The Lord of the Harvest (2025 Church Anniversary), Matthew 9:35-38

Introduction: I had a pretty neat experience this week. I attended the Baptist Missionary Association of Texas meeting in Waxahachie. It was the 125th anniversary of the BMAT, which predates even the BMA of America & our predecessor, the American Baptist Association. I’ve put a link to the anniversary video on our Facebook page for you to watch.

Anniversaries are important, aren’t they? They give us the chance for reflection, appreciation, and celebration. Whether we are talking about wedding anniversaries, work anniversaries, or even associational anniversaries, it is important to observe anniversaries.

This week is our church’s anniversary. Last November we commemorated the 50th anniversary of our first worship service, held on November 24, 1974. Today is the 50th anniversary of our first building, opened and dedicated on November 23, 1975. Next November we will mark our 50th anniversary as a church, we were organized into a regular Baptist church on November 14, 1976. Save the Date for November 15th, 2026, that will be our 50th Anniversary Homecoming Celebration.

Our church started on this very spot in the middle of a cotton field that was ready for harvest. Building on that visual cue, the very first sermon preached at our church by our missionary pastor Burtis Williams was from John 4:35, Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”

Keeping with the theme of harvest, let’s read Matthew 9:35-38, Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

These verses sum up the earthly ministry of Jesus; though He is resurrected & ascended, Jesus is alive & well & still ministering today.

1. His COMPASSION for You- the Ministry of Jesus, 35-36

As I said, these verses are a summary statement about the ministry of Jesus, but it is not the first in Matthew. There is a similar statement in Matthew 4:23, And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. What follows that summary is a description of Jesus’ fame and his first discourse in Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount (1st discourse).

Matthew 9:35-38is another summary statement about Jesus’ ministry, & this one also precedes another discourse (Matthew 10:5-42). When we think of Jesus’ earthly ministry, we probably think most often of His coming to die on the cross, to pay for our sins, to purchase a place in heaven for us, and rightly so. But by concentrating on the cross, we may often forget that leading up to it, His was a consistent ministry of teaching, preaching, & healing. Acts 10:38, (He) went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Matthew is clear, Jesus’ ministry was to the multitudes. E.g., have you ever been in a place with a mass of humanity in it? The first thing I think of is Buc-ees, one of the most glorious gas stations ever built, but it is full of people. You may think of an event at an arena, a football game, concert… All those people crowded into that space, it’s overwhelming- we can see their faces, but we don’t see the people. Jesus sees people.

Not only does Jesus see people, but He feels for people. Imagine all those people in an ER. ERs are full of people from all walks of life- rich & poor, young & old, the cancer patient & broken arm, they are all in there. Jesus sees each one & feels for each one; moved with compassion- have pity, be deeply moved; affected deeply in inner being (bowels, entrails)

Jesus sees, feels, & heals; He actually deals with what’s wrong with people- blind, deaf, demon-possessed, etc. Those are symptoms of a bigger problem we all have- weary & scattered like sheep who have no shepherd. We are worn out, feel unworthy, & are left to wander in a world that we think could care less if we are there or not.

The world may not care, but the One who made it, & who made you, He does care. His compassion is for you, & He ever lives to make intercession for you. Whatever you are dealing with, bring it to Jesus.

2. His COMMUNITY for You- the Assessment of Jesus, 37

In vs. 37, the metaphor changes from shepherding to harvesting as Jesus speaks to His disciples. He sees, feels, & deals with people’s problems, all day long, every day, with few breaks. As D.A. Carson said about Jesus’ ministry- The sheer physical drain must have been enormous.

This text is a great reminder of Jesus’ humanity- 100% God, 100% human. The hypostatic union is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is one person with two distinct natures: fully divine and fully human, united in the one person of Jesus without confusion, change, division, or separation. Jesus has always been God, and as God, He has always existed, is creator, knows all things, He cannot die. Jesus became a human (incarnation) & willingly gave up many of His divine attributes. As a man, Jesus got tired, He got hungry, He got thirsty, He died. He had limitations, we see one of them right here- the harvest is plentiful (many, much, great) but the laborers are few (little, slight, short); i.e., there are a lot of people here & I need some help.

