THE HEART OF JESUS
Luke 9:1-17
Key Verses:2
“and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.”
In the first 8 chapters of Luke, we learned about Jesus’ earthly Messianic ministry. We learned about Jesus who called 12 men to follow him. We learned of Jesus who preached the gospel, performed miracles, healed the sick, cured the lame, drove out demons, and raised people from the dead. During this time, Jesus’ disciples had been watching and learning from him. Now, Jesus wanted them to also go out and preach the gospel and heal the sick. In Luke 9:1-17, we will learn several things about the disciple’s first mission trip. 1st, we’ll learn about Jesus who gives power and authority. 2nd, we’ll learn about Jesus who wants to send us out to proclaim the kingdom of God. 3rd, we’ll learn about God who provides for our journey. 4th, we’ll learn people’s response to the gospel message. 5th, we’ll learn about Jesus who wants to heal and save all people from their sins. And 6th, we’ll learn about Jesus who wants us to give people something to eat.
I. Jesus Sends Out The 12 (1-6).
1st, Power and Authority (1). Verse 1a says, “And he called the twelve together…” Jesus had been seeking and saving the lost and had been preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. Jesus really wanted to preach the gospel and to heal the whole world. But his time on earth was limited. Soon he would be arrested, tried, flogged, and crucified. So he called his 12 disciples together in order to train them. Jesus wanted to train them so that he could send them out to continue his work of spreading the message of salvation.
Verse 1b says, “and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.” Before sending his disciples out, Jesus needed to give them power and authority over two things. 1st - over demons, and 2nd - to cure diseases. Why did Jesus need to give power and authority over demons? To answer this question, we must first know what demons are. Demons are spiritual beings of the devil that are hostile towards God. They know that Jesus is the Son of God and they have certain power over us. Their main work is to stop the expansion of God’s kingdom. They don’t want us to believe in Jesus. They don’t want us to go to heaven, bur rather they want us to go to hell with them. So they trick and deceive us. They make us think that there is no God. They make us think that we don’t need Jesus. Or they distract us from following Jesus with all of our hearts. Demons can come in many forms. They come in the form of money, lust, boyfriends, girlfriends, jobs, wars, recessions, fear of death, school studies, the internet, and even our family and friends. Worst of all, they can enter into people. Demons come in order to draw us away from God. They also come to harden our hearts so that we won’t want to listen to the message of salvation. So Jesus gave his disciples power and authority to drive out demons. When they drive out demons, then people’s hearts can be opened to hear what Jesus wants his disciples to proclaim.
2nd, Proclaim the kingdom of God (2). Jesus also gave his disciples power and authority to cure diseases. The act of curing diseases has a close relationship with what Jesus sent his disciples out to do. Verse 2 says, “He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” Jesus sent his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. By healing the sick, the disciples would be in essence proclaiming God’s kingdom. To understand this, we must know what the kingdom of God is. The kingdom of God is a place where there is no more sin, death, mourning, crying, pain (Rev 21:4), temptation, depression, hunger, and so on. By healing the sick, the disciples would be showing what the kingdom of God is like. All of our pain and sickness is the result of our sins. God did not intend for man to experience such horrible things. But because of our sins, they came. But Jesus Christ came to heal us from all our sins. He came to cure us and to give us new life in him. This is what the kingdom of God is. The kingdom of God is where God reigns. It’s full of God’s glory and God’s love. It’s where Jesus wants us all to be. In fact, the kingdom of God is not just a place we will be after we die, but it’s something that we can experience and have now. Luke 17:21 says, “the kingdom of God is within you." The kingdom of God is within us because Jesus himself is the kingdom of God. Jesus came from heaven. Jesus went back to heaven. Jesus is God. When we accept Jesus, then Jesus lives within us. When we accept Jesus, we can be healed. Instead of having pain, fear, and depression, we can have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Jesus wants us proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He wants all people to have the kingdom of God in their hearts. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” May Jesus help us to proclaim the kingdom of God and to accept God’s kingdom within our heart’s today.
3rd, God Provides for our Journey (3-5). Verses 3-4 say, “And he said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.’” Taking nothing for their journey might seem to be a little bit ridiculous. Perhaps they could live without a staff and bag and could survive with one pair of clothes, but surely they would need food to eat and money to buy things. But Jesus instructed them to take nothing for their journey, except for the clothes on their back. Why is this? It’s because Jesus wanted them to trust that God would give them the things that they will need. God is our Provider. Just as He provides food for birds and clothes for grass, He will also provide the things that we need to carry out his work (Luke 12:22-29). Also God’s provision can be seen as a glimpse of what Jesus has prepared in heaven for us. John 14:2 says, “In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” And Revelation 19:9 says, “And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true words of God.’”
Verse 5 says, “And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." During those days, Pious Jews would shake the dust off of their feet after passing through Gentile territories signifying their separation from godless Gentile practices. In the same way, the disciples were to shake the dust off of their feet to signify their separation from Jews who rejected Jesus as their Messiah. More importantly, the shaking would signify that they were not responsible for how the people responded to the message of salvation.
4th, The Result of Preaching the Kingdom of God (6-9). What was the result of the disciple’s mission trip? Verse 6 says, “And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.” 12 ordinary men were sent out to preach the gospel and to heal. These men weren’t religious teachers. They weren’t pastors. They didn’t go to seminary school. They weren’t even well known. But yet when they preached the gospel, people listened and were healed. This is the power and authority of Jesus. When we have God’s word in our hearts, it’s not us the people see, but rather it’s Jesus they see in us. They see Jesus who came to give us God’s kingdom and to heal us from all our sins. That’s why the people were so open to the disciples. When we have Jesus’ power and authority, then a great work of God happens.
There was another result of the disciple’s mission trip. Verse 7-8 say, “Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.” Cleary the people were noticing that something great and extraordinary was going on. Finally, the news of what the people were saying had reached king Herod and he was confused because, according to verse 9, he had beheaded John. King Herod had John the Baptist put into prison and beheaded because John had exposed his adulteress life with his brother’s wife (Mt 14:1-12) So when Herod heard about the work of Jesus, he was afraid thinking that John the Baptist had come back to life to expose him again, so he sought to see him.
God’s work is never silent. People from all over were being healed and being saved. Even a king heard the news and was perplexed. Jesus wants to save all mankind from their sins and wants to bring everyone into his eternal home. When we preach the gospel we can expect great things to happen. May God help us all to preach the gospel and to heal.
II. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand (10-17).
1st, Good News (10). Verse 10 says, “On their return the apostles told him all that they had done. And he took them and withdrew apart to a town called Bethsaida.” The disciples of Jesus had just returned from their first missionary journey. So Luke now calls them “apostles”. “Apostle” means, “A messenger of God’s word.” The disciples of Jesus had just brought the message of salvation to others. They went through towns preaching the gospel, driving out demons, and curing the sick. What an amazing thing this must have been for them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, and when they returned, they wanted to tell Jesus everything that they had done. A few years ago, my Dad went to India as a short term missionary. When he came back, he immediately wrote a beautiful email describing what had happened. He said that he witnessed people being healed and accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior for the very first time. It’s a beautiful thing to see someone accepting the kingdom of God in their hearts. About 12 years ago, my mom stopped going to church. She didn’t want to have anything to do with God or with Jesus. She hated whenever I tried to preach the gospel to her. But then an amazing thing happened. One day, she suddenly accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She was completely changed. I was in utter shock and amazement and couldn’t but help to tell everyone what had happened. Changed lives is an extraordinary thing to see. I pray that we may all proclaim the gospel and be witnesses of changed lives.
2nd, The Heart of Jesus (11). After the encouraging news from his disciples, Jesus took them to a secluded place in Bethsaida in order to spend some time alone with them and so that they could get some rest. Verse 11a says, “When the crowds learned it, they followed him.” According to Mark 6, the crowds saw Jesus and ran to the place where he was going, beating him there. When Jesus saw the crowds waiting for him, he didn’t turn around and go the other way. Nor did he send them home. Rather, verse 11 says, that he “welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God and cured those who had need of healing.” With today’s technology, we know who’s calling us before we even answer the phone. We can read people’s emails before deciding to respond to them. And when we see people coming, we can come up with an excellent excuse as to why we don’t have anytime to talk to them. 9 times out of 10, when we want to be left alone, we don’t respond to other’s. Jesus was trying to spend some time alone with his disciples. But when he saw the crowd, he didn’t ignore them or run away, but he welcomed them. Our Lord Jesus will never turn anyone away when they come to him.
