Luke 19:10 states “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Jesus Christ, who is God, left heaven for earth to seek and save the lost!
How did Jesus seek people? – Jesus sought people in various ways.
As we had noted from the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus revealed Himself first to His family, then to religious people in the synagogues, then to His close disciples!
Jesus also sought people by directly talking to them. Jesus is still speaking today in various ways, but mainly through Scriptures and as we will note in our passage today, Jesus speaks through His Beleivers.
And who are the lost who Jesus came to save?
Knowing the original Greek word for lost is helpful; that word is apololos, which actually means perishing. Unless saved, all who have sinned (disobeyed) God are lost and separated from God forever! Unless saved, all who have sinned (disobeyed) God are lost, perishing forever!
How did Jesus save the lost, the perishing? Let us say this together John 3:16…. For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life!
I trust that you believe in Jesus Christ; if not, please consider believing today!! Be warned; Jesus can return to earth today to judge the living and the dead! Also, only God really knows how long of a life we are to live and God tells us, “Every person is bound to die once and after that judgment!” Today is the day to believe in Jesus Christ!
Now, let us open our Bibles to Luke 10 and hear from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, who is God, left heaven for earth to seek and save the lost! Let us read our passage with this truth in mind. Read along with me Luke 10:1-17…..
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. We see a glimpse of God’s plan for saving people in v1. We know Jesus first called the first 12 disciples to go out and preach the Kingdom of God. We note now at the beginning of Luke 10 that Jesus called 70 more to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
As we had noted last week, God’s plan is to use ordinary people to do extraordinary and miraculous work to expand the Kingdom of God. God wants to use ordinary people for His great work of building the Kingdom of God!
The key verse for our passage is our Scripture of the Week; Jesus said in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
Why did Jesus come to earth? – to seek and save the lost! And so, what is the harvest?? – the lost! And who are the lost? – as we mentioned earlier, the original Greek word for lost is perishing.
And what did Jesus say about the harvest, those perishing? The perishing is plentiful! There are many who are “lost” in the world! Now, if that is not bad enough, what is the other truth that Jesus tells His disciples and us? Not only are there are many who are perishing, there is a shortage of workers to do the saving!
In your circle of influence there are many who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. They may not realize it, but in God’s eyes, they are lost and perishing if they do not believe in Jesus Christ as their only Savior and God.
Jesus said there are many who are perishing (this includes many of our relatives and friends) but the workers are few, then look at what Jesus said in the second part of v2…. The harvest is plentiful and yes the workers are few; but do you see the main problem??
The main problem is not enough people are praying for workers!
Let us pause right now to do exactly this; right where you are, quietly pray for God to bring someone to talk to your lost loved ones and have them share the Gospel of Jesus Christ… Of course if you have never opened up your heart to accept Jesus Christ as your only Savior and God, that is what you should do right now… take a moment to pray…
Let us continue with our passage in Luke 10. Jesus appointed 70 plus His other disciples then starting in v3, Jesus gave specific instructions. Let us learn from them.
What is the first instruction for these workers for Christ?? – Go!
The simple command to go may be obvious but think about this rhetorical question for a moment; how many Christians have sat in churches on Sundays but have never gone out to talk to someone about their faith?
Every Believer of Christ are called and appointed to be involved in the work of the Kingdom of God. After prayer, the next thing a Believer of Christ must do in order to accomplish anything for the Kingdom of God is to go, to step out in faith into the world and make a profession as a follower of Jesus Christ!
v2: The first command for Christians is to go and relate to people about their Christian faith.
Let us briefly note the other instructions to those Christian workers called by Jesus Christ:
Look again at v3….
Jesus reminds His followers that,
v3. There will be opposition.
And what does v4 indicate for us?
We talked about this from Luke 9 that, Christians are to
v4: Put away any distractions from doing the work of God.
When doing ministry, dependence on Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit is a must. You see, a person doing ministry for Christ can be self-sufficient rather that God-sufficient. Watch out for self-sufficiency with wealth, knowledge, communication skills, etc… Also, when we look at people, do we view their life based on their success with their self-sufficiency or how much they trust God?
v5: Greet people in peace! Personally, I think there are too many grouchy Christians walking around.
And what do v6-7 indicate? It is simply this:
v6-7: results of ministry are up to God, not forced.
We don’t have to force evangelism! Evangelism is to happen as we live our daily Christian lives and relate to people!
v8: Give hospitality in return to those hospitable.
And what do v10-16 indicate? It is simple this: People must be warned of the truth! And what is the truth? Jesus states in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me!”
People must be warned that anyone who rejects the Word from Jesus Christ rejects Jesus Christ; and anyone who rejects Jesus Christ rejects God the Father; and anyone who rejects God the Father will be judged.
Let us note close by noting the main applications to our lives.
1. We must constantly pray for more workers for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ!
2. We must go and relate to people with our faith in Jesus Christ.
This is true evangelism!
But let us also note that we should not be surprised with opposition; know how to lovingly handle those who will go against the Words of Christ.
3. Always focus on the Kingdom of God and tell people about it!
