Luke 10:1–4: “After this, the Lord appointed seventy‑two others and sent them ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Go! I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves. Do not carry a money bag, a traveler’s bag or sandals, and greet no one on the road.’”

This is the third day of exploring this passage, and now I am in verse 3: “Go, I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves.”

He is telling you it is not bread and butter. It is not going to be easy. It is not going to be a walk in the park. And the experience of the disciples, the apostles, bore witness to this. They suffered various persecutions. It was truly lambs among wolves. They were devoured. We see the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54–60). They were still supposed to go. They were supposed to move on ahead even after seeing one of them killed. They were not supposed to stop. Nothing was supposed to stop them. He is sending them. He is not saying that once you see a wolf, that cancels the sending.

No. Nothing cancels the sending. “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Nothing cancels the sending. Once you are sent, you are sent.

The disciple who told Jesus, “Let me go and bury my father first,” heard Jesus say, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:59–62). That means you need a high view of the kingdom of God, a high view of the task at hand. And that is what we already see in this passage, where Jesus in the previous verse said, “The harvest is plentiful.”

So we need all hands on deck. There is no time to spare. We need all workers to engage in the work. When Paul writes in Ephesians 4, he says that God gave “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:11–12). Everyone is supposed to be engaged in the work of ministry. Everyone. You have been called, you have been separated—each with his own talent, each with his own sphere of influence, each with his own area. But nobody can say there is no work to do.

We see a parable of Jesus where some laborers say, “No one has hired us.” And the owner says, in effect, “You too go into the vineyard” (Matthew 20:1–7). It could picture people later in life, who have done things all their life and God calls them late in their life: “Go and do this for Me.”

So He is saying, “I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves.” It is a dangerous situation. He is talking about human beings and the kind of pressure that can assail you as a minister, as someone on the journey who has been sent out. “Go, I am sending you out.” Now you are not in the protected enclave of just being with Jesus. Now you are out. You do not know what is going to happen. You do not even know where that “out” is. You are supposed to go and keep going in the direction He has sent you. Why? Simply because He said it, and you keep putting in the effort because He said, “The workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

So what we need are workers, not talkers. We need workers, not commentators. We need workers. We need people who are doing the work at whatever level—not mere observers, but workers; those who put in the time, the energy, the resources; those who put all their effort into the work, who are consistent in the work, who simply do the work because their priority is to please the One who has sent them (2 Timothy 2:4).

Jesus is saying, “I am sending you out.” He is telling you that you are authorized. You are authorized to go out, to speak in His name. You are authorized. You cannot just wander into the harvest; you have to be authorized.

Ruth, even though she “happened” into the field of Boaz, still had to be authorized and instructed to truly belong there and enjoy its benefits (Ruth 2). For her to really be involved and receive benefits, she had to be welcomed and covered.

So you are authorized to go in His name. You are not going in your own name, not going based on your background. You are going based on His background. You are not going based on your agenda; you are going based on His agenda. You are authorized to go in His name into the harvest. That is what “I am sending you out” means.

God bless you.