A Plea For Harvesters: Preach. Prove. Purpose. Pray. Practice. Part 3

Preach. Prove. Purpose.

Over the last three weeks I we have taken our time to work through Matthew 9:35-38. In our passage Jesus mentions how the harvest of plentiful, but the harvesters are few. Harvesting is a metaphor for evangelism. Jesus reveals to us that there are many he is calling to his kingdom and they are ready to come if someone who go and call them; but is the problem. The church is not harvesting the lost.

Like a farmer who spends most of his time deciding who’s a farmer, when is the best time to farm, how to farm, who to farm with, what to farm, and where to farm, but actually does not farming at all, so much of the church spends a lot of time deciding who’s an evangelist, when is the best time to evangelize, who to evangelize with, how to evangelize, what to use to evangelize, and where to do it, without actually evangelizing anyone. This is one of the significant reasons Jesus says,

Matthew 9:38 ESV

38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

That is the imperative of our text. Pray for God to raise up harvesters who will evangelize the lost and bring God’s elect home.

With this in mind, I asked the question, what does a good harvester look like? What are the characteristics of a good gospel harvester? Using our text, I identified five characteristics of a gospel harvester.

The first characteristic is

Proclamation: Preach the Gospel of the Kingdom (Matthew 9:35a)

The gospel is first a message that must be proclaimed. The message of the gospel is repent and believe. Repent of your sin. That is turn away from your sin toward God. Then you must believe forgiveness, redemption, and restoration to God can only come through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do not accept God’s gift of eternal life through the atoning work of Christ you will perish forever in hell. But if you do accept it, you will have eternal life. This gospel message is primary. It must be shared, for Paul highlights

Romans 10:14 ESV

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

A good gospel harvester will proclaim the message of the gospel: repent and believe.

Secondly,

Validation: Prove the gospel true by your works of mercy (Matthew 9:35)

Although the message of the gospel is primary, it is not without works of mercy. Jesus validate his gospel message with works. Jesus would heal the sick, feed the hungry, and set the captives free from demonic oppression. As we discussed, these works do not end at the ascension of Christ. Jesus empowers us with his to proclaim the gospel message (Acts 1:8) and to do works of mercy. Some of those works my be miraculous healing. Many works will be corporal works, while others will be spiritual works. Either way, our message must be accompanied with acts of mercy.

A good harvester will validiate the gospel message with works of mercy.

Compassion: Purpose with your heart to harvest from compassion (Matthew 9:36)

Matthew 9:36 ESV

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

When Jesus looked upon his people, his heart was moved with compassion. The Greek verb splanchnizomai—“to have compassion”—means literally, “to feel in the viscera” or bowels or entrails. He deeply feel pity or sorrow for them. When I was a young man, I was riding passenger with a friend of mine on the backroads of Wisconsin. It was a summer evening and the road was dark. As Jim was driving, a raccoon poked out from the woods on my side of the car about fifty feet in front of us. Jim jokingly swerved like he was going to hit the raccoon thinking it would run back into the woods. Instead the animal bolted in front of the car and we ran it over. It was big enough that the I could hear it bouncing between the car and the road until it wasn’t. I remember feeling horrible in the pit of my stomach that we ran over that raccoon, especially when we should’ve avoided it. Jim didn’t say a word until we arrived back at the farm. I had a mixture of anger and sorrow for the animal. At a much deeper level, this is how Matthew describes Jesus’ attitude toward his people.

He saw their plight. He felt their vulnerability and anxiety. They were wandering around the wilderness with no one to lay them down by green grass and quiet waters, or to take them along the path that leads to life. They had no shepherd to lead them through the valley of the shadow of death without fear using his rod and staff protect and comfort them. Their enemies are rejoicing over them and their life does not reflect the pursuit of His goodness and faithful love. In short, they were in spiritual misery, aimless, and subject to futility. They had many needs, but very few of them had found true spiritual peace, and they were burdened by the legalism of their leaders. Jesus recognized His people needed rest.

Compassion desires the lost to know the Good Shepherd

As we have already noted, Jesus is the Son of David, the Messiah King who comes to usher in his kingdom of peace and righteousness. Frank Thielman observes,

Mark tells us that Jesus surveyed the crowd and “had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34; cf. 14:27). Here, Jesus takes the role of the Davidic shepherd king.

