Laborers for the Harvest

Call to Worship: Hebrews 13:12-14 // Prayer

Adoration: Our Father, through your Son you have revealed divine and unmatched wisdom to us—that he would suffer outside the gate, in shame, an outcast, mocked and laughed at as he died, so that he might become a savior to all nations; wisdom by which proud darkness was vanquished by meek humility, so that the gospel now spreads, piercing through the darkness all over the world.

Confession: Yet though your Son has come to us and opened our blind eyes, we confess that we have often blinded ourselves with selfishness and idolatry, looking elsewhere to comfort our hearts instead of looking to you. We confess that though your Son loosed our tongues to praise you, yet we have used them to complain, slander, lie, and boast. Father, forgive us, for in these things we have sinned against you.

Thanksgiving: But you really have healed us—you really have removed our guilt and condemnation through the divine Physician, your Son. You have brought us—sinners though we are—near to your throne, and made it a throne of grace to us.

Supp: Now then before your throne of grace we ask from you the power to live like your Son, and more and more like him; we ask for purity like his, love like his, mercy and gentleness like his, courage like his, integrity like his, righteousness like his, humility like his—that we might be like a city set on a hill, whose light pleases you and pierces through the night of our world that many may see and give glory to you // and we ask also for Hope Fellowship of Hillsboro, that they would grow in the likeness of Christ, and would be blessed in every way as they seek to take the gospel to their neighbors // and we ask for the lost in our community and our city—we ask that you would raise us up as workers to labor for this harvest: we ask your Spirit to prepare hearts, and use our words and our relationships to prepare hearts; we ask your Spirit to increase us in boldness and accuracy and give us opportunities to speak the gospel // and we ask this not only in our city, but also Iraq, Syria, and the whole region there—that you would equip your people with boldness and truth, that the gospel might spread there for the glory of your name // and now, please open our ears and hearts to be instructed from your Word for the mission you’ve given us...

Announcements

Benediction

Hebrews 13:15–16 ESV

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Sermon

Intro

The sinking of the Titanic was marked by tragedy upon tragedy.

First, there was tragic lack of lifeboats. In a fatal decision, for cosmetic reasons, the engineers had cut the number down to just 20 boats from the original planned 48. This meant a capacity to save around 1200 people on a ship which could hold 3500.

Second, there was the temperature of the water. The Titanic did have around 3500 life jackets. But the estimated survival time in water that cold is about 5 minutes.

But as I looked into this, I found a third and surprising tragedy. In some ways, the worst of the three: there were an estimated 387 unused spots on the 18 successfully launched lifeboats. And after the boats were launched, only one returned to the scene in order to pluck victims out of the water. Hundreds in the water, hundreds of open seats, and five minutes to make the rescue before hypothermia set in. And in the end, only one boat rescued only nine people—only six of those in time to be saved from the deadly effects of the cold.

It was the rescued who were positioned to rescue others. The the tragedy is, most didn’t see it.

But brothers and sisters, if we have eyes to see, our situation today is not very different: there is a terrible danger, an opportunity for rescue... but few rescuers to do the job.

As [....] read the scripture for us, we heard that Jesus noticed something as he traveled around through the cities and towns of Israel. As he traveled around ministering, he saw that the crowds who followed him around were harassed and helpless, like a flock of sheep missing its shepherds. They were spiritually troubled and lost.

And it says, this caused him to feel compassion for them.

But when he pointed out this situation to his disciples, he didn’t actually call the crowds, ‘sheep without a shepherd,’ but rather, “a plentiful harvest”—meaning, an opportunity ripe for rescue. And yet, a harvest with few laborers to go out and bring it in.

Based on this, he gives two jobs to his little band of disciples: pray for laborers, and be laborers.

As we look into this passage this morning, we’re going to see that the situation is pretty much the same for us. We’re surrounded by crowds of people who are harassed and helpless, needing rescue. We’re surrounded by fields white for the harvest. And the point this passage makes to us is this: Jesus’ compassion prompts us to pray for and become laborers in the harvest.

The Problem: Harassed And Helpless Crowds

But is it really true? Are we really surrounded by people who are like sheep without a shepherd? People who are harassed and helpless? Look at Jesus’ observation in verse 36:

Matthew 9:36 ESV

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

What kind of observation is this? Right from the start, it’s: (1) concerning, and (2) universal.

