Sent Out into the Harvest Field
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 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. 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. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in that house, 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 set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
13 “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, 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 up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.
16 “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Introduction
Introduction
The world in which we live loves to categorise people into groups. This is not always a bad things. Putting people into different groups can be extremely helpful and necessary (such as dividing children by age so that we can teach). There can also be times when this is very unhelpful!
But there is one key manner of categorising people in this world for us as Christians - and that is into groups of those who are lost in darkness, and those who are in Christ. We are never to use such categories to show disdain for those not in Christ.
Rather, we must see the urgency of the task at hand of evangelising the lost in this world. There truly is an urgent task at hand, and we are called as disciples of Jesus Christ to go out and proclaim the Gospel message of the kingdom, to be a church that is proclaiming the Gospel message of the kingdom, because herein lies the reality of the eternal destiny of the souls of man.
As we look to our passage this morning, we find Christ sending out a larger group of disciples than he previously had, and he send them out with an urgent charge to go and proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom of God. I do trust that we will see something of the urgency of the message, and that it will impact us as God’s people
Proclaiming the Gosple message of the kingdom of God was the urgent need in the day of Christ.
Proclaiming the Gospel message of the kingdom of God is the urgent need in our own day. The world needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
As we consider this passage notice firstly with me...
1. Christ’s Charge to Participate (vv.1-4)
1. Christ’s Charge to Participate (vv.1-4)
Christ gives a call in these verses to a larger group of disciples, urging them to participate in a particular manner in the extension of the kingdom that he has alreaady begun to establish in the world. In verse 1 we read…
1 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.
“After this” refers to that which has just preceded in the text of Luke. In this regard, there are two particular things that should be noted. Firstly, it refers to Jesus heading towards Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). He had set his face resolutely towards Jerusalem, and would now head towards that place, with a firm view of carrying through that which he had come for - to sacrifice his own life on the cross for the sake of sinners.
As Christ was heading to the cross, the proclaimation of the Gospel of the Kingdom became all the more urgent. Spreading the Gospel message in order to bring in a number of God’s chosen servants, prior to Christ being crucified and ascending into heaven, was what Christ had planned. The church at this stage was in its infancy. Christ would thus send out his disciples in order to spread the news. That is the first aspect in terms of the “after this...”
Secondly, we must take note of what has just preceded this passage. Christ has just told a number of would-be followers that the costs of following Christ are high. It should not be believed or thought that following Jesus Christ, or being a part of the church of Jesus Christ is merely a helpful add-on to a comfortable life. Following Christ is not a self-promoting, self-advancing activity, aimed at being a better version of you, or achieving a better life (in terms of wordly definitions of “better”).
Following Christ means to follow Christ on the road to the cross. It is always a road of self-denail. It is a life that will require the acceptance of the sufferings that come with living in obedience to the Saviour. It is a road upon which you will find hardships and trials of every kind.
But along with that, you will know the presence of Almighty God, the peace of God, the joy of God - riches that this world can never give. Satisfaction that this world can never bring. But we must be sure, that it is a call to self-sacrifice.
That then sets the scene for these disciples that are to be sent out by Jesus. They would have been witnesses to what Jesus had been teaching, even the teachings that he had given to those would-be disciples. These seventy-two disciples would have known that they were being called to forsake their own comforts, and would now be sent out into the harvest field in order to do the work to which Christ had called them.
We note here that Jesus appointed these seventy-two others (some translations - seventy). As Christ had appointed his Apostles for their particular work, so he now appoints these seventy-two for a particular work, or at least, a particular missions trip. We must not necessarily directly equate what he calls them to with our own call to make disciples. This was a particular instance that had particular instructions that were relevant for this moment.
Similar to the manner in which the 12 were previously sent out, we find that these disciples are sent out two by two. They would accompany one another, and work together as those proclaiming the word of God. They would not work alone.
The benefit of going in twos was for help and encouragement to one another. It was also important in terms of witness testimony being valid. If two people would bring the message of the Gospel, their testimony would be weightier and acceptable, whereas with just one person, it may be questioned, and would not have been valid, particularly in a legal sense.
