Sermons

Introduction

Good morning, everybody. If you have your Bibles, could you open them up, please, to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. It's so nice to be with you. It was so kind of Kent to import the weather and to be able to walk this morning in Dallas and feel that I was still in blustery cold Northern Ireland. It's been particularly nice, you know, because this is normal at home. It's kind of funny coming and seeing you all wrapped up so tightly and the wooly hats and the thick coats and scarves, and to think you guys know nothing.

But it is also so good to be here and to renew fellowship with you. I've really enjoyed studying this passage this week. God has been so kind to allow me the opportunity to spend time in this particular passage. And I know His word is always profitable; and yet knowing that we need Him to help us to see that, let's take a moment and pray.

[Prayer] Our heavenly Father we are so thankful that You have given us this book. We're so thankful that You know us. You know every aspect of who we are. You know everything about what we need. You know every struggle, every wrestle with sin, every need for correction, every moment of low spirit where we need encouragement. Lord, You know us so well, and you have given us this book and given us these moments to come together and to study this particular passage.

We know that there is truth to be found here. But we also know the stubbornness of our own hearts. And we pray, Lord, that in these moments, You would soften and that You would make our hearts receptive to Your word that brings life. We pray for an ability to see the truth that is contained here; but we pray not simply to be those who know what the word speaks of, but we pray for that extra grace to be those who put these things into practice.

So, we are so thankful for the Holy Spirit. We're thankful for His presence amongst all who know and love You. And we thank You that the Bible describes Him as the Helper. And so we plead that in these moments He would help us and He would apply the word to our hearts, and bring renewal and transformation, for it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [End]

Well, if you've spent any time reading the Gospels, you've come across this group, the Sanhedrin. Now, there were, hmm, seventy, maybe seventy-two. There's a bit of debate as to what exactly numerically made up the Sanhedrin – seventy, possibly seventy-two. But they were a group that existed, and they were based loosely on instruction that was given to Moses way back in the book of Numbers when he had to manage this large nation of Israel, he was told, "Look, appoint seventy elders, seventy godly leaders that can help you administrate and look after the people of God." And so that's what took place.

Whenever Israel came back after their great exile in the Old Testament, they were determined to try and grab a hold of different aspects of what the Old Testament said to try and sustain them and to prevent them from slipping into the rot, slipping into the sinfulness that once had marked them. And so they tried to establish a group like that of numbers and they called them the Sanhedrin – seventy or seventy-two men who were meant to kind of look out for them, keep reminding them about what the laws said, and in particular, to help the people be ready for the soon to come Messiah. That's why the Sanhedrin existed.

But by Jesus' day, the Sanhedrin had devolved into this group, this kind of egotistical, controlling body, that rather than prepare the people for the coming Messiah, we read about them in the Gospels and they're working against the Messiah. And actually, they're one of the main groups that orchestrate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. So, these meant-to-be religious leaders, meant-to-be getting people ready for the Messiah, this group didn't do their job. And so in the passage we come to this morning, Jesus goes ahead and He appoints His own seventy, or seventy-two, to take forward a good news message to a lost world that they would be ready for the Messiah.

The story we're about to read is different from the one that comes one chapter earlier. You remember chapter 9, verses 1 to 6, we read a narrative about how Jesus, He commissioned and sent out the twelve, the apostles, to go and to do their short-term missions' trip. And they too were to proclaim a message that the Messiah had come. But they were also commissioned at that time to primarily heal and cast out demons. That's part of what they were doing. They were echoes of Jesus' ministry itself at that particular time. Here in Luke chapter 10, instead seventy-two are sent out, and they're much more ordinary and their commission is much more ordinary. It's simply to proclaim that the kingdom of God is near.

Now, there is difference. There is more that comes in terms of the commission that Christ gives to the church, but there's a lot of similarity. For He has told us if we are believers to go into all the world and to preach the good news. He has commissioned ordinary people of the church to be engaged in this particular type of activity. And so there's a lot of similarities. There's a lot of lessons we can glean from the instruction Jesus gives here. Let me read the passage and then we'll begin to think a little bit more about the commissioning instruction Jesus gives.

Luke chapter 10, look at verse 1: "Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. And He was saying 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. Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the way. Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace be to this house." And if a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you; for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, "The kingdom of God has come near to you." But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, "Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off against you; yet know this, that the kingdom of God is at hand." I say to you, it will be more tolerable in the day for Sodom than for that city.'"

