Journey Through Matthew: Where's All the Help?

Introduction

Good evening and welcome back!

I hope everyone has had a blessed day.

This evening we are going to continue our Journey Through Matthew.

And tonight we are going to be looking at the subject of Where’s all the help?

And we are going to be doing so looking at if you would like to start finding that in your Bibles.

Now, this morning we went through a great deal of chapter 9, and looked at The Healer’s Touch and how people’s faith in just the touch of Jesus led to their healing.

And we also looked at how before we can be touched by Jesus, we must first get in touch with Jesus!

And we left off with Jesus healing the 12 year old daughter of the Synagogue ruler, but Jesus wasn’t done healing.

Immediately after this event, Jesus was going along his way and he was met by two blind men desiring to be healed.

And Matthew tells us that . . .

Matthew 9:28–30 NIV - Anglicised

28 When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. 29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; 30 and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no-one knows about this.”

Matthew 9:28

But of course like everybody else so far that Jesus had touched, they went out and spread the news far and wide.

And even though they were being disobedient, in our own human mind, we really can’t blame them too much.

Think about it, if you were blind one minute and suddenly the one thing you had been praying and dreaming about your entire life came true, you’d be a little excited too.

So . . .

Matthew 9:31 NIV - Anglicised

31 But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region.

And Jesus is trying to keep things quiet because he realizes that he has a lot of work to do and with all of these people gathering around looking to be healed, they are literally hindering his ability to move around and do the work God has given him to do.

It’s not that Jesus wanted everything a secret, he just wanted to do his work.

But the droves kept coming wherever Jesus went, just like after Jesus healed these two blind men . . .

Matthew 9:32–33 NIV - Anglicised

32 While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. 33 And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”

Matthew 9:32

So, it was just one event after another, and while the townspeople and regular folks like us would be amazed by it, the Jews didn’t really see things in the same light.

All this was doing was continuing to mount opposition and hatred toward Jesus.

The Pharisees had to come up with a plan and after this demon possessed man . . .

After this demon possessed man . . .

Matthew 9:34 NIV - Anglicised

34 But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.”

Basically saying that Jesus is an agent of Satan.

Scripture Focus

Which makes a lot of sense, because the most evil being ever created would send somebody to go around healing people and telling people to repent and put their trust in God.

Doing things and telling people things that are the complete opposite of what Satan is all about.

Makes a lot of sense.

But, they kept on and on and on, so we now have Jesus knowing that there is all of this work to be done.

He is being hindered by the people.

He is being hindered by the Jews.

And he has to move his ultimate plan to the next phase.

And that next phase is to spread the work out to his disciples.

They had been with him for a while and now they are ready.

Which is where we pick up for tonight.

So, if you have found in your Bible, I’d invite you to stand with me if you are able.

Again, I am going to be reading from .

Matthew writes this . . .

Scripture Focus

Matthew 9:35–10:1 NIV - Anglicised

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on 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 workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” 1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

The Towns and Villages

So, things continue just the way they have been going.

Jesus and by extension the disciples being bombarded with people, who had serious needs.

Again, verse 35 tells us the mission . . .

Matthew 9:35 NIV - Anglicised

35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

And before we go on, I do want us to focus just a bit about what all is being said here.

We often get hung up on the miracles and the healing every disease and sickness part of Jesus’ ministry.

And the reason being because it is something that is amazing and something we don’t see very often.

I actually think we see it more than we think, we just don’t recognize WHO did the healing.

We give too much credit to humans and not enough to God.

But even today we get hung up on healing and miracles.

A perfect example was a commercial that Michelle and I saw just the other day.

There was some TV preacher selling “miracle spring water.”

And basically he had this little vile of spring water that he had supposedly blessed and it worked miracles one you received it.

And I was thinking “really? Are people that naive?”

But the answer is really, “yes, they are.”

And the reason being is because for many people they have prayed and prayed and prayed and all of a sudden here comes somebody along that offers them some sort of hope.

False hope mind you, but hope none the less.

So, we really can’t blame the people here too much because Jesus is the REAL DEAL.

He’s not offering spring water.

He is offering LIVING WATER.

And we latch on to those things, and forget about the rest of that verse.

Because not only did Jesus go around healing everybody, he also went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom.

And that good news was that THE MESSIAH HAS COME.

REPENT AND PUT YOUR FAITH IN HIM!

Because that was Jesus’ primary goal.

He healed people because he loved them and had compassion on them. Look at the next verse . . .

