Luke 10:1-24 | Happy, hopeful, humble harvesting

Good morning church.

Today's scripture reading is from the

book of Luke chap 10:es 1- 24. So that's

the book of Luke 10:es 1- 24.

After this, the Lord appointed 72 others

and sent them two by two ahead of him to

every town and place where he was about

to go. He told them, "The harvest is

plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask

the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to

send out workers into his harvest field.

Go, I am sending you out like lambs

among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag

or sandals and do not greet anyone on

the road. When you enter a house, first

say peace to this house. If someone who

promotes peace is there, your peace will

rest on them. If not, it will return to

you. Stay there eating and drinking

whatever they give you, for the worker

deserves his wages. Do not move around

from house to house. When you enter a

town and are welcomed, eat what is

offered to you. Heal those there who are

ill and tell them, "The kingdom of God

has come near to you." But when you

enter a town and are not welcomed, go

into its streets and say, "Even the dust

of your town we wipe from our feet as a

warning to you. Yet be sure of this. The

kingdom of God has come near. I tell

you, it'll be more bearable on that day

for Sodom than for that town. Woe to

you, Cores. Woe to you, Bethada. For if

the miracles that were performed in you

had been performed in Ty and Siden, they

would have repented long ago, sitting in

sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more

bearable for Ty and Siden at the

judgment than for you. And you,

Capernium, would you be lifted to the

heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.

Whoever listens to you listens to me.

Whoever rejects you rejects me. But

whoever rejects me rejects him who sent

me.

The 72 returned with joy and said, Lord,

even the demons submit to us in your

name. He replied, I saw Satan fall like

lightning from heaven. I have given you

authority to trample on snakes and

scorpions and to overcome all the power

of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.

However, do not rejoice that the spirits

submit to you, but rejoice that your

names are written in heaven.

At that time, Jesus, full of joy through

the Holy Spirit, said, "I praise you,

Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

because you have hidden these things

from the wise and learned and revealed

them to little children. Yes, Father,

for this is what you were pleased to do.

All things have been committed to me by

my father.

No one knows who the son is except the

father and no one knows who the father

is except the son and those to whom the

son chooses to reveal him.

Then he turned to his disciples and said

privately, "Blessed are the eyes that

see what you see. For I tell you that

many prophets and kings wanted to see

what you see, but did not see it. And to

hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

Thank you, Gemma, for reading that.

That's a change of tone from

Ecclesiastes, isn't it?

We are looking forward now to getting

into this next section of Luke. So,

let's pray and ask for the Lord's help

as we consider this passage this

morning.

Father, we pray that

you would help us now to dwell under the

shadow of the Almighty.

Help us

to put out distractions from our minds

and to listen to your word. fill our

minds with Christ through your word so

that we will be free from temptations

and fears and anxieties.

Lord, we pray that you would fill our

minds with Christ for his glory. Amen.

Are you someone who enjoys a challenge?

And when when you are faced with an

impossible task, how do you respond?

How do you feel?

Overwhelmed,

discouraged,

frustrated,

determined.

Really depends on your personality,

doesn't it? Some of us like challenges

more than others, and it depends on the

kind of challenge that it is as well.

But either way, probably there are two

main responses to a challenge. For many

of us, we lack confidence and our

thought, the the emotion that comes up

is, I will never be able to do this.

This task is too big. I'm just going to

give up. For others among us, you can

put any challenge in front of them and

they respond, "No problem. I've got

this." Right? Depends on your

personality.

Well, today in Luke,

Jesus is giving some of his first

followers an impossible task. He is

sending them out as his representatives

into the harvest field of this world.

You know, one of the last messages that

we saw in Luke, believe it or not, it

was back in January at the beginning of

chapter 9. Jesus, if you remember, he

sent out his 12 apostles for the first

time to do ministry in the area around

him. And it's a it's a similar passage

to the one we're looking at today.

There's this focus on dependency on

Jesus and his sufficiency to meet our

needs. But this time now at the

beginning of chapter 10,

he's sending out the 72. So he's not

sending out 12, the 12 apostles. this

time now he is sending out the 72. And

if you look there at verse verse one,

it's actually quite clear that these 72

are just ordinary disciples. They're

just ordinary followers of Jesus. These

aren't apostles. They haven't been

specifically given a task by Jesus.

