Risk and vulnerability (Matthew 10) – Walking with God

Jesus sent out the Twelve on what we call a limited commission. A practice run, really, for the Great Commission. And with it a warning, that his sending would not be all cake and ice cream. The sending puts his followers in vulnerable positions. So they must take every precaution to make sure the message was heard in its simplicity and purity.
via randalmatheny.com

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Do we value acceptance above faithfulness, so that we fail to speak to avoid rejection?

Don't abandon the mission

God is testing his people. Will his church continue his mission in the midst of an economic crunch? Will they insist on publishing abroad the only message that will bring eternal salvation to the billions of Earth's population?

A Catholic news service today touted the headline: "Recession Held as No Excuse for Abandoning Poor." Members of the Catholic hierarchy expressed concern that rich countries might abandon help for the poor when the belt tightens.

Biblically, the concern should be for the church's continued participation in the mission of God. Many are cutting missions first out of their budgets as offerings fall. Missions is the first to go. Churches forget that they exist to carry forward the work of God in the world. While they continue to invest ever more heavily in benevolence and disaster relief -- all the while, often, labeling that as missions -- the true task goes wanting. Proclamation, preaching, teaching the gospel, evangelism, fall out of favor.

Even the most conservative churches who stand on sound doctrine follow this trend. This influence can be traced directly to post-modernism. We feel averse to a straightfoward proclamation of Jesus as Lord and Savior, putting forth his claims, setting out the plan of redemption, calling men to repentance.

The great ship slowly turns from the course set by its captain.

The phrase in 3 John 6, 'You will do well'

In The Johannine Epistles, Ruth B. Edwards states, in parentheses, that the phrase, "you will do well" (3 John 6), is "often associated with a request" (Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996: 23-24).

This request, coming as it does, not from "John" (he does not use his personal name in the letter), but from "the elder," possibly indicating not merely a personal letter but his capacity as spiritual guide, seems to point to the main purpose in writing: to encourage Gaius not to be cowed by Diotrophes' prohibition, but to (continue to) support the preaching of the gospel through hospitality and financial help as they work in his city and travel beyond.

By saying, "you will do well," the apostle gently urges his friend to ignore one who set himself up as an authority and had forbidden what Christ specifically commanded, that the gospel be preached to all. Diotrophes, said John, "loves to be the leader" (v. 9, NLT; Edwards: "is hungry for power"). Gaius should help the preachers in spite of what the Leader had determined.

Unfortunately, Diotrophes' tribe still exists in the church. And John's short letter remains as a call to resist tendencies to subvert the mission by illegitimate power structures in order to continue the work of God in the world.

We will do well to hear John's request.