.  Please notice what Jesus said to his apostles: “You give them something to eat!” This isn’t something from a far-left field that Jesus threw at them. What did they learn from being sent out by Jesus, who gave them “power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,” and told them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics.” Just a dozen or so verses ago, now He tells them to give the people something to eat. By the way, Jesus doesn’t just ask them or suggest that they give the people something to eat; He commands them to do it. Remember what the apostles just did? They went out to proclaim the Kingdom of God and had to depend on God for everything.

So, they should have picked up on Jesus' command to heart and remembered that if Jesus commanded them to do something, He would give them what they needed to accomplish the task. Don’t you love these twelve apostles? They were just like you and me, not super believers, just people who so quickly forget how God provides when they are doing His will.

My friends, God has called you. God chose you to follow Him. Remember when Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him...” Everyone who has placed their faith in the finished work of Jesus, having paid the penalty for their sins by His death on the cross, was chosen by God the Father. Chosen just the same as the twelve apostles for salvation and to do His will. They were chosen to proclaim a new message of the Kingdom of God and were enabled to perform miraculous healings to authenticate their message. We have been chosen too, “for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” God has “good works” for every believer to accomplish. Some He calls to a ministry of prayer, some to a ministry of hospitality, some to a ministry of giving, and others to a ministry of teaching His Word, but all of us are called to proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come through Jesus Christ.

You see, my friends, I see God constantly providing for His chosen as they do His will throughout Scripture. Because God is a promise-keeper, He will provide for you and your ministry, just as He did for His twelve apostles. But because we are human, just like the apostles, we sometimes forget this truth, and we have to learn it over again. That’s why we need to keep reading God’s Word, for in it we find life and God’s will.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"