Peace be to this house
The work and success of the ministry
I. THE WORK AND OFFICE OF MINISTERS. They are appointed by the Prince of Peace to be the messengers of peace.
1. The ministers whom Christ here sends forth are supposed to enter into private houses; and that under the character of Christ’s ambassadors, and in the execution of their office.
(1) Sometimes they were forced into such corners. Though the message they brought had everything in it to recommend them to an universal acceptance, yet it is probable in many places they were not permitted to preach in the synagogues; the rulers there who had a jealous eye upon them would take care to keep them thence; and they then retired into private houses, and preached to as many as would come to hear them there. Those who cannot do what they would for God and the souls of men, must do what they can, and God will accept of them.
(2) They always embraced such opportunities of spreading the gospel, and doing good to the souls of men, as visiting people at their houses gave them. Our Lord Jesus preached wherever He visited.
2. They are instructed to say, “Peace be to this house;” that is, to the inhabitants of it; to all under this roof; to the master of the family, for be he ever so great he needs this blessing; and to all the members of the family, for be they ever so mean they are not excluded from this blessing. Ignatius’s bishop was to take cognizance even of the servants of the families that belonged to his charge.
(1) We are to preach peace to all.
(a) Reconciliation, and no war.
(b) Riches and no want.
(2) We are to pray for peace to all.
(a) We must earnestly desire the welfare and salvation of precious souls; and not be cold and indifferent about it.
(b) These desires of the salvation of souls must be offered up to God in prayer.
(c) It is good to let those we preach to know that we pray for them. We must not only say to God, “Peace be to this house,” but we must say it in the hearing of those that dwell in it.
II. THE SUCCESS OF MINISTERS. As to those to whom we minister--the success is varied; not the same with all. On some, the peace comes which we preach and pray for; on others, it does not.
1. The text gives us encouragement to hope that some shall be the better for our praying and preaching; we shall meet with those who are sons of peace, who are disposed to submit to the commands, and qualified to partake of the privileges, of the gospel peace. Who are the sons of peace, on whose heads, and hearts, and houses, the blessings of peace shall come? I answer--
(1) Those who are so by the designation of the Divine counsel; the chosen of God, whom He hath set apart for Himself to be vessels of mercy.
(2) Those who are so by the operations of the Divine grace.
2. Wherein shall those who are thus the sons of peace be the better for our ministry We are here told that our peace shall rest upon them, that is--
(1) Our “prayers” for them shall be heard.
(2) Our “preaching” to them shall answer the end, and be effectual.
(3) The fruit of both shall remain.
3. The text also shows us that we ought not to be overmuch discouraged in our work, though there be many who are never the better for our praying and preaching.
Let us now make some application of all briefly.
1. Let this awaken us who are ministers to be faithful, and serious, and diligent in delivering our message; as those who are in some measure sensible of the vast importance of the work we are employed in, and the dispensation that is committed to us.
2. Let us, when we have done what we can, look up to God for the success.
3. Let us be very careful that we do not, by any irregularity in our conversation, hinder the success of our praying and preaching, and defeat the ends of them.
4. What success of our labours we Lave the comfort of, let God have all the glory of. (Matthew Henry.)
Christian courtesy!
I. THE BREADTH OF CHRISTIAN COURTESY. The kindly greeting, “Peace be to this house,” was to be addressed to every family into which the seventy might enter.
II. THE DEPTH OF CHRISTIAN COURTESY, the reality and meaning of their greeting, are brought before us in Luke 10:6. Christ is telling them that their words are not to be a mere formal salutation; He suggests that an influence of peace shall actually go out from them, to “rest upon” the house that receives them; returning to them if rejected. The soul of Christian courtesy is faith; our greetings are prayers. Trust in God is the animating principle of social kindness; graciousness of disposition rests Upon the grace of God.