The Global Work He Appoints Us To

Well, if you're taking notes this morning, the first point I want us to see in the text is "the global work He appoints us to, the global work He appoints us to." If you look at verse 1, it says at the beginning, "Now after this." After what? Well, in chapter 9, Jesus, as we said a few moments ago, has been focusing on the twelve. It's kind of like a crash course in what disciples are meant to be. He sends them out, He gives them instruction, He helps them to realize what is involved in following Him, what it means to engage with other people. He's teaching and He's instructing in particular the twelve.

But now in this particular verse, He turns His attention instead to the seventy-two. It says, "Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others." The Lord appointed. This is a section that is speaking about the commission of these workers. Jesus, in particular, the Lord, He appointed, He commissioned, He set in place these particular workers. It tells us something about Jesus. It tells us something of His priority. He felt it was important that people across the land would hear about Him, would hear that the kingdom is near, would hear that He was coming. And so out of that sense of priority, He sends out seventy, or seventy-two others, to go and to share this news with other people. That tells us that proclamation was important to Him. This was His idea. This was His charge. It is Jesus who chose them. They weren't volunteers.

You know the way in church sometimes when there's something that needs to be done, you know, Mark will come to the front and he'll let you know there's an opportunity. It's always called an opportunity, have you noticed that? There's an opportunity to serve at whatever: "If you would like to volunteer, please speak to whoever it is." This is not a volunteer; this is something where Jesus personally selects and commissions the individual to do His work.

That word "appointed," it's a diplomatic word. It's a word that speaks of the powers that be setting someone into a particular role or a particular office. It requires, it's dependent upon a decision being made.

I was listening on the plane on the way over to a biography on John Adams, the second president in the United States. Before he became president, he, for a stage, was really a diplomat in France, kind of a representative of the newly formed United States there in France. And at that time, they were talking about sending someone to be the representative of the United States in the English court. And he kind of wanted the job. He was excited about it. He wrote letters to those who were close to him to say how he would like that particular role.

But it was just an aspiration because the people that decided whether or who got that role was the Congress. And until Congress made the decision – and they ultimately did decide to make John Adams the first representative of the United States in the English court – until they decided, it was only aspirational. But once that legislative body appointed him, he was treated like an ambassador. He was brought into the court as an ambassador. His office was dependent on Congress.

Well, when it comes to the Lord's commission here, the work that we are to engage in is first and foremost determined by His commission. And look and ask that particular word that's used here for "appointed." It's used in Luke and Acts always to describe something that God appoints or Jesus appoints the individual for.

In Acts 1:24 after the demise of Judas, the believers are gathered and they are praying for another to be set apart as an apostle. It says in Acts 1:24, "And they prayed and said, 'You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men, show us which one of these two You have chosen.'" That's our word. That's the same word that here is translated "appointed." It's speaking of Jesus' choice, His appointment, His sovereign decision that this individual should do this work.

Now, that's so important. That's so foundational when it comes to any of us beginning to think about how we serve the Lord. It's not, first and foremost, about what you want to do. It's not about what you enjoy serving in. It's not about what job suits my personality. Rather, first and foremost, before any of those other questions may be asked, it's, "What has Christ commissioned us to do? What has He called you to do?"

Now, that has huge implications for each of us individually. But I think at this particular moment in the life of Trinity Bible Church, that has big implications, too. When you think about the need that this church has for a pastor in these particular moments, how do you think about it? Well, you're not first and foremost looking for a pastor that the congregation likes. It's not bad, but not first and foremost. You're not primarily looking for somebody that comes out well in some hypothetical interviews that the elders would carry out. What you're ultimately meant to be looking for is one who is called by God to this particular role. There is no Christian service without the call of the Lord.

Now, look at what else verse 1 says: "Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others." The commission here, it's not just for the twelve, it's for the others, the others. I think that's really helpful for us because the apostles are going to have a very particular role in the establishment of the church; and yet there is work for all of us to do. The church is to carry out this commission work. The church is to take the gospel out, not just the leaders.

There's a textual issue here as to whether it's seventy others or seventy-two others. You've already noticed how I'm kind of hiccupping between the two at the moment. Is it seventy? Is it seventy-two? Well about 40 percent, or just under half, of the manuscripts seem to indicate seventy, and the others seem to indicate seventy-two. It's not that much different because they're very close numerically. It's really hard to know exactly which one is right. But actually the debate as to what is the right one highlights something for us about the significance.

