Harvesting for the Kingdom
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Text: Mt 9:35-10:16
We’ve been talking a lot in the past few weeks about Jesus’s authority, or sovereignty, over various things. We’ve seen him establish his sovereignty over doctrine, physical illness, over the lives of his disciples, and over even nature itself as he calmed the storm. And then again, last week, we saw Jesus cast out a legion of demons and demonstrate his authority over demons and even claim authority to forgive sins. What we’re seeing in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ life is that Jesus’ kingdom authority, his sovereignty, is encompassing every aspect of life.
Today, we’re going to see how the Gospel and the Kingdom come together in the harvest.
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.”
1 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.
2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.
9 Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.
11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it.
13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.
15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
The Kingdom of God is Good News!
The Kingdom of God is Good News!
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.
The word “gospel” originated in kingdom contexts
The word “gospel” originated in kingdom contexts
euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον) = “a proclamation of good news”
euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον) = “a proclamation of good news”
But what is the cause of the good news? What is this proclamation about?
What we find in historical documents is that the word euangelion “gospel” is primarily used in the context of Kingdom proclamations, either for the birth of a new king or an important military victory.
One classic example of this comes from right before the birth of Christ himself in the Priene Inscription, a text that was carved on marble to celebrate the birth of Emperor Augustus in 9BC:
Priene Inscription, lines 32-60—Block of White Marble from a Pillar of the North Hall of the Market at Priene, with the Calendar Inscription, lines 32–60, circa 9 B.C. Now in the Berlin Museum.
“Since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants,
that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (excelled even our anticipations), ...and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings for the world that came by reason of him...”
In the Bible, the word “gospel” also refers to a Kingdom.
In the Bible, the word “gospel” also refers to a Kingdom.
In Matthew, it is used 4 times, the first three of which are “gospel of the kingdom”
23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
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.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
In Mark, he shortens the phrase but clearly has the same thing in mind:
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Elsewhere, the word “gospel” is often used in contexts where it clearly means “gospel of the kingdom” or even used as a substitute for the word “kingdom” itself:
1 And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
6 And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.
24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
Even in the Pauline letters where Paul rarely uses the word “Kingdom,” he clearly has a kingdom context in mind when he says “gospel”:
3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel...
1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
Even in the Old Testament, the “Good News” was about a king and his Kingdom!
9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!”
10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
In other words, for the authors of Scripture, the “good news” was the Kingdom of God!
Why does this matter? Because we need to understand that...
The good news is not about us!
The good news is not about us!
When we think of the “gospel” or the “good news” the first thing that usually comes to mind is Jesus paying the penalty for our sins and saving us.
But first and foremost, the Good News is a proclamation that there is a new King and a new Kingdom that is breaking into our world!
It is not ABOUT us. The gospel is much bigger than you. The gospel is about God and his Kingdom!
If we are ever going to capture the beauty of the gospel we need to understand what it really means.
We have a tendency to make everything about us. We even do this at church. We insist on our way, our style of music, demand that the schedule be adapted to fit our needs, insist on our preferences, refuse to welcome outsiders for fear they might upset the balance of power. So many churches grow unhealthy, die, and split because of this. It all becomes about me. But the good news is not about us, it’s about God!
This is why the first thing that John the Baptist and Jesus said when they preached the Gospel of the Kingdom was almost always “REPENT!” It was the call of an invading King demanding the loyalty of his former enemies.
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
We love the images of meek, humble Jesus. But then we struggle to grasp the image of Jesus yelling at the Scribes and Pharisees and calling them a brood of vipers, or flipping tables in the temple and driving out the money changers with a whip.
But would it change how you understand those passages if you pictured Jesus doing it all with a crown on his head and a scepter in his hand?
You cannot appreciate the meekness of Christ until you first understand his majesty.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
We need to understand that when Jesus came, he came to announce the arrival of his Kingdom. That’s the message he was preaching in Matthew 9:35 “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.”
