The Heart of Jesus’ Mission

Matthew Series | Matthew 9:36-38 | Pastor Duane Smets

This week is an exegetical sermon looking at Jesus’ compassion for the lost and how he sees wide opportunity in the field. This sermon was originally preached on February 21st, 2010 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.

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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
February 21st, 2010

“The Heart of Jesus’ Mission”
Series: The Gospel of Mathew
Matthew 9:36-38

I. Deep Compassion for the Flock (v.36)
A. For the Hopeless
B. For the Harassed
C. For the Helpless
II. Wide Need in the Field (v.37-38)
A. The Laborers of the Harvest
B. The Lord of the Harvest
C. The Longing for Harvest

Introduction

Good morning everyone. Well, we’re studying through the book of Matthew and last week we finished up a major section that covered a number of chapters where we saw Jesus do a whole bunch of miracles. Now we’re going to see a new section begin, where there won’t be a whole lot of miracles any more and instead a lot more of Jesus teaching. It’s starts off first by sending out his original twelve disciples on their first task, their first mission endeavor, that’s all of chapter 10. But before he sends them out he shares the heart and the reason for mission, which is the last 3 verses of chapter 9. That’s what we’re looking at today.

I was just going to do both the heart of mission and Jesus’ strategy for mission all together today but I decided to split it into two for a couple reasons. First, the things Jesus says here are so weighty and powerful, if we don’t get them then any mission efforts are really in vain because our hearts will not be in it. Often times we can so easily jump to strategies and systems and plans and be more excited and driven by that then having Jesus’ heart for people.

Second, on of the distinctives of our church, The Resolved Church and Acts 29, the Network of churches we belong to…is that we are a missional church, so this subject matter is really important to us. It’s especially important for us to not only have Jesus’ strategy for mission but his heart. What I mean by us being a missional church is that mission is part of our DNA. Mission is and always will be something that’s at the forefront of everything we are and do.

So being a missional church is one of the things that make us distinct. Other churches fall into various camps. For some mission or evangelism is just sort of a side note, of one of the things among many that they do an are. For some mission is just sending money to far away places. For some mission is mute because they just sort of see themselves as the frozen chosen and mission is not needed. If they do any mission at all it’s only evangelizing Christians and trying to convert them to Calvinism or something.

For us, being a missional church means that we believe God is a missionary God is has been out calling people to himself since the Garden of Eden, that he came into the world in Jesus and went out and called people to himself and that in the same way, as the Father sent Jesus to do that Jesus has sent us. We are recipients of a missionary calling. So if you are part of The Resolved Church, one of the things that means is that you have signed up to be a missionary. We are on a mission to glorify our God by worshipping Jesus and making every effort to see as many people in our city come to know him and love him along with us.

But all of that is meaningless and worthless unless our hearts are first gripped by mission. So I want to spend a whole sermon today on the heart of mission from Jesus as he puts it forth in three verses. So let’s read ‘em and pray over ‘em.

I. Deep Compassion for the Flock (v.36)

Okay, so first of our passage says that when Jesus saw the crowds he had compassion on them. This is a general statement, a commentary from Matthew about what he observed in Jesus and how Jesus reacted when crowds gathered around him. At several points in Jesus ministry hundreds and thousands of people flocked to him. And multiple times, when that happened the gospels will say this phrase, that Jesus’ saw the crowds and “had compassion” on them (Mt 14:14; 15:32; Mk 6:34; 8:2).

Crowds, often times are the real result of the gospel going forth. Sometimes churches can get in grown, where they like it small and want it to be just “us four and no more.” Or they think that churches should just meet in houses and always be a small group. They don’t want the crowds and speak negatively about “megachurches” and make every effort not to become them.

Whatever. You can have church in a phone booth if you want, that’s not us. We’re not about watering anything down and doing whatever it takes to gather a crowd but we’re not against numbers. All throughout the Bible you see God gathering large numbers of people together.
• God’s promise to Abraham was to make him into a great nation of many numbers, as numerous as the sand on the sea and the starts in the sky.
• God delivered a great number of people out of Egypt in the Exodus and then had book written about it called numbers.
• Here in the Gospels we see Jesus gathering thousands of people…on one occasion 7,000 men not including the women and children.
• In Acts we see the same thing. On the first day of church 3,000 men converted to Christianity, not including the women, children and the people who didn’t convert.

