Evangelism In Light Of Where We Are - How to Live Jesus Out Loud

Evangelism in Light of Where We Are

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Luke 10:1-2, NIV)

In Luke 10, Jesus sends seventy-two of his followers out into the neighboring towns he will soon visit. He knows they will face hardship. He knows that, at times, they will be rejected. But they will also find people of peace. They are to eat and to stay with such people and to preach the gospel wherever they are made welcome.

As Jesus prepares them to go, he encourages them with one important detail about the terrain. In fact, it is so important that it will affect everything about how they go out into the world. And because that one important fact hasn’t changed in more than two thousand years, what Jesus said will affect everything about how you and I go out into the world. It will affect our expectations of what God will do, how he will use us, who we decide to engage, why we strike up conversations, when we speak about spiritual things, and where we look for God to move.

So what did Jesus tell his disciples that was so important it changed everything? Simply this: “The harvest is plentiful.”

The seventy-two needed to understand the nature of their surroundings. Jesus wasn’t talking about wheat, of course. He was talking about people. He wanted his disciples to see past the obvious distinctions between Jew, Gentile, mother, father, stranger, and friend, and catch a glimpse of the greater reality behind the obvious. He wanted them to see the thousands of hearts God was already stirring. He wanted them to know that every assumption and apprehension was only background noise when God was moving and hearts were ripening.

In John 4:35, Jesus says, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” In other words, look around at your workplace, your neighborhood, the grocery store, the shopping mall, the airport, or the subway station, and have the sort of eyes that see throngs of people ready to hear the gospel—so ready that they are like heads of wheat bursting at the seams.

We see a crowd of people just waiting to take offense. Jesus says there is actually an abundant harvest waiting for us to speak up. We look at our neighbors and coworkers and assume they are uninterested. Jesus says, “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” We anticipate rejection. Jesus is seeking and saving the lost.

God is always at work, and he is “making his appeal through us.” We are not only living in the midst of harvestable fields, but we also have a God who is actively working in those fields. Right now, today, people are being drawn toward him. People are hearing his voice and responding.

God is making his appeal, he is using us to do it, and people are ready to listen. That is the reality of our landscape—many eager people; many stirring hearts; many longing for hope, waiting to hear and ready to receive the Good News.

Reflect:

Who do you assume is uninterested in hearing the gospel? How have your assumptions impacted your willingness to tell others the Good News?

From the Book: