Matthew 9:35-38
HALL Wesleyan Church
Pastor Dan
06 14 2020
“Try to pick up this Pencil” exercise.
Verses for Today: Matthew 9:35-38 & on into Chapter
10
Would you agree with me
• That it
is Probably Not a Good Idea
o To
speed-read through the Bible?
If you did speed-read the Bible,
• You may
get the overall story
o And you
may even improve
Your
comprehension of it
• BUT IF I
was a betting man
o I bet you
would miss a Great Deal.
God has put so much into His Word.
• That Even
the smallest of the Details
o Is So
Packed with Meaning
o Which we
Need to Understand.
And for Example
The Reading for Today
• Matthew
9:35-38 and On into Chapter 10
o We find A
Great Amount of Details
And the
Least-Of-These
• Are As
Important
As the
Whole Story
• Of events
themselves.
God Is In The Details!
We Begin with having a Scene
• Where
Jesus looks out
o And His
Heart just breaks.
There are just so many
• Way Too
Many who need healing!
Vs 36; When He saw the crowds,
He had compassion on them
because they were confused and helpless,
like sheep without a shepherd.
I believe we all Understand
That the Lord is ALWAYS in Control
BUT right here;
I believe this Is One of those times
When we See Our Jesus
Flustered,
Rattled,
And Anxious.
There are just too many of Us
Who are
Lost and Without HOPE!
Then we hear He speak to the disciples in vs 37:
“The harvest is great,
But the workers are few.
38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest;
ask Him to send more workers into His fields.’”
Right Here – (It Is So B-E-A-Utiful
Jesus - Our Lord - Our God
Is Asking for Help from US!
And then, Jesus went on and
He Commissions the 12 disciples
• And they
are Commissioned to do WHAT?
o To HELP
the People!
We don’t see it here too much
But let’s take a look at Luke 6:12-16
6:12 “One day Jesus went up on a mountain to pray.
He prayed all night to God.
13 In the morning He called His followers to Him.
He chose twelve of them and called them. 14 There were…”
Have you Ever Noticed a pattern of Jesus’?
• BEFORE
Jesus does ANYTHING,
• He Prays
So, what should we gain from this?
Think About It Some!
I mean,
• Isn’t
Jesus the Son of God?
• Isn’t
Jesus GOD?
But – Yet – HE PRAYS - FIRST!
BEFORE DOING ANYTHING – HE PRAYS
Do you believe there May Be a Lesson Here for US?
• Do you
think – IF GOD PRAYS FIRST BEFORE…
o Who are
we to Do Anything Different –
BUT – How many of us DO First and then
• When
something Goes Wrong –
o Then we
Pray?
Jesus Prays First
• And Then
- He picked the 12 Disciples
o And they
are Named in Chapter 10 for us.
• And in
the Rest of Chapter 10 -
o It Lists
their Instructions for their Mission
o And their
Ministry
• And, as
Christians
o This is
Our Instructions for Our Mission
o And Our
Ministry
But when we are reading this –
• What is
Our First Reaction?
o Do we not
Read-On
o Maybe
Even in Haste
o Because:
We want
to hear what happens.
What are
their challenges?
What are
their successes?
BUT – It doesn’t offer us that information,
• Does it?
Within Our IMPATIENCE:
• All we
hear is some lengthy instructions
• And we
NEVER-Ever Hear – of what Happens.
And JUST Maybe Even Worse than that,
• Is that
We Fail to see
o What Our
Lack of Having Patience
o Has
Really Done to us.
So - EVERYONE – STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING
• &
CLOSE YOUR EYES
o TAKE A
DEEP BREATH - IN
o HOLD – IT
And PRAY
o THEN –
LET – IT - OUT
o BREATH -
IN
o HOLD – IT
And PRAY
o THEN –
LET – IT - OUT
NOW – You can Open your Eyes
SEE - We Need to Slow Down
And Then – We need to look at the details.
"When Jesus saw the crowds,
He had “COMPASSION” for them." (9:36)
Compassion is ‘The Word Of the Week’ in your Bulletins.
