Family,
All summer we worked through Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall. All September we talked about rest, ending with the yoke of Jesus — a yoke being the wooden beam laid across two animals so they pull together, so when one moves the other moves. October, back to work.
THE TEXT — Luke 10:1-3 and verse 17
"After this the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 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. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. . . .the 72 returned with joy and said, 'Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.'"
WHAT WAS GOING ON
Jesus is talking about farming, because everybody listening to Him farmed. A harvest is a field of ripe crops waiting to be brought in, and if nobody brings it in, it rots. So the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few means more people are ready to be reached than there are people willing to go. The problem is the size of the crew.
Now look at the first two words: “after this.”
After what? The chapter before it. In Luke 9, Jesus is training His twelve closest followers, and all through it they get it wrong. A hungry crowd shows up and they tell Him to send the people away — He says no, you feed them. He says He is going to die, and they argue about which of them is greatest. They try to stop a man doing the same work in Jesus' name because he is not in their group. Two ask to call fire down from heaven on a village that would not welcome Him.
He does not send them until He corrects them. At the end of Luke 9: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." A plow is the blade a farmer drags through dirt to open it for seed. Keep turning around and your row comes out crooked.
THE WHOLE SERMON IN THREE WORDS
He saves. That is where faith starts, and for a little while it is almost everything.
He serves. Jesus said He came not to be served but to serve — serving even while He was dying, making sure from the cross that His mother would be cared for. So let Him serve you. Receive the healing, not just the song.
He sends. This is the part we miss. He is not only sending the pastor, the ministers, the deacons, the ushers. He sent seventy-two — thirty-six teams of two.
THREE THINGS TO CARRY WITH YOU
1. You were not saved to sit down. Genesis 12 — God tells Abraham, I'm blessing you to be a blessing. One formula, two halves; take only the first half and we have messed it up. Somebody prayed for you and brought you to church. Now it is your turn.
2. Your heart has to be right before you are handed somebody else's. All of us have a tender spot that makes us come out of character, and when you work with hurt people you can hurt people — with your mouth, your attitude, your eagerness to correct. So check your motives: am I doing this because God is sending me, or am I just mad? Whoever is least among you is the greatest. Put the mission first.
3. Don't get stuck. Jesus told one man, let the dead bury the dead — you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. That is no word against grief. Grief is real. It is a word against staying there. People get stuck on pain, on failure, on what should have been. Life keeps going; if you stop, you stay still.
And if you are low right now — anxious, lonely, overwhelmed, forgotten — that is real. But that weight wants to pull you back into a dark room with the blanket over your head. One of the best ways to lift it is to serve somebody. Verse 17 — the seventy-two came back with joy. If you are carrying more than you can carry alone, call the church.
QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Somebody was sent to you before you knew the Lord. Who was it, and did you ever thank them?
Of the four places in Luke 9 where the disciples got it wrong, which is most like you? This is coaching, not criticism.
What are you stuck on that keeps your hand off the plow?
Name one person God may be sending you to this week. What is one thing you could do?
If the Lord sent you out two by two, who would you want beside you? Have you asked them?
PRAYER
Lord, thank You for saving me, and for serving me when I could do nothing for myself. Now work on my heart, because I want to be useful to You and I know I am not ready. Show me what I carry that would do somebody else harm. Take my ego out of the way. And when You send me, give me courage. Here am I. Send me. In Jesus' name, Amen.