I've been thinking a lot about "success" and "failure" in ministry

A Preview of the Sunday Message at Plymouth Church

Jesus is sending his disciples out to do evangelism and Luke 10: 1-20 records the precise directions that Jesus gives to his Disciples. Note the similarity of today’s culture to that of the culture into which Jesus was sending these 72. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." With only one in five of our contemporary California neighbors involved in any faith enterprise, we can say that in this most populous state in the union, the Harvest is indeed plentiful?

Our Mormon friends, as well as our Jehovah's Witness friends, take this kind of evangelism very seriously--going out two by two to share their message. We may not agree with their theology, but we have to admire their dedication.

What I want to do, however, is draw our attention to the last verses of this passage because something interesting is happening in our culture with regard to the church, and I believe we at least need to address it.

Jesus sends out seventy-two of his followers to evangelize in people's homes. The seventy-two come back with glowing reports. Verse seventeen reads like this: "The seventy-two returned with joy and said, Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.'"

Jesus' response to this is interesting. He says, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven . . ." Then he adds in verse twenty, "However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Success may be measured more by our faithfulness to the true message than by the numbers we attract.