HARVEST WORKERS WANTED
Matt. 9:37-38; 10:1
INTRODUCTION
A. ONE WAY OF SALVATION
1. A Chinese Confucian scholar was converted to Christ. He explained his reasons to his friends by a story:
2. “A man fell into a dark, dirty, slimy pit & he tried to climb out, but couldn’t. Confucius came along and saw the man in the pit and said, “Poor man, if he’d listened to me he would’ve never gotten into that pit!”
3. Buddha came along & saw the man in the pit and said, “Poor man, if you’ll come up here, I’ll help you!”
4. “Then Jesus Christ came along, saw me, and said, ‘Poor man!’ And jumped down into the pit and lifted me out!” [John Pollock, A Foreign Devil in China, p. 54]
5. All the world’s religions claim to save you by your good works. But NO ONE will be justified by their works because we’re all sinners. Only through Jesus Christ can we be saved because He bore our sins and died for us on the cross.
6. No other person ever died for your sins. There’s NO OTHER ATONEMENT but through Jesus, Who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6.
B. OUR MISSION
1. It’s never been more important for Christians to speak out than now. We have freedom, support from our government, police protection, satellites & the internet to make it possible to witness to people here and around the world.
2. We may be the Last Generation – it’s our task to tell the story of Jesus to our generation.
C. TEXT & THESIS
1. 35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on 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 workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” Matt. 9:35-38; 10:1
2. When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion, a deep yearning. He wasn’t indifferent about them. He had genuine love, not condemnation. That’s how we should be toward the lost. Jesus made a parallel between the lost and a giant field of grain awaiting harvest.
3. Jesus said 5 things about the Lost needing to be saved:
I. THERE ARE MULTITUDES OF THEM
A. ALMOST AN INFINITE FIELD is pictured
1. Some US states – like Nebraska – grow corn on its flat country, and it looks like an ocean.
2. The Lord Jesus sees the billions in Africa, Asia, India, Russia, South America, and beyond, as like great field of grain waiting to be harvested. The concept of reaching so many boggles the mind.
B. THEY MUST BE REACHED OR PERISH
1. The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912; 1,500 drowned, 700 survived. Although 20 life boats were launched -- they were only partly filled. Most of them paddled to safety away from the sinking ship, fearing being swamped by a crush of survivors.
2. Survivor Eva Hart said, "I saw all the horror of the sinking, and I heard, even more dreadful, the cries of drowning people." Only one lifeboat, No. 14, rowed back to the scene after the ship sank and chased cries in the darkness, seeking and saving a precious few.
3. Recent research has uncovered that each lifeboat was equipped with a wind-proof lantern and investigators found that most of the rowboats put their lanterns out so the desperate people couldn’t find their boat! ("Titanic Lifeboats Extinguished their lights” by Senan Molony, 12-6-11.)
4. They didn’t want their boat to be found! They were alive and they didn’t care if the others drowned. That’s like Christians who say, “I’m in the boat going to Heaven, that’s all I care about.” NO! What if the situation were reversed and you were in the water – would you want them to ignore you?
5. God help us! Don’t let us be guilty of such cowardess and selfishness that we hide our light when people are drowning all around us! How shall we face You Jesus, when You suffered so much to save them?
II. THE INFINITE VALUE OF THE LOST
A. THE VALUE OF CORN & WHEAT
1. Corn & wheat are valuable commodities. In 2024, corn farmers in the U.S. grew 14.9 billion bushels of corn valued at $64.7 billion. The wheat was valued at $6.5 billion.
2. Without good harvests, millions will starve. When a successful harvest is concluded, there’s great rejoicing.
B. THINK OF THE VALUE OF A SOUL
1. THE HUMAN SPIRIT IS NOT CAPABLE OF EXTINCTION. We’re more than just hunks of flesh with cloth on them. Paul said in 1 Thess. 5:23 that we’re 3-part beings: body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23).
2. Our bodies will grow old and die, but our spirit will survive death. Paul said that “to be absent from the body, [is] to be present with the Lord” 2 Cor. 5:8.
3. Jesus said, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” Mark 8:36-37. This points out that our souls are worth more than all the riches of this world!
4. THE REAL MEASURE OF YOUR WORTH is the high price God allowed His Son to pay to redeem you! He was tortured, beaten, humiliated, and died to save you! God thought your soul was that valuable! Do we look at the people around us as worth that much?
III. DANGER OF THEM NOT BEING HARVESTED
A. NOT ENOUGH WORKERS
1. Imagine a landowner – with great fields full of grain, but there’s not any workers around to harvest it. He would be in a desperate situation.
2. In the PARABLE OF THE LANDOWNER who hired workers in the marketplace (Matt. 20:1-16), Jesus told how the landowner (representing God) came looking for laborers at 8 a.m., 10, noon, 2, 4, 7, 9, 11 p.m. What’s shocking is that he landowner (God) stayed there all day looking for workers, even into the night! That’s how desperate God is for workers in the harvest!
3. Where have all the soul-winners gone? 80% of Christians have never witnessed to an unbeliever. Only one out of 200 has ever led someone to Christ.
