Luke 9:1

The Bible says in Luke 9:1-2, “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.” Jesus called the twelve disciples together because He wanted them to work together. There is strength in numbers. The followers of Christ need each other. Separate we can do a little bit for God. United, we can do a lot more. The hand cannot say to the arm, “I have no need of you.”

As we have been studying in the book of Luke, the disciples have now been following Jesus and listening to His teachings for quite some time. Now it was time for them to start teaching to others what they had learned. There is a time to learn, and then there is a time to teach others what you have learned. One of the purposes of life is to learn more and more about the great, eternal God and then another one of the purposes of life is to share what you have learned with others.

When Jesus sent the disciples out, He sent them to address both the spiritual and the physical needs of the hearers. God cares about both, and He has an answer to address both our spiritual and physical needs. It’s probably not a coincidence that meeting the spiritual needs of people is mentioned before meeting their physical needs. In Luke 9:1 having “power and authority over all devils” is mentioned before curing diseases. In Luke 9:2 preaching the “kingdom of God” is mentioned before healing the sick. In Luke 9:6 “preaching the gospel” is mentioned before “healing everywhere.”

Physical needs of people are important. But we must have our priorities right. Spiritual needs are more important. Not always, but sometimes physical problems are a result of spiritual problems. When Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth, he pointed out that it was because of spiritual problems that some of them were sick and some had even died. Not all sickness is a result of sin, but some of it is. Get your spiritual problems straightened out, and then it may surprise you how well the physical things fall into place.

When Jesus sent out the twelve disciples He gave them “power and authority over all devils.” The Spirit of God is at work in this world, and so are the evil spirits. If you walk in fellowship with Christ in this world, then the evil spirits will flee from you. Because of the power of Christ, and the goodness of Christ, and the Light of Christ, they will flee away. The evil spirits cannot abide in His presence. They have no power in His presence.

Jesus gave power to the apostles. The word power means enabling. The capability that the apostles had to do what they did came from the grace of God and of Christ. It did not come from themselves. It was not because of how smart they were, or how much education they had, or how well organized they were. It came from God. You can do whatever God wants you to do. You can accomplish whatever God wants you to accomplish because of Christ in you. You can be confident, not because of yourself, but because of Christ. No wonder Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The same Jesus who sent the apostles into the world and who equipped them to do His will, has also sent you and has equipped you.

Jesus gave power to the apostles, and He also gave them a message. The power that they had was associated with their relationship with Jesus Christ, and the power to touch and change lives was also associated with the message. We know what message they had. They were told by Jesus in Luke 9:2 to “preach the kingdom of God.” Make public the fact that there is a spiritual kingdom of which Christ is the King. The spiritual kingdom is more important than the kingdoms of this world because it will last forever. The way to become a member of the spiritual kingdom is through Christ. Jesus purchased a free access to all who will through dying for our sins on the cross. That’s preaching the kingdom of God. It’s telling other people these important details about the kingdom of God.

Concerning the message that the apostles took with them, we are told in Luke 9:6 that they went into the towns “preaching the gospel.” The word gospel means good news. It’s a good message and a positive message, a message of hope and love. If Christians aren’t careful, they will spend too much time complaining about the failures of the world around them, and their message will become negative instead of positive. Jesus called His message to the world the gospel, the good news. One reason that you can be assured that there will always be people who will respond to this message is because it’s the good message. It’s the best message of all. In a world of sin and sickness and death, you can be sure that there are people out there who will fall in love with the message of faith and hope and love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. There are people who will believe, if only they have a chance to hear. That’s why Jesus sent the apostles out, and that’s why He sends us out: so that others will hear the great and wonderful good news.

Concerning the disciples being sent out by Jesus, the Bible says in Luke 9:3-5, “And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house you enter into, there abide, and from there depart. And whosoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.” In Luke 9:3 Christ told the apostles things that they were not to take with them on these evangelistic missions. There is something important to note about the circumstance in this context. Jesus was not giving the apostles a life-style. He was not telling them how to live the rest of their lives. The apostles were being sent on an evangelistic effort of very short duration, probably for only a day or two. They would soon rejoin the Christ and continue following Him through Galilee until He was arrested and was nailed to the cross of Calvary.

