Go! I am sending you

Introduction:

Luke 10:1–3 (NIV)

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 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. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

Go ! Jesus sends us out among the world to tell people about the Gospel. As we look at the world around us we can see all kinds of brokeness. I was going to put up a bunch of stats to show how broken the world has become but I don’t think I really need to do this because we can see it all around us, every single day. People are struggling with a whole host of issues. For far to long we have looked to other means to help the world. People look to the governement, people look to a different ideaology to find hope. People look to themselves to find hope. There is only one way to true hope and redemption. The only way is Jesus. Jesus is the true hope and the true light. The Gospel is the only means of hope in a world full of brokeness and sin. Jesus tells these 72 to go out and spread the Gospel. He gives us this same mission in the Great Comission. The harvest is plentiful.

Now the Lord does not say that the harvest will be easy only that it will plentiful. We must work the soil, we must go out in the world and continue to preserve in the name of the Gospel because the stakes are just to high. The Gospel is the truth about Jesus Christ and it is the truth of the way to eternal salvation. Now really think about the stakes in helping people find Jesus. This truth is too important, and it was never meant to be kept under a shade, the light of Jesus is to bright. The eternal salvation of the soul is what we are discussing here, it is the ultimate way to love our neighbor.

This morning we are going to look at two points

Do not fear the worldly reactions

GO !

The Worldly reactions

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Pe 3:13–18.

We live in a post Christian culture and many people lament the days and look at a time when Christian values were more mainstream. However if we look to the scriptures we find the first letter from Peter. Peter lived in a pre-Christian culture. A culture that was full of legalism, paganism and all sorts of immorality. That is what the early church faced, and the spread the Gospel under threat of jail or death, or a date with the lions in the colessium. If we look at the book of Daniel, they faced the same threats. Our threats are not the same but less and less people are speaking about their faith. We look to these passages for guidance.

Even if we are to suffer for the Gospel then we are blessed because Jesus himself suffered. We must never forget that the Gospel has always been controversial. Jesus was put on a cross because of the Gospel. So many apostles were martyred for the Gospel. The Gospel is offensive because people must come to terms with the fact that they are sinners. We are sinners and the only way to change that status is with Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So yes, there may be suffering when it comes to the Gospel but if we suffer then we are in quite good company. We do not fear them because we have Jesus in our hearts and we are following the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We must always be prepared to give an answer for our hope. This is an important command because it breaks down in 2 parts. First we have to understand our own faith, we have to understand the scriputres. This means reading the Bible , attending Bible studies and being in fellowship with other believeres. it means being in prayer with the Father. When we have a foundation of our own faith then we can give answers. We must look around to these opprounities. People out there are straining out there look for answers.

Romans 8:22 (NIV)

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Paul says that creation is groaning as in the pains of childbirth, I think if we look around we can see this happening right at this moment in time. People are so desperate to believe in something that they even suspend basic biology to believe in it. People are yearning and reaching for anything to give them hope in something. We must answer the call of Jesus and follow in the footsteps of those that came before us and spread the Gospel.

1 Peter 3:15–16 (NIV)

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Now here is the tough part and also the part that I think most modern christians have a hard time with. We must do this in gentleness and respect towards the other person. In a world where even News channels have de-evolved into nothing but aruging about issues people have taken that cue. We no longer are hearing each other and instead have decieded that yelling on social media is a better way to approach things. Christians are called to a much higher standard than that and we need to heed this call from Peter. We are not to go out into the world yelling and screaming about Jesus. Furthermore we should never be judging people to an eternity in hell. We are not the judge, and it is not within our power to send people to heaven or hell.

We must keep our coonsicence clear, we must approach all people with love and we must approach them as Jesus did. Jesus went to the sinners and spread His Gospel. This doesn’t mean that we affirm people’s sin but it does mean that we must apporach and treat them as we would like to be treated.

Go!

Matthew 28:18–20 (NIV)

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Go and make disciples. This is what Jesus commanded before He went to be with the Father. It is something that should take seriously. Let us look at what Teresa of Avila ,

Christ has no body now on earth but yours;

yours are the only hands with which he can do his work,

yours are the only feet with which he can go about the world,

yours are the only eyes through which his compassion

can shine forth upon a troubled world.

Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Teresa of Avila

We are the feet of Jesus. The Great Comission should always be on our minds. We truly live in a troubled world and there is a remedy for that trouble and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is with us always, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We cannot bring people to Jesus. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that changes people’s hearts. However God puts people into our lives all the time that need to hear the Good News of Jesus. We must be ready for those people.

We must understand another point, it isn’t about how many or how few. We must not let pride get in the way of the Holy Spirit by thinking that we are saving people. That goes the opposite direction as well. We must not think so little of our faith that we never talk about it. We must not think that well I am not good enough or that my life isn’t together. It is not about perfection because that day will only come when we meet Jesus.

Conclusion

I stand before you today because of the Gospel. Because of the work of Jesus in my life. I do not mean that just as a pastor. I mean that as a man, a husband and a father. Jesus showed me what a real man is. I thought it was trying to be tough all the time, its not. Jesus has made me a better husband, I haven’t always been a good husband, but Jesus showed me a better way to be a husband. He showed me how to be a better father. I know everyone in here has those similiar things happening in your lives as well. Following Jesus isn’t just about Heaven , it is also for the here and the now. So why wouldn’t we tell people about it. Why wouldn’t we tell people why we have hope and joy in our lives despite the struggles in our own lives. I pray that you would find someone in your life that needs Jesus and you would introduce them to Him.

Let us pray.