It’s concerning because of what Jesus says. He’s painting a picture.

You know what I’ve never heard of? Vicious flocks of wild farm sheep. You know, they escaped from the farm, and now they’re tearing it up in the wild, driving out the native species. Why do you never hear of that? Because sheep don’t last by themselves in the wild. Sheep don’t last without a shepherd. They are very quickly harassed by dangers and elements and predators. They are helpless. And in the end, they don’t live long.

But here, Jesus is saying: the people of Israel are exactly like that. On a spiritual level, they’re like a herd of sheep left in the wild without shepherds—harassed and helpless. All these people around him—vulnerable to wolves. Stumbling miserably through the wilderness of this world toward death.

So it’s a deeply concerning observation—but It’s also a universal observation. Notice, in the flow of the story, that verse 35 describes him going around everywhere to a lot of different towns and cities. So then, verse 36 is giving us an observation that Jesus made about the universal character of the crowds he encounters in all these places. Everywhere he went, teaching and healing, he saw that the people were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

It was a universal problem, in Israel.

So it was a dangerous and a universal problem. But one thing it wasn’t was a new problem. Centuries earlier, in the OT, Ezekiel described the same thing. He wrote:

Ezekiel 34:2–5 “Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.

So it was a dangerous spiritual problem, a universal problem in Israel, and a problem which had dogged Israel for their whole existence.

Now, there’s a sense in which this problem was unique to Israel. Only Israel had a covenant with God, and so only the people of Israel were supposed to have divinely appointed shepherds to oversee their souls. Only Israel could be pictured as a flock that was supposed to be together under the care of righteous shepherds, but had then been scattered. In the ancient world, that was unique to Israel.

And yet, this idea of being harassed and helpless—of wondering miserably through the wilderness of this world in terrifying spiritual danger—this idea applies much wider than just Israel. It applies to all mankind. It applies to your neighbors.

Sometimes this is obvious. You might think of someone you know who’s in a spiritual fog, preoccupied with material pleasures and unable to see his eternal danger—his need for Jesus. But it’s obvious enough to you as you watch his life progress.

Or sometimes it’s hidden. I think of Salt Lake City, with all the white-picket-fence families who live there. Nicest people you could meet. Highest rate of depression in the country. Turns out the medicine of legalism is often worse than the disease of immorality it’s trying to cure. Reminds me of a lot of nice folks who live in Scholls—good people on the surface. Don’t need Jesus.

It doesn’t matter how folks present themselves. If they don’t have the Good Shepherd, they’re like poor sheep scattered in the wilderness.

But so, what did the scattered sheep of Israel need? The gospel of the kingdom, which Jesus had come to bring. What do your neighbors need? The gospel of the kingdom, which Jesus has given us.

All humanity, in one way or another, is in this status: harassed and helpless, miserable, and headed for a terrifying doom.

The Solution: Jesus’ Compassion… A Harvest for the Gospel

Now, that’s a heavy truth. But actually, if you’re connected to the idea of spiritual shepherding from the OT—like we just saw from the Prophet Ezekiel—if you’ve got that in mind and you’re reading verse 36, scarcely do you feel the gravity of this danger before your eyes also light up with joy. Why? Because JESUS is the one who is noticing the problem. JESUS is the one who sees these sheep.

What do I mean? Back in that passage I read—Ezekiel 34—just as soon as the rebuke of the wicked and absentee shepherds of Israel is made, a promise is given. In verse 11 of that chapter, God says, “Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.” And as he goes on to describe how he’s going to rescue his sheep, he says this:

Ezekiel 34:23 “And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.”

Now King David was long dead when this prophecy was given. So it’s not about David himself, but about a king who would come from the line of David—the True and Better David, the Messiah.

And if you’ve been reading Matthew up to this point, you already know who that is.

So the promise God made in Ezekiel was that he would shepherd his people through the Son of David, the Messiah-King that he would given them.

So going back to verse 36 of our passage in Matthew. What do you have there? The harassed and helpless flock of Israel, and the Messiah God sent to be their shepherd. This is it! This is the solution to the problem! Jesus, the true Shepherd of God’s people, has arrived! In some sense, that’s all we need to hear.

But look at the kind of shepherd Jesus is: how does he react when he sees the horrifying condition of the flock? Compassion. Don’t just note that and move on. This is no small matter.

