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When God is Big... is a sermon series examining what happens when you have a bigger vision of who God is. Mission is the greatest joy — When God is small, sharing your faith with others can seem scary or risky. But when you understand who Jesus is, and you know that your name is written in heaven, then talking about him is the most fulfilling purpose we could possibly enjoy. Recorded on Oct 3, 2021, on Luke 10:1-20, by Pastor David Parks. Sermon Transcript All year, we’re focusing on The Greatness of God. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series called When God is Big… Way too many Christians have way too small a view of who God is. And when God is small, not in reality but in our minds/imagination, even though we might believe in God, other things can become big that shouldn’t be so big. Your circumstances, emotions, and failures can not only become big, they can become all-consuming. Well, in this series, we’ve been considering how a bigger view of God changes our values of worship, community, ministry, and mission. Next week, we’ll start working on how a big view of God can change our struggles as well, including struggles with fear, identity, and addiction. But today, we’re finishing out our values by considering how a bigger view of God changes our mission in life. Did you know that God has a mission? Did you know that God has called you to join this mission? Well, my goal today is that you would see that when God is big…joining the mission of God is the greatest joy. Please open your Bible/app to Luke 10, starting with v. 1. Luke 10:1-3, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” Ok, let’s pause here. So Luke was a doctor who became a Christian through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. And Luke did a careful investigation into the life and ministry of Jesus by interviewing eyewitnesses and then writing down what he discovered. And here, Luke records a time when Jesus sends out 72 of his disciples with a particular mission/purpose. Now, this wasn’t the first time Jesus did this. In the previous chapter, Luke records when Jesus sent out the twelve, who would later become his apostles. But here, Jesus widens the scope of those being sent, to include the seventy-two. As he sends them, two by two, he tells them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Jesus is talking about the harvest of salvation, the God-given fruit of the work of the gospel. But there’s a problem. There’s more work to be done than there are workers to get it done. What do we do? Jesus says, “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” The word ask is more often translated in the Bible as to pray or even to beg. There’s a desperate quality to this prayer. “God, we need more people to work in this field! Please send more workers!” So the mission of God begins with prayer. But also, Jesus is emphatic in his sending. In v. 3 he says, “Go!” Go now. Go without delay. This wasn’t just a nice option for some of the followers of Jesus, but only if they weren’t busy. This was an authoritative commission. You will go. But how will they go? Jesus says, “I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” Being a lamb among wolves means to remain innocent, pure, and hopeful, even among the painful brokenness/darkness of this world — not becoming cynical and not using the ways of power or coercion which are the ways of the world, but as little lambs. You see, to Jesus, how his disciples were to fulfill their mission/purpose was as important to him as what they accomplished. So the mission of God must be done God’s way, using kingdom values. Godly ends never justify ungodly means.