What kind of spirit are we of?

Luke 9:51-10:12 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; ⁵² and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. ⁵³ But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” ⁵⁵ But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; ⁵⁶ for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.

⁵⁷ As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ⁵⁹ And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” ⁶² But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

10 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. ² And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. ³ Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ ⁶ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. ⁸ Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; ⁹ and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.

Proverbs 18:21 says:  The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.   Today’s text begins saying:   When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”    What kind of spirit are we of?   Few of us have probably ever commanded fire to come down from heaven and consume anyone, but what about the words we speak when we are angry or frustrated; are they words of life or words of death? Do we bless others or curse them? Proverbs says it is the one who speaks who will bear the consequences of their words. Jesus says: “In the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.”(Matthew 7:2) He says:  “I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (Luke 6:27-28)  Is that how we respond to those who oppose us? To those who have different political or social views? To the driver who cuts us off? How often throughout the course of a day do we speak words of death and cursing rather than words of life and blessing? Jesus says:  “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”    There are times when we don’t really mean what we say, perhaps we are just going along with the crowd, joking and making fun. In Matthew 12:30-37 Jesus says:  “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters… Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

It is not though that we compromise the truth of God’s word when we speak to others. Look at the instruction to the disciples in today’s text:  The Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves… Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you… Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.”   They were to speak peace to the house. Speaking peace, in these days of anxiety and stress is one of the greatest blessings we can speak to someone. Certainly as we go about our lives and our days, not everyone will receive us and our words. Jesus instruction, whether received or not was for them to say:  The kingdom of God has come near to you. We too are to be those who bring the message of the kingdom of God to others. We should not compromise the truth of the kingdom, neither should we shield the light of the kingdom. Jesus says:  “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)   It is not our job to judge or to curse others. Our uncompromising words of truth and light are our testimony both to them and against them. We should never be those that call the fire of judgment against anyone, yet Jesus says: “It will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.”   The fire of God’s judgment will come. We though, are called to be like Christ who: did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, like the psalmist I say: Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips. May I never be one who speaks death and cursing to others. May I instead speak life and blessing. May I never though compromise the truth of Your word and Your kingdom. Instead may I live as light. May my good works and my words of peace be all that testifies to or against others. May it be clear what kind of spirit I am of. May I be known by the fruit of the Spirit, by: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. In all that I do may it be to save lives not destroy them.   Amen.