First of all, there were plenty of folks who were supposed be compassionate shepherds among the people of Israel, but who were not—all the way from the time of Ezekiel to the time of Jesus. The compassionate heart of Jesus toward suffering sinners is in direct contrast to the calloused hearts of men.

Second, these were crowds of sinners. Let’s not forget that. These were the same crowds where so many of them would end up in Jerusalem in just a couple of years for the passover feast, shouting, “Crucify him!”—demanding the blood of their own shepherd. Jesus knew the wickedness of the crowds, yet the stance of his heart toward them was this earnest compassion.

Christian, this is Your Shepherd. This is his heart. He’s not naive about your sin, or pretending that it’s not that bad. He’s simply steadfast in his lovingkindness toward you. And so your guilt and grossness of your sin is real; but it can never turn his shepherd’s heart away from those whom he has claimed as his own.

And if you’re not a Christian—do you see this? The compassionate shepherd has come. Run to him. Become his sheep.

But so, at this point in the passage, the basic sense we have is this: the flock is in bad condition, but the compassionate shepherd has come to restore them.

The Problem: A Harvest with Few Laborers

But this is where the passage takes a surprising turn. Everything that I just gave you might seem like a complete thought. A complete message. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, come to rescue the lost sheep of Israel. And you do see that here, but it’s not the climax of the passage. It’s not the main point.

This surprising change of direction comes from a switch in metaphor. In verse 37, Jesus does not describe the crowds to his disciples as ‘lost sheep’, but as ‘a plentiful harvest’. And notice what this does: instead of highlighting the need for the good shepherd—true as that is—in place of that it highlights the need for workers in the harvest. And that’s the major tension in this passage: there is a grave danger, an opportunity for rescue... but few rescuers to do the job.

There were many folks at that time who needed to hear the gospel of the kingdom, but there were few able to take it to them. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few...” What happens to a harvest w/ few laborers? It never makes it into the barn.

And as we read this, we’re supposed to read this with the same kind of eyes that Jesus had—with compassion toward the crowds. If you combine Jesus’ truth and Jesus’ compassion in the way you see your unbelieving neighbors, what will happen? You’ll see the truth about them. Whatever front they might put up, they are actually harassed and helpless, in grave danger like sheep lost in the wilderness.

And as we think about this, let’s make sure we don’t miss something. It’s not mere earthly consolation that’s at stake here. Yes, it is far better to walk with the Lord in this life than to live without him. But what’s ultimately at play here is the matter of eternal destinies: every person you meet has one of two destines: heaven or hell.

There is, on the one hand, the terrifying prospect that God will judge sin as it deserves, and the sinner will go to everlasting punishment.

And there is, on the other hand, the prospect of glory—that the sinner will be redeemed and cleansed and brought into the indescribable joy of the eternal kingdom.

And it is the sublime disposition of Christ’s heart to look on those who deserve the one destiny and desire for them the other. And he is our example, is he not? And when he describes to us the miserable masses as, “a plentiful harvest with few laborers”—isn’t he appealing to our hearts, that we should also look at unbelievers with this kind of compassion?

How do you look at folks who have embraced the LGBTQ+ agenda? Just enemies? How about with compassion, knowing that they are harassed and helpless and in danger, like sheep in the wild?

Parents, how do you look at your kids? Annoying? Troubling? Tiring? They are sinners, aren’t they? How about with compassion, knowing they are helpless and in danger, like lost sheep?

The point is this: if we live with Jesus’ compassion, it will cause our hearts to feel the tension of a plentiful harvest with few workers. And that, in turn, will prepare our hearts to follow the two commands implied in our text: praying and laboring. Jesus’ compassion prompts us to pray for and become laborers in the harvest.

Pray for Harvest-Laborers

So, first: praying.

Jesus’ direct command to his small band of disciples—the fitting response to so great a harvest with so few laborers—was to pray for more laborers. To pray for more people to take the gospel of the Kingdom to those in Israel who had not yet acted on it, or who hadn’t heard it yet at all.

And again, the same thing is true for us today.

There is a critical need for the gospel to be proclaimed: a massive harvest in our world, with few workers. And so, we also must pray earnestly for the Lord of the Harvest to send more laborers into the harvest.

