Scriptures: Luke 10:1-16
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy Disciples
Luke 10:1-12
Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place, where he was about to come.
2 Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the labourers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out labourers into his harvest. 3 Go your ways. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry no purse, nor wallet, nor sandals. Greet no one on the way.
5 “Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6 If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the labourer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. 8 Into whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat the things that are set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are therein, and tell them, ‘God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’
10 “But into whatever city you enter, and they don’t receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that God’s Kingdom has come near to you.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.”
Woe to Unrepentant Cities
Luke 10:13-16
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgement than for you. 15 You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades.
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Jesus had first started with His circle of 12 disciples. Within that circle He had the inner circle of 3 (Peter, James and John). Earlier he sent the 12 Disciples out to he house of Israel. He told them not to go to the Gentiles. The Gospel needed to go to the Jews first. Jesus worked with the principle of circles.
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“As you go, preach, saying, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you received, so freely give.” (Matthew 10:7-8)
Those who welcomed them and showed hospitality became a part of the Kingdom circle. Those refused them were excluded (shake the dust off your feet).
After that we see that with Jesus, many believed and received him, but others rejected him, especially in Jerusalem. Jesus fled from the religious leaders who were trying to kill him.
“They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.” (John 10:39)
“He went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first, and there he stayed. Many came to him. They said, ‘John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.’ Many believed in him there.” (John 10:40-42)
So beyond the Jordan (where John had been baptizing) many believed in him, and from those followers he selected 70 of them to go to the Gentiles and do what the 12 had done.
Notice the repeated pattern? We can learn a lot about building God’s Kingdom circles.