“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. 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. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace be to this house!” And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 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. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, “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.” I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.’” Luke 10:1-12 ESV
Now this was our Lord’s instructions to a specific group of disciples of his at a particular time in history in a distinctive culture of that day and time and place. So all of the detailed instructions here may not apply to all of us now, but there is a lot we can learn from this passage of Scripture that we can apply to our lives today – to us who are following Jesus Christ with our lives in humble submission to his will and purposes for our lives in holy living.
For to believe in Jesus Christ means that we become one of his disciples (followers). We die with him to sin that we might live to him and to his righteousness, and we now follow him in obedience to his commands in living in moral purity, uprightness, godliness, holiness, honesty, integrity, and faithfulness. And we heed his words to us and we do as he commands and we go where he sends us and we say and do as he directs.
[Matthew 4:19; Matthew 8:22; Matthew 10:38; Mark 2:14; Luke 9:23,59; John 1:43; John 8:12; John 10:4,27; John 12:26; John 21:22]
And he does still say to us that “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few,” and they are getting fewer and fewer as the years go on. And we should also pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest, but then we must be those laborers who go where the Lord sends us and we must speak the truth of his gospel to all who will listen. For he is sending all of us who believe in him as Lord and as Savior to go.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]
We are all called of God to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. We are all to be the light and the salt to the people of the world (and to the worldly church). We are all to be his witnesses in our cities and in our nations and throughout the world. And we are all called of God to make disciples of Christ of other people, baptizing them (where possible) and teaching them to obey our Lord’s commands.
“To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:18 ESV)
But when our Lord sends us out with his gospel message to take to the people of the world (and to the worldly church), we need to know that he is sending us out as lambs in the midst of wolves. But that is only the case if we are true followers of him who are denying self and daily dying to sin and who are following our Lord in obedience to his commands in holy living. For we are not the lambs of God if we are still living in deliberate sin.
And who are these wolves? They aren’t always or usually the obvious ones. They are often those who are wolves in sheep’s clothing who are pretending to be the Lord’s true sheep so that they can manipulate the minds of the people into believing their lies and their altered gospel message. They pretend to be on our side when they are really there to deceive and to lead us in the opposite direction of what Jesus Christ is leading us.
So, if we are teaching the truth of the gospel that Jesus and his NT apostles taught, in context, these wolves in sheep’s clothing are going to oppose us. They will come against us fiercely because we are speaking the truth to the people that they do not want the people to hear. And if we are really speaking the truth of the gospel we will also be refuting the lies of the enemy, for the lies are permeating the church, at least here in America.
And it won’t be just the teachers of the lies who will oppose us strongly, but it will be many who are believing and who are living the lies of the enemy and so the truth is an offense to them. The truth makes them uncomfortable, and they don’t want to hear it, and so they who believe the lies of the enemy may also attack us and persecute and mistreat us and even tell lies about us hoping to deter others from believing the truth.
And I believe these concluding verses can be applied to our lives, though perhaps not in a literal sense. For if we share the truth with people who refuse it and who do not want to hear it, then we should move on. We should then take the truth to other people who will listen. We shouldn’t try to force ourselves on those who do not want us and who do not want to hear the truth of the gospel but who want to continue to listen to the lies.
I Will Call Upon the Lord
Words and music by Michael O'Shields
I will call upon the Lord
Who is worthy to be praised
So shall I be saved from my enemies
The Lord liveth and blessed be the Rock
And let the God of my salvation be exalted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZIigMiXfuE
Caution: This link may contain ads
No comments:
Post a Comment