(Note: some elements borrowed from a talk on the same subject by Mike Jordahl
Text: Matthew ix.35-38
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.”
Part I--The Nature of Jesus' Ministry
--Broadly to many people
What characteristics does this broad ministry have? Jesus does four things.
1. "Jesus went"
Where the people were, Jesus went. This shows the initiating love of God. He loved first, and goes to sinners. This is seen most clearly in the act of incarnation.
2. "Jesus taught"
Light in a dark place, revealing things previously not known, things that could not be known. This is Jesus in his office of prophet, revealing the mind of God unto salvation. The things of God cannot be known unless revealed by God.
3. "Jesus preached"
Teaching reaches the arena of the mind, preaching the arena of the will. Jesus taught, but the message of the kingdom was a call. It required action. Jesus preached "Come to me!"
4. "Jesus healed"
Here Jesus represents the result of his preaching. All those that he healed of physical sickness still died. He was showing to us a picture of true healing. Disease in the body is like sin to the soul. We cannot cure it, but in coming to Christ, we are healed.
Summary: Here is the ministry of Christ. He enters someone's life, reveals to them truth, calls them to come to him in response to this truth, and then heals them when they come. Our ministry should also reflect this.
--Deeply to a few
The entire time Jesus is doing all these things, he takes with him a small group of men. Where he goes, they go. What he teaches and preaches, they hear. When he heals, they see. He processes this ministry with them, explaining it to them, and gradually increasing their participation in it.
His goal in all this? To reproduce himself. He is laying the roots of a ministry that will go out to all the earth.
Part II--The Problem Jesus Sees
Jesus is God. What he sees is the true nature of things, and so we must strive to align our vision with his. When you look at people, no matter what is going on outside, see them as Jesus does.
Problem 1-- Harassed, helpless, shepherdless sheep
This is the
true condition of the people.
Sheep have a need for food, water, protection, etc. People also operate from a sense of need. Men without God are sheep with no shepherd, seeking the fulfillment of their needs in things that will only lead to death.
Problem 2--Ripe but unpicked fruit
This is the
true potential of the people.
A harvest that is unpicked is a good thing for only a short season. If no one harvests it, it is spoiled. There have been many famines in which the problem is not a lack of food, but rather a dearth of manpower and logistics to transport the food where it is needed. The people are ready to be picked. What is lacking is not a readiness, but a willingness of men and women to labor.
Part III--The Solution Jesus Presents
The solutions Jesus presents is simple. Workers. These are ordinary farmhands, unspectacular people who are willing to get their hands dirty in the field.
Note also what Jesus does not say. He does not say "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore, rent a large stadium, hire a gifted evangelist, invite many thousands of people, rent an awesome worship band...etc." The work of Jesus is not for the supremely gifted alone. In fact, Jesus goes out of his way to state the opposite. Only a few times in his ministry, and even less in the lives of the apostles, do those who labor address crowds larger than several dozen. And the people Jesus picked to surround him were undistinguished: fisherman, zealots, tax collectors, etc.
All the work that Jesus does in his ministry can be done by these ordinary workers. They too must go into the lives of others, teach them through the Word and call them to respond, then watch in awe as the power of God heals them. This is our work. It is simple and doable. It requires not great gifts, but a willing heart.
Know this. When you see all the sorrow in the world, all the billions that do not know Christ, remember that the solution that Jesus presents is ordinary people like you and me.
Part IV--Conclusions
Now we see why Jesus ministered the way he did. In ministering broadly to many, he was shepherding the helpless sheep and beginning to reap the harvest. In ministering deeply to a few, he was expanding the pool of workers, multiplying his own efforts so that the harvest could expand, even unto the end of the earth.
Application:
1. Is Christ at work in your life in these four areas?
2. Let us pray for workers. Let us be workers.
(Note: This is like the most Navigator-y sermon ever)
