Matthew 9:35-9:38: Pray for Labor

Intro

If you have your Bibles turn to Matthew chapter 9, starting in verse 35.

The first Baptist missionary who was sent from America, did not initially leave America as a Baptist.

Adoniram Judson was born to Congregationalist parents in 1788 and, though he was raised as a Christian, Judson rejected Christian Theism in favor of skepticism while at college. He remained a skeptic for a few years until one night, as he was staying at an inn, the man in the neighboring room was loudly going to his death from sickness.

In the morning Judson discovered that, not only had the man died in the night, but that the man was one of his good friends from college that had been instrumental in converting Judson to skepticism. This shook Adoniram so deeply that he now feared remaining in skepticism.

And so, though he was not yet a Christian, he received special permission to become a student at a seminary. It wasn’t long before Adoniram was a Christian, truly for the first time. It wasn’t much longer before he and some of his classmates were convinced that they must go to other countries to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So in 1810 the Congregationalists formed a mission board, likely the first in American History, and appointed Adoniram and four others as missionaries to the far east. Within two weeks in February of 1812 Judson was married to the 23 year old Anne Hasseltine, was ordained for ministry, and boarded a ship bound for India.

Now, Adoniram and Anne are rather famous in our Baptist circles, because while they were on the long voyage to India, they prepared to meet with the famous Englishman and Baptist missionary, William Carey. How did they prepare? Well, they knew that Carey would try to convert them to Baptist beliefs and they were trying to ensure their Congregationalist convictions would remain strong under scrutiny, so they studied the Scriptures to enforce their position on infant baptism. But they themselves ended up being convinced that the Baptists were correct in saying that only those with a credible confession of faith should be baptized. So while the Judsons were sent by the Congregationalists as the first American Missionaries, they arrived as Baptists and, through no effort from Baptist churches, the first American Missionaries were therefore Baptist.

As a testament to their integrity, they wrote home and resigned from the Congregationalist Missions Agency, effectively cutting off their funding to live, but unwilling to plant churches that would be baptizing infants. There was another man who had come to India and became convinced of Baptist beliefs named Luther Rice. He returned home to America and, through much work, saw the formation of the first American Baptist Missionary Union, a predecessor to our International Mission Board.

It was another year before they reached their final destination of Burma, now called Myanmar. From the beginning, Adoniram had two specific goals in mind: 1. to translate the Bible into Burmese and 2. To see 100 Burmese converts before he died. Judson died in Burma in 1850, less than 40 years later, and he had seen 100 churches planted and over 8,000 new believers. To this day, Judson’s translation of the Bible is the preferred translation in Burma (now called Myanmar), and the nation has the third most Baptists of any country on earth. Adoniram saw the harvest was plentiful and went and labored to see that harvest come to fruition.

Matthew 9:35–38 ESV

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

We’ve spent the last few weeks seeing Jesus’ compassion for those who are hurting or on the outskirts of society and this morning we close out the chapter

The Motivation - 35-36

Compassion for the harassed and helpless

The Scarcity - 37

There is a great harvest to be had, but there are so few laborers!

Nearly half of the world’s people groups have never heard of the good news of Jesus Christ

The Means 38

Pray earnestly - 37-38

The Lord will send laborers

The Laborers are sent into the harvest (10:1-10:6)

How often do follow Jesus’ command to his disciples and pray for laborers to be sent into the harvest? Well, one of the plans of the prayer meeting is to ensure we’re praying for that at least weekly.

But who is it that Jesus sends out into the harvest? His disciples

The people that Jesus spoke to and told to be praying for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest are the same people who are sent out to labor and bring in the harvest.

You see, Jesus’ followers are called to labor in the fields! This is why we call them “mission fields!” So often we are content to pray that Jesus would send someone else out! We operate with this assumption that only the super spiritual people are the ones who go to proclaim the Gospel to people who have never heard it, but that isn’t the case!

We can see this especially clearly in the writings of Ann Hasseltine Judson, Adoniram’s first wife, as she was converted and grew as a Christian.

First, her heart was overcome with gratitude for God’s redeeming love and saving grace. At age 16, shortly after her conversion she wrote

“My chief happiness now consisted in contemplating the moral perfections of the glorious God. . . . I lost all disposition to murmur at any providence, assured that such a Being could not err in any dispensation.”

