On Mission with God: Being Sent Ones (Luke 10:1 and Acts 2)
- Matt 28:18 This passages remined us that Jesus has all authority in even and on earth. His mission cannot fail.
- Then by implication Jesus gives us that authority and tells us to Go!
- This wasn’t a casual suggestion. This was a command. This is a call to action.
Luke 10:1-4 Jesus is commissioning and sending out the 72. Expanding His mission team from 12 to 72
- First, they counted the cost
- At the end of Luke chap 9 Jesus ask His followers to count the cost.
- Second, they have not been with Jesus all that long
- These 72 people leave and follow Jesus after only being with Him for a few days.
- This shows us how attractive Jesus and His mission are.
- Third, they are brand new disciples being asked to go on mission
- There is very little training here. Which is good news for all of us.
- We are all qualified to tell people how beautiful Jesus is, to make Jesus known.
- Continuing: Then Jesus sends them out two-by-two. This is a great method for mission, don’t go alone.
Verse 2 Now Jesus tells them the harvest is plentiful
- The word harvest implies something that is
- You don’t harvest a crop before it is ready.
- This is a statement about God’s sovereignty, God is always at work drawing people to Himself.
- There are always people who are ready for the Kingdom
- We don’t have to work at it, we just have to find them and then model Jesus.
- Then Jesus adds that the harvest is
- God is never a God of scarcity; He is always a God of plenty.
- Jesus goes on to state that the problem is not with the harvest or its plenty but the lack of labor.
- The labor is of course us.
- He is looking for a labor source for the Mission
- Jesus then tells the crowd to pray.
- The harvest won’t necessarily come to us, we must go to it.
Verse 3 Jesus immediately answers the prayer and sends them.
- They are the answer to their own prayer.
- And it goes without stating that this command to go make disciples still applies to us today.
- But Jesus also says that we will be going out like lambs among wolves.
- There will be those that will oppose us.
Verse 4 Jesus now gives them some travel instructions for this mission
- His command to not take a purse or bag is a statement about faith.
- We are to trust in His provision and care.
- His command to not greet anyone on the road is not a command to be grumpy.
- It’s a warning to not get distracted. This is about urgency.
Acts 2:46 This is just one small passage in the book of Acts.
- Yet the entire rest of the book is about going
- It’s about being on mission with God and making Jesus known.
- We must gather and go!
Acts 3:1-15 This is what it looks like to be on mission with God.
- Peter and John are in the middle of doing an everyday routine.
- They are simply heading to a prayer meeting. But they see a kingdom opportunity.
- Being on mission with God, is looking for the everyday opportunities to make Jesus known.