Frank Thielman

By showing compassion to his lost and abused sheep, Jesus is also revealing his is their Good Shepherd, who was promised in Ezekiel 34:11-16

Ezekiel 34:11–16 ESV

11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

God is the Good Shepherd of Israel. He will bring them back. He will restore them. He will feed them with justice. He will lead them into green pastures where they will have plenty to eat. He will be their protection, and not one of them will be lost. God will be the one cares their spiritual misery providing them direction and life. Jesus is that shepherd. He literally says so in John’s Gospel (John 10:11

John 10:11 ESV

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

N.T.Wright says,

The point of calling Jesus ‘the good shepherd’ is to emphasize the strange, compelling power of his love.

N. T. Wright

As the Good Shepherd, notice what Jesus does not do. He does not castigate the crowd for being a miserable bunch. He does not rob the people of their dignity for their absolute and total depravity. He does not begin to explain away their poverty by assuming it’s their own fault why they are in the position they are in at the moment. No, his first move is compassion. He literally grieves for the state his people and he is compelled to do something about it. He’s compelled to give them rest because he truly loves them.

What say you, Christian? When you see the lost wandering around like a sheep without a shepherd, do you love them? Is love the first or primary emotion that rises to your heart? It did for D.L. Moody.

During the 19th century, a well-known evangelist named D.L. Moody traveled around America, desperately caring for the lost and speaking to vast crowds. One day, he met a man in a bar who had hit rock bottom. Instead of condemning him, Moody showed compassion and invited him to church. That night, the man accepted Christ. Moody’s relentless love for the lost changed lives and inspired many to reach out to those who wander from the faith. He reminds us that loving the lost can lead to miraculous transformations. Moody’s love for the lost expressed itself with compassion. But how?

I think Moody, as well as others, compassion was expressed in two ways: a desire for sinners to know the Good shepherd and experience the Lord of the Sabbath.

Compassion desires the lost to experience the Lord of the Sabbath.

In our text, Jesus illustrates how His compassion led Him to recognize the potential within unbelievers and to pray for more harvesters. We'll explore this further next week. As we examine the concept of biblical compassion, we discover that it aims to provide Sabaoth Rest. Compassion in the Bible reflects a profound awareness and empathy for those in distress, alongside the element of mercy. The Hebrew scriptures use terms derived from the word for “womb” to convey God’s compassion, implying a maternal love for His children, even when they stray from Him. Significantly, His compassion extended beyond thoughts and feelings; God consistently acted with compassion towards His people. Numerous times, He showed compassion despite their rebellion (2 Kgs 13:23; 2 Chr 36:15; Ps 78:38). Additionally, God’s compassion restored (Dt 30:3; Ps 135:14; Is 14:1; 49:13; 54:7, 8; Jer 12:15; 30:18; Mi 7:19; Zec 12:10), especially when Israel returned to Him in plea for deliverance (1 Kgs 8:50; Ps 79:8). Similarly, Jesus’ ministry exemplifies this; Jesus Christ, the Son of David and the Good Shepherd, perfectly mirrored the Father’s compassion in His interactions with fallen humanity. Throughout His ministry, Jesus’s compassion moved him to heal ailments and infirmities, and He cast out spirits, even on the Sabbath. His teachings and actions indicate that He provides both spiritual and physical rest for His people, offering them Sabbath rest. He fed the hungry and, in response to a mother’s sorrow, raised her only son from the dead. In our text, His compassion prompts the disciples to pray for more harvesters, ultimately to offer them rest. People who need compassion are those who are suffering from the effects of sin; death, disease, destruction, shame, guilt, unforgiveness, addiction, poverty, broken families, impaired learning, and being eternally far away from God. All of these people need rest that can only come from the Lord of the Sabaoth, the Lord of our rest.

The title "Lord of the Sabbath," mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, indicates Jesus claiming His authority over Sabbath laws. By doing so, He highlighted His superiority over the Pharisees' rigid interpretations, which imposed a heavy system of Sabbath rules. For instance, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus challenges the Pharisees' absence of compassion and mercy in their oppressive Sabbath regulations.

First, Jesus directs them to 1 Samuel 21, which recounts the episode of David and his men consuming the shewbread. On the Sabbath, David approached the tabernacle, God's dwelling, and sought nourishment. (Though Saul was king at the time, David was the anointed future king.) High priest Ahimelech initially stated he could not help because the only available food was the Bread of the Presence, the twelve holy loaves set on the tabernacle table every Sabbath, meant exclusively for the priests. Nevertheless, David implored to partake in this sacred meal, as he and his men were truly starving. What was the priest to do? Common mercy dictates that one should feed starving men, particularly the anointed king of Israel. However, the law specifies that only priests are permitted to eat the bread. What would delight God more: mercy or strict adherence to ritual? Should he adhere to the letter of the law, or would it be wiser to honor the law's spirit? Ahimelech chose to feed David and his men, thereby honoring the spirit of the law without receiving a rebuke from God. Jesus endorsed Ahimelech’s compassion towards David and his men, as it mirrored God’s compassion for those in need, rest.

