Apr 18 - Luke 10:16

Jesus said,

“Whoever listens to you listens to me,

and whoever rejects you rejects me,

and whoever rejects me

rejects the one who sent me.”

Luke 10:16

Did you ever have training wheels on your bike? Well, Jesus put training wheels on his disciples.

Before his death and resurrection – and while he was still here to coach them – Jesus sent out the twelve disciples (and then he sent out seventy more). It was a practice run. They were learning to witness on their own without Jesus right there beside them. They essentially had training wheels.  

The details about what they did and how they did it are not the most important parts of these stories. The most important part is the consequence of these evangelical missions. If people listen to a faithful missionary – whether in the first century or the twenty-first century – they are listening to Jesus himself. If they reject the missionary, they are ultimately rejecting Jesus. (That’s what this verse specifically says.)

Now … we tend to think of missionaries as those bold people who travel around halfway around the world, live in little villages, and work to overcome a language barrier to proclaim the Good News. Some missionaries do that … heroically.

But here’s a more important truth: You are a missionary too. With your neighbors, to your coworkers, in the bleachers, and at the store, we are called to gently proclaim life in a world of death. Our society is increasingly rejecting church, truth, faith, and messages of life. That means, as Jesus says, they’re rejecting him and they’re rejecting life itself.

That ought to bring tears to our eyes.

And/or a desire to climb on the missionary bicycle. You may not feel fully equipped to balance on the two wheels of evangelism. But that’s no excuse. The world is perishing. Ride with training wheels. Or ride with confidence that falls and scrapes are temporary. Ride boldly. Proclaim his name with love.

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who wants to start

with a bicycle built for two

(and by the way, read Luke 10…

Jesus sent them out two-by-two)