Luke 10:1-12, 16-20

Seventh Sunday after Pentecostย  -ย  3 July 2016

Rev. John Derme

My wife and I enjoy gardening. It is a peaceful, relaxing part of our lives. At least, it is supposed to be. It can also be a lot of work. Sometimes we have a difficult time keeping up with all the work that it requires for a good harvest. When harvest time comes, though, the crops are such a blessing. Harvesting a garden is one thing. With acre after acre to work, farmers have a much more difficult task. When harvest time comes for them, there is so much work that they can't do it all by themselves. Usually, they need help โ€“ they need other workers, so that in the short time available they can gather the harvest.

Today, Jesus tells us, "It's harvest time." Only he's not gathering crops. He is bringing people to eternal life through faith in him. And he is looking for workers to help. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. The Lord invites you to join in the work. The Lord promises he will provide the harvest.

It was harvest time already when Jesus was walking this earth. With as many people as he wanted to reach in a short period of time, he had a huge task in front of him. You know how he had already called twelve apostles to follow him and work with him. In our Gospel for today, Jesus called seventy-two others to join him in his important work. He sent them out two-by-two into every city and village that he planned to visit. He had a lot of places to visit and people to meet. He wanted them to prepare the way for the visits he was about to make, so that people would be ready when he came to tell them about God's plan to save them from their sins. This was urgent work, because soon he would die for their sins, and he desperately wanted to let them know about it. He told his seventy-two workers, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."

The harvest now in our day is as plentiful as it ever has been. There are almost seven-and-a-half billion people in this world, most of whom have either never heard about Jesus or don't know that Jesus lived and died to save them. Some of them live in far-away lands, speak different languages, and live in totally different cultures than you. Others of them are people whom you see everyday, to whom you speak, and who dress and eat just like you. How many people are there in this world, who aren't going to heaven because they don't know about Jesus? How many people do you know who are on the path to hell because nobody has told them that they have a Savior from their sins?

The task of telling those who don't know and haven't heard is huge. That's why Jesus asks you to help. "Jesus wants my help?" Yes, he does. "How can I help?" Jesus tells us that there are many ways for Christians to help. He calls workers into the full-time harvest field: pastors and Christian teachers, whose full-time work it is to proclaim his Word to people. He calls other Christians to serve equally important part-time roles. He has called our congregation's elected leaders, who work in the harvest either by overseeing and taking part in the proclaiming of the gospel or by taking care of other jobs that need to get done around here: making sure that we have a functioning building in which to meet and proclaim the gospel, keeping the finances of the congregation in order so that we can use our money in such a way that serves the spreading of the gospel. Our musicians beautify our worship as we proclaim what the Lord has done for us in our songs. Our Sunday school teachers lead our children through the truths of the Bible. Our Lord also invites us to proclaim the gospel to people when we haven't been issued a divine call through our congregation to do it, speaking his words whenever we have the opportunity โ€“ at work, in the neighborhood, with our children and grandchildren. Jesus invites us to give our offerings to our congregation so that we can continue the work of proclaiming the gospel in our community. Jesus invites us to give offerings to our national church body, so that we can continue to send missionaries to proclaim God's Word to people who will otherwise never hear it. We can encourage our congregation's young people to study to be pastors or Christian teachers, so that the Lord might call some of them into ministry. The first thing Jesus told the seventy-two workers to do was to pray that the Lord would send out workers into the harvest field. Each and every one of us can pray that the Lord would send people to proclaim his gospel to others. The harvest is huge, and the opportunities to take part in the work are endless!

Do you hear the Lord Jesus' invitation? You're ready to get to work, aren't you? Sometimes we hear Jesus invite us, and that's all it takes; we're ready to go. Other times, we hear his invitation to work in the harvest, but we don't quite feel like it. I have to admit that's true of me. There are times when I'd rather do something easier than work for him. It's easier not to put in the hard hours to do the job that God has assigned to me at church. And it's definitely easier not to speak up and proclaim God's Word to that person who needs to hear it. It's easier not to give a generous offering. And it's easier not to take the time to pray for his harvest. Are you like me? Are there times when you'd rather do what's easier for you instead of the Lord's work?

