If you have your Bibles, we're going to be in Luke chapter 10 this morning, Luke chapter 10. And this is a message that has been heavy on my heart, and I pray that it is an encouragement to us, and it's a challenge to us this morning, and if you're able to, when you find your spot to stand, to honor the reading of God's Word. Luke chapter 10, verses 1 through 4.
After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place whither he himself would come. Therefore he said unto them, the harvest truly is great, and the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Go your ways, behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
Carry neither purse nor script nor shoes, and salute no man by the way. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, it is so good to come into your house the first hours, the first day of the week. And Lord, many have had a challenging week this past week, maybe some difficulties, some undesirable news, just the heaviness of this world. Lord, may we set those distractions aside to focus in on you this morning. Lord, may our hearts and minds be attentive to your Word. Lord, hide me behind the cross.
I am just mere clay that isn't capable of profounding and expounding your Word. Lord, prepare our hearts now. Lord, may you work in hearts and lives this morning if there's anyone lost that doesn't know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. That today would be the day of salvation for them. Lord, I pray that you would call many of us, Lord you have called us, to be laborers into your field. And Lord, may we take that seriously today. Lord, as we leave here, Father, do what you would with this service. We give you the glory, the honor, and praise. It's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.
You may be seated. Like I said, this is something that's been on my heart and my mind for a little while. And as you begin to pray when you're the next man up to preach, when pastors out, you only have like one, it's not like a series of sermons. And you can build upon that. And so here we have this imagery in this text today. And it's very vivid to us because where we live, we can see the harvest around us. We have many farmers that are in our church and we're thankful for our farmers.
And they are busy this time of year. They're bringing in the harvest. And this is an image that's, this is an image basically standing at the vastness of a field, full of wheat or grain. And it's swaying in the wind and the harvest is ready to be brought in. But imagine this with me this morning, that there is no farmer, there is no machinery to bring that equipment in or to bring that crop in. And this is the picture that Jesus is painting before us.
And if that crop is not brought in, it spoils. And in this picture here in Luke, it's no longer just a mere crop of produce, but this is the souls of men that He is giving to us in this text before us this morning. And He doesn't send these 70, as He calls these 70 disciples, He does not send them into comfort zones or safe spaces, it tells us. He sends them into a world full of challenges, like lambs among wolves.
And the task He gives, it is urgent. The harvest is ready, but the workers are few. Jesus isn't just talking about the wheat fields, He's talking about the souls of men. And I don't think the conditions have changed much in our day and age, have they? These past 2,000 plus years, great crowds of people continue to walk around about us like sheep without a shepherd, and the reality is there every single day.
We pass them in our supermarkets, we pass by multiple families at the restaurant, we see them in our neighborhoods, don't we? And the fields around us, our workplaces, our schools, our families, the communities in which we live, that is the harvest field and where we are to go. But will we respond is the question. The question is, will we answer the call of our Savior? Will we step out in faith even when it is uncomfortable for us to do so? Are we willing to go?
Are we willing to roll up our sleeves and get into the labor field? Will we step out in faith even when it is the most difficult circumstances? That is the question before us today. The question is, will we go? Will we trust Him to provide for us in all that we need along the way? And I've titled the message today, Sent with Purpose, Sustained by Faith.
Sent with Purpose, Sustained by Faith. And so when we think about that, the population of the United States is over 300 million people. The world's population is estimated to be over 7.5 billion people in the world today, most of whom have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ.
And even some that have heard the name of Jesus do not know that He came to die for them on the cross to pay for their sins so that they could have eternal salvation. This church was part of a sponsorship. We helped fund a missions outreach during the Paris Olympic Games. We had missionaries, we had pastors that were sent over there during the games, and they were on the streets passing out tracts.
They were passing out information, QR codes. And what was interesting about it was that they were able to then lead people to a gospel tract that was in their language, someone from their culture that could relate it to a cultural context to them. And the surprising number of people that had never heard the name of Jesus or that what He had done was staggering as the report had come back from the men on the field there. And so how many people do you know who are on the path to destruction, headed towards hell?
Some are because they've never heard the name of Jesus, others because they reject it, right? And so as we transition to the text here before us in Luke, it's important to remember that as you're reading and studying here in Luke chapter 10 through chapter 19, it deals with Jesus's Judean ministry and His Parian ministry. Basically, He's ended the Galilean ministry. He's transitioning into the Judean and Parian ministry here.
And we have a map that they're going to put up, I think, if they have it. And basically, as you can see here, you can see Samaria, Paria, Judea. And so Jesus had just finished in Luke chapter 9, working through Samaria, and He's headed over to Paria now and Judea. And He tells them in Luke chapter 9 that He's going to Jerusalem. And on His way to Jerusalem, He is starting to work through these different cities and villages because that is what He's come to do, right?
His Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. And so the Paria area is east of the Jordan River that you can see there. And basically, this was Herod Antipas. It was his jurisdiction. He was over that area. The area west of the Jordan was Judea, and it was under Pilate's jurisdiction. And so it's kind of getting you wrapped around kind of the context where Jesus is at. He was in Samaria, that region there.
He's heading to Paria. He's heading down towards Judea, towards Jerusalem, towards where He would be crucified. And so Warren Wiersbe sums up Luke chapter 10 like this. He says that the three scenes in Luke 10 illustrate a threefold ministry that every Christian believer, and they answer the question, what in the world does a Christian do? And so when we look at chapter 10, he says this, we are the Lord's ambassadors first. And we see that in Luke 10, 1 through 24.
Secondly, we are neighbors. We are also neighbors looking for opportunities to show mercy in the name of Christ. And we see that in verses 25 through 37. And then lastly, what we see in Luke chapter 10 is that we are worshippers. And that means that at the heart of all of our ministry that we do, it is being devoted to Christ. And we see that in Luke chapter 10, verses 38 through 42. And if you're very familiar with that passage, it's Mary and Martha. And one was covered about many things, and the other one was sitting at the feet of Jesus, and she was worshiping Him.
And so with that as the introduction, we'll get into the main points today. The first one is a call to mission. There's a call to mission, and it's not just for these 70, but it's for all of us who have trusted upon Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We have a call to mission.
We see that in verse 1. He says, after these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also, and sent them to and to before His face into every city and place, whether He Himself would come. And so before we jump into what this call is and all that, it's appropriate to know that we have to have the right heart for mission. We need to have the right heart that is ready to fulfill what God has called us to do, and if you're going to proclaim the kingdom of God, if you're going to tell people about Jesus Christ, it's going to start with an attitude, and it begins in our hearts.
We have to have a right heart. You can train people, you can give them all the methods in the world and how to be evangelistic, how to share the gospel, as well as all the strategies, but can I tell you that the effective evangelist is done by highly motivated people, and they're motivated out of a love for Christ and what He's done for them. It's not about the training as much as it is about the motivation, the why behind what we do, and it's about what drives us to share the gospel. And so look at verse one with me, and it says after these things, which is to basically say it's succeeding what has previously happened, and you have to go back to chapter nine to see what had happened, and following the instructions that Jesus gave to them in chapter nine, you see that the following, His transfiguration on the mountain that just had taken place, that the disciples were able to see Jesus' transfiguration, the closure of the Galilean ministry, again chapter nine is ending His Galilean ministry, He's transitioning to Priya and Judea, and then in verse 51 He was resolute, He was going to Jerusalem, He told them, He is going to go to Jerusalem. And then also we see that the Samaritans rejected Him in this, in chapter nine verses 51 through 56, and then there's three disciples that come to Jesus and they all reject Him as well, they reject the call of Jesus in verse 57 through 52, and so now you see after these things, after all these things in chapter nine happen, this is where it begins. And then we see appointed, it is the Greek word that is actually only used twice in the New Testament, once here and then also in Acts 1 24 when the Lord, they casted lots to replace Judas, and it was when they had selected Matthias, and so you see here that this is the only two places that it is used in Scripture, so the Lord through casting lots chose Matthias to replace Judas, the Lord sovereignly chose Matthias through the casting of lots, and we see here in Luke chapter 10 He is sovereignly choosing 70 disciples to go and to tell others about Him. It doesn't really tell us why though, have you ever done that, you read Scripture and you're like, why is that?
And sometimes when we're younger we're typically more inquisitive, I know when my kids were little, like but why, but why, but why? And it's like at a certain point it's just because, when you have little kids, but so when you read the Scripture it's good to ask questions, and so it doesn't really necessarily tell us why, but some scholars believe that it parallels Moses' account and the book of Numbers, and we see that in Numbers 11 16, and the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, and that they may stand there with me. And so this 70 Moses had to get elders as representatives, and perhaps Jesus is following the same kind of mosaic pattern, to give testimony to the Jewish people that this is in fact a fulfillment of all that Moses had foretold. And the 70 would have heard exactly what Jesus had just given to these people as the rules for discipleship, and following Christ back in Luke chapter 9, and verse 23 it says this, and he said unto them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross daily, and follow him. For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man's advantage if he gain the whole world but lose his soul?
For what is a man's advantage if he gain the whole world and lose himself and be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his glory, and in the fathers, and of the holy angels. And so this was the precept, this is what Jesus had given to them, that these are the rules to be a follower of Christ, that you must deny yourself daily, pick up your cross and follow him. And it's also a reminder to us today as we look at this text that Jesus calls ordinary people, doesn't he? He just calls ordinary people, believers, to carry out his message. Think about this, we are plan A, there is no plan B, there is no plan C, God has instituted the church, it is the only way and method in which he has given us to evangelize the world. And can I ask us this morning, what motivates us to share the Gospel? What motivates us to tell our neighbors of the impending terrors that are going to come their way if they do not repent and turn to the Lord? Another question I would ask is, do you see the mission of evangelism as a duty, or do you see it as a joy rooted in love for Christ?
