The Way Of The Sent Ones (Luke 10)-Abbie Sawczak.

All right. Well, happy Sunday again. I'm excited to be back with you all, back from our Texas spring break trip in Chi Alpha. Some of us might be a little more sleep deprived than others, but I will say after driving at 3 a.m. to Texas and now heading back, I'm feeling some kind of way today. Okay. I'm feeling some kind of way.

I'm excited to get into the Word. And even after that time of worship, Angela and Elena, the Holy Spirit has just been all over this service and waiting for people to speak to me in preparation and the way that he spoke to us during the worship. And so we're going to get to the Word. We're going to dive in. And then I'm going to get out of the way and we're going to spend some time praying with Jesus.

So we are in our series, Walking Through the Book of Luke. Our series title is This Is The Way. So we talk about following Jesus, but some things we have to take a look and kind of slowly walk safe steps back and say, well, what is the way of following Jesus? How do we actually do that?

And so today we're talking about this is the way of the sent one. This is the way of the sent one. And we are the sent ones. We are the ones that Jesus sent.

So I'm going to kind of preface a few things before we get in, but if you have your Bibles with you or your Bible app, you can turn to Luke chapter 9 and 10, and we're going to be in there kind of all over the place today. You guys can go ahead and set up your Bibles.

If you don't have a Bible, and you like a Bible, we have Bibles on that shelf. Really those Bibles, those books, they look cute there while we store them. They're for you to take. So you can take. They're not just for decoration. You can take the Bibles. You can take the journals. Pretty much anything over there except for the offering box.

We're going to be reading out of Luke chapter 9 and 10. I'm going to kind of be paraphrasing because what I love about this story that we're going to be in in Luke chapter 10 is Jesus is talking to the seventy two. The seventy two. But before he does that and gives them instructions, he gives other people instructions. So Jesus was here walking this earth and doing the ministry that he did for those three years before his crucifixion. He had a lot of fans, people that kind of stalked him from a distance. He had a lot of followers, people that walked with him, and then he had his few disciples. He had the fans, the followers, and the few.

Jesus sends the disciples

We see here in Luke 9 that it says right away that he gathered the twelve. He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God to heal the sick. He told them, take nothing with you on the journey, no sack, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. I love that part, like that little detail. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If the people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet and the testimony against them. So they went out into the village to proclaim the good news and healing people everywhere.

Here's kind of the context in chapter 9 there. Jesus was a rabbi, he was a teacher. This was normal for that time, that there were rabbis and teachers and that they would have disciples. But I love that one kind of quote about rabbi that is often in different commentaries and things that said that you may be covered in the dust of your rabbi. That was kind of a prayerful blessing, was that the goal was that you may be covered in the dust of your rabbi. So what that meant is that when you were a disciple and learning from a teacher or rabbi, you were supposed to walk so close to them and picture kind of the setting there, right, where they're walking outside of these dirt roads. They didn't have these nice fancy sidewalks. You were supposed to be walking so close next to them that you were going to be covered in their dust. Completely covered in the dust from walking that close with them.

And so when Jesus called these men to follow him, he called his disciples. Even when he's inviting us today, calling us to be his disciples, it's that we are so close to him that we are covered in the dust as he is walking. And so then we go on to see that after he sends them out, then they're gathered again and you see the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand. One of the cool things about this story is we see how Jesus and our God that we serve is a show and tell kind of God. He's not just the one that's going to tell you about all this stuff, but he's going to show it to you. He's going to demonstrate in word and in wonder and in power.

And so we see this when he did the miracle of feeding the five thousand. And it says here that he let the disciples be the ones that actually pass out the food and hand it out so they got to experience the miracle of Jesus. They got to be a part of witnessing that miracle.

And then what you see in this chapter as well is this section that says, Peter declares Jesus is the Messiah. So you see that in verse 18 that it says Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him and he asked them, Who do the crowds say I am? And they replied, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others, one of the prophets. But who do you say I am? He asked. And Peter answered, you are the Messiah.

