The Work of the Harvest
Notes
Transcript
18 While He was saying these things to them, a synagogue official came and bowed down before Him, and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 Jesus got up and began to follow him, and so did His disciples. 20 And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” At once the woman was made well. 23 When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, 24 He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. 25 But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 This news spread throughout all that land. 27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” 28 When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” 31 But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land. 32 As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. 33 After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” 35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. 36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
Intro
What does a plentiful harvest actually look like? Admittedly, I think moving to Dayton has been the closest I’ve ever been to real farm country. I grew up around the logging and mining of Northern Minnesota, then I moved to Louisville which isn’t exactly farm country, and now I get to drive by two corn fields every day on my way to work. Caleb and I have been watching the corn get taller and taller over on Meeker Rd here over the past couple months. Just last Sunday we were driving home together and we see the corn standing 6ft tall on both sides. Not being from around here, I found myself wondering when the harvest was going to come in. (August feels a little early) Caleb’s wondering when the combines are going to come out and work again! To some of you this might be plain but to my untrained eye I probably don’t fully understand what a plentiful harvest actually looks like. Now as a bystander I just get to drive by and wait with Caleb until the combines come out, but for someone who’s going to do the work that’s an essential bit of understanding! Being able to look out on the field and recognize, the harvest is plentiful it’s time to send out workers, that’s essential to a fruitful harvest.
Throughout the whole of our passage this morning Jesus is showing us - his disciples - what that plentiful harvest actually looks like. For the past couple chapters Jesus has been teaching and equipping his disciples for the work ahead. He’s shown them what righteousness and sin look like. He’s shown them what the kingdom looks like and who belongs in the kingdom. He’s made it clear that the call of Christ is a call to unworthy sinners, and here we get a closer look at those desperate sinners ripe for harvest. At first glance it may appear to be a rapid string of miracles, but we need to remember how Matthew is presenting Jesus’ ministry to us. It’s not 3 separate ministries: teaching to the disciples, the gospel for the unbelieving, and miracles for the masses. It’s 1 ministry. These are all working together. In verse 35 we see that summary of Jesus’ ministry we saw back in chapter 4.
35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
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This is the lens Matthew intends us to use to view this whole passage. In Jesus’ miracles of healing of the blind and the mute, his resurrection of the dead and the healing of the ill woman, Jesus is showing his disciples and us what the work of the harvest looks like. He’s teaching us what it looks like to gather into the kingdom hopeless and helpless sinners with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Before we really get started let me ask the question, Why is this teaching important?
As we’ll see in the text, there are those who think Jesus’ efforts will be for nothing. They’re the bystanders who assume the curse of sin and death is too great to overcome. They’ve misunderstood what the harvest actually looks like. If we’re not careful we fall into that same misunderstanding and become a bystander in the work of the harvest. Through the faithless eyes of this world, all that Christ has come to accomplish and all that he’s sent us out to do is a hopeless endeavour. When we follow in Jesus’ teaching and recognize the field ripe for harvest is the helpless and the hopeless under the curse of sin, we’re more equipped to engage in the work.
Much like the call of Christ isn’t for the righteous, but for the sinners.
The work of Christ isn’t for those with a man-made hope and can help themselves. The work of Christ and his disciples goes to the hopeless and the helpless.
To be a worker in the Lord’s harvest is to go to the hopeless the helpless with the gospel of Jesus Christ that they might be saved.
To be a worker in the Lord’s harvest is to go to the hopeless the helpless with the gospel of Jesus Christ that they might be saved.
Really we have 2 points today, The harvest and the harvest worker, but the harvest is made up of four characters in our narrative so all in all let’s break it down into 5 points.
The hopeless ill
The helpless dead
The hopeless blind
The helpless mute
The harvest worker
The hopeless ill
The hopeless ill
At the start of the narrative Jesus is faced with two needs in quick succession. First is this official who the other gospel writers identify as Jairus. Jairus’ daughter is dead. If we keep going a bit the narrative comes to a bit of a cliffhanger in verse 20. Jesus turns to this woman on his way to see Jairus’ daughter. Our first point really focuses on this hopelessly ill woman, so we’re going to resolve the tension of the helpless dead child in our second point, but let’s take the time to set the stage.
