Luke 10:1-11
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.
Recently we have studied two passages that discussed the cost of following Jesus.
I hope those studies were profitable to you.
I hope they showed you the real gospel...
and...
made obvious the corruption of the feel-good, no-strings-attached, false gospel.
In our study today, we are going to look at Jesus sending out 70 or 72 missionaries.
(that is the kind of problems we find in the manuscript evidence)
(autographs were perfect - our copies are extremely reliable)
(no substantive questions)
==
Who would be better at designing an evangelism strategy than Jesus?
Nobody.
So, let’s see what he did.
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.
2 And he said to them, “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.
3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’
6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.
7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.
8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you.
9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
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.’
PRAY
==
Let’s look together at the...
Master of evangelism
Master of evangelism
Verse one told us that
the Lord appointed seventy-two others...
the Lord - do you happen to remember the sermon about how you can either call Jesus Lord...
or...
reserve the right to say no to him?
We said that you cannot do both of those things, - you must pick one or the other.
46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
If the Lord says go, we go.
What about when he says go and we don’t go...
that is a pretty good indication that He is not your Lord.
If He is not your Lord, then He is not your savior.
In other words, if you are truly born again, you will do what your Lord tells you to do.
If you don’t - please realize that you need to be saved.
You may protest - I don’t blame you.
After all, most American church goers never share their faith.
That is true...
but...
it is also true that Jesus said,
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’
23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Don’t you just love this feel-good preaching?
Really, I do want you to feel good.
Feel good by really being saved by the real gospel, and then really obeying your Lord.
That does feel good, by the way, and not just in the short-term.
==
Hopefully we have established that the Lord gets to tell us what to do.
Now, verse 1 says He...
appointed seventy-two...
Our sovereign Lord knows what He is doing.
He knows whom he is appointing, and will give them the power to do what he calls them to do.
Are you with me?
Do you believe that?
Now He has appointed you, if you are saved - if you have been reconciled to God.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
Now that you know you have been appointed, do you still realize that He knows what He is doing?
Would you still say that He will give those He appoints the power to do what He commands?
==
Maybe it will help if we see the next part of the phrase.
the Lord appointed seventy-two others...
These were not the apostles.
Do you remember what apostle means?
Sent ones.
These guys were sent - and so are we, but they weren’t these unique apostles - and neither are we.
The point is that these evangelists were just average believers like us.
We can relate to these guys.
We, and they, are regular believers commissioned by Jesus to go and take the message of the kingdom.
==
Sent them 2 by 2 - (so much easier when you have someone on whom you can depend)
9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!
11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?
12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Where did he send them?
“into every town and place where he himself was about to go.”
(they were heralding the arrival of a king)
(we need to operate in faith that where he sends us - He is about to come)
Look at verse 2
2 And he said to them, “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.
We are called to be faithful laborers and to pray for more laborers.
How can we pray for laborers without being laborers ourselves?
How hypocritical that would be!
How are we going to have more laborers?
We will make disciples who will make disciples.
That is the plan.
Those are our Lord’s marching orders.
Please decide whether you will obey.
(You can’t just passively listen to this sermon - you have to choose to obey or not.)
(Let me encourage you to feel that burden and to act upon it.)
Harvest
To put this in perspective let’s look at a parable Jesus told about the harvest.
24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’
28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’
29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
(serious business)
(Don’t be like Jonah)
==
Now let’s look at the
Method of evangelism
Method of evangelism
3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’
6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.
7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.
8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you.
9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
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.’
Unlike many who claim to speak for Jesus, He never says that following Him will be easy.
Look at verse 3.
3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.
Hmmm.
Do you know what happens when lambs hang out with wolves?
It’s not easy for the lambs.
It’s not health, wealth, and prosperity.
Jesus wants what is best for you, not what is easiest.
==
Verse 4 tells us that we are to be on mission.
4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.
We aren’t sightseers or tourists.
We are to keep our eyes on the goal.
Share the message of the gospel.
This was a short term mission trip, not normal everyday life...
but...
we know that we can so easily be distracted from our mission.
We can’t let that happen.
People have to make a living, raise children, care for loved ones, etc.
We can either do those things with an eye out for opportunities to serve God and advance the kingdom...
or...
we can put our mission and true purpose on the back burner.
Let’s be careful not to be distracted.
We do not want to be like that soil in the parable of the soils that describes people who are...
distracted by the cares and riches and pleasures of life.
==
Jesus lays out for us an interesting and wise strategy in these next few verses.
5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’
6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.
7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.
8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you.
Allow me to refer back again to the parable of the soils.
When we find good soil, we are to stay there and invest in people who are willing to receive the gospel.
We can pray for unprepared soil, but we should not invest our time there.
Instead, let’s invest our time and energy in the people that receive the message.
We need to find sons and daughters of peace where God is at work.
How do we find them?
We liberally sow the seed of the gospel and see who is receptive.
We invite people.
For the most part - almost always - people who say they will come and don’t come - will continue to string you along...
and...
be a great source of frustration.
Instead, let’s seek out those who are actually interested in having authentic gospel community and disciple them.
==
Let me say a word about money and the gospel.
In verse 4, Jesus says do not take a moneybag...
In verse 7, Jesus says the laborer deserves his wages, and encourages his followers to eat and drink what is offered.
It is right for those who live by the gospel to make their living by the gospel...
but...
it is not okay for charlatans to try and use religion to become rich.
Ministers of the gospel are not to try and climb the “corporate ladder” so to speak.
A pastor’s goal should be to be more effective this year than last year.
Sometimes that means moving to a bigger church...
but certainly not always.
What it means for me is constantly asking God to use me in whatever way will be most useful to Him.
I am not getting any younger, and neither are you.
Let’s do all we can to be useful while we have time.
You will not be able to serve God as an evangelist in the next life.
If you are to obey your Lord in this area, you must do so here and now.
==
Verses 8-11 tell us what Jesus told them to do and say.
We have heard this before.
9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
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.’
He sent them out to minister to people and proclaim the gospel.
Notice with me the message they proclaimed.
The kingdom of God is here, and they have to choose what to do with it.
They either receive it, or they reject it.
Eventually they are confronted with the gospel.
We love for folks with questions to be here.
We want people to understand the gospel and count the cost...
but...
We need to let them know that failing to follow Jesus is actually rejection of Jesus...
it’s the same thing with the same outcome.
(people belong to one kingdom or the other)
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
==
Now let’s talk about the...
Motivation for Evangelism
Motivation for Evangelism
Love for God.
Love for people.
We don’t evangelize because of a lack of love, NOT a lack of training or know-how.
(Leverage your
home, apartment, dorm room
work
friend and family relationships
recreational time)
2020 was not the best of times for this.
Now is the time to determine that you will do these things as soon as we can in 2021.
Live on mission!!