36: Harvest & Judgment (Luke 10:1-24)

Jackie Watts

The Gospel of Luke: The Greatest Story Ever Told • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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Back in college Tonya & I served in a small country church building a youth ministry. During one of my favorite Super Bowls…where Dallas creamed Buffalo - it was a LONG time ago - Travis Runyan showed up to my apartment for pizza, the game, and lots of new friends. One time when he walked outside to smoke, I followed and shared the hope of Jesus with him. He was like ripe crops - ready to be harvested. He listened intently and responded quickly. I remember him wiping his eyes after asking Jesus to forgive him, and from that day people noticed a difference in his life.

Teachers said Travis showed them respect instead of the disrespect he was known for. He approached a Christian teenager he had made fun of and asked her to forgive him for treating her badly. Then he told her of his decision to follow Jesus. 1 week after his conversion I received a phone call telling me to Travis had been shot and killed in Charlotte, NC. He didn’t know it was coming…I didn’t know it was coming…but God did, and in God’s powerful plan used a college student to share His message of forgiveness 1 week before his passing into eternity… Travis Runyan was ripe & responsive. It was Harvest time.

Of course, we could tell other stories of those who did NOT respond to the message of Jesus and died WITHOUT trusting Him. For them it meant judgment.

Today we see the same 2 responses by the ancient audience of Jesus’ day. As Jesus heads toward crucifixion in Jerusalem, He commands His disciples to take His urgent message out - to prepare the way of the Lord. Some surrender to His message and others stiff-arm His message. But which of Jesus’ commands are we to APPRECIATE & which are we to APPLY? Which are…?

Descriptive: What DID THEY do?

Prescriptive: What SHOULD WE do?

PRAY Father, please give us the wisdom to appreciate ancient history of early disciples & the wisdom to apply timeless truths as your contemporary disciples.

Luke 10:1 (NIV)

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others [some NT manuscripts say 70] and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.

A couple of points I want you to see:

Just as John the Baptist prepared people for Jesus’ arrival - saying the kingdom of heaven is NEAR, so Jesus was sending 70+ to surrounding towns with the same message.

Jesus sent them 2-by-2. Why? It’s tough to stand when you’re by yourself. We need each other - in good times and bad times. We weren’t meant to do this alone.

Luke 10:2-3 (NIV)

2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

So, what happens when you have a fruitful crop but not enough people to harvest it? Much of the crop goes bad before you can get to it. So too, Jesus notes that the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. There are people who are RIPE to respond to the Good News, but they’re aren’t enough workers. So what were they to do about this dilemma?

Pray - Ask the Lord to send more workers to the harvest field. I want you to imagine what this looked like as some point in the day, the disciple of Jesus found a quiet spot and prayed, “Lord…please send others to work the harvest! Some of these people will respond to you if someone will tell them. Please send workers!”

Go - It’s one thing to pray, “God send others” and another to say, “and I’ll lead the way.” Can you imagine the day starting like this: “Lord, use ME today to help harvest eternal fruit…and send others too - prompt their heart to share the Good News of Jesus.” This is more than ancient descriptive history. This is prescriptive, a timeless truth for us.

BIG TRUTH: Disciples PRAY for others & Disciples GO to othersBIG TRUTH: Disciples PRAY for others & Disciples GO to othersBIG TRUTH: Disciples PRAY for others & Disciples GO to othersBIG TRUTH: Disciples PRAY for others & Disciples GO to others

BIG TRUTH: Disciples PRAY for others & Disciples GO to others

Always have, always will.

The disciples taught the next generation to do the same. PRAY and GO.

Let me ask you a question: Who are you PRAYING for? Who are you GOING to?

God has recently reminded me that I need to do both.

I often take opportunities to serve and share with people, but I haven’t spent enough time praying for lost to be saved & praying that God would send more workers out to them.

I was convicted when I heard a heard a pastor say we should have “Calloused knees and calloused hands.” We PRAY & we GO. I am using an free phone app called ECHO to remind me to pray for the lost daily [SHOW PIC}. Some people you know…are on here!

Now Jesus also warned that He was sending them out like lambs among wolves. What do wolves do to sheep? As they go, these disciples are going into some hostile territory, but they should remember that it is the GOOD SHEPHERD who has sent them. They are still under His protection, although not everyone will treat them well.

Then Jesus gives the 70 the same command He gave the 12 He had sent out earlier.

Luke 10:4

4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

Go quickly & trust God to provide - Do not take a purse of bag or sandals

They were NOT to be distracted from the urgent task at hand…to prepare the way for the Lord. They weren’t to be impolite but were not to be held up by following the custom of stopping to chat with people they passed. In this way they were not to greet anyone on the road.

Upon arriving at the destination…

Luke 10:5-8

5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.

Paul later uses this phrase for the worker deserves his wages in 1 Timothy 5:17-18 to teach about how we are to give to those who minister to us…and let me say a HUGE THANKS to those who are giving to the work of Fellowship! God is providing for the needs of our ministers & ministries…through YOU! Thank you for obeying the words of Jesus! So too, Jesus TO people, THROUGH people.

Further, Jesus told these 70+ to…

Luke 10:9–12 (NIV)

9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Healing the sick was NOT an ability that every believer was given, but only these messengers. In our study from Luke 9, R.C. Sproul called the 12 going to minister 'a spiritual blitzkrieg’, where the power the ONE MESSIAH now multiplied into 12 miracle workers & messengers. Now the number grows to over 70!

The miracles made way for their message: ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ These 70+ were living billboards proclaiming ‘The KING is coming to a town near you.’