Later on we will find that Peter and John went together to the Temple to give testimony (Acts 3:1, 4:1, 13, 19). We also see that Paul and Barnabas were sent out together. And these are just a couple of examples of the plentiful in Scripture!!
But moving on from this, we see also that Luke speaks of Christ sending them “ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.” In some respects, here is a continuation of the work of John the Baptist - preparing the way of the Messiah. Except now, these disciples will go on ahead of Christ in order to prepare the way for Jesus to Jerusalem.
Perhaps this was a matter of wise preparations on the part of Jesus. The Samaritan village had rejected him. By sending out his disciples at this time, it would provide an indicator of who would be prepared to accept him and allow him to stay with them as he journeyed on to Jerusalem.
But more importantly, they would be going ahead, preparing the people of those towns concerning the promised Messiah that had arrived, and in order to tell them of this Messiah, prior to Christ’s own arrival at those towns.
In verse 2, some further emphasis is laid in terms of the urgent task at hand.
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.
Christ once again uses a picture that was very pertinent and clear in the minds of his hearers - a picture relating to agriculture.
Essentially, Jesus tells these disciples that he is sending out that the all the world is like a harvest field of people. There are those that are ready to be brought into the kingdom of Christ.
Given the importance and the significance of the harvesting of the crop, they would have had clear sense of the urgency of the task at hand. They could not waste time. They were to go out with the Gospel message, and they were to call people to come into the kingdom!
Some things that we must note in particular. Firstly, we must see that the harvest field that Christ spoke of extended beyond the Jewish people. Many of the cities and towns to which these disciples would go, would be Samaritan and Gentile places. The Gospel was not reserved for a select few. It was to be proclaimed to all people.
Further to this, we must see that the harvest field was large. IT is the world. And that is still true of our day. The harvest field is ripe, and continues to be so in our own day until the return of Jesus Christ.
Very importantly, we need to bear in mind that the time is limited. It will not endure forever. There is a world out there in urgent need of the Gospel truth, the message of a Saviour that brings hope and healing.
If we just consider our own context in South Africa over recent weeks and months, we’ve seen all kinds of rioting and looting, we’ve seen the effects of corruption. We see the sinfulness of man around us. We live in a hurting world. We live in a dying world. And every person is looking for some way to get satisfaction and contentment in life, but they cannot find it apart from Christ! The Gospel must be proclaimed.
Looking back to our text, we note further that Christ tells these disciples that they are to “Ask the Lord of the harvest…to send out workers in his harvest field.”
Here we see the beautiful harmony of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. Christ tells his disciples that they must ask God to add to the number of his labourers, so that those labourers would also participate in the task of bringing in the harvest.
God is the one that equips and prepares the workers. He is the one that sends them out. But even so, we are to be praying for these to be raised up. Even in our own day, should we not be pleading with the Lord to raise up workers to go out into the harvest field?!
Is this our desires? To see the kingdom of God extending even as people are called to repentance and faith in Christ.
Very often this passage is used to support the idea that we’re to ask God to raise up pastors and shepherds over his flock, and perhaps to raise up evangelists.
And there’s nothing wrong with doing that. Certainly we must be doing that. In fact that is probably the main application of that from our text - it relates primarily to those who are full-time workers in the Gospel proclamation.
But we cannot limit Christ’s instruction to that dimension. Rather, we need to see that Kingdom work, Gospel proclamation, is the work of the entire church body. There is a task at hand, and we as the disciples are the ones that are to be about the work of the Saviour in the harvest field.
There are two dimensions to this. Firstly, there is the actual work of each person that is in Christ to take the Gospel message out as ambassadors of Jesus Christ. Each and every disciple of Jesus is to use both lifestyle and words to proclaim Christ.
In other words, Christ, in some measure, has called you to take his Gospel message into the harvest that is white, and waiting. There are people that you are interacting with, and that you will come into contact with on a daily basis, that are in need of the Gospel. And irrespective of how eloquent you are, or how well you think you can declare the Gospel, you have the opportunity to share something of God’s grace towards you, and his love towards mankind through his Son, Jesus Christ. Don’t take that opportunity / responsibility for granted.