And so motivation matters more than methods. Only a heart driven by Christ will persevere in missions. Look, we all have busy schedules, don't we? And it's never-ending, sometimes we just wish we had maybe some more hours in the day to get things done. Our schedules are packed with all sorts of things, we all have a lot going on, but if we are motivated by Christ, perhaps we'll take a moment.
And it's not always convenient, is it? Like you're at the gas station and you're sitting there and you know, like, why will not this, this pump's taking forever, there's somebody right there, and you just get that leaning on your heart by the Lord. He's poking you, he's prying you, like, hey, you need to witness to this person.
Anybody ever been there? You're like, oh, Lord, don't you know I got this place, I got this appointment, I got to get to, I have all these things to get done. And yet he is sovereignly in control of it and he's prompting us, he's asking us to tell others of him.
And perhaps if we have that mindset out of a love for Christ and what he's done for us, we'd be willing to put a pause on our plans and tell somebody about the Lord. And next we see that he sent them two by two. He sends them two by two and there's 35 pairs that were sent out of the 70, but what for? Why were these 70 sent out?
Why were these 35 pairs sent? It says into every city and place whether he himself would come. And so they were the advanced warning, not warning, but back in that day, it wasn't like we have today with social media and nightly news and we can see that, hey, so and so is going to be in the city this day, this meeting's taking place or this rally is taking place at this time.
And so in the ancient days, they had to send forward announcements, basically. They had to send heralds to tell people, hey, the king is coming. Come and hear what the king has to say.
Or they would say, thus say it, the king, and they would gather everybody into the village square, the town square, and to proclaim what the monarch would have for them. Jesus is coming. Jesus was going to spend the remaining months of his life traveling from town to town and village to village, and he was wanting them to be aware that he is coming. Hey, prepare the way of the Lord. It's kind of like John the Baptist, right? He's preparing the way of the Lord. He was the forerunner for Christ. And this is exactly what Jesus had told the 12 back in Luke chapter 9 as well.
And also it's recorded in Mark chapter 6 verse 7, he says, and he called unto them or him the 12 and began to send them forth by two and two and gave them power over unclean spirits. And so they are sent. And so why would Jesus reduce the force, right? We step back sometimes and if this was a business plan, we're like, man, we could send 70.
We could go to 70 different cities, right? Instead of 35 and we would spread it quicker. But why would Jesus reduce the force and going two by two and only having 35 go out?
Couldn't he just send them out individually? And there's a couple reasons for this decision, I believe. First, the wisdom of the preacher that's recorded in the book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes chapter 4 verses 9 through 12, it says, two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor and if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe unto him that is alone when he falleth and he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat.
But how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him and a threefold cord is not easily broken. And I think we can take some realities from this text and two are better than one. It begins to multiply the work. As two are working on one task, it can begin to multiply the efforts there.
If one falls, the other one there is to pick his brother up or her sister up. Two together keep the fire of evangelism going. And evangelism is probably one of the quickest things that dries out in our Christian walk, but it's the most important thing that we have to keep stoking the fire to keep going. And so when we go two by two, like a fire, the coals that stay together stay warmer longer, don't they? And so if anyone tries to overpower them, I would say as well, he that is alone can easily probably be more overpowered than if there's two or more. They're able to withstand those that are trying to overcome them. And so the more you have, the stronger you are.
And the book of Proverbs also says this in Proverbs 27, 17, iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. And secondly, there was an Old Testament law. So not only is there strength in numbers and we see the reason behind this, but there was also an Old Testament law that was given in the book of Deuteronomy that requires two witnesses. And so in Deuteronomy 19 verse 15 it says, one witness shall not rise up against a man for an iniquity or for any sin and any sin that he sinneth at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established. So it required two witnesses to come and to proclaim it.
And so having two of them was having confirming testimonies. It's to make the message of Jesus believable to those in the town. And so we see this pattern throughout the book of Acts, don't we?
Barnabas and Saul in Acts chapter 13 verse 2, and they ministered to the Lord and he fasted and the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where unto I have called them. And if you're sitting there thinking like the church of Antioch at this point in time, like it is a powerhouse. I mean, their staff is loaded. I mean, they've got Paul, they've got Barnabas. I mean, this is like the staff of staff that you would want to have on church, church staff.
I mean, it is just lined up and you're taking two of the very best and you're sending them out. And you're like, can we maybe just send like Barnabas and Braden out? Like, come on now, like Barnabas and Cam. I mean, when there's these other powerhouses, like let's keep them here.
Let's keep them here. But you see that there was two by two in Acts chapter 13 verse 2. They went out as a pair. Also Judas and Silas in Acts 15, 27. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas who also tell you the same thing by mouth. Barnabas and Mark, Paul and Silas.
