Help Wanted Prayer Challenge Reloaded
TCF Sermon
January 8, 2012
The unemployment rate has been in the news a lot. As our nation’s, and indeed the world’s economy struggles, businesses are challenged to make enough to pay the workers they need to do the job. So some businesses make do with less help than needed, and some are challenged to stay afloat at all.
Yet, even in the midst of all this, you also hear about companies that seem to have a hard time finding qualified employees. These companies are going to extraordinary means to find the right people, the right match, for the kind of work they do.
The old methods of putting out a help wanted sign aren’t enough for these companies. There’s another kind of work that there’s plenty of, too. This work includes all kinds of different jobs, all of which are important, and there are really only two qualifications:
you must be a follower of Christ, and you must have a willing heart.
A little over a year ago, the elders issued to the congregation a challenge from the scriptures. A challenge related to where we are as a church, and where we believe God wants to take us.
This morning, to use a sports analogy, we’re not going to rebuild, we’re going to reload. To begin the New Year, we’re going to look at that challenge, and see what’s changed, and what hasn’t changed.
Hudson Taylor was a pioneering missionary to China. When he did his first term in China, he saw the huge need, and was overwhelmed with the billions of people who had never heard the gospel. He had a strong desire to develop more Chinese missionaries. It was a huge task, and he knew he needed help. At home for a furlough, he studied the Word of God, and He prayed. He wrote this:
In the study of the divine Word, I learned that to obtain successful workers (what was needed were), not elaborate appeals for help, but first earnest prayer to God to thrust forth laborers, and second, the deepening of the spiritual life of the church, so that men should be unable to stay home. Hudson Taylor
Isn’t that a great picture of what we’ve been trying to do this past year? Earnest prayer to God to thrust forth laborers. A corresponding deepening of the spiritual life of the church. The result being that, wow, think of this – people are unable to stay home. They would be, instead, compelled by God to join the task – to go into the harvest.
When we first looked at the needs we have as a fellowship more than a year ago, we noted that, if you have a need for more help, one thing you wouldn’t do is just sit back and say, oh well, we don’t have enough people to do the work. Let’s just hope we don’t get any more business.
We remembered that, when Jesus walked the earth, He had plenty to do, and He did the work that God gave Him to do. But He, too, saw a need, and gave to His disciples, and to us, the means to the end of finding the solution to this need.
Matthew 9:35-38 (NIV) 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. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
We see some key themes outlined in this passage. First, we see that the harvest is plentiful. In other words, as Hudson Taylor clearly saw in China, and as we can see here when we look around at what God is doing through this little church, there’s plenty of work to be done. In this context, it means there are plenty of souls to be saved, and needs to be ministered to.
This passage tells us that anyone working in some capacity in the harvest will not get bored because he or she doesn’t have enough to do. There is no unemployment rate to worry about in God’s Kingdom.
Then, we see that, though there’s plenty of harvesting work to be done, there are not enough people to do the work. There are more people needed to serve as workers in the harvest, because the crops need to be harvested in a timely manner, or the harvest will spoil.
We also see who the boss is – not just the boss, but the owner. Verse 38 says it’s His harvest field. It’s the Lord’s harvest. It doesn’t belong to anyone but Him. It doesn’t belong to the church leadership, and it doesn’t belong to the congregation. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “I will build my church.”
So we see clearly, it’s His church, and like any good boss or business owner, He takes full responsibility for its health and growth. But He also asks us to participate.
We see the solution Jesus gave for this dilemma. The dilemma is that the crops are ready, and there are a lot of them ready to be harvested. The crop is sitting there waiting to be picked. But with the number of workers currently doing the work of the harvest, it cannot be done adequately. So we need more workers.
That’s one reason why it’s the Lord of the Harvest who sends workers, not us. Because he’s the boss and we’re not. So, then, we ask, we beseech or pray earnestly, as some versions say, that the Lord of the Harvest would send more workers to get the job done.
There are a couple of important subthemes in this passage that we’ll also explore.
1. The crowds are harassed and helpless (distressed and dispirited), like sheep without a shepherd.
2. Jesus had compassion on these people
Though there were seasons in the life of this church when we were bigger, TCF has never been a church that was about quantity. In terms of our devotion to the Lord, and our Kingdom service, I like to think we’re more about quality. Quality of devotion to Christ. Quality of relationships. Hopefully quality of obedience.
Unfortunately, this idea of not being about quantity, or numbers, has led some to think that the elders don’t care at all about quantity. I guess in some sense, that’s true, so it’s not unreasonable for some to come to this conclusion. We do not desire for TCF to grow just for the sake of TCF becoming a larger church. Just so we can have a nicer building in a different part of town. Just so the staff can get bigger salaries.
That’s not what we’re about. In this way, numbers are not important. Obedience is important. Obedience to God’s call and direction.
That obedience has at times actually cost us numbers. When various winds of doctrine have swept through the church in Tulsa and around the nation, the leadership of this church has made the decision that we cannot embrace those movements. This has cost us, in terms of membership – numbers. When our vision for world missions has competed with other agendas, people left TCF then, too.
What’s more, we’ve seen how church growth works in many churches, and Tulsa is a prime example of this tendency. People go to the latest and greatest thing in town, and when the new “latest and greatest thing” happens, they move on.
We’ll probably never be a church that’s comfortable putting ads on the radio or on a billboard that say something like, “if you’re bored or dissatisfied with your church because of … and then name a myriad of reasons…come to our church, because we’re better.”
This is not widely known – I spent a lot of money to have these signs made for TCF…
Not really, but you get the idea of what we’re talking about. We’re aware of a very real phenomenon in churches. What you win them with is what you win them to.
So, we’ve never been interested in growing artificially. We’ve never been interested in making wholesale changes simply for the sake of attracting more people.
Os Guiness wrote:
"To be always relevant, you have to say things which are eternal"
But, if we make significant changes simply for the sake of selling people on the idea of coming to our church, what are we going to do when the inevitable happens, and the culture, or the church, is drawn to something else?
I’m not saying we can never or will never make any changes. But, if we change just to be like the latest and greatest happening thing, just to keep up with the Joneses, as the old saying goes, what will we do when that latest and greatest is no longer the latest and greatest?
Marketing, as defined by the new paradigm churches, goes much further because its focus is on what the consumer (Unchurched Harry) wants and thinks he needs, rather than on what God wants and what (God) says Harry needs. In other words, market-driven churches are built upon the foundation of polls, surveys and the latest techniques, instead of upon the Word of God. In order to market a church to the unsaved, the consumer must be given what he wants. Since unsaved consumers do not desire God, or the things of God, they have to be enticed by something else. Thus the temptation then arises for a church to change, or at least hide, who they are so that they appeal to Unchurched Harry. Additionally, the church is tempted to alter its message to correspond with what Harry wants to hear and thinks he needs. The end result is a … gospel that appeals to Harry’s fallen nature in an effort to entice him to come to Christ, the ultimate felt-need supplier, so that he is fulfilled and feels better about himself. But, "Can churches really hide their identity without losing their religious character? Can the church view people as consumers without inevitably forgetting that they are sinners? Can the church promote the gospel as a product and not forget that those who buy it must repent? Can the church market itself and not forget that it does not belong to itself but to Christ? Can the church pursue success in the market place and not lose its biblical faithfulness?" (Losing Our Virtue, by David Wells, p. 202)
At TCF, we’ve made a considered, and prayerful, and we trust, obedient decision, before God, that we don’t want that kind of growth. But we do want God-given growth, not something that we have to generate by becoming something we’re not. We want this growth so that we have more laborers for this little corner of the harvest field called TCF.
One of the strengths of this church is our relationships – the longevity of our relationships – the fact that we’ve been together and we work together, and share our lives in Christ together, is a significant component in the reality that we have a strong core of committed Christians in this church.
In that sense, we’ve experienced and continue to experience a growth in quality - quality of relationship with Christ, and with each other. But to date, this has not led to a corresponding growth in quantity – in the numbers of people attending this church – though the elders believe that’s beginning to change.
I’ve heard many people here say things like, “I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t want to come to TCF.” That’s because they’ve gained so much, and grown much in Christ in their years here. It’s because they’ve seen how this body ministers to one another in times of crisis. It’s because we have a genuine sense of family here.
Yet, there’s a practical reality at work. If God has called us as a church to release laborers into the harvest – it’s right there on your bulletin each week – whether that harvest is Good News Club, VBS, POPs the overseas mission field, some other church ministry, or even your own individual circle of influence, with neighbors, family, friends, or co-workers – how can we disciple, train and release people who aren’t part of us?
In that sense, we do care about numbers, because the work of the harvest that God has given us as a church takes people. It takes a certain number of people who are committed to going into the harvest as part of what we’re doing as a church, and as a personal commitment to the Lord, in whatever sphere of influence they’re in.
As the elders reviewed the state of our church in 2010, and revisited these things among the elders just a few weeks ago, there continues to be a clear recognition, that with all the good things we’ve got going on here, we still need more help.