They're just ordinary followers of him

that Jesus is now sending out for the

very first time to do ministry in this

world. Now, there's a really interesting

rabbit hole you can go down as far as

why 72.

I'm not going to get into all this. You

can talk to me more afterwards if you

want to hear more, but it's fascinating.

I think we actually have really, really

good reason to believe that this number

is a nod to Genesis 10-1,

which is the table of nations and the

Tower of Babel. So, you remember that

story? God. All these people come

together to stand against God and God

scatters them over the face of the

earth. All the nations of the world. And

the table of nations gives us 72 nations

that God has scattered over the surface

of the earth. And Jesus now I think is

showing that he is sending out his

followers to bring in every single one

of the scattered nations of God. Now I

have reasons why I believe that which I

can talk to you afterwards. I won't get

into it all now. But I think that's

what's going on here. In these verses,

we see the first mission of ordinary

followers of Jesus. People like you and

me. We're not apostles. We're just

ordinary followers of Jesus. And we see

that first he prepares them. They go

out, they come back with a report, and

then he debriefs them. if you want to

use modern language for what happens.

Now, the instructions that he gives here

are not all directly given to us today.

These are not onesizefits-all

instructions for followers of Jesus on

mission. They are not a blueprint for

how all missions is meant to happen.

They are for this specific moment. Yet,

they actually show us a lot about what

it means to represent Jesus on mission

and about his heart for us as we labor

in his harvest field.

Now, before we get into this, it's been

a minute since we were in Luke, isn't

it? So, let me just give you a quick

reminder of where we are in the book.

Believe it or not, we have already over

the last couple years preached 32

messages in the book of Luke, just in

those first nine chapters. And in Luke

1-9,

we have that that section, the opening

section of the book, introduced us to

who Jesus is and what he will do. Jesus,

we've seen, is the son of God. He's the

one who forgives sins. He's the one who

raises the dead. He's the new Adam.

Where the old Adam failed in temptation,

Jesus has succeeded. He is the one, if

you remember, at the transfiguration,

whose face shines with the very glory of

God. He's God's Messiah. He's the one

who will go to Jerusalem. He has just

told his disciples to die and then be

raised. He is the savior of the world.

And so much more that we've seen in

those first nine chapters.

And the last time, the last message that

we saw at the end of chapter nine, we

saw this very significant moment. If you

look back at chapter 9:51,

as the time approached for his ascension

or for him to be lifted up, Jesus set

his face for Jerusalem.

And that verse kicks off this next major

section of the book that we are going to

look at all the way from the end of

chapter 9 through to the middle of

chapter 19. This is now Jesus journeying

towards Jerusalem where he will suffer

and die.

And as he travels,

there's a lot of teaching and a lot of

parables. We have a huge concentration

over these next chapters of parables.

The focus in this section shifts where

in the first nine chapters it was mainly

on the person and work of Jesus. And

obviously that's still here, but it's

shifting now to his disciples. The theme

of these next chapters is disciplehip.

What does following Jesus involve? We

know who he is now from the first nine

chapters. Now what does it mean to

follow him? What does it involve? What

challenges? What sacrifices? What joys?

What privileges?

So here at the beginning now of this

section, he is sending out these 72

ordinary followers on his mission into

his harvest. And what I want you to see

here as we begin is that this passage is

about happiness while we are on Jesus

mission together. Look at how many times

the theme of joy or happiness came up.

Verse 17, the 72 returned with joy.

Verse 20, do not rejoice about this, but

rejoice about that. Verse 21, Jesus full

of joy through the Holy Spirit. And

verse 23, blessed. Now, we know that's

actually the word happy, better

translated happy. Happy are the eyes

that see what you see. So, do you see

joy, joy, joy, joy, happiness? That's

what this passage is about.

happiness while on mission for Jesus.

When you are faced with an impossible

task, are you happy?

Jesus is telling us here how to be happy

while on mission.

And I think this is particularly

relevant for us as a church right now.

