For me, this is one of the most encouraging stories in Scripture.

They are given authority and limited power with very little preparation. They did not earn this. They barely understood what he was talking about. They were in no way ready for it and yet he sent them out. Maybe it was not a matter of trusting them (because they proved untrustworthy or incapable) but of trusting God with them. He sent them in spite of the flaws and did not wait for them to be ready. They were sent to preach something they did not understand. How often I feel that way – especially this morning.

A friend once told me he never taught on subjects he did not understand or had not worked into his own life. I would be silent most mornings if I waited to do that.

They were not visiting faith healers with promises of wealth and power. They had nothing and all they had was given to them. This was, in a sense, preparation for the rest of their lives. “Silver and gold have I none…” in Acts.

What would such a crusade cost today with all the preparations necessary to make a big imprint and impact? How much logistical coordination? How many months or years of planning and publicity? They had none of this. They were poor people preaching to poor people about a kingdom that was coming for them. It was not a mission trip to “the least of these.” In many ways, the gospel industry has become rich but lost its power and authority. It has gained the world and lost its soul.

It was not a crusade but moving into the neighborhood.

Blood and Fire in Atlanta.

A high school classmate of mine, David VanCronkhite, has a similar story of being sent out with nothing – which was a huge change in his life. This is from Charisma magazine a few years back.

“Arguably, the best thing that happened to VanCronkhite–where ministry is concerned–was when he walked away from a business career that afforded him a BMW, Porsche, Mercedes convertible, and regular cruises and exotic vacations. He was an affluent, born-again businessman. His wife, Janice, was a professional tennis player and instructor whose students included actors Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman.

Having made an extremely successful career for himself as president and CEO of a computer systems company, VanCronkhite was offered a job in 1993 that would have given him a huge boost in his already healthy six-figure salary. He and Janice were wealthy and generous, but God had a higher calling for them.

VanCronkhite says God gave him a choice: be blessed by accepting the job offer or go for greater blessing by leaving corporate life entirely and working full time with the poor. He chose the latter, walking away from business success many others only dream of.

VanCronkhite had become a Christian in 1971 during a Christian seminar in Dallas. His work with the poor initially began when Johnny Crist, pastor of Atlanta Vineyard Fellowship, took VanCronkhite and two others to Atlanta’s inner city to give away 16 bags of groceries to those in need.

Today, it’s as if God has multiplied that early effort the way He did the loaves and fishes of John 6. The “multiplication” has come in a variety of ways–property, domestic and international ministry extensions, favor with vital local businesses, and relationships with local pastors and congregations.

To start, in 1994 Blood-N-Fire purchased an entire city block–a 3.7-acre site close to the state capitol that included the present warehouse and another building now used as a ministry center. Crist was VanCronkhite’s pastor at the time. He says he was wanting to involve his congregation in ministry to the poor and was seeking a leader to do that with him. VanCronkhite stepped forward and was a natural for it, he says.

Week after week, the men gave donated groceries from the back of Crist’s van. Before long they were serving hot meals and holding Bible studies in areas around downtown. Since those days, ministry extensions have sprouted in 16 U.S. cities and in France, England, South Africa and Costa Rica.

Crist says it’s easy for churches to get caught up in programs and seminars instead of reaching out to people.

“There isn’t going to be any ministry in the church unless there’s going to be ministry to the poor,” he says. “Unless the church touches the heart of the poor, I think we’re just playing a nice religious game.”

While Blood-N-Fire was maturing as a ministry, VanCronkhite was learning that the homeless have profound needs beyond food, clothing and shelter.

“It’s not the food; it’s not the clothes; it’s not the job; it’s the relationship. For whatever reason, someone who is homeless has lost all relationship,” he says. “There’s nobody to call.”

‘Intense Relationship’

Following God’s leading to pursue relationships instead of a church-growth program has cost the church some members, VanCronkhite says. The ministry took two radical turns–the Sunday service was halted, and the poor were invited to live inside the church building.

VanCronkhite’s budget shrank as suburbanites, who didn’t buy in to the new vision, left the church. Monthly tithe income plummeted from $40,000 or more to about $3,000, he says.

Deciding to voluntarily end the Sunday service is hardly a typical move for a pastor, but VanCronkhite is hardly the typical pastor.

He made the decision, he says, after God showed him a vision of a beautiful painting at an art gallery, one that many people paid money to admire. He believes God said this painting was the “cash cow” of the gallery, just like a Sunday service is for a church.

But in the vision, VanCronkhite saw that a far more beautiful painting was underneath. To get to it required stripping off the first painting. God told him the first painting was the Sunday service, but the layer underneath was something far more valuable–building “intense relationships.”

The Sunday morning service has been reinstated, but the church isn’t centered around it. “It’s not about Sunday morning–it’s about what we are doing during the week,” VanCronkhite says.

The idea of “ministry” too often doesn’t leave room for relationship, he adds. “‘I’ve got people to save’; ‘I’ve got prophecies to give’; ‘I’ve got prayers for people to pray’; ‘I just don’t really have time’–our gifts steal us away from the one thing people come back for–relationship,” he points out.

