Title: HoP Prayer for the Harvest in America Matthew 9:35-38 Aim: Imp of praying for the lost around us & thruout America. Intro: What do you see in this picture? Certainly a snowy mountainside, or the foot of a mountain. Does anyone see the horses? The next picture clears it for us a bit. There are a lot of things we look at but don t necessarily see. What do you see when you look at this next picture? Obviously this is a corn field, but depending on your perspective you might see in your mind s eye you & your family sitting down to a nice dinner w/corn on the cob! Yum! And now it s over for another year. Or if you are a farmer like Jim Rice or Dave Newton, or Jeff Dunklee, you might envision the weeks & months of work that goes into planting & harvesting such a crop, the equipment which has to be maintained, the laborers who have to be managed, etc. A humanitarian might see a wonderful provision for many who are hungry. What do you see? Jesus wants us to see (not in that picture, but in people all around us) what should be obvious a ripe harvest ready to be picked. Theme: House of Prayer say it every week: God has called us, His Church, to be a house of prayer, people of prayer, who regularly encounter Him & are then used by Him to help others encounter the living God as well. We who are citizens of both the kingdom of God & the USA are to be committed to pray for the harvest & to be laborers in God s harvest. Text: Matthew 9:35-38 [READ]. After His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus went about healing & delivering many & working miracles pointing to who He was, the Messiah of God. Verse 35 is a summary statement. Jesus purposefully did not stay in any one place, but traveled thruout the region, visiting all the cities & villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, & healing every disease & every affliction. The gospel of the kingdom was the simple message that the kingdom of God was at hand/near, because Jesus the King was ushering in God s kingdom. None who came to Jesus, or who encountered Him on the way, were turned away from His touch. But Jesus looked beyond their physical 1
needs. He saw something to which others, even His disciples, were oblivious. They saw the crowds & perhaps grew tired of them, always hovering about, always wanting Jesus attention, touch. Why don t they just go away & let us go about our business? But in Jesus perspective, these people were His business. Verse 36 tells us that when Jesus saw the crowds that wd, saw meaning more than just seeing w/the eyes, but also perceiving w/the mind; when Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them. He was moved w/in literally moved in one s bowels, which were considered the seat of feeling, of love & pity. Jesus was physically moved w/in because of what He saw/perceived of the people. He perceived, correctly, that they were harassed & helpless. That wd, harassed, according to Strong s, carries w/it the idea of being skinned, flayed (hurts just thinking about it!); it means mangled, vexed, troubled. The people Jesus saw were being harassed by the trials of life, by the government over them, by the religious leaders w/their many demands, by the very devil himself, pushing them away from God. And they were helpless to do anything about it. They were cast down, uncared for, like sheep w/out a shepherd. Sheep w/out a shepherd are a most pitiful lot. They don t know where to find food, if it s not in front of them they need to be led to green pastures. They need to be guided to still waters or they will not drink. They must be protected from predators, & have their wounds tended, anointed w/oil. W/out a shepherd, sheep are utterly helpless. Jesus was moved w/compassion for the people around Him. His heart was heavy. Now, He knew what He was going to do. He had come to die. He would bear the cross & on it our sins, paying the penalty on our behalf & conquering sin & death by His glorious resurrection. He had come to do His Father s will, carry out His wondrous plan of salvation. But His time on earth was limited. These people & those thruout the ages would need to hear the message of the gospel, so they might embrace Christ as Savior/ Lord by faith in Him. That s the thing about the gospel it must be personally embraced, accepted by faith. No one 2
can believe for you, nor surrender to Christ for you. Jesus said to His disciples, The harvest is plentiful There is much to be reaped. Elsewhere, after Jesus had encountered the woman at the well (John 4) & she went off to tell the townspeople about Him, & then the people were coming out to see Jesus. He said to His disciples (vs35): Do you not say, There are yet four months, then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, [look at this crowd coming towards us] & see that the fields are white for harvest. The harvest is ripe for picking. The time of reaping is here. So, the harvest is ripe & it s plentiful. But the laborers are few few to do the work of harvesting. So, He said, therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. The lord of the harvest, generally speaking, was the one in charge of the harvest, seeing to it that the work was done hiring laborers & directing them. The Lord of the harvest of souls is God the Father. Obviously, God alone saves anyone. He doesn t really need any help. He is the Sovereign Lord of all. He can accomplish His plan w/or w/out any others; but He has chosen to work thru His children. As Charles Spurgeon wrote, "He did not say, 'The harvest truly is plenteous, and the laborers are few, but that matters not, God can bless a