Next, Jesus refers the Pharisees to Numbers 28:9-10. His point is that the priests perform their duties on the Sabbath. They prepare the temple for worship, don their priestly garments, walk to the temple, light candles, bake bread, and ready the altar for sacrifice. Does this work infringe on the Sabbath? Absolutely not! They engage in vital kingdom work, enabling others to worship correctly and find rest in God. Once more, God is pleased with the compassionate spirit that assists others in discovering rest in Him. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, that your kingdom work, especially on Sundays, should be approached with compassion for the people. Jesus is your Lord, the Lord of the Sabbath, and your rest. From the rest you find in Him, engage in service to others. Seek Jesus to inspire a heart of Sabbath compassion within you.

In Jesus’ third argument, He uses Hosea 6:6

Hosea 6:6 ESV

6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Jesus makes a sobering point. The main idea of this argument is, as, Douglas O’Donnell notes, love for people (no matter what day it is) is love for God. Even if you bring 10,000 firstborn bulls to the temple to be sacrificed, if you walk over the poor beggar on your way in, don’t think God is pleased with your abundant devotion. Divine devotion without human sympathy is irreligious. It’s ungodly. It’s un-Biblical. Above all God desires mercy. The Sabbath is made for man. The Sabbath is made for man to show mercy to men.

As the Creator of the Sabbath, Jesus held the authority to reshape its meaning, emphasizing that it serves humanity's needs rather than functioning as a strict set of regulations. He indicated that the Sabbath was intended to bring about rest. Jesus' statement, “I am the Lord of the Sabbath,” conveys that through His sacrifice, believers may find genuine rest in God's grace, rendering the old Sabbath laws obsolete. Jesus is indeed the Lord of the Sabbath.

With this understanding, our compassion for those lost should encompass a heartfelt desire to offer individuals Sabbath rest, which entails proclaiming Jesus as Lord and engaging in acts of mercy. Sabbath rest emanates from a heart infused with Christ's love for humanity, demonstrating itself through compassionate actions. Our empathy for the burdened impels us to provide rest for the hungry with food, shelter for the homeless, clothing for those in need, support for the impoverished to help them escape the cycle of poverty, freedom for those struggling with addiction through discipleship and biblical counseling, healing for fractured families through the support of biblical marriage and parenting, and education opportunities for impaired learners by providing solid Christian education- all while we share the complete gospel of repentance and faith.

Compassionate Eyes

In 2008, Brandon Heath and Jason Ingram wrote a song called give me your eyes. It is a prayer to God to change their perspective from self-centered to God-centered. The one singing the song realizes they really don’t care about people. He asks the question in the song,

All those people going somewhere.

Why have I never cared?

Unfortunately, I think this describes most evangelicals today in the church. So many of our friends, family, neighbors, and acquaintances, are in spiritual misery, aimless, and heading toward futility, and yet we say nothing. Is it because we do not care? Is the church really that apathetic to plight of sinners? Is it because we lack compassion? Has anger over our political differences blinded us to their spiritual reality?

John Piper wisely notes,

Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) Prayer at Harvest Time: Now!

People without Christ are like sheep without a shepherd. They will soon run out of pasture and starve, or they will get lost or caught in some thicket and die. And in the meantime they are harassed, wearied, and helpless. Now the unbelievers you know may not seem to fit that description. But if you see them with the eyes of Christ and are not misled by the shell of self-assurance, you will recognize sheep who desperately need a shepherd.

If we are going to share the gospel consistently and effectively, we must have a change of heart. We must first admit compassion for the lost does not come naturally to us. Repent of such a heart. It is not a heart like Christ. Next, purpose to have a heart of compassion and pray for the Lord to give you a heart of compassion like His. Brandon Heath prayed to the Lord,

Give me Your eyes for just one second Give me Your eyes so I can see Everything that I keep missing Give me Your love for humanity Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted The ones that are far beyond my reach Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten Give me Your eyes so I can see

Ask the Lord to open the eyes of your heart to see fallen humanity they way he sees it; beautifully broken and in desperate need of His redemption. Jesus saw the crowd and had compassion. May our hearts see the lost and feel genuine compassion for them, so much so we lead them to the Good Shepherd so they can experience His Sabbath rest.