Daily Bread 2010 - Luke 10
Daily Bread 2010 - Luke 10
Jesus Sends Out the Seventytwo
1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He 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. 3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 10But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' 12I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
We often hear it said, “There is power in numbers!” Whenever Jesus sent out the disciples, he always sent them out at the very least in pairs. Importantly, as he sent them ahead of him to every town (to maybe soften the soil for when he arrived), he gave them several principles to operate by.
First, they were to pray and ask God to send them where the harvest was plentiful and the workers were few. Oftentimes in the Church, we spend time just switching members between different churches. We try to produce the best programs to catch a disgruntled member from another existing church. But Jesus sends out his disciples unto fields that were not yet harvested.
Second, he prepared them that there would be resistance. We cannot expect when we go to share the Good News that the people will automatically receive us with joy. Many people, especially in today’s society, have a negative reaction to people who would come to talk about religion. Unfortunately there have been some who, “in the name of religion”, have not done it respectfully, and therefore sometimes we will be met with either apathy or hostility.
Rather than greeting people on the road, Jesus advises them to go the houses instead. Maybe Jesus believes that if a person will welcome them into their home, it would be an indicator of their openness to the Gospel. Plus in that society the home and the family meal was a time of intimacy and conversation for the family. Jesus thinks this is the best setting for evangelism.
Jesus also introduces this idea of the “man of peace”. If somebody is a person of peace, they will most likely welcome you as they sense of the peace of the Lord that you bring. (As a side note: this is one of the reasons we share the Peace during the service by saying, “The Peace of the Lord Be With You! And Also With You!!”) What this does is it takes the pressure off of us to try and convince someone against their will. There is no pressurized evangelistic tactics. If someone is a “person of peace” it is a sign that maybe there is an open door to talking more with someone.
If a person did welcome the disciples there were told to eat with them and if there were any needs physical or otherwise to pray for them, expecting that God’s kingdom would flow through them. We don’t have to wait for a healing service to pray for someone. If we keep our eyes open, there may be people in our lives every day who will be open to God’s kingdom power coming through us in prayer. (Just this morning at Peet’s coffee there was a woman who sat next to our men’s bible study and seemed open, so I engaged her and ended up being able to pray for her as she had a drs. appt that day she was worried about. It wasn’t a big deal, just very natural and easy)
Finally, if the person is not a person of peace, they were told to dust their sandals off and move on. Again it is not up to us to convert people or determine their readiness, but just be open to those who God has prepared. That takes a lot of pressure off of us!
Prayer: God we thank you for the opportunity to help bring your Kingdom near today. Make us aware of opportunities today and every day to be used by You to extend Your Kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit. Send a person of peace our way in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Jesus Sends Out the Seventytwo
1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2He 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. 3Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' 6If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 10But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.' 12I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
We often hear it said, “There is power in numbers!” Whenever Jesus sent out the disciples, he always sent them out at the very least in pairs. Importantly, as he sent them ahead of him to every town (to maybe soften the soil for when he arrived), he gave them several principles to operate by.
First, they were to pray and ask God to send them where the harvest was plentiful and the workers were few. Oftentimes in the Church, we spend time just switching members between different churches. We try to produce the best programs to catch a disgruntled member from another existing church. But Jesus sends out his disciples unto fields that were not yet harvested.
Second, he prepared them that there would be resistance. We cannot expect when we go to share the Good News that the people will automatically receive us with joy. Many people, especially in today’s society, have a negative reaction to people who would come to talk about religion. Unfortunately there have been some who, “in the name of religion”, have not done it respectfully, and therefore sometimes we will be met with either apathy or hostility.
Rather than greeting people on the road, Jesus advises them to go the houses instead. Maybe Jesus believes that if a person will welcome them into their home, it would be an indicator of their openness to the Gospel. Plus in that society the home and the family meal was a time of intimacy and conversation for the family. Jesus thinks this is the best setting for evangelism.
Jesus also introduces this idea of the “man of peace”. If somebody is a person of peace, they will most likely welcome you as they sense of the peace of the Lord that you bring. (As a side note: this is one of the reasons we share the Peace during the service by saying, “The Peace of the Lord Be With You! And Also With You!!”) What this does is it takes the pressure off of us to try and convince someone against their will. There is no pressurized evangelistic tactics. If someone is a “person of peace” it is a sign that maybe there is an open door to talking more with someone.
If a person did welcome the disciples there were told to eat with them and if there were any needs physical or otherwise to pray for them, expecting that God’s kingdom would flow through them. We don’t have to wait for a healing service to pray for someone. If we keep our eyes open, there may be people in our lives every day who will be open to God’s kingdom power coming through us in prayer. (Just this morning at Peet’s coffee there was a woman who sat next to our men’s bible study and seemed open, so I engaged her and ended up being able to pray for her as she had a drs. appt that day she was worried about. It wasn’t a big deal, just very natural and easy)
Finally, if the person is not a person of peace, they were told to dust their sandals off and move on. Again it is not up to us to convert people or determine their readiness, but just be open to those who God has prepared. That takes a lot of pressure off of us!
Prayer: God we thank you for the opportunity to help bring your Kingdom near today. Make us aware of opportunities today and every day to be used by You to extend Your Kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit. Send a person of peace our way in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment