Being Sent Out
“Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 2021, ESV).
Being Sent Out
Who does God send out to do the work he has given us to do? Why does God send us out? How does God send us out? What are some of the challenges of being sent out to do God’s kingdom work?
God sends all of his followers to do his work. God sends us out because the work is plentiful and the workers are few. God sends us out to do his work and to be a part of what he is doing in his kingdom work the world.
As followers of Jesus, God calls each of us into his harvest field as laborers. We experience God’s presence and blessings as God uses us and we bear witness to the power of God and to the presence of God as he uses us for his purposes and kingdom work.
The Gospel of Luke tells us, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’” (Luke 10:1-2, ESV).
Jesus sent out the seventy-two, ahead of him, in pairs of two, to prepare the way of his coming and preaching and doing his work in every town and in every place where Jesus was about to go. Jesus recognized the harvest was plentiful, but there was not enough laborers to do the work. Jesus saw the first task was to send laborers and the second was to pray for more laborers.
Everyone is called to go and to do the work of God, but not everyone obeys and goes into the harvest. Everyone is called to pray for laborers in the harvest, but not everyone “earnestly prays to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Every week the Anglican Church prays with Jesus into his words in Luke 10:1-2 in the Anglican Post-Communion Prayer, where we pray, “And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
May we be the sent ones who go out into the harvest field, “doing the work God has sent us to do”, and may we pray for more laborers to be sent out into the harvest field to do God’s kingdom work in humble service to him.
A Collect for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, or the Third Sunday after Trinity (Proper 9): “Grant us, O Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who can do no good thing apart from you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
The Post-Communion Prayer: “Heavenly Father, We thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal kingdom. And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