So again, it begins to multiply. Barnabas and Paul or Barnabas and Saul initially went out and as they begin to make disciples and bring people along, you see that then they have other people that are coming alongside and there's John, Mark and there's also Silas now. And then they begin to part ways and they go out. And Acts chapter 15 verse 39 and 40, it says that they departed asunder one from the other and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus and Paul chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
And you see this pairing of going out two by two. Timothy and Erastus, Acts 19, 22. And so he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself, meaning Paul, stayed in Asia for a season. And so even at the end of the church age, you see the book of Acts and the church's beginning, at the end of the church age in the book of Revelation during the seven-year tribulation, there's still this pattern of two that is going on. And you see the two witnesses during the tribulation, Revelation 11, 3 says, and I will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days.
So basically 1260 days they will prophesy, clothed in sackcloth. And so the principle that is laid out before us this morning is that ministry is never meant to be done alone. Again, you need to be plugged into a ministry. You need to be plugged into a small group. You need to have accountability partners. I need to have the same thing as well. I need to have accountability partners.
I need people in my life to help hold me accountable, encourage me to keep me going. And so they and us today are much like John the Baptist, like I said earlier, we are those that are pointing others to Christ. We are like arrows pointing people to Jesus. And we see in Luke chapter seven, verse 27, this is he of whom it is written, behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare the way before thee. And so we again are just arrows pointing people to Christ, telling others of Christ. And so the 70 disciples, they were sent to prepare the towns for Jesus's arrival.
They were tasked with producing results. They weren't tasked with producing results, but with preparing hearts to receive the Savior. And their mission reminds us that we're not responsible either for saving souls.
We don't do any of the saving, do we? We're just called to be faithful to to proclaim the message, to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to point people to Him. It reminds me of 1 Corinthians chapter three, verses six through seven, and Paul says, I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. So it's all about God, and we're just called to be faithful to the message, to proclaim the gospel message.
So think about this. Again, I said it earlier, we're the only plan, plan A, for the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for the kingdom to move forward. And so we are the means by which the gospel is proclaimed. Mark chapter 16, verse 15 says this, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Matthew 28, 19 and 20, it says, go ye therefore and teach all nations, and basically preach to all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe whatsoever things I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you. And when we go and do that, He is with us always, to the end of the world. Amen, he tells us.
And it's Acts 1 8, but you shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses, my witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the othermost parts of the world, or of the earth. And so again, it's about our mission, it's about our focus, and our wiring, and so we are witnesses to Christ in the world. And the reason that we are still, you ever think about this, why are we still here once we're saved, why doesn't He just take us to heaven? Our fellowship would be perfect with God in heaven. We don't have perfect fellowship here on earth right now with God, do we? Because we still have the sin nature within us.
Our fellowship with one another is awful a little bit too, because of the sin nature. So if we wanted to have perfect fellowship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and we're going to have perfect fellowship with one another, after we got saved, why wouldn't He just take us to heaven? And the only reason that we are still here is because there's something that we'll never do in heaven that we get to do here, and that is to tell others of Jesus Christ and share the gospel.
And so we are here for a reason, and for a purpose, and it should be our motivation daily, and oftentimes we get distracted, I get distracted, and so the point is that we are here to tell others of Him. It reminds me of Romans chapter 10 verse 14, and how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? That preacher, that word there is not talking about a formal office of pastor or a missionary. It's speaking to us as Christians. We are all preachers of the gospel.
We are to proclaim the good news. We are to be the heralds of the gospel, and so we just need to be faithful sowers. Now sometimes we may see an immediate, we may not even see immediate results of that. You know, the farmer that casts the seed, he may not see an immediate result of his labor. Sometimes the seed lands on stony ground, doesn't it?
Sometimes it lands in the rocky soil, and sometimes it is very fertile soil, and it grows up quickly, and it's enriched, and it's nourished. It's being taken well fed and care of, and so it's Christ who ultimately brings the transformation. And so for us today, are we sowing the seeds of the gospel into the lives of those that are around us? Are you trusting God to bring the harvest in His time? You know, I think back to my own testimony and how many people probably prayed for me over the years, and I didn't get saved until I was early 30s, like 31, 32, something like that, and I think of the prayers that were probably given on, you know, raised up to the Lord and on my behalf, and people planting seeds, the gospel seeds, and they continue to do it and do it and do it and to pray and to pray and to pray, and they might at times have thought that it's never going to take root, and maybe you have a similar testimony, or maybe you know somebody in your family that has a similar testimony of that. For us today, success is not measured by the number of conversions that we get, because we don't do any of the converting, but by the faithfulness in going and sharing the gospel with others.
That's the measure of success. Now the call to missions is not just about for pastors or missionaries, it's for everyone who follows Christ. Jesus appoints ordinary believers, sends them into communities, and He asks them to share His gospel and trust Him for the results.
