Over the past few mnths, we ve studied thrugh Jesus miracles in the Galilee And last week, we ended that study lking at a cmplex cnnectin linking the final three miracles f chapter 9 with events in chapter 12 In rder t understand the final miracle f chapter 9, we had t recnstruct a timeline frm the events f chapter 12 It may have been a bit cnfusing at mments, but things will becme increasingly clear as we mve tward chapter 12 And that s ne f the benefits f verse-by-verse study f Scripture as we mve steadily, ur questins get answered As we studied that cnnectin, I tld yu that in chapter 12 smething happens t change Jesus apprach t ministry Smething big, smething pivtal disrupts everything Jesus was ding and it set His earthly ministry in a new directin What is that big smething? It is Israel rejecting f Jesus claims t be their Messiah Once Israel had turned dwn Jesus ffer f the Kingdm, everything Jesus did and said changed frm that pint frward The full stry f hw and why Israel rejected Jesus awaits us in chapter 12 But even befre it tk place, that mment cast a shadw ver the events f chapters 10 & 11 Jesus knew befrehand that He wuld be rejected by His peple and He knew it wuld frce Him t change His style f ministry S as He apprached that mment, He began preparing His disciples and the crwds fr what wuld fllw That prcess f preparatin is the subject f Matthew s 10th and 11th chapters, which is ur next area f study It actually begins at the end f chapter 9, where we ended ut study last week 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
2! f! 12 S let s pick up in v.35 f chapter 9 as Jesus starts His curse f preparatin Matt. 9:35 Jesus was ging thrugh all the cities and villages, teaching in their synaggues and prclaiming the gspel f the kingdm, and healing every kind f disease and every kind f sickness. Matt. 9:36 Seeing the peple, He felt cmpassin fr them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep withut a shepherd. Matthew summarizes Jesus time in the Galilee in v.35m, saying Jesus mved arund the 240-dd cities and twns in the area prclaiming the Gspel and healing The pint is that Jesus was pening sharing the truth f His identity and His purpse fr cming t Earth And He backed His claims with displays f pwer that culd nly mean ne thing Jesus was the prmised Messiah sent with the authrity and pwer f Gd Himself Yu may remember that shrtly after Jesus called His first disciples in chapter 4, Matthew summarized Jesus Galilean ministry in a similar way Matt. 4:23 Jesus was ging thrughut all Galilee, teaching in their synaggues and prclaiming the gspel f the kingdm, and healing every kind f disease and every kind f sickness amng the peple. Nw we see Matthew repeating virtually the same thught, wrd-fr-wrd, as we leave chapter 9 Back in chapter 4 Matthew used that statement t intrduce his recrd f Jesus miracles and teaching in the Galilee And nw he repeats it again t indicate the cnclusin f this sectin f His gspel S these statements serve as bkends marking the beginning and end f Matthew s recrd f Jesus time in the Galilee Of curse, Jesus said and did many mre things that thse Matthew chse t recrd, sme f which we find recrded in the ther Gspels 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
3! f! 12 And as Jhn says at the end f his Gspel, there aren t enugh bks in the wrld t recrd all Jesus did in HIs earthly ministry Therefre, like all the Gspels, Matthew s accunt is a representative sample f Jesus wrk, and nw that recrd has cme t an end S at this pint in his narrative, Matthew begins t chrnicles Jesus shifting pririties in view f His appraching rejectin by the leaders and peple Beginning in v.36 where Matthew says Jesus lked upn the crwds with cmpassin, r in Greek the wrd culd be translated pity Thusands f peple had been drawn t Jesus ministry in the Galilee, and His heart feels pity fr them But Jesus wasn t feeling pity because they were sick r needy Matthew says Jesus pitied them because they were distressed and dispirited This is prfund statement, and ne wrth sme attentin this evening Distressed means trubled r wrried, which is an dd thing under these circumstances That s nt the respnse we wuld expect t see, is it? After at least a year r mre f Jesus teaching and healing, yu wuld expect the ppsite respnse, wuldn t we? We expect the peple t be verjyed at the arrival f their Messiah, the Gd Shepherd, and the cming f the Kingdm Yet Matthew says Jesus bserved that the peple remained trubled and discuraged why? We get ur answer in the cmparisn Matthew ffers at the end f the verse Matthew cmpares their distress t that f a sheep being withut a shepherd Shepherding is cmmn biblical metaphr fr pastral care Because shepherding is an excellent illustratin f the relatinship between church leadership and thse they lead 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