So Jesus sees the crowds and he sees something different than most people see when he sees them. I mean think about it for a minute. What do you see when you see a huge crowd of people at a football game, or a music concert, or at the beach, or at a street fair or at the mall or the movies? Is your reaction like Jesus, where you are moved with compassion?

I’m guessing not. For most of us it’s either exciting and invigorating or you just can’t stand crowds and do everything to avoid them. But I’m guessing few of us are moved with compassion.

This word compassion is a very interesting word. The Greek word behind what gets translated as “compassion” here in our English translations is splanchna. To have splanchna means to be moved at the gut level, deep in your bowels and kidneys, to be moved in your inward parts with deep feeling.

I think it’s sort of like this…anyone ever got the wind knocked out of them? I have a few times. Once in high school I got in a fist fight with one of my best friends over a girl and he socked me in gut and knocked the wind out of me. Then it’s happened to me a few more times, once playing football and more than a few times snowboarding. When you get the wind taken out of you, it takes your breath away and you hurt deep in your gut. I think that is like what Matthew is saying about Jesus here. When he saw the crowds he was so moved he physically hurt in his gut, almost doubling over in pain.

I’ve got better at it, but you can ask my wife…for the longest while I used to have a hardest time going out to the mall or to the music shows, not because of social anxiety but because I would just see these huge crowds of people and have the overwhelming feeling that everyone was just pursuing something so meaningless when what they really needed was Jesus.

Three reasons are given here for why Jesus felt and reacted the way he did to the crowds. He saw them as harassed, helpless and hopeless. Let’s look at each of these. And I actually want to go through them backwards because it’s really the last one that fills out the meaning of the other two.

A. For the Hopeless

So first, the hopeless. Now I know the word “hopeless” isn’t in our text like the words harassed and helpless are. I just needed another word that started with “h” for our outline. It’s the little amount of Baptist in me, I like alliteration and nice clean outlines. And I know it’s one of the things Baptists are famous for.

Look at the last part of verse 36 with me, it says the people were “like sheep without a shepherd.” This is the reason given for why or how the people are harassed and helpless, essentially because they are hopeless like sheep without a shepherd. What’s that mean, what’s that about?

Well, let’s talk sheep. Sheep and shepherds are kind of a big deal in the Bible. First thing, some background stuff about sheep for us city folk. Sheep are dumb. Ron Broersma, one of our other pastors here, one of our other shepherds (pastor literally means shepherd), used to be an actual shepherd of sheep awhile back now up in Washington. Apparently, he tells me sheep are really really dumb animals. That they pretty much cannot do anything for themselves. They are extremely dependant upon human care. So I guess it’s a good thing that God created man the next day after he created the animals or else the sheep would not have survived.

In the Bible, the leaders of God’s people are shepherds. God chooses this very humbling role and metaphor to calls his leaders, shepherds who are meant to care for his people who are sheep. Psalm 23 describes it well. Sheep need shepherds to guide them to food and water and to protect them from predatory animals. And the ultimate goal and charge is to connect the sheep to the true shepherd who is God himself (Is 40:11).

So when Jesus sees the crowds and sees them as sheep without a shepherd, there’s two indictments. One, they are disconnected from God, the true shepherd. And two, God’s shepherds whom he has called to lead them are not doing their job…they are not providing them solid spiritual food and drink and they are not protecting them from spiritual predators. The result, they are left harassed and helpless.

B. For the Harassed

First, harassed. The word harassed here is literally to be mangled, torn and thrown down on the ground. It’s a word used of animals, like sheep, that would get ravaged by wolves. Beaten down, eaten up, and left for dead. So what’s the metaphor here? Matthew is using the sheep and shepherd analogy as a spiritual metaphor. Think about it. Who are the spiritual leaders, the “shepherds” of Israel at the time? Mainly the Pharisees right? And what are they all about? Following the law to a “t.” Constantly questioned about whether they are doing things just right, not walking too much on the Sabbath, not exercising your muscles too much or that would be “work” and then break the commandment to rest on the Sabbath. Constantly dividing up people and branding them as either sinners or saints.

Do you think with that kind of scrutiny that after awhile you’d end up feeling harassed? Beat up and thrown down? The real physical needs of the people have been neglected.

