Deurpost

TEXT: Luke 10:1-24
PREACHER: Marc La Porte
DATE: October 11, 2009

Introduction

• In the last section of Luke chapter 9, Jesus realizes that the time of His death is coming closer, and He deliberately decides to make His way to Jerusalem for the big finale;
• From where He is in Galilee, it is pretty much straight down through Samaria to Jerusalem, but He ended up going around Samaria (through Decapolis and Perea) because the Samaritans didn’t allow Him passage;
  • It is most likely this story happened in Perea;
• And this story is the sending of the 72 disciples in pairs throughout the different cities;
  • That is 36 teams of two disciples (disciples who were constant hearers of His teachings and witnesses of His miracles) going to all the cities Jesus still planned to visit;

Appointed and Sent Out (Luke 10:1-3)

• PRAY
  • The first thing Jesus tells them to do is pray
    • Pray to praise God that there is an abundance of people out there with willing hearts to receive the gospel;
    • Pray that God sends us into His fields, and that He will go along with us and give us success;
      • “Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?’ I said, ‘Here I am. Send me.’” (Isaiah 6:8)
    • Pray that God sends others into His fields, and that He will go along with them and give them success;
• GO
  • The second thing Jesus tells them to do is go
    • Jesus commands them to go, because God will use them to answer their own prayers;
    • Prayer must be followed by action;
      • We can pray all we want, but if it’s not followed by action nothing will ever happen;
• SENT AS LAMBS
  • The third thing Jesus tells them is they will be send as lambs among wolves;
  • Now to fully appreciate the beauty and importance of what Jesus is saying here, you need the insight of a shepherd of real livestock;
    • Sheep are very aware and afraid for the wolves, are usually further away from the shepherd (hence in more danger), and do not listen very often to the shepherd;
    • Lambs stay very close the shepherd, listen very well, and have no fear towards the wolves (because they don’t realize the danger);
    • Both sheep and lambs are attractive food for wolves, but wolves will first go for the lambs as it is the weaker animal of the two, and wolves will not stop hunting his prey until they’re victorious (or die at the hand of the shepherd);
    • The shepherd will lose more sheep than lambs, because he can protect the lambs better because they stay close and listen better, and has a special love for the lambs, because they show more love than the sheep;
  • When Jesus is saying that He is sending us out as lambs among wolves, He is saying that when we are out on mission:
    • We need to not be afraid about our “enemy”;
    • We need to stay close to Jesus and listen to His direction and leading;
  • We need to realize that Jesus is the one appointing us a lambs, which means that:
    • He will protect us when we are on mission;
    • He has a special love for us when we are on mission;
  • Jesus commands us to go with a certain kind of heart:
    • A heart that trusts in God (in His protection and love for us);
    • A heart that shows peace and patience;
    • A heart that is ready to face opposition (trouble/persecution);

Specific Ministry Guidelines (Luke 10:4-9)
After Jesus got them praying, after He got them going; and after He put their hearts in the right place, He gives them specific instructions for ministry, and I believe these same underlying principles apply to us;

• NOT BE DISTRACTED
  • They were not to be distracted either by material concerns or by endless ceremonies of etiquette, but they were to trust that God would provide for them through the generosity of others, and they were to thankfully receive what was offered to them;
  • This means that:
    • We must go in haste, knowing that we’re on a strategic mission, with a clear message, and have no time to waste, remembering that we are ministers of the Word, and we need to take care of our task;
    • We must go with sorrow, with our hearts broken for the hurting condition of the people to whom we are reaching out;
• FIND THE PERSON OF PEACE
  • The disciples were on the road, in pairs, going to different unfamiliar cities. In each city they were in need of a place to stay at night, while they were out healing and preaching during the day;
  • The person of peace is:
    • Someone who is open or impressed by the message of the gospel the disciples bring, and gives them a place to stay;
    • Someone who serves as a great contact person (or witness) within the community (or sub-culture);
    • Someone who gives credibility to the disciples’ message, because he/she is a respected person;
• HEAL AND PREACH IN THE CITY
  • They were to enter a city and heal the sick, and announce the kingdom of God;
  • The healing was important because it showed that:
    • Though the kingdom of God was coming with power (as everyone expected it would);
    • That the power would be shown in acts of mercy and kindness (which was not expected);
  • The healing was a part of their preaching;
    • They would describe what the kingdom of God was all about after they had healed the sick;
    • They would first show the power and then explain the power;
  • I don’t know about you, but I have never healed the sick, and the thought of even trying this makes me think:
    • I am not able to;
    • That’s back then, or that’s over there, but not here;
    • That’s not my spiritual gift;
    • What if I try and it doesn’t work out?
  • But the power that Jesus gave these 72 disciples is the same that is given to you and me, so we are just as much able to heal the sick as they were;

A Warning (Luke 10:10-16)
The only thing I will say here is that when we truly preach Jesus’ message, and do what Jesus did, we can trust that there will be rejection, but we have to remember that it is because they reject the message of Jesus and are not rejecting us;

The Joy (Luke 10:17-20)
Having completed their mission, the disciples come back filled with joy at seeing the kingdom of God advance;

• They:
  • Returned with joy, rejoicing in their success;
  • Did not complain of the tiredness of their journeys;
  • Did not complain of the opposition and discouragement they met with;
  • Gave Jesus all the glory of it;
• Because they stepped out in faith:
  • Jesus confirms that He blessed them with more than they expected, namely the casting out of demons;
  • Jesus entrusts them now with even greater power;
• But, Jesus also directed their joy into the right channel;
  • Jesus then warns them to rejoice in what God has done for them, not in what they had done for God;
  • Having your name written in heaven is a matter of greater joy than casting out demons, and is to be more valued than the power to perform miracles;
  • God wants us to see that what He has done for us always is far greater than what we could ever do for Him;

The Prayer (Luke 10:21-22)
Jesus’ joy makes Him break out into prayer;

• Jesus is genuinely excited here. Literally, the ancient Greek says He was thrilled with exceptional joy;
• He praises God the Father for His wisdom, for His plan, and for His own unique relationship with God the Father;
• I think the theme of God’s wisdom and plan is very well worded by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-30;

The Blessing (Luke 10:23-24)
Jesus told His disciples how well it was for them that they had these things revealed to them;

• How the great men of the Old Testament would have longed to see Jesus’ ministry and to minister for Him!
  • How David would have loved to see Jesus do the things He did, and how Isaiah would have longed to hear what Jesus said! We have these privileges, but they did not;
  • This should awaken a desire in us to praise God even more, and to want to share this great news with anyone we can think of;

Conclusion
Now, how does this story influence or shape the way we do mission?I found this great summary of the work of these disciples here, and how we should go forth with the gospel:

• We do the work knowing how big the job is;
• We do the work knowing that we have a key job;
• We do the work with a lot of prayer;
• We are to actually go and do the work;
• We do the work making ourselves vulnerable, letting God be our strength;
• We do the work without reliance upon anything except the gospel and power of God;
• We do the work not allowing social obligations to hinder our work;
• We do the work expecting that God will bring help and provision;
• We do the work not being hung up on minor points;
• We do the work looking to minister to the whole person with the power of God;
• We do the work preaching that the King and His kingdom are here;
• As we do the work, we don’t waste our time on those who are rejecting the gospel;
• We do the work remembering whom we represent;
• We do the work expecting God to do more than we expect;
• We do the work knowing that Jesus has so much joy when we do His work;

Let me summarize this even more, something easy to remember, which seems to be the principle cycle of going on mission:

• PRAY;
• PEACE;
• PREACH AND HEAL;
• PRAISE;