“The Harvest is Abundant!”

(Matthew 9:35-38)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

May 12, 2019

The Passage

Matthew 9:35-38

35 Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

Introductory Comments:

 

Illustration: When I was a kid, my great-grandmother Kirkland had a piece of property off of Parker Road in the community of Medulla, in Southwest Lakeland. My great-uncle Donald helped manage the cows and pigs on the property. One day, when I was a young boy, he told me that he had a job for me. He said that these prickly weeds had started to pop-up all over the pasture and he wanted me to pick them. He said he would take me out there and show them to me and he would pay me to pick them. It only took one look for me to realize that this was not a job that I wanted to do. You see, there were far too many weeds and far too few of me. Thankfully, I wasn’t forced to do that job. 

Today, Jesus is going to tell His disciples that there is a lot of work to be done, and more workers are needed!

We’re continuing our series in the book of Matthew. We just saw last week that Jesus was doing a lot of miracles right and left. Now, Matthew is transitioning to talk about the work of the disciples of Jesus. 

Remember, a disciple simply means “a follower.”

Are we disciples of Jesus? (pause) You better believe it! We are called to be followers of Jesus.

In this passage, Jesus is going to give His disciples instructions for how to live as followers of His.   

We’re going to discover three steps which we must take as followers of Jesus also. 

Before we do, let’s pray to God and ask Him to teach us. 

(prayer)

Matthew introduces us to this section by giving us a summary statement of the continued work of Jesus. 

We learned about several specific miracles already in the Gospel of Matthew. 

Yet, verse 35 indicates that Jesus did a lot of other work as well. 

35 Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.

Jesus went to many towns and villages and He encountered a lot of people. As He continued to minister to them, more and more people came out to Him. 

Even though He was doing a lot of work, He was just scratching the surface of all of the people who needed to be touched by God’s love. 

This passage allows us to see the heart of Jesus and shows us what kind of heart we must have. 

Let’s learn together, starting with the first step:

I. We must be compassionate [on screen]

As Jesus encountered all these people and His heart was filled with compassion for them!

Look at verse 36. 

36 When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus ministered to a lot of people, but there were also many to whom He was unable to minister because there were so many people. He had compassion for them. 

This is not any ol’ compassion. Jesus had deep compassion for the people whom He encountered!

I don’t usually refer to the original Greek language, but in this case, it is helpful to communicate the meaning of this passage. 

The Greek word here is splanchnizomai, which can refer to a feeling from the gut. Way down deep inside. 

This compassion of which Matthew speaks is deep, gut-level, genuine compassion. 

Matthew said that the people whom Jesus saw were distressed and dejected, or harassed and helpless, or they were fainted and scattered abroad. 

The literal translation here