Though tithes and offerings are rebounding, God is restoring Blood-N-Fire’s finances through significant favor with local businesses. Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy and real estate investor Archie Crenshaw are among members of the board, which is chaired by Crenshaw’s daughter, Cissy Watson, a highly successful real estate developer. Watson and other Blood-N-Fire board members are hands-on, VanCronkhite says, often helping out on-site.”

2.  The Kingdom of God:

They were assigned to preach “the kingdom of God”. What is that? So far, in Luke it is mentioned a few times and always with the same three themes: preaching, the poor and healing. Luke 4:18 – preach good news to the poor; Luke 6:20 – blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God; Luke 7:22 – tell him that good news is preached to the poor. The earliest message of the kingdom of God was probably what we call the Beatitudes. The announcement of the kingdom was by the poor to the poor.

The expectation was the Messiah would establish a kingdom like David’s. It would be a kingdom of political, economic and military power. It would be like the rest of the earthly kingdoms but it would be greater. It would be a good Kingdom but it would be a powerful kingdom ruled by powerful men – just like those who surrounded David.

The three mighty men and the thirty champions of 1 Chronicles. David was a hero and he surrounded himself with other heroes. David defeated enemies – even those who had been friends. David killed giants.

It was unsettling to hear Jesus talk about a different kind of kingdom where enemies were forgiven and loved, men served each other and the greatest were the least. That was good campaign talk but that’s not how kingdoms work.

In the kingdom Jesus described he surrounded himself with flawed men who were anything but heroes. They were not winners or champions or particularly brave. Just the opposite oftentimes. They were fearful, risk averse, slow to understand, fickle and self-seeking. They were more like bureaucrats than mighty men. They were more like the top management of Ford described in Bryce Hoffman’s recent book on the turnaround of Ford Motor Company. Yet, that is who Jesus chose and those very same men became the martyrs of the Church.

Jesus was not a leader of great men. He was a savior of sinful men. In a kingdom the world understands, the closer you move to the king the higher your rank and more people serve you. In the kingdom of God, the closer you move to the king the lower your rank…and the more people you serve.

The Kingdom is not about success but about sacrifice. When we think about capturing a city for Christ we typically think about everyone being honest, law-abiding, hard-working and ethical. Crime would go down and schools would improve. Children would have two loving parents and everyone would be in church on Sunday. That is capturing a city for John the Baptist – and the Kingdom of repentance. Those are very practical benefits. It’s a good thing but it’s not the kingdom Christ preached. What Christ preached is not man’s better nature coming out but a supernatural life that is impossible without the Holy Spirit. John preached a moral life. Christ preached an impossible life.

3.  The continuing temptation of Christ. “Who do men say that I am?”

The disciples wanted to be known and Jesus was content to be taken for someone else. In spite of all he has done, people still attribute it to someone else. Someone else gets the credit for the teaching – John the Baptist – and someone else gets the credit for the miracles – Elijah. No one can really believe he is doing this.

One of the greatest temptations of ministry is being known for what you are doing – and getting the credit. It leads to self-promotion and what Satan called the “splendor” of the world that is his to give. The world does have a system for generating splendor.

Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians 15:40-49:

40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor. 42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[f]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[g] bear the image of the heavenly man.

Satan tempts with what he has and that is natural splendor. But that is like a mud pie compared to a banquet. The disciples wanted mud pies. He gave them power and authority to preach and heal and they wanted the splendor of the world so the world would take them seriously. They wanted to be mighty men instead of Spirit-filled weak men. They wanted to control the power and use it against those with whom they disagreed (“Master, we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” “The people did not welcome him because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?”)

I have ordered a whole bunch of mud pies in my life because I could not see the banquet. I have looked at the menu and seen all the choices and said, “I think I would like that mud pie with a different topping. Maybe it will taste different this time.”

4.  Take up your cross and follow me.

I want to leave you with this because I think it is helpful. It is from Thomas Kelly, a Quaker writer. It is for those of us who want to pick up every cross we see and not just ours. I tracked a conference of young idealists this week and have followed the causes of many for years. For some it is injustice or trafficking. For others it is the environment or evangelism or poverty or clean water or microfinance. I feel weighted down by all the good causes and want to pick up every one and support it. Some of you are the same way. What is my burden and responsibility and what is not? What is our particular cross? “God, more powerfully, speaks within you and me, to our truest selves, in our truest moments, and disquiets us with the world’s needs. By inner persuasions God draws us to a few very definite tasks, OUR tasks, God’s burdened heart particularizing God’s burden in us.”

We have far more opportunities than the disciples to “preach the good news to the poor” in our community. Yes, we are inundated with requests for time and money from many organizations but it is possible to find one that fits your particular task. It may be Bethesda Clinic or PATH or Christian Men’s Job Corps/Christian Women’s Job Corps, Goodwill, Salvation Army or a host of others. It could be the new East Texas Cornerstone Assistance Network working out of Green Acres Baptist. There is no shortage of options.

Christ is not looking for more champions but for men and women who are willing to give him what little they have and follow him. He may feed five thousand with it or he may not but he will pick up the life you lay down and bless the world with it. The other choice is to keep looking for the credit and acclaim, the recognition and splendor of the world. To gain the whole world and lose your soul.

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven,
for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.