Luke's gospel started on the same note as Luke 9. This was another call to evangelism, as Jesus sent out his disciples to go and preach to the surrounding cities. On the first look, Luke 10 almost looks like a repetition of Luke 9 except that someone will say that the numbers differ. In Luke 9 the twelve known and close disciples were sent out. In Luke 10 however, it was seventy disciples that were sent out! Is that where the difference ends? Certainly not.
THE CITY THRUST
Luke 10:1-2 began with these words,
"After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Luke 10:1-2 KJV
If we contrast this with Luke 9:1 we immediately begin to see the glaring difference, in Luke 9 the disciple s were sent out to preach the gospel to the surrounding town but in Luke 10:1 they were sent to the cities where Jesus would come himself. It was like an advanced evangelism team that would prepare the way for the master. And there was a bit of urgency about this particular mission as it was here the master lamented the lack of laborers to reap the harvest.
This particular campaign was so urgent that part of the instructions was not to greet anyone on the way. To reach the city there was no room for friendly chatter while on the way. That's the urgency attached to this particular campaign! And it's the urgency that faces us as present-day believers, the harvest is plenteous, we must all enroll to be laborers in getting in the harvest to the kingdom.
One more thing to note from here. In Luke 9 Jesus mentioned the word " city" just once while in Luke 10, the word city was mentioned 5 times. The city by composition is where the largest concentration of people are and that's where the main thrust of the kingdom news must reach. Once the heart of the city is gained the surrounding towns begin to succumb to the influence of the city. This we see played out in the book of Acts as the Apostles assaulted the major cities with the gospel of our Lord as Jesus commanded them to do in Acts 1:8. This must be our thrust today as the church of Jesus in the land, we must make our city for God and with urgency.
OUR WALK VS OUR WORK
From here the master rejoiced with the disciples as they celebrated their victory over the devil, and the evangelistic success they enjoyed. Soon we had one of the lawyers of the law asking about matters on how to enter into the kingdom of God and that brought a series of responses that brought up the parable of the good Samaritan. I am not going to dwell on this popular parable which many of us can preach tons of sermons on. But I will immediately go down to what happened when Jesus was received by Martha and Mary into their house! I am going to quote the text here
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou does not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38-42 KJV
Here was the story of two sisters who have chosen different paths in relation to their work with the master: one was interested in working for the master while the other was interested in walking with the master. And when Jesus said one thing is needful and Mary has chosen that path the master was, in essence, saying the following
•our walk with him is more important than our work for him
•our relationship with God must always take precedence over our service to him
•And like Jesus demonstrated in the previous chapters we have studied so far, the quality of our relationship with God defines the impact of our service to him. There were many places that the crowd wanted Jesus, but we are always told that he withdrew to a secret place to pray. And each time he had appeared after the prayer mighty works have taken place. The last place in Luke 9 after the mountain of transfiguration experience we were told that the people were amazed at his 'mighty power'(Luke 9:43).
In Luke 4 the master started out with great power and grew into a mighty power. However, this growth has been under guided by his quality relationship with the father as in many places in the book of Luke we have seen him withdrew to solitary place either to pray all night or rise a great while before day to pray.
•The focus of the Christian life is to grow in our walk with God, for a quality walk with God is what results in quality work for him
Read full blog post here UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: A Look Through The Book of Luke - Luke 10
THE CITY THRUST
Luke 10:1-2 began with these words,
"After these things, the Lord appointed other seventy also and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Luke 10:1-2 KJV
If we contrast this with Luke 9:1 we immediately begin to see the glaring difference, in Luke 9 the disciple s were sent out to preach the gospel to the surrounding town but in Luke 10:1 they were sent to the cities where Jesus would come himself. It was like an advanced evangelism team that would prepare the way for the master. And there was a bit of urgency about this particular mission as it was here the master lamented the lack of laborers to reap the harvest.
This particular campaign was so urgent that part of the instructions was not to greet anyone on the way. To reach the city there was no room for friendly chatter while on the way. That's the urgency attached to this particular campaign! And it's the urgency that faces us as present-day believers, the harvest is plenteous, we must all enroll to be laborers in getting in the harvest to the kingdom.
One more thing to note from here. In Luke 9 Jesus mentioned the word " city" just once while in Luke 10, the word city was mentioned 5 times. The city by composition is where the largest concentration of people are and that's where the main thrust of the kingdom news must reach. Once the heart of the city is gained the surrounding towns begin to succumb to the influence of the city. This we see played out in the book of Acts as the Apostles assaulted the major cities with the gospel of our Lord as Jesus commanded them to do in Acts 1:8. This must be our thrust today as the church of Jesus in the land, we must make our city for God and with urgency.
OUR WALK VS OUR WORK
From here the master rejoiced with the disciples as they celebrated their victory over the devil, and the evangelistic success they enjoyed. Soon we had one of the lawyers of the law asking about matters on how to enter into the kingdom of God and that brought a series of responses that brought up the parable of the good Samaritan. I am not going to dwell on this popular parable which many of us can preach tons of sermons on. But I will immediately go down to what happened when Jesus was received by Martha and Mary into their house! I am going to quote the text here
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou does not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38-42 KJV
Here was the story of two sisters who have chosen different paths in relation to their work with the master: one was interested in working for the master while the other was interested in walking with the master. And when Jesus said one thing is needful and Mary has chosen that path the master was, in essence, saying the following
•our walk with him is more important than our work for him
•our relationship with God must always take precedence over our service to him
•And like Jesus demonstrated in the previous chapters we have studied so far, the quality of our relationship with God defines the impact of our service to him. There were many places that the crowd wanted Jesus, but we are always told that he withdrew to a secret place to pray. And each time he had appeared after the prayer mighty works have taken place. The last place in Luke 9 after the mountain of transfiguration experience we were told that the people were amazed at his 'mighty power'(Luke 9:43).
In Luke 4 the master started out with great power and grew into a mighty power. However, this growth has been under guided by his quality relationship with the father as in many places in the book of Luke we have seen him withdrew to solitary place either to pray all night or rise a great while before day to pray.
•The focus of the Christian life is to grow in our walk with God, for a quality walk with God is what results in quality work for him
Read full blog post here UNDERSTANDING CHRIST: A Look Through The Book of Luke - Luke 10