The True Meaning of the Word is:
• A
suffering with another;
• Painful
sympathy;
• Having a
Sensation of Sorrow
o Which is
excited by the Distress
Or
Misfortunes of another;
• Having
Pity for another;
"Compassion."
• It is
used a lot these days.
BUT Did You Know,
• Within
the New Testament
o The Word
‘Compassion’
o Is almost
always used
When
explaining a feeling
Of God
(and of Jesus).
HOWEVER - There is One other time (ONLY ONE)
• And that
is When it is used
o To
describe another human being
o And that
one -- appropriately enough –
Is the
Good Samaritan.
THIS should Alert us
• It should
Tell us
o That HERE
Is an Important Detail.
The Whole Reason for the Mission
• This
Ministry
o Which the
disciples are sent out upon
o Which We
are Sent Out Upon
• Is for
The “COMPASSION” of the Son of God
And This Is Very Important
God’s Mission,
Always Starts with a
Compassionate Heart!
The Compassionate Heart of God.
"Compassion" in the biblical languages,
• Literally
means "to feel in Your innards"
o To feel
in Your Gut,
o In Your
Entrails, or in Your bowels,
But – Today,
• We clean
this up some
o And we
say, It is In your Heart!
It Is In The DETAILS Where we find Jesus.
He Has Compassion for His People of Israel
• They are
“Confused and Helpless”
o And He
Feels for them,
He hurts
for them,
He aches
for them.
His people are Being:
o Harassed
o Confused
(NLT)
o Helpless
(NLT)
o Fainted,
(KJV)
o Scattered
(KJV)
o Troubled
(NLV)
And WHY?
WHY Was This?
• Because
they were "like sheep without a shepherd."
(Story of the woman in Mexico)
Is this person being Harassed
o Confused
(NLT)
o Helpless
(NLT)
o Fainted,
(KJV)
o Scattered
(KJV)
o Troubled
(NLV)
Of Course NOT!
But
most of the time, these are the people who we think about!
Do these People say they are “In-Need” YES
• BUT,
• Who
DOESN’T NEED Something?
• But when
you come to the idea of
o ‘TRUE –
NEED’,
There is
a difference.
(Story of the young boy who was at camp)
These are the Ones Jesus is talking about.
• The Ones
who have no Hope to reach for.
o The Ones
Who are Truly Lost!
Jesus is talking about those who are:
• Depressed!
• Sick!
• Oppressed!
• And/Or
Discouraged!
o Those Who
Are Broken!
They Are the Ones Who Need HOPE!
They Need A Good Shepherd!
• A Good
Ruler.
• A Good
Master.
• God!
This is a
• Much
Larger
• And
Deeper
• And Even
a Much Messier Type of ‘Need’
o Then what
we normally think of
When we
think of ‘The Needy’.
Jesus is speaking of the
• Most
Profound Sort of Need
o Which
people have.
And the CURE for such a Profound-Need
• Is NOT
o A Pay
Raise,
o Or a new
health care plan that includes Dental,
o Or maybe
even Therapy,
o Nor is it
time away – on a Fabulous Vacation,
That Isn’t the Cure that Jesus saw.
They needed a True and Good shepherd
And See – It is in the Details
It is Within the Details of His Word.
ALL OF THIS Was Offered within Just One Verse.
We should Never be in a Hurry
• when we
Read His Word.
Because, IF we Do,
Then We Will Miss Out on Meeting God
Within His Details in His Word!!!
Is Your ‘Compassion’
“Tuned-in” Correctly?
What happens to our,
• To your
Compassion
o When you
are confronted
By a HUGE
NEED?
We All Know What Huge Needs Are:
Right?
• Earth
Quakes
• Tornados
• Tsunami
• Hurricane
• Flooding
• Fire
• Volcano
• Drought
•
Now – that Was NOT Very Fair of me.
Those are Not ‘NEEDS’.
Those are some things which can causes
‘Huge Needs’!!!
