Intro
I took a course 15 years ago that I thought would make a great sermon series some day and I’m finally making it happen. We’re calling it “promoting the Gospel with more than our lips”. What I mean is that when we think about making Jesus known, we often think of it only as evangelistic conversations we have with people, or maybe some evangelist on a stage or on a street corner. Those are good, important, indispensable ways Jesus is made known. But in this series we’re looking at other ways the New Testament indicates we can promote the Gospel. Last week we looked at how being social with those outside of Christian faith can do this, including through the act of hospitality. Today we want to reflect on how our prayers promote the Gospel.
1. Matthew 9:35-38
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:35-38
It’s clear from that passage that Jesus wasn’t lazy. He was very active. Now, he spent regular time with the Father. He prayed continually. He was in step with the Spirit, did only what the Father was doing and spoke what the Father wanted him to say. He wasn’t panicked or rushed, he wasn’t anxious, he didn’t burn himself out. But he was obviously a man on a mission with a crystal clear sense of his calling and purpose, filled with determination to carry that out. That’s what we see in verse 35. He’s traveling throughout the Judean countryside, visiting various settlements, teaching, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. In other words, he’s doing stuff.
One thing to pick up there is “the good news of the kingdom” or “the gospel of the kingdom”. What is that? We talk about the Gospel, but what is that kingdom word doing there? To put it briefly, the good news (which is what gospel literally means) is the Kingdom of God. The good news is that the Kingdom of God is among us. This was the heart of Jesus’ proclamation. Mark begins his account with a very short summary of Jesus’ teaching: “the time has come, the kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” (1:15) Why has the time come? Why has the kingdom come near? Because Jesus the King is among us.
Wherever Jesus goes, we see the reign of God made manifest. We see life as it is meant to be lived. Wherever Jesus is, we see things as they should be, as they were made to be. Wherever Jesus goes, we see the kingdom of darkness defeated and God’s rule exalted- even and especially at the cross, where it looked to the world like darkness had won. Where Jesus goes, people are restored. That’s the point of the physical healings Matthew mentions here. When a deaf person can hear again or a sick person is made well or a lame person can walk again, that’s a sign of the restoration that comes through the Kingdom. It’s not that everyone who believes in Jesus will be healed physically here and now. Some will, however, and it’s meant to be a sign pointing to the full restoration and healing that will one day be true of all who trust in King Jesus. Every bit of redemption, every bit of healing, every bit of light in this dark world is a glimpse and taste of what will be the overwhelming, all-consuming reality when he comes again. Is that good news? Through Christ, the Kingdom has already broken in and one day will arrive in all its fullness! Amen, come Lord Jesus!
The people of Judea sure thought this was good news! In verse 36, there are crowds and crowds of people pushing to see Jesus. Not just the sick or disabled, but the masses of Jews who have been oppressed and burdened and made hopeless are desperate to see him. And this is where you get a picture of the heartbeat of Jesus. When he sees the crowds, what does he feel? What’s his gut-level response? It’s compassion. Here’s the Greek word: esplagchnisthe. Now, when we were in Greece I was pleasantly surprised at how much modern Greek I could read and understand because of my biblical Greek studies. However, I discovered that my pronunciation wasn’t even remotely close to accurate. So the way I said that word probably doesn’t even resemble how it was actually said, but I think it communicates the sense. Splagchna is guttural, you feel it deep down inside you. There’s a bit of physical discomfort involved, and maybe a bit of auditory discomfort for you in hearing it too. That’s what the compassion of Jesus is like. It comes from the deepest parts of him. He sees these crowds of people who have been harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd, and he’s filled with deep, deep compassion.
That imagery of sheep without a shepherd is profoundly biblical. One place we find it is in Jeremiah 23 and I’ll read some excerpts of that for you:
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord… “Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,” declares the Lord… “I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing” (Jeremiah 23:1-2, 4).
The people have leaders who haven’t cared for the flock but instead have destroyed and scattered them, like the people in Matthew 9. God promises to give them new shepherds, but more than that He promises to give them a new shepherd. Immediately after that passage, the Lord says that the days are coming “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land”, who will be called “the Lord our Righteous Savior.” Already 600 years before Jesus, God promised He would raise up a descendant of David, a King and Savior who would be a shepherd to the people and save the flock. Isn’t that incredible? It’s one of many places where you see that Jesus truly is the fulfillment of the Scriptures, the fulfillment of God’s promises to His people. Jesus is deeply moved by the lack of shepherding these people have received because he himself is the good shepherd. He is the king, the savior who will one day lay down his life for the flock. And if today you are feeling oppressed and helpless, if the poor shepherding of leaders in this world has stripped you of hope, turn to Jesus. He has compassion on you. He died for you. He wants to heal you, to bind up your wounds and lead you to green pastures.
Moving to verse 37, Jesus’ compassion leads him to make this statement to his disciples: the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Do you think this is less true today than it was 2000 years ago? People today, including here in Greater Vancouver, are hungry for what is real, what is durable, what is true. Especially in the last 5 years or so, it seems that people in our city are becoming more and more disillusioned with the empty promises of this world. There are signs in younger generations of an increased openness to Christian faith because they feel forgotten by and powerless in the world. The harvest is plentiful, and it outstrips those who are equipped to collect it. A Barna study a few years ago found that for every seven retiring lead pastors, there is only one new pastor ready to take up the mantle. There is a brewing crisis of a lack of workers and shepherds among God’s people in the West. We’ve been doing interviews for our new missions pastor position, and one of the comments a candidate made is how few people from Canada are stepping forward for cross-cultural missions. People are coming here but we’re not going there. I don’t mean to say that only pastors and missionaries are workers for the harvest. Every follower of Jesus is to be equipped as a worker in the field. But there are some who are on the frontlines, who are able to devote the entirety of their lives and work to this task, who are given gifts of preaching and evangelism and so on, and there is a need for more. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
What’s the solution? We finally come to verse 38, which is the reason we’re in this text in the first place. Jesus instructs his disciples, “ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” I love that name for God: the Lord of the harvest. Who’s in charge of the harvest? Who is the one who ultimately can bring in the crop? It’s not me. It’s not you. It’s not superstar YouTube preacher guy. It’s the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul has to put an end to the Corinthian Christians’ dumb arguments about which leader or pastor they prefer, an argument that thankfully has never been repeated again in church history of course (or not!). He says, what is Apollos? What is Paul? “Only servants, through whom you came to believe- as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” (1 Corinthians 3:5-7) I love that. The moment you think you’re something, remember that. You’ve got nothin’. God is the one who makes things grow. He’s the Lord of the harvest.
I just want to sit here for a bit because we so often think we have more control over things than we really do. Stick with the agricultural analogy. A farmer needs to do things. He or she needs to till the land, plant and sow, irrigate, and so on. But there is so much that is beyond a farmer’s control. As a young man, my grandfather aspired to be the richest and biggest farmer in Manitoba. At the same time, he began experiencing a sense of call to pastoral ministry, which doesn’t usually correlate with financial riches unless you’re someone like Joel Osteen. He was torn between the two. Then one day as he was in the fields, a small but dark cloud arrived. For two minutes, a ferocious hail storm rained down violence and destroyed his crops. The crazy thing was that no other surrounding fields had been hit. Only his, and his harvest had been lost. Needless to say, he took that as a bit of a sign about his life’s direction. A couple of years later, he was studying at Bible college but still farming in the summer to make ends meet. However, the harvests had been meager for years and my grandparents were dirt poor with debts piling up. Grandpa wasn’t sure he’d be able to continue his studies. The summer before his last year of college, however, environmental and political factors came together and he says that the yellow alfalfa seeds were like pure gold. The harvest that year paid off his debt, financed his last year of studies and even allowed them to buy an old used car. The highs and lows of farming didn’t depend on him. He was at the mercy of forces bigger than him, and in those two stories it would seem that God had a pretty direct hand in it.
