Prayer for the Expansion of the Kingdom

Luke 10:5-9

When we look at our passage today we see the 70 who were sent out preparing people for the coming of the kingdom of God. They are being given instructions for how to begin ministering and proclaiming within a particular community. Within this passage we see three prayers we can pray for missionaries today.

The first prayer we see is to pray the workers would be obedient. When you look at this passage you see that there are six statements of instruction. Say. Stay in that house. Do not keep moving. Eat what is set before you. Heal those in it. Say to them. There is an understanding that Christ is the leader. He is the one who is the sender therefore He knows what is needed in order for this work to be successful. If you were in a war would you obey the commands of the infantry soldiers or the commander in the war room? If you are a Christian going out to do the work of the Lord would you listen to your brother or sister in Christ or Christ? Christ knows what people need. He knows how to direct the work towards the needs of people and direct their attention to him. Christ tells them to first say, Peace be to this house. And to allow peace to be demonstrated he commands them to eat and drink what is given to them. Imagine if you were visiting with someone who was providing hospitality and you refused to even try what food was given to you. What would that tell the people you were staying with?

When I was on a mission trip to Jordan a few years back, at each house we went to they served a dish called tubule (spelling unknown). It is minced parsley, tomatoes, and other green leaf vegetables, and then they put olive oil and lemon juice in it. You could tell who had the money and who didn’t by the quality of the tubule. Imagine if I had refused to eat any of the tubule. I would have insulted the family’s hospitality and ruined any attempts to minister to them. One family I visited had just lost the father which now meant this family was extremely poor. They served the driest tubule of anyone else. It was difficult to get it down. The mother desired to be very hospitable so she went outside and plucked grape leaves off of her grape vine. She gave them to us and showed us that you fill the leaf with the tubule and then eat both. Wow. That was the oddest thing I had ever seen or eaten. Why would you eat a leaf unless you were starving? That was something no one else offered us, and we ate the tubule and the leaves. We later learned that it was a great sacrifice for her to have us in her home. What would it have done to any attempts by the missionaries if we had refused her food?

Eat and drink what they give you. Do not keep moving from house to house. Accept the hospitality that is given to you by the first house you come to. Then the same is said concerning the city. Notice he moves from the small to the large. What is true with the house is true of the city. Your provisions are your pay. Your provisions are your rewards for your work and service. Heal those in it. Proclaim the kingdom. Proclaim that their healing has demonstrated that the kingdom is near. In obedience we demonstrate our faith and trust that the Lord will provide for us. What a difference it would make in our world if all believers everywhere were completely submitted to the will of God. What a difference it would make if all believers would humble themselves to more than just eating what is set before them but serving those to whom we find repulsive. Obedience is required in service to the Lord.

The second prayer we see this morning is pray the workers would demonstrate peace. In verses 5 and 6 the word peace us used 3 times. As the worker enters a home he is to say, “Peace be to this house.’ Now that is not something we practice today even in mission endeavors, but they were to say it. Verse 6 says that if a man of peace is there your peace will rest upon Him. What is a man of peace? When missionaries and church planters go out they pray the Lord would provide ‘a man of peace.’ This is someone who would be an introduction into the city or community. Someone who knows the area, culture and traditions and has connections to bringing the Lord’s work into that community. This may be someone who is already saved or someone who would become a believer and follower. The idea is that this person would be key to reaching the community. The spread and demonstration of peace in this community or city would begin with this one person, this one household. Again notice that this work begins with one household and is spread to the entire city. It may be that this one household is the base from which to work or it could be as the one home is reached then the whole city is reached. Or it could be that the entire city will be reached one house at a time. But the man of peace will provide for the physical needs of the worker, and from there the worker will be used to reach the city. I often think about ways the church interacts with the society we are in here in the US. I wonder if there are better more productive means to reaching our country than what happens so often. What are ways we can bring more peace into the lives of the lost in the US? I often wonder what is really happening with some very heated and sometimes harsh comments concerning the issue of homosexuality. Now this is not to say that homosexuality is anyway pleasing to God, but I wonder how we could better minister to the homosexual community than the open and confrontational approach we see so often. What would happen in the lives of homosexuals if the church was known more for ministering to AIDS patients? What would that do to the ability and willingness of others to listen to what we have to say? What would happen in the black communities where many times drugs, gangs, and violent crimes are so prevalent if the church especially the white churches went in and helped to assist in the physical needs of those kinds of communities? What would happen if the churches were to meet even the physical needs of those who even are known to commit the crimes?

About eighteen months ago, I was in Macdonald's restaurant, having a coffee before Sunday School. At one of the tables, a woman was sitting alone, who looked unkempt, unwashed and untidy. She was having an imaginary conversation with someone who wasn't there, but every now and then she looked over to my wife and I, smiled sweetly and then continued talking to herself.
Five minutes later, one of the servers came over to sit down for her breakfast break. At first, I thought she was going to ask the lady to leave. Instead, she sat down beside her and carefully halved her sausage biscuit with the woman. It was a beautiful and sacred moment. A Holy Communion was taking place before my very eyes.
What made this even more special was the fact that I knew the server was having severe financial problems of her own at the time. But here she was, sharing half of everything she possessed on that morning, with someone whose need was greater than her own.
Our Lord told the disciples that the poor would always be among them. We read in James that true and undefiled religion is to minister to the widows and the orphans. We are expected as the church to be a refreshment, a peace to others. What are ways we can be a refreshment and an opportunity of peace to others?

The third prayer we see this morning is to pray the workers would be full of faith. In order to fulfill the mission and proclaim the message that the Lord has given, the worker must be full of faith. According to this passage the workers have been sent out without any provisions. They are to rely on finding a man of peace in order for their daily needs of food, drink and shelter to be met. They began by following what the Lord had told them to do, and as they go they must trust Him to provide as He said. They must demonstrate faith as they proclaim to the cities and heal the sick. In order to heal they had to have the spirit working within them. In order to proclaim the gospel faithfully they would have to be full of the spirit and this would require being full of faith. They knew the task was to prepare the people for the coming of Christ who would one day enter their village. They are going out as lambs among wolves. To knowingly enter such a position would require faith. To speak in our own strength and power is to speak in weakness. To speak full of faith and the spirit will be speaking in power.

A few years ago, our daughter called from Columbia International University, telling us she wanted to transfer to the University of Tennessee, but she didn't want to live in the dorms. She wondered whether we would drive to Knoxville and find her an apartment near campus. Though Katrina and I had mixed feelings about her transferring, we accepted our assignment stoically; but arriving in Knoxville, we had no idea where to look. As we drove through the streets around campus, our hearts sank. Scores of buildings had Rooms To RENT signs, but they were rough and rundown. I didn't want Hannah in any of them, and we made no inquiries.

Pulling to the curb, we bowed our heads in prayer. I had recently been studying the book of Genesis, so I prayed, "Lord, when Abraham's servant was on a mission in Genesis 24, he requested an angel to guide him. Now, please send that same angel-or one just like him-to guide us to a safe, desirable apartment for our daughter."

We pulled back into the street, turned the corner, and immediately saw a stately brick building, clean and well tended. The plaque on the side listed it as a historical site. An arched entrance opened into a grassy square with a bubbling fountain. "That looks like an apartment building," I told Katrina. "I think I'll check."

"Don't waste your time," she replied. "We could never afford it."

I checked anyway. As I walked through the courtyard, I came upon an older woman, purse and keys in hand, who eyed me warily. She was the manager, and she said the apartments were primarily for graduate students and career professionals. "We like it very quiet here. No parties. We turn undergrads away"

But as we talked, she began to warm up. She finally admitted to having one small efficiency available, and, yes she would rent it to us for Hannah-"if I like her when I meet her." When she told me the price, I stifled a smile. It was less than the flophouses around the corner. Today Hannah is still safely quartered in that apartment. I'm certain the Lord sent an angel to guide us.

In the unfolding of His providence, burdens become blessings, tears lead to triumph, and the redemptive grace of God overcomes the undercurrents of life in the experi­ences of His children. For them, all things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called accord­ing to His purposes.

No wonder Charles Spurgeon once quipped, "We believe in the providence of God, but we do not believe half enough in it."

In order for the work of God to be accomplished among the lost the workers must be full of faith. In order for the gospel to spread beyond where it currently stands those who seek to advance the kingdom must be people of faith. To advance the kingdom of God His people must be full of faith willing to go and do what He calls us to do.

As we close today are you obedient to do whatever the Lord requires of you? Are you willing to demonstrate peace to those who are outside of the church? Are you living full of faith?