As I said at the beginning of this, it's something that's weighed on my heart. As I was doing a school project, I had to call and research some statistics within our community. And not just Xenia, this is other communities in the Dayton area, I called eight different churches. And out of eight different churches, I asked what their attendance was, how many souls did they see saved last year, and then how many were baptized. And out of the eight churches, there were 15 salvations in a year.
Nine baptisms. And so for us, we need to praise the Lord for those that were saved. We need to praise the Lord for the ministry that He's doing here at Lighthouse, because this is not the norm. As we look across the vast space of our country and our nation, and we can see that it's drastically turning away from the Lord, but yet we are called to go and to proclaim the gospel message regardless of what the country's doing, the culture's doing, we are called to be witnesses. And so the mission may take us out of our comfort zones, I want to tell us, but we obey, knowing that we are preparing the way for Jesus to work in hearts and lives. And so the second point today is the size of the harvest, the size of the harvest. Therefore He said unto them, the harvest truly is great and the laborers are few.
Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers into His harvest. And so remember at the beginning of the message, it's about the motivation. It's the heart. That's what begins all of it. It's a deep sense of sympathy because there's a desperate need for salvation from the unrepentant and unconverted.
And so it is a heart-wrenching concern over the lost. And we see Jesus say that there, the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few. And this is what He told the twelve back in chapter nine as well.
And we see this time and time again. This may sound familiar because He told the twelve this also in Matthew chapter 37 or chapter nine verse 37. Then say He unto His disciples, the harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that He'd send forth laborers into His harvest fields.
And so these are the exact same words that Jesus has given the twelve. He's given to the seventy which is to say we don't have enough people. We don't have enough people sharing the gospel.
We don't have enough people going into the fields. And so what spawned this statement by Jesus? What caused Him to say this? And it's in verse 35 and 36. He says, And Jesus said, or Jesus went about in all the cities and villages teaching in the synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. Verse 36, But when He saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Again it's the compassion of the Savior that motivated Him to begin to say pray for laborers.
Jesus then says to the disciples the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. The statement was born out of His compassion. And this is what marked Jesus' ministry while He was here on earth wasn't it? He was compassionate on those in whom He came into contact with. Matthew 14, 14, And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion. Matthew 15, 32, Then Jesus called His disciples unto Him and said, I have compassion on the multitude because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat and I will not send them away fasting lest they faint away. He had compassion for the people.
Matthew 20, 34, Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes and immediately their eyes received sight and they followed Him. And so the word compassion, it is a Greek word, splognizomai, and it is the most decisive word in the Greek for compassion. It refers to a deeply felt sympathy.
It comes from a root word that has to do with abdominal pain. Like He was moved to compassion so much that it was heart, not heart wrenching, but it was within His gut. It was within His stomach that it stirred Him so much that it pained Him.
You feel it in the pit of your stomach basically. And it's to say that the Lord was nauseated physically. And we see this on display in John chapter 11, right, at Lazarus' funeral, right, and he comes there.
And he comes and deliberately comes the fourth day. And Mary and Martha, if you'd been here, Lord, our brother would not have died. And they begin weeping. And Jesus is moved with compassion.
In John chapter 11, verse 35, it says Jesus wept. He had compassion. He knew that He was going to bring Lazarus back from the dead. And Lazarus was like, no, Lord, leave me here, right? He's in glory. He's with God.
And can you imagine that? You're there and then He brings you back and you're like, ah, I was having so much fun. But it was just He knew what was going to happen. He knew that He would resurrect Him because He's the resurrection in the life, right? And so He knew that it would happen, but He saw, He felt empathy. He saw what the people were going through and it moved Him. And Isaiah 53, it prophesied, Isaiah prophesied that He would be a man of sorrows and iniquity and acquainted with grief, I should say. And so the question I pose to us today is when was the last time that we were burdened for someone's salvation? When was the last time that we were burdened for someone's salvation? Someone that we know.
And, you know, there's probably many of us in here, numerous and numerous about maybe that are here that you feel that often. But if not, why not? Now we've seen that His compassion, we see that there's a vast need for the harvest. The Jews would have been very familiar with this imagery of the harvest. They were an agrarian culture. Jesus knew about this harvest and so, and the Jews knew about it because Jesus even spoke about it in John chapter 4 verse 35 and 36 with the woman at the well. And to the disciples, He says, say not ye, there are yet four months and then come the harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields.
They are white already for harvest. And oftentimes we put that same mindset up. We have tomorrow.
I'll talk to my family member tomorrow about that. I've got another day, another week, another month, another year, yet we're not guaranteed the rest of today. And so why are there so few laborers, I would ask? And you have to go back and you look at chapter 9 verses 57 through 62 and there's these people that want to come to Christ. By all means, they're wanting to be disciples of Christ, but they want to do it on their own terms. And can I say, we don't get to come to Jesus on our own terms.