And when the religious leaders and Roman government opposed him, he would have had every right to speak the word and cast them into eternal torment for rejecting his authority. (And make no mistake, one day he will do so to his enemies!)
But, instead of exercising his rightful authority to bring down judgement upon his enemies, look at the heart of Jesus in verse 36.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
And so, while the announcement of the arrival of the Kingdom of God may not be about us...
But, the arrival of the Kingdom of God is good news for us.
But, the arrival of the Kingdom of God is good news for us.
Now, obviously, the arrival of the King of the Universe has huge ramifications for us. But, maybe you’re struggling to understand what this has to do with you.
I want you to think about how worked up people get over politics and their political candidate. Think about the last time that you thought our country had languished under bad leadership, and how excited you were when that leadership was changed and you finally had “your guy” in office.
The fact is that we live in a broken, fallen world and even the best of politicians are morally bankrupt. Most of us have long given up the hope of voting for a candidate whose morals and character we admire and have resigned ourselves to voting for the “lesser of two evils” or voting strictly based upon stated policies and promises, which half the time are not kept.
We live in an age where the worst, most corrupt, most selfish among us are exalted to leadership because, let’s face it, the nice guy never makes it to the ballot.
But what would it be like if, for once, someone truly righteous—without qualification—held power. And I don’t mean someone who just managed to get elected but then was powerless to effect change. I mean someone truly righteous and good and compassionate who also had the resolve and absolute power to fix all that’s broken in our nation. And, not just in our nation, but in the whole world.
The fact is that is hard for us to even imagine, because the moment we say “absolute power” we imagine a tyrant. If power corrupts, then absolute power corrupts absolutely! And that is because in our world, amongst human beings, that’s true.
But what if this King was incorruptibly righteous, uncompromisingly good, relentlessly faithful to his word, omniscient in his knowledge, and omnipotent in his power. What if he was compassionate and patient with those who struggle to do right and executed justice without compromise upon those who relished in evil? And what if this King was humble enough to stoop down and carry your daily burdens upon his shoulders and loved you enough to pay the penalty and die for your rebellion against himself? What if this Sovereign King was a tender Father who adopted you into his family and made you an heir to his Kingdom?
That’s my King! That’s King Jesus!
14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
That is the gospel of the Kingdom. That’s the good news.
But, when we look around at the world around us, we don’t see that yet. The kingdom has already arrived, but it’s not yet fully established. We live in the “in-between,” between the inauguration of the King and the complete victory of the King.
And so, as we look around us we see people who are still living in rebellion against this King. They’re blinded to this good news and can’t see it for the good news that it is!
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
And this is the scene for this passage. Jesus is going around in the cities and villages and everywhere he goes he sees brokenness, sin, sickness—all results of the workings of the kingdom of this world.
So Jesus is moved to compassion and wants to reach the lost. That is the King that we serve, and that’s why the Kingdom of God is GOOD NEWS!
Transition
But then Jesus says something very surprising in verse 38. And we would expect Jesus to say, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few...So, go get busy harvesting and go recruit some more laborers.”
But, that’s not what he says. Instead, he says “...therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
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.”
It’s worth asking—Why didn’t Jesus say “go get harvesting and recruit some harvesters?” He certainly had the authority to do so.
The King is sovereign over the harvesters. (9:37-38)
The King is sovereign over the harvesters. (9:37-38)
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.”
Typically, when we read this verse we read “The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few...” and then launch into tirade about how we need to be more busy harvesting and such. We immediately jump to our responsibility in the harvest. And that’s true, we do have a responsibility. But, we first need to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over this process.
So, I think that the first reason Jesus says this is that...
When we pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest, we are forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of God over the commissioning of harvesters.
When we pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest, we are forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of God over the commissioning of harvesters.
It is not up to you and I to recruit harvesters—missionaries, evangelists, deacons, pastors, or even to make people believe the gospel any more than it is up to you or I to take up a posting as an ambassador.
An ambassador must be commissioned by the King, otherwise he is a fraud. Paul recognized this in the greeting of just about every letter he wrote:
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
The King appoints ambassadors, and it is God who appoints missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and deacons.
