Our Dangerous Mission

Our Dangerous Mission

Read: Luke 10:1-6

“Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”

Luke 10:3

“Nothing is really lost by a life of sacrifice; everything is lost by failure to obey God’s call.”

—Henry Parry Liddon

IN WORD What good shepherd in his right mind would send his sheep into a pack of wolves? And yet this is exactly what our Good Shepherd tells us. It is not just a suggestion. It is an emphatic command. “Go!”

Why would our Shepherd do this? Doesn’t He lead us beside still waters and into green pastures? Doesn’t He know how dangerous the wolves are? Of course He does. He, whose own body would not survive the wolf pack, knows exactly what He is commanding. Why then does He do it?

There can only be one answer. The plentiful harvest He has just mentioned is worth the cost of His lambs. The price of not going into the wolves is substantially more than the cost of going, even if the lambs are sacrificed there. Our Savior is the same Shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine behind for the one, and He bids His disciples to have the same all-or-nothing spirit. These lambs do, in fact, return to Him safely after this trip into the wolf pack, but there will be times in the future when they won’t. And He knows this.

IN DEED What excuses do we have for avoiding the wolves? We might prefer the company of lambs, but the wolves are needier. We don’t feel called to serve a wolf population, perhaps, but indeed we are—the Shepherd has called us Himself. They are too dangerous, we object, and we are right. But still our Shepherd says “Go!” There must be a reason. The harvest must be incredibly valuable to risk so much.

He who was sent into a ravenous world to die sends His own lambs into the midst of wolves. As the Father has sent Him, so He sends us. But not alone. Be encouraged. This Shepherd doesn’t send us without a promise—“I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).