AN ALL IN CHURCH
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· 18 viewsAN ALL IN CHURCH IS MARKED BY COMPASSION, SERVICE, AND PRAYER.
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And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
And in between those two summary statements, Matthew records specific episodes of the teaching, preaching, and healing ministry of Jesus Christ. But 9:36 marks a transition in Matthew’s record of the ministry of Jesus.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
The opening line of 9:36 tells us that Jesus encountered multitudes of people during his ministry. And the rest of that verse goes on to tell us that Jesus was “moved with compassion” toward these hurting, harassed, and helpless people.
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
Then the opening line of 9:37 tells us that he called his disciples together. And the remaining part of the chapter records his message to the disciples. “The harvest,” he said, “truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
HYPOSTATIC UNION
This passage records a collision between the dual natures of Jesus Christ. Here, Jesus’ deity and humanity collide as he recognizes that he will not be able to personally or physically touch everybody in the multitudes who needed to know the love of God.
HYPOSTATIC UNION
Jesus was and is God. But in becoming human, he willingly limited himself to time and space. And add to that the fact that, as Matthew 10 begins, we are just 10 chapters away from the events of the final week of Jesus’ life. And our text marks this significant transition in the ministry of Jesus.
TRANSFER OF MINISTRY
It sets the stage for what Jesus does as he comes to grips with the fact that the limitations of time, space, and mission render it humanly impossible for him to reach every person who needs his divine touch. So what does he do? He transfers the reigns of ministry over to the hands of his disciples.
Jesus has never repossessed the reigns of his ministry from his disciples
He called them together, empowered and instructed them, and then sent them out to carry on his work. And I submit to you that Jesus has never repossessed the reigns of his ministry from his disciples. He still intends for his work to be carried on by his disciples, who the New Testament ultimately calls the “CHURCH.” In fact, 1 Corinthians 3:9 says,
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
The Lord Jesus intends to continue his ministry to people through us. And there is no plan B. In fact, as ARCHBISHOP WILLIAM TEMPLE noted,
The church is the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members.
But the sad indictment is that far too many churches are preoccupied with hollow traditions, institutional survival, personal aggrandizement, vainglory, and political-correctness. And despite our pious sounding slogans, we are not truly committed to intentionally and actively fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.
Rather than being fishers of men, we are content to just be keepers of the aquarium.
But I stand to remind us that the Church is in the people business. Mark it down. If people want to see what God is like, they only have two options. They can read the Bible. Or, they can watch the lives of Christians.
Rather than being fishers of men, we are content to just be keepers of the aquarium.
And since most non-Christians have no interest in reading the Bible, we who are Christians are usually the only opportunity people have to see God. That leads us to some important questions.
How clearly can unbelievers see God through your life?
How clearly can they see him through our church?
Your life and our ministry can truly offer a proper view of God only to the degree that people’s eternal destiny and daily needs matter to us.
3 PRIORITIES OF AN ALL IN CHURCH
Becoming an all in church - a church where people matter – requires a commitment to three priorities of Jesus Christ:
AN ALL IN CHURCH IS MARKED BY COMPASSION.
Notice 9:36. Matthew says that Jesus “saw the multitudes.” The vision of Jesus transcends our casual observance, fickle attention, and limited perspective. Jesus, the God-Man, saw beyond the outward appearance. He saw their hearts.
WEARY, SCATTERED, SHEPHERD-LESS
And 9:36 tells us that from his divine vantage point he saw 3 deep, heart-level problems among the people. Now, rather than going through an extended explanation of those phrases, let me instead just summarize the condition of the people in one word: LOST.
WEARY, SCATTERED, SHEPHERD-LESS
The people were lost, like weary, scattered, shepherdless sheep. And Matthew tells us that when Jesus saw their lost condition, he was “moved with compassion.”
splagchnizomai
That phrase is just one word in the Greek, splagchnizomai. It refers to the bowels, the intestines, or the visceral parts. It’s what we would call the “guts.”
splagchnizomai
Often, when we experience violent emotions – like love, hate, or jealousy – there is a physical response to the strong emotions that seems to move our stomachs. And, consequently, the ancients viewed the bowels as the seat of the emotions. They mentally associated one’s emotions with the intestines.
splagchnizomai
And so Matthew tells us here that when Jesus saw the lost condition of the multitude, he was moved in his innermost being. He felt the limp of the cripple man. He sensed the darkness of the blind man. He identified with the rejection of the leper. He was moved with compassion.
splagchnizomai
In fact, except for 3 references in the parables of Jesus, every time splagchnizomai is used in the Greek New Testament, it refers to Christ himself. And it is used of Christ to describe what Hebrews 4:15 declares:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let me bottom-line that for you: Whatever you are dealing with right now, Jesus knows how you feel. I don’t care what you’re dealing with, from the joy of birth to the sorrow of death, Jesus knows how you feel. The God of scripture is the God of compassion.
COM(with)PASSION(to suffer)
And that word “COMPASSION” is derived from two terms com, which means “with,” and passion, which means, “to suffer.” Literally, “compassion” means, “to suffer with” someone. And the Bible says that the sovereign God of heaven suffers with us in our human needs, because in Christ he was tempted and tested at all points just like we are.
