Workers and the Harvest
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Right now the farmers have been getting their fields ready for planting. A lot of things like wheat have already been sown in the ground and now peanuts and beans are starting to get planted.
I love when they get out there in the big combines and start harvesting the wheat. They run over it and the machine sorts out the heads of grain and then shoots out the wheat straw, only for another machine to come rake it and bail it up into rolls that sit on the freshly harvested fields.
It’s hard work and if the harvest isn’t brought in and left to sit in the fields, it will eventually rot and be lost.
There is a great spiritual harvest that is ready in the fields around us. I fear that if we are not diligent to bring it in, it will spoil.
35 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.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for 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 laborers are few;
38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Pray
1. Jesus Saw the People (vv.35-36)
1. Jesus Saw the People (vv.35-36)
35 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.
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
A. They Were Harassed and Helpless
A. They Were Harassed and Helpless
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Harassed means troubled
Helpless means thrown down
B. They Were Lost and Wandering
B. They Were Lost and Wandering
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
They were like sheep without a shepherd
16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
Sheep need a shepherd to lead them
Sheep need a shepherd to lead them
2 For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
19 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back,
20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Sheep need a shepherd to feed them
Sheep need a shepherd to feed them
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
Sheep need to be guided to green pastures or they will wander aimlessly and eventually starve.
23 And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.
14 I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.
Jesus was instructed the Disciples along the way as He ministered to take up this mantle of feeding the sheep like He had.
While this passage does speak to the physical need of food for the crowds, in Mark 6 we also see something deeper in the call to feed the sheep the Word of God.
34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late.
36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”
Man does not live by bread alone (Matt. 4:4)
4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Jesus commanded Peter as a form of the first pastor to feed the sheep. This is the main job of the pastor/shepherd
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
says it again in v.17
Sheep need a shepherd to protect them
Sheep need a shepherd to protect them
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Shepherds would corral their sheep into an open pen and lay down in the opening as the door to keep sheep from coming out or anyone from coming in and stealing the sheep.
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Hired hand runs (v.12-13)
12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
2. Jesus Responded (vv. 37-38)
2. Jesus Responded (vv. 37-38)
A. He Commands Us to Pray for the Lost
A. He Commands Us to Pray for the Lost
37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
There is a great harvest of those who need to hear the gospel and respond. They are ready.
There is a shortage of workers.
Before we will want to go to the lost, we must share Jesus’ heart towards the lost. We must have His compassion (v.36).
Illustration: Fruit and fruit flies
Application: Do you care about the lost or are they just a fly in your ointment?
Developing the compassion for the lost and a missionary mindset begins in prayer for the lost by name.
B. He Compels Us to Go (v.35, 38)
B. He Compels Us to Go (v.35, 38)
Jesus sets the example to go
Jesus sets the example to go
35 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.
Jesus’ command to pray implies our willingness to go
Jesus’ command to pray implies our willingness to go
38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Send out means to throw out. It is a play on words from v.36
Mini Great Commission
Mini Great Commission
This passage and verse serve as the transition to Jesus sending out of his disciples in a form of a mini-Great Commission (Matthew 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.
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,
6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Conclusion:
What about you?
Are you harassed and helpless?
Are you lost in your sin?
If so, come to Jesus. He will heal your broken heart. He will cleanse you of your sin and restore you to the Father.
Are you already clean?
Do you share Jesus’ same perspective of the lost in this world?
Do you pray earnestly to God for lost people to be saved? Do you pray for the ones you know by name?
Do you have any intentions in being a part of the harvest crew or the laborers that Jesus is telling us to pray for?
We cannot pray for God to send someone else to do what we ourselves could, do but won’t do.
We began this message by talking about the need to get the harvest in at the right time before it spoils. May it not be said of us as it was in the days of Jeremiah,
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”