Now, I want to kind of point this all out before we get into our actual events today. I think it's cool that we're seeing here that Jesus ends up at twelve, and then he shows them and lets him be a part of the miracle. But then it's showing that it was after that that Peter declares him as Christ. And that's fascinating to me because it's showing us that Jesus kind of met in his model of discipleship for us, that he's going to let us be with him, that he's going to let us experience him long before we may ever fully surrender our lives to him. This is important for us to then see because if we are then to go and to make disciples like Jesus told us to do in his great commission, that then we have to see too that we're going to want to get close to people. We're going to want to allow people to get so close to us that they're going to be covered in our dust maybe long before they ever fully surrender their life to Jesus. But discipleship is going to start way before people ever fully surrender and declare Jesus as their Christ.

The way of the sent ones

So we see this, but that's what Jesus was doing with his disciples. He first was just calling them to be, then he was inviting them to become like him, performing miracles, and then sending them out to do what he did. So now we're in Luke chapter 10, and he's talking to seventy two, this other group of people that were following him. And we're going to go verse by verse today to talk about what Jesus was sending them to do. So what is the way of disciples?

When we have a relationship with Jesus and we're in the process of becoming like him, we surrender our lives to him. We have a mission to fulfill, to continue to go and to make disciples. But what do we do? How do we live as disciples?

So the first verse that we're going to read here, in Luke chapter 10, we're going to be reading 1 through 14. It says this in verse 1: After this the Lord appointed seventy two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place he was about to go.

We're going to break it down in a couple different ways today. We're going to talk about the cost of the way and the risk of the way and the worth of the way of the sent ones.

So the first thing that we see here is the cost is that the way of the sent ones is the way of going. It's the way of actually going. It says that he sent them two by two and that they had to leave.

Now right in the verses right before this I'm going to read in Luke 9 verses 57 through 62. It says this:

As they were walking along the road a man said to him I will follow you wherever you go. Jesus replied foxes have dens and birds have nests but the son of man has no place to lie his head. He said to another man follow me. But he replied Lord first let me go and bury my father. But Jesus said let the dead bury their own dead but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God. So another said I will follow you lord. But first let me go back. Let me say goodbye to my family. And Jesus replied no one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for a servant in the kingdom of God.

Luke 9:57-62

Now this text is a little hard to swallow. We read that we're like wait a second. So Jesus is inviting me to follow me and don't look back. Follow me. You can't go bury your father. Follow me. You can't say goodbye. Follow me. And don't look back.

You see, the way of the sent ones is the way of going. And do you know that when you go to one place, you leave another place behind? Now, that's a pretty easy concept that we can grasp, right. When you left, when you came to go to church, you left your house. When you came into this room, you left the hallway, right. If we're going to go places, that means we're going to have to leave other things behind.

And so the invitation for us to follow Jesus, to follow his way, and to be a part of his kingdom and help other people experience it, is also going to require us leaving some things behind as we go. Now this isn't some sort of bait and switch thing that Jesus was trying to do with that. He was trying to make it very clear that what I'm asking you to do is going to cost you something. What I'm asking you to do is going to require you to leave some things behind. These aren't easy things to say that I want you to not have to go say goodbye to your family but to just leave anyways, right.

But Jesus is daily because he wants them to understand that he has to be first. Not that they can't love their families, they can't hear from the people around them, but that he has to be first. He has to be everything to them. But here's what I love about this. It's a sense that Jesus was going to go there also. You see, Jesus isn't sending us places that he's not going to come and meet us there. Jesus doesn't hang you out to dry. He's not going to ask you to go somewhere that he isn't willing to go. And he's showing us the heart of our father. The heart of God in that. Because Jesus was a sent one. He left heaven so he could come down to earth so that he could go and be with us. So that he could experience us up close and personally. Jesus was a sent one. So he's not talking from a place that he doesn't know about. And that's the goodness of the God that we serve in Jesus in the way that we follow him.