I can no more create a missionary, pastor, or evangelist than I can appoint ambassadors for the United States government. I don’t have that authority.
If Jesus had just said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, so get busy harvesting and go recruit harvesters” we might have thought it all depended upon us.
This mindset leads to all kinds of errors:
Pragmatism—doing whatever seems “effective” even if it compromises the truth
Guilt—because there’s always more need than there are laborers
Pride—because when we succeed, we think it was because we were smart, winsome, or worked hard.
But when we acknowledge the sovereignty of God over the harvest, it keeps us humble and reliant upon God to reach the lost.
When we pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest we pray for his desires to become ours.
When we pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest we pray for his desires to become ours.
God uses prayer to kindle our heart’s desire to be a part of the harvest.
When we go to the Lord in prayer because of the harvest we are reminded that our prayers are supposed to seek the will of God:
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
So, as we pray (biblically), God uses our prayers to kindle our heart’s desire to be a part of the harvest.
You can’t genuinely pray “Lord, the harvest is so plentiful and the laborers are so few, please send more people into the harvest!” while standing idly by on the sidelines.
If Jesus had just said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, so get busy harvesting and go recruit harvesters” we might have dutifully done what Jesus commanded out of obligation.
But Jesus wants laborers who are passionate about harvesting, passionate about his Kingdom.
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” —John Piper
Good evangelism is the natural overflow of a heart that loves God and loves people.
So, God is sovereign over the harvest, but he has commissioned us as harvesters.
We are ambassadors for the King.
We are ambassadors for the King.
God is sovereign, but we are still responsible.
God is sovereign, but we are still responsible.
The very first thing that Jesus does after reminding the disciples of the sovereignty of God over his harvest is to commission the disciples to be a part of it:
1 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.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
And Paul, immediately after acknowledging that his ministry was a gift of God goes on to beg people to be reconciled to God:
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
There is no conflict between God’s sovereignty and our responsibility.
There are those who believe that the sovereignty of God makes it such that we have no responsibility to evangelize. But that is totally ludicrous and unbiblical.
We acknowledge God’s sovereignty—his authority—when we pray for more harvesters, but part of bowing to God’s sovereignty is obeying his commands to “Go make disciples.” We best acknowledge the sovereignty of God by obeying his commands to proclaim the Kingdom!
Matthew 10 is a precursor, a foreshadowing of the Great Commission, which echoes these same two concepts: God’s sovereign authority and our responsibility.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Our job is to pray and proclaim the Kingdom.
Our job is to pray and proclaim the Kingdom.
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
We are not responsible for converting people or saving people. Jesus does not hold us responsible for the decisions of others.
So, we don’t need to be manipulative or resort to pushy tactics in order to share the gospel. We are not judged by how many hearts we’re able to change, because we are not able to change hearts and minds—only the Spirit can do that!
We also know that there will be those who want nothing to do with our Kingdom.
14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
But, we are responsible for two things:
praying earnestly for the Lord to send out more harvesters
proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom wherever he gives us opportunities.
We need to be praying. We need more missionaries, more pastors, more Sunday School teachers, more evangelists, more committed believers with a passion for God’s Kingdom! And all around us are people who need to hear the good news about our King.
We need to look for opportunities. We should proclaim the gospel to any who are willing to listen. We expect a harvest, because he has told us that “the harvest is plentiful.” We know that the Spirit is at work opening blind eyes all around us.
God has given us an incredible opportunity to be a part of building his Kingdom. Not because he needs us, but because he wants to give us the opportunity to participate in what he is doing.
Conclusion:
Are you praying earnestly for the Lord to send out more laborers?
Do you desire to be a part of the harvest? Are you praying for opportunities? Are you taking the opportunities God gives you?
Are you surrendering your life to his Kingdom authority?
Is there someone in your life you feel God putting on your heart? Will you commit to praying for them and being ready if the Lord gives you an opportunity?
