Luke 10:4-7

Luke 10:4-7

“Do not carry a money bag, or a sack of provisions, or sandals.  You should greet nobody along the path.  And into whichever house you all should go, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him.  But if not, it will return upon you.  Remain in that house while eating and drinking things from them, for a laborer is worthy of his wages.  Do not depart out of a house and into another house.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus gives us a series of commands in this passage.  Do not carry extra money, extra supplies, or extra sandals.  In other words, trust on the provision of the Lord.  Trust that God will find a way to provide for your needs when you are truly following His calling.  Then Jesus gives an odd expression: don’t greet anyone along the path.  No, Jesus isn’t trying to be mean here.  He’s not telling us to be unfriendly or uncouth.  What Jesus is reminding us is that there are many distractions along the way.  There are many seemingly good ideas that actually take us away from the great idea that God has for us.

Do you rely upon God’s provision?  How is this evidenced in your life?  Do you allow yourself to be distracted by good ideas often – much less bad ideas?

Second Thought:

Jesus tells us that we are to pay attention to where our peace is received and work among those places.  Again, this just makes sense.  If God has opened the door for us, then the work should feel natural. It may not always be easy.  It may not always feel fun.  But the work should feel as though it is bearing fruit.  We should always test and see who is willing to receive and who is resisting.  Focus on those who are willing to receive.

Do you often think about being received when you think about doing ministry?  Why is this an important thing to consider?

Third Thought:

When we step back and get the bigger picture of what Jesus is teaching, we get a very unified theme.  As we discussed earlier: along the road, stay focused.  In the house, stay focused on the house in which you find yourself.  Don’t go from house to house.  Some very bad things can happen when you go from house to house.  First of all, your attention is split and your loyalty is diminished.  Second, you open up the door for rivalry and jealousy among those with whom you work.  I find this a challenging thought, especially for modern churches.  If Jesus really meant for discipleship to be one-on-one, or at most two-on-extended-household, how are we to accomplish this?  But the point that Jesus is making is clear.  When a door opens for you, make those disciples.  It is hard enough to walk beside a person in faith through life.  It is even harder to do balancing the spirituality of a handful – or far more – households!

Do you tend to be singularly focused in your ministry or do you have a broad focus?  Why can having a singular focus be frustrating from time to time?  What is the danger of having too many foci?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 10:8-12