These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Why did Jesus ask the disciples not to "go among the Gentiles"? If it's not the Lord's will for the gentiles to be saved, why then - as recorded in Gospel of John chapter four - did Jesus go all the way to Samaria to share the truth with the woman there? It's not that the Lord only loves the Israelites and not the gentiles. It is actually the strategy for the Lord to train the disciples. Lesson one in preaching the gospel is that we must begin with wherever we are familiar with. That is why, in Acts 1:8, the Lord asked the disciples to go and be His witness from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
We should always share the gospel starting from environment that we are familiar with, not to be overly ambitious. Very often we've never mentioned the name of Jesus to those around us, then how can we start sharing the gospel with people of various ethnic and racial origins? The Lord said here: "Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.'" The message of kingdom of God was one that the Jews could readily understand, and the disciples were ready to preach it. Therefore, when the Lord chose the twelve disciples, He first sent them to the lost sheep of Israel.
Another reason for not sending the disciples to the gentiles was what Paul said in Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." The book of Romans mentions this order several times - First the Jews, then the gentiles. This is an order established by God, therefore the Lord asked the disciples to preach the gospel first to the house of Israel. In verse eight, the Lord also gave us very clear principle in preaching the gospel, which is "Freely you have received; freely give." We received the gospel from the Lord for free, not because we deserve it. After we received the Lord's grace, we also ought to share this grace with people around us, so that they may also experience the Lord's mercy and love.
Let me see the Lord's will in our daily life. Let's not just keep the gospel for ourselves, but to let God's grace be passed onto all nations and all people through us. Let us follow God's will in our daily life!
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