Why seventy? Or, why seventy-two? Well actually, the fact that it is seventy or seventy-two gives us a good clue. It gives us an indication. And here's what I want to present to you. I think Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, his gospel more than any other – I don't know if you've noticed this yet – it's concerned with the word going out to the Gentiles. In the infancy narrative, songs are sung about the light to the Gentiles.

In the ministry of Jesus, we see many times highlighted His particular ministries to those outside the people of Israel. We read of the man of the Gerasenes, who has that legion of demons that Jesus deals with. We read of a Samaritan leper that when the ten are healed, he returns, Jesus deals with. We read of the Roman centurion. And in the second volume of this book – remember Luke and Acts both written by the same man – in Acts, we have the record really of the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the – well, at least Rome – across the Roman Empire, on the road to all ends of the earth. Luke is concerned about the gospel for the Gentiles. And the reason he was concerned about that was, well, because the Bible has always been concerned with that.

You remember right back in the book of Genesis, Genesis from the beginning, God had a plan, for He so loved the world, to send His Son; and He promised the great seed that would come. And even when you get to Genesis chapter 12 and God establishes the nation of Israel that will come through Abraham, remember in verses 1 to 3 of Genesis chapter 12, He promises in part that Abraham's great descendant, this great seed that would come, this Messiah that would come, would be a blessing to all nations. Well, what nations? What nations?

I think if Luke had memorized a chapter of scripture really, really well and could recite it to us, it would be Genesis chapter 10. Turn there. Genesis chapter 10. And I want you to recite it for me, okay?

"These are the generations of" – no, no, you don't know that one off by heart? Huh, I think Luke did. Genesis chapter 10, if you're looking at it right now, it traces the descendants through the three branches, the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, or Jabboth, or – I don't know how you say it in this country. We always do it a little bit different; but there you go, you know who I mean. It traces the descendants of those particular sons of Noah. All the peoples of the earth come from one of these three branches. And in the gospel, you get these little hints – and Luke's writing – little hints that mean something to him, that he really believes God is going to reach every single branch. And we're going way off here but just bear with me.

Do you remember in the book of Acts – again, written by Luke. The book of Acts has these testimonies that begin to come through. We read about the gospel moving forward. But then Luke kind of throws in three testimonies.

In Acts chapter 8, we read the testimony of, remember, the Ethiopian eunuch. He was a descendant of Ham. And then you go into the next chapter, Acts chapter 9, and we read about the conversion of Saul or Paul – whatever way you most like to call him. He was a descendant of Shem. And then, the next chapter, Acts chapter 10, we have the story of Cornelius. Remember, Peter has his dealings with Cornelius and he receives the Holy Spirit, for he is converted. He was a descendant of Japheth. So all three branches, illustrative. It's all included here to show us that all peoples of the earth, God specifically deals with. It's not one nation; all branches are included.

And actually, if you go back to Genesis chapter 10, and if you were to count how many descendants are named after the three boys, you would come up with seventy or seventy-two, depending on whether you counted them in the Hebrew text or the Greek text. There's a difference there. in the Hebrew and the Greek version of the Old Testament, which I think is the reason why when it came into the New Testament here, the seventy or seventy-two, the scribes saw the correlation. They saw the link.

Why is Jesus sending out not just a random group? It wasn't just because His church had grown to seventy-two people, it was because it was a testimony to the fact that now every part of this world needs testimony about the significance of Jesus Christ and the nearness of the kingdom to be brought to them. That's why.

"Now after the Lord had appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going." He sent these men – or women, the text isn't specific here. But He sends the seventy or seventy-two out in pairs, partly to establish a credible witness. It wasn't just one crazy person turning up saying something, this is a group of people that are coming forward.

And also, I think, very practically, just to be a help and a support to each other. That was a pattern that would continue in the early church. In the book of Acts, Peter and John go out together. Then Barnabas and Paul go out together. And then whenever they fall out, Barnabas and Mark go out together and Paul and Silas go out together. There's a sense of team ministry. It's good, it's healthy that we're able to witness together and we're able to be faithful and to support one another. That's a good thing. And so Jesus sends them out ahead of Him to go to every city, every place where He was going to come.

