An Easter Harvest

Psalm of the Day: Matthew 28:1-7

He is Risen! Blessed and joyous Resurrection Sunday to you all. Instead of starting today with a Psalm like we usually Do, WE are going to read from the Book of Matthew, the first Easter Sunday!

Matthew 28:1–7 ESV

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

What Joyous hope we have! As the angel proclaimed at the tomb of Jesus: He is not here, for he has risen, as he said!” this then becomes our hope. Jesus has defeated all enemies, sin and death. He is risen, he now lives forever to interceded on our behalf. He is our RISEN Lord and we gather today to serve him, to love him, to worship him. Lets begin today with a time of prayer and reflection as we celebrate our risen Lord!

Scripture Reading: Psalm 145:10-13

Psalm 145:10–13 ESV

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.

Sermon

Good Morning Church! I was Glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the House of the Lord!

A family story that will live in infamy once happened when my little sister was asked what my did did for work. Her response, based on overhearing conversations over her (at that point) relatively few years on this earth was that My dad, and I quote: “Read e-mails, ate cake, and fired people”. For my six year old sister (or however old she was at that time), that he was the chief of the environmental flight at Holloman air force base was too complicated and really had no meaning. Instead it made the most sense to describe what he did by describing what visible things he did and talked about over the dinner table.

But now I turn the question to you, and lets spiritualize it. If some six year old in your life was asked what you do, as a christian, what would they answer? Would they say? It might be scary and bad. they might say something like: They judge people, complain all the time and are grumpy. Maybe they list some spiritual disciplines. They read the bible, make sure we say grace every meal and go to church. Maybe this is a highly advanced theological six year old and they say something like: they live according to the grace of God, work out their sanctification with fear and trembling, and they worship God for he alone is worthy of praise. But if the question is: what do you “DO” how many six year olds would describe us as people who preach the gospel at every opportunity?

This is what they SHOULD say of us. We are called to preach the gospel in season and out of season, we are to “go and make disciples of all nation” we are to “be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you”. And yet I fear that for the majority of us, proclaiming the hope of the Gospel might be the last thing that we “do”.

Thankfully there is grace for us when we fall short, and also thankfully there is grace for us that changes us and pushes us to be more like Chrsit. While this is not a “traditional” Easter Service, I have two things to say to that. 1) every day should be a day that we set aside to glory in the Resurrection, not just one particular Sunday. so if this service looks a lot like the normal ones that is not a condemnation on this service but a commendation of what we usually do! but 2, and more to the point, Our passage for today Is Matthew Chapter 9 verse 35 through Matthew Chapter 10 verse 4. And my prayer is that this passage is used by God to change us mold us and also push us to SHARE the blessed hope of the Resurrection

Matthew 9:35–10:4 ESV

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. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “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.” And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

These are the words of the Lord for us today.

Lets PRAY!

Dear God in heaven, High and lifted up, you are great and greatly to be praised. May we honor your name as holy today. We come before you today in humble gratitude. Especially today we are grateful for the precious gift of your son. the one who you sent to live a perfect life, who taught us, who loved us then who died for us and for our sins. we praise you for we know that on the third day he arose in victory and we now live in that same Resurrection power and victory. Thank you for the work of the Spirit, empowering us, quickening our dead hearts. You have been so good to us. We ask today that you speak to us according to your word. I pray that My Words would be your words. Speak through your servant this morning. I Pray that you would give us ears to hear. help us to be changed by your word, for only you can bring life. We thank you that you do. In Jesus name we pray. AMEN

Many of us have herd this passage before. Usually it is at a the sending of some missionary. The Harvest is plentiful and the workers, like this missionary are precious and few, so go with God! Or maybe we hear it as a slap upside the head. the harvest is plentiful, and you, O christian, what in the world are you doing?!? why are you not working. And so we layer on the guilt and shame, you better get to work! I would argue, and what I hope we see today, is that the truth of this passage is actually in both of those, and it is a little deeper. Yes, the missionary that go out are precious and few, and they need the empowering work of God and the prayers and support of the church. and a correct understanding of this passage can give us insight into missions work in general. And yes it is the case that the fact that the workers are few is a condemnation on all of us who should be about the fathers business. and you, O Christian should be working the field. But a full grasp of this passage can help with that by gently teaching us. But lets start with context, for it is very important here.

In some ways, this is the “start of chapter 3” of the book of Matthew. If we remember back to the start of Matthew, we opened with the genealogy and the early life of Jesus. that's really chapter one. this transitioned to “chapter 2” starting with the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus authority to establish a kingdom then the miracle narratives that proved that authority. he even, we learned, has the authority to forgive sins! And now we transition to chapter 3 - the missions chapter. Next week we will be starting the mission discourse of Jesus. but today we are introduced to the thought of mission.

It starts with a short and beautiful description of the work of Jesus. Summed up in three words: teaching, preaching, and healing. That is what Jesus came to do. Not one or tow, but all these things. Verse 35: Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages.

1) teaching in their synagogues. Jesus was a teacher. He truly was a rabbi, a teacher, one who knew the Law and words f God and one who saw that the people around him knew these things as well. He would, we know from other scriptures, open the scroll and teach. he would show the people that the messiah that you have bee looking for and waiting for, he is here. While some saw the truth of this teaching (see the blind men last week) some would not see and hear and believe this teaching (see the pharisees last week). so he didn;t just reach. he also preached.

Again, Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and 2) proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus preached the kingdom. He showed the good news and he would tell everyone about it. This is LIKE teaching, but different. teaching is a desire to help and show understanding. preaching is telling it and allowing the words of God to resonate and work. and Jesus preached. and finally he healed.

One last time verse 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. He healed every disease and affliction. WE just saw this over the last 9 or so sermons in Matthew. Paralysis, leprosy, bleeding issues, fever, blindness, muteness — he can heal them all. Even we saw, he can “heal” death!

And this is the start of a richer understanding of this passage. WE are, I fully and wholeheartedly believe, called to fulfill this same threefold mission. This is NOT just a passage about missionaries, it is for all of us, and we should be teaching people the truth of who jesus was, what he requires of them, what he has called them too, namely repentance. We are to preach the gospel of the kingdom, that Jesu has come, that in him is life and life everlasting. that in the work of Chrsit is full healing the forgiveness of sins. and we should be healing, and lets be careful here. first and foremost we are healing thought our ministry of reconciliation, healing peoples relationships with God, but also we should be mending broken hearts, sharing the hope of healing IN CHRIST with the broken and lost world around us. we are called to do these things and once we understand this we can turn our attention to the rest of this passage. which beautifully opens on the MOTIVATION

The MOTIVATION

Often we are not given the answers to the question of “Why”? At grace Group last week we just talked about how The blind men were told NOT to spread the news of the miracle, but they are not told WHY they shouldn’t. As we face trial we sometime know WHY, but often the full answer to WHY eludes us. But the WHY of jesus heart and therefore our heart for this gospel mission is clearly shown here.

Matthew 9:36 ESV

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

In one word it is this: COMPASSION. it is the loving tender heart of our savior. He looks upon the crowds, which crowd up to this point has been code for other than, for those who will not serve him, who will not love him. we will see later in Matthew crowd s code for those who reject him, who misunderstand him, who do not love him the way his disciples do. these crowds that Jesus has been preaching to and teaching and they are not getting it. Our response is often anger, annoyance, disheartening.

If you talk to other pastors, I do not face this issue because I get to serve at the best church ever, but if you talk to other pastors, they will share the discouragement and pain of preaching and teaching and preaching and teaching and realizing that it is just not getting through. and so you will often see bitter pastors or emotionally checked out pastors. but not the case with Jesus. He sees these people and he has compassion.

The word here is actually more full than the English translations would show us. Literally it means that he felt it in his bowels. It is like the English phrase that we might say he was moved to his core. It is that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you hear of some tragedy that has befallen a loved one. It is a full and complete compassion that is stirred in the most inward beings. And jesus sees this in the people around him.

And we should note here, because this is Jesus the God-man, the one in who the fullness of deity dwelled, the one that was FULLY GOD and FULLY MAN, this is not just some human pity though it is perfect human pity, it is also more, this is the full power of divine compassion. This is the same love and compassion that is n John 3:16 where we read that “God so loved the world” this is divine compassion that would spare not his own son, and the same compassion that would cause Jesu to “humble himself, even to the point of death, even death on the cross.” And this should be our motivation to share the gospel too!

From Michael Green: When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. Esplanchnisthē means ‘he was moved in his guts’. He was stirred deep down inside. Alas, the church is very unlike Jesus. We do not care. We do not go out in mission. Maybe we are too empty. Maybe we are too respectable. Maybe we are too similar to those who do not profess to know Christ: it would be embarrassing to approach them. We are, in all probability, too ignorant of the good news to share it naturally. We are too terrified of what people might think. We are too insulated in our Christian ghetto. We are too apathetic: we do not share the compassion of Jesus. The Gospels repeatedly tell us that when Jesus saw, he had compassion. Perhaps we do not even look, let alone care.

And the start of the way to fix this is to look, to care. when we see others what do you see? do you see a nameless faceless “crowd” or worse, do you see wretched sinners and are filled with judgment and disgust. or do you see those who are created in God’s image. those who are hopeless and helpless apart form the work of Christ? A proper view of people will give us the motivation, but then Jesus give us the SOLUTION!

The SOLUTION

Matthew 9:37–38 ESV

Then he said to his disciples, “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.”

You might immediately think: the solution is to work harder. i know that for some of you, you think: Ok I will have more compassion and then I will get to work. but that is not even close to the solution that Jesus gives us. what is the solution to the problem that we are not out working the harvest? PRAY!

The solution is prayer.

In other passages, SEE THE GREAT COMMISSION WE READ EVERY WEEK, there is a command to go and work, to make disciples, but here it is a step earlier. PRAY. the harvest is plentiful, the workers are few so PRAY to the god of the harvest!

It is his harvest (he is the Lord of it after all!) and he is responsible. so pray to him. Before we get all caught up in the doings and goings, we must pray. It is a slightly different context, but the wisdom of Charles Spurgeon is helpful here. In speaking to a group of pastors he said: “i can think of no more pitiable creature than one who is so prideful bold and foolish to believe he can proclaim the word of God without conversing with God beforehand”. His point, before you preach you should pray, because YOU NEED to be close to god to have any hope of preaching his words. And the same is true of mission.

If problem one of why we do not work the field is that we don;t love and have compassion like we should problem one is that we foolishly believe that we can fix it apart for God! Pray. Do you have lost friends and family, neighbors, coworkers, people that god has serendipitously brought in to your life? Then PRAY FOR THEM! Pray that god sends out the laborers. Pray that HE TAKES CARE OF HIS HARVEST

It is his harvest, and that is a relief. It does not all depend on us. We are not lords of the harvest. We are called on to pray. Why do we not go? Why do we not care? Because we do not pray. The harvest is great. Opportunity knocks. The labourers are few, pitifully few. But there is a Lord of the harvest; and what an encouragement that is. We are not responsible for the growth of the kingdom. He is.

And the beautiful part of all of this is as we ask for him to send laborers out he will. ad you know who they are? THEN they are you and me, but we do so, because we have prayed, not in our own might, but EMPOWERED

The EMPOWERING

Jesus tells them to pray then he empowers them to be the “sent out ones”

Matthew 10:1 ESV

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

Come here disciples, and YOU now go. It as if he says: OK dd you pray? and the disciples say, “yeah, we prayed just like you asked, we prayed that the Lord of the harvest would send people out into the fields” and Jesus says: GUESS WHAT? today you are going to see that prayer answered. and the disciple look around, and maybe some bold one, probably peter, says: OK God lets see these laborers. And Jesus says, ITS YOU! Maybe Jesus is extra clever ad wants to teach a visible lesson and he says they are right over here and shows them a mirror. either way the answer to the disciples prayer was the disciples! But now, they do so empowered by the authority of Jesus to complete this work.

What is interesting is one passage before, jesus casts out a demon and the pharisees say: he does this by the power of the Lord of demons” but here the disciples are given power by GOD to cast out and cleanse. this is sure empowering. Jesus will empower his people. the father will make sure those who are in the field are equipped, the SPIRIT will empower us as we walk in the ministry that he has called us to. As one commentator notes: so, are you feeling overwhelmed by the prospect that the harvest is too hard, too big, too impossible for us? Don’t fret. Trust in the Lord and the power of his might.

In fact, I would argue that the weaker you feel, the more frailty you experience, the more you realize that you have no power in the first place, the better. Because his strength is made perfect in weakness. If you feel like you can change peoples hearts and minds (believe me you CANNOT, but if you think that way) you will be less likely to pray, you will be less compassionate and instead you will think it is all about you, but if you realize your desperate need for the empowering work of God, then you walk in victory.

But today I want us to see one more thing: how can we KNOW that we walk in Empowered victory? how can we be so sure? you might be asking: what is the PROOF?

The PROOF

And here is how this is an Easter sermon, for the proof is the Resurrection! I mentioned before that this is the start of chapter 3 of Matthew, but this section also marks the beginning of the end in some ways, for we have the first showings of what the future will hold.

Matthew 10:2–4 ESV

The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Here Judas is called “the one who betrayed him” For this is what Matthew is headed towards. Matthew did need to say “spoiler alert” the one who betrayed him” because everyone who read this would have known this little fact. Instead he includes this as a somber warring: the betrayal of Jesus is coming. Even here, at this high point, the disciples are called, the disciples are empowered, but we cannot avoid this fact, Jesus will die.

But we know that is NOT the end of the Story. We read it at the beginning of this service. Jesus rose from the dead. So what does that mean for us? everything.

It means that we no longer fear death, because our lord and savior defeated death.

It means that we trust his words, because every one spoken, even the crazily impossible words that predicted he would raise again came true. SO if he says he will empower us, he will empower us

It means that we trust his empowering, because he has power over death, and any of that power he gives us is surely potent.

It means that we walk in victory, because whats the worst that could happen? we die? and death s not the end for those in Christ.

It means that the gospel message we proclaim is backed by RESURRECTION power.

It means that when we tell the world that they have eternal life in Chrsit we do so because he is the firstborn of the dead and his resurrection is the proof of eternal life.

It means that we can be sure our prayers to the Lord of the harvest are heard, because he rose and ow lives forever to intercede on our behalf.

It means that we walk in victory because Chrsit has purchased every victory for us.

It means everything.

Lets Pray!