Preached in Markham Baptist Church, May 4, 2003.
Text: Matthew 9:35-38
START LOCAL - GO GLOBAL
HOW DO WE START: Part 2 - SEE THE HARVEST
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”. (Matthew 9:35-38) (NRSV)
In chapters 6 and 7 of the Old Testament book of 2 Kings there is a great story of how the capital city of Israel is under attack by the Arameans. The Arameans have cut off the city from all resources and essentially is starving the inhabitants. So severe is the famine that the people in the city are driven to cannibalism.
But then four lepers who live in the city decide on a desperate plan. They decide to enter the enemy camp and give themselves up and they quote the great theologian, Doris Day, saying "Que sera sera – whatever will be will be." At least, that's what it says in the margins! They say, "If they spare us we live; if they kill us we die. We are going to die here anyway."
So at dusk the four of them leave the city and go to the camp of the Arameans and to their amazement they find the enemy camp empty. The text tells us that God had caused the Aramean army to "hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army." The Aremeans thinking that this was an opposing army come to rescue the Israelites - looked at each other and said, "Run away." And they ran off terrified - they didn't even stop to pack.
Now the lepers are beside themselves with joy. They rush from tent to tent, feasting, trying on new clothes, taking the gold and the silver and hiding it in the sand. And they are having a great time - until a light bulb goes on and they stop in their tracks and they say to one another, "We are not doing right. This is a day of good news and we are keeping it to ourselves. We have to go and tell the others." (2 Kings 7:9)
They do, and the entire city comes out and enjoys the abundance of the Aramean camp. People who were once on the brink of starvation now enjoy the richest of fare.
This is a picture of Christian missions. For we Christians are the richest people in the world. To be sure, we may not be rich materially. We may not have everything, but we are the richest people in the world, for we have discovered the great love of God in Jesus Christ. We have discovered a love that overlooks the colour of skin, hardness of heart, social standing or the depth of immorality. We have discovered the God who looks each person in the eye and says "You are a person of worth."
We have discovered a love that refuses to remember the wrongs that are confessed. We have discovered a love that is always patient, kind, self-giving, that always protects, always hopes, always perseveres.
It is love that will never demand your allegiance, but once you have experienced it, you will want to do no other thing but give Him your life. A love that will allow you take His Son, and spit on Him and mock Him and pierce His head with thorns and hang Him on the tree so that your heart may be won back to its rightful place in the sight of God. We are the richest people in the world for we have discovered the love of God in Christ Jesus and it would be wrong if we kept this news to ourselves.
So how do we start? Last week we discovered - begin with prayer. This week we start by seeing the harvest.
Now this is a term that Jesus uses. And I would invite you to turn to Matthew chapter 9:35-38 to discover what that means.
Jesus looks at the crowd, he has been healing and teaching and he looks at the mass of people and he says "The harvest is plentiful."
And when we look at our world and think about sharing the love of God we need to be able to see that the harvest is plentiful.
None of us are farmers, but if you were to go to a farm community and play a little game of word association with the local farmers do you know what you would discover? If you ask them to say the first word that comes to mind when I say, "Harvest", you'd think they would say "work" or something. But do you know what they say - the most common word is "ready". Almost always the first thing a farmer thinks of is "ready".
So what Jesus is saying here - the ready is plentiful. In other words, "I have got all kinds of people ready for me. The harvest is plentiful. It may not look that way, but I have got all sorts of people ready for me."
Now here are two facts that may seem contradictory but they are not. First of all people in North America today are further away from God than ever before. Baby boomers are called the generation that forgot God. You and I know serve Jesus Christ in post-Christian North America.
When people see that John 3:16 banner being waved at all those sporting events (you know the guy who writes "John 3:16" on his bed sheet and sits in the end zone so that every time there is a touch down or a point after you see "John 3:16") - let me tell you the people around us don't know who John is, they don't know why there is a 3 a 16 or a colon. As far as they know this is some guy named John who is looking for his friend in row 3 seat 16. They have no clue it's even a Bible verse, let alone what it says.
Post-Christian North America. They are further away from God than ever before.
And to these people, sin is a non-issue. Someone once said to Michael Green - "You Christians think that we hate our sins, but to tell you the truth I rather enjoy them." So there is no sense of violation, sin is a non-issue, therefore a Saviour is a non-issue. Our society is further away from God than ever before.
But the other part of that is that what makes our generation distant from God also makes them ready. People in our age may not know what sin is, but they are experts on the pain that sin causes. People in our age may not know that John 3:16 speaks of the great love of God but they are ready for someone to love them unconditionally. People in our age may not know the theological reasons for the cross and why Jesus had to die but they hungry for the peace that His death and resurrection can bring into their lives. You see what makes them distant from God is what makes them ready for Jesus.
Can you see it? Can you see the harvest? It's one of the first steps for sharing the love of Christ.
And then this - it is not enough to recognize that people are in need. We have to have a broken heart for them. The Old Testament prophets called it a burden. They couldn't stop from sharing the love of God because their hearts were heavy for those who were distant from God.
Do you see in our text that as Jesus begins to speak about harvest He is described as one who has compassion on the crowds - they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. If you begin to study the Greek language and the word "Compassion", the root word there strangely enough is "entrails". What this means is that something happened when Jesus looked at the crowds around Him, something happened in the entrails of His heart.
He was deeply, profoundly moved by what He saw. And if you continue to study this in the Greek you will discover that word "harrassed" means that they were flayed or beaten. And the word "helpless" means that they were thrown down on the ground. So when Jesus looks at people, He sees people as being beaten on, and flayed and thrown on the ground and it breaks His heart.
The Bible uses all sorts of words to describe our world, it speaks of people being lost, of people walking in darkness, it speaks of people being in bondage. They are all images to describe the desperate need of people to know the love and forgiveness of God. O that our eyes would be open to the blight of our world without God in their lives. I know no one who is doing very well without Jesus Christ in their lives.
You know that my first pastorate was in a small town. We lived in Acton for 11 years. One of my favorite things about living in small town was the small town barber. I liked getting my hair cut for 10 dollars. I liked the old barber shop, with its red leather chair cracked from the years of use, and the floor tile actually has a path worn from the door to the magazine area to the barber chair. No one named Vidal to cut my hair, but a guy named Mike. The only problem with a small town barber shop is the music that is played - country music. Now country music isn't as popular as it once was in the mid 1990s when it was the music of choice for millions of people. It has managed to survive because there is a president in the White House who appreciates it. At his inaugural ball it wasn't waltzes that the band played - it was bluegrass music. I don't have an appreciation for country music. I guess it's because I don't understand it. At the height of its popularity, Forbes Magazine ran an article on the phenomenon of country music and it was entitled, "The Wal-mart School of Music" And in this article they said that with country music the words are important.
I guess so, but I don't understand it. You know some of the jokes of the titles of some of those songs. Not to long ago there was a song out it was a big hit entitled, "There's Just Two Months Left at the End of the Money." I don't understand that.
I like this one, "If My Phone Ain't Ringing I Still Assume It Ain't You." And this one didn't make it but it was a good song, "Walk Out Backwards So I Think You're Coming In." And this one was a big hit, "I'm So Miserable Without You It's Almost Like Having You Here."
Why was it so popular? If you listen to it very long, you discover it. It's so life, it's so ordinary. They just sing songs about sitting out on the porch or walking out in the yard, or frying chicken. Ordinary stuff. And if you listen long it will be about heartache and pain and loneliness and suffering and broken hearts and if you listen long it will be about life.
O as followers of Jesus Christ we need to listen to the cries of the people and allow our hearts to be broken, to allow our hearts to be broken with the things that break God's heart. It is true that all the great works of God begin in the heart of one man or one woman who allow their hearts to be broken with the things that break His. And we witnessed it last week, didn't we, as we heard Ann Woolger speak of her work among the refugees. She had no idea that God would call her to care for the refugee here in Canada until one day she heard of the loneliness and the plight of the refugee here in Canada. And a great ministry of was started.
Where do we start? Recognize that people are in great need for the love of God - and let your heart break for them.
Then what? Then let's do what Jesus says, "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest field." Let's pray. Our goal in missions is not so much to run around and try to do everything but to be in constant communication with Him so that we are receiving our priorities and goals from Him. That we allow Him to guide us and lead us to be in touch with people at the right time and the right place to reap a harvest.
Ask, then let's set proper priorities. My friends it has been said that Christianity is the only organization that exists for the benefit of its non members. Let us not forget why we have been called - to whom we are called. Our priority is not a bigger building, it is not a bigger budget. Our priority is to offer the love of Christ to a starving world.
Finally, let's offer ourselves in service. Jesus says, "Ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into the harvest." Let us be a people who pray that God would send out workers into the harvest that is ready. But be careful, be warned, it is a dangerous prayer. For you may be the one who ends up being sent out into the harvest. It's interesting that the very people that Jesus spoke these words became the ones who went out into the harvest.
My friends, the harvest is ready, let us go out in full assurance that the harvest belongs to the Lord and let us go out willing to be His servants in His harvest field.
Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - May 2003