That’s what it’s like to be workers in God’s field. He is the Lord of the harvest, not us. He’s the one who makes things grow. So what are we supposed to do to see the harvest come about? Well, again, we have work to do. We’ve got to sow and water. But Jesus’ answer here is to pray. Ask the Lord of the harvest. And that word, “ask”, is an intense word. It’s not “hey, God, if you’re not too busy, would you mind starting to think about maybe getting the harvest going?” It’s a pleading. It’s like grabbing someone’s coat, falling at their feet, and asking with passion for something. “God, please, send out more workers for the harvest. Send me! Do whatever it takes! I long to see the harvest, I want to see the Gospel bear fruit, so God, please bring it about!” This is prayer driven by the same gut-level compassion that Jesus himself has for the world’s lost. As his people, we are to pray with the same heart that he has, while knowing that the harvest is not in our control. In prayer, we partner with the Lord of the harvest who is filled with compassion for the lost.
This happens in a couple of ways. One way is that we pray for those who aren’t yet believers. In Romans 10:1, Paul writes that “my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.” Paul passionately prays that his fellow Jews will come to faith in Jesus. In John Dickson’s book that covers a lot of this content, he tells the story about a friend of his named Lucy. For years, Lucy had been surrounded by Christians who shared their faith with her. She liked what she heard, she saw that they lived it out, but she couldn’t wrap her head around the cross and resurrection. One night, another friend of hers had an overwhelming compulsion in the middle of the night to get out of bed and pray for Lucy’s salvation, which he did. That same night, Lucy was lying in bed pondering what she had heard from Christian friends all these years when suddenly it was like a mental blindfold was removed. It all clicked. She understood that she was loved by God and that Jesus had died for her sins. Her friend was pretty amazed the next day when she called him to tell him the news! That’s a great story to remind us why we pray for others to know the Lord.
The other way, which is especially the focus in Matthew 9, is that we pray for others who are directly involved in evangelism. We pray for those on the frontlines. We pray for God to raise up new leaders and shepherds. We pray for the Lord to reveal His gifts to them and open the door for the ministry He has for them. He answers that prayer. Right after this passage in Matthew 9, Jesus gathers his 12 disciples, gives them authority, and sends them out to do the work that he’s been doing. Jesus tells us to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into the harvest field, and then he immediately sends out workers into the harvest field. That tells you something about who Jesus is- he is the Lord! It also brings me to our other passage, from Colossians 4, showing us what God can do with one of the least likely workers in one of the most unlikely fields.
2. Colossians 4:2-4
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
Colossians 4:2-4
Let’s look at this section. Paul is the one who wrote this, and remember that Paul was formerly a persecutor of the church, going from place to place having followers of Jesus arrested and even killed. I wonder if there were Christians praying for Paul- not that he would fall off a cliff and die, but that he would trust in Jesus. In fact, I’m almost certain there were, because Jesus told his followers to pray for those who persecute you. His people were praying for Paul, and one day Paul was blinded by the glory of Jesus and subsequently became the foremost promoter of the Gospel. He was an unlikely worker, but God answered prayer and sent him into the field.
In this passage, Paul begins by telling us to be devoted to prayer. That word “devoted” is often used in the New Testament in connection to prayer. It means to be steadfastly attentive to something. It’s a habit, it’s a non-negotiable, it’s a constant, it’s a must-have in your life. We are to be devoted to prayer and we are to be watchful in it. That brings to mind Jesus in Gethsemane, asking his disciples to “keep watch” with him in prayer. They failed to do that, but again and again in the Scriptures we’re encouraged to stay awake, be alert, and to do this through prayer. When we become slothful in prayer, we become spiritually senseless. We become numb to serious threats and unprepared to respond to opportunities. When a church sleeps on prayer, it won’t be long before the church as a whole needs to be laid to rest. Leonard Ravenhill said that revival delays because prayer decays. In prayer, though, we’re not only alert to dangers or opportunities. We are also awake to the good things the Lord is doing, which is why our prayer is also to be thankful. Whether it’s to keep us ready or fill us with joy and thanksgiving, we’ve got to be devoted to prayer.
