Two By Two….
(and I’m not talking about “The animals are comin', two by two the elephant and the kangaroo, and no one knew where they were at, till they bumped into Mt. Ararat…) Nope, I’m talking about Mark 6:7 “And Jesus called unto Him the twelve, and began to send them forth two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits v12 And they went out, and preached that men should repent. v13 And they saw many delivered, and they anointed many with oil that were sick, and they were healed”.
The disciples had only been with Jesus a short time, when He sent them out to share the gospel, and spread the word about who He was. He knew that the best advertisement in the world was for them to demonstrate the gospel, not just tell it. So He commanded them to heal the sick and cast out devils in His name. As people everywhere, not only heard the gospel, but saw it’s power at work, they began to come by the hundreds.
What was true then, is true today….the condition He gives for us to do His works, is simply to believe on Him…..then we become the sent ones, who are called to go out and do His works.
Take a look at it for yourself…John 14:12 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father”. Jesus has presented the finished work to the Father so that we can do the works…..
There is a story of a farmer who was always putting things off. He said that he and God were working together. Lightning had hit the old shed on his property, and saved him the trouble of tearing it down. Then it rained and saved him the chore of washing off his car and his tractor. The cats were catching mice so he didn’t have to feed them. A strong wind came up and blew all the apples out of the trees, so he didn’t have to pick them. When someone asked him what he was waiting for now, he said, "I’m waiting for an earthquake to shake the potatoes up out of the ground."
That’s called the Moses syndrome…. When God told Moses to speak to the people and to Pharaoh, He said “here am I Lord, use Aaron”. Even though God had assured Him that He would be with his mouth.”
Well, we say that we want to see folks come to know Christ and experience His salvation, but we expect someone else or God himself to do all the work. We’re willing to pray, to support the church, and to show them by example, but when it comes to actually doing the witnessing and praying the sinner’s prayer with someone, that’s for Aaron to do….
When you think about it, God implemented this “Two by Two” policy all the way back to Genesis…. We all get intimidated, we don’t always bring our “A” game to the field, and we feel more confident with some back up!
At the beginning of it all, in Genesis 2:8 God said it is not good for man to be alone. I believe this is one of the reasons that Jesus sent the disciples out two by two….
I recall my college days, when I was part of the Teen Challenge outreach team, and every week-end, when I wasn’t ministering in different churches, the team would go out into the red light districts of Philadelphia and down into the Ghetto areas, to share the gospel and lead folks to Christ. We always went out in twos and we were told that the person who got the opening in a conversation would share while the other person prayed for the Holy Spirit to lead them. Then we would all gather for a time of testimony to share what God had done!
There is nothing as exciting as leading someone into a transformative relationship with Christ. I’m still hearing from folks we led to Christ, 40 years later! Every salvation is a new stream flowing out into the world, that will touch and open other streams. That happens when we are willing to change so that we can be the change!
Sharing the gospel is a risk, but we take risks every day…. To laugh is to risk looking like a fool. To weep is to risk looking too sentimental. To reach out to another is to risk being pulled into their needs. To expose our feelings is to risk exposing our true self. To place your ideas and your dreams before strangers is to risk loss and misunderstanding. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair and disappointment. To try at all is to risk failure. But to risk we must, because the greatest hazard in life is to never take a risk. The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, and is nothing.
Jesus told the disciples as He sent them out, that the need of the people was very great, but that there are very few who are willing to do the work. Jesus commanded them to pray that the Lord would send out more laborers to minister to the needy and desperate. (be sure that we make that part of our prayer list and our “to do” list) Be the answer to someone’s prayers!
Speaking of Two by Two….we see this concept everywhere….A few well known duos are Batman and Robin, Tom and Jerry, Holmes and Watson, Bonnie and Clyde, and Simon and Garfunkle….Then you have peanut butter and Jelly, ham and cheese, spaghetti and meatballs and on we go….(you can’t have one without the other)
Perhaps you never noticed, but I find it interesting that when the disciples are listed in Matthew, they are listed in pairs. This is how Jesus sent them out, He sent them in twos, it reads this way…
Matthew 10:2-4 "Simon, and Andrew; James the son of Zebedee and John; Philip and Bartholemew; Thomas and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot."
Always in the Bible God seems to link his workers together. So we see that Moses is joined to Aaron, Joshua to Caleb, David to Jonathan, Paul to Silas, and Peter to John.
But the two by two strategy is more than a tactic for advancing a cause. I submit that spiritual growth, as well as spiritual survival, is much more likely when two are related together in agreement and partnership as spiritual encouragers in a mutual commitment for success.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. v10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls, for he does not have another to help him up. v12 “And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him and a threefold cord is not quickly broken”.
Many Christians flounder in their walk of faith because they are their own counsellor, teacher, coach and pastor…. They have never allowed another person to speak into their lives and give an objective opinion and let them see themselves outside of themselves. Their theme song is “Me and Jesus, have got our own thing going, me and Jesus, have it all worked out, me and Jesus have our own thing going, we don’t need nobody to tell us what it’s all about”!
