Deo Gloria
Sermon for June 28
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Matthew 9:35-10:8
Theme: Ask the Lord of the Harvest to Send Out Workers!
- See the harassed and helpless people.
- Bring them the good news of the kingdom.
We have a problem, a rather serious problem all across our synod and the effects can be seen right here at Trinity. This past May when our synod’s Assignment Committee met to assign the graduates from the Seminary, they had 60 requests for a graduate and only 23 graduates. More than half of the congregations that requested a pastor did not get one. Currently there are still about 100 pastoral vacancies across our synod. And one of those is right here at Trinity.
This past May there were 157 requests for a graduate from Martin Luther College and 50 of those went unfilled. In addition there were 15 requests for a principal from the principal apprenticeship program and only 2 candidates. 13 schools were not able to get a principal, including ours here at Trinity. Friends, we have shortage, a critical shortage of pastors and teachers. If ever there was a time to take the words of this text to heart, if ever there was a time we needed to get on our knees and pray that God would send workers into his harvest field, that time is now. So this morning I urge you, just as Jesus urged his disciples, to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.
As our text opens, we find our Savior traveling throughout Galilee. Matthew tells us that “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness”(9:35). As he traveled around, Jesus couldn’t help but notice the crowds. Everywhere he went there were crowds. They came to be healed of their diseases. They came to receive their sight. They came to have a demon cast out of a family member. But most of all, they came to listen to Jesus’ words. They came to listen to Jesus proclaim “the good news,” the good news of the kingdom of God.
Matthew tells us that when Jesus saw the crowds, “He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd”(9:36). The word “harassed” has the idea of being “skinned” or “flayed.” The picture here is that of a sheep that has wandered through a thicket of thorns and whose skin is bleeding and torn as a result. The other word “helpless” has the idea of “lying down because one is worn out.” The picture is that of sheep lying down on the ground and panting because they’re just plain worn out. Do you get the picture? Here were a bunch of people, here were a bunch of sheep who were tired and worn out because they had no shepherd to lead them to pasture or water. Here were sheep who were bleeding and injured because they had no shepherd to lead them on the safe paths away from the thickets and the thorns, no shepherd to protect them from their enemies.
This is what Jesus saw when he looked at the people of Israel, people who were harassed by false teachers, wolves who meant them nothing but spiritual harm. He saw people who were hurting spiritually, people whose souls had been scrapped and torn by the thorns of sin and guilt. He saw people who were weary and worn, because they had been carrying around this load of sin and guilt for years and their shepherds had done nothing to help them. In fact, instead of lifting their burden, the Pharisees had made it even heavier by adding more laws for them to follow and obey. So what if they couldn’t even keep the ones they already had. They just would have to try harder.
What a refreshing difference it was to listen to Jesus, to listen to him proclaim the good news of the kingdom, the good news of sins forgiven, the good news of peace with God, the good news of eternal life and salvation. How refreshing it was to hear Jesus say, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”(11:28)! How comforting it was to hear Jesus say, “Take heart, my son, your sins are all forgiven”(9:2)! How thrilling it was to hear Jesus say, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty”(John 6:35). This is what their weary and hurting souls were looking for, longing for, hoping for. No wonder Jesus was surrounded by crowds wherever he went.
But there was one small problem: Jesus couldn’t reach them all. There were too many, too many even for someone like Jesus to minister to. So Jesus called his 12 disciples together and said, “Look. Look at the tremendous harvest that is out there. Look at the harvest of people that are just waiting to be gathered into the kingdom of God. The harvest is great, but we don’t have enough workers. So we better start praying. Pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send more workers into his harvest field.”
You and I see the same thing today, do we not? The same thing Jesus saw: harassed and helpless people, harassed by the demands and pressures of the business world. I know people who have lost their jobs because their company was forced to close due to the coronavirus. I know others who have had their wages cut, but their workload hasn’t been cut. Instead it has remained the same or even increased. Likewise we see people who are harassed by false prophets, wolves who seem to be everywhere—the TV, the internet, the kingdom hall just down the street.
