Joining the Harvest
Matthew 9:35-38
(Preached to a mission’s church in Campeche, Mexico)
Tonight I want to share with you a picture of the heart of Jesus. In Matthew 9, beginning in verse thirty-five we have a marvelous disclosure of what motivated the ministry of Jesus. He came to heal, and to reach out to sinful people who deserved only the judgment of God. But such is the heart of the Savior that he reached out in love to the undeserving. He is still doing that today, and he is inviting us to join Him in reaching our world with the good news of the Gospel.
“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (36) But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. (37) Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. (38) Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest."
1. WE MUST SEE WHAT JESUS SEES
It says “but” when Jesus “saw the multitudes. He was moved with compassion.” In other words, he did not see them but he saw their need. There are now 6.2 billion people in the world today. Multitudes in Campeche, in Mexico and around the world who are lost in their sins. Jesus compared them to “sheep having no shepherd,” “weary and scattered.” He saw their lost condition. He saw them as sheep who are lost without a shepherd. Those who should have been their shepherds were largely responsible for their confusion and hopelessness. The religious leaders of their day, like those found in Mexico and other places today offer a religion that added burdens instead of lifting them. Many of those who should be shepherds are actually keeping people out of the heaven but distorting and contradicting the word of God. They are leading the lost to be content with themselves, telling the lost that they work their way into heaven, by participating in some ritual. I have witnessed people walking on their knees done the aisle of a cathedral trying to gain God’s attention. I have seen people beating themselves with whips to prove their sincerity of their repentance. I have even seen people allow themselves to be crucified to gain God’s forgiveness. I want to shout, “Get up, get up, Jesus has paid it all. What you want God’s offering to you, all you must do is accept it.”
Consequently the people are left weary, desolate and defenseless. Jesus knew that because they were without God and they were therefore without hope. Do we see people like that? And do we pity them? Do we feel compassion for them? That is our need, to feel compassion because of their need. Jesus saw the multitude and was moved with compassion for them. May we do likewise.
One of my most favorite New Testament word pictures is the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) which shows the compassionate heart of God. The Prodigal son was walking home with his head bowed low with shame. His father sees his son, who has spent all his money, ran with the wrong crowd, and miserably failed his family. The loving father looks past the sin and despair and sees the son that he loves and rushes down the road to put his arms around him.
On another occasion reported in John 4: 35 after having a conversation with the Samarian woman at the well Jesus spoke to his disciples. “Do you not say, There are still four months and then comes the harvest? Behold I say to you lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest.” It has the sound of a rebuke. Had the disciples regarded Samaria as a most unlikely field? He they failed to see the harvest all around them?
Jesus did not pity and do nothing but he said get the sickle and harvest them. Jesus did not see them as always being in that situation but he saw them being transformed into a different sphere. He saw the lost being saved. He saw sinners becoming saints. He saw the guilty being set free. He saw the unforgiven being forgiven. He saw those deserving of hell getting grace. Instead of moaning and groaning about the bad state of affairs he magnified the expectancy and hopefulness that is anticipated in the harvest.
Do we see those around us as potential saints? We see so much getting worse and worse, that we never see the potential in the world. But where there is a lost soul and where grace still reigns supreme, there is hope and there is a potential saint. No matter how “good” or how “bad” they are, there is potential.
He cautions his disciples to lift up their eyes from their own personal limitations. What are the limitations that keep you from being a part of reaching the world for Christ? Is it age? It is amazing to me that we are always either to young or too old to do something for God. Is it Health? Is Educational limitations? Jesus wants us to lift our eyes away from those things that would limit us and look at how enormous the harvest is.
He reminds them that there is urgency to the task. “Don’t Say that there is plenty of time.” People are dying everyday, and going to a Christless eternity. The challenge to the church of today is that there that untold millions are still untold. There are still thousand of language group that so still do not have a true gospel witness.
We must not only see what Jesus sees but
2. WE MUST FEEL WHAT JESUS FEELS
“He was moved with compassion for them.” The word “compassion,” means to feel the pain of another person in your own heart. Jesus was sick at heart, burdened and broken over his lost city and nation. In Luke 19:41 that as Jesus looked over Jerusalem he was moved by their spiritual condition. “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,..” As you look over the city of Campeche and the surrounding region your heart should be moved, by the condition of those lost in traditional religion, in spiritual darkness of all kinds. Oh how we need brokenhearted people who will weep over their lost neighbors, friends and family. How desperately we need people who will weep over their cities and communities.
We must not only feel what Jesus feels but,
3. WE MUST DO WHAT JESUS DID
We are told in verse thirty-six, “He was moved with
compassion for them,..” That compassion led to action.
First, he asked them to pray for laborers. “Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. (38) Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." The first thing to do is pray. Why must we pray? Because this is the Lord’s work. What is impossible with men is possible with God. If there is going to be a great reaping of the harvest it will because of God. The harvest we want is impossible with us. The new birth is a miracle. It is based on God’s power.
Next he asked them to go as laborers. It is through prayer we will gain the compassion we need to see the harvest as they truly are and it is through prayer that we will see that there is great potential in the harvest and it is through prayer that we will ask for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers.
In the days of Christ’s ministry on the earth the laborers were “few” and they still are today. How can we ask God to send forth someone else without first saying, “Lord, send me.” The ones who he had commanded to pray for laborers became workers themselves. It is impossible to pray regularly for the salvation of a loved one, a neighbor, a friend or a co-worker and not be moved to do something. We can not help but be moved to be the “someone” that God would use ourselves. When we pray that God would send someone we place ourselves at his disposal to be one of the workers in reaching the lost.
Beginning in Matthew 10, verse five, Jesus sent them out. They went from house to house, sharing the good news and winning people to Jesus. And that is what Jesus still expects us to do.
Reaping a harvest among sinners is hard work. It will cost some effort and some time. It is not easy work. You have to roll up your sleeves, you have to sweat a little, and you have to get dirty. And few are willing to do that.
There are some important things that we should remember about harvest time.
Harvest time is a time of great opportunity, when workers are in great demand.
Harvest time is a time of tremendous exertion. The crops are not brought in without a great deal of work.
Harvest time is a time of great intensity and urgency. When it is time to harvest everything else is secondary.
Harvest time is a time of tremendous joy. We are told in Psalms 126:6, “He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. Bringing his sheaves with him.”
Conclusion – To Join the Harvest we must,
We must see what Jesus sees!
We must feel what Jesus feels!
We must do what Jesus did!
