“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 labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’” [MATTHEW 9:35-38]. [1]
You will not have been a follower of Christ the Lord for many days before you are informed of His command charging His followers to disciple others. You will either be confronted by the divine charge while reading the Gospel accounts, or you will hear a preacher cite those words during a message. However you are informed of this command, you will be brought face-to-face with the reality of the reason why Christ has left you here. Jesus’ last words before His ascension serve as a command for His disciples to seek out others, bringing them into the Faith. The Risen Saviour charged followers, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” [MATTHEW 28:19-20].
In the text before us this day, you will note that Jesus makes two highly significant observations that are applicable to Christians in this day. Based on what He observed as He cast His eye across the vast panorama of sin-sick lives, lives blasted by the brokenness of sin, the Master issued a command that is frequently mentioned though seldom obeyed among those who name His Name. The Master saw a harvest that is ready now, a harvest of souls that must be gathered from the fields where they now languish. Then, Jesus saw that there are not enough labourers. Clearly, His statement implies that many who name His Name are complacent and they are thus disobedient to His will and to His command.
Because this is the case, the Master charged His followers to pray. Specifically, all who follow the Lord of Glory are charged to pray that labourers will be sent into His harvest. We who follow the Risen Son of God are expected not only to tell lost people of the life that is freely offered in the Risen Lord of Glory, but we are also responsible to ask the Father to send more labourers into the fields so that the harvest may be gathered. We are to be aware that without our participation through our prayers, the harvest is liable to rot in the field. While I don’t pretend to understand how such “rotting” is possible, Jesus’ words make it evident that it is essential that you and I realise is that His command has never been rescinded. If you are His follower, you are responsible to pray for harvesters to bring in the harvest which the Lord has prepared.
Not only are we to pray, but we are to make ourselves available to be an answer to our prayer, if a parable Jesus told had any meaning. Supporting this view, you may recall a parable which is recorded by Matthew. “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go” [MATTHEW 21:28-30].
As with all Jesus’ parables, the application was rather pointed, for this parable was spoken to the chief priests and the elders, the leaders of Jewish religion. These religious leaders might have pretended to be confused as to Jesus’ reason for telling this parable. Jesus, however, did not permit them to shrug off His meaning. He compelled them to grapple with what He intended by asking them a simple question they could not avoid answering before giving them a pointed and precise application. There was no escaping the intent of the Jesus’ story; and you may be certain that the religious leaders didn’t receive what He said with enthusiasm!
When Jesus had spoken this parable, He asked these religious leaders, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” And the religious leaders, unaware of where this was leading, answered truthfully, “The first.” At their answer, Jesus pinned their ears back when He warned them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him” [MATTHEW 21:31-32].
While I haven’t time in this message to address the interaction and the tension between Jesus and the religious leaders, the basis for the parable Jesus told is germane to the message this day. The son who obeys does the will of the Father, whereas mere talk without obedience is tantamount to lese majesté. The thrust of the parable is to assert the truth that your actions demonstrate your commitment to the Father. It is not what you say you believe that reveals God working in your life, it is whether you are obedient to His revealed will that matters.
THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL — “[Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful…’” [MATTHEW 9:37a]. I remember a conversation I had shortly after arriving in Canada. A fellow elder from Texas was visiting, and he asked me of my impression of the challenges as a minister of Christ serving in my adopted country. I didn’t answer him immediately, choosing to delay giving an answer until I could introduce him to the city where I was then living. I took him up on Burnaby Mountain that evening, and we looked down on Vancouver. The city lights sparkled in the night. Vancouver truly is a jewel, beautiful to behold. As we looked down on the city, I commented to him, “You asked about the work in this country earlier today. Do you see the lights below us? Each one of those lights represents a home, a home in which broken-hearted people live. Few in this city, few in this nation, are churched and serving God. Truly, this is an evangelist’s paradise. Everywhere you throw a tract, you hit a sinner. You can’t miss.”
Was I exaggerating? I believe my assessment was accurate then; and I believe it holds to this day. How many of your neighbours are in a service of worship on any given Sunday? What percentage of our fellow citizens living in this wonderful Peace Region of our beautiful province are saved and openly, eagerly following Christ the Lord? I suspect that it is far less than any of us might imagine. It is stunningly easy to assume that everything is fine because people are nice. The current crop of youth in our western world have been described as holding to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Tragically, that distorted view of reality didn’t just happen—they are reflecting what their parents and grandparents have been living for the past six decades or more. We ceased being a missionary-sending nation some years past; today, Canada is a nation in need of receiving missionaries; our population is largely lost and under God’s condemnation.
Some years past, I was present during a church service in Washington State, when during the service the pastor noticed me and asked if I could give a brief statement about the ministry I was then conducting in the Lower Mainland. I spoke of the ministry I was then performing which consisted of planting a congregation. I mentioned the dearth of vibrant churches and the paucity of Christians actively serving in any given week. I specifically pointed out that while engaged in conversation with a prominent evangelist, he had estimated after studying the issue that on any given weekend fewer than five thousand people would be in a service of worship in a group that identified as Christian. His estimate mirrored an estimate provided by another popular evangelist engaged in service throughout British Columbia.
That Sunday, my wife and I were not the only people from British Columbia present in that service. It so happened that a couple from Vancouver were present in that same service on that day. As soon as the service concluded, the man and woman made a beeline for me. They were incensed at what I had said. “You make us all sound like pagans,” the woman huffed. “We’re nice people.”
Of course, that was precisely the problem. And it still is the problem! We are nice people, but there is little reason to believe that the majority of British Columbians are saved people—nice does not equate to saved. Nor is there any reason to believe that we who are in attendance at the services of the various congregations are obedient people. I’m speaking in the broadest terms when I make these statements. I believe the assessment is tragically applicable to Canadian Christians. We are nice, which means that we will do almost anything to avoid being thought offensive. We are hesitant to be obedient because that would require us to act in such a manner that we might offend those about us.
All around us are lost souls. We see them as brothers or as sisters; we see them as our fathers and our mothers, as our aunts, or as our uncles. We see them as friends and as neighbours, as people with whom we interact daily. If we were to see with the eyes of Jesus, we would see them as helpless and as harassed, without hope and without God in the world.
William Booth, the Founder of the Salvation Army, was deeply disturbed after visiting one night in the slums of the East End of London. He felt that what he saw was a glimpse of hell on earth. Perhaps we need to take a walk through our own downtown some evening to see what we can see, looking with the eyes of our Master. After his eye-opening experience, Booth exclaimed to his wife, “Darling, I have found my destiny.”
Booth tells of a vision that haunted him after that, writing, “I saw a dark and stormy ocean… In that ocean I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning; and as they cursed and screamed they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more.
“And I saw out of this dark angry ocean, a mighty rock that rose up with its summit towering high above the black clouds that overhung the stormy sea. And all around the base of this great rock, I saw a vast platform. Onto this platform, I saw with delight a number of the poor struggling, drowning wretches continually climbing out of the angry ocean. And I saw that a few of those who were already safe on the platform were helping the poor creatures still in the angry waters to reach the place of safety …
“As I looked on, I saw that the occupants of that platform were quite a mixed company… But only a very few of them seemed to make it their business to get the people out of the sea … though all had been rescued at one time or another from the ocean, nearly everyone seemed to have forgotten all about it… These people did not seem to have any care—that is, any agonising care—about the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning before their eyes…” [2]
In years past, almost all churches would have been recognised as seeking to bring people to Christ. However, there has been a dramatic transformation in the message we hear from churches in this day and in the emphasis witnessed in those churches. Today, we attempt to win people to fill our churches; but the great need is to win people so that they will be filled with Christ. Which is more critical? To fill our church buildings? Or to bring lost souls to Christ?
Perhaps this challenge is older than we imagine. Over sixty years ago, the godly editor of the Alliance Weekly, wrote, “I know there is pressure to win people and fill our churches today. We look to the world to see how they are filling up stadiums, concert halls, and theaters, and we are trying to adapt their methods to accomplish our goals. Friends, the two do not mix.
“Then, when we get these people in the church by using the world’s methods, we need to continue using the world’s methods to keep them. The church with the latest method is the church with the largest crowd. We have trained this generation of Christians to follow the method instead of following Christ.
“Today’s generation has become addicted to entertainment, and this spiritual virus has seeped into the church. If the only way we can get people is if we entertain them, the only way we can keep people is if we continue entertaining them with the newest and most popular form of entertainment. People do not come to church anymore because Jesus Christ is glorified; they come to church because that is where they can be entertained and feel good about themselves.
“We need to understand that the methods of the world cannot be used to accomplish the goals of God. We need to turn our back on the world completely and finally. We are not of the world and therefore we need to leave the world behind us and concentrate on the Lord Jesus Christ. The focus of the Holy Spirit will always be on Christ. Whatever is not focused on Christ is not the work of the Holy Spirit.” [3] What Tozer witnessed so many years before this date, has come to full fruition in this day.
The transformation among the churches in this day has led Christians to think of people as sick rather than understanding that they are lost. The average occupant of our pew is no longer convinced that lost people will go to hell. We are not horrified at the thought of people we know being separated from God forever and ever. We don’t like to think about what will happen to our loved ones after death. We grieve at their absence, but their eternal state is not a matter with which we concern ourselves. We who shepherd the Lord’s flocks are guilty of toning down the destiny of lost souls. We don’t like to speak of hell since it is too unpleasant to allow ourselves to think of those we love spending eternity in such an awful place.
In our contemporary world, we convince ourselves that getting out the vote will change our world. Yet, we know that the great problem of our present world is neither a lack of knowledge, nor misinformation, nor disinformation—our world is dying from a lack of compassion for lost souls. And this malady characterised by a lack of compassion for the lost has infected the churches of our day, condemning this generation to hell. This dreadful transformation has blinded our eyes and made our hearts dull, so that we now think that it is our job to cure sick people rather than save lost souls. Pastors are trained to be counsellors rather than being prepared to be teachers of the Word. The modern pulpit relies on psychology rather than the proclamation of the Word. We want to help people rather than convert them to Christ. We want to fill our churches with people rather than filling our people with the Spirit of God.
It is a surprisingly frequent occurrence for me to receive a call from some individual I’ve never met, someone who has never spoken to me and has never entered a church building, and this individual is telling me about a problem he or she is confronting and asking if I can tell them what they should do. He had a fight with his live-in lover and she kicked him out. The individual has conflict with the supervisor at work and just wants to get on with life. She wonders how she can get her friends to quit gossiping behind her back. Her family is dysfunctional and it is causing a strain on her life because it is stressing her out. The person calling has serious problems and he or she want a quick fix.
They are hoping for a quick fix as the pastor steps in to make their decisions for them. However, it would be a very rare instance when I ask the one phoning about their relationship with Christ Jesus the Lord that they want to continue the conversation. Usually, they tell me that they don’t want to talk about religion—they just want a resolution of the immediate crisis. But there will be no permanent resolution for their problem if they have no relationship with Christ. I must wonder why those phoning want a pastor to talk to when they never attend a service where that pastor is delivering the message of the Lord. And why would someone want to know what the biblical solution is when they have no intention of doing what the Word teaches or they intend to be only partially obedient?
