Expecting Life Changing Results

What do we expect will happen as a result of following Jesus? Do we have any expectations at all? If  we do have expectations, are they confined to a narrow, me-centered understanding of salvation? In other words, do we follow Jesus with the expectation this will result in our getting a ticket into heaven?
Those who followed Jesus on the dusty roads of Palestine must have had questions about what it meant to be his companion. Let's be honest—Jesus said some rather strange sounding things to those who expressed interest in being a follower. To one person he said something about not having so much as a burrow in the ground or a nest in a tree. To someone who said he wanted to make sure his father got a descent burial, Jesus said the dead could bury the dead. And to another who said he just wanted to say goodbye to the folks at home, Jesus said if you put your hand to the plow and then look back you are not worthy of God's Kingdom (Luke 9:57–62). All of this is said just before we get to the text we are looking at in chapter 10 of Luke. I have a sense that what Luke is doing is telling us that despite the harsh sound of these words, people were ready to follow Jesus. What Jesus said to them and what happened to them has everything to do with our expectations today. That's what we're going to think about this morning.
I am going to make three rather simple statements.
     - Jesus always intended to engage others as partners in working for the Kingdom of God.
     - We are not asked to begin the Kingdom, but only to announce it.
     - We can expect life-changing results.
The tenth chapter of Luke begins by telling us the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. The number 70 is symbolic. Some of the ancient manuscripts have the number as 72. There are two possible explanations for this number and I am inclined to suggest that either explanation is a good one. First of all there is a story in Numbers 11 about Moses finding the burden of leadership overwhelming. He is told to pick 70 from among the elders of Israel and a portion of the spirit that is upon Moses will be given to these elders. When these elders are gathered together, for some reason, two of them miss the meeting. However, they still are given a portion of the spirit needed for leadership. The text is not exactly clear then whether the number of helpers for Moses was 70 or 72. Either way, Luke uses this number to tell us that Jesus also chooses to have helpers in the work of caring for God's people.
Scholars also tell us that in Genesis 10 there is a report of the number of nations that were formed from the descendants of Noah following the flood. In the Hebrew text that number is 70. So when used in such a context, the number 70 does not stand for a particular list of nations but rather for all the nations of the world. This makes sense, of course, when we remember that it is Luke who reports this number, Luke, the non-Jewish gospel writer, Luke who, even as he wrote this first volume of the story of Jesus' earthly life, was anticipating the second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, where the good news is preached to persons from every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5).
The intention of God in the ministry of Jesus, then, is to get out the good news of his forgiveness and love and to do it through those who have responded to the call of Jesus, follow me. Now you may think I am stretching things a little, but I am certain this is valid. Somewhere around what we know as the year 30 A.D., Jesus called a tax collector named Matthew to follow him. Matthew discovered Jesus intended him to pass on the good news of forgiveness and love to those who had not heard it. Following the resurrection Matthew travelled to what was then known as Persia and shared the story. In the centuries that followed one person after another came to understand that when they decided to follow Jesus, they were signing on to share that still wonderful news of forgiveness and love. Someone shared the story with my mother; she shared it with me. As a follower of Jesus I am called by him to tell the story to those who have not yet decided to follow Jesus as Lord.
I wonder if there is any part of our text today that surprises you or which you think might be one of those statements that appears to be a biblical exaggeration. Here's my nomination: The harvest is plentiful. Oh, really? Where is the evidence today that the harvest is plentiful? There is a second part to that statement with which everyone in today's church would agree—the labourers are few. We can bemoan the lack of volunteers in the church. Everyone wants a Sunday School but no one wants to teach a class. Everyone thinks outreach is a good idea, but getting the word out about the church seems a little pushy in our society.
For the past 17 or so years I have travelled north from Markham through Newmarket to Highway 11 whenever I have visited my parents, or these days, my mom. For all of those years except this one a large field could be seen on the west side of the highway just north of Bradford at the Wolfert’s Family Farm. Every spring and summer drivers who were so inclined could watch the progress of the crop and could see that the harvest is plentiful. This year the harvest has been replaced by a for sale sign suggesting these acres would be a great site for the next housing development for the area. No sense sending anyone there this year to get a basket of carrots. The harvest is not there.
But Jesus says through his ministry the Kingdom of God has broken into the life of the world and, as amazing as it might seem to us, the harvest is plentiful! If you are a follower of Jesus, you need to know as an absolute certainty the Lord will not send you on any fool's errand. You see the work of the kingdom has begun. Jesus will not send us out to start anything. In fact if you are going out to start something, you are on your own. Followers of Jesus are sent out to announce what they know has happened—God's Kingdom is breaking into the life of the world wherever there are people who will acknowledge God's righteousness and do God's justice.
That's why Blythwood hosted a showing of the documentary, Pray The Devil Back To Hell. This film tells the incredible story of women in Liberia who decided they had had enough of the bloodshed that was claiming the people of their nation and successfully demanded the government and rebels reach a ceasefire. People need to know the Kingdom is at work.
That's why Blythwood sent a mission team to Bolivia in August.
That's why Blythwood opened its doors to a number of mission teams this summer and why the doors will open again this fall to provide meeting space for a number of community groups.
That's why Blythwood will host the 15th year of Out of The Cold beginning November 7.
That's why we’re having a day at the end of October to pack the shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child and have a free community car wash.
When God's Kingdom breaks into our world, we should expect life-changing results. But let's be sure our expectations are consistent with what Jesus promised. The 70 or 72 who had been sent out came back to Jesus having experienced great joy in ministry. Their report to Jesus sounds admittedly strange to our ears. "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" It is hard to know exactly what they mean by this. It is easy but also betrays a modern arrogance to say that we have more sophisticated explanations of physical and emotional health issues in our day. But it is certainly true to say the understanding of such matters then and now is different. There were any number of symptoms and sicknesses the ancient world understood as being the result of demon possession.
Here's what we can be sure of. Those followers of Jesus who went out in his name and who confronted the darkness, despair and evil of their world while relying on the power of Jesus came back with a joyful report of success. The second thing we can be sure of is that Jesus understood what had happened as being evidence of God's power growing greater and Satan's power recognized as a spent force destined for ultimate failure. "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightening." Here Jesus is using an image with which he and his listeners would have been familiar. The prophet Isaiah had pronounced a word of judgement against the king of Babylon. These words had been interpreted as also referring to Satan.
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God…I will make myself like the Most High." But you are brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit (Isaiah 14:12–15). What Jesus is telling his disciples is that in the work he began, in the work that continues through those who follow him, evil is being taken off the throne of this world and a new age called the Kingdom of God has begun. In his first letter the apostle John tells us what has happened. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). That is nothing less than life-changing.
Years ago a woman named Elizabeth O'Connor wrote a book entitled Journey Inward, Journey Outward. That's a great image for the church as it is meant to be. You see we are the church when we're here in the Sanctuary gathered for praise. We are the church when we eat together in the Friendship Room. We are the church when we are part of that work begun by Jesus that tells the world that as terrible as evil is, it is momentary. For it no longer rules the world. A new age has begun in Jesus, an age of light instead of darkness, hope instead of despair, life instead of death. That's what God is up to. To be the church is to be part of God's plan.

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