EXCOUSIA
Mat 9:35-10:1 Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. "What a huge harvest!" he said to his disciples. "How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!" The prayer was no sooner prayed than it was answered. Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe fields. He gave them power to kick out the evil spirits and to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives.
We see here Jesus about His Father's work, healing the sick and those who are hurting, He becomes overwhelmed as He looks out upon the crowds, His heart breaks. He says to His disciples look how huge the harvest but yet so few workers. It must feel like those who rescued people by boat in New Orleans, so many in need, but only so few could fit in the boat, imagine how overwhelming it felt, to leave people behind because of the limit one person can do. So Jesus and His disciples pray, and as soon as they finish praying Jesus releases power upon the disciples to be part of the answer to what they prayed.
I hear so often people praying for a Harvest, praying for revival, yet where is it? Well the answer is right there it goes beyond our prayers to are actions. The Harvest only comes when the fields are being planted with seeds and watered, the workers must be doing there part. The War has already been won, the land is ours for the taking, so we just got to get to work. Jesus knew He could only do so much that is why He raised up others to carry out the work. The church for too long has relied on individuals. Just as Christ knew He could do only so much, so also the church when a few do the work.
Like I said last week, during a war, no soldier can take a break, have time off, leave the fight. We as believers must all be in this thing together. God has chosen us, enlisted us, we are not our own. He has commissioned us to go into all the world and take it by force. God promised the children of Israel the land of Canaan. But they had to fight for it. There were people that inhabited the land who were not just going to give it away. The enemy has been defeated but he is not going to give up until we enforce the victory that Christ established on the cross. We must use our delegated authority to bind on earth what is bound in heaven and to loose on earth what is loosed in heaven (Mt. 16:19).
The word power in Matthew 10:1 comes from the Greek word excousia, which means delegated authority. Jesus delegated authority upon His disciples to carry out His work, but it was limited to the degree of obedience. The lack of power evident in the average believer is due to the lack of obedience. Soldiers have no rights unless it is delegated to them. They are given weapons in order to carry out orders. God has placed authority over us to train, equip, teach, and release us into His high calling, to the degree we respect, honor, and take heed to the commands of those God has placed over us, is the degree of power available to us. The lack of power in the church today is evidence to the lack of respect for those in authority.
It is not about the person who is in authority over us, It is about the gift that God has placed within them, this gift was given not for themselves but for the body of Christ. We are to honor and respect the gift God has given, not so much the man or woman, for they are flesh and blood just as we are.
Eph 4:8-13 The text for this is, He climbed the high mountain, He captured the enemy and seized the booty, He handed it all out in gifts to the people. It's true, is it not, that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.
It is time that we start appreciating the gifts God has given us. The Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher have been given so we can mature, become fully developed and fully alive in Christ. We need to submit to those God has placed over us, and not take lightly what they speak. Where we go in life will depend on what we do with what we have heard through their mouths. We have no one else to blame for where we are at in our life but ourselves. The direction and empowerment we need to fulfill our destiny is found in the gifts God has placed before us.