“The Lord Sends Us on a Mission”
(Luke 10:1-9, 16 – Pentecost 7 – July 27, 2025)
Luke 10:1-9, 16 – 1After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 2Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. 3Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. 4Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. 5But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. 7And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. 9And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ … 16He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”
Dear fellow Redeemed in Christ Jesus:
As Christians, we are people with a mission. Ever since God saved us from our aimless path of sin, leading to a dead-end in hell, He has put us on a new path, filled with purpose and mission. We say with the apostle Paul: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Our mission in this world includes keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus as our Savior from sin and death, until He brings us home to His heavenly glory.
But our mission is not only to see ourselves safely through this sin-darkened world to heaven. God has also given us a mission to share His salvation in Jesus Christ with others. 1 Peter 2:9 says God has made us “a royal priesthood… that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” As God’s Redeemed in Christ, our mission includes sharing the light of His Gospel that many more people may come to saving faith in Christ and be brought to His heavenly glory.
Let us contemplate this truth in light of our text, that as long as we live in this world: “The Lord Sends Us on a Mission.” Let us go to share His salvation 1) With a prayer, 2) With His strength, 3) With His message, and 4) With His authority.
1) With a prayer
In our text, Jesus sent seventy witnesses on a mission to proclaim the coming of His Kingdom. They were to go to specific mission fields where Jesus was about to visit, to prepare the people for their Savior’s coming (vs. 1, 9).
We are not among those disciples Jesus sent on that specific mission. But we are part of His great mission. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus gave His Church the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” His words were for His followers of all time. God only calls some to serve in the public ministry of the Word – as pastors, missionaries, teachers in Christian schools, etc. But in a general sense, every Christian is called to share the Gospel in the vocations God gives. Parents are called to share the Gospel with their children. God sets us among employees in a company, students in a school, citizens in a community, and in various places, that we might let our light shine – the light of His Gospel. 1 Peter 3:15 says: “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” Wherever we are, as we have opportunity, we can share our hope in Christ, who died on the cross to take away all our sins, and who rose again to give us eternal life.
As we proceed in our mission, like the seventy whom Jesus sent, let us begin with a prayer. As Jesus told them: “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (vs. 2). At that time, there were still thousands of people in the region who had not come to faith in Christ and needed to hear His Gospel. Today, there are many millions who have not come to faith. Jesus’ Gospel is going out into the world, and through it He is converting hearts to faith. But He still sees a great harvest of souls and much work to be done before Judgment Day comes.
Therefore let us pray to the Lord to send laborers into His harvest with His Gospel. Let us pray for those whom He would call into the public ministry and send into specific mission fields as pastors and teachers of His Word. This prayer cannot help but touch each of our lives, as our own faith is nourished by the preaching and teaching of His truth; and then we are strengthened to share our hope in Christ with others. Every time we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come,” we are asking that God’s Kingdom may come to us and to others this way. Jesus promises to answer such a mission-minded prayer, saying: “whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you” (John 16:23).
So as the Lord of the harvest sends us as part of His mission, let us go with a prayer that He would give us opportunities to share His Gospel of salvation in Christ with others, trusting that He will answer our prayer by blessing our work and our witness in His name.
2) With His strength
Second, let us go with His strength. Notice how Jesus wanted the seventy whom He sent to trust Him completely to provide their needs. In that specific mission, He gave these instructions: “Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals” (vs. 4). The Lord would see to it that they received support from those who shared in the Gospel – as they were welcomed into the homes of believers.
The disciples would need to trust the Lord to provide for them. And when the mission became difficult, they would need to rely completely on His strength. Jesus let them know that He was sending them out “as lambs among wolves” (vs. 3). Not everyone who heard their message would receive them in peace. There would be unbelievers who wanted to destroy their work and harm them. As Jesus once told His disciples: “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake” (Luke 21:17). But the Lord who does the sending also promises to be with His servants to strengthen them for the task. We remember Jesus’ promise connected to His Great Commission: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Like those seventy missionaries, we need to trust the Lord to provide what we need and strengthen us for the work. Perhaps in our local Gospel mission, at times we feel like they did as they went without much in their hands. The Lord does not promise to make our church rich. Nor does He promise glorious visible results to our work, by the world’s way of measuring things. Indeed, we may feel like lambs among wolves at times when we are mocked and rejected for our faith. But as we faithfully proclaim His Gospel, He will provide as He sees fit to support the work, and He will give success as He determines, even if it is just one more soul that is saved. As God promised in Isaiah 55:11-12: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace.”
3) With His message
This brings us to our third point – as the Lord sends us on His mission, we go with His message of peace. The seventy were to carry out their work in house missions. As they entered each home, Jesus told them to say: “Peace to this house” (vs. 5). It was not just a polite greeting, but a blessing bringing the true peace Jesus gives by His saving work.
Jesus’ message of peace is desperately needed in this world. The lives of all people, by nature are filled with unrest and lack of peace. We all have a conscience that reminds us how we do not live as we should before God. We know when our thoughts are impure, and we hide them. We know when our words are deceitful or hurtful. We know when our actions are lacking in love. We may try to rationalize and excuse our behavior, but we know that we are not as we should be before God and there is no excuse. Romans 2:15 says that, since God has written His Law on every heart, even unbelievers have a conscience that accuses or excuses. On top of the unrest caused by a guilty conscience, Scripture makes it clear that, because of our sins, we deserve everlasting punishment and unrest for our souls in hell.
By the grace of God, we have been brought to know that there is only one way for sinners to have true peace. It is not by our striving to earn God’s forgiveness. It is not by doing acts of penance to try to make up for sin and remove some of the punishment we deserve. It is not by doing good works to try to win a place in heaven. Such efforts are powerless to make sinners righteous in the sight of God.
But by the Gospel, we know that we are saved only because Jesus came to be our Substitute and our Savior. Jesus lived in our place under God’s righteous Law, to fulfill its demands, to render the life of sinless obedience that God is now counts to us. And Jesus went to the cross to take our place under God’s righteous Law, to suffer the punishment our sins deserved and die. Now we have His blood-bought peace with God. For through Jesus’ innocent sacrifice, all our sins are forgiven; and through Jesus’ perfect obedience, God counts us righteous. It gives our conscience peace to know that we are given the righteousness needed for heaven – as a gift from God, through faith in His Son!
Now we are privileged to share with fellow sinners this forgiveness and peace we have with God. As the Lord sends us, we bring His message of peace in Jesus’ name.
4) With His authority
Finally, we go with His authority. Before Jesus sent the seventy, He told them: “He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me” (vs. 16). As His messengers, let us remember that we bring His Word and speak on His behalf, just as an ambassador brings a king’s word and speaks on his behalf. If people listen and believe the Gospel we share, they are really listening to heaven’s King. But if they do not listen and believe, they are really rejecting Jesus who sends us, and God the Father who sent Him, as well as the Holy Spirit who earnestly calls them by the Gospel.
It is reassuring to know that when Christ says, “I send you out,” we go with His authority. We go with the authority of the eternal Triune God, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). We go with His own powerful message on our lips, as 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 says: “we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
The harvest is plentiful and His Gospel is powerful to bring souls to faith and salvation. Therefore, as the Lord of the harvest sends us, let us go with prayer, trusting Him to bless the mission. Let us go with His strength, trusting Him to provide what is needed. Let us go with His message of peace, trusting His Gospel’s power to convert hearts. And let us go with His authority, trusting that the Lord who sends us will bless our witness in His name.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen.