Working In God's Harvest

Matthew 9:36-10:15

In our passage today from the Gospel of Matthew, we have Jesus sending forth the twelve disciples to go on what is like a short missions trip, to bring His message to some of the Jewish villages He had or would be traveling to.  In verses 2 - 4 we have the list of Jesus’s chosen apostles.  Jesus chose ordinary men to be the apostles.  They were from all different walks of life and life’s professions, among them were fishermen, a tax collector, and a political zealot.  There were some with more education, some with less, some with more money, some with less.  That is just like what makes up the Church.  There are all different types of people, different races, different backgrounds, jobs, education, and financial level.  He has called us all.  It is not necessary to have a strong of degrees.  God uses ordinary people.  We can all do God’s work.

Verses 5 through 15 are instructions that Jesus gave to the disciples before they headed out.  Whatever we possess has been given to us by God.  The reason that we have been blessed is so that we can bless others (vs. 8).  Don’t hoard what God has given us.  It’s not ours, so we should use it to help others and further God’s kingdom.

Jesus gave direction to the apostles that they were not to take money, extra clothes or shoes, or staffs (vs. 9-10).  They were not to go out to do God’s work encumbered with excessive material goods.  When the Lord sends us out to do His work in the world we need to trust Him to supply all of our needs.  Just as the famous missionary and founder of China Inland Mission, Hudson Taylor said, “God’s work, done God’s way, will never lack God’s supply.”

The verses that I would like to focus on the most, though, are at the beginning of this passage, verses 36-38 of chapter 9.  Here Jesus looked at the crowds and saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd, and then told His disciples that the harvest was plentiful (souls ready to be reached), but laborers were few.  They were to pray that the Lord would send out laborers to bring the harvest of souls in.

Verse 36 is another reminder that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  He looked out over the crowds and was filled with compassion for them.  Jesus ministered to both their physical and spiritual needs.  Looking out over the people in the world today they seem very much like sheep without a shepherd.  They are wandering around lost without any direction, following any false path leading them into danger.  Jesus sees them, too, and has compassion on them.  So what is to be done?

As Jesus said in verse 37, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”  Here He was speaking of a harvest of people’s souls.  This is even more true today.  People are lost and without the Savior, without hope in their lives.  With the conditions in this world today, they are scared and without peace.  Where and to what are they turning to?  Some turn to political leaders for hope, but as we can see, that does not give any hope or peace.  Others are turning to drugs, and we all know how that ends.  Many thousands turn to the occult or to false religions.  They are seeking some peace for their souls, but are wandering around just as lost sheep.  The Lord needs workers to go and reach them, but He has said that the laborers are few.  There are few who are willing to go and help bring the lost in.

Jesus told His followers that they need to pray to God, the “Lord of the harvest”, to send out laborers into the fields to bring that harvest in (vs. 38).  There are millions of people out there who need to hear about Jesus.  He said the harvest is plenteous, but there aren’t enough workers willing to go out and bring the harvest in.  It would be sad to see a whole farmer’s crop to die and go to waste because there was no one to bring in the harvest.  How much exceedingly worse is it that people die and go to hell because there was no one to tell them about Jesus and salvation in His Name!

Will you go and work in the Lord’s harvest?  Will you tell others about Jesus, how He loves us and died to pay for our sins?  Will you pray to the Lord that He will speak to more of His children’s hearts to go and bring His message to those wandering sheep, and bring them into His fold?  We need to bring the wandering ones to Jesus.