Notice that in Luke 9:3 Jesus did not say to them, “take nothing for your life.” He said, “Take nothing for your journey.” In other words, take nothing for this one or two-day evangelistic journey. If Christ was not giving them a permanent life-style, then what was He teaching them by telling them, “Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece.” God created the physical and material world. There are certain physical and material requirements in order to live in this world. Everyone must wash their clothes and clip their fingernails, and prepare their meals, and take time to sit down and eat those meals. Everyone must pay their bills, and balance their checkbook. If your roof leaks, you must spend time to get it fixed. If you have a garden, you have to go out pull weeds out of the garden. Hopefully, when you do these things you dedicate them to God’s glory. To live life in this world, there are a lot of such things to do. People can easily spend every moment of every day being busy with the requirements of life. Jesus was telling the apostles that for them to be effective in spreading the gospel, there would have to be times when they set aside the busy affairs of their daily lives in order to find some time to spread the gospel.

In order to be prepared to take the message of the gospel to someone, you have to be prepared for it. You have to be willing to set aside your busy schedule once in a while in order to have time to do it. Remember when Jesus had been presenting the gospel to the woman at the well, and He said to the disciples, “I have meat to eat that you know not of.”

When anyone goes out with the message of the Kingdom of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ, one of two things can happen. Either the message will be received, or it will be rejected. It’s interesting to note that after Jesus sent the apostles out with the gospel, He then emphasized what they should if the message was rejected. Jesus said in Luke 9:5, “And whosoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.” Jesus knew that some people would reject the message. He also knew that sometimes many people will reject the message. In the gospels Jesus said, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat.”

In some communities of the world many people will reject and refuse the good news about the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and His salvation. When you take the gospel to someone, it may very well be that they will show no interest. Then what do you do? Jesus said to forget about it and go on to the next. You want to see people saved because God wants them to be saved. The results are up to God. He wants you to do your part in taking the message, but only He can give the results that He wants to give, and people also have a free choice. If you are going to keep from getting discouraged, then you must have the ability to do just what Jesus said to do: to shake off the dust of your feet. You need to be able to forget what just happened and put it behind you. Paul said, “Forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth to those that are before.”

While the apostles were out on their first evangelizing effort, King Herod is mentioned again in Luke 9:7-9. The Bible says, “Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him, and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some that John was risen from the dead. And of some that Elijah had appeared; and of others that one of the old prophets was risen again. And Herod said, John have I beheaded. But who is this of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.”

Jesus had just sent the apostles out to preach about the kingdom of God. Herod was king. But what a contrast between Herod and Jesus! Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and those who receive the gospel of the kingdom can find peace for their souls that will last forever. Herod had no peace. Luke 9:7 says that he was perplexed and lets us know that Herod had a guilty conscience that troubled him. Jesus is the giver of life. In Him is life. But Herod was a murderer. He had John beheaded and now his conscience troubled him. Which kind of kingdom do you prefer, the temporary kingdoms of this world that are so often ruled by people like Herod, or the eternal kingdom of Christ?

After the apostles returned from spreading the message about the kingdom of Christ, the Bible says in Luke 9:10-11, “And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.” Jesus had sent the apostles to face the people of the world with the gospel. But when they came back, He took them “aside privately into a desert place.” There is a time to spread the gospel. There is a time to face the spiritual battles of life. But there is also a time to get away from it all and to get alone with the Lord. Your ability to face the world effectively will be directly related to your awareness of when it’s time to get away from the world and to be with the Lord.

Eventually the crowds found where Jesus had gone with the disciples. When the people came to Jesus, Luke 9:11 says that He did three things. He received them, He spoke unto them of the kingdom of God, and He healed those that had need of healing. When anyone comes to Jesus, He always receives them. Whether young or old, rich or poor, male or female, Christ receives all who come to Him. That’s what salvation is: coming to Christ. Salvation works the same today as it did 2,000 years ago. A person hears about Jesus, and they come to Him, and He receives them.

When these people came to Jesus, it says that He taught them about the Kingdom of God. His Kingdom is not of this world. His Kingdom will last forever. Jesus has made it possible for each of us to enter His Kingdom by dying for our sins on the cross. What a wonderful future awaits those who become a part of the Kingdom of Christ! There will be no disease, no sin, no death. There will be no sorrow or crying. There will be joy and peace and love forevermore. One of the reasons that Jesus healed all of the people who came to Him was to prove that He had the power to establish the wonderful kingdom of which He taught. He will keep His promises about the Kingdom of God to come, and you can be a part of that kingdom if you come to Christ.

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