His Harvest 1988

I'm going to be entirely in the book of Matthew today. I'd like to start by reading from Matthew chapter 9, starting at verse 35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harsh and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers into his harvest.

The question which haunts many of us. When we wake up in the middle of the night, and remember that one day soon we're going to leave this earth, or perhaps when we're sitting alone on a quiet spring day, and have a little time to think, is what do I have to show for my life? I've been around here a while. What lasting good have I accomplished? Am I bearing fruit? Jesus promised that if we abide in him, we're going to bear fruit.

That if we walk with him, we're going to catch living souls into his kingdom. If we trust him, we're going to move mountains. If we're faithful to him, in our homes, on our jobs, in our neighborhoods, we're going to see things happen.

But Jesus never put the whole burden of the kingdom of God on our shoulders. It's God's kingdom, not ours. It's God's harvest, not ours.

Example, Peter and Andrew were fishermen. They had their own business. They owned a boat, caught fish, sold.

The full weight of that business was on them. When they left fishing to follow Jesus and begin fishing for men, now it's not their business, it's God's business. And all they have to do is keep fitting in, fitting in.

The same God who caused the fish to come into Peter's net that day of his call is now going to bring living souls into the kingdom net that Peter's going to extend and Andrew's going to put down. But all they're going to do is keep fitting into God's program. And the rest of Peter's life and Andrew's life, that's what they do.

They learn to keep yielding to God's way instead of their own. And as they fit in, knowing that they're not running this thing, God is. Jesus is showing them the way.

When they learn to fit in, then the kingdom of God, like a tiny mustard seed, grew and expanded and got bigger and bigger. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

His harvest. The laborers don't run the harvest, the Lord does. So we pray for laborers to the Lord of the harvest.

We fit in and the harvest, in a mystery, in a marvel, takes care of itself. And that's where we're having problems. We have problems letting the harvest take care of itself.

We're so tempted to think we have a better way. Instead of letting the Lord run his way, we're going to come in there with a better idea. We're going to make something more efficient.

We're going to make it happen. Vain men and women for 20 centuries have been trying to take over God's harvest. And we're tempted to do the same thing.

The basic thing we need to learn is that God can do more in five minutes than we can accomplish in a million lifetimes of doing it our own way. In his mercy and providence, God has given us to each other here. He's located us in this spot on earth.

Given us work to do in his harvest. Imparted gifts to every one of us. And here we are.

And he promises that we'll be useful, but in order for us to be effective, we have to get clear in our hearts and minds that we fit in with him. We don't call the shots. He does.

When we learn to deal and fit in, then wonderful things begin to happen. Now, from the earliest days, people were trying to second guess the prince of the harvest, Jesus. They were objecting to the way he was conducting this thing.

And they had four basic objections to the way Jesus ran his harvest. And these four objections that they had then, and we're all in the New Testament, are the same four stumbling blocks which often hinder us from being of any valid use to God. Here they are.

The four things we have to deal with in our own hearts if we're going to be really effective under God's grace and spirit. Objection number one. Jesus is spending too much time with dead meat.

Number two. Jesus is committing too much effort to the sick and the poor. Number three.

Jesus is wasteful with the seed of the Word. And that's number three, did I say four? One, two, three. Now here comes number four.

Number four. Yeah, that's four. Number four.

Jesus is inefficient with money. Now if you look around, you will see that it's in these four areas that American Christendom feels it has been able to improve on Jesus' way of doing it. And if you look in your own heart, you probably will find that in one or two, if not all four of these areas, you have been trying to make a little improvement on what God does and how he does it.

Objection number one. Jesus is spending too much time with dead meat. Reading from Matthew chapter nine, starting in verse nine.

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office. Now remember, those tax collectors were absolute scum in the eyes of any respectable Jew. And Jesus said to him, follow me.

And he rose and followed him. As Jesus sat at a table in the house, Matthew's house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? But when he heard it, he said, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, go learn what this means.

From Hosea six, six, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? This man receives sinners and eats with them.

I mean, it's bad enough to waste time talking with those dead beasts. But to sit down at the same table and eat with them. If this Jesus had any sense, he would target men like Nicodemus, Gamaliel, Annas, Caiaphas, men who have a few brains and who have influence in Jerusalem.

Get those fellows and you get the whole city. But Jesus deliberately spends so much time with people who are of no account, people whose lives are a mess. Why? When he heard it, he said, those who are well don't need a doctor, only those who are sick.

Go learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Now remember, this is how he does it. See, and if we're going to fit in with Jesus, instead of trying to make Jesus fit in with us, we're going to do it his way. Which means we're going to follow Jesus to the house of Matthew and Levi the loser.

And all these other people who have nothing that we can exploit for our own ends. Can't get anything out of them. People who have nothing to offer God but their own broken heart.

And such people, all of us, we have them in our families, among our relatives, in our neighborhoods, they're all over the place. People who everybody walks by and doesn't want to waste time with at all. They're nothing but a burden.

When he heard it, he said, those who are well don't need a doctor, only those who are sick. Go learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Objection number two. Jesus commits too much effort to the sick and the poor.

From Matthew chapter 11, verse two, we read. Now, when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you he who is to come or shall we look for another? And Jesus answered him, go tell John again what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the good news preached to them.

And blessed is he who takes no offense at me, does not object to the way I do things. Now, John the Baptist in prison was the last and the greatest of the old covenant prophets. And he could not figure out what Jesus was up to.

There's a revolution, man. There's a corrupt government to be brought down. There's work to be done.

And all you're doing is fiddling around with the poor and the sick. And Jesus answered him, that's exactly what I came to do. I came to heal the sick and give hope to the poor.

