Your Mission is the Harvest | Luke 10

Luke 10:1 (ESV) After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.

Jesus had previously sent out the twelve disciples to do the same things that He did. Now, he sends out 72 unnamed disciples, two by two to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry in the towns He was planning to go to. They were sent out two by two for support and encouragement and safety. As we read this passage, we find that these 72 were to carry out the exact three things that Jesus did. Preaching about the kingdom of God, healing the sick and casting out demons. Jesus gives them further instructions as we go on.

Luke 10:2 (ESV) And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

What is the plentiful harvest? The harvest is people who need to become followers of Jesus, to be saved. Jesus is telling these disciples and us that there are many people ready to believe. 

The problem is that there are not enough workers to bring them into the kingdom. How can they and we solve the problem of not enough workers? We must earnestly pray to the Lord, who is the Lord of the harvest, to send out more workers. And what happens when you pray that kind of prayer? You are the first ones that Jesus sends out.

Luke 10:3-4 (ESV) Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.

What is a disciple’s mission? It is to go. To go is to go from where you are at to where the harvest is. The harvest is not going to come to you, you must go to it. A disciple is like a lamb in the midst of unbelieving wolves, but God would protect them. In this instance, the disciples were not to take any provisions. They were to rely on the hospitality of those to whom they were ministering to. They were not to be distracted or delayed from their mission by unproductive conversations There and our mission is the harvest.

Let’s think about how Jesus’ instructions to the 72 apply to us. First of all, Jesus’ instructions to any of His disciples directly do apply to us as disciples today. Each believer is called to pray for God to send more workers into the harvest. And each Jesus’ follower is to be an answer to their own prayer. To be one of the workers in the plentiful harvest all around them.

You might ask, where is the harvest field? The harvest field for us is the people around us. Our friends, our relatives, our co-workers is our immediate harvest field. How do we go into that harvest field? We go by intentionally doing what Jesus and His disciples did for our unique harvest field. We share the good news of the kingdom, we heal the sick and we free people from demonic oppression. How to know you’re a Christian? You are on mission to the harvest.

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