III. THESE ARE THE TWO FOUNDATIONS OF GENUINE CHRISTIAN COURTESY:
1. The sense of our Christian mission.
2. The certainty that we shall find many prepared for the Lord.
1. Christ sent His disciples to “ heal the sick,” to “cast out devils,” and to say to all, “the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” Could they doubt whether they would be received? Would not the sick man hail them from his couch? and the demoniac come trusting them to heal him? Their confidence that they were come on a blessed errand, that it was given to them to comfort the sorrowful, to sustain the sinking, to still the restless, and to proclaim the blessed name of Christ, would fill them with a confidence, a frankness, and a tenderness, that would secure them a welcome. With what words could they enter any house but those which Christ bade them first to speak? they were full of peace, they were charged and laden with peace; peace was the light of their eye, it was the spring of their footstep, it must breathe in their every tone. It would come forth from them because it was so fully in them; the messengers of peace could say no other words, no words before these, in whatsoever house they entered, “Peace be to this house.” It is just this sense of a mission which Christ has entrusted to us, a holy, blessed message He has given us to utter, which is needed to make us frank and courteous to all men. Selfishness is the root of all moroseness and ungeniality.
2. The assurance that we shall find a people prepared for the Lord. Some households would reject the disciples, but not all; the son of peace would be beforehand with them in many a house, their prayer should be answered, and their peace should rest upon it.
IV. I have already anticipated somewhat I had designed to say under our fourth head--THE BLESSEDNESS OF CHRISTIAN COURTESY. “If the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it”; rest upon the household, and on you too while you are in it. The unforeseen welcome given you by many who return your cordial greeting; the humility, the heartiness, the joy with which they listen to your words; God’s answer to the prayer of your greeting; in all this, you and they will share together. But look for a moment at the last clause of the verse, “If not, your peace shall turn to you again.” Christ tells His disciples that some will reject them; not all our hope will be fulfilled. “If,” you ask, “if my frank intercourse with the ungodly does not bless them, will it not injure me? But I fear lest I shall be depraved by too great frankness with worldly men, some of whom will continue worldly. Shall I not be charged with inconsistency?” To all these questions we have Christ’s answer, “your peace shall turn to you again.” No man is ever degraded by his love for the ungodly. Christ’s name is not disonoured by the tender, gracious association of His people with the lost souls to whom He sends them. You know of whom it was said, “this Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” You may be misjudged by your fellow-Christians, but you will not be misjudged by your Lord. (A. Mackennal, D. D.)
Christ’s first message is peace
Here we may observe the method of our Saviour. He, coming to fight against the pomp, the covetousness, the luxury of the world, first offers terms of peace, and instructs His disciples as God did Moses: “When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it” (Deuteronomy 20:10). As we read of Tamerlane, He first hangs out His white flag of peace, not His black nor His bloody colours. He fights not against us to destroy us, till we have wearied His mercy, and stood out too long. First He tenders peace: but it is the wickedness of the wicked, the obstinacy of the enemy, that draws His sword. For God doth not, as Nimrod, destroy men for pleasure: He doth not set them up as a mark, and then shoot deadly arrows at them. He seems rather to carry peace and war in sinu, “in His bosom,” as Fabius did in the skirt of his gown; and leaves it to our choice, which we will have. First peace shows itself, in His love, in His precepts; nay, in His threatenings and fearful menaces. He opened the mouth of His servant Noah, a “preacher of righteousness,” before He “opened the windows of heaven, and broke up the fountains of the great deep” (Genesis 7:11). He opened the mouth of His servant Moses, before the earth opened her mouth to swallow up Dathan and Abiram and their complices (Numbers 16:1-50.). He doth not undermine us with double voices and double counsels and a holy dissimulation, as some call it, crying, “Peace,” when He girds Himself with strength, and prepares Himself to battle; saying, “Peace,” to that house which He meaneth to level with the ground. But He sends His ambassadors, and “Peace” is the first clause in their commission: “first” they must salute us, before He will strike us; “first” wish “peace,” before He will furbish His sword. (A. Farindon, D. D.)
