Effective witnessing begins in the heart of the one sharing his story with the Lord with others. Witnessing is not about a three step training program, it's about our relationship with the Lord Himself. We can give people all kinds of information, we can unload our theological gun on them, we can give them strategies and methodologies, but effective witnessing comes from a heart that is walking with the Lord. It's not about what we know, it's about who we know.
Of course, the basics of the Gospel are most important as we relationally share with the lost. The first two words in Luke 10:1 are: "After this." These two words indicate relationship. What happens in Luke 10 is the result to what happened in Luke 9. So, subsequent to all of the time the disciple's had spent with the Lord Jesus. Subsequent to their calling, subsequent to their training, subsequent to the close of the Galilean ministry, the Lord sends out the seventy-two.
The word “appointed” in v.1 is a word used only twice in the New Testament. The other time it is used is in Acts 1:24 where the Lord Jesus chose the replacement of Judas. No one can be an apostle by his own will, we can only be chosen by the Lord. And, if the Lord has not appointed us to a task, we do not want to do it. The only assignments we fill are those given to us by Him.
Also, in v.1 we read, "After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him.” Thirty-six pairs of them were sent out. In ancient days, whenever the king was going to come to a town or a village, heralds would be sent by him to inform the town that the king was coming. The Lord Jesus was going to spend the remaining months of His life on this earth going from town to town and village to village and He wanted them to be prepared for His arrival.
The basis of all effective witnessing is a compassionate heart. It isn't training, it is compassion. It is a deep profound sense of empathy because of the desperate condition of the unsaved. It is a heart-wrenching concern over the lost given to us through our personal relationship with the Lord. Witnessing's thrust is the compassion born of a proper assessment of the eternal destiny of those who are not in a personal relationship with God.
In v.2 we read, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." The precedent of being "sent out" is a heart to heart relationship with the Lord Jesus. This is why the religious community of the Lord Jesus' day never came in line with His modus operandi. They were not in relationship with Him, thus they lacked the heart of grace.
At the end of v.2 we read, "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." We are to pray that the Lord Jesus sends workers to deliver the Gospel message which will deliver people from hell. God seeks to rescue people from His own wrath through the prayers of believers who ask Him for more messengers to work in delivering the Gospel which rescues souls. The executioner becomes the source of messengers to deliver people from His execution. And, the executioner is Himself executed to save people from His execution.
In v.3 we read, "Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves." The believer must expect the hatred of the world toward the Gospel message. In countries that are non-Christian, Christians are suffering and dying at a rate higher than ever in the history of the church, today, tens of thousands a year.
According to v.4, the Lord Jesus told the seventy, "Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road." This is a repeat of the message He gave the twelve in Luke 9:3. This is required because He wants the disciple to learn to trust Him. And when we are placed in that position, we are forced to trust and subsequently experience Him. It is then that we get it. Dependency upon the Lord is at the crux of witnessing, for He not only provides our physical needs, He also gives us the very words we need to witness to others.
Luke 10:4 ends with, "greet no one on the way." The Lord is defining the mission He is giving to these disciples. He is essentially saying, "Don't depend on making relationships with people so that they provide for you. Focus on sharing the gospel, and leave the results to me when I go to them."
In Acts 1:8 the Lord Jesus tells His disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes to empower them to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. “Witnessing” is something more than a spiritual discipline or a Tuesday night activity. It is the very essence of who we are as Christians. Witnessing is an outflow of our personal relationship with God.
Witnesses bear testimony about who they know. As John testifies in his first epistle, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life."
Witnessing is not possible for those who do not know Christ; and it is strengthened as those who know the Lord grow in relationship with the One who saved them. The sharing of the story the Lord gives us is most powerful and the most believable.
