“Travel Light”
Luke 9:1-6
Series: TripAdviser – Incarnational Discipleship
The Rev. Douglas C. Hoglund
The Woodside Church
June 1, 2014
“Are you packed yet?” “Are you packed yet?” Why do people always ask me that
before I go on a trip? One month before I go people start asking, “Are you packed yet?” I
feel like they are trying to get rid of me. Two days from now twenty-five disciples will
leave Woodside to walk in the footsteps of Jesus in the Holy Land. And no, I’m not
packed yet. The travel agent was extremely helpful in providing me a Packing List. It
contains 96 items. I’m not kidding. I counted them. The trouble is the travel agent also
told me I only get to take one suitcase. Eight dozen items packed into one bag. And some
of the stuff started to worry me. Stuff like: motion sickness medicine, pain reliever,
antacid, antibacterial wipes, antihistamine, anti-diarrhea and laxative. Imagine lugging all
that stuff around. Maybe that’s why Erma Bombeck said about travel, “When you look
like your passport picture it’s time to come home.”
When it comes to traveling around the Holy Land, Jesus gives his disciples
completely opposite instructions:
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to
drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the
kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: “Take nothing for the
journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt (Luke 9:1-3).
Talk about “traveling light.” It’d be a breeze to get through security and you don’t have
to fight for space in the overhead compartment.
This story gives us instructions for the fifth discipleship road in our TripAdviser
series. We’ve looked at four different ways to learn about Jesus, grow closer to Jesus, be
more like Jesus: Relational, Experiential, Intellectual, and Personal. Now we come to the
fifth pathway to spiritual growth. It has a fancy theological name: Incarnational. The
word “Incarnation” means “in skin.” When the Father sent His Son to be born a human
baby and to live among us, He literally put on skin. That’s the incarnation. Incarnational
discipleship simply means that God is now sending us just as He sent Jesus. We, the
Church, the Body of Christ, now become the skin Jesus puts on to do His work in the
world. When God sends us, we become the hands and feet, the arms and legs, the voice
and heart of Jesus in the world.
God is a sending God. If you read through the Bible He is always sending people.
He sent Abraham and Sarah to start a nation. He sent Moses to free that nation. He sent
Elijah and the Prophets to warn that nation, Ezra and Nehemiah to rebuild that nation and
Esther to protect that nation. Why? God wanted to send that nation, His Chosen People,
to bless all the other nations on earth (Genesis 12:1-3). And He kept His promise. The
Father sent His Son to be born as a Child of that nation. During his ministry, Jesus first
trained twelve disciples and then seventy-two disciples to go out and be His hands and
feet. This was preparation and practice for a bigger mission. After He ascended to heaven
and sent the Holy Spirit, Jesus sent them to “go and make disciples of all nations”
(Matthew 28:19), to “go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation”
(Mark 16:15), to “be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the
ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Jesus is sending them and us to bless and save people from
all the nations.
What’s the first thing we learn about Incarnational Discipleship? Every Follower
of Jesus is Sent. After Jesus rose from the dead one of the first things he said to the
disciples hiding in the Upper Room was, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me,
I am sending you.” (John 20:21) There are no sitting disciples. You can’t follow someone
by sitting. This isn’t Twitter where you follow people by simply reading their posts. The
Lord did not save us so we would sit in a pew or seat. He saved us to send us. Now please
understand, that does not mean He is sending you to a foreign country. He might. But He
probably will begin by sending you to serve in this area. That’s how he trained the
seventy-two he sent.
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead
of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The
harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (Luke 10:1-2)
The Holy Land is about the size of New Jersey and Galilee, where Jesus’ ministered, is
the size of North Jersey, my homeland. (I told you New Jersey is the Holy Land). In other
words, Jesus sent them locally. At least that’s where He started.
Jesus is sending you to your street to share with your neighbors and friends the
faith, hope and love of Jesus. There are marriages that are struggling. There are families
failing apart. There are teens that are cutting. There are youth and adults who are addicted
to drink and drugs. You have friends who have lost hope and do not know why on earth
they are here. You have friends who have lost their faith and can’t find their way back to
God. You have friends who have lost love and need to know there is a God who put His
life on the line just so they could get a life and a love that lasts forever.
But don’t stop in your neighborhood. God wants to send you to Newtown,
Langhorne, Levittown, Bristol, Trenton, Philadelphia to share the same Good News, to be
His hands and feet and voice, to restore families, teach children, tutor adults, feed hungry
stomachs, build homes, and help people find their way back to God.
When Jesus sends you, He doesn’t stay behind. He actually is out in front of us
preparing the way. He said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the
age” (Matthew 28:20). Last Sunday my grandson Benjamin came over. He’s almost two
and I’m learning why all those Grandparents said to me, “You are so happy when they
come and happy when they go home.” I thought that was crazy. Why would I ever be
happy to see him leave? Now I understand. When that little tyke walks out that door I am
exhausted. He chased me around the yard, the kitchen, the couch almost the entire time. I
need Run for God just so I can Run from Ben. But I noticed something interesting. As we
raced around the couch I tried to lap him so that I was following him. Whenever I did
that, he stopped and took his place following me. Jesus sends each one of us. But the
truth is, we are always following Him. Wherever you go to be His hands and feet, count
on Him already being there preparing the way when you arrive.
The next thing we learn about Incarnational Discipleship is Jesus Gives the
Power to Heal Body and Spirit.
