Fri, 24 February, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Luke 10:1-12

¹ After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ² And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Jesus tells His disciples to pray for workers to bring the gospel to the myriads of people who need to hear. He encourages them to be concerned about the lost. He tells them to consider the needs of the people and to pray for God to provide them what they need.

And as they are encouraged to pray, Jesus sends them out to fulfill the prayer they are praying.

What do we learn from this?

God ordains the end. What is going to happen is ordained by God. The people who are going to come to salvation are already chosen by God. Scripture calls these people God’s chosen and His elect. God has ordained their end: Heaven.

But not only does God ordain the end. He also ordains the means to accomplish His ordained end. And so we see in this passage that God has the disciples consider the lost and pray for their salvation, but He also sends them out to bring them the gospel so that they can be saved. And in having them pray for the lost, Jesus uses those who are praying to accomplish the answer to their own prayer. He uses them to bring the very message that they need to hear in order to fulfill the prayer for the salvation of the lost. He has ordained them as the means to bring about the salvation of His people.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ gives us the great privilege and responsibility to bring the news of His gospel to the people around us. He wants us to pray for the salvation others, and to look around us to see how God can use us to bring the message of salvation to those around us who need to hear it.