A Mission For Everyone Series

A Mission For Everyone: Breaking Boundaries

Luke 10:1-11, 17 May 31, 2009

Intro:

It is not for the elite. You need not be a professional. It is not an exclusive club, private fraternity, or social clique. The “Bold and the Beautiful” are welcome, but the “Humble and the Homely” will be in charge. Jostling for power or position is counterproductive and will not be tolerated; feeling not as important or not as useful is an especially insidious lie. There is only one entrance fee, the same for all, and everyone has the exact same ability to pay. It is, quite simply, your all.

Once you give your all, prepare to be transformed. You will be renewed, set free, forgiven, adopted, and blessed; and then you will be sent into danger with nothing except this transformed self and a new companion. Sent into possible rejection. Possible pain. Possible situations where you will love and work and have your heart broken and your work discarded. Once you are transformed you are sent – no other options or alternatives; no cushy desk jobs with lazy feet up reading a trashy novel, no lounging around in big comfy couches with funny movies and bottomless bowls of popcorn and soda.

Nope. Once you are transformed and begin to find out what it really means to be alive – fully, completely, wholly alive – the things you have “gained” in this transformation are not things to make your life nice and easy, but are tools to be used in hard rewarding work of eternal value, and if you lay them up against the side of the house they’ll just rust and be useless.

The Mission is for Everyone. I really believe that the church at the beginning of the 21st Century has forgotten this. “No, the mission is for the missionaries, not for ordinary people like me…”. “That should be the pastor’s job…”. And besides, we think, what can I do anyway? Enter Jesus:

Luke 10:1-11, 17 (NLT):

1 The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. 2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. 3 Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Don’t take any money with you, nor a traveler’s bag, nor an extra pair of sandals. And don’t stop to greet anyone on the road.

5 “Whenever you enter someone’s home, first say, ‘May God’s peace be on this house.’ 6 If those who live there are peaceful, the blessing will stand; if they are not, the blessing will return to you. 7 Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.

8 “If you enter a town and it welcomes you, eat whatever is set before you. 9 Heal the sick, and tell them, ‘The Kingdom of God is near you now.’ 10 But if a town refuses to welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘We wipe even the dust of your town from our feet to show that we have abandoned you to your fate. And know this—the Kingdom of God is near!’

17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!”

The “Who”?

Quick quiz time: I will give $1000 to anyone who can correctly name even one third of these 72 disciples… anyone? Surely someone knows there names – these people were sent by Jesus Himself!! They walked with Him, felt His touch, heard Him commission them and send them and guess what it worked!! Surely these people should have an exalted place in the history of the Christian movement. They must be “somebodys”!

We don’t even know their names. All we know is that there were 72 of them, and Jesus sent them out in pairs to announce the Kingdom of God. That tells us something vitally important: The Mission is for Everyone. You don’t have to be one of the 12, or even one of the inner 3 – if Jesus has transformed you then He has also sent you.

So what is your part in this grand Mission of God? That is the Great Big Question…

The Instructions: #1 Pray For More Hands!

The rest of the passage are the instructions for the “sent ones”. And since you and I are “sent ones”, these instructions are for us. The first instruction is to pray: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”