I remember when I was in Bible college and there was this group of dudes, who were getting up early every morning to pray together and then they would go and preach on street corners and praying for people then come back to the college and tell of their exploits and start looking down on everyone else who didn’t go with them and especially if anyone ever went to a movie or did anything fun. They started questioning whether or not a lot of people were Christians and asking where there fruit was. I remember at the time I had a roommate who was going through a really hard time and I spent several nights talking with him and praying with him. And this group of super holy Christians pretty much quite literally harassed this dude for not praying with them and going out with them. It made me so angry I got on my computer and made up this drawing with a picture of a sheep on it and then with another dude standing next to the sheep with a paddle about to beat it and then I put in big letters above it “Don’t beat the sheep!” And went and copied a bunch off and posted them around in the dorm.

The point is a lot of times you don’t really know what’s going on with people below the surface and just because they are not where you are at spiritually doesn’t mean they are not Christians or even if they are not, that what they need is spiritually battery.

Jesus sees the crowd and he’s able to see into hearts and see the hurts and the pains and how the people are truly leaderless and disconnected from God the great shepherd. So he goes out and ministers to their physical needs in order to minister to their spiritual needs. Like Jesus we need to go out and get below the surface and find out what is going on in people’s hearts and minister to them.

C. For the Helpless

Matthew here also adds that they are not only harassed but are “helpless.” That’s pretty much what the word means, unable to pick themselves up, they need help. The point is simple. People need leaders.

Just the other year a guy named Seth Godin, not a Christian that I know of…he wrote what has become a popular business book titled, “Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.” Basically the book is about business opportunities latent within the Internet. But in it he says some interesting things about leadership. He talks about what has happened with the advent of social networking websites and internet media and how they have created the ability for people to connect but unless someone leads these groups of connection nothing can really happen.

Godin states, “People naturally want to bond with people with similar goals and passions…(But) most are kept from realizing their potential by fear of criticism and fear of being wrong…Leaders are scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. (But) a tribe needs leadership.” He tells the story of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead. They grossed over $100 million dollars in their career but they didn’t succeed by selling records but by calling people to follow them, the attracted and led a tribe.

It seems that in large what has been in vogue is self-help, do it alone, aspiration. We seem to be part of a generation of rebels that doesn’t like leadership or authority and bucks against it. But we can’t do it ourselves. Either going it alone or fighting to keep the status quo to prevent anyone from rising doesn’t work. The truth is we need leadership and are helpless and aimless without it.

Many of you have never really experienced real spiritual leadership where your Christian brothers or sisters or your pastors get up in your business and ask you what you’re doing and why. That’s a good thing as long as it’s done in love and compassion. It’s real help and it’s real leadership.

You see some of you probably know you’ve been out there doing your own thing just trying to keep leadership at bay. You don’t like people questioning you or telling you what to do, but deep down you know you’re running and it’s ultimately God you’re running from, not other people. For you, Jesus the shepherd sees that and it’s helplessness and puts himself forward to be your Shepherd to lead you and guide you.

For others of you, you may just feel lost. You’ve never had any kind of leadership whatsoever and don’t know at all what it’s like to have God as your shepherd and to not be left to yourself. Jesus sees your frustration and your loneliness and offers his helping hand of assurance and safety. You are meant to walk with him.

II. Wide Need in the Field (v.37-38)

Well let’s move on and look at our other two verses for this morning, verses 37-38. Verse 37 begins, “Then he (that’s Jesus) said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few; Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.’”

Jesus was super good at taking common everyday things and using them as teaching tools. Talking about harvest made a lot of sense for his disciples and original hearers because being a farmer was one of the most common jobs of the time. For us we don’t really have any clue of what harvest is like because sitting in a desk at a computer is the most common job of our city.

But if you’re a farmer harvest time is one of the most exciting times of the year. All year you’re watering and tending your field and keeping bad bugs and wild animals out of it that can kill your crop. Once you start seeing the grain or the fruit it’s exciting. It means food, it means money, it means good things are coming.

For us, I suppose it’d be like if some new very successful company moved into town and opened up shop, say some company comes out with something even better than the iPhone…I can’t imagine what it would be. But the presence of the new company means there is so much work and so much influx of money that they can’t hire enough people. Anybody can get a job who wants one and do very well. The harvest is plentiful.

Jesus looks out in the crowd, sees the spiritual need and says rather seeing a bunch of people who are closed off to God and the gospel, he sees huge opportunity…that there are many wide open doors, many many people who are open and willing if only we would give ourselves and our time to them.