This is where the kingdom of God begins. This is where the spiritual awakening which will shake the earth begins. This is where the fire of judgment which will bring down Jerusalem, Rome, Detroit and every city on earth begins.

Healing the sick and giving good news to the poor. Go tell John again what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the good news preached to them.

And blessed is he who doesn't get upset by the way I do things. It's his harvest, not ours. This is how he does it.

And if we're going to fit in with Jesus, instead of trying to make him fit in with us, we're going to do it his way. Let's be honest. Who of us is going around opening the eyes of the blind and healing the sick? Never mind.

Go to the sick. Visit the sick. Don't jump at the lady and say, in the name of Jesus, get up and walk from your wheelchair.

And then when she can't blame her because she doesn't have enough faith. But go to her. Spend time with the sick people.

Pray with the sick people. Be faithful to them. And you will begin to see healing.

And go to the poor. Go with a serving spirit. Don't run like some kind of professional coming down on top of a client, but as a peer, as an equal.

Notice that Jesus was among the poor. A poor among the poor. And at least he was in touch with them.

He didn't use radio and television where he could do it from a distance. Didn't even use a PA system where he could do it from a distance. He was within direct earshot.

And they could talk back to him. And that's what you and I need to do. Be among them.

Bring good news to the poor. Message of hope. Go there to serve.

Be an equal. And you will see the spirit of God move. Objection number three.

Jesus is wasteful with a sea of the world. And here we begin in Matthew chapter 12, starting at verse 46. While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brother stood outside asking to speak to him.

Someone told him, your mother and your brothers are standing outside asking to speak to you. Don't you know it's Mother's Day? But he replied to the man who told him, who is my mother? And who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

That same day, Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him. And among the crowd, you can be sure, were his mother and his brothers.

So he got into a boat and sat there. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parable, saying, a sower went out to sow.

And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path. And the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they had not much soil.

And immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.

Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

In the book of Matthew and in the book of Mark, this episode of Jesus inside with the crowd, and his mother and his brothers outside wanting to talk to him, is followed immediately by the parable of the sower. Why? Jesus' family is convinced that he's gone overboard. He's going everywhere.

He's preaching to everybody. Why? They've come to tell him the truth. Like the man who says, Why do you bring Jesus into this barn? There's no place to talk about Jesus.

Talk about Jesus in church. Jesus' answer is that the sower goes everywhere. Everywhere.

The seed is limitless. Understanding that a vast majority of the seed will never get anywhere, won't be received, it'll be rejected. The seed that falls by the wayside is going to be picked up by the birds.

The seed that falls on the rocky soil is going to grow up and wither away because it lacks moisture. The seed that's sown among the thorns is going to be choked out by the thorns. But there will always be seed that will find good ground, and it will grow, and it will bear fruit.

Now, we are not able to know what's what, which soil is the good soil and which soil is the rocky soil, by looking in people's faces. We can't tell what kind of heart is going to be recepted, or what heart is hard. So the only thing we can do, if he's showing us by example, is to take this seed, which is abundant, and throw it everywhere.

Be generous with it. Don't be stingy. Don't touch the soil.

Don't give them an examination first to find out if you want to give them the gospel. Don't find out what their income is. Just sow the seed.

Now, that's his harvest. That's the way he does it. And if we're going to fit in with Jesus, instead of trying to make Jesus fit in with us, we're going to do it his way, which means we are going to be generous with the seed.

We're going to just sow it everywhere we can. We're going to speak and live this gospel, knowing that if we're generous with it, and we keep giving it away, someone is going to find a heart that's tender, a heart that's receptive and honest, and in that heart, the seed will grow and bear fruit. Objection number four.

Jesus is wasteful with money. From Matthew chapter 26, verse 6. Now, when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.

But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you trouble this woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it to prepare me for burial.

Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. Why this waste? This ointment might have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor. And in American Christendom, they wouldn't worry too much about the poor.

They would probably say, This ointment might have been sold for a large sum and converted into Christian literature. It might buy Christian radio time. But no, this was an offering to God.

And it was given to anoint Jesus for his final act, the act by which the power of God would draw all men to him. This expensive ointment was lavish now upon Jesus to prepare him for his cross. And if it had cost a billion dollars, it would have been absolutely appropriate.

Jesus was careful with money. He was faithful with money. He spent five thousand with five loaves and two fish.

He made sure that they gathered up all the fragments so that nothing would be wasted. Twelve baskets full of free bread. It didn't even cost anything.

But Jesus never tried to be efficient with money in the sense of using it as power in the harvest. Money is never power in the harvest. I mean, you can't convert five dollars into a soul.

That's the way Jesus does it. It's his harvest and that's how he does it. If we're going to fit in with him instead of trying to let him and make him fit in with us, we're going to do it his way.

Money is to be used faithfully as a steward to God by every one of us. Money is to be given as an offering to God that will bring glory to his name and that again by every one of us. But money is never power in the harvest.

The only power in the harvest is the Holy Spirit. You can't make money do what only the Spirit of God can do. So that, somebody says to you, send me your money and I'll win souls with it.

That person may be efficient, but not for God and not for God's kingdom. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity. 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. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. God the Father is Lord of the harvest.

Jesus is the prince of the harvest. We are the laborers in the harvest. And we are effective in the harvest by fitting in.

So if Jesus spends time, much time, with tax collectors and sinners, so do we. If Jesus commits much effort to the sick and the poor, so do we. If Jesus is generous with the seed of the Word, so are we.

And if Jesus can let this woman lavish expensive ointment on him for his burial, so can we. When we trust Jesus enough to fit in with his program, we will see the glory of God in the harvest field, and we will bear much fruit. Let's just wait upon his Spirit now.

Let the Spirit speak to our hearts. Brother Dave Ratcliffe, would you close us with a prayer, please?