BUT - Some Great NEEDS are:
• Massive
Starvation,
• Displacement
& Disfigurement as a result of war,
• Homelessness,
• High
Rates of Divorce
• Out-of-wedlock
births,
• But what
is even worse – Abortion,
• Out of
Control Diseases,
• And a
Loss of All Hope – Suicide.
When we speak of these things,
We usually Call them Tragic! or Catastrophic!
But Jesus looks at these types of needs as Opportunities!
"The harvest is plentiful" 9:37
Jesus compares these Great Needs
As to a Bumper Crop!
The Wheat in the Fields is Ripe
And it Needs to be Harvested.
BUT – HERE IS THE THING
Usually - When We Talk About Missions!
• I Mean –
o When we
Talk about
Working Outside
of the Church!
You Can Usually See
• The
Attention,
o The
Interest of the Group - Just Slip Away
There is
the Rolling of the Eyes,
The
Lowering of the Head,
The Shift
in the Posture,
And The
Wondering Looking Around the Room.
I get it.
I hear the Moans For our Attention!
I hear the Groans For our Moneys!
And I hear the Pleas For our Time!
BUT - There are so many Great Causes out there,
• How can
we Help Everyone?
And I am not for sure if this is Just a Scam.
• You know,
there are just so many out there.
Do You Hear those Voices TO?
BUT THAT IS
JUST THE EVIL TALKING TO US!
Some will become Overwhelmed
• To what
is happening!
Some will become Cold Hearted
• And Turn
from the Calling!
And some will have their hearts turn “Hard”
• And will
walk away!
But for some – They See What Our Lord Sees.
And this Means an Opportunity for them.
• There are
people who Need to Hear
o The Truth
of the Gospel!
‘YES – To Those who Sees the Opportunity
• The
Harvest is Plentiful.’
SO – What is Needed?
• Laborers.
• Workers.
• We NEED
MORE WORKERS
o To Do
What?
To Bring
In the Crop.
OK Then - What do you say?
• In your
bulletins this week,
o You will
notice a loose...
BUT – Wait a minute!
• This is
NOT what Jesus Did!
DID Jesus Ask for Volunteers.
Let us Look More Closely
• And SEE
the Details of What Jesus Did.
SEE – There are 3 Main Points Here!
What Did Jesus Say?
37 “He said to His disciples,
‘The harvest is great,
but the workers are few.
38 So, PRAY to the Lord
who is in charge of the harvest;
ask Him to send more workers
into His fields.’”
YES - The Need is Great,
That Is for Sure
So, What Should We do About It?
Pray,
Pray to God –
• And ASK
HIM to Do something about it.
You know,
• This is
so - un-American
o And It Is
So Impractical!!!
BUT We NEED to Take Note Here!!!
• WE DO NOT
o MAKE
o Or
APPOINT OURSELVES
o Into
Being Missionaries
o Or Into
Any Other Co-Worker of God.
NO!!!
We are to ask God To Do It.
This is so Hard for us to Understand!
We Must Remember –
• It is NOT
Our Mission!
o It is
God's.
And He-Is-The-One-Who-Is-In-Control!
Do you Ever Find yourself saying something like:
“All I
can do is to Pray?”
Tell Me – What Value
• Do You
REALLY
o Place
Upon Prayer?
Have you Ever Wondered
• Why do
some people seem to just float through Life?
• I am Not
saying that things don’t happen to them.
• Of
Course, they do.
• But it
Just Does Seem to Affect Them.
• It is
almost like water on a duck’s back.
Why do some CHURCHES Grow and others do not?
• We are
not saying that within the non-growing churches,
o That the
People don’t pray.
• But for
some reason, there are certain Churches
o That Just
seem to continue to be prosper
In ways
that others do not.
Have you Ever Wondered
Of Those WHYS?
NOW - I am sure that there are lots of reasons
• Which we
can grab at and use for Reasons,
o BUT THE
BIBLICAL ANSWER WOULD BE:
That
These People PRAY!
Have you ever heard of this saying?
Where there is Little Prayer,
there is Little Mission.
Prayer is what gets our Wants
• In-Line
with God's Will.