Matthew 9:36 NIV - Anglicised

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

Matthew

However, he was primarily concerned about their soul and their eternal situation.

The Work is Overwhelming

And with this concern, I can picture Jesus looking out over the crowd, surveying the situation before him.

And I can also picture him knowing that the amount of work in front of him is overwhelming.

All of these people.

All of this disease.

All of this hopelessness.

All of this sin.

Thinking, what have these people done with my Father’s creation?

How did they get to this place?

And I think when we look around us and see all of the things going on in the world today, we tend to get the same overwhelming sense.

Whenever you turn the television on, get on the internet, read a paper it is all death, destruction, and debauchery.

Evil and sin is all around us and it seems like there is really nothing we can do about it.

We want to do something.

We feel like we need to do something.

But it is so overwhelming.

There are so many people with so many different needs, we don’t even know where to start.

And, as a result we retreat into our nice, comfy, safe churches and close ourselves off to the outside world.

We stick our head in the sand and shut down.

We “take care of ourselves,” because we can’t help anybody else.

And, yes alone we can’t do much of anything.

We know all too well what Jesus said in . . .

John 15:5 NIV - Anglicised

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

We cannot do anything without Christ.

But what we often forget is the flip-side of that that Paul makes very clear to us . . .

Philippians 4:13 KJV 1900

13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

You see, we are NOT meant to do this alone.

Philippians 4:13 NIV - Anglicised

13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

First and foremost Christ has to be involved.

But also we are supposed to be working together.

We are supposed to be working together as a church.

But we are supposed to also be working together as a group of churches in this community.

And we are supposed to be working together as community of churches in this nation.

And finally as a nation of churches in this world.

But Jesus identified the main problem with this . . .

He tells his disciples . . .

Matthew 9:37 NIV - Anglicised

37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

Matthew 9:

It was a problem then, and it remains a problem now.

Lifeway and Christianity today did some research and they found that 19% of pastors who leave, leave because of burnout.

And burnout is caused by just this, too much work and not enough workers.

And it doesn’t stop with pastors.

We’ve all heard the saying that 20% of the people do 80% of the work in the church.

Eventually, that 20% gets tired and burned out as well.

And one of two things happen.

Either your “workers” leave the church.

Or they all give up and the church becomes this stagnant place where everybody just sit around looking at each other, wondering why nothing is getting done and why the church is dead and dying.

And the reality is, we will never get to where 100% of the people will be doing something.

It’s the goal and we keep trying but the reality is you cannot get 100% of the people of any group to agree on everything.

But what would happen if we had 80% involvement, or even 50%?

We could change our church, we could change our families, we could change our community, and maybe even have some part in changing this evil and sinful world we are living in.

But it takes our willingness to get involved and then putting some action to those words . . .

James 1:22 NIV - Anglicised

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

But the question always is, where do we start?

Jesus also answers that question as well . . .

Matthew 9:38 NIV - Anglicised

38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Matthew 9:38

The first thing is pray about it.

Pray about where the harvest it.

Pray about who God may send into that harvest.

But also be prepared in that God might just send you.

That may just be the harvest field that God is calling you to.

The question is will you go?

Will you accept?

Will you be obedient?

Because talk is cheap.

Anybody can say anything.

The question is, will we back up that talk.

Jesus had already hand-picked his disciples.

He picked them and he had trained them.

Now it was time to see what they would do with that training . . .

Matthew 10:1 NIV - Anglicised

1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

Matthew 10:1

The same things Jesus had been doing, he gave his disciples the authority to do.

These same things we have the authority to do.

But there is a big difference between having the authority to do something and the ability to do it.

Authority is given.

Ability is demonstrated.

Let that sink in for just a second.

Authority is given, but Ability is demonstrated.

In order to be who Jesus has called us to be, we have to have both.

We have been given the authority but have we been demonstrating the ability?

That’s the real question.

Altar Call

And the reality is, that we are the only ones that know the answer to that question.

We know if we have been living the way Jesus has told us to.

We know if we have been obedient to the call.

And if we didn’t before this evening, I am confident that the Holy Spirit has revealed it to us.

And here is the thing, even if we are, none of us are 100% perfect and living a perfect life.

There are always things that can be improved on, why not take this opportunity and allow the Holy Spirit the ability to work those things out in us?

Why not give ourselves entirely over to God?

What do we have to lose?

Right now we have that opportunity.

What will we do with it?