A very simple, prolonged, exhaustive point I'm trying to make here is this: God cares about the world. God cares that the gospel, the news about Jesus would be taken to all ends of the earth. He cares that people would hear about Jesus.

And then very simply, as you try and apply that to your life, do you care? It's good to have an interest in what's going on here in Dallas; you should. But you should care about what's happening in the Middle East. You should care about what's happening across Asia. You should care about what God is doing in India. There should be a natural desire in our hearts to want the gospel to be taken to the world because our Lord has made clear that that is part of the commission He has given to the church. The global work He appoints us to.

The Overwhelming Work He Appoints You To

The second thing I want you to see in the text is "the overwhelming work He appoints you to, the overwhelming work." Look at verse 2: "And He was saying to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few.'"

There are 1.6 billion unevangelized people in the world today. And what I mean by that is they've never even heard the name Jesus. Nobody's told them that He exists. And despite Jesus commanding the church from the very beginning to evangelize 67 percent of humans who've ever lived from AD 30 to the present day, again, have never heard the name Jesus, 67 percent.

Bring it up a little bit closer. The last 40 years, over 1 billion people have died never hearing the good news. And 30 million will die this year, again, without hearing the message of salvation. What that means is every 24 hours 52,500 people die, not rejecting Christ, without even hearing about Christ. On average, about 2 million unsaved people enter eternity every month. That means every 1.5 seconds someone dies who needs to hear about Christ.

There has always been and there will continue to be great need. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful, the work is a lot, but the labors are few. What difference can seventy make? When there's so much to be done, so much work needed, what difference is this little band going to make, and what can they do about it? Well, again, look at Jesus' instruction.

"And He was saying to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.'" Therefore, what are we to do about this? How do we respond to this when we feel wholly inadequate, for the great need is still around us today? What are we to do? Jesus says, "Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into His harvest." Jesus says, "Even before you go, even before you head out to get on with the work, you need to remember who's in charge, who does the commissioning. And before you go, yes, you are weak, and you are inadequate, and you cannot do this all by yourself. You need to acknowledge that and acknowledge it before God's throne, and ask that He would meet the need that you cannot, that He would raise up others and send out others because you are only one.

In fact, the word there, "send," that's a little soft – you could underline it in your Bibles if you wanted to – to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send, that He would – the word really means "dispatch." It's speaking again of that kind of army military commander dispatching the troops. They're going with orders. They're compelled to go because of Him.

Jesus' seventy-two were commissioned by Jesus. Every true witness of Him is commissioned. We are commissioned to go. We are commissioned to serve. Again, there's no volunteers here. You don't just sign up for this. It's the throne room of God that calls and sends us out, that calls us to go.

Apart from that commission, there is no work. And when we see need in the kingdom, we're told here, Pray, pray that He will dispatch more." Again, Trinity, as you look for a pastor, as you seek a pastor at this time, you see there's labor to be done. There's great need. We see that; we feel that; we want that to be met. What do you do? Well, you don't go to a head-hunting agency to try and find you a pastor. You don't work necessarily on a glossy job description to kind of attract people in. What do you do?

Well, Jesus tells you what you do. When the labor is great, pray that He will commission. Pray that He will meet that need. That's what He's calling us to do. It starts with prayer to the one who dispatches, to the one that sends. If you are seeking the laborer that God will send to this church, He will be found on your knees with your eyes closed. That's what Jesus is saying here. That's how it works.

The Dangerous Work He Appoints You To

The global work He appoints you to, the overwhelming work He appoints you to, "the dangerous work He appoints you to." Verse 3 starts with that command: "Go." In light of the great need that is here there's an urgency, and we'll see that even more in verse 4. You've got to get out there, you've got to get working. But even as you're about to head out, He interrupts that commission with, "Behold, I send you out as lands in the midst of wolves."

That's graphic, isn't it? And it's not hard to see what He's saying. He's saying it's dangerous out there. He doesn't say, "I'm sending you out, sheep, with big horns to fight those wolves." He says, "You're a little lamb surrounded by ravenous wolves."

Friends, that's not a good picture. In our own strength, that's not going to end well. The reality is His commissioned workers are often very vulnerable, and they are often attacked. If you know much about church history, let me encourage you to read stories from church history. Very quickly as you do, though, you will find that our history as Christians is a story written in blood. We have been saved by the blood of Christ, but that legacy generation to generation has been passed on by blood.

A couple of weeks ago I was in LA, and me and Austin Duncan were meeting with a guy who was wrestling with whether he should take up a pastorate in another place. And the wrestle he was having was because they come from an Anabaptist tradition. Now they were a Bible church, they love the word of God, but that was their background, that was their heritage, and he just had never really experienced much Anabaptist ideas before. So it was just very new to him, and so he asked for advice. Well, next time he's in town, talk to Austin about Anabaptists; he loves a good Anabaptist story. And he opened up to the guy about the history of the tongue screw.

You know the history of the tongue screw? Well, whenever the Anabaptists were being persecuted for their conviction to try and follow the scriptural pattern of believers' baptism, they were being burned at the stake for it. In a world that was opposed to the true gospel, they were being burned at the stake. But when they were being burned at the stake, they would preach. They would preach to all the people who was standing around watching about the glory of Christ. And so to stop them from leading others astray, the authorities invented these tongue screws, a contraption that was put in the mouth and was screwed to hold the tongue down so no longer could you preach from the stake, and the man would burn. And afterwards, the family of the deceased would come forward and dig through the ashes to recover the only thing that was left, the tongue screw. And it would be passed generation to generation to generation as a testimony to the Christ-centered gospel that gives life eternal and is worth dying for.

Our calling is a dangerous one; the Bible makes no exceptions to that. The commission Jesus gives here comes with a health warning. We witness in the presence of wolves, and in our own strength, that's altogether helpless. But isn't it amazing, you think of Psalm 23, that our good shepherd is with us. In fact, doesn't it say, Psalm 23, "He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies"?

The Urgent Work He Appoints You To

The global work He appoints you to, the overwhelming work He appoints you to, the dangerous work He appoints you to, also notice "the urgent work He appoints you to" in verse 4. Look at verse 4, it reads a little like an odd shopping list: "Carry no money belt, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the way." Here's a list of things not to bring, and one thing not to do. And the whole point of every single one of these is "there's no time to waste. You've got to be dependent and get on with the job, so carry no money belt."

Before there were pockets, there were money belts. I was saying to the ones in the first service, "Do you know when you've been married for a little bit of time you learn information you would never learn any other way about fashion, female fashion." Ladies, I've come to learn, love a dress that has secret pockets – you know, pockets, very sought after. And the reason is because pockets are so handy, you can put stuff in them.

But we are going here to a time before the pocket was invented. And in those days what they did was they took a big bit of material and they tied it round their waist as a belt to hold everything together. And so if you had anything valuable, maybe a little bag of some loose coins or whatever, especially if you had a little bit of padding, you could put it under the belt and tie it up and it would hold it there, equivalent to your pocket. And so what's being said here is, "Don't have the wallet in your pocket. You don't prepare yourself for extra expense, you just have to get on with it, you've got to get out there."

And then He says, "have no bag." In particular, that word, it speaks of like a travel bag. You know, the shepherds who maybe were out in the fields, they would have these types of bags, and it meant that "if the sheep didn't make as much progress as we hoped for, well, I've got enough here to camp out. I am self-sufficient in the wild." You're not to prepare yourself for all eventualities, you're just to get on with it.

"No sandals." Now that doesn't mean you're not to wear sandals and get your feet all cut up. I think what it's talking about there is no spare sandals. After a long journey in that ancient world the feet would be covered amuck. Do you remember how Jesus and His disciples come into the upper room and the first thing they seek to do is to have their feet washed? Well, that's because they were grubby feet. And normally part of that process was you had your feet washed and then you pulled out your spare sandals, the replacements. You think of your slippers today, and you put them on because they were more comfortable. He's saying, "This isn't a commission with comfort." They've got to get on with it. And then it says, "and greet no one along the way."

In Ireland we have particular greetings. If you're driving in the car and you see somebody, you give them the finger wave. It's a very important thing in Ireland, the finger wave. And if you're walking down the street and you see somebody, you don't give them the finger wave, that would be weird, it could be easily misunderstood, so you give them the nod and then you keep walking. So, it's this or this, that's it. I don't know what you do in America. Somebody told me after the first service that you do a wave to show that you're not armed; that's what you do here in Dallas. So I don't claim to be an expert on that.