The next verse, it says in verse 2: He 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.

The harvest is plentiful. The harvest is plentiful. You see, so many times I think that we come into these spaces and we, because of verses like this, ask God, would you send us the harvest. God, would you give us your goodness. Would you give us your love. He did. He gave us Jesus. Right. Jesus came. We have Jesus. We have access to all power, to all glory, to the kingdom of God. The kingdom is here and now. So the way of discipling is the way of working in the field that is here and now.

When Jesus came and he left heaven and came down to us, he brought us to the fullness of the kingdom. It's here and it's now and it follows us. Not yet. And that's a whole other sermon for another day that we don't have time to get into. But I want you to understand today that the harvest is kind of full, but the workers are few.

So what does that mean. I was thinking back to when I was little, we would have this one prize at the Walmart that was closest to our house. That was always filled with these carrots. And if you ever played a claw machine, normally your parents as a kid would never let you play those. You're never going to win. Because of work like that, it's just going to take all your money over and over again. But this one claw machine, I'm not kidding you, but every time you put your fifty cents in, you would pair it. Every time. So what did we do as kids. We knew, like any time we got a lot of ones, I was like, mom, can we go to Walmart. Can we play the same claw machine, get the same pair it every single week. We would do these garage sales in the summer and we'd go and we'd want to play that claw machine. We knew we would win every time. There was this confidence to it because we knew, like, we're going to win.

And I think sometimes when it comes to us being followers of Jesus, we don't have that same kind of confidence. We don't walk in that way because we're saying, God, we need you to bring the harvest. God, we need you to do the work. And he's like, I have. I did. The harvest is plentiful. I just need you to go and get it. Right. I need you to actually go and to reap that harvest and to start grabbing the crop that's already there.

You see, the harvest is here and now. And sometimes the best thing that we can do is be an answer to that prayer and start laboring in the fields. Now, with this word worker, it really is closely tied to that word labor. Depending on the translations, you have it when I say the workers are few. Where the laborers are few. But I want you to think about that word labor. Like to labor is hard. To labor means you have to like do something. It's an active word.

And so sometimes we can find ourselves in spaces where we just want to pray and pray and pray for God to send us the harvest. But the reality is that each and every one of you today you are placed in different fields. Where God has for generations been planting seeds. For generations he's been working and he's been moving. And he's looking for people that are willing to then go and to reap that harvest.

We talk about here that our vision is to create the culture of Christ, and we believe that's going to happen one person, one place at a time. Man, where's your work. Where do you go to class. Where do you lay your head. That is your place. That is your field. That is where the harvest is plentiful. And God wants you to start laboring. He wants you to start walking in there knowing that he has already won. He's already gone before you. He's going to come after you and do what he's going to do. So will you be willing to go. Will you be willing to live as one of the sent ones in that type of way.

I love 1 Corinthians 15:58, where it says:

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Your labor is not in vain. You see the kingdom that we're living for, the glory that we're living for, it is worth it. It is worth it. We have this promise, hope, we have this promise future in Jesus. And what I love is that when we talk about what kind of comes after this, when Jesus is telling them to take nothing with them. Do you know that when you're gone for just a little bit of time and you're browsing, you know you don't need to take that much stuff because you're not home, but you're going home soon. Man, that's how we're supposed to live as stewards. No, but this is not our home. That we were not created to live here forever.

And so that gives us this type of freedom to say we're going to labor, and we're going to continue to put in the work, and we're going to reap that harvest because we know that this isn't our home.

So the next thing that we see is it says, Go, in verse 3. I'm sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or a bag or sandals and do not greet anyone on the road. And this is exactly it. This is the way of relying on nothing but the harvest. Nothing but the harvest. You see, God has already given us everything that we need through the power of his Holy Spirit that we can access him to the fullness if we can rely on nothing but that.