But more broadly than that, there is the dimension of the church body as a whole. We as the church are to be those who are constantly invovled in and committed to the labours of Gospel proclamation. We are to work hard towards this end, so that the true message of salvation may be taken to a world that is lost in darkness and sin. In this respect, I mean that we as the church are to use our gifts and abilities and resources for the support of the church, so that we together as a body may impact the world for Christ.
As we continue on in our text, we see that Jesus presents his disciples with an important warning.
3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
The world into which these disciples were going was a world that would seek to devour those who were disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself knew this very well. Even from the earliest days of his ministry in the world, Christ had faced severe persecution and opposition. He had even had the threat of a group of people - the religious leaders - seeking an opportune time to put him to death in order to stop the work that he was doing.
The same would be true of these disciples. Ultimately, many of the disciples of Jesus would go on to be martyred for their faith. We considered this a couple of weeks back in our evening service. Persecution, and even perhaps martyrdom, is not something that is to be considered foreign to what it means to follow Christ.
As Christ was sending out these disciples, they would be going out with this clear knowledge that their very lives would be at risk. In fact, the picture is so graphic, that it almost sounds crazy. What is the natural consequence of sheep going out amongst wolves - they’re going to be devoured!! But this is the context into which Christ sends them.
As such, they were to be wise, they were to be careful. But they were also to be meek. They were not to become lions, or some animal stronger than the wolves that would seek to devour them. They were going out with the Gospel of peace.
But one thing they would need to remember, very importantly, the Shepherd would be with them!!
12 The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.
As we take the Gospel message, we do so, similarly, with the knowledge that we proclaim the Gospel of peace. In this sense, we are mere lambs. We do not go out with our power and strength, seeking to tranform people by force. Rather, we go with the simple proclamation of the Gospel of peace.
Even as we go, we need to be cognisance of the fact that this world is filled with those who would seek to devour the Christian! But Christ, our good shepherd, the victorious Shepherd, goes with us.
Finally, and very briefly in terms of Christ sending out the workers into the harvest field, we see what Christ instructed his disciples to take with them.
4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
I won’t spend time on this point. We dealt with the implications of this when Jesus sent out the 12 with similar instructions. The point simply was that these disciples were to, trusting in the provisions of God to be made for them. They were not to take their own provisions, but rather were to go out in faith by the instruction of Christ, and allow God to be the one that would provide for their every need.
This leads us to our second main point from this passage, and that is...
2. Christ’s Gospel of Peace (vv.5-9)
2. Christ’s Gospel of Peace (vv.5-9)
Again, there will be a number of close correlations to the previous study we did for the sending out of the 12 (Luke 9:1-11), so I won’t deal with all of the similarities here again.
But note, firstly, note verses 5-6...
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.
We see once again that the disciples that were going out were to stay in the houses of people when they entered into the cities in which they were to preach the Gospel message.
Importantly from these verses, we find the mention of the important word - “peace.” The greeting that is to be extended by the disciples is one of “peace.” This was not to be a mere formality in terms of the greeting - which was customary in those days.
Rather, they would actually bring with them a Gospel message of peace from God to man. They were declaring a message that by its very content is one of peace being brought into place between God and man. Our God is the God of peace, and he sought to bring peace in the midst of a strong animosity.
If we just think about the world around us, and we see all of the strife and the hatred and the animosity that exists among people, we must realise that this is only the symptom of the greater problem - that man is not at peace with God. When man’s relationship with God is right, then their relationship with men will be right.
Thomas Watson wrote:
If God is our heavenly Father we will have a peaceful spirit. Grace infuses a sweet and pleasant disposition and files off the ruggedness of men’s spirits. It turns the lion-like fierceness into a lamb-like gentleness. The Father is called the ‘God of peace’ (Heb. 13: 20). The Son is called the ‘Prince of peace’ (Isa. 9: 6). The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of peace (Eph. 4: 3). The more a person is peaceable, the more he is like God.
[Richard Rushing. Voices from the Past (Kindle Locations 3379-3382). The Banner of Truth Trust.]
Christ’s instruction to his disciples is quite simply, if a man of peace is there, then their peace will rest upon that man. In other words, if the man is welcoming of the Gospel message of peace through Jesus Christ, then they will indeed receive the favour of God, and will be at peace with him. If the man accepts those bringing the Gospel of peace, then God’s peace will be with them. Notice that such a person welcomes them in, and will proceed to provide for their physical needs.
7 Stay in that house, 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 set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’
Very simply, Christ is saying that as these disciples go out and proclaim the Gospel message, they will be working in the harvest field of God, and God will ensure that the hearts of those who receive this Gospel message are moved to support these ministers of the Gospel.
Again, it’s just a wonderful picture of the work of God, even as he works through His people. God moves his people to have willing hearts to support these labourers. And so the workers are provided for.
Just two further things that I’d like to point out from these verses, both from verse 9.
Firsty, that the Gospel message goes out in both word and deed. That is, the disciples were instructed to bless the people physically, as Christ enabled them to do by His power. And they were to proclaim the Gospel in word. That is true of our day, in terms of us proclaiming Christ.
Secondly, the truth concerning the Kingdom of God having come near. We must have this truth burned into our minds, that there are two kingdoms in this world. There is the kingdom of Satan, and all of those who are still lost in darkness, are part of this kingdom of Satan. But Christ is calling people into His kingdom. They are to come under his gracious and merciful Lordship, and live in subjection to and obedience to Him.
The Kingdom of God has come near!!
These verses spoke to us about Christ’s Gospel of Peace. Indeed, this is what the Gospel message is.
But we see finally from our text...
3. Christ’s Warning of Punishment (vv.10-16)
3. Christ’s Warning of Punishment (vv.10-16)
The Gospel of peace is the message that is to be sent out into the world that is in darkness and sin. But we must note the dire consequences of a rejection of the acceptance of the Gospel of peace. There are severe warnings of punishment.
10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’
The point here made is that there will be those who will reject the Gospel message that is proclaimed. While it is always true that the harvest field is ripe, we do not take that to mean that every single person in the world is going to accept Christ and His Gospel of peace. Rather, there are many that will reject the Gospel.
This must encourage us as Christians. We are so often afraid to speak the message of the Gospel to people around us for fear of rejection. But we must know that this rejection is part of Christ’s plan. He knew that there would be rejection. It will always exist. But the call is to go, nonetheless, and to proclaim the Gospel truth, because God has His elect.
Charles Spurgeon once said…
If God would have painted a yellow stripe on the backs of the elect I would go around lifting shirts. But since He didn’t I must preach “whosoever will” and when “whatsoever” believes I know that he is one of the elect.
We don’t know who the elect of God are. And so we call all people to repentance and faith. We sound the message to all of the world! We do not decide on our own merit who is worthy of receiving the Gospel, and who not. We call people to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ! And we rejoice, knowing that God has his chosen people, and they will come to faith!
For those who refuse the Gospel, there is the warning of condemnation and judgment. In verse 11, this comes through with that picture of shaking the dust off of their feet. You will recall that I spoke about this in the passage of the sending of the 12. The picture essentially means that those who refuse the message of Jesus Christ are to be considered unclean before God. And as a consequence of them being unclean, the disciples will shake even the dust of their feet off from those places.
This in itself would be a warning to the people who so rejected the Gospel. They would understand even from this picture that they were being considered to be unclean. But notice the words that Christ says they should add to their action…
“But be sure of this, the kingdom of God has come near.”
At the end of time, those who have heard the Gospel message will never be able to say that they were unaware of the truth of the Gospel message. That message went out, they rejected it.
The reality is that within the sinful heart of man, they reject the message of the kingdom of Christ.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
Let me say - that text in Romans speaks about what is known even through the created order - nature! How much more so will the condemnation be fitting for those who reject the kingdom of Christ when it is proclaimed through his special revelation - the Scriptures!
The severity of the punishment is then described in verse 12…
12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
This must surely stand as a very striking warning. The wickedness in Sodom was exceedingly great. Listen to the words of God concerning that place.
20 And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.
When God spoke words of condemnation against Jerusalem and her false prophets, he used the city of Sodom as an example of the extent of their wickedness.
14 “Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:
The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;
And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
All of them have become to Me like Sodom,
And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
Sodom was a place of great wickedness, and God was going to bring a punishment against that city that was appropriate for their wickedness. And so we read in Genesis 19...
24 Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven,
25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.
When Abraha awoke the next morning, and went and looked down towards that valley, we read…
28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.