After welcoming the crowd, Jesus spoke to them of the kingdom of God and healed those who were in need of healing. The kingdom of God was always on Jesus’ heart. It was for this reason he came. Jesus came to die for our sins. He came to heal us and to give us eternal life in the kingdom of God. Luke 4:18-19 say, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." Jesus wants all people to receive him so that they may enter into his glorious kingdom. This is the heart of Jesus.
3rd, You Give Them Something to Eat (12-17). Verse 12 says, “Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve came and said to him, ‘Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.’” We don’t know exactly how long Jesus had been teaching the crowds of people. But according to verse 12, it was getting late. The disciples had a sincere concern for the people’s tiredness and hunger. They knew that the crowds were a long way for home, so they suggested to Jesus to send them away into the surrounding villages and countryside. Clearly, the disciples had completely forgotten all of Jesus’ previous miracles, such as his power to calm storms, to heal the sick, and to raise the dead. They also forgot what they had just done themselves. As I wrote this message on the first floor of the Bible House, there was a huge storm going on outside. I really wanted to leave before the lighting got too close. I was afraid that I might get hit by it and die. But the ironic thing was, I just started writing this part of the sermon. Clearly, I also forgot everything that I just wrote. In fact, just 2 weeks ago, Pastor Rhoel gave a message on Jesus who calmed a storm. It is so easy for us to forget what Jesus has done. It seems that we are so easily distracted by things. But Jesus wants us to remember. He wants us to remember about the kingdom of God. So he said to his disciples in verse 13, “You give them something to eat.” The disciples were shocked and said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish - unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” Verse 14 says, “For there were about 5000 men.” This number didn’t include women and children. It was estimated that there were perhaps more than 20,000 people there.
Why did Jesus want his disciples to feed such a large crowd of people? It all goes back to verses 1 & 2. They say, “And he called the 12 together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.” Jesus wants his disciples to feed the crowd of people with the good news of the kingdom of God. He wants them to drive out demons, to heal the sick, and to proclaim the kingdom of God. This is the heart of Jesus. The disciples weren’t sure how they could feed such a large crowd. So Jesus told them to have the crowd sit down in groups of about 50 each. Jesus wanted to remind his disciples that God provides the things that we need. Verses 16-17 say, “And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And they all ate and were satisfied. And what was left over was picked up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.” Jesus fed more than 20,000 people with only 5 loaves and 2 fish. In fact, there were 12 baskets left over, perhaps one for each disciple. Verse 16 says, “He looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them.” Jesus looked up to God and prayed. Everything we need to proclaim the kingdom of God is given to us by God. God has given us everything. And the one thing we all need most is also given to us, Jesus Christ. God gave his one and only Son Jesus Christ who came to die for our sins and who came to give us eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.
In Luke 9:1-17, we learned several things: 1st, Jesus gives power and authority to drive out demons and to heal the sick. 2nd, Jesus wants to send us out to proclaim the kingdom of God. 3rd, God provides for our journey. 4th, People respond to the gospel message. 5th, Jesus wants to heal and save all people from their sins. And 6th, Jesus wants us to give people something to eat. All these point to Jesus heart’s desire for all people to enter into his glorious kingdom. This kingdom is not only a place we will be when we die, but it’s a place we can experience now. The kingdom of God satisfies all of our wants, needs, thirsts, and desires. It heals us from our pains, depression, fears, loneliness, and sorrows. After feeding the 20,000 people, what did Luke say? He said, in verse 17, “And they all ate and were satisfied.” Jesus satisfies all of our needs. I pray that God may help you to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. I also pray for those who haven’t accepted Jesus Christ into your hearts. Please, come to him and accept him today as your Lord and Savior.