Do you recall the Parable of the Ten Minas? I refer to this parable more frequently than I could have ever imagined. I do this because this parable presents some incredibly vital truths that are necessary for any who would honour the Risen Saviour in this day. Let’s hear that parable Jesus told since it will provide us insight into our responsibility until the Master returns. “[Jesus] proceeded to tell a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. He said therefore, ‘A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, “Engage in business until I come.” But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, “We do not want this man to reign over us.” When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business. The first came before him, saying, “Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.” And he said to him, “Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.” And the second came, saying, “Lord, your mina has made five minas.” And he said to him, “And you are to be over five cities.” Then another came, saying, “Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.” He said to him, “I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?” And he said to those who stood by, “Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.” And they said to him, “Lord, he has ten minas!” “I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me”’” [LUKE 19:11-27].
If the parable of the ten minas means anything, it obviously means that Jesus expects His servants to engage in His business until He returns. If we are going to engage in His business until he returns, we must care about people, we must care about their hurts, we must care about their struggles, we must care about their addictions, we must care about their pain, we must care about their eternal destiny. If we are going to be busy with Christ’s business, we will need to see with His eyes. I’m not suggesting that we need to counsel these individuals, but I am clear that we need to warn them of eternal damnation and the offer of God’s free grace in Christ Jesus.
In our text, we witness Jesus’ response to the crowds milling about. Matthew writes, “When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” [MATTHEW 9:36].
On another occasion, two blind men came to Jesus asking Him to restore their sight. We read, “Then Jesus, deeply moved with compassion, touched their eyes, and at once they could see again” [MATTHEW 20:34 ISV].
A leper, excluded from society and friendless in a hostile world dared approach Jesus. Mark relates what happened in this way, “A leper came to Jesus and began pleading with him. [The man] fell on his knees and told him, ‘If you want to, you can make me clean.’ Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand, touched him, and told him, I do want to. Be made clean’” [MARK 1:40-41 ISV]!
Jesus was moved with deep compassion when he saw human needs. We tend to be turned off, offended, disgusted, when humanity is revealed to us. What isn’t always seen is Jesus’ response to human needs. We focus on the way in which Jesus relieved human misery by healing or by instructing His disciples to act, but there is something that may be missed.
Mark tells of Jesus showing compassion for His disciples on one occasion, only to be pressed even harder by crowds of people. Here’s the account. “The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things” [MARK 6:30-34]. Jesus responded to the need of the people, even when they didn’t recognise their need. The people were like sheep without a shepherd, so Jesus began to teach them!
The text before us testifies that when He saw the weariness of the people and the lost condition of the masses, Jesus had compassion for them. Surely, the human condition is the reason that the Master calls for labourers, since the same weariness and the same lost condition marks the inhabitants of our world today as was evident when Jesus walked the dusty trails of Judea so long ago. Lost people are stumbling without direction! They don’t even have bad direction—they are groping in darkness, they are stumbling and falling. Those living in our world are moving to be certain, but they are going nowhere. People are talking, but they really don’t make sense. People are lost and don’t realise that they are lost, and there are few to tell them they are lost! People are dying and they don’t realise they are dying. They're weary and worn and don’t realise it. They’ve been destroyed by sin and don’t realise it. And all the while, the faithful are mute, not wanting to disturb those who are already disturbed.
Man sees sin as an accident; God sees sin as an abomination. Man sees sin as zealous; God sees sin as zero. This is why the redeemed of Christ must “engage in His business” until He comes. This is why we must go forth until He returns. This is why we must have compassion like Christ. That's why we must hurt for a dying world, because the world has a void that only Jesus Christ can fill; and it is a void that Christ feels. Though we cannot fill that void, we can feel that void. And we have the answer in the Risen Saviour that can fill that awful void.
The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
THE LABOURERS ARE FEW — “[Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few’” [MATTHEW 9:37]. There is a labour shortage in God’s harvest field. There is no shortage of power, for Jesus has promised, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” [ACTS 1:8]. The Saviour also promised, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” [MATTHEW 28:18-19a]. Though power is promised, there is a deficit of labourers and the harvest is rotting in the fields.
