Luke 10:1-12. 1
After 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.
Jesus sends out the seventy(two) with several instructions – 1)pray for workers – prayer is essential to the work getting done. Jesus does not recruit, train, … He says Pray for workers. If prayer is not our first response to the needs of the souls of the lost, then we are not going to win them to Christ. Also, the command is to pray for workers. Do not be overcome with the amount of work there is to do – pray for people to help in the work! 2) Go as lambs among the wolves. The One who sends us sends us into danger. It is not God’s purpose to have us serve Him pain free. Never be shocked at opposition (I Peter 4:12) but know that the great Sovereign of all things has sent you to win the lost and to endure the hatred and opposition of those who will not receive us. This is as much a part of our calling as giving the Gospel is and we should not think it will be otherwise. If you are looking for ease then you are not looking to serve Christ. 3) Take no provisions with you but depend upon the hospitality of others. It is here that we in North America start explaining how the circumstances are different now and this does not apply. It applies as much as “pray for workers” and “I am sending you out as lambs among the wolves”. Do not seek to have all your needs met before you go into the service of Christ. Do not be ashamed to depend on the good graces of others. Don’t waste your time on providing temporal needs at the expense of your Gospel work. This doesn’t mean beg on the streets. But it does mean get your priorities right. Trust God to provide your daily bread. This will necessarily mean that Christians serious about living and giving the Gospel will not fit in well in the world. Their chasing after all the wrong things will not be the mark of Christ’s emissaries.
Fascinating how the only instruction for prayer is in relation to the salvation of the lost, and not in relation to one’s safety in the face of opposition or in relation to sustenance in the face of not being permitted to provide for oneself. This does not mean that we are not to pray for such things, but it is a striking thing how Jesus does not mention to these men He is sending out on this mission that they should pray for anything but workers so that the work of evangelism would be completed.
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