Calling of His Harvest
Calling of His Harvest
Scripture: Matthew 9:35–38, especially verse 38: “Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Introduction: Traveling in other countries is often an overwhelming experience. The city of Delhi, India, for example, has a larger population than all of New England. Mexico City’s population is around twenty million. Manila has over ten million people. Many of these over-populated areas have “squatter villages” near city dumps where inhabitants scavenge food. How do we respond to these desperate situations? And the needs are not only global, they are local and very personal. Every day, people around us are in crisis. What can we do to help? Jesus gives us the answer in today’s text.
1. Our Outward Response (v. 36). “But when (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” The word compassion means to “suffer alongside.” God’s eyes are eyes of compassion. As we watch the nightly news each evening, it’s easy to become apathetic, seeing the same stories and accepting them without thinking of the people involved. Do we realize that even terrorists are sinners who need Christ? Jesus saw tax collectors and prostitutes as needy people. What about that person with whom you work—the one who drives you crazy? The one who blocked your promotion or attacked your integrity? Can you see the need behind that person’s action, the hurt behind his or her words? We must look outwardly with compassion, reflecting the concern God has for people.
2. Our Inward Response (v. 38). If the word “compassion” describes the vision we should have outwardly, the word “laborer” describes the commitment we should have inwardly. The Bible describes us as workers, laborers, servants, stewards, soldiers, and ambassadors. All these words convey our position: We are at the disposal of our Master. When the Old Testament heroine, Esther, went to the king to lobby on behalf of her captive people, she was willing to die because her life was not her own (Esth. 4:16). Paul said, “Let a man so consider us, as stewards … of Christ … ” (1 Cor. 4:1). This is the attitude we should have. Unfortunately, many of us have a “back-pocket Jesus,” an “open-in-case-of-emergency Jesus,” or an “ATM Jesus.” We go to Him when we have a need rather than realizing we were bought with a price. We must view ourselves as people at the disposal of our Master, Jesus Christ. What role does He want you to play in His global and local work?
3. Our Upward Response (v. 38). In light of the need of people in verse 36 and the need for workers in verse 38, Jesus tells us to pray. Prayer reminds us we have a Master and it is His harvest. Many believers constantly lie to one another about prayer. I wonder how many times, “I’ll pray for you” is spoken and immediately forgotten. As we remember our position as laborers, we should remember whom we serve, the Lord of the harvest. We all are called to pray, but many of us are strangely apathetic about prayer. Maybe we are afraid that if we pray for the Lord to send laborers, we’ll end up being called ourselves! We are an integral part of God’s global purpose. Perhaps the lack of workers in our church and the low numbers of young people going into vocational Christian service is the result of our failure to obey Jesus’ command here in verse 38—to pray for laborers to be raised up.
Conclusion: In a city dump in the Philippines is a “squatter village” called “Smokey Mountain” with needy people everywhere; but in the middle of the dump stands a new building with a banner over it, saying: “Welcome to Smokey Mountain.” It is the “Smokey Mountain”headquarters of Youth With A Mission. These youth teach about health, give inoculations, and run literacy programs. If you were to ask them why they’re located in the middle of a dump, they’d say, “The Lord of the Harvest sent us. We wanted to be obedient. We know God loves these people, though circumstances are forcing them to live in a dump.” This is a symbol of our church—a beam of hope in the middle of a hopeless world. It’s also a symbol of you and me, ambassadors for Christ in the midst of the moral dump of this city. Let’s be His laborers, viewing people compassionately, submitting and praying to Christ as Master, and allowing Him to use us for His global purpose.
| STATS, STORIES AND MORE |
| A Dangerous AssignmentMissionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham, seized by guerrillas in the Philippines in May, 2001, were held for 376 days. Just before a military raid led to Martin’s death and Gracia’s freedom, Martin said, “The Bible says to serve the Lord with gladness. Let’s go out all the way. Let’s serve Him all the way with gladness.”The NeedAbout six hundred million people in the world claim a personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ, leaving about 1.4 billion “cultural Christians” who associate in some way with the Christian religion but don’t necessarily follow Jesus as Savior and Lord. Another 2.5 billion people are non-Christian, but have some access to the gospel message by various means. More than 1.6 billion people have virtually no access to the gospel, a church, Scripture, or followers of Christ. Forty-one countries have populations that are 99 percent non-Christian. Support BaseIn his book, The Great Omission, Robertson McQuilkin points out that in the days before William Carey, the father of the modern Protestant missionary movement, the Moravians from Herrnhut considered a support base of four adequate to keep one missionary at the front. Using that formula, America’s forty million evangelicals could support ten million overseas workers.Using a more modern standard, it was said that during World War II fifteen personnel were needed to keep one man at the front. Using that as a basis, the American evangelical church could support a missionary force of 2,666,666.But evangelical churches of the United States, perhaps the wealthiest group of Christians in history, now have about thirty-seven thousand career foreign missionaries, about nine thousand of whom are engaged in full-time evangelism.“The truth is,” says McQuilkin, “less than 1 percent of full-time Christian workers are engaged in evangelistic ministry among the unevangelized of the world. Is this the way the Commander-in-Chief would assign His troops? Or is someone not listening?”CompassionIf we could only read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. |
| WORSHIP HELPS |
| Call to Worship:Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).Pastoral Prayer: Father, so often we present our prayer requests and forget about those things for which You Yourself have requested prayer. You’ve told us in Psalm 122 to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. You’ve asked us to pray for rulers and for those in authority over us. And You’ve bid us pray to You, the Lord of the harvest, for workers for Your fields. Lord, we do need more workers in this church. Your church around the world needs more preachers and pastors, more teachers and leaders, more missionaries and evangelists. Will You not raise up a new generation for Christ!Responsive Reading:Leader: The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.People: His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.Leader: Should you not also have had compassion?People: Be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted.(Taken from Ps. 145:8–9; Lam. 3:22–23; Matt. 18:33; 1 Pet. 3:8) |
