The Glorious Service of Christ

In beginning a new chapter, Luke
chapter 10. If you prefer, the notes are
in your bulletin. Along with the passage itself. Now, you know that I didn’t plan
things this way. The the park, the outreach effort
at Lee Martinez has literally been on the books for months.
We have been coursing our way through the Gospel of Luke and
sometimes even through the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew,
trying to synthesize this effort. But last week we began this new
section in Luke 59, 51, where it almost the material for about
10 chapters is almost exclusive to Luke. So, you know that I
didn’t plan this this way to have essentially evangelism 101
this morning with the passage before us. We have purpose today
to just as we’ve already prayed to have a mild or moderate outreach
to those who are in the park at Lee Martinez. We pray providentially
that we’re just going to go and invite them to lunch and then
having invited them to lunch. We’ll have opportunity to to
have a brief devotional and then perhaps just initiate some relationships
with some people real people and reach out to them. And I
know that for some perhaps even for many outreach is something
that We just don’t do because we’re afraid we’re afraid of
what might happen. We’re afraid of being thought
odd or weird or peculiar. And so, by and large, outreach
falls by the wayside. And so I think it’s in God’s
good providence that we come to a passage that is almost exclusively
about the outreach of ministry. Or rather, the Ministry of Outreach
called it the glorious service of Christ. And it is such. To think that we who have often
in many cases been the recipients, whether it was from somebody
that we knew or as we heard in testimony, somebody that we were
dating. or somebody that some friend of ours that handed us
a tract or someone who invited us to church or to a concert,
we have experienced the very thing. That we now read about,
we have experienced this kind of glorious ministry of Christ
called outreach or evangelism. And yet, even though we’ve experienced
it, We’ve been blessed. Others showed us a movie, gave
us a book, shared Christ with us, even though. All those things
are true of so many of us, we find ourselves reticent, reluctant. We find ourselves refusing really
to open our mouths and just to point people in the direction
of Christ. And so I hope that the passage
before us this morning will be, in a sense, undergirding to even
what Dave would share in Sunday school evangelism 101. Just a brief message, a message
of encouragement to share Christ with those around us. Look, if
you would, at Luke chapter 10, beginning in verse one. Now, after this, the Lord appointed
70 others and sent them on 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,
beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
harvest. Go and behold, I send you out
as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag,
no shoes and greet no one on the way. Whatever house you enter,
first say peace be to this house. If a man of peace is there, your
peace will rest upon 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 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 in protest against you. Yet be
sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near. I say to
you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for
that city. Woe to you, Corazon. Woe to you,
Bethsaida. For if the miracles had been
performed in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would
have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it
will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than
for you and you, Capernaum. Will not be exalted to heaven,
will you? You will be brought down to Hades.
The one who listens to you listens to me and the one who rejects
you rejects me and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me. I wanted to share with you this
morning. By way of encouragement before our outreach. These three
encouraging factors that are woven through this passage, three
encouragements to proclaim our Lord Jesus Christ. And I. As I typically do. Have too much
to preach today, so I’m going to really have to move. First
of all, the first encouragement to proclaiming Christ as a ministry
is that rather this ministry we have, this glorious service
of Christ is a ministry with a perpetuating commission. A perpetuating commission, look
back at verse one now after this, the Lord appointed 70 others
and he sent them in pairs ahead of him to every city where himself
was going to come. You could say, why didn’t Jesus
just do it? Why didn’t Jesus just go from
town to town or better yet, or perhaps second best? Why didn’t
he just send his 12 apostles? There was a need of a multiplied
ministry, and there is always a need, no matter how many we
have today, we need more because today’s will die, today’s will
go away and next year we’ll need new ones and more of them. Jesus was proceeding slowly from
city to city, from village to village. He was going about preaching
the gospel and he had little time to devote to each one of
these cities. Some were even rejecting him
somewhere, bogging down his ministry with constant requests of him.