I understand that the Faith appears to be in decline in our day. Churches are often empty, and congregations are compelled to “up their game” by making the worship more entertaining, more attractive to the modern mind. Youth are drawn to formulate their own religion that appeals to their senses. Tragically, church attendance does not seem to result in transformed lives. The divorce rate for church attenders does not differ significantly from the divorce rate for people who do not attend church. Alcohol consumption does not appear to differ between people who attend church services and those who do not attend church services. And here is what is worse still—the communication of Christ’s love does not echo from those who are regular in attendance at the services of a church. Those who should be labourers are silent in the face of the vast numbers of people who are desperately struggling because they are trapped in sin!
People need the Lord! And they do not even know they need the Lord! I understand that the Spirit of Christ must convict the sinner, but we appear to have forgotten that the Spirit of Christ employs redeemed people to communicate both the warning of the consequences of sin and the remedy for sin. Week after week I quote the words of the Apostle recorded in his letter to the saints in Rome. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” [ROMANS 10:9-10].
Have we who are redeemed forgotten the words that follow that divine appeal? The Word of God clarifies, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news’” [ROMANS 10:14-15]! How, then, is it possible that the labourers are few when this passage indicates that God has sent labourers out to declare the message of salvation. And those who are sent are the redeemed saints of God!
Rescuing the lost is not optional for the one who follows the Risen Lord of Glory. Every twice-born child of God is responsible to serve as a labourer in Christ’s harvest field. The Living God has appointed us who are saved to this great task. The Psalmist encourages us,
“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble.”
[PSALM 107:2]
If you are saved, you are to be a labourer. If you are cleansed, you are to be a labourer. If you are forgiven, you are to be a labourer. If you are set free, you are to be a labourer.
I tremble when I read the sombre words of the Wise Man:
“Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.”
[PROVERBS 24:11]
And if that charge is not sufficiently urgent, the Word appends this sobering assessment:
“If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?”
[PROVERBS 24:12]
God knows our puerile excuses for why we don’t tell others of the life He has provided in Christ. The Lord God has empowered us and we have no excuse for our disobedience.
PRAY EARNESTLY — “[Jesus] said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’” [MATTHEW 9:37-38]. Those who follow the Saviour are charged to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest.” Specifically, those who follow the Saviour are charged to plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest. I have no doubt that if you and I accept the responsibility to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest,” our Master will answer. And I would anticipate that He will answer by speaking to us, saying, “You go into my vineyard too” [see MATTHEW 20:1-7].
I am humbled at the thought that the Master tells us that as His followers we are invited to participate in the growth of His Kingdom through a specific prayer. To be certain, we pray for those who are lost to come to faith in the Son of God. We pray for those who are blinded by sin to have their eyes opened so that they can see the glorious light of the Risen Saviour. However, we are here commanded to pray a specific prayer that the Lord of the harvest would send out labourers into His harvest! Jesus commands each of us who follow Him to pray specifically that He would send out labourers. And the labourers we are to request are those who will work in His harvest fields. It would be reasonable to understand that we are to pray for those who will bring in His harvest of souls.
You may recall a parable Jesus told about a nobleman who needed to go away in order that he might receive a kingdom. However, this nobleman said that after he had received the kingdom, he would return. He called ten of his servants, giving them ten minas. Then the nobleman charged these servants, “Engage in business until I come” [see LUKE 19:13]. The understanding was that they were to utilise what they had received to conduct business in the name of the nobleman who was their master. We understand from reading the parable that Jesus is the master and the servants are we who bear His Name.
Now, here is the thing that you and I must confront—if we are going to engage in business until He comes, this means that every member of Christ’s Body must understand that the Master has charged him or her to use what they possess to conduct the Lord’s business. When you were saved, Christ placed His Spirit in you and entrusted to you the gifts necessary for building His church and required to advance his Kingdom. Clearly, the Master is calling for labourers. Until he comes, go! Witness, share your faith, evangelise! The Master this day is calling workers in this congregation to go until He comes. But the question that must confront each of us who claim to follow the Master this day is, “Are we doing what He commanded?”