But I want to talk about real quick this whole lambs and wolves thing because why he just lambs over that. It like what are you talking about here. So when you think about lamb, a lamb is more gentle and soft. Like you think of something that more approachable. And wolves are a little more scary. Are things that are not going to be as approachable. And so when we talking about lambs among wolves, I think it important for us to look at why would Jesus say this to them.

I think it might be you're telling us that we are to go out like we are lambs. We are to go out like we are humble. We are to go out like we are approachable. We are to go out inviting. Like if I see a lamb, I'm going to be much more willing to go to and like pet that lamb, be with that lamb. But I am a wolf. Like I'm just not going to go near a wolf if I ever were to run into one in my life. But to say among wolves, it's almost like he's cueing us to be like, but be aware. Right. Be aware of the risks. Be aware of your surroundings, be aware of what's happening, be aware that maybe not everybody is going to be for your good.

And for this idea that's going to land among wolves, is this idea of we still in all ways, as followers of Jesus, you know, we need to be approachable to people. We need to be welcoming to people. I think about that all the time. The Lord has continued to bring that up in my life. The same man, would any person feel comfortable talking to me by the way that I talk, by the way that I dress, by the way that I act. Are we approachable to people. But yet, are we aware of our surroundings at the same time.

So another thing that I kind of got into earlier, though, the same line, I'm nothing but the harvest. And when you say don't take any, that means with you. So later in Luke chapter 22, we see that Jesus does tell them to prepare more for their journey, and this is a different type of journey that they're going on. And at that point, he's training them for a longer thing. And so what I want us to get here is that it's not so much of like, well, do I have possessions. Do I not have possessions. What do I do with this. It's more of a matter of does what you possess possess you. That's more of what we're asking here, right. It's Jesus is wanting to make sure that they know that the things that you have, right, the clothes on your back, the food that you eat, what you possess cannot possess you. It always needs to be Jesus that is fully in control.

And this is why as a church we have what we call a rule of life, which is a way that we're committed to living to these practices to help us become like Jesus. One of them there is to have just regular times of fasting as the followers of Jesus. One of the reasons that we fast sometimes is to just retrain our flesh to rely on nothing, absolutely nothing but Jesus, right. Like I need a regular time in my life where I'm fasting from purchasing things. I'm fasting from eating. I'm fasting from all of those things to remind my flesh that I'm not possessed by what possesses me. I'm not going to be possessed by my possession.

In verse 5, it continues. It says:

When you enter a house, first say, peace to this house. If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them. If not, they will return to you. Staying there, eating and drinking whatever they give you. For the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

Luke 10:5-7

So now we're going kind of in to more like the risks of the way of the sent ones here. What we see here is he's telling them to go and to give the peace. And the peace doesn't rest on them. It's going to come back to you. But then to stay there, to stay there, to eat and drink whatever they're giving you.

And so what we see here is the way of staying, which can be risky, and the way of receiving hospitality. I'm going to kind of talk about these together just for the sake of time today. But I want to talk about the way to stay. Because I think what Jesus is pointing to is something that, again, he demonstrated, where he invited these disciples to be with him for this long period of time.

And at this time, when you go to their houses, even if they're not ready to receive what you're trying to give them, maybe even if they're not ready for that, to just still stay there with them, just sit with them, to be with them. That's what Jesus did with his disciples. That's what he's sending the seventy two absolutely. That's what he's sending us out to do is to say will you go and will you stay with people. Will you be with them. I love this because it's pointing that it's not so much about always the outcome that we want to see but are we willing to be obedient in that moment.

And the next thing is this idea of receiving and hospitality. So at that time, there would have been all of these cultural barriers around food. Food was closely tied to your religious beliefs. So if you were a part of this religion, you might not eat this. If you were a part of this religion, you wouldn't eat this and all of this stuff, right. When Jesus is saying, eat whatever is given to you, that's a big deal, right.