Sometimes he had to flee some of those cities just to keep
moving. And so it was a very high importance. That he wanted to have these
places prepared for his arrival, and so in order to do so, he
would send out. These pairs who would go and
act as heralds, messengers for his arrival so that when Christ
came, the whole process could be streamlined, perhaps those
who wanted to hear of Christ could be gathered. Note again, just as we saw in
the gospel earlier, he sent them out two by two. The gifts of
the plurality were meant to encourage one another, help one another,
offset others weaknesses. Even support the testimony that
the ancient passage there, Deuteronomy 1915, a single witness shall
not rise up. But by the evidence of two or
three witnesses, the matter should be confirmed. And so there was
there was a believability and two witnesses and two of these
emissaries. There was also the benefit of
companionship. If you look back in the case
of the apostles themselves and even later on in the other servants
ministries, John the Baptist disciples were almost constantly
with him. Barnabas and Saul were nearly
inseparable for a time. Judas and Silas, Barnabas and
Mark, Paul and Silas, Timothy and Silas, Timothy and Erastus. Almost every time you hear some
of these great saints. Of the early church mentioned
there in tandem. They were there to help and encourage
offset weaknesses. And it notes there that Christ
sent them on ahead of him. Because the amount of work was
so great. And the time that he had to complete
it was so short, he wanted these cities to be prepared. Look at
verse two. And he was saying to them, the
harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore,
beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
harvest. Do you get the image here? You
have the Lord Jesus Christ still resident here on Earth. You have
the 12 apostles, you have multiple other disciples that are following
him. Now you have these 70 others
and still it isn’t enough. Jesus urges them that the first
order of business is to pray for more laborers. That’s how
ready the fields are. You might have thought, well,
a couple of the apostles wandering through town. And this is how
we think people. Let the pastor do it, let so
and so do it, he’s appointed, he’s good at it. It’s never enough. The Lord isn’t going to lose
any of his sheep, but as it were, you get the image here in this
little illustration that Jesus uses that the wheat, if it’s
not harvested, is going to rot. The harvest is plentiful, it’s
ready, it’s ripe for the taking. There may be people at the park
today that the Lord has already prepared and all we have to do
is open our mouths. This is an oft repeated illustration
in Christ’s ministry. You remember in John chapter
four, he had greeted the woman at the well. The woman at the
well returned to her town and said, I’ve never seen anything
like this and heard anything like this. And they all the villagers
go with this woman out to meet Christ. And as Christ is there
explaining to the disciples, to his apostles what he was about,
why he was talking to this sinful woman. He said this, do you not say
there are yet four months and then comes the harvest? Behold,
I say to you, and perhaps even as he gestured, they looked up
and they saw these towns people coming. Behold, I say to you,
lift up your eyes and look on the fields. They are white for
harvest. Matthew chapter nine records
it as well. He said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but
the workers are few. I get the idea that this was
a regular feature. Now, most of you having if you’ve
sat under my ministry for more than a year, you’ve heard illustrations
more than once. Right. And they all said, amen. Well, you know what? I get the
image that this this was something that Christ said with regularity.
The harvest is plentiful, men, but the laborers are few pray. It is intended to be a perpetuating
commission, we, even if it was just if every one of us rose
up for the occasion and went out with great boldness, it’s
not enough. It’s not enough. Pray that the
Lord of the harvest send out laborers into this field. This
word sense, it’s an interesting one, it literally means to drive
forth and sometimes for us, that’s what it takes, isn’t it? To thrust forth, and it could
mean to thrust forth from the father’s house, from the throne
room of God, from really ultimately where these kinds of callings
to ministry originate anyway. But it means to send forth with
haste and urgency, with a sense of fire and passion. The verb
expresses a pressing need and the directness with which they’re
sent. To their destination, they are
literally dispatched out. Listen to how this word is used
on other occasions. John 10 for he puts forth all
his own speaking of sheep. He literally drives them out
of the pen. Matthew 12, 20, a battered read, he will not break off a
smoldering wick, he will not put out. Interesting use of the word James
to twenty five in the same way was not really have the harlot
also justified by her works when she received the messengers and
sent them out another way. It is sometimes that way for
us, isn’t it? We’re not going to move, we’re
not going to do, we’re not going to tell, we’re not going to speak,
we’re not going to share until God thrusts us out. And that’s
the prayer. God is the one that. Takes the
unwilling heart and makes it willing, he equips him, he qualifies
him, he ordains him in essence. You think through the scriptures
and you think of all of your heroes of The Scriptures, and
sometimes it took exactly this kind of a thrust. A boost. Moses said, please, Lord, I’ve
never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor
since you have spoken to your servant, he didn’t want to go.
