Welcome to our Together on Mission podcast, where we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, through scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation with him throughout your day. Your host is Travis Twyman, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. In this season of the podcast, we will be journeying through the Gospel of Luke, specifically looking for moments in the life of Jesus of the Nazareth. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the daily Together on Mission podcast.
This is Travis, and I've got my Bible open up to Luke chapter 6, got my cup of coffee, and I'm in my spot, and I'm excited to start a conversation with all of you, with Jesus, and read a verse, or really a story, talk a bit about it, and then we'll spend some time just having a conversation with Jesus that then is going to last throughout the rest of the day. So, good morning. The title of the podcast this morning is Due for One, and that is the first part of a much longer phrase that I will say in just a moment. But the title of the podcast is Due for One, and what I'd like to do this morning is I'd like to pass on a little piece of advice that was passed on to me about 10 years ago or so.
So, turn to Luke chapter 6, and we're going to be in verse 12 in just a moment, and here is the phrase, here is the advice, do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. Somebody told me that about 10 years ago, and I never forgot it, and it has been so helpful for me in leadership and in parenting and in friendship and in all kinds of ways. Travis, this mentor, said, do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. And immediately, I was excited about that phrase because I want to do for everyone, but I can't.
So, the invitation and the freedom to do for one, what I wish I could actually do for everyone, was visionary and inviting. I mean, think about it. It's an invitation to be specific, to be engaged with the one in a way that we wish we could be with everyone, but we can't. I mean, we want to be helpful and loving and engaged with everyone, but we fear that we can't be that for everyone, and we can't.
There's no way. I mean, not even close. And so, what we do is we tend to swing from one extreme to the other, right? We're like, all right, I'm going to do for everyone.
I'm going to take it all in. I'm going to be everything to everybody, and I'm not going to let anybody down. Well, how is that working for you, right? Because when we try that, we get totally burned out and frustrated and angry, and so then we go the opposite direction, right?
We swing the pendulum all the way to the opposite direction. We're like, well, I'm not going to do anything for anybody. You know, I've got to take care of myself. I'm going to screen it all out, and I'm just going to let everybody down.
And I think we can do this in leadership. I think we can do this in marriage. We can do this with our children, with neighbors, with strangers, with friends, with people in need. And if you're anything like me, you find yourself going back and forth, back and forth.
I'm going to take it all in. No, I'm going to screen it all out. And then somebody told me, do for one what you wish you could do for everyone. And it was such a freeing invitation.
Jesus did for one what he wished he could do for everyone. Luke chapter 6, verse 12. One of those days, Jesus went out to a mountainside and spent some time praying. In fact, he spent the night praying to God.
When morning came, he called all of his disciples to them, and out of all of his disciples, he chose 12 of them, whom he designated apostles. Simon, called Peter, his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alphaeus, Simon, who was called the Zealot, Judas, son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Jesus spent the whole night praying. He came down the mountain.
All of his disciples came to him, and out of all of his disciples, he chose 12, whom he designated apostles. Jesus selected. He chose. He chose some, and he didn't choose others.
Now, that does not mean that Jesus was rude to those that he did not choose or who he did not designate apostles, but he let some people down. When he chose the 12 and not others, that let some people down. And I think that was one of the reasons why he was praying. He was reflecting.
He was thinking about what he was going to say yes to or who he was going to say yes to and, therefore, who he was going to say no to. You see, because Jesus knew that he could not take it all in or take everyone in, but he also knew that it would not be loving to screen everyone out and spend time with no one. So he prayed, and he chose, and he did for one, or 12, and actually more like three, what he wished he could do for everyone. And this is a major feature in the life and the ministry of Jesus, and I believe this needs to be a major feature in our lives as well.
Jesus didn't heal every blind person. He didn't eat with every tax collector. He didn't meet in the evening with every single Pharisee. He did for one what he wished he could do for everyone.
He was engaged. He was specific. He was not fair. And I'll come back to that.
But you're thinking, well, wait a minute. Hasn't God called me to do everything for everyone? Well, no. That's impossible.
Why would God call you or me to do everything for everyone? That would be mean. That would be oppressive. That would not be loving of God.
You know, other people, or perhaps you might put pressure on yourself to be everything and do everything for everybody, but that's not what God is calling you or me to do. And when we try to do that, we just get buried, right? We try to take everybody in. Be everything to everybody.
We get buried. We get spread thin, frustrated, irritated. And, of course, but then we swing the pendulum too far in the other direction, and we shut everybody out, and then we find ourselves getting calloused. And so the invitation is to do, for one, what we wish we could do for everyone.
And, of course, as I come back to this, we try to justify doing everything for everybody by using the word fair. Well, it wouldn't be fair if I did this for one person but not for another person. And we use the word fair to either justify doing everything for everybody or doing nothing for nobody, right? We say, well, it wouldn't be fair if I did this for one of my children but not another one of my children, right?
It wouldn't be fair if I went out with this couple and made friends with this couple but then didn't go out with this couple. It wouldn't be fair if I helped this person financially but not all of those other people financially. Well, fair is not in the New Testament. Fair is not a New Testament word.
Jesus isn't being fair in Luke chapter 6 when he goes and he prays, he comes down the mountain, and he selects 12 out of the however many there were to be apostles. He wasn't fair. You don't need to be fair. Better to be engaged and present and willing and refreshed to do for one or to do for a few what you wish you could do for everyone.
This is how Jesus lived. It's how we are called to live, and I'm sure that people were frustrated with Jesus, and I'm sure that Jesus let people down, and people are going to be frustrated with you, and you're going to let people down. But Jesus could not take in everyone, and he also was not willing to screen out everyone. He said, I'm going to do for one what I wish I could do for everyone.
I'm going to be not fair but engaged and present and loving and specific. So let's be that. Let's give ourselves the freedom to be that, to do for one what we wish we could do for everyone, with our friends, with strangers, with people that need help financially or in other ways, with couples that we hang out with, with our children, with people who interrupt us, with those that are right in front of us. Let's be like Jesus.
Let's do for one what we wish we could do for everyone. We'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Together on Mission podcast. We truly hope that you were blessed and encouraged by you today.
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