Tasting the Gruel of Love

The Kingdom of God Has Come Near

Dr. Larry Thorson
January 25, 2009

Luke 10:8-9

We’re in the fourth week of a seven week series dealing with how Jesus prepared his team of 72 to go out two by two to turn their world right side up. That’s what we need, 72 people to help us get our world turned right side up right now. Bernard Madloff, once one of the most trusted financial gurus alive has a pending 50 billion dollar scandal on his hands that’s affecting everyone from billionaires to non-profit organizations that were funded by his foundations. Since 2000 there have been no less than 34 major accounting scandals involving companies we once trusted. In some way or another these scandals are affecting nearly every senior I talk to.

Less than 50% of all marriages make it a lifetime. A lot of the students we minister to in our youth clubs don’t even expect to be married to the same person for their whole life. Every failed marriage involving kids regardless of the fault affects the kids.

All of that can be really discouraging until you realize that’s exactly the world that Jesus sent his 72 disciples into. Last Tuesday along with many of you I watched the inauguration. It was a beautiful example of democracy at its very best. I was proud to be an American. As I watched the crowds that the television projected and I listened to interviews there was so much hope that one man, Barack Obama, could turn our world right side up. We are a country that is hungry for a savior.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican right now. Most of us are American or an American ally and we need to get behind our president and pray that God uses him mightily. If he succeeds we succeed. But he’s not the savior and neither is the U.S. We know the savior and he sent 72 disciples into a world desperately needing help. He alone is our hope for the future. That’s why I think it’s so important as his disciples at a time like this to go into our world and invite people to meet Jesus. They won’t come by themselves but they might if you ask “Would you like to go to church with me this Sunday?”

As the 72 were heading out Jesus instructed them to go out two by two as we read in Luke 10:8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'[1]

These were simple instructions. “Eat what is set before you”. That means identify with the people you’re going to. To them he was saying “Yes, you’re kosher Jews, that means you only eat certain foods but that’s not important right now.” What’s important is that you relate to the people who welcome you and they relate to you. Jesus didn’t send them out to reach Kosher Jews they were going to reach mixed race Samaritans, half Jew and half Samaritan.

When I moved here 3.5 years ago I came from a church culture where mom and dad took their children to church every Sunday. They attended worship, the kids sang in the youth choir, and the whole family went to Sunday school classes. Then in the afternoon they came back to church for choir practice, dinner and youth group meetings. Whenever there were parent meetings to talk about the next big event for the youth, the meetings were packed. When the students went to church, mom and dad were there and maybe grandma and grandpa. It was a more church going culture than here, but a culture that was eroding even while I was there.

One of the most difficult things I had to deal with here when we started reaching kids was how orphaned they were. I might have a grandmother show some interest but very little from the child’s parents and rarely did I meet the missing Hemet dads.

Church is a foreign culture for the kids here. Sunday is an especially difficult day to even reach them. It’s not that they don’t want to be here but their parents don’t see being here as a value. I struggled with that for almost two years until we struck on Wednesday nights in the fall of 07 and our numbers started going up.

“Eat what is set before you”. That means try to identify with those around you. They haven’t had the same kinds of experiences as you’ve had. Jesus may not be very real to them. Church may bring back bad memories of things that happened there that they wished they hadn’t experienced.

Jesus’ next instruction to us attempts to make our experience with him to a practical level we can all relate to. He says we are to heal the sick who are there. That means heal the sick who welcome you. You can’t very well heal the sick of those who won’t let you in. The biblical prerequisite for healing is welcoming God into your life.

I want you to notice that Jesus spoke these words to untrained, often uneducated, non ordained people. What if I said that to you? You might say “Well pastor, how much are we paying you to do that?” You might say “but I’m not even a deacon, how can I heal the sick?”

Well these 72 people weren’t deacons nor were they elders. Yet Jesus told them to heal the sick. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. My trained theological degrees and the stripes on my robe and the reverend before my name doesn’t make me any better a healer than you. You don’t have to have a special spiritual gift of healing to heal. All you need are people who welcome you and the name of Jesus.

Jesus gave his team authority to heal. The reason Jesus gave 72 people at first the authority to heal is because 72 people can reach a lot more people than one person can reach. If we have to wait for Pastor Larry or Pastor Jim to pray for healing of those we encounter we’ll never get to reach many people. That would be fine if we had a thousand years to reach every person but folks let’s face it we have today with some of these people because tomorrow with them is never promised.

While you’re healing the sick tell them that the kingdom of God is very close. The healings are a sign that the kingdom of God is not far away. People are craving hope. I believe that’s what the almost cult like worship of President Obama is right now. He brings optimism and hope and that will go a long ways to healing our country from it’s greed.

But Barack Obama is a man, not God. The United States is a nation of humans, not the kingdom of God. All kingdoms fall at some point in history. Barbara Tuchman, the acclaimed historian and Pulitzer Prize winner who died in 1988 wrote an essay that appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. She wrote "Decline of a nation or a society is a provocative historical problem. In Rome, (the fall of the empire was) associated with external pressure coupled with internal weakness. In the ancient Greek cities of Asia Minor (like Ephesus) it can be traced to the silting of harbors through environmental neglect, closing them to access by sea. In the Aztec Empire of Mexico, it was the invasion of ruthless Europeans.

What Jesus provides for us is a kingdom that won’t fall, a hope that is eternal and a future that is bright. Wouldn’t you like to offer that to someone? Wouldn’t you like to experience that for yourself?

When you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior the kingdom of God expanded into your body. You have a new king, a new president in charge of you now. What I want you to do is take the biggest problem you have right now. Maybe it’s health related. Maybe it’s something in your past that’s bothering you. Maybe it’s financial. Maybe it’s something else altogether. Maybe it wasn’t your fault or maybe it was but that doesn’t matter now. Take that biggest problem you have and say “Almighty God, I can’t take this problem anymore. I can’t get rid of it and I can’t solve it. This problem is keeping me from going out and inviting others to you. I am giving you this problem today, at this moment, in this place.

When you do that God will take that problem and turn it around. God will turn your world right side up. In 26 years of ordained ministry I have never once seen that proven wrong. Prayers may not have been answered liked I hope they would but a person’s life was always put right side up when they welcomed Jesus into their life. That’s why Jesus sent the 72 into the cities and villages to turn lives right side up.

But I want to remind you again that Jesus never sent out his workers alone, always two by two. That’s important. Jesus said “where two or more are gathered in my name there I am in your midst.” Many of you in our church live alone, in fact singles make up the largest number in our church. Most of you have friends but some of you eat, shop alone, watch television alone and come to church alone.

I want to urge you, couples included, try to pick up somebody for church when you come. It’ll save gas, save a parking space for all the new people that are coming and it’ll get you used to bringing people to church. Try it, I think you’ll like it.

Go into the world asking a simple, simple question “Would you like to go to church with me this Sunday?” “No my world is falling apart”. “I have too many problems.” “I’m scared and I’m discouraged.” Or more likely you’ll hear “Ahh, not this week, maybe some other time”. If Jesus is in your heart, every time you invite someone to church or Christ the kingdom of God comes very near to that person. When they’re ready to welcome God into their lives you have the power and the authority in Jesus’ name to heal them. Go into the world and bring the kingdom of God as close as you can to as many as you can while you. We have a lot to do, make the most of your time.