He sets the terms we have to follow as He's ruling and reigning. And so there's a need for more laborers. And yet out of these three, two of them had some, I want to say good excuses, but they had some viable reasons, right? The one says, I want to go back and let me bury my father.
The other one says, let me say my goodbyes to my friends and family. There's nothing wrong with those things. They were probably justifiable and if we're not careful I would say we could fall into the same trap too. We're busy. I have family, I have work, I have school. The list goes on and on, doesn't it?
Our schedules leave no room for it. We all have things we enjoy doing. We all have hobbies and different things that we like to do. And sometimes it may require getting uncomfortable, getting out of that comfort space and putting those things aside to tell somebody of Christ. Or perhaps you use those to reach people for Christ.
What a great opportunity that would be. You know, you get into some sort of, I know Alex has done this and not to lift him up, but he's in jujitsu. He wanted to learn to do jujitsu, but the primary reason was so he could reach and evangelize people in that realm. And he's been able to lead one man that I know of for sure from his classes to the Lord.
And so what a great opportunity to take something that you love and enjoy doing and then applying that to spreading the gospel. And so he says next, pray ye therefore. This is the Greek word which means to beg or you're petitioning. It is the aorist imperative. It's like the Nike slogan, just do it.
And that's what he's saying. Just do it. Just pray. Pray for the Lord of the harvest. And the idea is don't delay. Do it now.
Continue to do it. A question I would pose for us this morning is this. If all of our prayers that we prayed last week were answered today, would there have been anybody that was saved? Would there have been laborers that were sent into the fields that would have surrendered to that? We're to be said instead of praying for an easier job, these 70, they were to pray for more laborers to join the team. And we today need to pray the same prayer. J.C. Ryle said, all believers can pray for the success of the gospel and they ought to pray for it daily. It reminds me of James chapter 5 verse 16, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Do we pray often for these things? Because the Bible says if we do, it will avail much that the Lord, it's within his will.
He will increase those labors. He will increase, you know, the things that are within his will. And another reminder that's interesting is the Lord gave the model prayer, didn't he? And Matthew chapter 6 verses 9 and 10, it says, after this manner, therefore pray ye, our Father, which art in heaven, how it be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so Jesus shows us that our priority in prayer should be for the Father's glory first and for his kingdom to advance. Before we get into anything else of our own personal prayer requests, our petitions, you know, our forgiveness of sins, we're to praise and worship God, that we are then to ask for his glory to be done and his will and his kingdom to advance.
Only after those does he instruct us to pray for our personal needs, such as our daily bread, forgiveness, and victory over sin. And so we see this term here, laborers. It's the Greek word ergotes. It literally describes the worker or a laborer who is engaged in an act of labor. It's a physical labor. And ergotes was effective.
He affects or she affects something or brings about an effect through the exertion of mental or physical efforts. And so the third point, as we've seen, there's a mission. We see the call or the need to go. Third point today is the challenge of the mission. And what I love about Christ is he never hides anything.
He never sugarcoats anything, does he? He's saying, hey, there's a challenge to this mission. Anybody ever get volunteered? Like you have a truck and they're like, oh, just come help me move. It's just the one item. And you get there and you just totally got wrecked. Like it's not just one item.
It's a whole household. Like they have pulled the wool over your eye and you're like, ah, this is not what I had intended. Jesus never does that. He lays it out for us and he's not sugarcoating it.
He's not hiding it. He says that there is a challenge to this mission. And verse three, go your ways.
Behold, I send you forth as lambs amongst wolves. Go your way is the Greek word hupogaios. And it is a present imperative. It basically means keep going.
You add the I-N-G to it. It's going, keep going, keep moving forward. It's urgent. There's no time to delay. Keep moving forward. The time is urgent. Don't delay. Don't gather anything.
Don't wait for more training. The point is if anyone knows the Lord enough to be converted to be saved, then you have enough brain power to tell others of Christ and what he's done for you. And you say, well, I don't necessarily agree with that. Well, Jesus said that you could. Mark chapter five, verse 19, you think of this, the demonic man, Jesus comes to him and he casts out the demons. You know, the swine flu runs off the cliff. All the pigs run off.
They go into the water, they die. And this man who was demon possessed, Jesus says this to him in verse 19, how be it Jesus suffered him not, but sayeth unto him, go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath compassion on thee. You know, we may not have all the verses memorized in our head, but we can tell others of what Jesus has done for us. How I came to know Christ, how he saved me. That's what we do every, and I would say every time we have a testimony up here, right? They're telling, hey, this is what my life was like before Christ. This is how I came to know Christ.
This is how it's changed my life. And every one of us has that ability to do that if we are saved. And so you might ask, well, then Brayden, why do we have all these training classes around the church? Share Jesus without fear, our evangelism essentials.