God created the sun to shine in the day and it shines in the day. God created the moon to shine at night and the moon reflects the light of the sun so that the moon shines at night. Is it not interesting that these heavenly bodies do what God created them to do? How is it, then, that we who are called by the Name of the Risen Saviour are created to bring others into this Holy Faith, and yet we content ourselves with resting in our pews? How is it that we can be satisfied to imagine that we can pay others to do what we are commanded to do? Is the reason we don’t obey because we do not know the mind of the Master? Is it because we only believe Christ is our Lord in theory rather than accepting His commands as solemn charges to be obeyed? Is it because we are yet rebellious at heart, never having been born from above?
Jesus truly cared for people. People were not just a number to Christ the Lord. People were not just a statistic to Jesus Christ.
Several questions arise as I read these words. First, why would Jesus order us to specifically ask that He would send forth labourers? Isn’t Christ sovereign? Aren’t we taught that He speaks and it is done? Wouldn’t you think that Jesus would need only say, “Go,” to us as His servants and as His servants we would go? Why, then, is it necessary for Him to order us to plead with Him for labourers? Perhaps the reason is that we are not eager servants. Perhaps we need to be reminded that we are indeed servants and not masters.
We struggle with our position. We need to be reminded, as Jesus reminded His disciples in an earlier day, “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table?’ Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink?’ Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty’” [LUKE 17:7-10].
I also wonder who these labourers might be? Among the members of our congregation, who would we anticipate will fulfil these positions? To be certain, we can easily imagine that the labourers we seek are pastors and evangelists. Surely, we rejoice as men among us give themselves to prepare for lives dedicated to ministry. We find that our investment in obtaining training for more effective service honours the Lord. Our men will pursue a life dedicated to the pastoral ministry, or they will commit themselves to planting churches, or they will even pursue a life of service as evangelists. However, the context of the Master’s charge would indicate that He seeks each member of the congregation to serve in His harvest fields. Every member of our congregation is called to be a labourer, telling neighbours of Christ the Lord, praying for and speaking to friends as we encourage them to look to Christ, and especially praying for and pleading with our families to put their faith in the Saviour. In the context of our message this day, ensure that you pray for labourers even when you do not know the names of those whom Christ will appoint in answer to your pleas.
Again, I wonder how frequently I should pray for labourers. The verb that Jesus used implies intensity. The expectation is that we are to beg for the Lord to send labourers into His harvest fields. The perception is that we are to share His sense of urgency. The words that Jesus spoke imply that His servants will persist in asking for labourers. The Master is saying that we are not excused from praying for Him to supply labourers until the task of telling those of this dying world has at last reached everyone. And that task will not be complete until Jesus comes. We will not be excused from the need to pray for labourers until Jesus returns, because our world is populated with men and women who are still groping in darkness.
What about you, my brother? What about you, my sister? What about you? Can the Lord count on you to go until he comes? Can the Lord count on you to go until he comes? And will you pray, asking Him to supply labourers? Will you continue praying until that glorious day when He returns or until He calls you home? And as you pray, will you say “Amen” by offering yourself as one to fulfil the Master’s request? As one who answers Christ’s call for labourers, is there a special someone whom He is placing on your heart even now? Is there not one someone for whom you will accept responsibility to tell of Christ even this day? Amen!
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Major Harold Hill considers William Booth’s legacy – 100 years on, “Vision for the Lord or Lost Vision?” War Cry, 23 February 2013, pp 12-13, Vision for the Lost or Lost Vision? | The Salvation Army, accessed 22 August 2024
[3] A. W. Tozer, Alive in the Spirit, James L. Snyder (ed.), (Bethany House, 2016) pg. 44
