Ministry Must Be Deliberate, Not Casual: The Fruit Crushing Labor of Leisure
Rachel Green Taylor said in an Instagram post: “We live in the most self-aware generation in human history.” Can we deny it? Western culture (and our Christian comfort) has come to a sort of “correctional crux” that is both necessary and dangerous to the gospel.
“Do what feels right to you.”
“Is this something I want for myself?”
“If it doesn’t spark joy, it doesn’t belong.”
I will be the first to concede there is warrant for generational healing in today’s society. God-given measures for personal, emotional (and therefore spiritual) health have long been neglected for the sake of productivity. Emotionality equates to weakness, and soul-seeking is time wasted. It is a valid question, though— did the dismissal of personal need happen in the name of solid coping or of solidifying extreme capitalism?
The overcorrection comes in the pedestal placing of self over self-sacrifice. In the centuries following the death of Christ and the evolution of the Body, the Evangelistic movement broadened the scope of gospel exposure and in result, the Church became lax. We simply got too comfortable in our own Christianity. There is always another ambassador to do God’s bidding while we bless the dinner table and contemplate our next personal goal.
The opportunity to relax into church as a social gathering rather than the urgency of a triage team
has made us ambivalent to the reality of the brokenness surrounding us.
We use phrases like “ten-year goals” and “vision boards,” while Scripture is flooded with “go” directives and “immediately” descriptors. Jesus “immediately” moved from miracle to miracle, town to town. He pursued His ministry hungrily, not leisurely.
Never once do we find Jesus at the dinner table discussing His bucket list for His remaining time on earth, nor the “must-see sights” of the cities in His itinerary. Jesus was singularly focused— the will of the Father took center stage.
The average Christ-follower is probably familiar with Luke 10:2: “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few” (ESV), but there is a significant bridge we forget to cross to the following passage. We communicate the urgency of the gospel without specifying just how urgently we are to act.
These are all directions Jesus gave the 70 (or 72, depending who you ask) as His final days approached and He knew it was this people He was entrusting with the future of the Church for all time.
“Carry no moneybag, knapsack, sandals” (v. 4).
Jesus is saying,“Travel light, you can’t afford to be weighed down.”
This isn’t a statement of provision but one of propulsion.
God always provides for our needs, but He knows the pull materialism has in our lives, and commands us to deny it.
“Greet no one on the road” (v. 4).
This is a call to separation over socialization.
The harvest is ripe for the reaping! This word picture is so powerful. A fruit that goes unharvested dies on the branches and falls to ruin. Jesus is saying, “My people are hanging by a thread; if we don’t desperately pursue them, they will be totally lost. Get moving.”
“Remain in the same house,” (v. 7).
This isn’t a call to etiquette but a call to expediency.
There is no time for a shuffle of personal effects. Remaining in one place means becoming so familiar with its features we can navigate them in the dark, which is the same force we battle in the war of winning souls.
“Eating and drinking what they provide” (v. 7)
This isn’t about hospitality, it’s about humility.
There is no room for personal preference; food is a wage, it is a fuel for the mission, not a convenience to be contemplated.
It’s hard not to try and worm my way inside Jesus’ mind, as He’s saying all of this. Just recently, he had to rebuke the disciples’ “faithlessness” for their inability to heal (Luke 9:37-43)— the same disciples He had just granted specifically healing power. The same disciples who, apparently high on that colossal failure, then turned around and debated who was the greatest among them (v. 46-48).
Jesus knew the disciples were self-centered. He knew as long as selfish motivation and personal ambition blinded them, they would be inconsistent weapons for spiritual warfare. And now, anticipating His leaving, He charged them again with healing the sick, despite their unpromising track record.
And so, He doubled down. “…say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” (Luke 10:9). It’s as if He silently implied, “And please, don’t forget it, yourself. Get out of your own way.”
The only way we can summon healing power is through decided devotion to the source of that power.
We must discard the distractions of a leisurely life, of Christian comfort, and adopt a tunnel vision for our purpose. The harvest is ripe, friends. We cannot afford to let the cares of this life keep our hands so tied that there is no one to gather the saints, nor risk stepping on the ruins Jesus entrusted us to rescue.
