After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road”
“When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If the head of the house loves peace, your peace will rest on that house; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for workers deserve their wages. Do not move around from house to house.
“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. (Luke 10:10-12 TNIV)
When a laborer of God is turned away, God is not happy. When a laborer of God is turned away, the consequences are severe. This is not some special dispensation to the 72 who were sent out at this one time. It’s a simple cause-and-effect thing. When God sends a laborer into the field, He has a purpose for that person’s ministry and, if the person is not allowed to minister, that purpose fails. If the purpose fails, the people who would have been blessed are not blessed. Souls may be lost. Churches may be weakened. A domino effect happens.
What would the Church be like today if the women, racial/ethnic minorities, even slaves like Onesimus, would have been allowed, even encouraged, to preach and shepherd the people God had sent them to serve?