You’ll the see the transition from verse 17 and verse 18 is just about seamless. Jesus hasn’t moved anywhere new. You’ll see in verse 19 it says he got up. That’s because he’s been reclining at the table with tax collectors and sinners since verse 10 teaching the Pharisees and John’s disciples.
To add a little more color to the story, Jairus is described as a synagogue official in Mark. One might say, Jesus just got done addressing what would have been all of Jairus’ colleagues: The scribes have accused Jesus of blasphemy. The Pharisees asks, Why is your Teacher eating with tax collectors and sinners? Even John’s disciples ask why don’t your disciples fast? When all of Jairus’ colleagues have concluded that Jesus needs to be more like them, Jairus realizes he’s the one who needs Jesus. When all of his colleagues have set their hope in their own way of the doing things, Jairus is hopeless. His daughter has died. In the eyes of the world that is truly a hopeless situation. What more could be done?
Just as an aside you might see the other gospel writers convey Jairus’ plea as “My daughter is at the point of death.” Matthew’s account here is not contradictory it’s merely condensed. Matthew’s trying to provide in rapid succession a view of the harvest and not necessarily a closer look at all the characters like Luke might.
With that being said, Jairus’s situation is truly a hopeless one. He’s not unlike the woman as we’ll see, and yet he comes! He walks past the Pharisees who’ve distanced themselves from the tax collectors and sinners. He walks past the disciples of John who question Jesus’ freedom. Now he’s in the company of tax collectors and sinners, but it doesn’t matter because Jesus is there. and he’s bowing like a servant at Jesus’s feet.
From ruler to servant in a few short steps. From the company of the religious elite to the company of tax collectors and sinners in moments. That’s what a humble faith looks like. A truly hopeless individual recognizing that only Jesus can deliver my daughter from the dead and there’s no degree of humiliation he will not endure for her sake.
If his humble and desperate faith isn’t already evident in his approach, it’s plain in his words, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.”
“Jesus just got done saying it’s not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” referring to the tax collectors and sinners and here comes the synagogue official saying, “I need the physician!” The very thing all his colleagues were unwilling to admit.
It wasn’t the fact that Jairus was a synagogue official that made him ripe for harvest. In the end he counted himself with the tax collectors and sinners because he was hopeless apart from Christ.
In our day and age we might be tempted to look at the local business executive and think, boy that is a field ripe for harvest. Look at what all that experience and competency and influence could do for the kingdom. There’s a very real strategy today that looks for people of influence so we can get them saved and use their influence to advance the kingdom. Does the kingdom really work like that? I believe when we look at someone like Jairus, that idea should be challenged pretty openly. The field ripe for harvest or a good candidate for the kingdom is not someone with societal influence - it’s someone whose hopeless in their position and is willing to count themselves amongst the least so that they might gain Christ.
When we go out into the world looking for that ripe harvest- Where is God calling people to himself? - might we go looking for the desperate and the downtrodden. The hopeless and the helpless who have nowhere else to go. It’s the difference between looking for people who think “God needs me” and those who are convinced “I need God”
I believe Matthew only emphasizes this point when we see this woman come along - she’s not a well respected scribe amongst the people. In fact she’s likely been somewhat of an outcast for the past 12 years, and yet she comes to Jesus in the same way Jairus has. The field ripe for harvest isn’t about their background or their societal standing, it’s about their hearts desperate need for God to work.
Looking at verse 20 we can see the hopeless situation this woman is in. For the past 12 years she’s been suffering from a hemorrhage. It’s commonly understood that this woman would have been ceremonially unclean for much of the last decade of her life. According to the law she was considered untouchable, and yet what has she resolved to do?
20 [she] came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; 21 for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.”
