Deo Gloria
Sermon for July 3, 2022
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Luke 10:1-12,16-20
Theme: Go and Work in the Lord’s Harvest Field!
- Recognize the great need.
- Trust that the Lord will take care of you.
- Proclaim his message of peace.
One thing I remember about growing up on the farm is that harvest time was a very busy time of year. Once Fall came and the crops began to ripen, there was so much to do in such a short amount of time. I remember my dad working extra long hours, sometimes late into the night, picking corn. I remember working extra long days, stacking bales of straw or hay in the barn. I remember my grandparents coming over and helping. I remember my dad even hiring young men from other neighborhood farms to come over and help during harvest time. We needed all the help we could get to harvest our crops and bring them in before the weather turned bad.
It’s harvest time. Yes, I realize it’s the beginning of July and Fall is still a couple of months away; but it’s harvest time. It’s time to harvest people for Jesus. It’s time to share the good news of our Savior Jesus with others and bring them into his kingdom while there still is time. And just like on the farm, Jesus needs help, lots of help. He needs lots of willing workers to help him bring in the harvest. And guess who those workers are? That’s right, I’m looking at them. Those workers are you and those workers are me. That’s the truth Jesus impresses on us in these verses from Luke ch. 10, that he is sending us to go and work for him and help bring more people into his kingdom. So go! Go and work in the Lord’s harvest field! Recognize that the need is great. Trust that your Lord will take care of you. And proclaim his message of peace.
7.9 billion—it’s a staggering number. 7.9 billion—that’s the number of people there are in our world today. And it’s a number that’s growing by roughly 1.5 million per week. Just think, the population of Minnesota is only about 6 million people. So basically every 4 days another Minnesota is added to our world population. How can we possibly reach them all? How can we possibly share the Gospel with that many people so they all can hear about Jesus their Savior? Jesus’ words are still true, aren’t they? “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”(v. 2). Jesus made that comment as he was traveling with his disciples to Jerusalem for the Passover. And no, he was not talking about the waving fields of grain, stretching out across the countryside. He was talking about the people. As he passed the many towns and villages along the way, he couldn’t help but notice the people, how many, many people there were who still had not heard about him, who still were lost in the darkness of sin and unbelief; and at the same time how few the workers were, how few people there were who could share the news of the gospel with them. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” It’s still true today. There still are so many people who need to hear about Jesus, and still so few who can tell them.
So what should we do? Should we throw up our hands in despair. No, we need to fold our hands and start praying. That’s what Jesus says, right? After pointing out the greatness of the harvest but the few number of workers, he says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”(v. 2). If we’re really concerned about people, about the millions of people here in this country and the billions of people all around the world, people who still haven’t heard about Jesus their Savior, the first thing we should do is pray, pray that our Lord would send out more workers. This is, after all, his work, not ours. He is the Lord of the harvest, not us. He is the one who calls people and sends them to proclaim his word to others. And he’s the one who blesses their efforts and brings more people into his kingdom. So first, we need to pray that he would send out more workers so that more people might hear and believe.
But then we also need to recognize that we are part of the answer. Did you notice what Jesus did next? After urging his followers to pray for workers, he sent them. “Go!” he said. “I am sending you”(v. 3). He sent them ahead of him, to the towns and villages he would soon be passing by. He sent them to prepare the way for him, to tell them about him and his kingdom. “Go! I am sending you.”
Jesus says the same to you and me today, “Go! I am sending you.” No, he isn’t sending us to the towns and villages in Palestine or the towns and villages in Africa. He is sending us to the towns and villages where we live and work. There are people there too, people who need to hear about Jesus, people who still are lost in the darkness of sin and unbelief. And he is sending us to tell them, to tell them about him and his kingdom, so they too might become members of his kingdom, so they too might be saved. Recognize the great need, the great number of people who need to hear about Jesus, and the great need for workers. And then go. Go and work in the Lord’s harvest field!
Next notice the instructions Jesus gave these 72 disciples of his as he sent them out. He said to them:
Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
When you enter a house, first say, “Peace to this house.” If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
Do you see the trust Jesus was asking them to display? First, he says, “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” Wolves and lambs don’t get along very well, do they? I mean, don’t wolves usually eat lambs? Jesus was warning them, wasn’t he, warning them that people wouldn’t always be very friendly toward them? In some cases they would hate them and persecute them and even try to kill them; but they didn’t need to worry. He would be with them and he would watch out for them.
