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NO VISIBLE RESERVES But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves: for the workman is worthy of his meat (Matt. 10:6-10).
The theocentric focus of this passage was God as the paymaster. He sustains His workers. The worthy workman will receive his meat.
Bringing Israel Under Judgment The context of this passage is the condemnation of Israel. The means of this condemnation was evangelism. "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give" (Matt. 10:5-8). It sounds as though Jesus was offering positive sanctions only through His disciples. But the negative sanctions were also present.
"And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues" (Matt. 10:14-17). Jesus knew that the disciples would not be received with open arms. He also knew that God's judgment against Israel would come (Matt. 24; Luke 21).(1)
This was not an ordinary strategy of evangelism. The fact that Jesus forbade them from going to gentile cities, or even Samaritan cities, is indicative of the special nature of this assignment. He was sending them to the covenant people in order to gain a few converts and condemn the nation.
This was, in effect, preliminary to another exodus. Just as Moses had confronted Pharaoh inside the boundaries of Egypt, so would they confront opponents. Like Pharaoh, these opponents would bring negative sanctions against them. Like Moses, they would receive supernatural aid that would enable them to deal with their opponents. "But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you" (Matt. 10:19-20). The first phase of the exodus took place immediately after the stoning of Steven. "And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles" (Acts 8:1). The second phase took place sometime prior to the Roman army's final surrounding of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.(2)
Jesus was commanding them to bring a covenant lawsuit against Israel. By announcing the advent of a new kingdom, they were announcing the end of the Old Covenant order. This was done in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wanted them to learn that the Spirit was with them. He sent them among wolves in order to break their fear of the established order.
Money and Uncertainty "The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit" (Prov. 18:11). The rich man trusts in his money. He expects it to shield him from catastrophes, just as a wall shielded an ancient city. The disciples were ordered not to carry money with them. Then what would serve as their high wall? God.
Money is the most marketable commodity. Put differently, it is the most liquid asset. This means that it can be sold (exchanged for assets) rapidly and without transaction costs. Men hold money because they cannot accurately foresee the future. They do not know what opportunities will arise. They want to be able to take advantage of these opportunities. They do not know what kind of calamities will arise. They want to be able to buy their way out of these calamities. Money is their means of taking action. Because of money's liquidity, its holders have a wide range of options available to them. They reduce their purchase of information by substituting money.
Jesus sent them into an uncertain environment without money. He told them in general what would happen to them. Some people would welcome them. Others would persecute them. Through all of their experiences, the Holy Spirit would guide them and protect them. The Spirit was above circumstances. They could rely on Him to be their high wall.
Money is a tool. Men own this tool. They grow confident in the use of this tool. They grow confident in themselves as tool masters. Jesus was telling the disciples that their own efforts would not be the source of their success or protection. They could not manipulate the Holy Spirit in the way that they could manipulate money. They would be in the Spirit's hands; He would not be in their hands. He would put the proper words in their mouths. He would not echo their words.
The dominion hierarchy is God> man> nature (Gen. 1:26-28). Jesus was warning them against having faith in autonomous man's hierarchy: man> money> other men. The task He was giving them was beyond anything that money would buy.
He was giving them a preliminary assignment, just as God gave Moses. This assignment was designed to increase trust in God's sovereignty over history. They faced considerable uncertainty. The future is never uncertain to God. Jesus was teaching them that the most effective way to deal with uncertainty is by trusting in God. To trust in the most marketable commodity is legitimate, though exclusive trust is idolatry. Proverbs refers to it as conceit. The same Hebrew word is used for an idol.(3)
Spiritual Reserves If they were not to trust in the most marketable commodity, then what about a fall-back position? What about spare clothing? Jesus forbade that, too. Nothing that they could carry in their purses or on their backs would suffice. Only the Spirit of God would suffice.
They would have reserves: God's Spirit. This is always sufficient. Yet in His grace, God does not ask us to avoid other reserves. This assignment was unique. It was a training mission. Just before His crucifixion, He reminded them: "When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one" (Luke 22:35b-36). What had been appropriate for a training mission would not be appropriate in the future. This did not mean that they would no longer have to rely on the Spirit. The Spirit would come in full force only after Christ's ascension (John 14:26; 16:7; Acts 1:8). From that point on, the disciples would be fully equipped: Spirit, purse, and sword.
The training mission was a means of strengthening their faith. This meant that they had to learn to trust in invisible reserves. Men find it very difficult to do this. They must be trained to do this. Moses was not ready for his assignment at the time that he first met God at the burning bush. Men trust in what they can see and what they have learned through successful experiences. Jesus removed their visible reserves in order that they might gain successful experiences. He reminded them of their success just before His crucifixion. They still did not believe Him. They still had not learned. It took the crowing of the cock for Peter to learn. In the passage immediately preceding His reminder of their successes without a purse, Jesus prophesied Peter's public denial of Him. It was that event, rather than the triumph of the empty purse, that finally persuaded him. It was his prophesied failure, not his previous success, that enabled him to put his trust where it belonged. Yet both events were essentially of the same character. Both stripped Peter of autonomous reserves. The first left him without money; the second left him without honor.