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She looks at Jesus and isn’t the least worried that she will make him unclean. She’s convinced that this Jesus will take away her uncleanness. If that’s not a picture of the gospel I don’t know what is. Looking to Jesus in faith trusting this Savior can deliver me from my sin while Himself remaining untouched by the curse of sin. Again, Matthew isn’t simply giving us a series of miraculous deeds, he’s showing us what it looks like for the harvest to come in - for the gospel to reach the lost and for salvation to be accomplished. The great thing is this salvation is extended to people of every kind, and yet they must all arrive at the same wicket gate in humble faith.
Though everyone would have considered this decade long condition untreatable and hopeless she looks to Jesus with the same faith as Jairus.
Jairus has asked Jesus, “come and lay Your hand on her.” believing that his very touch might bring life to a hopeless situation, and here is that same faith: she believes that if she simply touches his garment that she would be delivered from this hopeless condition. For both, it’s through this common faith - through that narrow wicket gate that salvation will be found.
It’s worth noting that in the Greek this woman’s words can be understood to say, “If I only touch His garment, I will be saved.”
The language continues in Jesus’ response. He turns and looks at her saying,
Daughter, [he speaks to her as one who’s already been adopted].. Daughter, take courage [ the same words given to the leper who was forgiven] your faith has made you well. The word their is “saved.” “Your faith has saved you.” Matthew for the third time for emphasis. “At once the woman was saved. (made well)” Three different voices all using the same word. The woman’s request. Jesus’ response. Matthew’s commentary. Faith in Christ is what saves! For the first time in over a decade this woman is made clean and welcomed into the fellowship of believers as “Daughter” be her Lord and Savior.
What do we take away from this?
As workers being sent out into the harvest we don’t go with the eyes of the world looking for hopeful situations. No we go out bringing Christ to the hopelessly ill - the dead and the outcast. Very often that may seem a daunting task, and yet the power to save isn’t in us, it’s in God! Should we go declaring the power of God to save there is no truly hopeless situation.
To that end lets seek out and pray for those who’ve wandered for years even decades. For those who’ve shown no interest in the faith, let’s be diligent! Perhaps the Lord will show them their hopelessness such that we might be able to show them the hope that is found in Jesus Christ.
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Jesus does make it to Jairus’ house and what do we find? The people are already in a posture of mourning for the helpless dead.
The helpless dead
The helpless dead
23 When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder,
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I want to pause there just a moment. When Jesus walks in the room He sees a group of people who’ve given up. Now truthfully it’s hard to critique them. The child is dead! In any ordinary frame of reasoning, what help is there to be given? There’s no vitality - no life - no fight left in this little girl. What more can we do?
Funerals are infrequent, but how often do we find ourselves coming to that conclusion, “What more can we do?”
Maybe some of you have heard, but there’s a just criticism of my generation; We’ve grown up in a day when almost everything is disposable. When our toys broke as kids, we threw them away and we got new ones. When our clothes got a hole in them we didn’t patch them we threw them away and got new ones. Nowadays when our phones or our computers break we throw them away and we get new ones. One pastor went so far as to say that we’ve applied the same way of thinking to our marriages. This one isn’t working right so we throw it away and get a new one.
How quickly we are to come to the conclusion, there’s no vitality here - no life - no fight let’s give up on it.
The thing is we do it with people too. We can inadvertently fall into that wordly thinking that God helps those who helps themselves. We look for vitality and fight and if it isn’t there just assume, “What more can we do? What more can God do?”
In that moment we need be reminded that we serve a God who raises the dead! We may not be able to help the helpless. We may not be able to bring life to the lifeless, but our God can!
What does Jesus say to this group?
24 He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. 25 But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.
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Jesus makes it very clear that this is not a place for mourning! This is not the time to give up. “Leave!” he says. There’s still hope for this girl, she’s not dead she’s merely sleeping. In unbelief they laugh! They do not see the authority and power of God their creator in the room.
For the few that remain, they get to see what the work of the harvest looks like. Jesus takes her by the hand and the girl is risen from the dead as if she’s gotten up from an afternoon nap.
If I could put it this way, the difference between giving up and pressing on in the work of the harvest is recognizing who’s in the room.
