Luke 10:5, 7 (ESV) Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ … And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.
Now the mission of these 72 was to go to people they did not know. They would bless the families that showed them hospitality. Jesus said that the laborer or workers deserves his wages. That means that those who are working in the harvest deserve to be paid a living wage. How are they to be paid? They are to be paid by the people who they are ministering to. Now, let’s look more closely at Jesus’ instructions about their message.
Luke 10:8-9 (ESV) Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’
When the disciples entered a town, there were two possible responses. Either the town would receive them and give them hospitality, or it wouldn’t. What were they to do in the towns that received them? They were to bring healing to those who were sick. And where did that healing power come from? They were to tell people that the healing power came from God’s kingdom coming near. We’ll see next Sunday, as we go on in this passage, that the disciples were also casting demons out, as part of their kingdom healing.
Luke 10:10-11 (ESV) But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’
Some towns would not receive them. They would not offer them hospitality, nor receive the message of the kingdom. They were not call judgement down on them. But they were to wipe the dust off their feet, as a gesture showing they didn’t want the evil of that town to clink to them. And they were to tell that town that the kingdom of God had come near, but they had rejected it.
Luke 10:12 (ESV) I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Sodom was a wicked city in the Old Testament that was incinerated by fire from heaven in God’s judgement. It stands for a picture of the final judgment, which would be worse for that town then Sodom. Why? Because the miracles of the kingdom that were performed by Jesus and His disciples were far more powerful than anything that had happened in Sodom. How to know you’re a Christian? Your message is the kingdom.
How is our message to be about the kingdom today? When we speak about God’s kingdom, that implies there is a king of the kingdom, Jesus. People have a lot of kings in their lives, the most common is themselves. The message of the kingdom is that there is only one king. And Jesus requires complete obedience.
The kingdom is not just for this life, but for eternity as well. When a person becomes part of the kingdom in life, they will be in God’s kingdom forever. Not everyone will accept the message of the kingdom, that they need to repent. But we move on to those who are ready to accept the message.
Pray for the needs of those around you and believe God to heal, deliver and do miracles. Those are a sign that the kingdom is near. How to know you’re a Christian? You message is the kingdom.
I believe it’s time for the church to speak the truth in love to the insanity of our present culture. We need to lovingly speak out against people doing what’s right in their own eyes, when it’s not right in God’s eyes. There is a standard of male and female established at creation. There is a standard of the unborn child being a person created in God’s image. There is a standard of what a Christian is and how they live life.
To speak the truth is to challenge the lies of the enemy. May God be with us as we go out like lambs in the midst of wolves.