4! f! 12 We remember Jesus tld Peter feed and tend My sheep, which was Jesus way f reminding Peter hw t care fr thse in the church Nw when we talk abut shepherds, bviusly, Jesus is THE Shepherd f Gd s peple, the Gd Shepherd But we als knw the Lrd raises up leaders ver the cngregatin f His peple And these leaders are als called shepherds (r undershepherds) Which means we are the sheep But unfrtunately, the metaphr isn t necessarily cmplimentary, because sheep are ntriusly dim-witted They mve abut with their eyes dwn, blindly fcused n satisfying their hunger and blivius t where they are ging Which means sheep are prne t wandering away They inevitably get separated and lst, ending up in dangerus situatins befre they knw it And sheep are virtually defenseless when left t themselves S sheep need the watchful care f a shepherd t guide them With the emphasis n guiding, because sheep cannt be driven frm behind like cattle the must be lead frm the frnt S sheep instinctively lk t a shepherd They expect t be led, and they trust the shepherd t pint ut danger and lead them t gd pastures But if sheep are withut a shepherd, they quickly becme distressed They can get cnfused and begin t feel vulnerable They may begin t fllw ther animals r their wn shadw They may panic and stampede r the flck simply scatter Matthew cmpares the situatin Jesus witnessed in Israel t that f sheep left withut prper supervisin and care 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
5! f! 12 The peple were distressed, they were wandering away, unsure f where t g Yet their religius leaders were all abut, directing their every mve And even mre puzzling, their Gd Shepherd std in their midst S hw can it be that the sheep f Israel are distressed being withut a shepherd? T understand what Matthew means, cnsider that the effects f Jesus ministry in the Galilee were impssible t ignre A Jew culd either lve Jesus r hate Jesus fr what He was saying and ding, but he certainly culdn t ignre Jesus His wrds were t prvcative, and His pwers were t impressive t verlk S everyne had t cme t sme decisin abut the meaning f Jesus ministry His impressive wrk demanded a verdict And there were several verdicts being debated amng the peple Later in Jesus asks His disciples t tell Him what explanatins the peple were ffering t explain Jesus pwer Matt. 16:13 Nw when Jesus came int the district f Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, Wh d peple say that the Sn f Man is? Matt. 16:14 And they said, Sme say Jhn the Baptist; and thers, Elijah; but still thers, Jeremiah, r ne f the prphets. The disciples say varius explanatins were flating arund But ntice that the disciples didn t ffer the mst bvius explanatin that Jesus was the Messiah S even after a year r mre f Jesus pening prclaiming the Kingdm f Gd and that He was the Messiah, the peple didn t believe it despite His pwers Mst f the sheep were cnfused, and the reasn fr that cnfusin was the influence f the religius leaders f the day, the Pharisees The peple lked t these s-called shepherds seeking asking them t render a verdict cncerning Jesus 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
6! f! 12 And these crrupt men tld the peple that Jesus wasn t the Messiah As we saw last week, they tld the peple Jesus wasn t the Sn f David He was merely wrking with the pwer f Satan Naturally, thse lies left the peple distressed and trubled The crwds must have been s disappinted t hear that what they s desperately wanted t be true was just a facade Fr a mment their hearts leapt in anticipatin f seeing the lng-awaited Kingdm arrive, but then their dreams were dashed And if was true that Satan culd mimic the pwers f the Messiah, then hw culd Israel ever knw fr sure wh the Messiah was? Hw culd they avid being misled by such pwer? Which led t the secnd utcme they were dispirited Dispirited means t be dwncast, discuraged spiritually Israel was discuraged thinking that had cme s clse t having their Messiah nly t by duped by the enemy nce mre They felt like the villagers fled by the by wh cried wlf After t many false alarms, yu just stp listening and give up caring S when Matthew says the peple were withut a shepherd, he means it in a tw-fld sense First, they were withut a shepherd in the sense that the peple didn t embrace their Gd Shepherd, thugh He was standing in their midst Israel lnged fr their Messiah, and t get s clse nly t fall shrt (r s they thught) was incredibly discuraging t the natin Secndly, Israel missed their Messiah because they were als withut earthly shepherds, wh wuld lead them prperly in spiritual matters In fact, their evil religius leaders were stumbling blcks wh steered the natin away frm their Messiah, 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
