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Leaving Home
Do you remember the first time that you left home? Like, really left home?
Matthew 10:7, 9-11, 16, 19, 26, 31
Do you remember the first time that you left home? Like, really left home, not just for a grocery shopping trip, but the time when you went to start something new somewhere else for you, it was maybe college. You leave your house and your support network and your bedroom and your things, and you go off somewhere else. It’s jarring. It’s a little bit scary as you go and do that.
Or maybe after you go off to college, you go somewhere else. You find out that it was okay, and you got to meet new friends and start new relationships. And then that eventually stops, too. And maybe for you, you’re thinking about that first job, that new city that you got to move out to, and you knew a few people, or maybe you didn’t know any people. And there’s some worry and there’s some anxiety that comes from that, too.
Jesus disciples knew how you felt on probably even a different kind of a level. I just want to point out a few things from Matthew chapter ten. This is early in Jesus ministry, very early in the disciples ministry. They haven’t gone to eight years of seminary, and yet God sends them out to go and be his missionaries. He sends out the 12 apostles. And maybe you can just read through Matthew chapter ten too for some encouragement as you maybe go out and start some kind of a new adventure.
He gave the 12 disciples instructions to go and proclaim this message.
The kingdom of God has come near. (Matthew 10:7)
He doesn’t tell them to take anything special with them. Just wherever you go, search for some worthy person and stay in their house until you leave and let your peace rest on that house. (Matthew 10:9-11) He tells them to go, but he also warns them that it will be hard. It will be challenging. There will be danger. He doesn’t pull any punches. He says, I’m sending you out like a sheep among wolves. (Matthew 10:16) Yet over and over Jesus gives them these promises. He says, do not worry. Do not worry about what you’ll say or how to say it. He says, do not be afraid of people that would challenge them or persecute them because he’s with them. (Matthew 10:19, 26) The Holy Spirit is going to be with them and giving them the things to say. Do not be afraid, because your heavenly father knows you, the one who created all things, even the little birds flying through the sky, even the sparrows, he created them and he cares for them. And guess what? You’re worth a whole lot more to him than any sparrow. (Matthew 10:31)
And Jesus proves that by not just sending out his disciples, but sending them out with the power of His word to go and and change hearts, sending them out with the promise that he’d be with them always. And then and then by him going out to as you’re worried about leaving places that are comfortable, think. Think about Jesus, who wasn’t worried at all, who left all the peace and comfort of heaven so that he could enter our world as a true man, to stand in our place and live a perfect life where we couldn’t. To be harassed and persecuted, to have just a small group of friends and many enemies also, that he could take your sins and mine and the sins of the world to the cross, so that he could die for them once and for all, to give us an eternal home in heaven with all of his forgiveness, so that we don’t have to be afraid. We don’t have to worry as we go and start any kind of a new adventure.
So as you do that, as you’re thinking about doing that, one of the other things that I would encourage you to do is stay connected to a family of faith. And one of the ways that I encourage my new college students, I’m a campus ministry pastor. As they go out and start new adventures, I tell them, make sure that you find a Christian church to be connected with because you need Jesus with you, and you need his people and His Word with you. So if you’re connected to an ELS congregation, then ELS.org you can find all kinds of locations. Or WELS.net if you’re connected to a WELS congregation, look for a local church find one and then do not be afraid. Do not worry. Jesus is with you. He’s sending you out.