It’s also a great reminder that we all need community. To this point, Jesus has been the only One preaching the Good News & healing people. John has been imprisoned & the religious leaders have rejected Him, so Jesus has been doing all the Kingdom work by Himself. Think about it: everywhere Jesus went great crowds followed Him. Anytime He wanted, Jesus could have stopped traveling & planted a megachurch, but He didn’t. From those crowds of people, He called out a congregation (the twelve were not His only followers) and from that congregation He built a community (the twelve that He poured into) and even from that community He had an inner circle of three (Peter, James, John).

We need all four concentric circles in our life- crowds for our witness, the congregation for our worship, a community for our well-being, & a circle of friends for our accountability. We will never become all Jesus re-made us to be without those 4 environments. The one we’re dealing with here is community.

Hebrews 10:24-25, And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Recently I met with our adult Sunday school teachers to discuss how to help people who attend worship to connect with a class.We talked about potential reasons why people aren’t, but more importantly, how we can help people to connect to God and one another in community.

I think we all need to be in a Sunday school class for connection, community, and care. It’s how we connect to God and others, build community, get cared for & show care to others. 1 Corinthians 12:25, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. Even Jesus needed community, & if Jesus needed community, then we need it too. We’ll help you find one, or start one, as needed, so long as you get in a community.

3. His COMMISSION for You- the Assignment of Jesus, 38

It’s from within this community of disciples that Jesus calls them on assignment- pray. Given what Jesus had already assessed (1) the harvest is plentiful, i.e., these crowds are bursting with potential fruit, and (2) but there is not enough help to gather in the harvest; given that assessment He assigns them the task of prayer. Why prayer?

Why didn’t Jesus tell them to get to work? We know that when God calls us to salvation, He calls us to service too. Matthew 4:19-20, Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. When Jesus told them to follow Him, He said He would make them fishers of men. Isn’t it now the time? If not now, then when? If not them; then who?

We need to learn this- Prayer isn’t NOT working, Prayer is the work!When we’re praying God is working. If it’s on your mind, it’s on God’s heart. One of my favorite definitions of prayer is- “Prayer is the free utterance of the soul’s wants to God the Father, asking benefits in the name of our Savior, and interceding for the good of others also. Faith is quickened by prayer; and it may be said that prayer is an indication of the spiritual condition of the soul- it being to the soul what breath is to the body” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary).

It’s through the work of prayer that prayer does its work, if not on others, then on us. When it looks like prayer isn’t changing anything, guess what, it’s changing us.

Do you know what happens right after this scene? The disciples become the answer to their own prayers! Matthew 10:1, And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. The names of the Twelve are listed in 10:2-4: Peter & Andrew, James & John, Philip & Bartholomew, Thomas & Matthew, James, Thaddaeus, Simon, & Judas Iscariot. Matthew 10:5-8, These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them… as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’…  8Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

The very things Jesus was doing in our text- teaching, preaching, and healing, He gave His disciples the authority to do. This was His commission to them- Pray, then Go. If we are going to have the impact we were sent here to have, this is where we start- we have to pray & go.

We have a very simple purpose and plan for our ministry.I call it the Big 3: we exist to Worship God, Make Disciples, and Live on Mission. We try to be intentional about programming to those purposes. That means Sunday mornings are for worshipping God, Sunday nights are for making disciples, Wednesdays & through the week, we live on mission.

Sunday mornings are easy. Many of us are accustomed to attending a worship service. The Sunday school hour is an extension of the worship service. Congregational worship is more meaningful when you have built community with the people you are worshiping with.

Sunday nights are a bit harder. We’ve been intentional about using Sunday nights to build a discipleship pathway. We’ve studied doctrine & spiritual disciples, gone through the Bible, & had 6 pilot d-groups. After the New Year, we will start evangelistic training. You should come.

Wednesdays & the week is where the rubber meets the road. The measure of a church is not how many are seated, but how many we’re sending. Not how many are coming, but how many are going. I lead a small Wednesday night prayer group & every week we pray for the lost & our missionaries by name. It is a challenge for all of us to pray & go.

The LORD is ready & willing to answer a prayer that is about going. 80% of people will come to a church if they are invited. Pray for them, then go to them. You have some invitations on the end of your pews.