few, and make them accomplish as much as many.' He believed in his Father's omnipotence, but he also believed that the Lord would work by means, and that many laborers were required to gather in a plenteous harvest, and therefore he told us to pray for them." Jesus told His disciples to pray earnestly w/fervor - that God would send out strong emphasis thrust forth, compel laborers into the harvest. As we fast forward to today, the need for harvesting souls guiding others to a relationship w/god thru faith in Christ is as great as ever, perhaps greater, because there are more people in this world than ever before. That means that the need for laborers in the harvest is as great as ever. The need is great thruout the world, & we should pray & send & go; but let s think for a moment about the USA. What do you see? What do you see when you see a 3
map of the US? Do you see this (Red/Blue states -the politician s view)? Or do you see this (people in need of a Savior)? I would submit to you that as those w/dual citizenship, of the kingdom of God & of the US, we should look thru the eyes of Jesus & I) Recognize the Harvest around & before us. The greatest need that anyone around us has is the need for a Savior. Parents, see your children thru the eyes of Jesus! Do they know Christ as Savior? Are they learning to follow Jesus by your example & teaching? Have they stood w/christ in the waters of baptism? Talk to them about Jesus. They need to know Jesus & have relationship w/god far more than they need to be successful in this world, far more than they need to be football/basketball stars. Evangelize your children! Disciple them! It s not the church s responsibility to reach your children, but to help you reach them for Christ & teach them in Christ. Recognize the harvest that is ripe. Recognize the harvest in your workplace. Recognize the harvest in our neighborhood/community. Recognize the harvest in our nation. America s only hope is Jesus Christ. A faith relationship w/him is the only thing that will transform lives. Whether we become again a great nation in the eyes of the world is of no real consequence. How much more imp that we become once again a nation under God! Recognize the harvest, & then II) Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest. Tho Jesus specifically told us what we should entreat God for, I think it is implied that we should pray for the harvest, that is, for those around us who do not yet know Christ as Savior, that they may be ripened for harvesting. Paul asked the Colossian believers to pray for an opened door for the Word (4:3) that he would be able to preach the gospel unhindered & that the message would find opened/receptive hearts. We need to pray for our children, families, co-workers, neighbors, leaders, etc. that they may be receptive to the gospel & respond in faith to Christ. Do you have a list of those around you for whom you pray regularly, earnestly, that they may come to faith in Christ? Pray for them, not just that they will come to faith, but that God will help them, 4
touch their lives & they might recognize His touch & be moved toward Him. Then we need to pray according to Jesus admonishment here in our text. Pray that He would thrust forth laborers into His harvest. We need to faithfully pray that God would raise up more & more who will see w/his eyes, recognize the harvest that is ripe, & go to work in His harvest. Pray that God would speak to your children, neighbors, coworkers, etc., thru others besides you, tho that does not let you/i off the hook. Pray that more & more of the Church in America will become burdened for the lost in America & be convicted to do something about it partnering w/god. Note that it is His harvest. The world is God s field; saving grace comes only from Him. But we can be co-laborers w/god an amazing thought! Finally, a matter that is implied in this passage, tho not specified directly, we must III) Become laborers in the harvest. Shortly after Jesus called for His disciples to see w/his eyes the harvest before them & pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers, He sent the Apostles out (10:5-15) to proclaim the good news of the kingdom & do just what He had been doing healing, delivering, teaching. After the resurrection, when Jesus came to His disciples & showed His pierced hands & side to them, He said to them, As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you (John 20:21). Just before His ascension, as He met w/his disciples on the mountain, He commissioned them (& us): All authority in heaven & on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore & make disciples baptizing teaching (Mt.28:18-20). You/I must be laborers in the harvest of souls for the kingdom of God. That can t be stressed enough. America needs Jesus Christ & therefore America needs you/me/every citizen of the kingdom of God in America to make Him known, unashamedly, boldly, intentionally. Not everyone will respond by embracing Christ as Savior/Lord by faith, but there is a harvest all around us that is ripe. In Matthew 23:37-38 we read that Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, the capitol city of Israel. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets & stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have 5
gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, & you would not! His heart was deeply burdened for the city, for the nation, which had rejected Him. We need to have such a heart for America, & for Vernon, Northfield, etc. God has said, My house shall be called a house of prayer. Let us be His people of prayer! 6