7! f! 12 Elsewhere in the Gspel, Jesus says this abut these men: Matt. 23:13 But we t yu, scribes and Pharisees, hypcrites, because yu shut ff the kingdm f heaven frm peple; fr yu d nt enter in yurselves, nr d yu allw thse wh are entering t g in. When sheep lack a caring shepherd, they are in a wrld f hurt, and that is just a true tday as it was in Jesus day The influence f crrupt leaders, especially thse wh engage in false teaching, will cause believers t adpt wrng thinking and behavir The cnsequences f that wrng thinking and behavir eventually cme t rest n the believer, causing distress And ver time, the believer becmes dispirited, discuraged, r cynical T the pint that the persn cmes t view the pursuit f Christ and His wrd t be a waste f time Over time the persn gives up n church r discipleship altgether And at wrst, we cnclude that even Gd s wrd itself is useless r irrelevant And when we give up n the wrd f Gd, where else can we turn t knw the truth abut Gd? If we turn away frm Jesus and His Church and His wrd, all we have left is the wisdm f the wrld And what gd are all bks f wisdm in the wrld? Can they tell us abut a Gd Wh can nly be knwn by what He chses t reveal t us? Des the internet understand Gd? Des Dr. Phil? Judge Judy? The Lrd appints shepherds ver His flck fr gd reasn Because leaders are crucial t keeping the Lrd s sheep tgether, in safety and nurished by the wrd f Gd But fr the same reasn, bad shepherds have the ptential t cmpletely sabtage ur spiritual jurney 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
8! f! 12 Like Israel, mistreated believers are like sheep wandering withut a shepherd They are lst, starving fr lack f spiritual nurishment, and in danger f varius threats We need t submit t the leaders ver us, as Hebrews bey ur leaders and submit t them, as Hebrews 13:17 cmmands But at the same time, we must remain discerning fr wh leads us and wh teaches us And when ur leaders reveal themselves t be ungdly r unable t divide the Scriptures rightly, we need t lk elsewhere Because if we remain under such men, we are like sheep withut a shepherd and we re headed fr truble But here s the gd news: even when we lack gd shepherds in ur cngregatins, ur Gd Shepherd in Heaven never frsakes His sheep The Spirit f Gd living inside every believer cntinues t minister t ur hearts even when n ne else will S when a child f Gd cmes under the influence false teaching and evil leaders, the Spirit will alert him r her t the dangers The believer will sense a grwing dissatisfactin, a sense that smething is missing, smething isn t right And the Spirit will drive that persn t seek fr better pasture That s what s happening here the Lrd was mved t cmpassin fr the peple f Israel because they were withut shepherds He felt pity fr them knwing they were being misled by the very leaders appinted t steer them tward the truth And naturally, He wanted t slve the prblem by giving His flck prper, gdly leadership wh wuld bring peple t Christ And then having brught them t knw their Gd Shepherd, these leaders wuld guide and feed and guard the flck S the Lrd s cmpassin fr His peple displayed in v.36 leads us int the next phase f Matthew s Gspel 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
9! f! 12 In this new sectin Jesus beings t prepare His disciples fr Israel s cming rejectin f Him and the Kingdm He wrks t instill in their hearts an awareness that they must becme a new generatin f leaders ver Gd s flck That after Jesus departs the earth, these men and thse they train must assume the shepherding duties fr the peple f Gd And as they assume these respnsibilities, they must nt lk t the Pharisees as their mdels fr hw t lead the peple Jesus must establish an entirely different example Beginning with the very ntin that there is wrk t d in recruiting leaders t lead the flck Matt. 9:37 Then He said t His disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the wrkers are few. Matt. 9:38 Therefre beseech the Lrd f the harvest t send ut wrkers int His harvest. Everyne has prbably heard this passage repeated at sme pint The metaphr f harvest is well-understd in the church The wrld is the field, and grain represent hearts f the ls in the wrld The Lrd des the hard wrk f prepare thse hearts by His wrd and thrugh the Spirit And He calls His Church t g ut and seek the lst But if yu can, step back frm what yu knw in this regard, and try t think like a first-century disciple in Jesus day T that audience, Jesus wrds are revlutinary First, Jesus said that there is a harvest t be sught Again, we take this fr granted, but that was nt cnventinal thught in that day Israel was Gd s peple, and there were n thers t seek But Jesus is saying the Kingdm citizens must be sught 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