When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to
drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the
kingdom of God and to heal the sick. (Luke 9:1-2)
For some reason, there are churches and denominations today that only focus on healing
the body and others that only care about healing the spirit. Some missionaries are into
social activism, education and healthcare. Other missionaries are into sharing the Good
News and making disciples. Which one was Jesus into? Both. He gave the disciples the
power to heal bodies and save souls, to drive out demons, cure diseases and make
disciples. If we want the power of God to flow through our work we need both.
If you have ever traveled overseas one of the first surprises is the electric outlet.
Depending on the country you may find two round holes, two slanting blades, three
blades. Without the right adapter, and a converter, you’re not getting any power. Yet all
these outlets have in common at least two – two holes or two blades. If you don’t have
something plugged into both holes, you’re not getting any power. If we want Jesus’
power to flow through our work, we need to heal both body and spirit.
As an example, the mission trips we send with the Foundation for Peace in the
Dominican Republic and Haiti, work to save the whole person. We build a church which
is a place of worship to share the Gospel, a school to teach the hearts and minds of
children the truth about God and His world, a medical clinic to bring healing to
communities which do not have access to doctors and medicines, and a water system
which provides clean, inexpensive water to prevent common, crippling diseases. God’s
power flows through those places when bodies and spirits are healed and transformed.
Third, Incarnational Discipleships teaches us to Travel Light.
He told them: “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no
money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that
town. (Luke 9:3-4)
Why did Jesus tell them to take nothing? This taught the disciples to depend on the
people they served, to rely on the kindness of strangers. This is a crucial lesson when you
serve others. It is hard for any human being to be humble. Even when we are serving
others, it’s too easy to unconsciously pat ourselves on the back for doing such a noble
thing. It’s too easy to fall into a state of subtle superiority. It’s too easy to create an
unhealthy dependency. That’s why Jesus told them they needed to start by being guests in
someone else’s house.
Sometimes we are not aware that our helping actually hurts people. Sometimes
we offer a hand out instead of a hand up. Sometimes we decide what’s best for other
people instead of listening to their needs. Sometimes we form superficial judgments.
Sometimes we enable destructive behaviors. Sometimes we do just enough to make us
feel better but not enough to make a difference. Let me show you five stages of missions
1. Do Nothing – You are not interested, you’re too busy or too afraid. There are all kinds
of reasons but in the end it’s the same result – nothing gets done.
2. Give a Check – This is a good first step. Many mission causes need financial support.
The trouble is there’s no personal connection with the people in need. It’s safer to just
send money.
3. One Time Visit – Now you are getting involved. You meet the people you serve. You
give your time and skills as well as your money. You see first-hand the burdens some
bear and you may even help lift those burdens…that one time. Yet there is still a distance
between you and the one you help. And there’s still a lot more to be done.
4. Mission trip – This is a step farther. You give up a week, ten days, maybe even a
month to live with those you serve. You learn their names. Build friendships. Get a small
taste of their hardships. You lose some of your assumptions, your judgments, your
prejudices. You begin to see the situation through their eyes. You start to change.
5. Partnership – When you reach this final stage you begin to break through the
superior/inferior attitudes which still linger. Instead of “us and them” it becomes “we.”
We work together to serve the community. We realize that all of us are beggars, all of us
poor, all of us are needy, all of us need Jesus who is the only one with the power to truly
heal body, mind and spirit.
That is why Jesus trained the disciples to rely on the hospitality of strangers. He wanted
them to realize we all depend on the Lord. He also wanted them to plant a new lighthouse
for the Kingdom of God in the house where they stayed, so that after they left it would
keep shining the light.
Take a minute, look at the list of mission projects in your bulletin. What is God
calling you to do? Where is Jesus sending you? There are no sitting disciples – only sent
disciples who share Good News and good deeds. God wants you to go beyond sending a
check. He wants to send you.
Codi Regan just completed her freshman year at Penn State. She is the daughter
of Dan and Kelli Regan and the sister of Conner Regan from Woodside. The first time
the Regans took their children to the Dominican Republic, Codi hated the idea. She made
it clear that she did not want to go. She fought it tooth and nail. But on that first trip, God
changed her heart. This past week she left to serve for 10 weeks in the Dominican
Republic with the Foundation for Peace. In her blog she wrote,
I don’t know what will happen in these 10 weeks, who I will meet, where I will go…but I
know that I’m taken care of. God never leaves you alone and always has you covered. I
might not have all of the right qualifications but luckily for me, God doesn’t call the
equipped, he equips the called. And my Savior is not even sending me alone; he’ll be
right by me every step of the way. Already he’s shown me that.
In her first two days in the Dominican Republic she visited a home for special needs children
called Casa de Luz (light house) who live their lives exactly as God commanded in Matthew
25:40 saying “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters
of mine, you did for me.” She next saw a school for deaf children, hearing children and
vocational training in San Pedro. Then Codi worked with her teammates to register families for
an upcoming medical clinics on June 5th. “Each family listed ailment after ailment and even after
three hours and 250 people, there were still families that could not be registered because we
reached our limit for the patients that can be seen.”
Codi concluded by writing,
These last few days have been full of people who have given all that they have to Christ
in order to have his will be done. It has also showed me how much I take for granted belongings, people, health, comfort, clean water, clean air, food, education, disability
programs, doctors and a mattress. It’s offered a lot of perspective to me on how much that
I hold onto - money, time, effort, energy and dedication. If I were to give up even a
fraction of that, there is so much more that could be done for the kingdom.
The more we give up, the more we travel light, the more the Light will travel.