July 4, 2021 Luke10:1-11, 16-20 “Don’t Settle for Fake Joy!”

02 Jul July 4, 2021 Luke10:1-11, 16-20 “Don’t Settle for Fake Joy!”

July 4, 2021    Luke10:1-11, 16-20      “Don’t Settle for Fake Joy!”

I have lived a lot in the last 70 years as do most people.  My eyes were really opened when I became a pastor about 15 years ago.  Until then I wasn’t really sure about how churches or pastors operated. It didn’t take me too long to see how difficult a job this was if you wanted to do it properly.  I have seen many good pastors and many not so good pastors.  There used to be a saying something like this when I sat in the pews like you today.  This pastor is so good that he or she gets you to volunteer without you even knowing it.  Or maybe the pastor is one who you just can’t refuse when he or she asks me.  This is really just a sign that the pastor is pretty good.  Along with this is the pastor who can just get things done.  They just know how to bring it all together for the betterment of the congregation.  I don’t mean that they have to have organizational skills or anything like that.  What I mean is that they have been gifted with the ability to lead the people.  It is a whole combination of things that go into this.  I hope you all know what I mean by this.  Today, we are going to look at the best leader who has ever lived, Jesus Christ.  Let’s see if His wonderful leadership can bring us any joy.

And speaking of joy, there are times when I think that I’m just beating my head against the wall.  It seems to me that people just don’t want to hear about Jesus.  I send my sermons out online and I get little or no response.  When I’m out and about and people find out I’m a pastor, they either clam up or try to get away from me or sometimes they just keep on swearing and carrying on.  But then I have to remember that the harvest is ripe.  It is very ripe.  Here is some proof from Sermon Central.  Wycliffe Bible Translators figures that by the year 2025, there will be a Bible translation project begun in every language of the planet.  A professor of mathematics from Purdue University figures that by 2033, every person on the planet capable of understanding the Gospel, will have been presented the Gospel.  So, I guess it is encouraging.  Also, there are something like 34,000 converts each day in South America, roughly 35,000 converts daily in China, and about 25,000 converts daily in Africa.  Plus, there are 16,000 converts daily as Muslims come to Christ.  A Muslim cleric calls this a major tragedy.  But this is great news.  We may not be doing that great in this country but in other places Jesus is winning big time.  Therefore, when I start feeling bad about things, I need to remember to look at the big picture for a little reinforcement.

The first thing I want you to notice here is how Jesus sends the disciples out into the mission field.  Please note that Jesus says that we will be like lambs among wolves.  This is dangerous business, then and now.  He tells them not to bring money or clothing or anything maybe because it can be easily stolen plus then they have to rely on Jesus for everything.  Remember that there were thieves and bandits everywhere.  They were also not to talk to people as they traveled.  Again, they wouldn’t know a bandit until too late so don’t even talk to anyone as they might turn out to be a bandit.

We have to do the same things today.  We are always to go out in at least pairs.  It wouldn’t be safe otherwise.  This has become more and more obvious in the last few years as the crime rate has gone through the roof.  We don’t know the good guys from the bad guys.  So, we shouldn’t be taking any of these chances either.  Therefore, safety is a big issue.

But there is one thing here that isn’t overtly mentioned.  All these people Jesus sent out were disciples.  Are all the people we send out today actually followers of Jesus Christ or are they a follower of a church or denomination?  It was only 7 years ago when I finished seminary.  I found that many people aren’t even Christian who attend seminary.  Worse yet, many of the staff and faculty aren’t Christian.  And yet, they will tell you what a great job they are doing for Jesus when they don’t even know who He is.  This is sad and the same thing can be said of our missionaries.  The reason we send out missionaries, most of the time, is so that they can help people.  Do you see the problem here?  The reason we send out missionaries is to serve Jesus Christ who in turn will help people.  We cannot help people without Jesus.  We are sending out people for the wrong reasons.

A few years ago, we were gathering Christmas presents for the poor people in other parts of this state.  We were told what to put in these presents according to age and sex and so forth.  I suppose we could even get in trouble for that today.  Anyway, after looking at this list I had to ask a question something like this.  “I don’t see Bibles or any religious materials on this list.”  I was told that I couldn’t send Christian materials because I might offend some people!  Why are we doing these things if we cannot use the name of Jesus Christ?  It was ridiculous!  Finally, I got them to see the error of their ways.  Anyway, I had several extra Gideon Bibles that I had collected from various activities over the years.  I decided to put them in these presents.  I thought that this was a great use for these extra Bibles.  Well, I got into all sorts of hot water because I can’t give away their Bibles.  They have to be given away by Gideons!  Again, how wrong can this be?  Anyway, the Gideons finally said it was ok.  People, unless you are doing things for Jesus Christ, you are but a banging cymbal.  We are called to do things in the name of Jesus Christ.  This doesn’t mean that you hide His name.  It means that you shout it out.  Every time you do something, say something like “Praise the Lord” or “Praise Jesus.”  It won’t take people long to realize that you are the real deal Christian and not a fake like so many today.

Please remember that Jesus doesn’t tell us to do these things because they have to be done a certain way.  He does this so that you will be successful.  He does this so that you may feel good about yourself and not have the doubts that I get sometimes.  He does this because of His tremendous love that He has for you.  Plus, He has just as much love for the person you are trying to serve.  That’s the bottom line of all this.