In Colossians 4, though, Paul is asking for one specific prayer, and it’s for himself and others on the frontlines. Pray that God would open a door for our message, for our word. Notice that Paul’s concern is that the door is opened for the word, not for himself. That’s because Paul doesn’t transform lives. Paul doesn’t save people. The message he preaches about Jesus is what does that. And notice again that Paul is asking for God to open the door. That’s another thing humans can’t do. God is the Lord of the harvest and He is the great door opener.
Also, notice the context of Paul’s request. He says in verse 3 that he is in chains. Where is Paul when he writes this letter? In chains! The most common suggestion is that Paul writes this while he’s under house arrest in Rome, though it may have been during one of his other imprisonments. Does house arrest strike you as a fertile harvest field? He can’t go out and move around anymore and he’s got Roman soldiers watching over him 24/7. Those are serious restrictions! From a human perspective, the door is pretty shut. And yet this is what Paul asks: pray that God would open a door for our message. He can do it, even when humans try with all their might to close the door. And by the way, it’s what happened for Paul in Rome. The Colossians, 1500km away from Rome, prayed that God would open a door for Paul while in chains, and here’s how Acts 28 ends: “For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ- with all boldness and without hindrance!” (28:30-31) Without hindrance! Under house arrest, in chains, but because God is the great door-opener and because His people are praying, the blocks are removed. There are opportunities everywhere, my friends. The harvest is ripe!
The other thing Paul asks for in Colossians 4 is that he would proclaim the mystery of Christ clearly. Now, the word “mystery” in the New Testament isn’t like some spooky murder whodunit novel. It has to do with God’s purposes that have now been revealed in Christ. It’s something that is meant to be made known. But Paul needs help with this too. Maybe you think that Paul was a pro. He doesn’t need help, he’s got this! Here’s the thing: Paul’s toast without prayer. He needs divine assistance to make the Gospel clear. So it’s not just the opportunity that requires prayer, it’s the execution of the opportunity.
To sum this up: prayer is what is desperately needed to raise up workers, because only God can turn a violent persecutor of the church like Paul into its foremost promoter. Prayer is what’s desperately needed to open up doors, because only God can subvert human attempts to keep them closed. And prayer is what’s desperately needed to speak the message clearly, because only God can remove the blinders that the ruler of this age places over people’s eyes and ears. If you want to see the good news of the Kingdom, the Gospel of Jesus, go forward in this dark world, then pray, pray, pray!
Conclusion
In the end, all our attempts to build a kingdom are in vain without prayer. Without prayer, we’ll just be spinning our wheels and creating busyness. Over a hundred years ago, R.A. Torrey said that “the Devil is perfectly willing that the church should multiply its organizations and its deftly-contrived machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ, if it will only give up praying.” The devil’s fine with all our efforts as long as he can get us to stop praying, because it’s when we pray that God responds by doing the impossible.
Today is traditionally the day of Pentecost, where we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. 10 days before that first Pentecost, Jesus had told his disciples that they would receive power from the Spirit and that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. For the ten days between the promise and its fulfillment, the church joined together devoting themselves to prayer- the same word Paul uses in Colossians 4. They prayed, the Spirit fell, and the Gospel was promoted through them by the power of God. My friends, this is what is desperately needed today. Pray for workers for the harvest. Pray for our missionaries. Pray for non-believers. Pray for doors to open. Pray for clarity when the Gospel is preached. Pray on your own, pray with other believers. I’m going to close with two of my favorite quotes about prayer from Leonard Ravenhill:
“Poverty stricken as the Church is today in many things, she is most stricken here, in the place of prayer. We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few pray-ers; many singers, few clingers; lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”
However!
“The law of prayer is the law of harvest: sow sparingly in prayer, reap sparing; sow bountifully in prayer, reap bountifully.” Let’s sow bountifully in prayer and watch the Gospel go forward by God’s power!