FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Scripture References: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Reaping the harvest in the ancient farming culture was a family responsibility; everybody in the household who was able had a part in it, including children who were old enough to work. Sleeping through the time of harvest was considered shameful. Similarly, it is God’s will that we all participate in His great harvest that is already ripe out there, so that we are ignoring our family responsibility if we ignore the right time for the harvest, and the right time, dear friends, is now.

The urgency of Jesus’ call, however, doesn’t mask the fact that there is a practicality about Jesus’ instructions to the initial seventy missionaries and to us:

When you go into a home, first greet them by wishing them peace. If a truly peaceful [person] is there, your peace will take root; . . . if there isn’t, it will bounce back on you. . . . And to whatever city you go, and they accept you, eat what’s set before you and heal the sick in the town. And keep telling them, “The God Movement is confronting you.” But if you go to a city and they won’t accept you, go out on the main streets and say, “We are shaking off every particle of dust from your city that’s sticking to our feet. But let this be clear to you: the God Movement is here” (Luke 10:5–6, 8–11, The Cotton-patch Version of Luke and Acts).

When Jesus talks of a truly peaceful person, or as the Word says, “a son of peace” (Luke 10:6), He is speaking of someone sympathetic to the cause of the Gospel, not just nice, accommodating folks. So on our mission if we come upon persons also concerned about the urgency of serving God, the peace of God will create a bond between us, whether or not we are culturally matched and speak the same language. When we come upon those who are not sympathetic to the cause, there will be no way for the peace of God to bless or unite. We’re bound to come across some of both, so Jesus gives a little more instruction.

If we come upon those who are open to our message, that’s all we’re looking for. There is nothing more to expect so we are not to be concerned about the quality of hospitality, and we are not concerned about whether their religious expression matches ours; our preoccupation is to be with our mission. We graciously receive what is given us; we receive such people as they are, and we do all that we are equipped to do to serve them in Jesus’ name, whether that is healing their sick or, as some congregations do, repairing the homes of the elderly, or preparing meals to be delivered to the home-bound.

When we come upon those who are not open to what we are trying to do for Jesus’ sake, politely disinterested, and rigorously and rudely opposed to the news we bear and the service we offer in Jesus’ name, well, Jesus had some advice on what to do in this situation, too. We tell any of the dissenters who will listen that we are wiping the very dust from our feet that got on us while coming to them. That sounds pretty nasty, but it is intended to be a “dramatization of the fact that these people are under God’s judgment for rejecting the Good News.” We don’t like the word “judgment,” and especially now days where everyone accuses Christians of judging (condemning and sentencing) but without trying to soft-soap it, we can understand it to mean that there are losses for those who reject the love of God, not a particularly pleasant message, but an honest one. The present and the future are different than they would otherwise have been for those who become a part of the God Movement.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Last lesson: If God puts out that call for more laborers, we are here, and ready. However, if any new workers go, we will have to be with them, and the assignment can be very demanding.

Getting close to people and opening ourselves up for genuine care and an honest witness to our own source of strength requires that we make ourselves vulnerable, and that means we can get hurt. Some people will not be receptive even to the love of God, and they may take out their anger or their frustrations on anyone who seems to possess it. This is why Jesus said: “Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.” – Luke 10:3.

The song-writer, Margaret Clarkson was precisely on target with regard to this less-than-glamorous dimension of Christian service when she wrote the words to a hymn as if Jesus were speaking to those of us considering the possibility of making ourselves available to go and prepare the way for Him. Clarkson heard Jesus saying to us:

So send I you to labor unrewarded,
     To serve unpaid, unloved, unsought, unknown,
To bear rebuke, to suffer scorn and scoffing—
     So send I you to toil for Me alone.

So send I you to hearts made hard by hatred,
     To eyes made blind because they will not see,
To spend, though it be blood, to spend and spare not—
     So send I you to taste of Calvary. ¹

Even though we may treat the subject rather casually, not even fully committed to the idea, in Jesus’ mind involvement in people’s lives to prepare them for His personal visitation is an ongoing and urgent task which explains His strange-sounding instructions, “Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road.” – Luke 10:4.

Clarence Jordan, the Baptist preacher, translates these words of Jesus in our vernacular: “Don’t carry a suitcase or a wallet or shoes. And don’t stop and gab with everybody you meet” (The Cotton-patch Version of Luke and Acts). This says something not only about the urgency of the mission in that there will not be time to stop, pack bags, get traveler’s checks, and plan meals, but also this business of traveling without provisions will continue to remind us of our complete reliance on Jesus as the source of supply for all our needs.

Being preoccupied with our own comfort, present and future, generally sidetracked with things of the world is so easy; in fact, for many of us, it is the most natural position to take. Against it, we see how much the kingdom of God, the God Movement (as coined by the aforementioned Clarence Jordan) in the world pales in comparison to our ever increasing list of priorities which has nothing to do with serving and honoring God. The truth is that in success-oriented America and even American Christianity, we can barely identify, if at all, with the idea of putting God and God’s will first, regardless of the consequences. Back to Margaret Clarkson’s hymn again. Is it possible to hear Jesus making these kinds of demands on His laborers?

So send I you to leave your life’s ambition,
     To die to dear desire, self-will resign,
To labor long, and love where men revile you—
     So send I you to lose your life in Mine. ²

The gospel however, doesn’t offer any apologies about the demands it makes of us; there is a no-nonsense clarity with which the rewards and the burdens of being one of Jesus’ people are presented. In this lesson, for example, Jesus isn’t mincing any words, and there is clearly no way we can comply with Jesus’ call to us unless doing the will of God is an all-consuming desire. Certainly the writer of Proverbs is correct in his practical wisdom when he reminds us of the Scripture from Proverbs 10:5 quoted above.

To Be Continued

^1-2 E. Margaret Clarkson, from “So Send I You,” Hymns for the Living Church
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture References: Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

Many of us believers today can look around us and sense the circumstances in the world and we realize that the Lord’s coming cannot be very far off. Because of the time, we should be keenly aware that the job we have before us is becoming critical.

“He who gathers in summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.” – Proverbs 10:5. When Jesus does shout from the clouds above to call His church to Him, I do not want to be slack in my duties.

What we have in the Scriptures referenced is a picture of missions and ministry to which we are all called; it pictures men and women committed to Jesus and His cause going ahead of or preparing the way for the Lord and touching lives in the spirit of Christ Jesus who will be coming to them for a personal visitation. We often wonder what it is we’re supposed to say to people whom we believe do not know Jesus Christ; indeed, the issue of a way to witness for thinking Christians is a troublesome one for many of us, myself included. Maybe we can glean something from our Scriptures referenced that will help us in that very area of concern.

Our task as witnesses of and for Jesus Christ, at home and abroad, is to go, with other people of faith, to every place where Jesus is about to come. Jesus is ready to come to any place where persons have been prepared to meet Him.

In our secular age, we are concerned about the validity of the ideal of life found in Christ for all people and we are often hesitant to believe anybody wants anything to do with Christ or Christianity. Jesus says this is not the problem at all. Jesus knew that there would always be persons receptive to the truth of a God who loved them and was reaching out to give them life. No, the problem is not the slim pickings out there. Jesus actually said: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” – Luke 10:2.

“The mission of the seventy” as some summarize this passage does not refer to an exclusive group called out to special service. The seventy people who went out ahead of Jesus were the first, with the possible exception of John the Baptist and the apostles, to do what all Christians are called to do: prepare a way for the Lord in the hearts of those who have not found the reality of life in Jesus Christ. I’m not talking about tactics which resemble accosting people rather than caring for them. I’m talking about kindness, courtesy, and genuine interest in the well-being of others. I’m talking about being understanding, forgiving, compassionate, and encouraging. I’m talking about showing others the spirit of Jesus Christ alive and at work in us, we who ourselves are imperfect folk who have nonetheless found life through having made a permanent place for Jesus in our own hearts. I’m talking about caring for people in very natural and comfortable ways and places long before any words of witness ever need to be spoken. There are people dying for that kind of affirmation and hope. Indeed, the “harvest truly is great.”

It is time for the rich harvest which Jesus has promised. Then, why not go out to reap the harvest? Simply stated, because “the laborers are few.” We need to fervently pray for more laborers, but be careful when you “pray . . . the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” because in order for those prayers to be answered according to God’s will, more laborers will have to be found; and right now, we are the only extra laborers there are. If God puts out that call for more laborers, we are here, and ready. However, if any new workers go, we will have to be with them, and the assignment can be very demanding.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.