Let us not minimize and underestimate the extent of the wrath of God upon Sodom, as a consequence of their great wickedness.
But Jesus uses this punishment that God enacted on them to say that rejection of the Son of God, and the Gospel message of the kingdom will be more severe. It will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
I want to pause and just say, this is not a matter of reactionary vengeance from God. We must know that God is in the heavens! God is the glorious creator! He has made mankind to worship Him, and to bring Him glory, because he is worthy.
11 “Who is like You among the gods, O Lord?
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
Awesome in praises, working wonders?
3 Splendid and majestic is His work,
And His righteousness endures forever.
3 Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
10 For You are great and do wondrous deeds;
You alone are God.
5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength;
His understanding is infinite.
All of the Scriptures speak to the greatness of God. The greatness and the glory of His works is unsearchable. But He has revealed sufficiently for man, that man should stand in awe of Him. In fact, man should bow down in worship of the Almighty!!
To reject God, and to reject the Gospel of salvation through Christ, is the epitomy of arrogance and rebellion against God. It shows the heart of man for what it truly is.
Notice what Christ goes on to say…
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
14 “But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you.
15 “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades!
Jesus compares various cities over here. I’ll just try emphasize the important point that he was making.
In verse 14, Tyre and Sidon are mentioned. Essentially, it is said that if certain miracles had been performed in these cities, they would have repented. To understand the force of these words, we need to understand that Tyre and Sidon were cities filled those who were exceedingly proud of heart, lovers of money, and exceedingly cruel in their conduct. If you go in your own time to Isaiah 23, and to Ezekiel 26-28, you will find the judgments of God against these cities as a result of their sin.
But Christ uses these cities to say to other cities such as Chroazin, BEthsaida, and even Capernaum, his place from which he worked, that they will indeed receive severe judgment and wrath, because they, having witnessed profound miracles, many miracles, refused to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
Just think about all the miracles that we’ve considered through our study in Luke thus far… many of them were performed in these towns. Extensive miracles were performed in Capernaum itself. Christ himself had taught in the synagogue there, delivered the demon-possessed man, and healed all the sick of that town. And yet here, Christ says that they would not repent, and were those going to face punishment.
Friends, let us recognise that the Gospel message is not simply going to be welcomed with open arms by everyone. If this is our expectation when we proclaim the Gospel, then we will be sorely disappointed!
But, we need to keep in mind that Christ has sent disciples out into the harvest field! He has his harvest, and they are to come in. And He will be faithful to bring them in, and so we must go into the world!!
Note the encouragement from verse 16…
16 “The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
This is a very important verse. When those who are sent by Christ speak, Christ says that he speaks through them. Christ makes his call to the world through His servants! Thus, if they reject the call that comes from the people of Jesus, they are rejecting the call of Jesus Himself. And in doing that, they are rejecting the call of Almighty God.
That is not a license to use God’s name with words that he has never spoken, or commanded. We don’t make up a message, and then say we’re from Christ. That’s what false prophets do.
But we do take the message of Jesus Christ - the truth of the Gospel of salvation being brought to man through Christ - and we call upon people to repent and believe this message. If they reject that message, then they reject the Saviour Himself, and they reject God.
Application / Conclusion
Application / Conclusion
Very briefly…
I trust that we’ve been challenged once again by the importance, the urgency of the task of Gospel proclamation. Christ is the Saviour. The world needs to hear this message! And we are those who need to proclaim that message!
Without it, there are going to be severe consequences. There is going to be a final judgment.
I would just say, if you have not seen your own sin, and your own need for a Saviour, please look to what Christ says. We are called to repentance and faith him. We are called to confess our sin before this holy, Almighty, majestic God, and to confess that we have rebelled against him, and are in need of a Saviour, one that can take upon himself God’s wrath due to us. And Jesus Christ is that only Saviour! Turn to him and be saved!!
For us as the church, let us once again be struck with the urgency of the task at hand. The harvest field is white, and it awaits workers in that field, calling in God’s elect.
God will do the work, but we must be faithful to do that which He has called us to! Let us not delay. Let us not be lethargic and apathetic. Let us pray for a renewed sense of the urgency of the calling, and also the joy of being able to participate in this great calling!