The Mission of Jesus: Multiplied from South Woods Baptist Church on Vimeo.

 

About a month ago, we studied together the first few verses of Luke 9. In that text, Jesus sends some of His followers out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal (Lk 9:1). He told them to take nothing for their journey (bag, bread, money, etc.) (Lk 9:2). As they went, if they were received by a particular household, they were to remain there. However, when they were not received, they were to shake the dust from that town off their feet (Lk 9:5).

Just a moment ago, we read Luke 10 together and maybe you thought, “Didn’t we already do this one?” Yes, sort of. But there are actually a number of differences. First, there are sections here not in Luke 9. For example, The harvest is plentiful teaching we know so well wasn’t in Luke 9 (Lk 10:2). Also, the woes Jesus asserts at the end of our passage weren’t in that passage either (Lk 10:13–15). There are a few distinctions in the instructions Jesus gives here as well.

But the clearest distinction concerns whom Jesus sends. In Luke 9, Jesus sent the 12. We know their names. We’ve read books some of them have written. However today, Jesus sends 72 people we’ve never heard of. And we’re not told their names.

In that passage from Luke 9, we noted that Jesus accomplishes His mission––to make Himself known––through His people. That’s true of our text as well. I called the sermon from Luke 9, “The Mission of Jesus.” Today, as something of a Part 2, showing both connection and development, it’s: “The Mission of Jesus: Multiplied.”

Jesus reproduced Himself in His disciples. But not just the 12. That ought to matter to us.

We’ll see today that as Jesus sends His people, He instructs them to represent Him.

Jesus Sends His People

Verse 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.

Jesus appointed 72 others. The fact that Luke writes “others” here probably means the 72 did not include the disciples. While some say the number here is 70, I’m opting for 72, along with a host of other people.[1]

Jesus didn’t send out 72 people––as individuals––to 72 different towns. He sent 36 teams––2 by 2. We’ve mentioned this before, but the methodology of Scripture is consistent. Mission is better done together. Being fishers of men is less about a rod and a reel and more about multiple people holding a net together.

Yet, particularly noteworthy here is that He sends more than the 12 disciples on mission. During the eighteenth–century one famous hymn declared: “Go into all the world, the Lord of old did say, but now where He has planted thee, there thou shouldst stay.”[2] At that point, many believed the Great Commission only applied to the Apostles. Yet, William Carey’s An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens countered that prevailing belief.[3] If we look at the Great Commission in Matthew we note that it includes a promise beyond the scope of the Apostles’ lives: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt 28:20b). John Calvin comments, “We must note besides, that this is said not only to the Apostles, for the Lord promises His aid not to one age alone, but to the end of the world.”[4] Internally, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:20a) points to an ongoing application of the Commission. While the only imperative within that passage is that of making disciples,[5] nonetheless, if the apostles were to teach others to observe all Christ commanded, this necessarily included the clause given only a few seconds prior: make disciples of all nations.

Jesus sends His people. And He sends them because the need is great. Verse 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. Harvest terminology wa[...]