We see people who are hurting, hurting emotionally. A few years ago I had the opportunity to talk to a young man who stopped by our church. He was having some marital problems and was looking for some help. During the course of our conversation he told me that his parents had divorced back when he was in grade school and recently he had spoken with his father over the phone. His dad made it clear to him in no uncertain terms that he didn’t what anything to do with him. No wonder this guy was hurting–like so many other young people today, like so many other families that have been devastated by divorce. We too see people whose souls have been bruised and torn by the thorns of sin, people who are carrying around a tremendous load of guilt. And they don’t know where to go with it. They don’t know how to get rid of the guilt. They don’t know how to ease their troubled conscience. They don’t know how to find peace with God.
But you and I do. We know the good news. You and I know the good news of the kingdom, the good news of sins forgiven, the good news of peace with God, the good news of eternal life and salvation in Jesus Christ, the one who lived for us and died for us and rose victorious over sin and death. But there’s one small problem: how are we going to reach them all? Right now we don’t even have enough pastors to fill all the pulpits in our own churches, much less try to reach out to the lost and helpless people in other parts of the world, places like Africa and Russia and Thailand. Friends, the harvest is plentiful–right here in Belle Plaine and all over the world. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. We need to start praying. We need to pray the same prayer Jesus and the disciples did. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers.
But it doesn’t stop there, not by any means. Did you notice what happened next? After he and the disciples prayed for more workers, Jesus turned to them and said, “Guess what, guys? I have good news. God has heard and answered our prayer. He found more workers. In fact, I’m looking at them–Peter and Andrew, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, all of you. You are the workers. You’ve seen the harassed and helpless people, just like I have. Now I want you to go to them. Go to the lost sheep of Israel and tell them the good news of the kingdom. Proclaim that ‘the kingdom of heaven is near'”(10:7).
Does that surprise you? I think sometimes we Christians can fall into a trap. We know we need more pastors and teachers and missionaries, more workers to bring the good news of the gospel to the lost and helpless people of the world. We may even pray for such workers: “Lord, we need more missionaries, more missionaries to bring the gospel to the people of Africa and the people of Russia. Lord, we need more pastors, more pastors for our churches right here in America. Lord, we need more teachers too, more teachers to teach the truths of your Word to our children. Lord, please provide us with the pastors and teachers and missionaries we need, but don’t count on me. I can’t go to a place like Russia or Africa. There’s no way I can be a pastor or teacher. I already have a career, a pretty successful one at that. And, Lord, you better count my children out too. You see, I’m hoping Jenny can be a doctor some day, and I’d really like to see Michael become an engineer. So, I guess you’re going to have to find these pastors and teachers and missionaries some place else, but please provide them, Lord, because we really do need them.” May God forgive us for the times we have thought that way!
You children in grade school, you teens in high school, you young people in college–I want you to think about something. I want you to pray about something. Could you be a pastor or teacher or missionary? Could God use you to teach the good news of the kingdom to other children or to preach that good news in one our pulpits or to spread that good news to the lost and helpless people in other parts of the world? I know there are a lot of other things you could do, jobs where you could make a lot more money. But let me tell you something, there is nothing you could do that would be more worthwhile than to lead the souls of lost and hurting people to Jesus and into the kingdom of God. Think about it, won’t you? Pray about it.
Moms and dads, grandpas and grandmas, I want you to think about something too. I want you to pray about something. How could God use you to spread the good news of the kingdom? Could you be a pastor or teacher? Could you be a missionary? Is it really too late to consider a second career? Not long ago I heard about a Japanese man who had completed our seminary training program. He was in his 60’s. Or could you perhaps serve as a volunteer for our Mission Journies program and spend a month or two or maybe a year working in one of mission fields, in Taiwan or Africa or Texas? Hopefully our outreach team will soon be able to make visits again to new residents in our community. Could God use you there? Could you serve as a Sunday School teacher or helper in the fall? Or are there some relatives of yours who are lost and helpless or some friends of yours or some people you know at work? Are these the people God would have you reach out to with the good news of the kingdom, the good news of forgiveness, life and salvation?
Yes, the harvest is truly great. There are crowds of harassed and helpless people everywhere you look, in places like Africa and Russia, in places like Vietnam and Brazil; in places like Belle Plaine and Jordan and Carver. Yes, the harvest is great, but the workers are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest. Ask that he would send more workers into his harvest field. Amen.