And they end up suffering unnecessarily, and they go through many trials of their own making…. The person who tries to be a Christian alone gets to be a very odd Christian, something is off kilter. Have you noticed that? What the "Buddy System" means at a summer camp, is what Jesus wants to happen when Christians assume responsibility for each other!
The tragedy is that we so many times we have closer ties to those who are outside of the faith, than we do with those in the body of Christ, because we have forgotten our primary mission…. Of bringing folks to Christ and making disciples of all people. Two are better than one!
In a partnership, we cover each other’s blind spots. We are all masters of the art of rationalizing and justifying our behavior and decisions. Each of us have blind spots. Many motorcycle accidents occur each year, because of that little blind spot which every car has. It’s small, but it’s large enough to hide an entire motorcycle. So an error is made and a rider dies…. It’s just a small blind spot, but the rider is still just as dead.
God even brought the animals into the ark, two by two to assure their mutual survival. It’s God’s way of setting something in motion that is generational. Our strength, faith, wisdom learned from experience, will create a culture which will insert it’s self into the generations which are yet to come.
One minister has called the Christian life "a long series of obediences, all stretched out, moving us in the same direction." That should be our attitude as our church bears witness to Christ. Our society will change, but our message won't. There will be times of extraordinary openness to the gospel; other times will be marked by rejection. We cannot control the conditions of our society or the ways men and women will respond to the gospel. But we can choose faithfulness to Jesus and his message. And by God's grace, we will discover the joy of "a long series of obediences stretched out, moving us in the same direction."
Most of the time we do not want correction for our blind spots. I recall the couple who were always fighting and quarrelling, and they knew that the marriage was doomed if something didn’t change. So they decided that they would give each other space when their fuses were short… The husband said, that he would wear his hat sideways if he had had a bad day and was in a sour mood. The wife said that she would put her apron on sideways when she was in a bad mood… And it really went great….they hardly ever quarreled or fought, until he came home and her apron was off kilter and his hat was sideways….
Oliver Wendell Holmes, doctor and poet, says,"You may set it down as a truth which has few exceptions, that those who ask your opinion really want your praise, and will be contented with nothing less." The truth becomes boring, and once the good intentions wear off. We surround ourselves only with people who are related to us in such a way that they cannot be truthful with us, then all we can hope for is the barren echo of our own desires”.
Encounter groups, and seeker friendly methods, can only fall short, if we don’t have someone who can tell it like it is, even if it’s not what we want to hear! Accountability is not the same as agreement.
Bob forgot his wedding anniversary, and his wife was really angry. She told him "Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!" The next morning he got up early and went to work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough .there was a gift-wrapped box in the middle of the driveway. Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, she opened the box and found a brand new bathroom scale. Bob has been missing since Friday.
Amos 3:3 “How can two walk together, except they be of like mind”?
It is to our shame that it’s such a rare thing to find a friendship in which there is no possibility of exploitation. A friendship that is cemented in a strong bond of total confidentiality. A friendship with another person, who does not want your job, your house, your wife, or your influence. A friendship with some- one who is equally aware with you of your mutual dependence upon the grace of God. A friendship with one who will not drop you if you fall, or be envious if you succeed.
The Lord puts us into these “two by two” relationships in areas we are like minded and in areas where we are different. It would be dull to be joined to someone who was exactly like us, and a bit too painful to be joined to someone who was totally different from us. Meaningful friendships involve points of likeness and areas of contrast. It’s the salt you put on grapefruit to make it sweet instead of too tart!
Matthew 18:19-20 "Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done by my Father in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I’m there in the midst of them."
Being joined in agreement to other Christians in this manner, we stand a better chance of keeping our faith strong and steady as we go. Isaiah tells us that It’s easy to "mount up with wings as eagles" when all is well and right with the world. It’s easy to be stirred up by occasional excitement and the crescendo of life. But it’s another thing "To run and not be weary." And to stay with it and keep at it day in and day out, and "To walk and not faint." THAT’S THE POWER OF TWO OR THREE IN AGREEMENT!
When there’s two, they maximize the joys and minimize the downers.
Sometimes we protect ourselves against the very intimacy that we so badly need and crave.
In the book, “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” by Hannah Green, a young disturbed teenage girl finally got out of a mental institution and tried to win a place in the every-day world. The writer says "Although Deborah had gone to choir practice at the church and sewing classes at the high school and even a teenage outing club, she went and she shared her sewing machine, she shared a hymn book, she gave and received a 'good evening' and a 'good night' and everyone was most polite and so was she, but they always had their walls up against her."
The Message Bible tells us that when Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, He said in Luke 10:4 “Travel light, and take no extra baggage”.
It’s all our extra baggage that keeps us from the power of agreement in the kind of relationships Jesus wants to bring into our lives…That baggage creates static that interferes with good communication.
I’ve heard it said that… In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens. In the second year of marriage, the woman speaks and the man listens. In the third year of marriage, they both speak and all the neighbors listen.
The first group that Jesus sent out two by two, were the 12, then we are told that the next group He sent two by two were the 72… that’s a 600 percent growth, through relationships!
