Start Here – Our Calling
Matthew 9:35-38
* Lawrence Brotherton tells this story; “The Pastor asked an energetic young man to help him fill some vacancies in the Sunday School teaching roster. After looking over the church roll and determining who was available, he asked one man if he would help the Pastor by teaching a class of young boys. The man responded saying, "Let me think about it and pray over it. I'll let you know." After a week without the man's response, the man was asked again if he would take the job of teaching the young boys. Again, the man replied, "Let me think and pray about it. I'll let you know." After another week and still no response, when the man was asked again if he would teach the class of young boys, he replied, "I don't think I can take the class, because I don't think I am being called to teach." The young man replied, "What do you mean you aren't called to teach? I've called you three times myself."
* One of the most important happenings or events in our lives is a ‘call.’ It can be a call for a job, a date, about a loved one, or any such call – can be a ‘life-changer.’ Calls can be important. For every person comes a call from God, this call is ‘to know Him and be reconciled to Him.’
1. We are called to SHOW – What are we to show? We are to show them Jesus by doing what Jesus did. Take a journey in your mind by reading selected verses which tell us about Jesus. We read, “When He came down from the mountain” (8:1), “When He entered Capernaum” (8:5), “When Jesus went” (8:14), “As He got into the boat” (8:23), “When He had come to the other side” (8:26), “So He got into a boat” (9:1), “As Jesus went on from there” (9:9), “As He was telling them” (9:18), “As Jesus went on from there” (9:27), “Just as they were going out” (9:32), and to our text which says, “Then Jesus went to all the town & villages” (9:35); and this causes us to understand that Jesus was a man of action! The gospel of Matthew is not considered the most active account of Jesus’ life (that would be Mark), yet we always see Jesus in motion, in ministry, taking action on behalf of others. The calling we are given is to show this world our Lord Jesus by doing what HE did. He went, He preached, He taught, and He healed people wherever He found them. At this point, it was not a “Ya’ll Come” mentality, it was a ‘let’s go’ because this is the heart of Jesus.
* Over thirty years ago there was a Home Mission’s youth musical entitled “Joy,” It began with an opening song which called us to “Go where the people are near or far.” Today, we are in an NAMB emphasis which calls us to ‘Start Here’, right where we are. We do this with our time, our talents, our moneys, our surrender, and our sacrifice. It is in this way that we show our Lord Christ to those who need to know Him.
2. We are called to SEE – Every time I read in scripture about this thing of ‘seeing’, my mind races to the words of Jesus in Mark when he asks, “Do you have eyes, and not see, and do you have ears and not hear?” And also I think back to Matthew when our Lord quotes Isaiah 6, “You will listen and listen, yet never understand; and you will look and look, yet never perceive. For this people's heart has grown callous; their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn back — and I would cure them.” It takes no imagination to understand that our Lord Christ wanted and wants us to see people like HE SEES people.
* Verse 36 tells us that “When He saw the crowds (multitudes), He was moved with compassion.” There is so much that we need to grasp from this couple of phrases that it can make our ‘spiritual heads spin and our hearts break.’ First, make a note that we are called to ‘see’ like Jesus did and then we are called to ‘feel’ like Jesus did. However, for us to see like Jesus did we must go where Jesus went. Jesus didn’t see the multitudes in the confines of a disciples meeting out of the view of the public, He was out there among the very people who were ‘lost, weary, and worn’. His desire was to bring the Kingdom of God through the Gospel of God to those who so desperately needed to be reconciled to God. The only way He saw the multitudes was to watch people as He traveled. This is our call. Every day we meet many, who are in need of Christ, yet they pass through our lives & it rarely registers with us that they either know Jesus, follow Jesus, & are ready to meet God OR they know not the grace of God which destines them for an eternity of punishment. The question is how do you see people?
* One of the recorded miracles of Jesus is of His giving sight to those who are physically blind. In Matthew 9, two men came to Jesus wanting to be healed and scripture records that Jesus touched them and ‘their eyes were opened.’ In effect Jesus told them, “Don’t tell anyone.” Verse 31 records that these two men ‘couldn’t keep their mouth shut’ about what Jesus did!! The news went out that they could SEE!
* Here’s the payoff; Lost people cannot see like Jesus & carnal minded believers cannot see like Jesus, but for those who are walking with Jesus, it is imperative that we see like Jesus saw, feel like Jesus felt, and do like Jesus did. Jesus gave all He had for as long as He had on planet earth and His call to each of us is to do the same. We must show people & see people like Jesus so that THEY can be saved! We must start here.
3. We are called to SOW – If we believe that all people need Jesus and that they will never come to Jesus without being told about Jesus, then we know that they must hear the gospel of Christ. The seed must be planted in their hearts. This is only done when believers like you & I treat the gospel like the ‘good seed’ it is. Most of us know that when we acquire ‘good seed’ we have 2 choices about what to do with it.
* If we show & see, we will feel the compassion of Christ that everyone deserves an opportunity to be saved. Once again, Romans 10 speaks to us about people’s need to hear! The seed must be sown.
* My dad’s dad was a ‘sharecropper’ which meant he made his living by planting and harvesting. As a child, I well remember going to the field to pick beans, peas, dig ‘taters’ (not potatoes, but ‘taters’), cut okra, and more. How many times have we picked peas, brought them in and ate the peas (and they were good). Yet, those same peas we ate are the very seed which could have been planted. One of the things I remember was that my grandparents made a distinction in what was to be eaten and what was to be planted. They understood that survival depended on having good seed to plant as well as good see to eat. When I reflect on this lesson, it makes me wonder if we have become so focused on eating the seed (I.E. SS, Bible Studies, Messages, Singing, etc) that we have forgotten to share the good seed. Without the sowing, there will be no crop. Sammy Gilbreath tells us that we are attempting to harvest a spiritual crop in largely unsown fields! We are called to sow the seed everyday individually as God’s people, collectively as the church, and corporately as the born-again truly regenerated body of Christ. Our calling is simply to “START HERE” (where we are) and tell the gospel (plant the seed) to everyone we meet.
* Before we leave this thought, consider this; “We sow every day!” That is, we sow ‘something’ with every day of our lives! Galatians 6 tells us to “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, He will reap.” Three laws of sowing and reaping are 1) You later than you sow, 2) You reap more than you sow, and 3) You reap ‘exactly’ what you sow!
* The calling of our Lord is to sow the gospel, its truth, its imperative, its love and its power so that people can come to know Christ & be saved.
* The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes! When we sow the seed of the gospel we release the power of the gospel to change lives! It we do not sow, it will not go nor grow.
4. We are called to SHARE – Jesus says, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers” which means, ‘Share the burden.’ We are to share this by praying about it, giving our money (Annie Armstrong), & by being will to be the one to go. It is safe to assume that God has called each of us who KNOWS Him, to go, tell, and reap. Jesus left us with the command for Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world; this should be our motivation for our life. He calls us to share the load, to show the seed, to see the multitudes, and to show Him to them! It is our calling.
* In the Olive Branch, Mississippi, newspaper (The Informer) this story was run; “When General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines in the early part of World War II, he made a short speech: "I will return." Later on in the war, he came back to the Philippines in victory. Cameras recorded his wading ashore. He made another speech: "I have returned." The first speech would have been worthless without the second, which gave it force and meaning. Because he led the armed forces that liberated the Philippines, MacArthur has been a hero in that country. It is reported that to this very day, whenever a group of Philippine soldiers answer roll call, after the last name is called, they always add, "Douglas MacArthur," & someone always answers, "Here!"
* Think about that final roll call. First, will you be there? Only those who know Jesus in a personal way will be. Next, will you be a “MacArthur” who has shared the burden, sowed the seed, saw the people (& their need), and thus, showed them Jesus or what will you be?
* The call today is to START HERE. Will You?