Proclaim peace
A writer in a Scottish magazine told of an earnest minister, who, thinking all his labours among his people fruitless, was so disheartened that he made up his mind to leave them. When meditating about a farewell sermon, he was struck with the words of this verse, and felt as if Christ were saying to him, “Ungrateful servant, are you not satisfied with this promise of Mine? Hold on, then, proclaiming peace.” This accordingly he did, with renewed vigour.
Fireside ministry
These missioners were pioneers going in advance to waken thought, create expectation, inspire confidence, and announce the nearness of the revealing Christ. They took their orders from His lips and their methods from His life. The Master’s charge to them is still vital; it has sterling and perennial value for us men in the midst of our accumulated social evils, our hoary and deep-seated social vices. Stripped of Oriental accident and incident, and expressed in the English of the hour, it supplies an invaluable recipe for the healing of our sick and diseased human life, and for the guidance of our Churches in their home missionary activities. Go to the people, get close to them, enter their houses and their hearts, make your mission domestic, be social and sociable, friendly and human, go not from house to house in a hurry, as though figures were redeemed souls, but stay long enough to win love; invite trust, and do nothing to thwart expectation; make men feel your tenderness is instinctive, and your desires real; prove that you work and speak on the common ground of manhood, and then you will have a right to say, “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you,” and the heart will feel the presence of that unseen rule, and the conscience confess its august authority.
1. According to the mind of our Teacher all really helpful human work must be rooted and grounded in loving friendship, and energized by an unhesitating trust in the men it seeks to cleanse and ennoble. Renan has said that the fireside preaching of the seventy missioners was one of the capital causes of the success of early Christianity. And surely, not even in our Lord’s day, was this policy of making friends first, converts afterwards, more needed than in our own time.
2. The next stags in the work of the seventy, beyond the ministry of friendship, is that of compassionate healing. Christianity, like its Author, is essentially healing.
3. But the crowning service of man to man is the interpretation of life in the light of Divine ministration. The priests of friendship and healing have free course and are glorified only when they acknowledge God’s sovereignty over the heart and soul. The supreme good is not a perfectly healthy body. The missioners did not reach the climax of their work until they said, “The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.” This is fireside preaching at its best.
(1) This saying is a pertinent and necessary sermon on a physical text. “Do not stop at the healing of the body. Trace out the Divine handwriting on the renovated body, and say, ‘See here, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.’” That is a blessed if difficult task. But
(2) this unique declaration has this additional significance, that Christ Himself was on His way to these healed folks, and that their physical salvation was only an earnest bestowed by His advanced couriers of what He was also to give if only they would welcome Him. (J. Clifford, D. D.)
Only souls can save souls
Carry no purse, no wallet, no shoes. Go to your work with such perceptible signs of trust in men as shall at once disarm suspicion and inspire confidence. (J. Clifford, D. D.)
Deferred remuneration
Christmas Evans’ parishioners seem to have been marked by an insatiable appetite for sermons, and by a singular disregard for the temporal comfort of the preacher. Once, when he had preached away from home, and had received less than his expenses, an old woman remarked to the great pulpit orator, “Well, Christmas, you have given us a wonderful sermon, and I hope you will be paid at the resurrection.” “Yes, yes, no doubt of that,” answered the preacher humorously, “but what am I to do till I get there? And there’s the old white mare that carries me, what will she do? There will be no resurrection for her.”
Ministers badly paid
I wonder whether some of the people who come to bear Christ’s servants ever ask themselves the question, “How do these ministers live and pay their way?” “I thought they preached for souls,” said one of these spiritual mendicants to Mr. Spurgeon, who required an able and intelligent preacher for the munificent sum of £60 a year. “So they do,” replied the famous preacher; “but they would need some thousands of souls of your size to keep them from starving.” (Henry Varley.)