As a church, we have just agreed to take

on an impossible task as members,

haven't we? an impossible task of

mission. How can we be happy while we do

that? Jesus is helping us in this

passage to see that.

How can we be happy? Well, I want to

show you seven characteristics of happy

harvesting. Okay, they will be shorter

points, I promise, but seven

characteristics of happy harvesting. And

there's two main themes that I want you

to see are playing throughout this whole

passage. Hopefulness

and humility. Those are the two main

themes throughout these seven

characteristics of happy harvesters. So

let's have a look at these together. The

first characteristic of happy harvesting

that we see from Jesus in this passage,

happy harvesting is prayerful.

Look there at verse two.

He told them, "The harvest is plentiful,

but the workers are few." Do you hear

the impossibility in that verse? Some of

you have felt this when you've called

into a shift at work. I think

particularly of those of you who work

with young children, minding young

children, you show up, a few people have

called in sick, and you're looking

around at these kids going, "This

harvest is plentiful, and the workers

are few. There's not enough of us here

to take care of these children.

It's the same for us as Christians,

isn't it? Think of how plentiful the

harvest is.

Think of the people on your street who

need Jesus.

Think of the people on your estate,

in your town,

in our city,

in our county,

in our province,

in our nation,

in our island,

on our continent,

in the EU, in the entire world. Think of

the harvest field.

We stand in this harvest field together

and we look up and we see the clouds of

God's judgment up on the horizon. We're

not sure when the rain will come and

when the harvest will be finished, but

we know it's coming one day. And then we

look back around us at how plentiful the

harvest is. What should we do? Where do

we even start?

Should we start by panicking?

But just running around talking to

whoever we can find by just give up

sleeping for the rest of our lives.

No.

Look at the answer that Jesus gives.

Where should we start? Verse two,

ask

pray

ask the Lord of the harvest therefore

to send out workers into his harvest

field. I mean really Jesus is that

really the most urgent thing?

Yes. We pray. We begin by acknowledging

our insufficiency for the task and our

dependence on God.

Is God panicking?

No.

He is the Lord of the harvest. He's in

control. And notice that word harvest.

God is harvesting right now. He is

calling men and women in, sending

workers out and bringing souls into his

harvest, into his kingdom. So the first

job of his workers, his happy harvesters

like you and me, is to lift our eyes

from the harvest to the Lord of the

harvest.

and to ask him for more help.

Prayer,

not panic, is how we should approach

this impossible task. Brothers and

sisters,

you know, there are three priorities for

your life as a Christian to do

corporately with other Christians.

Number one, you gather for the Lord's

table. That is where we as a church

demonstrate that we are a church. Number

two, you gather for corporate worship to

be shaped and formed by the word of God

as we meet and as we hear the word of

God taught together. Number three, we

gather to pray.

Can I ask you, are you attending

opportunities for corporate prayer?

Is that high up on your priority list?

You know, the our normal times are our

home groups that we have. Obviously,

we're taking a break over the summer.

We've also had prayer times, special

prayer times, particularly about the

mission that we are wanting to do. And I

know that some of us have schedules and

we can't all make those. Many of you are

coming. Thank you for coming. God is

answering your prayers. But can I exhort

more of you gather to pray?

That is our first task as harvesters in

God's field. That could be informally

together, but especially formally when

we have times to pray. Gather with us

and ask God together as we are part of

this harvesting together.

Second characteristic of happy

harvesting,

it's hard.

Just because we pray and depend on the

Lord of the harvest, it doesn't mean

it'll be easy. Look at verse three.

Go. I am sending you out like lambs

among wolves.

Picture that. Just picture that in your

mind for a minute. Okay? Picture these

this little group of lambs, defenseless,

vulnerable, weak, easy prey.

And this group of lambs is sent out into

a harvest field that is full of

fullgrown adult wolves.

Is that how you think of yourself as a

Christian? enemies

surrounding you on every side that are

much stronger than you.

We talk often about how a Christian

faces three enemies. Number one, the

world, the system that is opposed to

God. Number two, the devil, the greatest

enemy of God, who is far more powerful

than you are or than I am. And number

three, the flesh, the enemy inside you,

your sin nature that is constantly

seeking to sabotage you. All three of

those things are stronger than you in

your own strength.