I think about it in kind of my American context. I'm just thinking like, oh, don't be picky. But it's more than that here. It's more than just don't be picky. It's eat whatever is given to you. So he's saying we're going to cross some cultural barriers here for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of seeing my love on this flight, so that those people are saying, I care more about just sitting with you and being with you than I care about your religious beliefs in this moment because I'm not so concerned about this instant outcome, but about being obedient and letting the Holy Spirit do his work.

Proclaiming the kingdom

So then the next thing in verse 9, we see, Heal the sick who are there and tell them, The kingdom of God will come near to you. So this goes back to this, like, show and tell God, right. Where he's saying, the way of the sent ones is the way of proclaiming the kingdom through both word and wonder, these miracles, right. It's going to be word and wonder. If we're not careful, sometimes we can focus more on one than we do the other.

And Jesus starts by telling them, heal. Like heal the sick. Do these miracles. And remember he told his disciples earlier where he said you have all power and you have all authority to go and to do these things. When we are followers of Jesus we have all power and all authority to do those things. Jesus' kingdom is a kingdom of peace. It's a kingdom of healing. And he wants us to give that to people and then to explain to them like what's happening. And then use the gift of our words to help show them like this is happening because of who Jesus is. This is happening because Jesus was raised back to life and he left with us his Holy Spirit to empower us to go and to give you the peace that you long for, to give you the hope that you long for, to heal your sick, broken body. Jesus came and do that to restore you.

And so we get to pray for people and see it done and we get to explain to them what is happening.

In verse 10 we see, but when you enter a town and they're not welcome, go into the streets and say, even the dust of your town, we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this, the kingdom of God has come near. I tell you it will be more bearable that day for Sodom than that town.

Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

Luke 10:12-14

So the last thing we're going to talk about today is the way of responding to the way. Every time that I've read this scripture, I kind of just skimmed over these cities because it didn't fully make sense to me. But after studying the cities that are mentioned here, when I see Woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. It will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

All these cities that are mentioned were either sitting against God. But the last one that he's mentioning, they weren't sitting against God. The sin was that they had been ignoring God. The sin that had to take in place, that these cities were ignoring God. They were not responding to what God was asking them to do.

I think sometimes we can think of sin and not living for Jesus and just being like, well, as long as I'm not doing that, I'm good. As long as I don't look like this, I'm good. I'm not talking like that, so I must be good. But he talking to cities that weren't doing at that day and age at that time they weren't doing like the classic sinful thing. They were simply ignoring God.

He's telling them that the sin that took place was that they were not responding to what God was doing.

The call to respond

As I was praying about this this week and even this morning, I was reminded of then how Jesus later in the scripture, he says this in this passage, he says, I saw Satan fall like lightning. He is reminding them of the whole picture. When he said in the beginning, I have given you power and authority, he meant it because he's talking not from a place of what is your house, but what has already happened. He's saying, like, I have seen that Satan fell like lightning, like it's done, it is finished. That's the whole picture.

So what you're seeing in this moment is just temporary, right. But what I see is the whole picture. And so I want to remind you then to not ignore what God is asking you to do.

We are the sent ones. As followers of Jesus, we were created in his image to then bear his image. He has sent us to proclaim hope, to give peace. He's saying that we have peace to give. And I want you to hear this today. And he's saying if you do not receive your peace. You see when we ask Jesus in our hearts. When we surrender our sins fully. We receive his Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit that gives us peace. He gives us comfort. In Philippians 4:7 it refers to the peace of God which transcends all understanding. Right. Like that's the kind of peace we're talking about here that we have access to. It's something that it's saying it does not make sense.

But obviously I kind of feel that with the way that I'm on like four hours of sleep and you're driving for twenty hours. I'm like, this doesn't make sense, but we're good. We're here. Like God works in that kind of way. But this term peace is described in scripture as a gift from God. And it's based on his character of who he is. God is peace. So to know God, it should be to know peace. And it's to be made in his image. We have access to this peace that means that the closer we drive in, the more that we experience that peace.

