Jesus Is Hiring
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Luke 10:1-12
Rev. Brian North – Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA
August 15th, 2010
Today we continue in our series of messages we’re in this summer under the umbrella of “potpourri.” It’s like a fruit basket upset of Scripture passages, sermon themes, worship styles, and preachers from one week to the next. And in today’s passage (Luke 10:1-12) we see Jesus giving direction and purpose to what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. So join with me in prayer and then we’ll dive into this morning’s text and message…
So we’re in Luke 10, beginning with the first verse: After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town (Luke 10:1-12).
Right off the bat, we see what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. But they aren’t following Jesus physically: the passage tells us that they were sent out “ahead of him in pairs…” You see, following Jesus doesn’t always mean he’s going to be right there by our side, or paving the road in front of us so all we have to do is paint the lines. Jesus sends us out into our communities, even ahead of him. Now, it is true, we want to do everything in God’s time, and sometimes patience is needed. But sometimes we use that as an excuse not to be obedient to where he’s sending us. “Let me pray about that ministry opportunity,” we say. And before long we’ve forgotten about it. But these 70 disciples are obedient and do exactly what Jesus asks them to do.
Now notice that even though they’re sent ahead of Jesus, this doesn’t mean he isn’t going to those places himself. Luke tells us that they were sent to the places where Jesus himself would be going. And so they’re going as advance scout teams to get a feel for the spiritual condition of the towns where Jesus will be going. They’re sent to get a feel of the spiritual lay of the land, to prepare the way, to soften up the hearts of the people, and to prepare them for Jesus’ teachings, that the Kingdom of God is near. The mission of these advance scout teams is vitally important to Jesus’ ministry, and it’s urgent. That’s why Jesus tells them not to greet anyone on the road. In other words, Jesus is saying, “Don’t delay. No dilly-dallying on the road. This is a really important mission I’m sending you on, so stay focused on the task.”
Jesus then tells them that “The harvest is plenty,” but then he goes on to say, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” In other words, people have a need for God because they’re far from him – that’s why the harvest is plenty – but not everyone is ready to hear that message – some will even be antagonistic towards it – and that’s why there are wolves. We all have a deep-seated need for God in our lives – we were created to be in relationship with Him, but people all over the world try and fill that need for God’s love, acceptance, peace, purpose in life, and so forth with all kinds of lesser things. That’s why addictions happen…that’s why materialism is rampant…it’s why we have greed, power struggles, and so forth. And many of these things are very seductive and hard to let go of, even though they’re short-lived imposters of what God has to offer. So sometimes when the Good News is offered, it’s resisted and even attacked.
And maybe you’re here this morning and you’re trying to fill that need for God with something else, and maybe you’ve been resistant before. Maybe you’ve felt a longing for peace, to be loved and accepted as you are yet encouraged and called to be someone different and better and full of abundant life. Jesus is who you’re looking for, and he offers himself to you today. Someone has been sent by him into your life and brought you to this place to hear the good news that you, and all of us, need.
We see this sheep and wolf scenario in more detail in the last 8 verses. Jesus talks about entering a house or a town, and if they’re well received and people return the blessing of peace and they seem open to their presence and their message, then Jesus tells the 70 to stay in those towns. Spend some time with them. Get to know them. Care for them. Bless them. And ultimately, they’re there to prepare those people for Jesus’ coming to town and the message that he will be bringing: that the Kingdom of God is near. But not every town and home will be so welcoming. Some will be full of wolves.
And so when they do come to a town that doesn’t welcome them and resists their efforts to soften the ground for the message Jesus wants to plant in their hearts, then it’s time to move on. Notice, though, that they’re still to proclaim that the kingdom of God is near. The message is still delivered, even as they acknowledge the resistance. But where there’s cold and harsh resistance to the gospel message, Jesus is essentially saying to them, “Don’t spend all your time there. Spend more time with the people who are open to God and prepare them to really receive my message.”
If a door is shut and no one’s willing to open it, then move on. A person can never be forced into an authentic relationship with Jesus. So go to the people who’d doors are open and ready. We see elsewhere in the NT that this doesn’t mean we give up on reaching these people, but we wait until the time is right to share the Good News with them.
So that’s why the advance scout teams are sent, to kind of tap into that desire for God that we all have, to help people see beyond their short term solutions to this need for God, and prepare them for the message that God in Christ is what they’re looking for. Some will be open to the message, some will not.
Now, the problem of wolves is not the only problem they’re facing. The other problem is that the laborers are few. Why? Because following Jesus is costly. The grace he offers is free. You can’t earn it. But when you’ve come to Christ and received that gift of forgiveness, the response is to dedicate your life back to Him in gratitude, love, service, and devotion to His will. That’s why we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And that pushes us beyond our comfort zones. It challenges us. Anyone who says, “Being a Christian is easy” isn’t really following Christ. I came across a question in a book recently that said, “Where does a person’s need for personal comfort end and a person’s commitment to the costliness of the gospel begin?”
We see the costliness here when Jesus told them to go without their material possessions, without their purses, and so forth. Why? Because that stuff distracts them from the mission he’s sending them on. It’s another indication of the importance of the mission he’s sending the disciples on. But it stretches our comfort zones to let go of these kinds of things.
And that’s why the workers are few. Now, here’s where things get really interesting. Jesus tells the disciples, therefore, that they’re to pray for God to send workers into the fields for the harvest. Haven’t many of us done that? Haven’t many of us prayed that God would strengthen some facet of our church: more impactful missions ministries, more robust children’s ministries, stronger leadership, more courageous decision making for Christ, or that God would make WPC a really bright light for Christ shining here in Chehalis, or that the care ministries of the church would be stronger, that we could visit more people more regularly who are sick, in the hospital, down and out, homebound…or whatever it might be. Haven’t we all prayed for those kinds of things at some point, and especially that God would raise up people who desire to participate in and lead those ministries? Haven’t we prayed that God would send laborers into the field for the harvest? Absolutely! Probably all of us have at some point.