God made him willing. Jonah, Jonah didn’t want to go. Jonah’s tale is legendary, infamous. Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord, so he thought. He went down to
Joppa, he found a ship that was going to Tarshish, and he paid
the fare. One pastor I heard preach on this says, when you
go your own way, you always pay the fare. You pay. He went down
to it, into the boat. With them to Tarshish from the
presence of the Lord. If you’ve ever looked at a map,
it was the exact opposite direction that God wanted to go. And that’s
us, isn’t it? The Lord sometimes makes it quite
clear what he would have us to do, and we’re reluctant. We drag
our feet. We’ll do everything, but we’ll
go in the opposite direction. Jeremiah’s commissioning was
just such a thrust The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and before you were
born, I consecrated you. I have appointed you as a prophet
to the nations. Jeremiah didn’t sign up, he didn’t
volunteer, he didn’t go to seminary, he didn’t he didn’t do any of
this stuff. God appointed him, and then he
said, alas, Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak because
I’m a youth. See, there’s all kinds of creative
excuses we come up with. I’m too young. I’m too old. I’m
not eloquent. I’m too eloquent. The Lord said to me, do not say
I’m a youth everywhere I send you, you shall go and all that
I command you, you shall speak. It’s a perpetuating commissioning.
We are not enough and we are to pray for God to stir the hearts
of those that he would to thrust them into ministry. We’re never
to be content with where we are. We’re never to be content with
what God has provided for ministry. I was sharing with some young
men this week. You know, God has God has told me to teach
others specifically, he’s told me to teach men. But not just
men, he’s told me to teach faithful men, but you know what? Not just
faithful men. God has told me to teach faithful men who will
be able to teach others also. It’s a perpetuating ministry.
It’s not supposed to stop with me, it’s not supposed to stop
with them. And what a beautiful image this
is. When he says the harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers. It’s work. That we’re called
to do. That I’m called to do and you’re
called to do its work and labor is a good image. It’s hard work and throughout
Scripture, that word is always used of those who roll up their
sleeves and get busy about the work that God has called them
to do. It’s a perpetuating commission. And in the present instance,
look at verse three, because Jesus says go. We can pray and we can wait all
we want, but today is today and today Jesus says, go behold,
I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. It’s not a pleasant
ministry, it’s labor, it’s danger, sometimes it’s frustrating. First, John 313 says, don’t be
surprised if brethren, if the world hates you because it hated
Christ first. In essence, we’re in good company. When he says that he’s sending
them out as wolves, lambs in the midst of wolves, they’re
supposed to go out, as we’ve already seen in Luke chapter
nine, as they are weak, unprovided for, not supposed to bring all
these extra accoutrements. The Lord was going to be their
preparation, the Lord was going to be their supply. They weren’t
going to be surprised to meet up with persecution, Paul said,
all who live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Don’t be surprised. I want to
go back, if you would flip back to Luke chapter nine. When he
says in verse four, carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes,
greet no one on the way. He wanted them to be dependent
upon those to whom they were ministering. Luke nine, one through
six, we saw it there with the commissioning of the 12th called
the 12 together, gave them power and authority of all the demons
to heal and to heal diseases. They sent them out to proclaim
the kingdom of God and perform healing. And he said to them,
take nothing for your journey, essentially the same message
that he tells the 70. Don’t go out with all these.