When people get in agreement, there is multiplication and strength. Growth is the product of Godly relationships. The Lord was calling them to be an extension of His own ministry. They were not only in a covenant agreement with one another but they were to align themselves with Christ in such a way that the power of their agreement would produce healings and deliverance in the lives of others. Jesus is always in agreement with salvation, healing and deliverance!
May we pray for the openness and the courage to let “TWO BY TWO” happen in our lives. God is in total agreement with that prayer! This is God’s pattern for a new community and a new covenant people… We are never very far from the very ones that God wants to partner us with, in a mutual relationship that will transform all of our lives. So, keep your baggage at a minimum, and travel light!
Scripture tells us that “Jesus sent them out, He said “Go Out”…two by two”….and remember that the Jews were a very closed community… this was not their normal tendency…It really went against their first impulses. Their norm, was to go inward, not outward, to stay in the culture, stay in the familiar, stay in the group…..But here Jesus is saying, “Go out” into the highways and byways and compel them to come in.”
I’ve thought about that word “compel”, and I realized as I studied for this message, that the compelling He’s talking about is through the building of relationships. There are many who will never come into the faith, or into the church, except through relationships. We know it as “friendship evangelism” or “Friend-u-lism”…It’s what happened with the disciples….
John 1:40 “And one of the two which heard John speak, and followed Jesus, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. v41 He went and found his own brother Simon, and said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. v42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, You are Simon the son of Jonas, you shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. v43 The next day, Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and find Philip, and He said unto him, Follow me. v44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
*….v45 So, Philip found Nathanael, and said unto him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. v46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip said unto him, Come and see. v47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! v48 Nathanael said to him, how do you know me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. v49 Nathanael said unto him, Rabbi, you truly are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel”.
What a beautiful example of “Friend-u-lism”.
Sometimes we say, “The world is not interested”. “People out there are really hardened to the gospel”. But Jesus always says the world is hungry. There is a harvest out there and it’s ready to bring in…. Jesus says when you go, don‘t go alone. Go two by two. The Christian life can‘t be lived alone. The Christian work can‘t be done alone. It’s lived through relationships. We need the companionship of one another to either keep us encouraged or keep us on our main mission and keep us honest.
If it’s not our problem, our answer is often, Don‘t worry about it! On the morning of December seventh, 1941, 353 Japanese airplanes flew through the skies, on a mission of massive destruction as they headed toward Pearl Harbor. Within a couple of hours, America would lose eight battleships, six major airfields, almost all of its planes and two thousand four hundred of its servicemen. Just prior to the attack it was a beautiful day. The attack happened at 7:50 in the morning. Fifteen minutes before the attack, while the planes were still 137 miles away, two soldiers, on a radar station in the islands, scanned a radar screen. As they did, they saw dots beginning to emerge on the screen and then more dots, until it seemed like their whole radar screen was filled with dots. They summoned their commanding officer, a young lieutenant. No other officer was around, since it was Sunday morning. The lieutenant studied the radar scan for a while, and then concluded that the planes were probably out of California. And he dismissed the planes, without another thought, saying these crucial words: ―Don‘t worry about it!.
How many folks have heard Jesus’ call.. Mark 16:15 “Go and preach the gospel to every creature. v16 He that believes shall be saved…..v17 And these signs shall follow them that believe”. And as friends and coworkers, family, neighbors and folks we see every day are on their way to an eternity without God….. We say….. “Don’t worry about it”…
Bill Gaither’s song “Joy comes in the morning”, says it so well….“To invest your seeds of trust in God in mountains you can't move, You have risked your life on things you cannot prove. But to give the things you cannot keep, to keep what you cannot lose, is the way to find the joy God has for you”.
Doctors have claimed that the discovery of chloroform was one of the most important discoveries to ever happen in the medical world, because it saved people from being operated on without a sedative and eliminated the torture of surgery. But when someone asked the discoverer of the medical use of chloroform, Dr. James Young Simpson, what he regarded as his greatest discovery. He replied, ―”My greatest discovery was when I discovered Jesus Christ as my Savior”.
We are told that when the disciples returned, after being sent out, they rejoiced that the sick were healed and devils were cast out, but Jesus told them to rejoice over one thing, that people had believed upon Him and received His salvation.
Some students at a local ministry seminary needed a place to play basketball, so a custodian agreed to stay extra hours to let them play in a nearby public school gym. The janitor happened to be an old black man and he would sit in the stands read his Bible while they played. One day they asked him, “What are you reading?” and they expected the old man to say, ―I‘m reading the Bible. But instead, the old man said, ―I am reading the Book of Revelation. They were surprised at this response. “Do you understand it?” they asked. “Well yes, I do”, he responded. They were surprised that this janitor was saying, ―I understand such a deep and mysterious book of the bible as Revelation… So they asked―If you understand it, tell us, what does it mean? The old janitor scratched his head and said, “It means that Jesus is a-gonna win”. Praise God, because He wins, we win!!! When we obey, He’s in charge of the results!
The Kingdom is open to new partnerships…. To discover the power of agreement….Philippians 1:6 “For we are confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”…