A. The Laborers of the Harvest

Now the interesting thing here is he doesn’t just jump to a command and say, “The harvest is plentiful, so go!” Jesus recognizes a few important things must happen first. First, we have to see the need and recognize that it’s going to take some effort. It’s going to take some laborers. It’s one thing to see a need and it’s quite another to actually do something about it.

I had this conversation with a guy just the other day at my other job where I work at a state funded group home for troubled kids. My co-worker had heard about some of the things our church is doing and he was telling me how great he thinks it is and how he wishes more people would be doing the stuff we’re doing. But is he interested at all in actually getting his hands dirty and getting involved. Probably not. It’s one thing to see a need, it’s quite another to actually do something about it. It’s so easy to sit on the sidelines and complain about how something is being done or not being done at all, it’s quite another to actually get up and do something.

That’s because to do something takes work, labor, effort, energy. People do not just become Christians without other people investing in them and their lives. People do not just grow and mature as Christians without other people discipling them, challenging them and encouraging them. It takes workers. It takes people who will labor to see Jesus glorified.

And Jesus himself gets this. Jesus understands and realizes that he alone will only be able to encounter and minister to a small number of people and that if the world is to be reached, he must stir up others to be his hands and his feet.

I’m mean really, in the whole scheme of things, Jesus ministered to a very few amount of people. It’s one of the most amazing things about Christianity…it started from very small humble beginnings. But Jesus has excited and empowered thousands to follow him and spread his message for generations!

How does he do that? Two key things. Connecting us to the Lord of the Harvest and calling us to prayer. You see he doesn’t just say, “There’s a great need, so get to work!” Jesus realizes these two really important things. One, if God’s not the one doing it, it’s not going to happen, so he calls us to the Lord of the harvest. And two, if our hearts really are not in it, it’s not going to happen, so he calls us to pray earnestly. Check it out.

B. The Lord of the Harvest

Why does Jesus say there’s great need so ask the Lord of harvest to send out workers? Why doesn’t he just say go? Beginning in the next chapter he will say go and send his disciples out, which says some interesting things about his view of himself as the Lord of the harvest. But why does Jesus first call us to ask God to send out workers?

I think this is the reason. Only a true calling from God can really make you a missionary. I mean I can yell at you until I’m blue in the face, “Go, there’s great need. Get on mission. Talk to people about Jesus. Live persuasive lives to make Jesus look good. Jesus commands you to go make disciples of all nations. No one will ever become a Christian if you don’t share the gospel with them so go share the gospel.” I can keep telling you and telling you all those things…but until you get a burning in you, a fire lit from the flame of heaven that God has called YOU to go…all of your efforts will only be motivated by a desire to please me or your Christian peers or something else and your efforts will fizzle and fade and not last.

You must get a sense deep in your soul that God has called you to be a laborer for him and if you really believe that, it will provide a well of energy and faithfulness that will keep you working Jesus’ kingdom until you breathe your last breath. When the Lord of the harvest speaks to you and calls you to do his will, something happens…we are forever changed…because then, who we are and what we do actually counts for eternity.

C. The Longing for Harvest

So that’s the first reason why I don’t think Jesus just says go. He wants to connect us to God, the Lord of the Harvest. The second reason I thing he says that’s wrapped up in this is that he wants us to “pray earnestly” about it. What I have called, “The Longing for the Harvest.”

I think what’s going on with that is what is going on with must of the reason why God calls us to pray. Often times it’s not so much to change what God’s going to do, but that when we pray it changes us. When you really pray, it effects you.

In this case if you are praying earnestly, asking God to help you reach people with the gospel and to stir up other workers to reach people, do you know what’s going to happen? Your heart for people will increase. And that’s important. If our gospel is not motivated by a true heart of love and compassion for people, all of our efforts are in vain.

When we really long and desire and pray for things, it changes us. Then when it happens we are grateful to God and we give him the credit and the glory. Praying creates an atmosphere or a setting where God likes to work because he is very concerned about getting his credit or his glory. He will not give it to another.

So I believe Jesus calls us to pray earnestly because he really wants our hearts to get gripped with mission and if our hearts get gripped with mission then all of our endeavors will be genuine and we will reap harvest because then God will truly be in it and he will get the praise and the glory for it all.