And if that isn't hard enough, Jesus

then says in verse four, don't bring

anything with you. No purse, depend on

the hospitality of other people.

as he says below, stay wherever you can

stay. Eat whatever they give and don't

greet anyone along the way. It's far too

urgent what you're doing right now. Now,

I would say that these verses are the

very situationspecific

parts of this text. We know that because

in chapter 22, Jesus reverses some of

these commands. And if you go on to read

Luke's volume 2, which is Acts, this is

not how they do missions in Acts, right?

They do it by planting churches and

preaching the gospel. So these are not

commands for all Christians everywhere.

We shouldn't interpret this to mean that

we should never greet anyone on the

street or that we shouldn't let a

supported worker have a bank account or

something like that. That's not what

we're talking about. Actually,

we should be very supportive about

supporting gospel workers so they can

give their lives entirely to God's

kingdom. You see there in verse 7, he

says the worker is worthy of his wage.

Jesus wants people who labor full-time

in the kingdom to be supported well in

that way. But whatever is going on here,

even if this all isn't specifically for

us, doesn't this show us the task is not

for the faint of heart, is it?

Happy harvesting will be hard. You are

surrounded by enemies much stronger than

you and in absolutely depending on the

Lord as you go.

Third characteristic in the next verses

happy harvesting is word centered. Look

what he says in verse 9. Heal the sick

who are there and tell them the kingdom

of God has come near you. They are going

out to proclaim the kingdom of God. We

also have there in verse 5 when you

enter a house first say peace to this

house. Now when you hear that when I

hear that I just it seems to it almost

sounds like a greeting doesn't it? They

walk into a house peace to this house.

There's a lot more going on than that.

In Luke, the word peace is very, very

significant.

Think back to Zachchariah's song in

chapter 1. He sings that Jesus has come

to guide our feet to the path of peace.

Or think of what the angels sing in

chapter 2. Glory to God in the highest

and on earth peace to those on whom his

favor rests. Or in chapter 7,

Jesus says to the sinful woman, "Your

faith has saved you. Go in peace."

Peace in the Gospel of Luke is the way

of God. It's the way of salvation. It's

the gospel. That's what peace is. So

when Jesus sends us out as workers into

his harvest saying announce peace to

people, what we are doing is we are

bringing the gospel to people. We are

coming to people and saying in Jesus God

has brought peace to humanity.

Jesus has destroyed the enmity that was

between God and between us. He has

broken that down. So now we can come in

peace to God. Our sins no longer need to

separate us because he has paid for our

sins. All those who trust in Jesus now

have peace with him.

So there are many many good things that

we can do in this world. Many good

things we should do. I mean we see there

in verse 9, go heal the sick. But the

core of the task of Jesus harvesters is

the word.

The word of peace. the announcement of

the coming of the kingdom of God in King

Jesus. That's what we go out to do. We

bring the world news of peace on earth.

Happy harvesting is word centered.

But then our fourth characteristic,

happy harvesting is rejected.

We see that there in verses 10- 12. Did

you notice that not every town is going

to accept these 72, are they? Not every

town will welcome them. Many of them

reject them. And Jesus anticipates this

in his instructions for them, doesn't

he?

You know, when we are seeking to share

the good news of Jesus with someone else

and they reject us,

what do we normally think?

I must have done something wrong.

I wasn't persuasive enough.

I don't know enough. I guess my life

wasn't a good enough witness.

But brothers and sisters, these people

were trained by Jesus and they were

still rejected.

And beyond that, Jesus himself was

rejected. Do you think he did it

perfectly? Do you think his life wasn't

a good enough witness? Do you think he

could have known more or been more

persuasive? No.

Rejection does not mean that we are

doing anything wrong. Of course, we can

always improve in our witness, but

rejection is to be expected when we

spread the word of God. You see how

Jesus anticipates that there in verse

16. Whoever listens to you listens to

me. Whoever rejects you rejects me, but

whoever rejects me rejects him who sent

me. See how Jesus expects this? Some

will listen. Some will reject you.