4. Are we too tired, busy, lazy, preoccupied? Are we choosing: Things over souls? Time over eternity? The temporary over the permanent? Become a personal witness! Let souls wake you up at night.
B. ENEMIES OF THE HARVEST
1. In the natural, many birds eat wheat/corn. Then there’s deer, racoons, rabbits, mice, cattle, wild pigs, squirrels, rats, etc. who destroy it. Then there’s bugs -- beetles, worms, caterpillars, grasshoppers, etc. Then there’s diseases, pollution, contamination. There’s weather phenomena – extreme cold or heat, excessive rain or drought, high winds or long cloud-cover.
2. To summarize, there are many enemies of a good harvest! What a tragedy it would be to avoid all these enemies and have a magnificent harvest standing there, but to have no people to bring the harvest in – and it just spoil, decompose, and waste away!
C. THE DEVIL IS GOING AFTER THEM
1. Satan is using every means to deceive, to sidetrack, to mislead, to lie to the ignorant masses. The devil has many workmen/women: indoctrinating the lost through destructive cultural groups, faulty education, and demon-inspired music. Jesus sees the masses as “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
2. Think how mixed-up people are today: how many mentally disturbed, confused, helpless, and addicted people. There’s only one hope for them, only one light in the darkness, only one escape from sin – Jesus Christ! Only He can set their hearts and minds in right order and show them their purpose.
IV. THE MULTITUDES ARE ACCESSIBLE
A. “WHITE TO HARVEST”
1. Jesus said, “YOU...SAY, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’. I TELL YOU, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” John 4:35.
2. We don’t see the opportunity, but He does, because He sees into the hearts. The lost all around us are ready to hear & receive the Gospel.
3. WE’RE IN THE REDEMPTION BUSINESS! Nothing is more important than keeping people out of Hell! Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. That’s why the Church exists. When we miss our opportunities, there’s no do-overs, there won’t be any reruns replayed. This is our finest hour!
B. OPENNESS NOW, EVEN IN THE U.S.!
1. America is ready for harvest. People are more open to the Gospel than they’ve been in two generations!
2. There’s a notable trend among Gen. Z (born 1997-2012) of increased spirituality and a return to religion.
3. Many articles highlight this trend; “Why Gen Z is Returning to Religion” New York Post; “Is Gen Z experiencing a religious revival?” Christian Post; “Young Men are leading a religious resurgence” Axios; “Gen Z is Halting Christianity’s decline” City Journal.
4. What’s strange is that our culture sees their openness to God, but does the Church? Are you aware that the harvest is all around you?
V. THE IMMEDIATE NEED
A. URGENCY – CAN’T BE POSTPONED
1. A harvest can’t be brought in over a long period of time; there’s only a short window of opportunity.
2. The only way is to send out a large number of workers, or for a smaller force of workers to labor extra-long in the fields.
B. OUR OBEDIENCE MATTERS
1. A man had a dream. In his dream he entered Heaven. The brightness, angels, singing & rejoicing, the happiness he felt, and most of all – seeing God in all His glory – filled him with heavenly wonder & joy.
2. An angel came up to him and said, “Come, I want to show you something” and led him to one of the balconies of Heaven. “Look down there” he pointed. The man saw a dark world; “That’s the world I came from!”
3. The angel said, “What do you see?” “I see multitudes of blindfolded people, many of them going over a cliff (to their destruction).” The angel asked, “Will you stay here and enjoy Heaven, or will you return to earth a little longer and tell them about this beautiful place?” (He had been a discouraged worker.)
4. He awoke from his dream and said, “I’ve never wished I was dead since!” And he became an ardent witness to the lost! [Walter Knight’s 3000 Illus., p. 644, “Changed By a Dream.”]
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Assemblies of God missionary, Randy Hurst, made numerous trips to a Southeast Asian country. A different driver than normal picked him up at the airport. Hurst said, “How much for the trip? $25?” The taxi man said, “No, I do it for free!” Hurst said, “Nothing is free!”
2. The driver said, “I was a bulldozer mechanic, but now I’m a taxi-evangelist!” He pulled out a tape recorder. “The cost of ride? Preach 3 sermons: one 10 minute long, one 15 minute, one 20 minute, so I can play them by length of the rides.”
3. Hurst said, “I don’t have one ready; I’ll mail you one from the U.S.” The Taxi-Man said, “No! I’ll have passenger tomorrow who will go to Hell if you not obey God!” Hurst agreed to one 10-minute long sermon and recorded it during that trip.
4. 10 years later he met the taxi man again, “How many have come to Christ in your taxi?” “Very many!” He told about a businessman who’s business had failed & he was going to commit suicide. He heard the tape, was saved, and now was a Pastor!
B. THE CALL
1. God, inspire us to have the same spirit of soul-winning as David the Taxi-driver!
2. How many of you know you need to do more to win people to Christ? Will you pray and ask God to open your eyes and give you a burden for lost people?
3. How many would say, “Pastor I want to make my life right with God? I need forgiveness of my sins from God.”
4. PRAYER. THE LORD’S SUPPER.