If Christ isn’t in the room he needs to be! We need to have the faith of Jairus and not the unbelief of the mourners. When we see there’s no vitality in that person’s soul - no life - no fight we don’t give up, but we also don’t look to ourselves. There are those who don’t throw things away, but then try to fix it themselves. At the end of the day we’re not the ones who give life to the dead. We’re not Lord of the harvest, we’re but workers sent out like Jairus. Helpless in and of ourselves and trusting in Christ to bring life to the dead and strength to the weak through the power of His resurrection.
For the dad’s in the room, there’s nothing Jairus had in and of himself that could benefit his daughter. For myself, being a pastor - my position in the life of the church just like Jairus’ position doesn’t do my boys any good if I don’t bring Christ into the room. They’re truly helpless if all their hope is in me. They need to hear the gospel! They need to see Christ in us. They need to see us humble at the feet of Jesus so they know where to look.
I certainly don’t have this all figured out, but by way of example Rachel and I do 4 things with the boys most every night.
We read their Bible with them
We pray with them.
We sing a song from church with them.
And we do Bible memory with them.
(Usually there’s a book about trucks or diggers in there somewhere too)
We try to bring Christ into the room every night before they go to sleep. If that’s new to you, just pick one. Don’t try all four all at once.
All in all it’s our job as workers to point the helpless to Christ not ourselves and that begins in our own home.
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The news of this miraculous resurrection spreads throughout all the land and there are those who hear this news. The remainder of the text describes two kinds of people much like we’ve already seen. A pair of blind men who would have been hopelessly blind for the rest of their life unless Jesus had come along. In addition a mute man, who cannot help himself. He quite literally does not have the words to even ask for Jesus’ help and is dependent upon those around him.
The hopeless blind
The hopeless blind
27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” 28 When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
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With much the same heart as the woman we already saw these men are desperate to get to Jesus. There is nowhere left to go, and you can see their desperation. We can stretch this too far, but what does it take for two blind men to “follow Jesus”? Again, we find this step of discipleship made by the most unlikely of people. Jesus hasn’t even invited them, but in their hopeless desperation they go to him! Jesus is evidently on the move, and they’re not content with sitting blind by the wayside, they get up and go to him - as blind men! They can’t see where they’re going, but it doesn’t matter; They need to find Jesus. Truly, there’s just plain disregard for what anyone thinks at this point. They’re stumbling through the streets and yelling at the top of their lungs, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
This is what giving hope to the hopeless looks like. This is what faith in Christ alone looks like. This is what discipleship looks like. Let the people mock. Let them think what they will, “I need Jesus!” I’ll even scream it if I need to. Only He can provide what I need, and I desperately need Him to hear me.”
Then for everyone’s benefit - His disciples included - he shows them the hearts of these men with just a few words.
“Do you believe that I am able to do this?”
To everyone watching it may have been evident already, but Jesus makes it really plain. Look at the faith of these men! He’s always coming back to that, particularly here. He’s told the woman, “Your faith has saved you!”
Similarly here, Jesus is going to attribute their healing to their faith.
They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!”
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It’s subtle, but if we look at the larger contrast we find another striking contrast in the room. Who are really the blind ones in the context? In just a moment the Pharisees are going to open their mouths and make it clear to everyone who really are the blind ones in the room. Jesus explains it to the disciples later in chapter 13.
13 “Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; 15 For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.’
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One might conclude that those who with open eyes had been reading the law since they were boys would recognize the savior when he came. One might conclude that with the understanding given to the Pharisees that they would see the compassion and righteousness that was presented before their eyes, but no. It was the blind who never had the privilege to read, never had the opportunity to gain such understanding, never given the chance to witness with their own eyes the miracles of Christ, and yet they saw. Even before their physical eyes were opened they saw with eyes of faith that Jesus was the Messiah. They called him the Son of David!
In the words of Isaiah even those with great understanding and every means to see the glory of God revealed to them can remain blind in the dullness of their hearts. It’s these men who understood with their heart, with everything they had they returned to Christ and He healed them as the prophet said.