To be honest, this whole sermon and especially this point in the sermon, “The Longing for Harvest” hits really close to home for me. That’s because I really don’t see myself as a pastor first and foremost but believe of the church leader roles that Jesus gifts and institutes that I really have the heart and the calling of an Evangelist. I just see planting a church as being the best way for me to fulfill that calling. But I really see myself as an evangelist first and a pastor second. Since the time I was very little the biggest desire of my heart has been to see people come to Jesus. It is something very dear to me. It’s why I wrote my Master’s thesis on the Evangelist and it’s why I started this church. I long to see people become Christians. I long for it.

My heart’s desire is to worship Jesus and win as many people over to worshipping Jesus as possible. And that begins with prayer. Calling on the Lord of the Harvest. We’re going to do that in just a minute here…go to God in prayer and receive communion.

When we do, today I want it to be really clear, if you know you’re not a Christian, you don’t know Jesus, you’re life has been about you and you’re harassed and helpless and you know you’re a sinner and you need him…you can become a Christian today. The way we do that here is by inviting you to express that God given faith and desire by taking communion with us. No work or striving of your own can save you, we simply receive Jesus and follow. In fact if as I saying this you’re finding that desire already in you, to have Jesus…then that’s evidence that you’ve probably already become a Christian. Taking communion with us is just a celebration of that work of God in your heart.

Also this week, I want to call all of us to prayer during communion time, that God would send workers to help us reach the city of San Diego to Jesus and most of all that he would send us…that he would give each of us a heart like Samuel in the Old Testament who said, “Here I am Lord, send me.” That Jesus’ heart of mission would sink deep into your soul and become part of your primary identity and purpose here on this earth.

Conclusion

But before we go to the Lord’s Table I want to conclude by just pressing in on a few things and calling us to repentance by asking us some questions. Martin Luther said all of the Christian life is repentance so that what we do here each week, is we look internally and open ourselves up and allow Jesus to keep calling us out and changing us. We let his word do its work in us and so we ask the question, what is your word saying to me today?

So what’s it saying? Where do you find yourself in today’s text? Where do you find yourself in the story?

Do you see crowds of people and are you moved with compassion like Jesus or do you see crowds and you’re filled with disdain and despise for them?

Do you feel harassed and beat up this morning and you just need healing in the loving and tender care of Jesus?

Or as we were talking about it, maybe you realized that you’re not harassed but you’re a harasser. Do you need to repent of having a lack of compassion for people and being judgmental and cruel?

Do you feel helpless, completely unable to change your circumstances or your character…stuff you know needs to change but you don’t know where to begin or are simply worn out at so many failed attempts? Do you feel helpless and you need Jesus to pick you up and do for you what you can’t do for yourself?

Do you feel hopeless, lost and aimless like a sheep without a shepherd and you know Jesus is calling you to get back on the right track and follow him?

Have you bucked against leadership and been rebellious and you need to humble yourself today and bow your knee before God and acknowledge his rightful place to be the king over your life?

Or have you lacked in leadership Jesus has called you to? Do you have gifts and abilities you’ve just been letting lie dormant and you’re not using them for Jesus and his kingdom? Are there people you know Jesus has called you to influence and disciple and lead but you’ve neglected that responsibility and left them like sheep without a shepherd?

How about the harvest? Do you look out on our city or into your life and your relationships and just see a bunch of closed doors and you’ve written people or places off and you need Jesus to open your eyes to see that the harvest is ripe and ready?

Have you been lazy and unwilling to give your time, energy and effort to Jesus? He needs laborers and maybe you know you’ve slacked and denied his call?

Or maybe you’ve been laboring away and never stopped to pray? Maybe you’re just serving in your own effort and strength and trying to take it all on yourself and haven’t been calling on God to send you help?

Is your heart in what you are doing? Who are you doing what you’re doing for? Is it coming from God and a heart of love for people or are you doing it for someone else or for some other reason?

If you’re honest do you see yourself as a missionary? If the answer is no, do you need God, the Lord of the harvest to light a fire in your soul, so that you long to see people come to know him and love him?

Let’s go to the Jesus’ table today. We take communion every week here where we respond to Jesus’ word and come and to him.

Jesus is the great shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. The bread is his body which was broken for us. In his body he lived and succeeded where we have failed and he gave his life for us as a substitute in our place. The wine is his blood which was poured out for us on the cross as a payment to God for the penalty our sin demands. Jesus died and rose again and he lives today and we come to the table to meet with him work in us where we need it.

Let’s pray.