Then Jesus tells the disciples what to do.  When you come to a house you say, ‘Peace to this house.’  That is to get things off on the right foot.  Peace will either stay with the owner or will come back to you.  You are to stay in one house and not move from house to house.  This is probably so that you will have a home base until you move on.  This was the custom of the day anyway, so there is nothing new for these ancients here.  What you eat and drink will be your wages.  This is why I always say that potlucks are a very good function of the church.  We need to mingle more during meals.  I will always say, ‘Potluck for everyone!’

Jesus is very specific here when He tells them to use His name.  As I just mentioned, we are to always do this.  We see this in verses 9-11.  I bring this up a second time because it is so important and it’s something that just isn’t done today.  Last week I told the story of a little boy who couldn’t get his job done because he didn’t use all his strength.  He never called upon his dad to help him.

I mention this often that we are just like that little boy.  Unfortunately, we live in a country that was founded on very rugged individuality.  My dad built a farm by himself.  When things went wrong as they always do, he fixed them.  All responsibility was on him.  Of course, much of this is gone today as we are trying to ease our way into Communism where no one has to work that hard.  Communism will help us all be hungry together.  By the way, it will never work.  It never has and never will.  Anyway, it’s hard to rely totally on Jesus when we have this rugged individualism.

But that is just what we must do.  You need to learn to rely on Jesus for everything you do.  You need to say His name when you do things for others in His name.  It’s always a good thing to be helping the poor by feeding them or helping them in a food pantry or something like that.  But it is always a far, far better thing to do these things in the name of Jesus.  That means that you actually say the name Jesus when you give thanks.

We don’t know exactly how all these things work when we work for Jesus but they do.  I remember listening to Pastor Rick Warren talk about once when he was a young man just starting out in life.  He needed something like $560 to pay back a loan that was due plus a bill that was due.  He didn’t have it.  He prayed about it and prayed about it.  A little later someone knocked on the door and gave him $569, $500 for the loan, $60 for the bill and $9 to spend.  God answers prayer.  Rick goes on to tell that this has happened twice in his life.  We have some very dear friends where this has also happened.  The point is, once again, that Jesus is always working in our lives but He doesn’t usually work in the ways that you think.  Therefore, always be praying and giving credit where credit is due.

I remember when we first came to the ministry.  God sent us out to two churches we had hardly ever heard of before.  We had to sell our house and Sharon’s mom’s house before we could move.  They sold just like that in a market that wasn’t very good.  Everything that had to be done, just fell into place.  We were very busy praising the Lord at this point.  Finally, we get to Kindred and rural Walcott and I didn’t have a clue as to what to do.  At this point, I knew next to nothing about being a pastor, unlike today where I don’t know anything at all about being a pastor.

Everything I did that first year was the first time I had ever done it.  It was the first time I had ever written sermons for two Sundays in a row, let alone 52 Sundays.  It was the first time I had ever served Holy Communion.  It was the first time I had ever done a baptism.  The first funeral I ever did was so scary.  All the book learning that I had to do before beginning, did nothing to actually help me through these many situations.  Only Jesus Christ helped.  He was with us every step of the way.  We praised Him, we thanked Him and we loved Him.  He alone sent me out to do ministry and He alone told me what to do.  I ask that you look closely at your life and see if you can say the same thing.  Then, Praise the Lord!

One of the great things that came from all of this is the great joy we had to be just helping in some small way.  Please note that the 72 that Jesus sent out came back full of joy.  They had obviously been successful but not in the way we think.  They followed what Jesus told them to do.  We know of their success because they tell Jesus that even the demons submitted to the name of Jesus Christ.  This is something that we have also lost today.

We are looking for joy in all the wrong places.  According to Rodelio Mallari joy cannot be had in our unbelief.  This is just another way of saying what I have been saying.  Voltaire, who did not believe in religion once wrote: “I wish I had never been born.”  Obviously, he had no joy.  Lord Byron who lived a life of pleasure wrote: “The worm, the canker, and grief are mine alone.”  There is no joy in pleasure.  Jay Gould who was an early American millionaire, said this just before he died: “I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth.”  There is no joy in money.  Lord Beaconsfield had fame and position and wrote: “Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a regret.”  There was no joy there.  Alexander the Great had more military success than anyone ever, wept in his tent and said, “There are no more worlds to conquer.”  Once again there is no joy here.  So where can real joy be found?  The answer is very simple, in Christ alone.  There is even a song like that.

Also notice that they were not to come back with joy because they had done something good.  They were to come back with joy because they were working for Jesus Christ.  When we are out there doing good things for the Lord, we are to be expecting nothing in return.  No matter what you do, don’t expect certain or specific things from God in return.  If you truly know Jesus, then you know it is true.  You may think your work will lead to better health or wealth or just about anything.  Jesus knows all your needs.  You will get what you need as a reward and usually not what you want.  I have been a Christian for about 30 years or so and I know that this is very true.  I’m like anyone else in that I would like this and that and the other thing.  But Jesus knows best and has given me churches, my ministry, my family and many other things that are totally inline with His Word.  This is because He loves us so much.  He will bend over backwards to give you what you need.

Today we have discussed another way to have joy, real joy and not worldly joy.  It seems that we live in a very mixed up, sinful and bad world.  Jesus knows this.  He sees us working through this every day.  He is telling us once again. Take my hand and I will help you to have a better life.  I will help you have the best life possible if you will just follow me.  As we learned last week, please ask and it will be given to you.  Jesus has done wonders in my life and in the lives of many of you.  Find out where you are gifted and take this love to the world, to your friends and to your family.  The life we have in Jesus will never be any better and will always be good.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.