That is absolutely necessary –
• It Is
Essential
o IF God
o Is going
to give us
Any
Authority over Anything.
#1 is: We Must Pray!
And Here is the 2nd Item which we need to Catch Ahold of!
We Need to Listen!!!
See Jesus is speaking of Laborers, or Workers.
Are Not
• “Laborers”
& "Worker",
o Aren’t
They both very “Modest” Words.
But We know from Jesus’s Prayer
that He Did Not Pray For:
• And We
Should Not Pray to God to send:
o The
Heroes!
o The
All-Stars!
o The
Experts!
o Nor the
Innovators!
But Rather – He prayed for God
• To send
“WORKERS”.
We are often So Quick to Pray for God to ACT
• But we
are So Stubborn when it comes to
o Us Acting
on what we Hear from God.
We say things like:
• I am not
sure if I heard Him correctly!
• Or –
Maybe I miss-understood what He was saying!
• Or – I
Just Don’t See HOW I can do what He is asking!
When we Pray –
• We Need
to Listen!
o Of Course
–
You don’t
know HOW it will all work.
o His is
God and You Are Not!
o It is
supposed to be that way!
You have 2 Ears for a Reason.
“LISTEN TO HIM”
SEE – Way-Too-Often
The Main Reason WHY we fail –
• Is
because
o We are
‘Doing’ the Wrong JOB!
#1 – We Pray
#2 – Then We Listen
#3 – We Need to Follow the Instructions
It just makes since
And IF We Begin with the Wrong Job!
• IF We
Take-Up the Wrong Job!
• How Do We
Expect to be able to Fulfill it?
OFTEN …
We see a Need
• So, we
‘Fill’ that Need!
But The Thing Is:
We May Not Be
o The Right
“PERSON”,
Who is
Best for that JOB!
This is the WHY we get so Confused & Frustrated
It Is Because - We Started Out Wrong!!!
IT Is So Simple –
• ALL TOO
Often,
o We are
doing the WRONG JOB!
SEE - We Must Understand:
Jesus Is Not Praying for:
• Those who
would Till the Ground.
• Or for
those who would Remove
o All of
the Rocks from the fields.
• Or even
for those who would Fertilize the Ground.
NO!
Jesus Is Not Praying:
• For those
who Plant the Seeds.
• Not Even
For those who Water the Seeds.
He Is Not Even Praying for:
• Those to
come along and Pull the weeds.
But Rather
Jesus is Praying for
• Those Who
Will Harvest!!!
That is who Jesus Is Praying For:
• People
Who Are Willing to HARVEST for the Lord.
Allow me to break this down some.
Have you ever Heard of this Saying:
• You can
lead a horse to water
o But You
Can’t Make Him Drink?
Well, the same is True of Bring People to Christ.
We are called:
• To SHARE
our Testimony with others.
• To
“OBVIOUSLY” LIVE a Life of God.
• To visit
with others Sharing WHAT God is DOING in Your Life.
• To Pray
for Them.
• To Invite
them.
BUT – We are NOT the Converter!
That is the Holy Spirit’s Job.
He Is Best at That.
We are to Just be their Friend
And to
always have our Door Open to them.
BUT – What Good Is It IF we just hang around those who are
Not Thirsty?
10:7 “Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is
near.”
10:12 “When you enter the home,
give it your blessing.
13 If it turns out to be a worthy home,
let your blessing stand;
if it is not, take back the blessing.
14 If any household or town refuses to welcome you
or listen to your message,
shake its dust from your feet as you leave.
Jesus is telling us –
We are the Harvest Crew!
So, Harvest!
And Harvest Well!!!
Jesus is looking for the Harvest Crew!
• To Drive
the Combines.
• To Drive
the Grain Carts
• To Walk
with those who are Looking for Him
• And to
Help and to Love upon those
o Who are
Ready
And when you Begin to do the RIGHT JOB
Hold On – Because God is Ready to Go!!!
#1 Pray
#2 Listen for your Calling –
#3 Follow the Instruction
And then Harvest!
