Sermon Central
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Armed With Vulnerability Series
Contributed by Mike Wilkins on Feb 18, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus sends us out "armed with vulnerability:" Praying for someone might be the most vulnerable thing we do.
Lighthouses of Prayer – Heal the Sick February 17, 2008
Show March of the Unqualified as people come back from coffee
Read Luke 10:1-9 from “The Voice”
Review of Lighthouses of Prayer
From this passage we receive a way to impact our neighbours for Jesus:
The Luke 10:1-9 The Model
5-6 - Bless Your Neighbours
“When you enter a house, first say, ’Peace to this house.”
Now we have taken this model and organized it so that it is something that you can do as part of your daily routine: we’ve suggested that you take the five houses on either side of you, and the 11 across the street and begin to pray blessing on each of them.
You can do this by walking up and down your street and blessing each house Or you can make blessing your neighbours part of your daily devotions, you could bless a neighbour as you bless your food…
7-8 Develop relationships with your neighbours.
“Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you”
9a - Pray for their needs
“Heal the sick who are there”
9b - Share the Gospel
“…and tell them, ’The kingdom of God has come near to you.”
Do you remember the Rob Bell Nooma video called “Dust” where he explains that in Jesus’ day, a rabbi would choose the cream of the crop, the best of the best, to come and follow him and do the things he did. Rob talked about how, if the guys that Jesus chose to be his disciples were good enough, another rabbi would already have chosen them – they are too old by now to be followers of a rabbi. He calls them the “b” team, the “not good enoughs.” No other rabbi believed in these guys, but Jesus did – he believed that these guys could do what he did!
- that was the 12, what about the 72? If the 12 Disciples were the “b” team, who are these 70 disciples that Jesus sends out? What were they? The “c” team? The “D” team?
The 12 were scary enough – a bunch of fishermen, a terrorist, a tax collector, a doubter, a deny-er, and a betrayer! Would you send these guys out to speak for you? Peter used to say things like, “I didn’t know what to say, so I said this…”
I’d have troubles sending these guys to the corner store, and Jesus sends them out to minister in his name.
He doesn’t send them out with a library of theological books, to teach with, or lots of money to help people with – he sends them out with nothing - Less than nothing! – they don’t even take what a normal person would take on a trip – money, a coat, an extra pair of sandals, any sandals at all!
He sends out this “army of the under qualified” with nothing but blessing, friendship, prayer and the Kingdom of God to offer.
In fact, they had so little to offer, they had to depend on the people they were going to to survive!
Jesus says “I’m sending you as sheep among wolves.” Just get that image into your head – “I’m sending you where you will most likely get eaten!
Reading the Bible with the Damned – make more gang members, and teach them to do the things that got me killed.
I love that little turn that Brian McLaren puts into this translation: that Jesus sends them out “Armed with vulnerability.” It is a paradox, and counterintuitive both – usually when we interact with people around us, we want to do so from a place of power: Either we can show that we have our lives together, or we are good at something, or we have something to offer. As Christians heading out to “evangelize,” we want to come with a certain amount of strength, but Jesus sends his people out in weakness!
You are sent into your neighbourhood, your workplace, your school, your home in the same way – armed with vulnerability. It is almost as if you say to yourself “I have nothing to offer these people, that you are better off than if you thought that you personally had a lot to offer. It is when you realize that all you have is God to offer that he can really use you!
Peter and John – silver & Gold have we none…
Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service. 2 As they approached the Temple, a man lame from birth was being carried in. Each day he was put beside the Temple gate, the one called the Beautiful Gate, so he could beg from the people going into the Temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for some money.