Predictable Payment Jesus sent them among wolves. He sent them out in what appeared to be a defenseless condition. It was important for them to learn not to trust in their own strength. Their own strength was too puny. Their own reserves were too minimal. They had to trust in God's reserves. They could do this because of God's adherence to His own principle of payment: "The workman is worthy of his meat." The parallel passage in Luke puts it this way: ". . . the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house" (Luke 10:7b). God does not expect His people to work for free.
At the same time, He expects His workers to serve others. "Freely ye have received, freely give." Just as He supplies His workers with whatever they need to do their work, so are they to serve those who have not yet entered the kingdom. Jesus said that they would be sustained miraculously. Similarly, they would perform miracles. For this, they would earn the hostility of the wolves.
God's principle of payment means that even though His servants do not now possess visible reserves, they can expect them. "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread" (Ps. 37:25). The servant of God receives; he is therefore to lend freely. "He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed" (Ps. 37:26). The servant can become a visible blessing to others because he knows, in the familiar phrase, "there's more where that came from." Furthermore, this stream of predictable income extends to his children.
Uncertainty is reduced by a stream of income. The greater the predictability of this income, the less the uncertainty. The economist calls a stream of income rental income. An asset generates income. Men who seek asset-generated income are called rent-seekers. They seek to gain reduced uncertainty by buying a stream of income.
In contrast is the entrepreneur. He thrives on uncertainty. He knows that it is through the conversion of uncertainty to certainty that he can gain profit. When he converts an uncertain future into a more predictable future, he gains a stream of income. He can then sell this stream of income for money. He capitalizes it. Rent-seekers will pay to buy it. He profits because he perceived a stream of future income where his competitors did not. They did not offer what the stream of income was worth. The entrepreneur places his capital at risk by buying the otherwise unpredicted income stream and converting it into a predictable stream. For this service he gains a one-time entrepreneurial profit -- an above-average return on his invested capital.(4)
God's people are supposed to become bearers of uncertainty. They are to gain kingdom profits, the parable of the talents tells us (Matt. 25:14-23).(5) But uncertainty has its downside. Sometimes men forecast incorrectly. They lose their capital. What they thought would be a stream of income turns out to be a sink-hole for their capital.
The parable used the language of commerce to explain kingdom expansion. What Jesus told the disciples before sending them on their mission was that God would supply them with whatever they required. What appeared to them initially as a highly uncertain project without visible means of support would be well-supplied. If they did their work faithfully, they would receive what they needed to continue.
Their faith, coupled with a supernaturally guaranteed supply of income, would enable them to do effective kingdom work. What appeared to be uncertain was in fact certain. They needed faith to begin. They needed visible confirmation to continue.
Uncertainty is the major barrier to entry. It is what keeps out competitors who would bid up the price of the resources and tools needed to produce the stream of income. This is what enables people with very little capital to become rich. They see an opportunity -- or sense it -- where others do not perceive it. They enter the market with whatever reserves they possess and commit it to developing the stream of income. Like gold prospectors with a newly discovered tattered map or inventors with a dream, they rush in where competitors fear to tread.
Jesus told them that God's payment was predictable. They could trust God. They could therefore safely rush in where others feared to tread. And so they did. This tiny band of men without visible capital began a ministry that has transformed the world.
Conclusion This was a special assignment. It became a standard that should remind men of what God can do, just as the miracles in Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea were to remind Israel of what God can do. Such miracles were not supposed to become familiar events. The manna ceased when Israel crossed the Jordan by another miracle of divided waters (Josh. 5:12). After that, they were to plant and build. Similarly, Jesus told the disciples immediately prior to His crucifixion to get a purse and a sword. They were not to forget what God had done for them. He specifically reminded them of what God had done for them. But He told them to use conventional reserves -- capital -- to pursue their callings.
They were to establish priorities in their valuation of capital: God first, then money and a weapon. They were to trust the Spirit first; then they were to trust in visible reserves. No asset is to be spared in the extension of God's kingdom. It is not that we are to work without assets. It is that we are to subordinate our visible reserves to God's invisible reserves.
Perhaps the greatest example of invisible reserves is found in Elisha's lesson to his servant. "And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (II Kings 6:15-17). Seeing is believing. But not every servant of God is enabled to see in this way. He must accept on faith the testimony of the Bible that his covenantal predecessors have seen such things. What they saw strengthened them. What we read should strengthen us.
Footnotes:
1. David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Ft. Worth, Texas: Dominion Press, 1987); Chilton, The Great Tribulation (Tyler, Texas: Dominion Press, 1987).
2. According to church tradition, the Jerusalem church fled to the gentile city of Pella.
3. "Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God" (Lev. 26:1).
4. The profit occurs once, for after the rise in the capitalized price of the asset, the owner reaps only an average rate of return. If it is worth an ounce of gold when he buys it and ten ounces after his efforts, he can sell it for ten ounces. The buyer will earn an average rate of return on his investment of ten ounces. But what is true of the buyer is also true of the entrepreneur if he decides not to sell the asset. The income stream he receives is an average rate of return on the new value of the asset.
5. Chapter 45, below.
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