How do we keep our relationship with Jesus fresh and vibrant? How do we keep setbacks in life from tainting our closeness with him. Conversely, how do we keep excitement and progress from distracting us from this relationship too? Often even, this excitement comes from seeing God move powerfully in our lives. How do we allow ourselves to be tempered so that the blessings that come from God as we follow him remain a side benefit and don’t overshadow the main thing: our abiding and close relationship with God?

In February, I preached from the beginning of Luke 10. The abridged SparkNotes version of that sermon could be summed up as this: Every Christian is called to be in the business of making obedient disciples and encouraging people to follow Jesus. These verses 1-9 outline Jesus’ instructions to 72 followers about how to do this right before he sends them out to go practice disciple making. Today, we’re going to look at the conversation Jesus has with these same followers upon their return from their assignment, a conversation kind of like a locker room debrief a coach might have with players following a semifinals game or a company’s year-in-review celebration banquet.

Here we see Jesus put perspective on what these students have experienced while also modelling healthy follow-up. He explains the mystery of how to know God laying the foundation for the main method of how future generations (that’s us!) will also be able to know God. He reminds them that they are completely capable only because he has made them capable. But he doesn’t miss the opportunity to immediately and clearly remind us that our being with God is always more important than whatever we are doing for God. And finally, Jesus models the discipline of giving thanks to God. Each one of these things is essential to us maintaining and deepening our relationship with him.