Secondly, he told them not to take a purse or bag or sandals, but to simply stay with the townsfolk and rely on their generosity. All right, so when you go on a trip or when you go camping for the weekend, how many of you take nothing with you—no money, no extra food, no extra clothes, no sleeping bag, no pillow, no tent, nothing except what you have on you? That would be kind of foolish, wouldn’t it? I mean, what would you eat? What would you wear? Where would you stay? Do you see the trust he was asking of them? “Don’t bother taking anything extra along,” Jesus says. “Just trust me. Trust that I will provide for you and take care of you.”
Jesus’ words have two applications for us today. One is in regard to called workers and providing for their needs. When God calls someone and sends them to us, a pastor or teacher, for example, to teach God’s Word among us, then we have the responsibility to provide for them and their needs. For, as Jesus said, “the worker deserves his wages.”
But there is another application as well to our lives as Christians. And let me put it this way: What keeps us from being generous supporters of the gospel ministry? What is it that prevents us from giving generously to the work of our church and generously to the work of our synod so the gospel can be spread to more and more people? Is it not a lack of trust on our part? I mean, we see the need and we know we should probably give more; but we’re afraid, afraid that if we do give generously, we won’t have enough for ourselves and our families. So when it comes to our offerings and giving generously to support the work of spreading the gospel, Jesus is asking the same of us, isn’t he? He’s asking us to trust him, to trust that he will provide for us and take care of us, to trust that he isn’t going to let us down, but that he will continue to supply our needs so we can be generous. In fact, isn’t this the promise he makes in 2 Corinthians ch. 9: “Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God”(vv. 10+11). Trust that the Lord will take care of you. And then go. Go and work in his harvest field.
Thirdly, notice the message Jesus tells these disciples to proclaim in the towns and villages ahead of him. In verses 5+6 he says, “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.” Then later in v. 9 he says, “Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’” In short, they were to talk about peace and about the kingdom of God.
That is what you and I need to talk about as well as we go out and try to bring more people into God’s kingdom. We need to talk about peace and we need to talk about the kingdom of God. You see, it doesn’t do any good to talk about the weather. It doesn’t do any good to talk about sports or what’s happening in the news. I mean, we can talk about those things in order to strike up a conversation and to try to get to know the other person better; but at some point we need to talk about the truly important things: about peace, about the kingdom of God.
We need to talk about what’s missing in their lives: peace, peace with God. And why it’s missing, because of sin. And how they can find peace with God through Jesus Christ our Savior, the one who came to restore peace between us and God, the one who came to suffer and die for their sins and the sins of all, so that they might have the peace of forgiveness and the joy of salvation.
Likewise we need to talk about the kingdom of God, how by nature we are not members of God’s kingdom, because we are sinful; but how in love God sent his own Son to save us, to take our sins away by his suffering and death on the cross; and how through faith in Jesus, God adopts us into his family and makes us members of his kingdom so that we can live with him forever. These are the things we need to talk about with the people in our towns and villages, with those who are still lost, so they too might find peace with God, so they too might become members of God’s kingdom, so they too might be saved. Go and work in the Lord’s harvest field and proclaim his message of peace.
So do you see your sins in these verses? I know I see mine. I know I haven’t always been so willing to go and work for Jesus. And even when I prayed for more workers, I wasn’t always so willing to be one of those workers. I know I haven’t always given generously to support the work of the Lord. I know I haven’t always been ready to trust that God will watch out for me, that he will provide for me and my family. I mean, sometimes I did. And sometimes I didn’t. And when it comes to talking to people—all too often I was more than happy to talk about the weather or the sports or the news, but then not so willing to talk about their relationship with God, how they could have peace with God, how they could be a member of his kingdom. Same thing true of you? May God have mercy on us and forgive us for such sins, for being such poor workers for him! May he forgive us for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior!
Then in gratitude to Jesus for his love and forgiveness, let’s go because it’s harvest time. Jesus is calling us and sending us too, because the harvest is still plentiful and the workers are still few. Recognize the great need. Trust that your Lord will take care of you. And proclaim his message of peace. Go and work in the Lord’s harvest field! Amen.