A friend wrote about her:

“Redeeming love . . . was now her theme. One might spend days with her, without hearing any other subject reverted to.”

Then, as she continued to grow as a Christian, her compassion for the lost grew as well! She began praying for them regularly and a couple years later she wrote:

“Have spent this evening in prayer for quickening grace. Felt my heart enlarged to pray for spiritual blessings for myself, my friends, the church at large, the heathen world, and the African slaves. Felt a willingness to give myself away to Christ, to be disposed of as he pleases.”

Then she met a young man named Adoniram, who was preparing to go to Burma as a missionary, and he asked her for permission to pursue her hand in marriage. Soon after, she wrote this:

“When I get near to God, and discern the excellence of the character of the Lord Jesus, and especially his power and willingness to save, I feel desirous, that the whole world should become acquainted with this Savior.”

The progression of Ann Hasseltine’s desires and thoughts shows us a simple truth about being a Christian.

When we dwell on the excellencies of God and what Jesus has done for us, there should be a natural progression toward wanting to see the whole world to know this great truth.

There should be a growing desire for others to know this and a growing belief that God will make it happen! No one starts as a great man or woman of God, but they grow into it naturally as they nurture and cultivate those desires and beliefs!

Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China said,

“ALL GOD'S GIANTS HAVE BEEN WEAK MEN WHO DID GREAT THINGS FOR GOD BECAUSE THEY RECKONED ON GOD BEING WITH THEM.” - Hudson Taylor

Maybe we don’t see those giants rising up among us because we have gotten used to great comfort. Maybe we give up too soon because we expect immediate harvest and not

6 years 1 convert

12 years 18 converts

He was imprisoned, outlived 6 of his 11 children, outlived two wives, and was constantly battling sickness. This labor was hard! And he expected no less! When he was preparing to be sent as a laborer into the harvest, he counted the cost of the work and found it to be worth it! And he expected no more from his future wife and her family.

About 2 years before he left America, he wrote a letter to Anne Hasseltine’s father, asking him for her hand in marriage. This is what Adoniram had to say to his potential father-in-law:

I have now to ask, whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this, for the sake of him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion, and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair. (Quoted in Courtney Anderson, To The Golden Shore: The Life of Adoniram Judson [Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1987], 83.)

He didn’t sugarcoat it did he?! How many of you would think to propose like that? Or how many would be willing to let their daughter marry a man like that? But while the request was filled with the anticipation of pain, it was also filled with a vision of glorious purpose and obedience to God! And that’s exactly what they faced and exactly why they were willing to face it!

Instead of trying to downplay and ignore the very real difficulties of being a laborer in the fields of God’s harvest, Judson knew that there would be work accompanied by blood and tears to bring about a harvest and Ann Hasseltine did become his wife, even after that letter to her father, and she too was prepared to sacrifice everything to glorify God! She wrote to a friend.

I feel willing, and expect, if nothing in providence prevents, to spend my days in this world in heathen lands. Yes, Lydia, I have about come to the determination to give up all my comforts and enjoyments here, sacrifice my affection to relatives and friends, and go where God, in his providence, shall see fit to place me. (Quoted in Anderson, To the Golden Shore, 84.)

How can we persevere as harvesters

First, don’t be surprised by initial discouragements. Adoniram cautioned that “you will be met with disappointments and discouragements . . . which will lead you, at first, almost to regret that you have embarked in the cause. . . . Beware, therefore, of the reaction you will experience from a combination of all these causes, lest you become disheartened at commencing your work.”13

Second, don’t let fatigue lead you into temptation. Adoniram warned of a pull toward ease “after you have acquired the language and become fatigued and worn out with preaching the gospel to a disobedient and gainsaying people.”14 He explained that fatigue often causes the missionary to want to seek another, more comfortable, pursuit, and Satan will likely comply to tempt with such an opportunity.

Third, don’t let secret pride take root. Evan Burns shares that Adoniram grew fond of jumping rope as the “best kind of exercise” and saw maintaining physical health as vital to ensure he could maximize each day for spiritual tasks.15 Yet Judson knew that survival on the mission field did not solely come by means of physical health. He admonished future missionaries to guard their spiritual health and to “beware of pride; not the pride of proud men, but the pride of humble men — the secret pride which is apt to grow out of the consciousness that we are esteemed by the great and good.”16