Introduction
1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He himself was going to come. 2 And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few; therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest. 3 Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘peace to this house.’ 6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you; for the labourer is worthy of his wages. Do not keep moving from house to house.”
Luke 10:1-7
In the above passage from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus sends out seventy disciples ahead of Him to heal the sick and proclaim the Kingdom. And He tells them to seek people of peace and stay with them. This is an important part of Jesus’ strategy for reaching out and building the Kingdom. Therefore, it is important that we understand who these people are, what they do for the Kingdom and how we find them.
Who Are the People of Peace?
A person of peace is someone who has been prepared by God to receive the gospel or our message. It is someone special that God has put in place for us; someone who is agreeable to our presence; someone who is hospitable to us.
A person of peace is someone who opens up networks for us. They introduce us to people who we would not otherwise come into contact with. The people that they introduce to us are also agreeable to our message.
I know a missionary who works in Africa and it was a person of peace who helped him to get started. This person was a taxi driver who was open to the gospel. And when he received the gospel and was saved, he introduced the missionary to his extended family who also got saved; a church was planted and the mission grew and grew.
Some time ago, I met a person of peace at a senior citizen’s lunch. She wanted to study the bible and so I started a bible study course for her. She then brought in other people she knew who wanted to study the bible. She brought in people that I would never have met without her. And out of the bible study a church was planted.
But apart from these personal experiences, we find people of peace in the New Testament and I want to look at some examples.
Examples From the New Testament
Lydia
In Acts 16:14-15 we read about a woman named Lydia who Paul met by the riverside outside the city. The Lord had prepared her heart to receive the message that Paul gave her. As a result, she and her household got saved and she provided hospitality for Paul and Silas.
The Jailer
In Acts 16:22-34 we read about Paul and Silas being thrown in jail by the local magistrates. Then, as they were praying, there was a great earthquake that broke their shackles. The jailer then led them out of the prison and the jailer and his household were saved. He also took Paul and Silas into his home and provided hospitality. The jailer was open to receive the gospel and he introduced Paul and Silas to his household.
Cornelius
In Acts 10:1-48 we read about Cornelius who was a Roman centurion whom God had prepared to receive the gospel that was preached to him by Peter. He invited Peter to his home where he had assembled his relatives and close friends to hear what Peter had to say. Cornelius and everyone with him received the message and were saved. Then Peter received hospitality from them. Cornelius was a man of peace that God prepared to receive Peter’s message and introduced others to Peter. Without Cornelius, Peter would never have met these people.
The Samaritan Woman
In John 4:7-42 we read about a Samaritan woman who had a conversation with Jesus at Jacob’s Well. Jesus reveals to her that He is the Messiah and this is something that she is receptive to. The woman then opened the way for many Samaritans to be saved. And as always, the people who were saved gave hospitality to Jesus.
Andrew, Simon Peter’s Brother
In John 1:35-42 we read about the first two disciples to follow Jesus. One of them was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Andrew was open to hearing what Jesus had to say to him and shortly after he started following Jesus, he got Simon Peter and brought him to Jesus. It was through Andrew that Jesus was able to reach Simon Peter.
How Do We Find the People of Peace?
It starts with prayer. We need to ask the Lord to help us find them.
We also need to go out and interact with people. Most of the time, they will not come and find us. We have to go out and find them by interacting with local people. There are multiply ways that we can go about this but the important thing is that the Lord needs to lead us to where we will meet them.
One of the ways to combine the above two actions is to go prayer walking in the area where you are looking. As you do so, you may bump into them in the street and you will have opportunities to pray for individual households or organisations as you go along.
Conclusion
People of peace have a key role in opening up opportunities for us to minister but we need to find them. We will know that we have found a person of peace because the Lord has already prepared them to receive our message.