That hasn’t changed, though we do have a sense as I just noted, that it’s beginning to change, and there’s a sense among the elders that there’s a building of momentum – God is hearing our prayers.
We’re already doing a lot with what we have, but there’s a desire on the part of many to do so much more, and to be more effective still with what we’re already doing.
But here’s where the challenge comes in. We see here that the harvest is God’s. It’s not ours. Yet, as we work in the harvest, we need more people to put their hands to the plow, and work with us. We noted that Jesus, when he saw the crowds, had compassion on them. Compassion is a component of our motivation here, our motivation to bring more workers to join us in harvest work.
But, compassion is not our entire, or even our highest, motivation. We do care that people are helpless, hurting. We care more still that so many are lost without Christ. The phrase in this passage, “like sheep without a shepherd,” makes me think of something else related to our theme this morning.
Here in Tulsa, because perhaps it’s always been such a “religious” city, there are a lot of people who say they are Christians, but don’t ever go to church. Now, some of these individuals may be believers, and some may not, but the reality for both is the same. They are like sheep without a shepherd. But, specifically speaking of those many Christians who’ve been burned by a church and left it, or perhaps they’ve even left a church, and not connected elsewhere for reasons we might consider suspect in some way, they are still like sheep without a shepherd. And as such, believers or not, they are in spiritual danger.
Ezekiel 34:5-6 (NIV) So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
I think these are some of the people God may want to bring to TCF. They are sheep without a shepherd, and they need a shepherd. They need a church family like TCF.
The word used here refers to the weariness and fatigue which results from labour and being burdened. He saw the people burdened with the rites of religion and the doctrines of the Pharisees; sinking down under their ignorance and traditions, and neglected by those who ought to have been enlightened teachers, Without his care they would stray away. Barnes Notes
So, while I would discourage any of you from making an effort to invite someone who’s already invested in another fellowship, to come to TCF, I would encourage you to remember that the unchurched, Christian or not, find their souls in danger.
So, how do we do this? How do we put out the help wanted sign? We’ve noted first that the harvest is plentiful. Do we really have any doubts about that? We all know so many people who need the Lord. We can just look at our culture and see how lost people are. We can just look at our neighbors and co-workers and schoolmates, and see how lost people are.
Jesus said the harvest is plentiful. It was true then, it was true last year when we first considered this challenge, and it’s true today.
But we also see that the workers are few. Another thing I think of is helping us as individuals find the connection between what we do, and the harvest. There are always somewhat invisible, somewhat thankless jobs in harvest work. Not everyone gets to reap. It’s easy for us to see the connection between what we do, and laboring in the harvest,when we have the privilege of leading someone to Christ.
It’s a little more difficult when you clean toilets, or do the bookkeeping, or work in the tape room, or paint or fix, or even greet visitors, or change dirty diapers in the nursery. But it’s all harvest work. It’s all important to the work of the harvest. My prayer is: Lord, help us to serve you, and help us to see that in serving you, we’re serving as harvest workers, even if we never personally witness a soul being saved.
Yet, we do want to see souls saved. That’s what the harvest is all about. It’s a harvest of souls – people converted from the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His marvelous light.
Romans 10:14-15 (NIV) How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Let’s be a people of beautiful feet, and play our individual parts in bringing the good news.
I think God does want to bring growth to TCF in these ways. This is the same list we looked at last year:
1. Evangelism and salvation growth (whether it be through a church program, or through our individual relationships with people) – new believers, coming into the Kingdom of God and coming to TCF to be discipled, to grow, and then to serve in the harvest themselves
2. Those who are unchurched, for a variety of reasons, and are thus harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd
3. Those who particularly resonate with the vision of TCF, training and releasing into the harvest, and specifically our calling as a church dedicated to world missions. IHI docs, ORU or TU students. These people just need to find us.
And Jesus gave us the first instructions on how to get there – how to see more laborers come into the harvest. We’re to ask the Lord of the harvest to bring workers. That doesn’t preclude any further action. We’ve seen that this past year in answer to our prayer. We’ve seen God respond by leading people in different ways, and I think we’ll have a chance to hear about some of that in our 5th Sunday service at the end of this month.
But where do we start? And not just start, because we started more than a year ago. But how do we continue? Same answer. We pray. And continue to pray. And persevere in our prayers.
In praying, we’re acknowledging that this is God’s harvest. We’re acknowledging that we are absolutely and completely dependent on Him. We’re recognizing that anything that comes from our own designs, our own intellect, is worthless toward achieving the goal of more workers for the harvest.
But ideas, strategies, followup action, that flows from those prayers, will be more clearly His design, the very mind of Christ.
Yet, it’s critical to note that the only thing Jesus said specifically to do, was pray. He didn’t say, come up with an action plan. He didn’t say to create an advertising and marketing campaign.
With that in mind, the elders would like to reload – to re-issue, a challenge to all of us at TCF. The challenger isn’t just me. It’s a challenge from the elders to all of you. We want to challenge you to continue to pray, intentionally, specifically, and regularly, this prayer that Jesus told us to pray. To pray that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers into His harvest. And specifically, since we at TCF are part of His harvest, that God would send to us those He desires, to join us in the harvest, to work with us.
We’re challenging you to pray at least weekly, but hopefully more often, even daily, throughout the course of the coming months. We’ll pray for this from the pulpit regularly. We’ll pray for this in our elders meeting regularly. We’ll pray for this in our monthly corporate prayer meeting regularly. We’ll pray for this in our monthly Saturday prayer advance. We’re going to have it here at the church each quarter, starting this month. In the other months, we’re going to ask people to sign up on the last Saturday of each month, to pray for at least an hour at home.
And we want to ask you to join us. Let’s seek God together, and trust Him to bring the workers we need to do the things we believe God has given us to do as His church.
Also, let’s note that immediately after this passage in Matthew chapter 9, after He had told His disciples to pray for more workers for the harvest, what did Jesus do? He sent them.
So, as we pray and seek God, let’s be open to what He would ask us to do in response. But let’s continue to remember that Jesus said to pray – so let’s pray – persistently. Let’s remember the reason that Jesus told his disciples the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18. He told them to always pray and not give up. Here at TCF, we believe in persistency, perseverance, in prayer. We don’t pray once, twice, a month, or even a year, and then quit. We persevere.
During a Monday night football game between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, one of the announcers observed that Walter Payton, the Bears’ running back, had accumulated over nine miles in career rushing yardage. The other announcer remarked, "Yeah, and that’s with someone knocking him down every 4.6 yards!" Walter Payton, the most successful running back ever, knows that everyone - even the best - gets knocked down. The key to success is to get up and run again just as hard. Really, the key is to keep at it.
This is the kind of attitude is we want to foster, to develop.
PERSEVERANCE: to persist in or remain constant to a purpose, idea or task in spite of obstacles...to continue doing something in spite of difficulty or opposition...from the Latin - very serious
That begs the question – are we very serious about our desire to ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest?
Louis Pasteur was the world-renowned French chemist and biologist, who founded the science of microbiology, proved the germ theory of disease, invented the process of pasteurization, and developed vaccines for several diseases, including rabies. He said this:
"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity." -Louis Pasteur. Leadership-Vol 16, 4.
I love that word – tenacity. Walter Payton was one of the best ever and he needed an attitude of perseverance to attain his professional goals. Louis Pasteur was undoubtedly a brilliant man, but he attributed his success to his tenacity.
As we discuss God’s heart for this church, and His vision for us, which should become our goals individually and corporately, we, too, need an attitude of perseverance, a persistent spirit in the things of God - the kind of attitude that keeps at it, a tenacious attitude, which keeps getting up after getting knocked down by the world and by the enemy.
Perseverance, persistence implies difficulty. Prayer isn’t easy for most of us. You never hear about someone persevering through a bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Perseverance is not necessarily true hardship, though it can involve that, but it definitely implies effort, sometimes difficulty, something we must work at...and keep working at. The scriptures speak consistently to both these issues in many places
Acts 1:14: "They all joined together constantly in prayer."
Romans 12:12: "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
Patience, faithfulness and perseverance go together.
Ephesians 6:18: "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."
Colossians 4:2: "Devote yourselves to prayer."
1 Thess. 5:17: "Pray continually."
Isaiah 62:6: "You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest."
James 5:11: "As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered."
We as elders cannot make any of this happen. We’re not going to call you at home to see if you’re on board with this challenge. We’re not going to keep track of whether or not you fulfill this as individuals. God has to do this. God has to grow the church. We cannot.
But we do want to cooperate with what His Holy Spirit is doing to provide the laborers for that part of His harvest God wants this church involved in.
As I close, I want all of us to stand, and as I pray, ask God to convict you about your commitment to pray and make that commitment to Him, not to me, not to those around you.
On behalf of the elders – I invite you to join us as we continue this season of prayer, for the Lord of the harvest to send us laborers, so we have the workers we need, to do the work of the harvest God has given us.
Close in prayer