And he gives us close instructions to do that in John 14:27. He says:

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not if the world gives you, I give you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

John 14:27

So two things that I want us to process today. First, are there ways in your life that you have been ignoring the things of God. Right. When we're going back and we're saying the harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. Where has God placed you right now. Where is your place and who are those people in that place that need to experience the peace of God. That need the hope of Jesus. And how are you praying for them and how are you laboring for them.

To know that we have access to the fullness of the kingdom, a kingdom of peace, kingdom of hope. May we not be people that stay stuck and don't release what God wants these people to experience. What would it look like if we started to live in that type of way where we knew every time that we went out, that the Holy Spirit was moving, that we were winning, right. That we went with that type of confidence to say, God, you're here. Your Holy Spirit is working before me. I now get to partner with you and then I step aside and I let you do your thing. What does that look like for us.

So are there ways you have been ignoring those promptings. And he's saying, man, the harvest is plentiful. And people need to know me. People need to experience me. And that's why you're there. And then the next step is, have you been ignoring God's promises. It says again that it's the peace of God that we're going to give to people. Do you know that you have access to his peace. Do you know that he would have access to his kindness, to his grace, to his mercy. You see, there's nothing more that the devil wants than for us to forget that, for us to not know that. For us to walk in these situations feeling like we don't have what it takes, feeling like our words aren't going to be enough, feeling like we could never pray for someone and see them actually healed.

Where do you need to be reminded of the promises of God that you already have everything that you need because of the power of his Holy Spirit to go and to be a temple and to represent him and to make disciples.

So, I'm going to invite you guys to stand right now. And we're going to take time, and I ask them to please play for a few minutes and to just sing and to worship. And I just wanted to invite you to process that with the Lord. And just begin to say, God, are there ways that I have been ignoring your promptings. I do believe that there's many people and places that you start today yes, you're here for a reason. Here's where I'm inviting you. I'm inviting you of that. But we're going to sing this song and we really are just going to invite the promise of God. His Holy Spirit to come again because I believe that so much this morning I felt that so heavy on my heart. We just need to be reminded of the promise that God has given to us through his Holy Spirit. That we can experience that. And then in a few minutes, I'm going to actually have us take time to pray for the harvest field that God has placed us in and to pray together for that. So we're just going to invite the Holy Spirit to come and we're going to worship for the next few moments and then we're going to call us and pray together.

So God, we thank you for the power of your word. We thank you, God, that you have sent us to go into these places and to make disciples to help people experience your peace, your goodness, your kindness. And to Lord, would you just begin to speak to us in these moments and show us the ways, if there are ways, that we have been ignoring your promptings. Are there people that you've placed right in front of us that you're inviting us to give peace to, to give your peace to. And would you show us that right now. Are there ways that we have been ignoring your prompts. Have we been ignoring the things you've already given us and do we just need to be reminded of that.

So as we sing, Lord, I pray, would you just fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit again. Would you just fill us with what you've already given us so freely. And would you remind us of the promise that comes with your Holy Spirit. The Lord is a miracle worker and we have access to the movement of the Holy Spirit that you are sending us into the harvest field to be your labor. But about to know that it is coming for the life of peace. That because we have received your Holy Spirit. That because we have your Holy Spirit with it. That we can go and we can give peace. That we give hope to the people around us. And we can help them to experience your kingdom that is here. That is now. And that is forevermore.

So we thank you Jesus. And I just pray for every single person in here. That your Holy Spirit truly will do the rest God. And this week God. That you would just open doors to conversations with people. That we would be so aware of your presence. That we would not ignore that. We would not look away. But that God. We would just give so freely what you have already given to us. But what we give your peace. We give your hope to every person that we see this week in our place. That our heart is to go for it. To believe you for this. We have called this in your name. Amen.