Why do we do that? Well, the reason is it is helpful to know certain cults and world religions and how certain people think and then to take that and find ways of entry into gospel conversations. Apologetics is another one. You know, these are all just ways to enter into a gospel conversation to point people to Christ. And so that's why we do these classes here at the church. But ultimately it comes down to the fact that if you have been saved, you know how to tell others how to be saved. Don't neglect the duty because you don't feel you have enough training. You know, that was the thing.
I mean, early on, it was great. I would go out and I would witness. I wouldn't witness. I would go with pastor and then we'd go witnessing, which meant I kept silent. He did all the talking. It was fantastic, right? I would just sit there and pray, hey, Lord, save this person.
I was a baby Christian. It was great because he did all the talk. He had to answer all the questions and I just sat there and smiled and all that good stuff until the one day and we're like on our sixth visit. This is like two months in and he knocks on the door. I'm standing there and then this lady comes to the door and I'm waiting for him to talk like he always has. I have never seen that man disappear so fast in my life. I don't know where he went, where he got away or how he got away so fast, but I'm standing there like a deer in headlights looking at this woman. She's looking at me and I'm like looking for pastor and he's gone.
I'm like, oh no, this just got real. I can tell you that it was probably the worst example of evangelism if you could ever have it in your life. I did it and it taught me though, I needed to learn.
I needed to get better with it and here I had been going with him all this time and just praying, but I wasn't taking it in and listening and actually trying to find ways to apply it in my own evangelistic outreaches. So the reason that is helpful, you think about these things, time is short. The mission is immediate. There is a need now. There are countless souls going off into eternity every moment of the day.
Two people die every second, 106 every minute, 6,000 people hourly. So by the time we're done with the service, 9,000 people will have entered into eternity, heaven or hell. That is the need. That is where we are at and if you're a Christian today, whether you've been saved for 50 years or five minutes, I should say a day, your ministry starts today. You need to make it now.
It is urgent. 2 Corinthians 6, 2 says, For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I secured thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And perhaps you're here this morning and you've never placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation. You need to be saved today.
You must be saved. And so next we see that Jesus tells us to be vigilant. He says behold. He's like, hey, look out, watch out, be mindful. Now this is an aorta imperative verb.
It's a command emphasizing listen up now. This is important. Get ahold of it.
You know, back in my day, we didn't grow up in the generation of stand in the corner. Think about it. You got a whooping and when mom said your middle name, Braden Matthew, like you knew like, oh, attention, it's at hand.
Mom's about ready to lay the beating on us now. And so it got your attention. You were paying attention. You were quick. You weren't naive to what was coming.
There was a paddle in my future that was coming quickly. And so this is like Jesus saying, listen, behold, wake up. Don't be naive. Don't be surprised with what is to come. The first thing Jesus does, He warns them about the job.
He says it is dangerous. There's going to be some things that are going to happen that are going to be uncomfortable. There is going to be some persecution that comes your way. So be like a lamb, but don't be naive. And when He says be a lamb, it's being harmless, right? We go and we share the gospel. We don't get red faced and angry. We just are harmless like the lambs. We present it and turn it over to the Lord for Him to provide the conversion and the Holy Spirit to do the work in their hearts. And so He's saying, hey, lamb, I'm going to place you in the midst of a wolf pack. Hey, gazelle, I'm going to put you in the middle of this pride of lions.
Now, if I was trying to motivate and get people to recruit for a job that I had, I'm probably not going to say that, right? I'm like, oh, it's great. It's paradise. There's tropical oasis waiting you. I mean, it's 80 degrees year round. There's perfect weather.
Nothing's going to go wrong. But that's not the case. Yet this is the standard and honestly it is what Jesus tells those who will follow Him. He tells them, hey, deny yourself daily. Pick up your cross. Follow me. Deny yourself.
Follow me. Even amidst a pack of wolves. Even amidst in a land that is far from me, that's turned their back on me. And so as we share the good news, we are confronting spiritual darkness, I would tell us.
It should be expected. Ephesians 6, 12 says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual weakness in high places. And so the application for us is that the mission involves risks, but Jesus never promised comfort, did He? Instead, He calls us to trust in His strength amid adversity and continue to press forward.
Continue to press forward, soldier. Three things that are true of a person who is sent from God, and this is what we need to take away from us as we go and we are entering our mission field today when we leave this place. We come to the church, we come to gather, to be encouraged, to be built up, and then to go reach our mission field and bring in a harvest. And so this is three things true of every person that is sent of God.
He belongs to the Lord of the harvest. We are in Christ. We are His, and He has sent us out. Secondly, He is commissioned to be sent out. He has commissioned us to be ambassadors for Him. We have been commissioned by God to go.
And thirdly, He possesses all the authority and power of God's Spirit. We have everything that we need for the mission by the Holy Spirit indwelling inside of us, and He sends us to go. And so the last point today, the simplicity of the mission. The simplicity of the mission.