In the ancient world greetings were elaborate things. They weren't this, they went on and on and on. There was set questions that we talked through. And then sometimes even a little stove would be set up and we would have a cup – well actually, it would work in Ireland – a cup of tea together. They would enjoy this brief – though it wasn't that brief – fellowship. It was an elaborate thing. And what He's saying here is, "Don't get caught up in it. You've got to get out there, you've got to get on with this. There's too much at stake." And He's saying, "Ours is an urgent mission. There are people dying who need to hear about Jesus. We've got to go; we've got to get out there; there's work to be done."

And so, if you want to apply that particular point, it's this: Where does commission, where does sharing the gospel sit in your priority list? Do you care? Do you ever think about it? Is it something that you seek? Here we're being told this is important. This is urgent. This is something we ought to prioritize.

The Relational Work He Appoints You To

The global work He appoints you to, the overwhelming work He appoints you to, the dangerous work He appoints you to, the urgent work He appoints you to; verses 5 to 8, "the relational work He appoints you to." Look at verse 5. He says, "Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house." That proclamation of peace in Luke's gospel is always tied to salvation. Whenever the person comes to know Christ, the state that they enjoy is a state of peace. It doesn't mean everything goes smooth in life, it's peace with God.

Do you remember in chapter 7, verse 50, Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace." Similarly, chapter 8, verse 48, Jesus said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace." This is the state that salvation brings. And so, we're being told here that Jesus' missionaries go and proclaim that there is peace to be known, there is peace to be enjoyed. It's a real thing.

And it says in verse 6, "And if a man of peace" – literally the text says, "a son of peace" – "is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you." It's saying, "a son of peace." You think of a father and a son. Often you see similarities: "You look like your dad," or, "You have the character of your dad, the humor of your dad." There's a lightness. And so a son of peace is one who in some way reflects or is receptive to this message of peace.

Well, it's very simply, what's being said here is that "there are people, there are homes we will go to, where those people want to hear. They're ready, they're prepared by God to hear the good news that we bring." They're ready because He has made them ready.

Now, how are they to be found? Well, look at the notes in the text. Verse 5, it talks about the house that you will enter. It then says, "Peace be to this house." In verse 7 it says, "Stay in that house." It talks in verse 7 about eating and drinking. And verse 7 also, "Do not move house to house." Verse 8, "Eat what is served to you."

There's a lot of hanging around, eating, talking, staying, being with. And then what I want you to see very simply here is that Jesus is calling them first and foremost to home-based mission. It's not ministry on the streets, that will come later. It's not ministry by inviting people to church with you. Rather, what He's calling us to is purposeful, relational engagement with others in order to share the good news. How's your home time? How effective evangelistically is your lunch? Jesus is calling His people to be like Him. He ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners to reach them. And He's telling His people, "You should be relationally engaged with people.

In the ancient world, hospitality was so important, that's why it says in verse 7, "You've got to stay. Don't offend them." To leave, that would be a really offensive thing. He talks about eating in the continuous sense – I love that – and drinking in the continuous sense. The idea is as much as they keep piling stuff on your plate, you keep shoveling it in because in that world to not do that would be really offensive. And so He's saying, "Look, as much as they put on your plate, you eat it." There's no keto diet here. There's no carb-loading diet, "Oh, sorry; no thank you."

In Jewish culture this was intimate. We recline at the table, we're together. This is where we unburden ourselves and talk about the things most important; and we are not to be rude, we're to be there to share. Jesus says, in effect, "If they're open to having you at the table, you be at the table. You make time for them."

He says that God is over this too and that God actually will work through it to provide for your needs: "The laborer deserves his wages." But also, He's saying, "This is how I want you to operate. Don't insult them, engage with them socially so that you can share with them purposefully." Now that might look different culture to culture. In the ancient Near East at that time, it involved reclining around the table and being there for a very long time. In Ireland it probably involves a cup of tea in the living room.

I remembered during the first service this morning about when I first went back to Ireland, there was an old pastor who has just retired actually, but he gave me some advice, and he said, "Look, Andrew, every old lady is going to want to give you a cup of tea. And some of them make very good cups of tea, and some of them don't. So the best thing you can do, because you don't know until that cup is put in your hand, the best thing you can do is pick the seat in the living room closest to the potted plant, so that if the tea is not so good, the plant can have a drink, and you don't cause offense." Now, that's not biblical, but the principle is. We're not to cause offense.