That's okay. That's to be expected. But

notice what he says. When they reject

you,

they aren't really rejecting you. Who

are they rejecting?

Jesus. In other words, you know what

Jesus is saying to you? Don't take it

personally.

It's not you, it's me that they are

rejecting.

Isn't it amazing how closely Jesus

identifies with his people as we labor

in his harvest, bringing his message? He

is working through us.

Some will listen and follow him. Some

will reject him and turn away.

We also need to see the warnings that he

gives us here in these verses. You see

how Jesus pronounces woes on these towns

that reject him. He says it will be more

bearable for Sodom on the day of

judgment. You know this notoriously

wicked town that was destroyed by God.

He says it will be more bearable for Ty

and Siden. These are two port towns,

massive centers of trade with immense

wealth full of arrogance over their own

accomplishments that also were destroyed

by God. He says it will be more bearable

for them on the day of judgment than

Corazin and Bethada. These towns that

rejected Jesus or Capernaum he talks

about here that sees itself as so

exalted but when they reject Jesus he

says I will bring you down to Hades.

Why is there such serious judgment

against these towns? They're not as

obviously wicked as those other ones

that he mentioned.

Well, he tells us, you see that in verse

11.

Be sure of this. The kingdom of God has

come near.

The kingdom of God came a lot nearer to

those towns than it ever came to Sodom

or Tyre or to Siden. And they still

rejected.

They saw the glory of God in Jesus.

Something Sodom never saw and they still

rejected.

Some of you are like these towns.

The kingdom of God has come near you.

It's actually near you right now. You

are hearing the proclamation of the

gospel, the good news of peace on earth

and the forgiveness of sins. Some of you

have grown up in Christian families or

been surrounded by this your whole life

and you are still rejecting the message.

Do you hear Jesus warning?

Do you think that you will escape his

judgment if you continue to reject him?

You have heard and you are responsible

to repent.

That's the first step. He says in verse

13,

sit in sackcloth and ashes, repent of

your sins, and turn to Jesus.

And he says there then in verse 16

that no one can come to God without

coming through the cross of Jesus. Do

you see that in verse 16? Whoever

rejects me, Jesus, he says, rejects him

who sent me. So if you say, well, I love

God, but I don't love Jesus. No, you

don't. The only way to come to God is

through Jesus. He's the only way.

Now, at this point, Jesus finishes his

pre-match instructions for his team.

Happy harvesting. It's prayerful. It's

hard. It's word centered. it's rejected

and he sends them out and notice how

they return in verse 17. It says, "The

72 returned with joy and said,"Lord,

even the demons submit to us in your

name." They're happy. They are delighted

with themselves, aren't they? It's

working in your name. Demons are

submitting to us. We're representing

Jesus with his power. We're workers in

his harvest. Now, how will Jesus

respond?

Well, first he begins by reassuring them

that they are right to be hopeful.

The first or sorry, the fifth

characteristic of happy harvesting, it

is hopeful. Look what he says in verses

18 and 19. Jesus replied, I saw Satan

fall like lightning from heaven. I've

given you authority to trample on snakes

and scorpions and to overcome all the

power of the enemy. Nothing will harm

you. Now, these are fantastic

statements, aren't they? They're even

more amazing and helpful. We can

understand them better if we see that

Jesus is quoting and referencing the Old

Testament here. Verse 18, I saw Satan

fall like lightning from heaven. Here,

Jesus is quoting Isaiah 14:12.

Isaiah 14:12

Isaiah 14 is a word of judgment against

the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon

was a prideful man who set himself up

against God. He's called in that passage

in almost satanic terms the day star,

the one who has ascended into the

heavens, who made himself like the most

high. So he's acting like Satan opposing

God. And Jesus quotes that passage and

says, "Satan, this king of pride who set

himself up against God, he's falling

from heaven."

Since the fall, Satan has ruled this

world as the prince of this world,

deceiving and blinding humanity. But now

he has fallen.

Jesus has already begun to defeat him at

this stage in at the temptation in the

wilderness. He defeated him and he is

about to snap the back of Satan in the

cross and resurrection.

Satan's kingdom is on its way out.