10! f! 12 There is n autmatic membership yu wn t enter the Kingdm simply because yu re brn a Jew Furthermre, thse wh will enter the Kingdm must be recruited by wrkers wh are specifically seeking t recruit these citizens This is a prgram f preparatin fr the Kingdm that n ne in Israel had ever cnsidered befre And truly, the Lrd had never asked this f Israel befre, but in light f Jesus cming rejectin, this wuld nw becme Gd s prgram In centuries prir, Israel waited fr their Messiah t appear with the Kingdm, as Gd s wrd prmised wuld happen But nw that this prmised was being fulfilled yet the peple rejected their Messiah, the Lrd s prgram was abut t change There wuld nw be a prgram f Kingdm wrk, where Gd s peple wuld wrk fr Him, seeking fr mre disciples in the field This is smething entirely new, smething radical, and it wuld require that Jesus disciples cultivate within themselves an attitude that was radically different than that f Israel s current leaders Where the Pharisees were self-serving, self-righteus and self-satisfied, nw Gd s wrkers, His shepherds must be humble They must be self-sacrificing, fcused n Jesus pririties with a heart fr the flck And these kinds f leaders were nt cmmn in Jesus day, and they are still relatively rare tday Which is why the Lrd advised His disciples, the future leaders f the early church t beseech (r we culd say beg) the Lrd fr help Anyne called t shepherd Gd s peple knws what Jesus is talking abut The kind f humble heart I just described desn t cme naturally peple aren t naturally inclined t think and act in thse ways Yet that was the kind f heart yu need t seek fr lst sheep, t feed them prperly and t guide them int spiritual maturity 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
11! f 12! All arund the disciples were examples f men wh lved pwer and mney and the praise f peple The impact f such leadership fr the peple was distress and discuragement And ultimately it resulted in that generatin f Israel lsing the Kingdm which is the ultimate price anyne culd pay But that s wasn t the mdel Jesus wanted fr His first disciples, and it can t be ur mdel tday We shuld ask, beg, the Lrd t raise up men and wmen wh will wrk n His behalf with the right heart It s nt just a matter f needing help it s needing the right kind f help Because the wrng kind f shepherd will d mre harm fr a bdy f believers than n leader at all Having said that, there is an bvius crllary t this cmmand, ne we can t ignre While we re praying fr the Lrd t wrkers t assume the wrk f building Gd s Kingdm, we need t cnsider whether the Lrd is preparing ur heart t d that wrk Everyne is suppsed t make this request a part f their prayer life, especially thse wh are already at wrk and in need f help But if everyne in the church is called t pray fr wrkers, then bviusly whever answers that call was themselves praying fr it Maybe that smene is yu? One f the majr reasns we pray abut anything is t allw the Lrd t wrk n ur wn heart in regard t that prayer request We may pray fr the Lrd t give us smething r t take smething away And as we pray, the Lrd wrks thrugh ur prayers t help ur understanding S that ver time ur desires will align with the Lrd s will 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
12! f! 12 T the end that n matter hw thse situatins turn ut, we gain an understand and peace abut why it was the best thing fr us Similarly, as we bey this cmmand t pray fr wrkers t accmplish the wrk f leading Gd s peple, we may find ur hearts encuraged t take up that wrk In time we begin t see urselves as the wrker, and the Lrd pens drs t allw us t answer that call Jesus saw His peple wandering, cnfused, deceived and defenseless, s He tld the new generatin f leaders t get ready it s yur turn t lead My peple And that prcess f preparatin began with thse very men praying fr wrkers Remember, these are the future apstles and leaders f the first century church And Jesus begins their preparatin fr leading by calling them t pray fr leaders Little did they knw they were paying fr themselves I wnder if thse men, as they struggled t manage the fastgrwing first century church, lked back t this mment and chuckled The church always needs mre wrkers, mre leaders, because there are always mre sheep t shepherd Pray fr thse future leaders, because they will make the difference in yur wn spiritual grwth And dn t verlk the pssibility that the Lrd is using yur prayers t prepare yur wn heart t assume that rle 2019 Verse By Verse Ministry Internatinal (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.