Now, in our churches, how is this verse most often applied? Pray for more missionaries to be sent oversees. And that’s not wrong—in fact, it’s necessary. But at the same time it’s far too limited. By the end of the gospel of Matthew, both the scope of this harvest and the identity of the harvesters is made clear. In a command intended for all disciples—intended, brothers and sisters, for you and me—Jesus said:

Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”

So the harvest is all nations—the unbelieving world; and the harvesters are God’s people—all of Jesus’ disciples, down to this day. Do you see it? It is the rescued who are positioned to rescue others. It is the ones in the lifeboats who are appointed to take the gospel to those who are drowning.

So what are you to pray for? For the Lord to do something. For him to move in such a way as to provide more laborers for the harvest. Only he can do it, and we must rely totally on him. We are utterly reliant on him for this to happen.

And what kind of people are we praying for him to send out? What kind of laborers for the harvest?

In some sense, every believer. Now, let me explain this: some believers are better at evangelism than others. And different believers are gifted differently. Some are better at a plain statement of the gospel. Others are better at redirecting a conversation toward Jesus. Still others are better at practicing hospitality, providing a setting for evangelism—and we could speak of still other ways that various believers are gifted toward this mission of spreading the gospel.

Yet on the other hand, every believer needs to be ready to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ—the direct act of sharing the gospel is for every believer, to one degree or another. That’s normal Christian living. That’s the normal Christian life. Ready to share the gospel, and even looking for opportunities to do so. Laborers for the harvest.

So then, when I think about asking God for more workers for the harvest, I think that means asking him for more believers, since if you are a believer, you have also been appointed as a worker for the harvest. But then, I think it also means I’m asking God to grow believers in confidence and faith and accuracy and passion in sharing the good news.

But in any case, the bottom line is this: we are to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers, and those laborers are us. Jesus’ compassion prompts us to pray for laborers for the harvest.

Be Harvest Laborers

But maybe you’re paying attention to the details of the passage, and something’s caught your eye. Who did Jesus actually send as laborers into the harvest at this point? The twelve disciples. You can see that in chapter 10 vs 1:

Matthew 10:1 ESV

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

So it was the twelve disciples, here, that he sent.

And he gave them authority to do the signs and wonders he’d been doing, and as you read along in chapter 10 you see that they were commanded to preach the gospel also—essentially, they were carrying on the mission of Jesus.

Is that function unique to them, or is it an example for us?

That’s a question that needs to be answered carefully. As we saw last Sunday, the ministry of signs and wonders largely faded from the life and mission of God’s people. Normally, we carry on the mission of Jesus only through preaching the gospel.

And what we need to understand with the twelve disciples is that sometimes they fill a completely unique role, and sometimes they serve as examples for every disciple.

In this case, it’s a little of both. This was a particular mission that Jesus sent the twelve on prior to his death and resurrection—a mission restricted to the people of Israel, and defined by miracles as much as preaching.

But it was also a mission that pointed forward to the great commission—the mission we have to take the gospel to every nation.

And so, just as Jesus gave them authority to heal and cast out demons, so he has given us authority to preach the gospel. He has made us into laborers for the harvest. It is the rescued people he has positioned to rescue others. So then, what portion of the harvest field is within your reach?

Coworkers? Friends? Neighbors?

The plentiful harvest that sits around your dinner table?

Even as I ask, I know that God is bringing thoughts into your mind

But the bottom line is this: Jesus’ compassion prompts us to be laborers in the harvest.

Conclusion

Our Lord did not look out and say, ‘the harvest is easy,’ but he did say, ‘the harvest is plentiful.’ And if we are driven by the same compassion that he is, we will look out and see it too: the harvest is very large, and we are the ones appointed to labor in it.

When you think about the Titanic: why did that one lifeboat go back? Why did that one boat—out of eighteen boats—go back, resulting in the salvation of those six souls? I doubt, from what eyewitnesses have said, that they were the only ones who could hear the cries of the drowning. So it must have been compassion.

The church, down through the centuries, has done much better than the Titanic. The Spirit of Christ is always pressing us toward the compassion of Christ, and toward laboring for the salvation of the lost. But don’t we need a prompt from his Word often times? Don’t we need a reminder that cuts past our busy lives and make us see that our coworkers, neighbors, children, others, are a plentiful harvest with few workers?

The whole world around us are like sheep: harassed and helpless, alone and doomed in the wilderness. But because of the compassion of the good shepherd, there is a gospel that saves. And so, the whole world is also like a field, ripe for the harvest. May we carry in us the compassion of our Good Shepherd as we pray for and become laborers in the harvest.