The Authority to Act (Nurture Notes 010)

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We can’t really escape the notion of ‘being sent’ and mission as we begin to open up God’s word in both Luke 9 and 10, which is where we’ll be today after spending two weeks in Luke 8.

Whether we look at the sending of the 12 in Luke 9:1-9 or the sending of the 72 in Luke 10:1-23, it’s so clear that mission is on the agenda.

And with that, I share the following four words with you trusting that they’ll be met with grace.

You have a responsibility.

These four words land with me when reading these passages in Luke and to be honest, I find it a little daunting to live it out, let alone to share.

A word like responsibility isn’t exactly the most exciting or captivating to use in a Nurture Note. But in all honesty, saying what’s real as opposed to saying what “works” always wins and so I’m trusting this will all land with the right people.

Because you truly do have a responsibility. YOU - not someone else, not the person with more followers, not the one who sits next to you in church and is in your estimation, more gifted than you or whatever else you might be thinking…

Please understand how important you are.

“Aren’t we meant to die to ourselves daily?” you might ask. This seems like a bit of an egotistical thing to say, right?

Especially as we’re in Luke 9 and verse 23 tells us exactly that.

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

And here’s why I believe that has everything to do with the importance of who you are in this world right now and the responsibility you carry for such a time as this.

When you commit to a new Bible reading plan or prayer rhythm and by day three you’ve slept through your alarm, maybe dying to yourself is simply getting over the lack of sleep and opening your Bible bleary-eyed because you know it’s good for your soul.

But if you’re being called to create, do, or share something with the world - specifically the people your God-given mission is for - then dying to yourself looks different.

• It means dying to the discomfort of working on and even sharing what you’ve been called to, even at the risk of sounding silly or being ignored.

• It means dying to your desire to fit in, instead of doing something which perhaps no one in your circles has ever done before.

• It means dying to people-pleasing and pressure which our flesh finds easier to appease than to ignore.

These aspects of dying to ourselves are harder to overcome, and because they’re harder, they’re done less often. Which means the people on the other side of you being fully who you’ve been called to be aren’t seeing you.

This isn’t a message meant to make you feel guilty. It’s the reminder I need when I ask myself what I’m doing spending so much of my time writing and sharing messages like these by way of my ‘work’.

I have to decide to die to the part of me that would rather avoid the possibility of rejection or ridicule.

But when you show up for the call on your life without looking “to the right or to the left” at what others are doing, something amazing happens - you’re filled with courage and peace that wasn’t there before. That is the assurance of the Holy Spirit. It means you’re in your lane, doing what you’re meant to be doing.

The sad thing is how few people get there. The lure of “ordinary” and “comfortable” can be more appealing than risk and uncertainty. But what do you do with a call you can’t shake? Ignore it? Wait for it to pass?

What if it’s not meant to?
What if the responsibility knocking on your heart is here to stay?

This is where Luke 10 comes in. In verses 23–24, after the return of the seventy-two disciples, Jesus says:

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.”

The disciples return rejoicing that they have cast out demons in His name. Jesus replies:

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven… Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” (vv. 18–19)

That same power and authority is given to us today.

Sometimes fear, anxiety, worry, and doubt hold us back from doing what God has called us to do. But we have the authority to step into it as His sons and daughters.

For me, there is a deep rooted call to teach God’s Word and it’s been there for over a decade now (some of you have even been here for that song and seen it - thank you so much!) I’ve done a number of different things across those 10 years +, and yet this reminder never leaves me, which is why I keep showing up.

And that’s the key here isn’t it? The showing up for the call bit, as opposed to the good intentions. Again, I say this with grace but if God’s in it, intention needs to turn to action.

We see this further into Luke 10 with the well-known story of the good samaritan. Many of us know how this ends, don’t we? With Jesus asking who the man’s neighbour actually was and the expert in the law’s response is, of course, ‘the one who had mercy on him’ - the one who actually took action as opposed to walking past with supposedly more pressing issues.

How does that land with you, I wonder?

I’ve written extensively about Mary and Martha before and this is already getting long and so I won’t labour the point here. But I will say that if a message like this lands you in worry or uncertainty about how you’re meant to go about doing what you’ve been called to in the midst of the myriad of other responsibilities you have, start where Mary started - at the feet of Jesus. Yes, eventually he’ll call us to get up and go, but he tells us that Mary chose ‘what is best’ (see Luke 10:42).

And so start at his feet for direction, clarity, wisdom and guidance, and then get up and take your next faithful step.

You have a responsibility.

Keep going, keep growing.

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