Intentionally Sent
After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and he sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Now go; I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves.- Luke 10:1-3, CSB
If you read Luke 10:1-24, you come away with an overwhelming sense of the importance of sent ones, beginning with the Sent One, Jesus. We are to pray for more ones who can be sent. We are to be sent. Our sending comes with authority and with the amazing reality that our names are written in heaven. Our acceptance or rejection as sent ones goes equates to the acceptance or rejection of Jesus. And having given a good deal of attention to all of this in the message, we turn to consider a few ways this could go wrong.
Lack of intention is a massive problem in fulfilling our mission as sent ones. Maybe you’ve read before this little bit from Charles Swindoll:
“There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.”
Here is a problem with being a sent one. Everyone is sent to everyone in a sense. This can give us a sort of, I will do the work of sharing the gospel whenever I get the chance with whoever will listen. It sounds noble and its not necessarily wrong-headed but, it usually ends up with us sharing the gospel with no one. What we lack is intentionality. We need to know what ‘town or place’ is ours. More specifically, we need to have specific people who we are actively praying for and seeking to share gospel truth with on a regular basis. So, the first thing to do if we are to be living as a sent one is asking God whom He is sending us to. Maybe it’s a family member, a co-worker, a classmate or a neighbor. Whomever it is, God has someone in mind in sending you. Whomever it is, we will be far more effective if we are intentional in prayer and in sharing the gospel. Even in our praying for more sent ones, there can be intentionality. I know some people who set an alarm on their phone for 10:02am so that, they remember to pray for more workers for the harvest. (“The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few so, we pray at 10:02.”)
The second way being sent can go wrong is in our grasp of the gospel. What I mean is not that we cannot summarize or share the gospel well with an unbeliever (though that might be a weakness to address). What I am meaning is that often, we think wrongly that the gospel is the key that unlocks the door to our Christian life and once were in, we can go on our merry way. I mean we have it if and when someone else needs in the door but, we don’t use it all the time. This is a problem both practical and theological. We don’t graduate from the gospel. Instead, our life with Jesus is to be a constant application of the gospel to various aspects of our personhood. In fact, when the gospel is applied this way, it becomes easier to share. Because, the gospel is not some past truth but a present reality at work in my life. Let me give an example. Let’s say, that I am a perfectionist (just for the sake of illustration). The lie of perfectionism is that I must do and be perfect to be successful. The truth of the gospel applied here is that my perfection is not what matters most about me. Jesus perfection is what matters. I am in fact not perfect and will never be because, I am a sinner saved by grace. So, if I can successfully apply the gospel to my perfectionist tendency, than I will start to give myself grace to fail. If that happens, people may start to notice and ask- “How did you grow out of your perfectionism?” And just like that, I can share the gospel with them, because, it is a present, life-changing reality.
Life application and further discussion questions:
Who has God sent you to? Do you have a list of individuals you are praying for and with whom you are actively seeking opportunities to share the gospel?
Harvest workers (Luke 10:2) start as non-followers of Jesus, who become followers, who become mature and can work in the harvest. Who is God calling you to mentor, pray for, encourage as they develop into a harvest worker?
What are helpful strategies to keeping the Gospel fresh good news in your life? How will you encourage other Jesus followers to keep coming back to the Gospel?