"So Send I You"

"'Peace be unto you.'  And when he had so said, he showed...them His hands and His side....'As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. (From John 20:19-21, KJV)

Notice that it was only after Jesus showed the disciples, "His hands and His side," that He said, "so send I you."  The message I'm sure was clear to them; this awaits you.  Jesus was not introducing something new here.  He had told them very clearly before, "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble....The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service."   

There is an old hymn of the Church entitled, "'Come and Dine,'the Master Calleth."  Brother Andrew once said that according to the call of Jesus, maybe it should be, "Come and Die."  What is it about us that cannot or will not face the reality of the call of Jesus, and, I might add, the experience of the majority of the Church throughout the ages?  Perhaps it is that insatiable desire for what the hymn writer called, "flowery beds of ease." 

The Bible says, "People who are at ease mock those in trouble.  They give a push to people who are stumbling."  The CEV says, "It's easy to condemn those who are suffering, when you have no troubles."  The NASB translates this, "He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, as prepared for those whose feet slip."  Too much of the so-called modern "faith movement" has passed this on to their generation.  They infer that if there is too much suffering in your life, something must be wrong, you're missing God, or there is sin, disobedience, something down deep perhaps which you should confess, and, if you just confess and repent, the world will love you, God will smile upon you, you will be rich, healthy, have a great ministry, no troubles.  The only problem with such a mentality is that irritating thing called, The Bible, the life of all the Apostles, who died violent deaths, and again, Church History--------------------- right up to this moment.  I have met people in Eastern Europe who were personal friends of those killed for the Name of Jesus. 

My dear Fellow Believer in Jesus, this is the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, a Kingdom in a fight to the death, yes, "not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places"-------- yet nevertheless in a fight.  One of our Lord Jesus Christ's last words to His Followers was, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  In this great promise is the reality of life and the reality of victory, "In the world you will have tribulation," but, "in Me," and in, "these things I have spoken to you--------------------------------- you...have peace."   

Father, in Jesus' Name,                      
          "Must I be carried to the skies
          On flowery beds of ease,
          While others fought to win the prize,
          And sailed through bloody seas?
         
          Sure I must fight if I would reign;
          Increase my courage, Lord.
          I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
          Supported by Thy Word."  Amen.
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Eighteen year old Norwegian, Peter Torjesen, "when he heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2