The Lord of the Harvest and the Kingdom of God

We’re continuing today in the season after Pentecost, the time of expansion of Jesus’s church after walking through his life, death, resurrection, and the sending of his Spirit. And as we look at the Spirit at work in the expansion of the church, we see an account of the missionary work Jesus’ sent out 72 of his disciples to do. And since this church is in a beginning phase, it’s encouraging to see the lectionary give us a glimpse of what Jesus instructed his 72 missionaries to do. Mission work is always going to look different in different parts of the world. And the work we see the 72 doing is appropriate for their time and place. And there are things about it that are appropriate to ours as well. Today we’re going to walk through the passage in terms of several pieces of encouragement and a couple of challenges.

The first piece of encouragement I want to offer from Luke 10 today is that people were sent “into every town and place where [Jesus] himself was about to go.” They weren’t being blindly sent out randomly, but they were going because Jesus was going to go there. This is helpful for us, isn’t it? Are we setting out as people off to build something for God? A tower into the heavens perhaps? Or are we going to prepare the way of the Lord? We’re going to prepare the way of the Lord. Creating a space for worship is to create a kingdom outpost. A special place set aside for the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to do their work in human hearts and souls and minds and strength in a special way. So as we go out into mission, we go out in preparation for Jesus to show up. And as he does, he will build his church, and he includes us in that and calls for us to help.

Another piece of encouragement for us is that Jesus does not send us out alone. I’m so grateful for the people who have come alongside us in the early moments of our ministry here. I’m not doing ministry alone. This is good to remember as we walk through our gathering stage, that Jesus sent out 2 people at a time, and we are more than 2 people. We have a multitude of gifts and different expressions of the Spirit of God at work to edify and build us up through the other believers around us, even in our own families. When we feel alone, we can reach out to others here and build each other up. And on this side of Pentecost, we can also say that the Holy Spirit is in our hearts. If we find ourselves in prison, in solitary confinement, in the depths of the sea, where can we go from the Spirit of God? And so, Jesus sends us out not alone, but with partners on our mission.

We get two pieces of encouragement in vs. 2. There Jesus says:

Luke 10:2 ESV

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

So he encourages us to pray for co-laborers. There’s a harvest here, even in Lynden. This is not a harvest of personal fulfillment. It’s not in order to feel good that a crowd has been effectively gathered. It’s a harvest for eternal life, for eternal souls. It’s bringing eternal souls into eternal life rather than letting them remain in eternal death and condemnation. This church can be a part of that in a special way, here in our community. Each church, each person brings distinct gifts that make the good news of Jesus reach people who might not be reached otherwise. Let’s pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to go with us into the field where we’ve been sent.

And this is work. Rewarding work. American Christians have been trained to sit in a seat, listen to others sing, be entertained by a dynamic speaker, and go home and watch TV, justified in our churchgoing, until next week. Let’s not forget the harvest. The work of the harvest can begin by something as simple as praying for your neighbors. I encourage you to start there this week. And if you’ve been doing that for a while. You might even let them know that you’ve been praying for them and see what the Lord of the Harvest will do.

The second piece of encouragement from vs. 2 is that it’s important to remember there is a Lord of the Harvest. We can give thanks that the harvest is the Lord’s. God is sovereign over his harvest. And he’s decided to include us in this work. Don’t just skip ahead to the prayer request before acknowledging the one you’re praying to, and his ability to make it happen. That’s why the Lord’s prayer doesn’t start with “Give us this day our daily bread.” No, it starts with, “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name.“ You are our Father, you are a God of relationship. Your residence is high above earthly things in heaven. And your name is hallowed, holy, otherworldly, set apart in righteousness; let it be known. The harvest belongs to you. Send out laborers into your harvest, O Lord.

Jesus tells the 72 that he is sending them as sheep into the midst of wolves. And this is one reason to pack light and be intentional. He tells his 72 missionaries not to greet anyone on the road. The road is where randomness and chaos is. You never know who you’re going to meet on the road. He’s not sending his sheep to be needlessly eaten by wolves on the road. He’s sending them to a town, to a household of peace. There are lots of ways to think about this. But I feel like this is what has happened at our little church. The Lutheran congregation has very much been this kind of household of peace for us, giving us a place to stay, a base of operations in the community. We learned about this place because our family visited another Anglican church three hours south of Bellingham and the priest there announced that we were beginning work on a church plant in Lynden. And simply hearing this, some of their congregation reached out to us and said, “You’ll probably need a place to meet, won’t you?” What an encouraging piece of confirmation it is when a door like this is opened.

Jesus tells them to eat what is set before them. For those who worship the Lord through giving, whether money or soup or dessert, you are advancing the kingdom. You provide space and nourishment and life to the church and allow the harvest to move forward, giving tools and food and shelter to the other workers in God’s harvest. God bless you in your giving.

Jesus tells the 72 to heal the sick. Let us pray for those in need of healing. That’s part of the mission. God does heal people miraculously and that healing can be for believers, yes, but it can also open the door for those without belief in Jesus to believe. This again goes back to praying for your neighbors and telling them that you’re praying for them. And if you know someone who is sick and wants a priest to pray with them, invite them to church, or I can go visit them, if they’d like. The Lord brings in the harvest many ways, and one of them is through a ministry of healing. The ministry of healing is a tangible way to proclaim that the kingdom of God is near. Remember, we’re going before Jesus into places where he is coming and we are paving the way for him. That’s our job, to prepare the way for the Lord to come and do his work. And a sign that he is near is his care for the sick. He doesn’t always show his glory through healing. Sometimes he shows it through our faithfulness when we are not being healed. But he knows what he is doing and he will bring us ultimate healing if we trust in him. And as we do that we bring glory to him and participate in the harvest in either our healing, or our faithfulness, or both. Either way the world sees that God is at work. And the harvest is brought in.

If there is no response from the surrounding community to the mission that Jesus sends the 72 on, look at Jesus’ instructions in vs. 10:

Luke 10:10–16 ESV

10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that 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. 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. 16 “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

We need to be faithful in the harvest. And sometimes that means that no one accepts the message, and that’s OK. The message that the kingdom of God has come near is for everyone. For those who receive it, it means eternal life. For those who don’t, it means judgment. But the message must go out. Judgment is coming anyway. The judge is coming anyway and we are bringing the message of his love for all mankind before he appears. What they do with that message is up to them. Each person must make a choice. But the message must go out if the harvest is going to come in.

In the process, we may find other benefits along the way, other ways that God provides for the harvest. Look at vs. 17:

Luke 10:17–20 ESV

17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus empowers his church for victory. When we see that victory over disease, or political opposition, or the devil himself, those are not the milestones we celebrate. That’s when idolatry creeps in. Instead we thank God for his work in our lives, in our hearts, for his gift of love on the Cross, bringing us salvation, and eternal life with him. And that’s how we stay away from corruption and wandering off. Keep the main thing the main thing. Salvation in Jesus, the kingdom of God drawing near, new creation, the harvest coming in. May his kingdom come and his good will be done on earth as it is in heaven.