Accommodations, neither staff nor bag nor bread nor money do
not even have two tunics apiece. Here in the present passage,
it says no shoes, no sandals. See, Aaron and I had this argument
a couple of weeks ago in his. never ending quest to get me
to lighten up. He urged me to wear sandals today
for the park. And there it says no sandals. Essentially, what he means is
take with you none of the things that all those travelers so often
get bogged down with. Sometimes we’re so we’re so worldly
We’re so bound to our things that we can’t follow God where
he wants to lead us. And he didn’t want them caught
up in that. But the interesting thing of this whole passage is
greet no one on the way. Well, I thought you were sending
them out to proclaim. Now he’s sending them out as emissaries,
messengers, heralds, if you will, for Christ in these specific
cities. And in the East, sometimes when
you were on the road, you would greet the others and you would
get into this lengthy and protracted time of greeting. And it went
on for some 10 or 15 minutes. What Jesus is saying is this
is urgent. There’s an urgency, this whole
ministry. And sometimes we, too, we get
caught up in all kinds of formalities, right? We’ve got to build the
relationship first. We got, you know, and there’s
nothing wrong with building relationships. Don’t get me wrong, but there
comes a time to proclaim Christ. They were to behave as those
who had no time to waste. The Lord intended that all of
his disciples, not just these, were going to devote themselves
entirely to the work that they were engaged in and not engage
in all these formalities that were so time consuming and empty. There’s a second encouragement
here for us this morning in proclaiming Christ. This glorious ministry
is a ministry with a perpetuating commissioning, but secondly,
it’s a ministry with an anticipated reception. Did you get that there’s
your encouragement, it’s a ministry of anticipated reception. Look at verse five, he doesn’t
say there might be a house. I’m hoping that there’s a house
If there might be a house, he doesn’t say any of that, whatever
house. There will be a house, whatever
house you enter, first say peace be to this house. If a man of
peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it
will return to you. The passage continues. Stay in that house. There will
be reception to your ministry. It’s a matter of God’s providence,
not a matter of your ability. It’s a matter of God’s sovereign
work in people’s lives, not a matter of our creativity. Peace to you was a customary
greeting. And normally among friends, it was the expression
of a sincere wish. But in this context, the way
it is here, it’s it goes far beyond just a desire for a good
day. What these messengers were doing,
they were coming and proclaiming the peace that God was securing
through his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, he was bringing peace
itself. Literally there in the original,
it is son of peace, a man of a peaceful heart in in Jewish
language. It was very typical that if a
man had a good or a bad quality, he was called the son of that
quality. Here, he’s called the son of
peace, but throughout Scripture, wicked men are called children
of wrath, Ephesians 2, 3. Judas was called the son of perdition.
Man desiring to die was called the son of death, 2 Samuel 2,
15. Luke 20, 36, they were called
sons of God. Ephesians 5, 6, they were called,
some were called sons of disobedience. Ephesians 5, 8, they’re called
children of light. Matthew 23, 15 refers to one
as a son of hell. What he’s saying there is that
he comes to somebody and they are characterized by peace ability
and a receptivity to this peaceable greeting. That’s the house. That’s the house, all you need
is a is a cracked open door and that’s the house where you’re
going to enter in. But if no soul is found there
to receive this gospel greeting, this gospel influence. It doesn’t make it null and void.
In essence, it’s a simple numbers game, you just know that it’s
not that house and it’s time to move to the next house. Peace, he says, for the one that
does receive you, verse seven, stay in that house eating and
drinking what they give you for the labor is worthy of his wages.
Do not keep moving from house to house. We saw the same thing
in Luke nine. They weren’t supposed to be in this for the best meal. They weren’t supposed to be in
it just for the provisions that were given to them, they were
to look for something better, maybe maybe a better bed, maybe
better cooking. They were to take what God gave
them in that place. Now, we have looked at this passage
through and through. The labor is worthy of his wages.
We saw it in First Timothy 518. You shall not muzzle the ox while
he’s threshing. We looked at First Corinthians
nine, which speaks all about that. That’s not where we’re
going to dwell this morning. There is an element that is so
true here, and we’ve talked about it. We’re going to leave it there
as is. The ministry is a supportable endeavor. The ministry is something
that does have God’s blessing on financial support, but that’s
not where we’re going to park this morning. Where we want to
park is the fact that there is a favorable reception. There
are those that are going to receive us, there are those that will
listen to our feeble gospel presentation, there are those that God in time
will call to himself. Through the Lord Jesus Christ,
any messenger of Christ, anyone who proclaims Christ. Has any entrance, any reception
with anybody, it’s a providential event, it’s a providential event
in God’s kingdom. God has worked it out, God has
opened their heart and it’s a beautiful thing. Don’t keep moving from house
to house, he says, verse eight, whatever city you enter and they
receive you eat what is set before you. In other words, there is
the most likely place where your ministry is going to expand.