A POLITICIAN, A SOCIAL WORKER, A GENERAL
Picture these three scenes. A politician dons a hardhat and enters the factory like he is one of the employees. A social worker goes to the inner city and spends the night on the streets with the homeless. And a general walks into the mess hall and sits down with the soldiers like he is one of the enlisted men.
A POLITICIAN, A SOCIAL WORKER, A GENERAL
Now, all three do this because they want to communicate the same message: “I identify with you. I can understand. I can relate.” There is one problem, though. The factory workers know that the politician’s hardhat will come off when the television crew is gone.
A POLITICIAN, A SOCIAL WORKER, A GENERAL
The derelicts know that the social worker will be in a warm bed tomorrow night. And the soldiers are well aware that for every meal the general eats in the mess hall, he’ll eat dozens in the officer’s quarters. Try as they might, these well-meaning professionals don’t really understand. Their participation is partial.
A POLITICIAN, A SOCIAL WORKER, A GENERAL
Jesus’ participation, however, was complete. He fully shared all of our experiences. And so he is moved with compassion when he sees your needs, hurts, and frustrations. And we must share his lovingkindness, tender mercy, and active goodwill, if we are going to be a church where people matter.
Your Christ is wonderful, but you Christians are not like him
E. STANLEY JONES, a foreign missionary with a tremendous passion for bringing people to Christ, was pleading with a group of young people in India. “I wish you would stand up and tell me, if you will, why you are not Christians,” he said. “Why will you not become Christians? What do you think of Christ? Why will you not follow him?” Then one young Indian answered, “Your Christ is wonderful, but you Christians are not like him.” Listen.
If we are going to be a church where people matter, we must give people this ironclad guarantee – that they will be accepted and forgiven, no matter what.
People want to be healed. And they will submit themselves for healing, if they are accepted and loved without condition. So here’s the first ingredient to honest outreach: If we are going to be a church where people matter, we must give people this ironclad guarantee – that they will be accepted and forgiven, no matter what.
Get off of our high horses
Like the Good Samaritan, our compassion should move us to get off of our high horses, bend down, and bind up the wounds of the abused, suffering, and dying people around us. We must accept people, as they are, where they are.
AN ALL IN CHURCH IS MARKED BY SERVICE.
Jesus was moved with compassion toward lost people. And 9:37 records his compassion-filled complaint to his disciples about the matter:
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” In other words, a magnificent harvest had been brought to fruition by the combination of seed, soil, toil, weather, and providence. But the heavy heads of wheat were beginning to bend over and the entire crop was so ripe that it would speedily perish if reapers did not quickly enter the field to gather the harvest.
Plentiful harvest – Few workers.
Notice the pitiful contrast here: a plentiful harvest – few workers. You would think it would be the other way around. It would have made more sense if the Lord would have said,
“I have a large and ready army or workers who are eager to bring lost souls to me, but people’s hearts are hard and they won’t receive the good seed of the gospel.”
But that is not what he says.
Jesus says that the world is more eager to receive the gospel than we are to share it.
He says that people’s hearts are open to receiving the gospel of the kingdom. Yet, apparently, it’s the Lord’s own people who have hard hearts. Jesus says that the world is more eager to receive the gospel than we are to share it. What an indictment against the church! Let me ask you something.
Are you a working part of the Body of Christ?
Is this local expression of the Body of Christ stronger and healthier because of you?
You may have a high level of education or experience, or perhaps you know the Bible well, but are you vigorously using these blessings so that Christ can work through them to build up his body?
Mark it down. A non-serving Christian is a contradiction. An uncommitted Christian is an oxymoron. It’s not normal for Christians to be idle. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says,
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Every member of the Body of Christ is a minister of Jesus Christ. And regardless of your educational level, IQ, experience, or talents, if you are a Christian, you have a Christ-intended function in the church.
“How little can I serve without my conscience bothering me?” but “How much can I serve without neglecting my other God-given priorities?”
You are here for a reason. You are not just here for yourself and what you can get out of church. No. Jesus works in his church, and so do healthy members of it. And our attitude should not be, “How little can I serve without my conscience bothering me?” but “How much can I serve without neglecting my other God-given priorities?”
RIVERS OF BLESSING OR RESERVOIRS OF BLESSINGS
I submit to you that a church where people matter requires the active presence of towel bearers and foot washers who have a servant’s spirit. We must strive to become rivers of God’s blessings to others, not just reservoirs of his blessings to us.
VERBALIZATION AND VISUALIZATION
We must do more than just tell people we love them. We must demonstrate it through our works. We must develop a culture of Christlike service by sacrificing our time, money, and energy to reach out to lost people. We must adopt the spirit of the prophet who said, in Isaiah 6:8:
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
And the wonderful part of that text is that Isaiah signed up for service, even though he didn’t know where the Lord was going to send him. All he knew was that he had been forgiven and that the one who have forgiven him needed someone to go for him. We must be like that.
Reach out to an unwed mother.
Go visit the sick and shut in at a convalescent home.
Feed some hungry people or distribute some of those clothes in your closet to the needy.