We see that in verse 4. Carry neither purse nor script nor shoes and salute no man by the way. It's been a trend for a while now, minimalistic living, people buying small houses, reducing down to bare necessities type of thing. And that's kind of this approach. Talk about minimalistic living. This is kind of like back in the day of a Spartan warrior that would only carry his shield and his spear, and then they had other people that would carry the necessities as far as like food would go.
They would kill that along the way. But this is very simplistic. And this is what the Lord was teaching the disciples, the 12 back in Luke chapter 9 verse 3 says, and He said unto them, take nothing for your journey.
Neither staves nor scripts, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats apiece. Don't take anything extra, He's telling them. Why? And again, the question is why?
Why is that necessary? Are we to live a life of poverty? Is that what Jesus is calling us to here? To be paupers and have nothing?
Bouncing from hand out to hand out? And that's not what He's saying here. But this was a specific time. This was boot camp. And when you go, anybody that's been in the military, you go to boot camp, you are stripped from everything, your identity, all that stuff.
They break you down to build you back up so that you can have a trust in your fellow soldier that's next to you, right? And so here it is with Christ. He is initiating them into His boot camp.
He says, hey boys, leave all that behind. I'm going to be your provider. I'm going to be your sustainer.
I'm going to provide everything that you're going to need along the way. This is where you learn that you can trust God, isn't it? It's in the valleys of life that we often lean on the Lord more so than we're in the mountaintops. It is in those seasons that we learn to lean on the Lord and trust in the Lord. And if you are never put in a place or that position, you will fail to realize that God is a God who will never fail you. He'll never leave you. You can trust in Him.
And you can learn it, you can learn it really fast on this mission basically and you go and you take nothing. He says, no purses. It means no bag to carry money in.
You take no money along the way. And this is kind of going back to Jesus saying, who do you trust more, God or mammon? That is the question.
Are you going to build up your worldly wealth and riches or are you going to trust in God? And that's what He's laying before them and before us. You carry no bag. That is a travel bag. It's to say that, hey, you're not going to take any extra stuff. And we got lots of stuff, don't we? And it's like, man, anybody go on vacation, you pack more than what you ever are going to use.
I don't know why that is. I'm that way. I'll pack like a whole, like three extra days worth of clothing. I'm like, what was I thinking here?
Like it's out of control. But He's saying, hey, take basically the clothes on your back and go, I will be your provider. I'll give you provisions.
And so again, you go without nothing. And can I say this? Paul learned that.
Paul learned the minimalistic mission, Philippians 4, 11 through 13. Not that I speak of respect of want, for I have learned whatsoever state I am in therewith to be content. I know how to be abased. I know how to be bound everywhere and in all things. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, to both abound and suffer need.
I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. And so what about eating? God says, I'll take care of that.
Where am I going to sleep? God says, I'll take care of that. And this is the continuation, the command. Just go and go and go and God will be faithful.
He'll remain. He'll be with you. It reminds me of Proverbs 3, 5, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not into your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Isaiah 26, 3 and 4. Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because He trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever. For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. And it reminds me of the missionaries that we have sent out, Eric and Ashley Woodworth from this church and talking to them when they go out and they went out on deputation. They didn't know exactly how that was going to work.
Many of them as they're out on deputation are living from hotel room to hotel room, living out of their vehicle. And oftentimes I say, wouldn't it just be nice if we could put you on the field right away? And they said, yeah, that would be nice, Brayden. But there's things that we have learned along the way that God is a provider. He is our sustainer. He has proven Himself to be faithful on this journey.
And then once they get to the field, because they have been tested before they got there, they can remain when everything falls away. And so again, for us today, the idea is to avoid distractions as well, lastly, and salute no man your way. It doesn't mean don't be friendly.
Eastern tradition, you would sit down for days and make fellowship with them. And there's nothing wrong with that, but there's a time and a season where we must be about the Lord's business and getting the Gospel to others. And so again, as we're closing out today, travel light and heart and mind, I would tell us. Simplicity isn't just about material possessions, it's about our inner lives. A cluttered heart and mind, filled with worry and doubt, can weigh us down as much as a heavy bag. And so for us, sometimes it's not the material possessions, it's our heart and our mind aren't right.
We're busy, we're worried about so many different things, and we need to lay those things down because there's a far greater need. The souls of men are at stake. And so imagine this with me as we close out a hitchhiker, not a hitchhiker, a mountain hiker, right? And he's hiking. He's going to take the needed material to get up that mountain, but he's not going to take anything more.
He's not going to take anything less, but he's going to be right where he needs to be at. And that's the image for us. We need to be following Christ closely. We need to, you know, be serious about His calling upon our lives to go and spread the gospel to those around the world, in our neighborhoods, our communities, our cities, our schools, our workplaces. And we are to be harmless as lambs.