Sometimes we move too quickly from people to people. If someone
comes to Christ, go after the father as well. The father comes
to Christ, go after the children. Go after the whole family. They
weren’t supposed to be fickle and changeable in particular,
hard to please. Not only that, look at verse
nine, heal those who are sick, save you, the kingdom of God
has come near to you. Now, we believe, obviously, that
the the gift of healing is passed away, but it doesn’t prevent
us from praying for them. And it certainly doesn’t prevent
us from proclaiming the kingdom of God to them. They had a reception. They were
to expect and anticipate a reception. But you know what, there’s a
third factor that shouldn’t surprise us either. Not only is this glorious
service of Christ, a ministry with a perpetuating commission
and a ministry with anticipated reception. It also shouldn’t
surprise us that it’s a ministry with an expected rejection, and
that shouldn’t ruin us. Look at verse 10. Whatever city
you enter and they do not receive you go out into the streets and
say, even the dust of your city, which clings to our feet, we
wipe off and protest against you. Now, people, we’ve talked
about this before, we’ve seen the verse earlier. The thought,
at least. This is nothing that we do flippantly,
nothing that we do casually, this is a heartbreaking Act. That was meant to testify against
them that they were rejecting the very gospel, and there’s
no doubt that sooner or later in somebody’s ministry, you’re
going to come across somebody that you just say, there’s nothing
more, Lord, that I can do. We’ve appealed and we’ve pleaded,
we’ve shared, we’ve worked with them. They’re not faithful. People have come and gone from
our own ministry, and it breaks my heart every time it happens. But God is ultimately the one
that is drawing them to himself, and so we must expect rejection. This act that they did of shaking
the dust off their feet, the apostles would do. The apostles
took Christ’s advice, there were those cities that did not receive
them, and they did this very thing. Acts 13. The word of the
Lord was being spread throughout the whole region. Acts 13, 49.
But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading
men of the city and instigated a persecution against Paul and
Barnabas and drove them out of their district. But they shook off the dust of
their feet and protest against them. Paul knew the Lord’s words. Paul knew that God was ultimately
sovereignly in control. Paul knew that they had embittered
their hearts, not against him, but against God. There was nothing
that he could do. Acts 18, Acts 18, five, when
Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting
himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews
that Jesus was the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed,
he shook out his garments and said to them, your blood be on
your own heads, unclean. For now, I go to the Gentiles. There he left and went to the
house of a man named Titus Justice, a worshiper of God, who was in
the house next to the synagogue. It opened the door. For Paul
to minister to the Gentiles, that was God’s sovereign direction
in his life, and he used this town to do it. This proclamation of judgment
The solemn act that it ends with their solemn events. This isn’t
anything that we entered into lightly or flippantly. These punishments that they’ll
receive are severe, they’re solemn. Look at verse 12. I say to you,
it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom. than for
that city. If you’re unfamiliar with the
history of Sodom. Number one, I would direct you
back to the book of Genesis. But as well. To the testimonies of the scriptures
themselves, we know that Sodom was in a good place. Sodom was
a wicked and evil place. One that embraced sin of the
worst kind with gusto and hardiness. And Jesus says it’s going to
be more tolerable for Sodom than for the city that rejects you.
This is real judgment. This is real and genuine. Rebuke by Christ, there’s no
doubt that Sodom sinned grievously. But the cities that the Lord
Jesus Christ is rebuking here is rebuking them for rejecting
the very special privilege of having his personal representative
sent to them with his pleading and urgent
appeal. And they’re rejecting him still.
This golden opportunity they had is now turning to judgment. Look at verse 13. Woe to you,
Corazon, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the miracles had been
performed in Tyre and Sidon, which had occurred in you, they
would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
It’s interesting, the mention of this town, Corazon, it’s the
only place that this town occurs in all of Scripture. It’s even
more interesting that the very site of Corazon was almost for
2000 years unknown. It was so completely wiped off
the map that nobody even knew where it was. Jesus had deep feelings about
this rejection. That not only that he faced,
but ultimately his servants would face solemn farewell to these cities
which he had preached ministered to in vain. Turns into judgment. The mention of the judgment that
awaits the towns. that are rejecting his forerunners
ultimately leads him. To the mention of those places
that have already rejected him. Corazon, Bethsaida, no doubt
the town just recently we recently met up with in Samaria didn’t
even mention the town’s name. Perhaps it was one of these.
Miracles were performed. Remember the raising of the woman’s
daughter Remember the healings that were done in those towns,
the miracles performed in their midst. The messages that were
proclaimed, including the message there in John chapter six, which
we’ve read for the last several weeks, all done in their midst
in their town. And it was going to be better
for Tyre and Sidon. These words, difficult as they
are for us to hear, teach us about the exceeding hardness
of the heart of the unbeliever, that it was possible to hear
Christ preach, see him do miracles, watch his life and still reject
him. Those who rejected Christ in
the gospel, they remained unrepentant, they remained unbelieving, they
were In time, no longer objects of pity or compassion. Ultimately, they were found to
be blameworthy in God’s sight. God had called, but they refused.