That's what Jesus is saying. Then in

verse 19, I've given you authority to

trample on snakes. That sounds a bit

weird. How do we apply that passage?

Does that remind you of something? A

really, really important verse in the

Bible.

Genesis 3:15,

Genesis 3:15

the seed of the woman will what?

Crush the head of the serpent. Jesus is

referring to that verse.

He's saying, "You, my followers, are

joining me in my snake crushing

destruction of the kingdom of darkness.

You bear my authority in trampling on

the head of Satan."

That's an amazing promise, isn't it?

Then he says, "Nothing will harm you."

Well, we read that we go, "How?"

Christians are harmed all the time. Do

you listen? If you come on our our um

home groups, we we often give updates

from church and chains, Christians being

harmed constantly.

So, how does this work? Jesus isn't

promising no physical harm. Actually,

just in two chapters in chapter 12, he

will say, "Don't fear those who can kill

the body." So, he knows many of his

followers will be killed. What he's

saying is this, my followers, my

disciples, the powers of hell cannot

ultimately harm you. Though you are

surrounded by wolves, you're safe with

me.

And your efforts in sharing the gospel

are playing a part in dismantling

Satan's kingdom.

Isn't that hopeful?

Over the past year,

as we've thought together as a church

about a new step forward in mission, we

have experienced many difficult setbacks

and griefs and challenges. Some of them

personally, some of them as a body.

How should we respond?

We should respond with hope.

Satan is falling.

He's fighting with all he can with his

last few breaths to destroy you and me

and us and every Christian in the world.

But he cannot harm us and he will not

defeat us. His kingdom will fall.

Now what Jesus says next is completely

wonderfully gloriously unexpected.

Look at chapter or verse 20. However,

do not rejoice

that the spirits submit to you.

I mean, you just imagine the 72. They're

standing there. They're like, "Oh, okay.

Seems like a pretty good reason to

rejoice. Satan's falling. His rule is

crumbling. We have the authority of

Jesus. We are dismantling the kingdom of

darkness. Why would we not rejoice in

that?" Jesus,

don't rejoice that the spirits submit to

you. Jesus says, "But rejoice

that your names are written in heaven."

Here's the sixth characteristic of happy

harvesting. It is secondary.

It's not primary.

laboring in the harvest of the Lord,

whether full-time or part-time, whether

official or unofficial, whether upfront

or unseen, whether onetoone or in front

of a crowd, whether as a member or a

deacon or an elder, laboring in the

harvest of the Lord is not our primary

identity. We are not primarily workers,

ambassadors,

harvesters. That is not the primary

thing about being a Christian. It is not

the primary joy of being a Christian.

The primary joy for a Christian

is Christ,

knowing Christ,

knowing God or in the language here,

your names being written in heaven.

This is a description of what the Bible

talks about five times in the Old

Testament, five times in the New

Testament, the book of life, right? This

book where God writes the names of those

who are his. Can you even fathom that?

Your name

written in a book in heaven, you are

Christ's.

Sister or brother, let me ask you, what

is the bedrock foundational joy in your

life?

Is it something that you do for Jesus or

the fact that Jesus has called you his?

Is it being a worker for Jesus

or being a recipient of his grace?

Our labor in his harvest will cease one

day. The harvest will be over.

or even before that day, our mission can

be taken away. Our health can fail. Our

abilities can falter. But nothing can

erase our identity as those whose names

are written in heaven.

The only way to be happy harvesters is

to remember that to remember harvesting

is secondary.

Our enjoyment of God is primary. That's

the main thing.

That's incredibly humbling, isn't it?

But now Jesus humbles his harvesters

even more.

How was it, he seems to ask in the next

few verses, that their names came to be

written in heaven?

Was it because they were really clever?

They were wise and understanding?

No. He says, "It's because I chose to

reveal myself to you.

Look at verse 21. At that time, Jesus

full of joy through the Holy Spirit

said,"I praise you, Father." By the way,

what an awesome Trinitarian verse. See

that right there? Jesus, Holy Spirit,

Father. Anyway, I praise you, Father,

Lord of heaven and earth, because you

have hidden these things from the wise

and learned and revealed them to little

children.