Use your vocational knowledge and experience to help someone who can’t afford it.
Join a ministry in the church that you are passionate about. And if it’s not one there, create it.
The important thing isn’t what God has you doing; the important thing is that you’re doing what God wants you to do.
Did you know that if two angels in heaven where given assignments by God at the same instant, one rule over the greatest nation on earth and the other to sweep the streets of the dirtiest village, each angel would be completely indifferent as to which one got which assignment. It wouldn’t matter to them. Why? Because the important thing isn’t what God has you doing; the important thing is that you’re doing what God wants you to do.
AN ALL IN CHURCH IS MARKED BY PRAYER.
In 9:37, Jesus confronts his disciples with a spiritual crisis:
Who will reach the lost, hell-bound world of sinful, hurting people who need to hear and accept the gospel?
Who will tell them of their plight and show them the way of escape?
Who will share with them Jesus’ love, compassion, and power?
LABOR SHORTAGE SOLUTION
But then, in 9:38, Jesus prescribes the solution for this kingdom labor shortage:
therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
It’s rare to be in a church service where someone openly prays for more preachers, teachers, and workers. No, when the church needs more workers, we do just about everything else – from general announcements to outright manipulation – but we don’t pray.
PRAYER IS THE PRESCRIPTION
We’ll even wear out the few active people we have, shuffling them from one ministry to another, before we just go to God and tell him about it. And that’s why the church is sick. We won’t follow the Lord’s prescription: Pray that God will raise up more Christian workers.
PRAYER IS THE PRESCRIPTION
Luke 6:12-13 tells us that Jesus prayed all night long before he chose the twelve apostles from among the larger group of his disciples. Acts 13:1-3 tells us that while the church at Antioch was fasting and praying, the Holy Spirit spoke to the church and told them to set apart Paul and Barnabas for special missionary work. And in 2 Thessalonians 3:1, Paul says,
Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you,
Here’s the point: It happens after prayer! After you have prayed, there’s a lot that can be done to change a situation. But there is nothing that can be done to change the situation, until you pray. Prayer strengthens our hands and softens our hearts for ministry. Let me walk you through that.
PRAYER STRENGTHENS OUR HANDS FOR MINISTRY.
In 2 Timothy 1:6, Paul says to his young protégé:
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,
And the next verse (1:7) of the passage gives the reason for that exhortation:
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
God had gifted Timothy for service. But he was allowing his gifts to lay unused, because he was afraid. And Paul tells him that any fear that paralyzes us from active Christian service is not of God. God has given us the strength, compassion, and wisdom we need to carry out the work he has called us to do. And that’s why the Lord tells us to pray for workers.
Prayer strengthens our hands for ministry.
Many of you in this room are afraid to become actively involved in ministry, because you think you’re not ready. You feel you don’t know enough. You feel you’re not strong enough. You feel you haven’t been a Christian long enough. Well, let me be straight with you.
PRAYER IS THE PRESCRIPTION
There are some problems we cannot solve. There are some questions we cannot answer. There are some hurts we cannot heal. There are some needs we cannot meet. There are some issues that we would just rather not deal with. But here’s the Lord’s prescription for that: PRAY!
PRAYER WILL MAKE YOU USABLE TO GOD.
Prayer will make you usable to God. Prayer will put you in a posture of dependence before God. Prayer will change your perspective. Prayer will access the resources of God. Prayer will give you the strength you need. Prayer will give you the compassion you need. Prayer will give you the wisdom you need.
PRAYER SOFTENS OUR HEARTS FOR MINISTRY.
Watch the progression of the text. In 9:37, Jesus says to his disciples, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Then, in 9:38, the Lord prescribes the solution:
therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Now, notice 10:1 –
And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
10:2-4 goes on to name the twelve, then 10:5a says,
These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
Did you get that? At the end of chapter 9, Jesus informs his disciples of the need for more workers and commands them to pray that God would send more workers into the harvest. Then, at the beginning of chapter 10, he handpicks twelve of his disciples, whom he had just commanded to pray for workers to be sent out. He instructs them, empowers them, and then sends them out. Here’s the point:
The most effective prayers are those that are prayed by people who are willing to let God use them to be a part of the answer to the prayer.
Let me say that again: Often, when we pray for something, God answers our prayers by using us. So be prepared for God to use you to show another person the way to him. Notice that Jesus did not command the disciples to pray for the lost, even though that’s always appropriate. Instead, he commands them to pray for more workers. Here’s why.
It’s possible and easy to regularly pray for a loved-one, friend, neighbor, or coworker, and let our concern stop with our prayers.
But when we earnestly pray for the Lord to send someone to those unsaved people, we cannot help becoming open to being that someone ourselves. It’s possible and easy to pray for someone’s salvation, while keeping them at arm’s length. But when we sincerely beseech the Lord to send someone to witness to them, we place ourselves at his disposal to become one his workers in the harvest. I close by saying to us…
Let’s build a church where the weary find rest.
Let’s build a church where those who mourn can find comfort.
Lets’ build a church where those who feel worthless can find that God does care.
Let’s build a church where those who fail can find strength.
Let’s build a church where those who sin can find a Savior.