Of course, not everyone would receive this message.

Luke 10:10-12

10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Sodom was destroyed by God with sulfur & fire that fell from the sky (Gen. 19:24–25). Because of that, mentioning Sodom brought up one thought: the judgment of God on sinners. With that in mind, Jesus warns that those who reject the message of the 70+ will be held to a more severe judgment that the sinful people of Sodom.

WHY? Because they didn’t see the evidences that the people in Jesus’ day saw - the miracles including healings & casting out of demons. The people saw the miracles, yet rejected the message of Jesus. So rather than the hope of a harvest, there is a warning of impending judgment.

Luke 10:13–15

13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida [places Jesus had been - Bethsaida is where Jesus fed 5000]! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon [pr.’see-doan’ - pagan towns], they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens [power & prestige]? No, you will go down to Hades.

You’ll remember that Capernaum the town that became the base of operations for Jesus. He did many miracles there…but sadly…it wasn’t enough for many to believe. Judgment awaited many who SAW Jesus’ miracles, but did not believe Jesus’ message. Capernaum will not be remembered as a people honored and lifted to the heavens, but cast down to Hades.

Luke 10:16

16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

The Father ➠sent Jesus to earth ➠Jesus sent these folks out. Just as is true today, NOT everyone will listen…and there are others who are ready to here…move on!

Luke 10:17–18

17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

I LOVE THIS! The disciples didn’t return quietly. The returned like a team that had just won a championship! They returned with joy! The were pumped.

In the past, demons had to submit to Jesus, but now they had to submit to the 70+ Jesus sent out. Demons submit & Satan falls.

As demons do the bidding of their leader - Satan - disciples do the bidding of their leader - Jesus. And TEAM SATAN is getting their fiery rear ends kicked by TEAM JESUS!… TEAM SATAN was falling like lightning from heaven.

A few weeks ago TJ and I were here late and lightning flashes were crossing the southern sky. It was incredible. Yet as powerful, brilliant, and fast as the lightning was…it reminded us that the ONE who created at all that was SO MUCH MORE POWERFUL!

Like lightning, Satan’s authority was thrown down quickly & powerfully. And as lightning does, it reminds us of it’s CREATOR!

And in the midst of this celebration Jesus encourages His disciples further.

Luke 10:19-20

19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

Snakes and scorpions are words used in the OT to describe all kinds of evil. The snake is a symbol for Satan in Gen 3:1–15; 2 Cor 11:3; Rev 12:9, 14–15; 20:2. This is not an invitation for Christians to handle snakes & scorpions without fear of being hurt. It is a symbolic picture of overcoming the power of the enemy. Before the death, burial, resurrection, & ascension of Jesus, there is no record of Jesus’ disciples being harmed in any way. They received divine protection.

How is the contemporary disciple to discern whether this passage is DESCRIPTIVE or PRESCRIPTIVE. Was this promise just for them…or is it for us too?

AFTER the resurrection & ascension of Jesus, the apostles and some of the other disciples were able to cast out demons & heal people, but ALMOST every apostle was eventually murdered by their enemies. So the phrase nothing will harm you was NOT a promise of physical protection for every believer for all time. It didn’t even mean that for the people Jesus was talking to. Later Jesus warns His disciples…

Luke 21:16–19 (NIV)

16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.

CAN Jesus protect us from all harm? YES! At His choosing.

MUST Jesus protect us from all harm or else be called a liar? NO!

Jesus did NOT promise every believer physical protection from their enemies for all time. But during the Journey to Jerusalem, these disciples would be protected from physical harm.

Yet even in death, followers of Jesus are victorious over the enemy!

…because of this incredible reality…

20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus warned that at the final judgment some would say, “We have taught, healed, & cast out demons in your name” while He responds, “Leave Me. I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21–23)

But these disciples…they WILL be recognized, not because of what they could do, but because of WHO they knew!

Do YOU have that hope? Has your name been written in heaven because you have turned from your sin & trusted Jesus as King of your life?

And then Jesus offers this prayer to the Father.

Luke 10:21

21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

There are likely many times that Jesus rejoiced, but this is the ONLY TIME in the Gospels where we are told that Jesus was full of joy [or other translations say ‘Jesus rejoiced’].

In other words, this event was a BIG DEAL! Can you imagine the apostles running in, panting with a smile on their face, and Jesus gives them a 1st century version of a high-five!

The disciples weren’t the creme of the crop. They weren’t considered the wise and learned. Instead, Jesus calls them little children. And these normal, everyday folks were beginning to see that Jesus wanted to use them to build the Kingdom!

BIG TRUTH: Disciples PRAY for others & Disciples GO to others

And finally, Jesus states how significant this time in history really is…

Luke 10:22–24

22 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

Wouldn’t Moses have sat in wonder as the true Bread of Life fed over 5000 hungry Israelites in the Promised Land?

Wouldn’t Elijah have been thrilled to see Jesus perform the most incredible miracles!

Wouldn’t King Solomon, the wise king who built the first temple long to hear the wisdom spoken by the living Temple of God - Jesus Himself?

They got to see it and now their task has been passed on to us…to prepare the way of the Lord. And…

BIG TRUTH: Disciples PRAY for others & Disciples GO to others

FEET2FAITH

Pray for 2. Pray for 2 lost friends & that God would send others to them. Our State Evangelism Director encourages people, to take this verse Luke 10:2 & pray at 10:02am everyday!

GO to 1. Prayerfully go to one friend that needs to hear the Good News of Jesus. Share your faith story & ask if he/she is ready.

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