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We come to Matthew Chapter 10. One day Jesus calls His twelve men together. They have been with Jesus now for about a year, and Jesus gives them a special anointing - specific authority and power - to go and minister.

For a year they have been watching, listening, observing and learning.

For a year they have been under training. Now, they are being sent out on a mission. It was time for the practical. It is not enough just to take it in all the time. There has to be an outlet and the opportunity for service and mission and ministry.

They had seen how He operated and now He expects them to operate in a similar manner.

Jesus Christ gives his disciples power and authority over demons and diseases.

Authority involves and implies the right to speak and act and minister in the Church of Jesus Christ, and that authority must always come from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is when we are under authority that we receive authority. When we respect His Lordship, He gives us power.

Jesus sends these men out to preach the kingdom of God, and heal the sick.

These were very ordinary men, until Jesus Christ called them. We are all very ordinary, until we experience the call and the anointing of the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ, and then things can change. He anoints ordinary men with power, and gives to ordinary men, authority, and they became extraordinary men, who are able to do the works of God. Jesus had called a very mixed bag of followers.

This was an answer to the need that was all around. There were so many needs, and we have just as many needs today and they are very similar needs. This kingdom was going to expand and grow. The growth of the kingdom is always rooted in the compassion of Jesus.

Jesus had seen the crowds and had compassion on the people. Jesus had a concern for people. This word ‘compassion’ has been hijacked and it has been confined to the physical. Jesus saw the people as being sheep without a shepherd. They might have been well fed and physically comfortable. Jesus demonstrated a spiritual dimension to compassion – people who might be comfortable but harassed and helpless.

We too can confine our compassion to physical and material areas. We must not shrink the biblical concept of compassion to mere outward physical and material elements. We need to be burdened by the shepherdlessness of our present day.

Compassion has been confined and confused, making people soft in the realm of morality. This is the only true root and growth for the kingdom of God.

They are not sent out with good ideas that would make them attractive or popular, or successful. They are sent to preach – verse 7 – and they are told what to preach – to proclaim that God is doing something new and exciting and meaningful and relevant. They are to preach that Jesus Christ is Lord and King, and to preach the Kingdom where He is King and this King should be obeyed, because He can be trusted.

They were not sent out to find out what people thought about Jesus, or find out what people wanted, nor were they sent out to discuss whether the coming of Jesus Christ the King was a good thing. They were not to do a survey!

They were sent out to preach what Jesus had given them to preach. They were to be specific, and they were to be clear in their preaching, and not woolly or flabby or soft or confusing.

People might not agree with what was being preached, but at least the people would hear the message which Jesus wanted people to hear. The growth of the kingdom is rooted in apostolic authority. Jesus sent out labourers into that harvest field.

As they went preaching, they were to heal the sick. Is this not very different indeed from what is expected from certain ‘sections’ of the Church of Jesus Christ today, and from what is taught in various Colleges and Seminaries?

This mission statement from our commissioning Christ has never been changed nor modified. May its challenge go deep as we face a needy pained and suffering world.

"Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life" from Tom Kelley

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