Nothing Else

 "Take nothing for the journey-no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic." Luke 9:3...."They (the Disciples) are loaded with power but light as a feather. They can go in His strength and not in their own." Chris Tiegreen

When Jesus sent His disciples out, He sent them carrying nothing but His power. They took nothing but the clothes on their back and the power He gave them. This is also what He gives us. Jesus believes we possess more than enough for the mission. Do we?

Oswald Chambers was one of the greatest Christian figures of the 20th century, or any century. He founded a school for the training of missionaries. Something he stressed throughout his teaching and writings was that the one who was sent wasn't to concern themselves with the "how's" that were before them. "How were they to live? How would they be provided for? How would all of their needs be met?" These are all legitimate questions...for those with the viewpoint of the world. Not for those who looked at everything through the lens of the Kingdom. Chambers did. The missionaries his school sent out did. Do we?

A few years back our District leader was sharing a conversation he'd had with a young man who felt called to come to Northern Virginia and start a ministry. However, if he were to come, he would need a guaranteed salary of $60,000 per year, plus benefits. This expectation is widespread. I talked at length with a young man who really felt a call to ministry, but he would not answer that call unless his family could be guaranteed the kind of financial security that matched what he was getting in his secular job. These are not isolated cases. I think they are becoming more and more the norm. The church and the Kingdom are suffering greatly because of it.

If you're in ministry as you read this, and you were offered a ministry where the only guarantee you had is His presence, His power, and His provision, would you go? Would you go even if you had no visible proof at that moment, other than the promise of His presence? These promises are all He has ever guaranteed us. For generations, they have been enough. I wonder if they remain enough. Are they enough for you and for me?

Tiegreen wrote that we can only accomplish our mission of living and communicating the Kingdom of God when we're unencumbered by false props. We are skilled at accumulating false props. I know I have been so. When I left my home in the Pittsburgh area for Bible College in Colorado, everything I owned fit into my 1978 Mustang II ( a true lemon if ever there was one). I was unencumbered. Upon my retirement, I needed the largest truck offered by U-Haul, along with the vehicles of others to move all my "stuff" from Northern Virginia to here in Lynchburg. I'd accumulated a lot of false props. If I had had all of them back then, would I have gone? I hope so. I believe so, but it would have been much harder. We're not free when we're encumbered. I knew I had nothing, but I also knew I had Him. I believed He would provide, and I believed He would be present. I would learn how much of His power also went with me. Lacking all those props opened me up to discovering His all sufficiency. I continue to discover it to this day. Yes, I've accumulated a lot over the last 40 plus years, but it is all just "stuff." I'm trusting that if He demanded that I leave everything by the side of the road and follow Him that I would. Still. Always.

We all have legitimate concerns, but the bottom line is will we surrender them all to Him, and trust Him with them? Do we have the faith and trust that in Him, in His power, we really can do all things, and that He will take care of us through everything? I believe we are going to be tested on this in these days. He will lead us into places where we have no visible support but Him....and that must be enough. Is it enough for you....and for me? Or are we looking for Him to provide some visible guarantees? All He gives is His Word and Himself. Nothing else. Is that enough?

Blessings,

Pastor O