Why is that? By nature we are selfish and lazy. We need to hear the message of God's law, which tells us to repent of doing what is easy, rather than doing what God tells us to do. If we do what is easy and ignore his Word, we won't be among the people whom he gathers to eternal life in his harvest. If it were left up to me, I would be on the path to hell, just like all the people who do not know what Jesus has done for them. It is true.

But it is also true that the Lord Jesus has sent out workers into his harvest field. And it is also true that they have proclaimed the Word of God to us. They have told us of the punishment that is in store for those who refuse to turn away from their sins. And they have assured us that we have a Savior who lived and died to forgive our sins. The Lord has worked faith in our hearts through this message, so that we trust him as our Savior. You and I are a part of his glorious harvest to eternal life. Rejoice! Our names are written in heaven!

Purely out of his undeserved love, Jesus has made us a part of his harvest. And purely out of his undeserved love, Jesus has invited us to join in the work of his harvest. The task is daunting, but he promises that he will provide everything that we need. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. The Lord invites you to join in the work. The Lord promises he will provide the harvest.

When the Lord Jesus called the seventy-two disciples to work in the harvest, did you notice the strange instructions he gave them? He told them not to take extra money, a suitcase, or extra shoes. He told them that he was sending them out like lambs among wolves. Why the strange instructions? Because the Lord wanted them to know that he was going to provide everything.

First of all, it was God who had provided them, the workers. From out of those whom he had saved, he called them to do his work. It was he who provided them with the directions of how exactly they were to carry out their work. He promised to use other people to provide them with the food they would need to eat and the clothes they would need to wear. He promised to provide them protection. Travel was dangerous at that time. Even if they didn't have to be concerned about human attackers, they knew Satan was against them. But Jesus promised that nothing would hurt them. It was the Lord who provided them the tool for their work: his Word. He told them to speak the message of the law to warn the people that their sins made them deserving of God's punishment. He told them to speak the message of the gospel to proclaim the peace that comes from the forgiveness of sins. Finally, it was the Lord who planned to use all these things to provide the harvest. He provided his workers with people to hear the words they spoke, and it was he who worked in these hearers through his Word to believe.

When the Lord invites us to join him in his work, he makes all the same promises. He promises to provide for all our needs as we work for him. He promises to protect us from every danger from his enemies in this world and from Satan. He provides us with people who need to hear the message with which he sends us. And he provides us with the only tool that we will ever need so that they may join the glorious harvest, his gospel in the Word and the sacraments. Through this tool he will work to create and strengthen faith in the hearts of those who hear and will bring them to eternal life.

It is he who has provided all of these so that you can do his work. In fact, it is he who has provided you as a gift to the harvest field to be one of his workers. How will you share in his work? Might you work full-time in his harvest field in the future? Young men and women, keep in mind the option of pursuing full-time gospel ministry in a classroom as a Lutheran school teacher. Young men, remember the opportunity to pursue full-time gospel ministry as a pastor. Might you be a worker who shares God's Word part-time as a leader in the church? Might you be one who shares God's Word informally with the people you meet? Might you be one whom God uses to pray for those who share his Word? Might you be one whom God uses to provide financially for his workers, so that they may continue to do his work? No matter how the Lord uses you in his work (and the opportunities to join in are endless), the Lord promises that he will provide what you need to accomplish his work.

The Lord invites you to join the work and promises to provide the harvest. How do you know he will keep his promise? Because he has already kept it in us. This is our joy, not only that he uses us to accomplish his amazing work, but that he has done amazing things for us. He made us members of his harvest when he brought us to eternal life through faith. Now he has invited us into service to him, as he does the same for others. Join Jesus in his work. The harvest is plentiful.