Now, I don't know what that means and looks like in Dallas, you probably have a far better idea. In Dallas socially there's probably more dinners out. Well, who are you having dinner out with? There's more time spent in the staff lunchroom at work. They didn't have that here. Well, how do you engage purposefully in that time? How do you draw alongside people? There's probably a lot more coffees at Herb's House here in Dallas than anywhere else. How are you drawing alongside people to share the good news?

You know, I think we made a huge mistake in the Christian church a couple of generations ago because we shared this message that Christians should only spend time with Christians, and we discourage non-Christian friendships. That is the opposite of how Jesus speaks. Now, we don't associate with aggression and blasphemy and all of those things. I think Jesus is immediately going to speak to that in a few moments. But our Savior openly ate and drank with tax collectors and sinners. In fact, He was criticized for it time and time again. And He calls us to model our evangelistic ministry after His own.

The Calling Work He Appoints You To

The global work He appoints you to, the overwhelming work He appoints you to, the dangerous work He appoints you to, the urgent work He appoints you to, the relational work He appoints you to; sixthly, "the calling work He appoints you to." Now this is a very simple point and it's a balance to what I just said.

Look at verse 9. He says, "and heal those who are sick, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'" That word "heal," that's actually a broader term than just heal. It means more than just that. It means to serve, to care; it includes healing. It's a big, big term. And similarly, that word "sick" is a big term, too. It doesn't mean just somebody who is being sick, it means those who feel weak, those who feel they have inability in this moment. It's a big term. Talking about those who feel broken or vulnerable. And He says here that we are to go alongside those vulnerable people to let them know by speaking, by saying, verse 9 says, "The kingdom of God has come near to you."

Ultimately, we're not there to give them a cuddle, though we are to be kind. We're there to say something. We're there to speak. We're there to tell them that Christ is coming, and they must be ready. That's what we're meant to do.

Sometimes I think whenever some hear the correction that there should be relationships, relational evangelism going on in your life, they think, "Great, well I'm going bowling later with people from work." That's okay, you can do that, but you've got to talk. You've got to talk.

Imagine if we went to the next time you have dinner with your non-Christian friends, and I popped up by surprise – be very careful – I popped up by surprise at the dinner table and I asked them, "Do you know they're a Christian?" what would they say? And if I went further and I said, "Do you know they really want you to know their Savior?" what would they say? That shouldn't be an unknown, they should know because we insist on talking, drawing alongside, loving, caring, being with, but speaking about the greatness of our Savior.

The Warning Work He Appoints Us To

The last thing I want you to see in the text is that "this work is also a warning work that He appoints us to, a warning work." There will be homes that reject us. Look at verse 10: "But in whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say," – there will be ones that won't accept. And that's the time whenever the ministry in the home stops and the street preaching begins, because there's still a message we're seeking to communicate.

What is that message? Well, verse 11 says we're to say, "Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off against you; yet know this, that the kingdom of God is at hand." Again, this is a very ancient, Near Eastern picture. There was a custom that developed in Israel around the time of Jesus. If I said to you this morning, "Achoo," what would you say? "Bless you." Yes, of course you would because you're good Christian people.

That's not in the Bible, did you know? But it's something that we do because we do it. Well, in Jesus's world, there were certain things people did because, well, the culture did it. And one of the things that the pious Jew did whenever they were coming back into the land of Israel, back into the Holy Land, is they shook off the Gentile dust that had gathered on their clothes and wiped their feet clean because they were, in effect, saying, "That world is different to this world that is special." It was a declaration of, "They are not us."

Now, Jesus is telling His seventy that "when they reject your message about the Messiah, that the kingdom is near, you are to make a declaration that they're not behaving like a true Jew, they're behaving like a heathen, that they are behaving as one who is unholy."

And, verse 11, we are also to say, "Know this, that the kingdom of God is at hand." Just because they reject, we're to make sure they know, doesn't stop the fact that He is coming back." Ignatius of Antioch would say seventy years roughly after this, "There is a judgment, even if people do not believe in the blood of Christ."

It doesn't matter if you believe, doesn't matter if you reject, He's still coming. No, it doesn't change that reality, you don't control that; this is a statement of fact. And so even when we're personally rejected, what Jesus is saying is, "We're personally rejected, but we warn them." They may reject us, but that doesn't change the reality that He is coming, and He will judge the living and the dead, and He is the one they are rejecting.

In fact, look at verse 12, because it goes further. It spells out to us how serious it is to reject this message of peace: "I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city." That day, it will be more tolerable in that day. He's talking about the Judgment Day, that day when all accounts will be brought before the Lord.

And He says, "It will be more tolerable for Sodom," Sodom, Genesis chapter 19. It's that city that was notoriously marked by sinful indulgence, debauchery at an unbelievable scale. By Jesus' day, the rabbis talked about Sodom as a description of the worst of sin – is as bad as it can get. And Jesus says, "As bad as it can get in your head is not as bad as it can get." Those sinners will receive a judgment, that's true, but a less significant judgment than the one that blatantly rejects Jesus. That city that rejects this message that Jesus is near, they will be punished in a more significant way because they have rejected this message of peace.

Conclusion

This morning, you need to know that if you are rejecting Jesus here and now, there is no more serious sin that you could commit, no more serious sin that you could commit. I think sometimes we have these weird categories in our head. We think, "Well, I go to church, play my role in my family, never stolen from work or done anything like that. I'm not a believer, but I'm not that bad." And we think that genuinely.

Do you hear the words of Jesus? If I was to turn up at lunch – I keep appearing at these lunch tables. If appeared at lunch today and it was you, me, and some notorious character in Dallas, somebody who everybody knows has been running some sort of pedophile network in the city, and we sat down at the table, and I laughed and joke and – this isn't a gospel opportunity, this is just laughing, joking, making light of everything, you would be horrified. If I'm witnessing, that's one thing; but if this is just joking, hanging out, pretending that there's nothing wrong here, you would be horrified.

Listen to what Jesus says: "It will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom and for that city." Let me rephrase it: "It will be more tolerable for whatever sinner you're thinking of right now than you if you walk out this door rejecting Jesus Christ." That's what He's saying.

There is good news by which you may be saved. There is a message of peace. You can be reconciled to God through the work of Jesus Christ; and if you walk away from that with no feeling, Jesus says that's as bad as it gets, for you're walking away from what is pure and holy and good. One day you will stand before the throne of God; the kingdom of God is near. Will you be found ready? Let me pray.

[Prayer] Heavenly Father, sober us. Help us to be honest with ourselves and to realize the seriousness of rejection, to see the beauty of the gospel and the wonder of Jesus Christ and the glory of the peace that He provides; and, Lord, cause us to cling to it, cause us to love the good news by which we may be saved, and wake us up from that devious lie that thinks we're not that bad.

Lord, we do thank You that You delight to use the weak things of the world to shame the wise, and you do send us out into this massive vineyard to carry out Your work. But ultimately, Lord, You're the God who works in and through us, and so we pray that You would cause us to be faithful and to serve Jesus well; for it's in His name we ask Him. Amen. [End]

I want to turn our attention just as we close to the Lord's Table, and all I want to say is if the rejection of Jesus Christ is a serious thing – which it is the most serious. It is the most serious thing because the gospel that He has provided through His suffering and death and resurrection is so glorious, so wonderful, so special. Rejecting Him is a serious thing because He has worked in such a wonderful way.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 11 we read about the institution of the Lord's Supper, and we're told that this is something that is to be done. We're meant to take time to remember Him, to remember that it's only through His work that we are able to stand. It's only because of Him that we are able to know this peace that we read about in Luke chapter 10. And unless you know Him today as your Lord and Savior, I want to ask you not to eat and not to drink. This is something that God calls those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to engage in. But if you are anticipating heaven because your confidence is in the finished work of Jesus Christ, let's remember Him and worship Him as we eat and drink together.

Paul writes, "For I received from the Lord that which I also deliver to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'" If you know and love our Savior, let's eat together in remembrance of Him.

Paul continues, "In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes." If your trust is in the death of Jesus Christ and His glorious resurrection, let's drink in remembrance. Let's pray.

[Prayer] Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for Jesus Christ, so thankful He paid it all, so thankful that He is the source of salvation, that it is not dependent on us. We thank You, Lord, that He has afforded through His perfect work peace with You, that we are able, though we were enemies of You, to call ourselves the children of God and to know the help and love and support that we find in You. We pray and ask, Lord, that You would help us to leave here rejoicing in His finished work, eager to serve Him faithfully in this week that lies ahead.

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Amen.

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