God spoke to them, but they wouldn’t listen. And ultimately, the judgment
was theirs. J.C. Ryle said it this way. No
sin makes less noise, but none so securely damns the soul is
unbelief. Corazon and Bethsaida were situated
very close to Capernaum. Capernaum, you might know, as
Matthew declares, is basically Jesus’ hometown, Jesus’ headquarters,
all of his deeds that were done there and no doubt done in their
midst as well. It left them worse off than Tyre
and Sidon, the two great sinful seaports. Those towns are now no better
than ruins. And he said that if if they had
seen the miracles that you saw, they would have repented in sackcloth
and ash. Many of us had occasion on the.
Grade school playground to run in the gunny sacks, right, either
have gunny sack races or two legged races with the gunny sacks
tied around your remember what it was made of. That’s sackcloth. And what they would do in times
of deep mourning or repentance, they would literally put on these
garments, usually directly over the skin and would shape their
entire body. They would cut arm holes. It
would shape everywhere where the sackcloth touched. And to
add to their repentance, they would sit near an ash pit and
toss the ashes up in the air as a sign of utter degradation
and shame. And it says that these two sinful
cities, had they seen these miracles, would have repented. But here
are these two proud cities. And many others who would not
repent, they’d seen all that God had to offer. In his son,
Jesus Christ, and still they spurned him, and it shouldn’t
surprise us people. It shouldn’t surprise us, it
shouldn’t get us down it. shouldn’t detract us from what
God’s called us to do to face rejection. We’re going to have
rejection. Count on it. You’re going to
have people angry with you for inviting them to lunch. And if
you mention Christ. Christ isn’t finished, look at
verse 15, you, Capernaum, you will not be exalted to heaven,
will you? Here’s his hometown. You’re not going to be exalted
to heaven. No, on the contrary, you’re going down to Hades. It’s
interesting, too, that one of the possible suggestions for the name Capernaum
was that it was named after the Old Testament prophet Nahum,
whose name meant compassionate. And here’s this town that is
living in direct contrast to its namesake. They were far from
compassionate to Christ, far from receptive. Peter, Andrew, James, John, all
were called out of this. But it seemed as if they were
the only ones that responded over time. Capernaum, too, received the
judgment of God. Jesus, no doubt, had Selected
Capernaum for strategic regions to reach all these other little
towns. But they, too, rejected Christ, they spurned his ministry
and as a result. Christ rebukes them as well. You say that perhaps rejection
isn’t your favorite thing and probably wasn’t their favorite
thing either. The 12th had just gone out for their first course,
they came back essentially with their tails between their legs.
Now, these 70 even less seasoned. Disciples are going to go out,
they’re going to face rejection as well. And Jesus closes with
these final words of encouragement. The one who listens to you listens
to me. The one who rejects you rejects
me. And he who rejects me rejects
the one who sent me. Jesus comforts them by saying
that essentially, when you speak, when you proclaim Christ, you’re
speaking for Christ, you’re speaking for God. When they reject you,
they’re not rejecting you, don’t be so proud to think that it’s
you or your presentation or your pattern of speech, they’re not
rejecting you. It’s not your personality. One pastor said it this way,
when a prayerful, consistent, vigorous effort is made by any
of the servants of Christ, teacher, evangelist, pastor, deacon, elder,
layman. Whenever he impresses the message
of his Lord and Savior on the hearts and lives of people, on
that assumption, it is Christ himself who is speaking through
that messenger. Isn’t that an encouragement?
And when we go out today, when we begin to proclaim Christ’s
Whatever opportunity God opens to us. Ultimately, we’re out
of the way. They’re not rejecting us. They’re
not receiving us. Let’s rejoice in our hearts before
the Lord. Let’s pray. Gracious God, we are humbled. We’re humbled to be called into
your service. It is a glorious service. It’s
a service that we know that we’re largely unequipped for. It’s
a service that we know that we don’t deserve to participate
in, and yet you’ve called us. Father God, we do pray that even
this day that you would equip us, make us willing and able
to serve you in this grand capacity. of proclaiming Jesus Christ our
Savior and our Lord. We thank you and praise you for
your word in Jesus name. Amen. If you would stand in number
576.