Yes, Father, for this is what you are

pleased to do. Now, when he says these

things, he's talking about the gospel,

right?

God the Father has hidden the gospel

from those who see themselves as wise

and learned and have got life figured

out, and he's revealed it to little

children.

Verse 22,

all things have been committed to me by

my father.

No one knows who the son is except the

father. And no one knows who the father

is except the son. Now listen. And those

to whom the son chooses

to reveal him.

We just said that the primary bedrock

thing about being a Christian is knowing

God. Father, son, holy spirit. But how

does a Christian come to know God?

He just told us there at the end of

verse 22, God the Son chooses to reveal

himself to you. It's not you,

it's him.

Jesus here is answering the question

that he kind of raised back in verse 16.

Why? Why does one person listen and

another person reject?

Ultimately, it depends on who does God

reveal himself to.

All of us born in our sin have natures

that are blind to God. We can't see him.

We can't see his glory. The God of this

age has blinded us. But Jesus, the Lord

of the harvest, removes that blinding

and reveals himself to us.

He is the one who opens our eyes to see

him. He's the one who opens our ears to

hear hear him. Those who see themselves

as wise and learned turn from him in

their blindness. But he opens the eyes

of those who are like little children

who see their need for him and who trust

him. He reveals himself to those people.

So here's the seventh characteristic of

happy harvesting.

It's humble.

It's childlike.

I mean, imagine sending out a bunch of

children into the world to take over the

world. That's what we are. We're lambs

and we're little kids. Does that humble

you? That humbles me.

We need to recognize that we cannot make

anyone come to Jesus.

Instead, we humbly trust the one who

chose to reveal himself to us and who

will do the same for others in this

world as well.

So

Jesus has sent us out on an impossible

task. The harvest of this world is

plentiful.

He wants us to be confident in that task

but not confident in ourselves. You see

that tension here throughout this

passage between confidence and

dependence,

between hopefulness

and humility.

We should be hopeful, brothers and

sisters. This whole world is in God's

hands. He is the Lord of the harvest.

It's his harvest. He is bringing down

Satan's throne. He has given us his

word. He has given us prayer. He opens

eyes to see and ears to hear. Jesus is

the one who is praised in heaven

eternally with these words. You are

worthy to take the scroll to open its

seals because you were slain. And with

your blood, you purchased for God

persons from every tribe and every

language and every people and every

nation. Jesus global mission cannot

fail.

It will not fail.

So we can go out hopeful, confident,

proclaiming his message of peace to the

world.

But even as we go out hopefully,

we should also go out humbly depending

on him because the task is far beyond us

and we cannot accomplish it ourselves.

The harvest is too plentiful. The task

is too hard. We are surrounded by wolves

stronger than us. We will be rejected

and we can't open anyone's eyes.

Doesn't this all show us all the way

back to the beginning why we need to

pray?

We are powerless and limited.

God is powerful and limitless.

So

this passage lays out the path for happy

harvesting.

Think about it. If we aren't confident

in Jesus, hopeful about his kingdom

advancing, we won't be happy harvesters,

will we? But on the other side, if we

aren't depending on Jesus, if we aren't

humble, but we're trying to do this in

our own strength, we also won't be happy

harvesters, will we?

Hope in Jesus and humility about

ourselves. You put those two ingredients

together,

happiness. That's what you'll get. Hope

and humility.

So can we commit to remind each other of

these truths when our hope is ebbing

low?

Let's remind each other that Jesus

kingdom cannot fail.

And when our hope and our egos are

ebbing a little too high, let's remind

each other we can do nothing apart from

him.

And in the midst of it all, let's

continually remind each other this. That

the main thing about being a Christian

is not harvesting, is it? It's knowing

the Lord of the harvest. Having our

names written in his book. Let's rejoice

in that more than anything else. Let's

pray.

Lord Jesus, you are the Lord of the

harvest. You are sending us out as you

have been sending out your people for

thousands of years. Help us to be

hopeful in you. Help us to be humble,

optimistic in your strength, pessimistic

about our own. Help us to be happy in

this task. We pray. Amen.