Freely

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

FREELY

Matt 10:5-10

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10 take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

NIV

The instructions Jesus gives his disciples is rather lengthy, so we will need to take them in segments in order to garner all the truth. First we would assume this is just for these men and this time as he tells them to only go to the lost sheep of Israel. Then it would seem we are simply looking at a historical record of the acts of his disciples rather than seeing anything we could integrate into our lives. It does appear we do use the idea of a worker being worth his keep in paying those who serve the people of God as pastors as well as the support staff employed by the church. Then again we surely want our keep for the work we do for whoever employs us. We also know that eventually more than just the lost sheep of Israel get the message of the kingdom of heaven is near. It also seems we pay little attention to going with nothing in our purse. That is our missionaries must go about raising enough funds to support their work. They certainly take along gold, silver or copper in their belts and a bag with even an extra tunic, plus sandals and a staff. Their denomination tells them they cannot go unless they are fully equipped and funded. So it seems we pay little attention to any of the instructions Jesus has given so far to his disciples, except pay our pastors. But are they attending to the lost sheep of Israel? So what, if anything, can we use to incorporate into our thinking or lives? Perhaps this plum of a statement which seems to be inserted between these instructions. “Freely you have received, freely give”. What did he mean? What did they freely receive? Perhaps the Lord was telling them they received this power to heal people at no cost and therefor they should not make any material gain by this power. We know that men made gain using demonic powers in people as seers. But the disciples should not charge for the casting out of demons, healing the sick or raising the dead. But we could take this advice in regards to our being an ambassador of Christ. We have freely received salvation, the grace of God. There was no cost to us to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, so then we should freely share the grace of God with others. That is we should not think to gain anything by sharing his grace with others. But we should also look at this in the sense that as we freely received, we need to freely give. That is to say we cannot simply keep it for ourselves, with the attitude of us four and no more. If all we do is live by our lists of do’s and don’ts, mostly paying attention to the don’ts, going to church on Sunday morning and separating ourselves from the sinful world, we are not freely giving. Surely we support a few missionaries and maybe think we are giving, sharing the grace of God with some people in a foreign land, who we do not know. But what about in our lives with the people right here in our land, in our community, in our work place? Do they need to hear about the grace of God? Are we freely giving to them that which we freely received? We spent a great deal of time learning how to live a good Christian life, so to speak, we study his word, we attend bible studies, Sunday school, small groups, all to supposedly help us grow in our spiritual journey, but that is all about us. It seems a bit self-serving. Should we not be freely giving that which we freely received? It goes right to the point of the fruit of the Spirit. It is not for the tree. The fruit does nothing for the tree. The tree bears fruit to be picked and eaten. We bear the fruit of the Spirit so that people may come along and pick it from us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and yes, even self-control. These are attitudes and behaviors people can enjoy from us. We can freely give those to them along with the grace of God. When we encounter someone in the world, in a store or business we frequent, do we freely give? Do they notice the fruit hanging from our tree and does it look appetizing enough to want some of it? We could go on and on with this idea, but it still comes back to us freely giving that which we freely received.