Plainly Speaking
 with Karl J. Forehand

 

 

 

Going to Class with Jesus Series

The Boomerang Blessing

by Karl J. Forehand

 

 

    And into whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in

    it;  and abide there until you go away.  "And as you enter the house,

    give  it your greeting.     "And if the house is worthy, let your greeting

    of  peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your greeting of

    peace return to you.  "And whoever does not receive you, nor heed

    your  words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the

    dust of  your feet.  (Matt. 10:11-14)

                                                                                                                           

  The disciples were going out to share the Gospel.  As they were going out, Jesus instructed them stay with people (probably other believers).  Some of these homes would become the first house churches.  Before we begin, let’s define some churches.

 

  Peace is not the absence of turmoil; rather, peace is the presence of God.  Jesus said he would give us His peace.  In the early church, the typical greeting was “peace unto you.”  Jesus disciple’s mission was very simply to take the “presence of God” to the people.  They were to take peace to them. 

 

  Blessing is “trying to impart to someone else what you know or have access to by proclamation and praise.”  It comes from the Greek word, eulogeo, meaning to “speak well of.”   Romans 12:14 tells us to bless those that persecute us.  James 3:9 tells us that we can bless God.  The Bible tells us we are blessed with a blessing and that we inherit a blessing.  The bottom line: verse eight of this chapter says “freely you received, freely give.”  Our chief aim is to try to impart what we have been given.

 

  Jesus told them to find the “worthy” people.  What does that mean.  In context, the worthy people are the ones that are receptive.  They are not necessarily the wealthy or even the most desirable.  They are the people that were willing to host the teams of disciples.  Some call this the man of peace.  In evangelism, we are looking for those that God has prepared to hear our message.

 

  In verse 12, He tells them to “salute” the house where they find the receptive people.  To salute a house is to be civil.  God never asked us to throw civility out the window.  In the previous verse, He encouraged them not to jump from house to house – this would have cast a bad light on their mission.  Realize there are unwritten rules in every society and we have to, as best we can, operate within them.

 

  Their mission was to take a blessing to the people.  If they responded with belligerence, then the disciples were instructed to catch the “boomerang” coming back.  They were to receive back the peace and not the insult.  Shaking the dust off their feet is like when we say “wash your hands” of the situation.  In other words, don’t get preoccupied with the response.  If you offer your peace to them, then let your peace return and get on down the road to the next town.

 

  The problem with this is that we often anticipate their rejection.  Because we fear rejection, we often don’t take peace to them but something else.  If we are bold enough to take true peace, then we are distressed when they reject us.  We take it as an insult.  Verse 15 stresses that God will judge their response.  The true is: they are not rejecting you, but God.

 

1. Be willing to give it away

 

 Most of our encounters with people are not God led.  We go talk to people because we are mad at them.  We walk across the street because we need something from them.  We have to remember that it is primary that we take Jesus to them.  My neighbor showed up at church the other day.  It is amazing that he did; because once he told me, “Come back when you have something good to talk about.”  I had been over to talk about his son misbehaving and to borrow his wheelbarrow, but never just to visit.

 

  When God leads us to a person, we have to try to bless them with God’s peace.  While doing this, we have to remember to be courteous, to be caring and to obey the customs.  Some of us burn bridges before we ever have a chance to impart eternal life to them.  We often try to remove sin from people before we give them Jesus.  If we don’t take Jesus to them, they may never have a chance at eternal life.  One primary way we take Jesus to them is in the way we behave.

 

2. Be willing to receive it back

 

  What do you do when people are not receptive?  Some of us think we need to preach harder.  Some of us become more nasty.  Some of think we just need to raise our voce or say it stronger.  Some have resorted to the phrase, “What are you stupid?” 

 

  But, we must realize that our blessing is a boomerang.  If they catch it, then we rejoice.  If they don’t, then we must let it return to us.  If we did the right thing and they reject it, we have to learn to be quiet before we burn a bridge that may not ever be rebuilt.

 

  Too many of us go into battle mode.  We think, “If I can’t get him saved, I’m just going to be miserable – I’ll play the part of the martyr.”  We think if this ministry won’t go, I’ll criticize the town and blame it on other people.  We often turn it towards the unsaved people.  We often have a Wild West, run-em-out-of-town type of mentality.  We might have been tempted to burn the town down that wasn’t receptive.  We have to learn that we can’t make the town or school or neighborhood more holy by running off the infidels.  We make a town more holy by making disciples.  Ultimately, God makes the disciples.

 

  Jesus instructed the disciples let their blessing come back to them.  They weren’t supposed to keep talking.  They were told to clear themselves from the situation and find God’s peace again.  Then, they would leave the door open for God to conviction.

 

3. Let God do the punishing

 

  If we keep trying to punish people, we inevitably sin.  What do I mean by punishing?  We try to punish people by gossiping about them.  If they reject us, we often want to ruin their reputation.  If we keep judging, we will almost always be judging wrong (because we are not God).  If we keep playing God, guess who God is going to judge?

 

  I’m not suggesting that we be pushovers.  Sometimes assertive people get pushed around more than non-assertive.  How?  When someone pushes your buttons and you respond, you are often not being assertive, but reactive.  They have controlled you and made you do what you normally wouldn’t have.  It is always easier to burn a bridge than to build one.  We can’t sacrifice souls for the kingdom to validate our own self-esteem.  We have to spend as much time trying to determine how to be a blessing as how to “get them.”

 

  Whether we are sharing your faith or our opinion, we must learn that the first order of business is to deliver a blessing of peace to them.  If met with belligerence,  then we have to let our peace return to us.  Then, we can release control to God and go on to the next opportunity.  God will do a much more thorough job if we listen to His instruction and allow Him to work.

 

 

 

                                                Karl J. Forehand, 2002

 

                                                                                                                                        

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