Regarding the work of the harvest we’ve addressed a couple categories from the narrative.
We’re not necessarily looking for those with position like Jairus the synagogue official.
We’re not necessarily looking for those with great strength or vitality.
We’re also not necessarily looking for those with great understanding - There are those who see and hear a lot of things, but never truly perceive because their hearts are dull.
Understanding does little for someone if it is not founded in the fear of the Lord and faith in Christ.
That field ripe for harvest may very well have little of the world’s wisdom and understanding in it, but there is one thing they do understand: Jesus has what we need, and we’re desperate for Him.
Paul reminds the Corinthian church of they’re own harvest - how Paul plucked them out of the world and brought them into life in Christ. It’s a humbling reminder no doubt.
26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God.
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It wasn’t a worldly wisdom that brought the church to see and hear the gospel, it was God… it was the foolishness of the gospel that God would receive the glory.
Let’s be ready for those who may not understand and yet are sincerely searching. They may have a lot of questions. They may be confused about some things. That’s fine! Don’t we still? There’s no point in our Christian walk from day one until now that we aren’t dependent on the Lord to give us eyes to see and understand the truths of His Word. Let’s be ready to teach, to explain, to come alongside those who are searching for Christ.
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As these men are given their sight, Jesus tells them, “See that no one knows about this!” There’s some speculation on what Jesus is meaning here? Aren’t we supposed to be witnesses to Christ? That is true, but I think we can safely say, Jesus wasn’t looking to draw a crowd looking for miracles. His ministry is clear, he’s come to teach, to proclaim the gospel, and yes healing but it’s his healing that’s serving his proclamation. Jesus is here to make disciples, and disciples are made through the proclamation of the gospel and the teaching of the Word. In all of Jesus’ miracles he’s teaching.
We have one more character here that’s teaching us about the kingdom.
The helpless mute
The helpless mute
32 As they were going out, a mute, demon-possessed man was brought to Him. 33 After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” 34 But the Pharisees were saying, “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.”
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Again, I find the contrast difficult to ignore. There is one man who cannot speak that’s set free from the influence of the devil, all the while those who do speak are opposing the ministry of Christ as the devil would. Time and again Matthew will set the most desperate of people right before the eyes of the Pharisees to say, “Who receives the benefits of the kingdom in the end?” Even the demon possessed man who’s friends come to Jesus to deliver their helpless friend will be welcomed into the harvest before these Pharisees do.
Even the crowds recognize something is happening here! We’ve never seen anything like this before, and in all their pride they refuse to acknowledge the power and glory of God in Jesus Christ. In the end it’s those who have someone to speak for them who are counted amongst the harvest.
Put simply: Oftentimes the harvest is found amongst those who don’t speak for themselves. There is no cry for help, there is no desperate plea to the Son of David, but there is someone who pleads for them. It’s a prayer that has no category in the ordinary mind. Whoever brought this man to Jesus openly sought for what no one had ever seen before.
How many of us readily go looking for something we’ve never seen before?
I don’t know about some of you, but I tend to do my shopping ahead of time before I go to the store. This might be unique to my generation, but I like to know that the part i need for the car is at the parts store before I show up. Even for those who don’t shop ahead, before you go you often have some previous experience at the store that tells you, there’s a good chance I’ll find what I’m looking for there!
These men come asking for what they’ve never even seen before! It’s an extraordinary faith that believes God can achieve what we can’t even imagine. As Paul says in Ephesians.
20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
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These men saw with eyes of faith the glory of God in Jesus Christ and sought him out for the sake of their helpless friend.
For many of us we may have friends, perhaps even family who do not cry out to God. Their captive to sin and will not speak for themselves. That doesn’t mean their not without hope. They have us! They have someone to plea to God on their behalf, to do what none of us can do. God can change the hearts of the lost. God can turn those who would never seek Him into worshippers who sing His praises. How many of us can point to times in our lives when we did not seek after God and yet we can say today, Praise be to God, that there were those who prayed for me. Praise be to God for hearing their prayer because God came after me when I did not seek Him.
