The Compassion of Messiah

7/19/2015 AM Matthew 9:35-38

Matthew 9:35–38 ESV

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.”

What I want us to see here in our text is the work of our Lord Jesus Christ I want us to see the people that he encountered in this ministry, to see them as he saw them, to feel as he felt about them. I want us to hear his call to apply to him, to plead with him for those to come and to join in this great harvest; A prayer that the people there in Galilee who have seen a great light, the Lord Jesus and His ministry. It is a prayer that that light would advance; that the knowledge of the Lord would fill that place, that a harvest of souls would be brought in to Christ's kingdom.

Now notice here, he is in verse 35, going "throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction." It's believed that the population of Galilee, is about 1.3 million of both Jews and Gentiles.

Jesus is going throughout their villages and towns towns proclaiming, teaching in their synagogues, healing, proclaiming this Gospel of the kingdom. He is there calling on them to "Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, the kingdom of God is among you,"

It is a proclamation that the King is coming. When a king would come to make a visit, it was a visit to be a terror to evil doers and one who rewards those doing right. So this call of Jesus for the kingdom of God is among you, that the sovereign Lord is going to come and with that is going to be judgment. It is a call to “get right” and don’t delay, so there's a sense of urgency involved with this.

So what does he see? Well, verse 36, he "saw the crowds, and he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."

Matthew 9:36 ESV

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

The words harassed and helpless here is a description of sheep in dire straits. They are cast down, they are mired down, they can't get up. The words also can be translated that their condition is as if they were flayed alive.

Well, who's been doing this to them; who is responsible? It's found in the Old Testament prophets. They are faithless shepherds, hirelings, to use the prophetic language. In the Gospels you see Jesus condemning the scribes, the Pharisees, these teachers of the law.

(Matthew 23 for example)

They are the culprits who have misled the people. They are the ones who have looked out for their own interests as opposed to the interest of the flock of God's people. They have said there is peace, peace, when there is no peace. They are ones who proclaimed to them a message that is not consistent with the law of God, not consistent with the Gospel, not consistent with the coming of the Lord in any way, shape or form.

So Jesus sees the masses of people in this condition because they have not heard the word of God, they have not had this ministered to them rightly or consistently, not faithfully and graciously,. As a result, they are a people who are so weighed down, cast down. And Jesus is moved with compassion. The word literally means that coming from the seat of the emotions — it would be "here in the gut.”

This was not just an intellectual type of compassion; this is a movement of all that Jesus is in reaction to seeing them in this particular way.

But what is it that Jesus does? He turns to the disciples and he said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Matthew 9:37–38 ESV

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.”

Jesus tells them to pray. He tells them to pray! These are people who are harassed and distressed, these are people who are downcast and discouraged, these are people here who have suffered so much, and yet Jesus says, "Y'all need to be praying concerning the matter."

Now to our ears today -- that reaction of Jesus that leads Him to tell them to pray — it may strike you that there's something lacking here, isn't there? We live in a day when prayer is not given much credence. It seems to some to be a well-intended but seemingly empty gesture. We would expect the "roll up your sleeves and get after it" kind of action out of Jesus or some great exhortation of the disciples to action as we would understand it, but Jesus tells them, "No, the beginning place is to pray."

Jesus uses the imagery of a harvest. This is not something that some of us are accustomed to or have much understanding of because we're not from an agricultural background, but the idea is that you have the day laborers who are out working in the field in the harvest, and the circumstances are such that the harvest is over-abundant, it is just amazing to see, and there aren't enough laborers to bring it in in a timely fashion, that you're gonna lose part of this harvest because of this. And the call is to the landowner to get more labourers for the harvest, or it may be lost.

The urgency of this need is something that we must feel as well. This isn’t a matter that can be put off. It cannot wait until later.

I remember back in me hometown of Paris, Texas, an incident when my dad worked as vice president for sales and marketing for a cattle feed company. One night we got a phone call that the feed store that was attached to the grain elevators at the feed mill was on fire. There had been all kinds of issues with those grain elevators regarding grain dust build-up and we all had in our minds eye the thought of the dust combusting and the south end of town taken out by the explosions. This was, children, in the olden times before mobile phones.

We frantically tried calling other people, employees and family members of employees, to come down to the mill to help remove all of the company’s rolling stock. We had a number of semi-trucks, grain trucks, trailers, fork lifts, all sorts of equipment. I hopped into the cab of a semi, not knowing how to drive the thing,. I did get it started, and somehow put it into the lowest gear and got it away from the scene. But the desperation and the urgency of the situation was such that this was not something that we could answer the call to help with, “ I'll see. I can probably get down there in an hour." No, it had to be now. That's the idea behind this, "

Matthew 9:38 ESV

38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

The question I have for us is this: Do you have that same sense of urgent compassion that Jesus had?

Looking out at our world, our nation, our community, your neighborhood, do you see them as Jesus did?

Do you feel as Jesus felt? Do you see the people around you as Jesus does? Do you see the people in your neighborhood? Do you see the people in the cubicles next to yours? Do you see these people around you because of the false teaching, because of the ways of sin that have been so entrenched? They are harassed and helpless people, indeed you look around and they are like sheep without a shepherd.

I remember one night at our church back in Oklahoma where we had pastored for 23 years, we were replacing a stretch of sidewalk or footpath out by our fellowship hall. We had had some issues previously with pouring of concrete when kids would come and scratch gang signs into the concrete. We decided to set up a rota among the elders and deacons to ride shotgun on the concrete while it was setting up. We took turns sitting up until two in the morning. After that experience, we got together and talked about our experiences that night. The one thing we all mentioned was the neighborhood was awash with children that had no supervision. We were seeing six-year-old children out past midnight running around the streets. All these little kids were like sheep without a shepherd. We prayed, "Lord, what would you have us to do?"

And in answer to our prayer one of the things we were led to do was to set up a ministry to these kids once a week to come in and do some sports and recreational activities and Bible study with them and homework help during the school terms. The idea was to get to know them and to share the Gospel with them. And it was just heartbreaking what you would hear from these little kids as to what was going on with them in their lives, tales of abuse and neglect, was utterly heart-rending. These kids soaked up whatever love that you could give, and we would point them to Jesus, whose love never fails.

It was a situation where we saw these children and we heard what was going on with them. Frankly, I didn't like having to sit there that hot summer night and swat mozzies but the Lord had us there for a purpose. It wasn't for the concrete, it was for the kids. The Lord sovereignly placed us there to guard concrete and better still, to gain compassion. It is the same with you and and with me where he has us - whether it's out at Tewatin or Timbuktu. Christ has sovereignly placed you to minister, to look around you and to see the needs, to see these people around us who are like sheep without a shepherd.

And so do you see these people as Jesus does? Or maybe, maybe you've become so turned in upon yourself that you're dealing with your own problems and the problems of your own household, or maybe they are the sort of problems of the class of, "You know, I just can't get that boat working the way it should or that swimming pool cleaned out the way I would like it." You know, that's nothing against boats or swimming pools but you understand the point that we can become so distracted that we fail to notice the need. We're focused on the concrete curing and not the crying need of these children who need a Savior, who need a shepherd who will love them to the end. Are we so focused in upon ourselves that we fail to notice and have our own hearts moved as well?

Seeing the need, do we pray that the Lord of the harvest would raise up more workers for the harvest? Are we pleading in prayer that the Lord would raise up ministers and missionaries and teachers to go out into the ripening fields that all men might be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ?

What Jesus calls us to do in this case is to have is a compassion that rolls up its sleeves and gets on its knees.

Think of how the Lord had compassion on you. It was through the answering of this prayer. "Faith comes by hearing," we're told in Romans, "and hearing comes by the word of God, and how shall we hear except gives a preacher.” God gives the word. You were converted under the ministry of the word. How did that come about? By God's sovereign design through these prayers. God's people through the ages have understood the Gospel compassion that's been shown to them in Christ and have been moved to pray. They have prayed that the Lord of the harvest would raise up other laborers unto the harvest. In the sovereign design of God He answers this prayer and brings all this to pass.

We we pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth even as it is in heaven," that this prayer of ours is the instrument, part of that chosen means to bring this about. Did not Jesus encourage us to pray in the confidence that our heavenly Father delights in giving good gifts to his children? And what better gift could these workers receive than a harvest of the redeemed. It is often the prayer for ministers that the Lord would give us many souls as our hire. That's not something ghoulish, it's something glorious and gracious, to see the conversion, to see the work of the Gospel, but it is all by God's means and God's appointment for his glory.

This praying in faith is God's appointed means which he has ordained for the fulfilling of his saving purpose in Christ Jesus. Calvin said, "Keep hold of both points then. Our prayers are anticipated by him in his freedom, yet what we ask we gain by prayer." And you heard that word as a result of the prayers of God's people, that the Lord would raise up laborers unto his harvest.

"Oh, the ways of God are past finding out," but all in answer to this prayer, "Lord of the harvest, raise up laborers unto your harvest. The fields are white, they're ready, they're full."

There is also a sense of urgency to this as well because a harvest is not put on hold, it is something that has an end-date, as it were, and there is coming that day when our Lord Jesus will return in glory and "the trump shall sound and the dead in Christ shall arise and together with those who are left, be caught up in the air and we'll be transformed in the twinkling of an eye." In that great day it will be the day of glorious rejoicing for the saved but also a day of judgment and terror, "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity."

There is an urgency here behind this prayer. Do you not see not only the people around us and are moved with compassion for them, do you also hear the urgency of our Lord Jesus in bidding us to pray this way because he is coming again? Do we keep these things before us?

We must commit ourselves to regular fervent prayer for the advance of the Gospel, that the Lord Jesus would raise up these laborers to go into these ripening fields to preach and teach all that Christ has commanded, to pray that God will give them words that will penetrate the heart, words that will deflate man's pride, words that will kill the cancer of sin, words that will bring hope to the despairing and truth to the ignorant. "Lord, give them words, give them courage to speak them clearly, but Lord, give us these men to do this!"

But it is also a commitment of yourself in answer of this prayer. "Lord, raise up laborers unto the harvest." Oftentimes our prayer is, "Lord, here I am, send her." But that isn’t what we are to pray. Our lives are not out own; our Master determines when and where and how we serve. Praying for this advancement of Christ's kingdom is a commitment of ourselves, even the sacrifice of ourselves for the sake of the advancement and answer to this prayer. To pray for the salvation of the lost, to pray that the Lord would raise up laborers to go out and to spread this Gospel, to pray for the encouragement of saints, is to pray for the Gospel's progress in the world.

Your Savior Jesus bids you in his compassion to pray. Because Jesus loves you, because Jesus loves those who have been appointed to be his from before the foundation of the world, he bids you, he bids me to pray with urgency, with fervency, with faith, but also with that commitment of ourselves to serve him. Will you hear and heed him? Will you respond to his grace and mercy shown to you? To his compassion to you? Will you respond as he bids?

Let's pray.

Lord, we hear this call and it makes us nervous. It is something that is, we see the need around us but, Lord, help us not just to see but to plead with you, to cry out to you because of the urgency of this situation and these circumstances. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have loved us so much that you pled, you commanded us to plead with the Father that he would raise up laborers unto the harvest and, Lord, you answered that prayer in our own lives and you will answer it in the prayers of your saints of the ages. It is in your name, Jesus, we thank you. Amen.