But then what does Jesus say? “Go on your way! I am sending you!” Before they even pray, Jesus tells them that they are the answer to the prayer. If you’ve never thought that prayer was dangerous, you should now. Clearly, therefore, the problem wasn’t really that there weren’t enough laborers, it’s that the laborers were inclined to pray that someone else would do the job. So often when we pray for laborers to be sent, we presume we’re praying for someone else. We pray, “Lord, send us a person to lead the worship band. Send us some new Sunday school teachers. Send us people who will have a heart for missions. Send pastor Brian some wisdom…or at least some hair. Send us workers to fix our 80 year old building. Send someone to visit my friend in the hospital, or at home…And Lord, send the pastor or the children’s and youth director or another staff person or one of the elders or a deacon to do these things.” Oh, we might not pray it exactly like that, but deep down inside, we have an assumption that the ministry hole we’d like to see filled really ought to be filled by someone else. Well, Jesus calls us on the carpet here. Right here, Jesus shows us that the answer to these 70 disciples’ prayer, is themselves. The answer to our prayers for more workers is us! And so we are the workers that Jesus is now sending here in this community. You and I are the sent ones. We are the laborer for the harvest. You and I are the ones he commands to get uncomfortable and “go!”
Question: What is your response to Jesus’ command to go? Are we willing to be stretched and get a little uncomfortable so that we would live as sent disciples in our community? Or do we pray that God would send someone else? You see, for anyone who’s put their trust in Jesus Christ and is one of his disciples…we are automatically one of the laborers and he is sending you, and he’s sending me, to reach out to others who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Jesus is telling us as his disciples that we are sent out as his advance scouts with a vitally important mission: to get to know people, to care for them, to spend time with them, to get the lay of the spiritual land in their lives, and when the time is right, to invite them to hear the message of Jesus Christ.
That is our job. It’s the job Jesus gives in several places besides here, such as when he proclaims, “I’ve come to seek and save what was lost,” and it’s the job he gives in the Great Commandment “Go and make disciples of all people.” Jesus is the good doctor who has come not for the healthy, but for the sick, and those of us who already know him as our doctor are now on his medical staff bringing patients to him so Jesus can be their doctor, too.
But the problem is that there aren’t enough laborers, not because there literally aren’t enough people, but because of a lack of willingness to follow where Christ is sending us. We don’t see ourselves as our answer to the prayer, “Lord, send laborers for the harvest.” And so I ask each of us, “What is your response…what is my response…to Jesus telling us to go?”
There’s a new opportunity coming for us to live “sent” lives right here in Chehalis. Beginning on Wednesday the 15th of September, we are starting a new weekly ministry here at church called, “The Stand.” It will start every Wednesday night at 6:13. That time, and the title of the ministry comes from Ephesians 6:13, “Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). God calls us to stand up for our faith, to stand up for our families and our marriages, to stand up for his Word, to stand up for Jesus Christ, his grace, his truth, and more. It’s not a passive standing. It’s active. It’s a “sent” kind of standing, that as we live our lives in the community and in our church we stand up for what we believe.
There are three ways each of us can support this ministry as sent disciples here in Chehalis:
- Come and participate as a student, as a learner, and grow in your relationship to Jesus. As we grow closer to him, we will become more like him and live lives more devoted to him. We’ll know his word better, we’ll be drawn closer to others who follow Him. We’ll be stronger in our faith and able to live as his sent ones with a greater sense of conviction and confidence. All of us can do this.
- Some of you are sent to teach, and those of you who have the gift of teaching, the harvest is ripe. There are opportunities on Wednesday nights to teach children, youth and adults. You don’t have to be a bible or theology expert. Children’s teachers work in teams, Kent is there to help, and the curriculum is already chosen and laid out for you. For youth ministry, just a willingness to listen to teens, share your faith and life experience is the most important thing. For adult classes, there are a plethora of great DVD-driven classes that a person could facilitate, and all it takes is a little prep-work in advance to familiarize yourself with the video, a willingness to run the DVD player, and then facilitating the discussion questions. If you want to create your own classes, such as Ralph Carr does or I have done, then you can certainly do that. But the thing to keep in mind is that we are the workers Jesus wants to send for the harvest. This is an amazing opportunity we have to facilitate a class in order to bless people and help them in their faith.
- Lastly, since we are a sent people into the community around us, there are undoubtedly people we each know who are ready to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the answer they’re looking for. They’re ready for the harvest. Some out there are wolves…just be patient with them. But there are other people who are ready. All they need is an invitation to something like The Stand on Wednesday nights or to worship on Sunday mornings to hear the good news that the kingdom of God is near, and can be found in Jesus Christ.
More information will be coming soon, but mark your calendars for every Wednesday evening at 6:13 to be here for a little over an hour at the Stand. It’s one opportunity we have to live as laborers for Jesus Christ. And keep this new ministry in your prayers. Pray for teachers to labor in the field. Pray that people would come ready to labor for their personal faith growth. Pray for laborers to be sent out into the harvest. But recognize that as we pray that prayer, Jesus is sending us. We are the answer to those prayers as Jesus says to you and to me, “Go! I am sending you.” It’s an urgent mission that he gives us. No dilly-dallying. No procrastinating. We don’t have to wait for Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings. We are sent as his laborers at all times. And so in the end, let’s pray that we’d be obedient to Jesus Christ as he sends us out as laborers to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is near – even right here in Chehalis. Let’s Pray…Amen.