We may not have positions of prominence, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pray for those who do not speak for themselves. In the end it was those nameless companions who brought this man to Jesus that proved to be workers of the Lord’s harvest. Might we join them in service of the helpless.
The closing notes of this passage looks back on all we’ve seen so far and gives us a final charge as workers of the harvest.
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The harvest worker
The harvest worker
Before we attend to the work of the harvest we need to recognize the mission and the heart of the Lord of the harvest. We’ve seen some of this already.
35 Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
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Up until this point in Matthew Jesus has been teaching his disciples what the kingdom looks like (What does righteousness look like...) He’s been proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to those who haven’t heard, and he’s showing the people what the kingdom looks like in His healing. In the end the kingdom of heaven will be free from every curse of sin, but even in the near future, the spiritually dead will be raised, the unclean in sin will be made clean, the blind will see in faith, and those who would never seek Him with their own words will sing His praises. Isn’t this true of us! We were not unlike each of these hopeless and helpless souls in some regard, and if it were not for the mercy and compassion of God we would all still be dead, unclean, blind, and mute.
Knowing what we have received in Christ, might we take on the heart of Christ here. Seeing the world for what it is through this lens. Seeing what we were apart from Christ, let’s put on the heart of Christ for the lost.
36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.
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The lost need a shepherd! They need someone to run after them in their wandering and patiently guide them to the gate that is Christ.
9 “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
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Apart from that wicket gate they will remain distressed and hopeless. Apart from someone to point them to Christ the good shepherd they will remain dispirited and helpless.
Before we even get to work. Before we even pray for more workers, let’s pray for this heart!
Jesus has already called us to it, but he makes it all the more evident in his example.
“I desire compassion and not sacrifice” he said. “for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
We begin with our hearts and then attend to the harvest. Pray for hearts of compassion like that of our Savior.
The fascinating part to me is the end.
What I would expect is a very personal charge. “Time to get to work gentlemen! Let’s go!”
It’s bigger than that though. What does Jesus say?
37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
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In the end we too are hopeless and helpless to accomplish the task if God is not actively working to equip and send out workers. Before Jesus ever sends out his disciples as he will do in chapter 10, He calls them to dependence on God. It is He who will ensure His harvest is brought in! Pray to Him that others may go.
Before we even step off to answer the call ourselves it’s important we see that being a harvest worker requires us to be concerned with the equipping and sending of others. It’s an essential part of being a disciple: Making more disciples that others may be sent out into the harvest.
For all of us we need to take time to step back from our own ministries and consider the need for workers. For all of us, we’re called to pray.
Pray for this church that we would have the means and opportunity to raise us more workers to go out into the harvest.
Pray for this church that we would have the means and the opportunity to raise up more pastors to go out and gather the sheep.
For some of us it may be appropriate to ask, how can I be an answer to my own prayer? How can I work to equip and send others?
Look for opportunities to build those discipling relationships. Find a small group and make a point to contribute to the group and build those relationships that give way to equipping and sending. Ladies, join our ladies study on that third Sunday. Men, join our men’s group on Tuesday mornings. Equipping and sending isn’t left to missions organizations and seminaries. It’s left to us. Mature disciples who’ve grown in the church, know the church, and love the church are the very best to send out into the harvest. Let’s begin that work here!
Last but not least. Let’s be the workers! Let’s commit ourselves to being equipped and sent. In our prayers for God to send out workers, we need to be ready for God to send us. Now for most of us that probably doesn’t look like leaving town, but for some it might be. Whatever the case, whether it be the farm country of Dayton or the other side of the globe, the workers are few. Let’s be a people devoted to growing in the church, knowing the church, and loving the church so we can be equipped when the time comes to reach the lost - reaching to the helpless and the hopeless with the truth of the gospel.
Let’s Pray.
Gospel Baptist Church in Greenville - Wisdom and faith to their leadership in their efforts to make disciples and advance the gospel.
Pastor Doug Gordon
Pastor Seth Cusson
Pastor Japheth
