The Climactic Call – 11/17/24

It is such a joy to be able to celebrate with you this morning, whether you’re here or online or in the Community Room. We are excited to be able to do this together.

I want to begin with the father of our country. George Washington had only retired for two years. He was 67 and was finally able to be where he loved to be — at his home. And on December 12, 1799, he had spent the day inspecting fences and other things throughout his farm at Mount Vernon. It was raining and then snowing. He came home wet and tired. Throughout the next day, he became extremely sick. And the following morning, the doctors were called in. He was having trouble breathing. Many doctors today believe he had what would be called today acute bacterial apical otitis. But the treatment then included the following:

• He was bled four times, five pints removed from his body. That’s about 40% of his blood. They believed that inflammation would be reduced as blood was removed.
• His neck was blistered with hot poultices.
• He was given an enema.
• He tried gargling a mixture of molasses, vinegar, and butter.
• His throat was swabbed with salve and a preparation of dried beetles.

The next day, December 14, 1799, Washington died. His beloved wife, Martha, was by his side. And, of course I want to make clear, I’m not criticizing his doctors at all. They dearly loved him and did their best with what they knew.

But Washington’s treatment, I believe, is an illustration of something all of us can identify with. It’s part of the human condition, that there may be times when we intend to help and actually may do more harm. We can have the noblest intentions and do more bad than good.

Now I’m not saying if they had done something different George Washington would still be with us. I don’t think that’s the case. But I’m simply observing and inviting us all just to take a moment to know, just to be reminded what that feels like. Times when we’re trying to help resolve a conflict, or we’re trying to intervene in a really messy situation, and partway through we realize, I might be doing more bad than good. It’s not a fun feeling.

And I believe the message that Jesus has for our church on this day, our 33rd anniversary, as we look back and give thanks, and look forward with great expectation, is to pause and to consider. We as a church don’t want to just do church. We don’t want to just do something to do something. In the end, we might be doing more harm than good.

And Jesus, I believe in the passage we’ve come to this morning, tells us where to start. What do you do when the need is great? We’re not sure how to help, but we desperately want to truly be part of helping, not harming. Let’s step back for a moment.

We’re working through the gospel of Matthew. The theme of Matthew is “Behold the King.” The whole book of Matthew, structure wise, can be described as show and tell: show-action, tell-instruction. The whole structure of Matthew is an interplay between action and instruction.

We currently are at the end of that second major section. The kingdom is breaking in (chapters 8-9), and Matthew communicates this inbreaking of the kingdom through three sets of miracles, each separated by a call, as if to communicate very clearly that the miracles highlight the authority and identity of Jesus. And then the calls are the invitation not just to stand back and go, “wow,” but to enter in, to hear his call into this inbreaking kingdom.

Now, after the final set of miracles, which we’ve been looking at the last couple of weeks, we hear Jesus’s climactic call in verses 35-38. And that’s where we want to focus this morning.

Matthew is going to, I believe, call us to See 3, Do 1. See 3 things, do 1 thing. Let’s look first at the See 3.

1. See the mission of Jesus.

Verse 35, “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages…”

Now pause. We know from Josephus, who was a Jewish historian who was born just a couple of years after Jesus died, that the region of Galilee had about 3 million (that seems a tad high), he says it had 3 million people in it, 204 cities and villages. Jesus made his way through many of these cities and villages. What did he do? He did three things.

• He was teaching in their synagogues, verse 35.

And that was not unusual for a traveling rabbi to be invited to speak in the local synagogues.

• Secondly, he was proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.

To proclaim is to preach or herald. It’s teaching with a little more authority or certainty. So Jesus is heralding the good news of the kingdom, that is the breaking in of the saving reign of Jesus, the Messiah.

• Third, he is healing every disease and every affliction.

Healing highlights Jesus’s authority over disasters, disease, demons, death. And we’ve seen from these three sets of miracles Jesus has authority over all of those. And he is, by his healings, bringing near this coming kingdom, which is characterized ultimately by freedom from sin and suffering. That’s the mission of Jesus. Those three things.

2. See the compassion of Jesus.

Verse 36, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them…”

Now to feel compassion is to feel sympathy, but that might not be strong enough. This Greek word that’s used here is the strongest Greek word for pity in the Greek language. I’ve mentioned in the past it’s one of my favorite Greek words. I just love the way it sounds. Splangchnizomai. Splangchnizomai. And the root of that word is the word we would think of today as “bowels” or “guts.” Not sure we should say that word in church — “bowels.” But the ancients viewed the seat of the affection, not as the heart, but as the bowels.

And I think we understand that. If you’re nervous about something coming up, you can feel it here. Or if you hear really bad news, it can feel like it was a punch to the gut. That’s what they’re talking about.

And so when Jesus is moved to splangchnizomai, it is saying when he looked at the needs of people, it didn’t just affect him cognitively, it moved him. It messed with Jesus to see the need before him.

See the compassion of Jesus.

3. See the desperation without Jesus.

Verse 36 continues, “Because they were harassed and helpless…”

To be harassed is to be fearful, but in a distressing kind of way. That is, this word is used of someone who is physically abused, or oppressed, or bullied. It’s used of someone who’s financially ruined, or psychologically troubled, harassed.

But then helpless means to be fragile or weak, primarily because the idea, the word has the idea of being thrown down so often or so hard that you have no ability or energy to get back up. That fragility is the idea of exhaustion and includes a bit of despair.

So when Jesus looks on the crowd, he’s moved with compassion by their sin, by their suffering, and he isn’t impressed with superficial distinctions. When Jesus looks at a prostitute or a Pharisee, they look very different on the outside. But if you peel away the robes and the tassels, you see fearful and fragile. When Jesus looks at a rich man and a poor man, they present themselves quite differently. But peel away the credit cards and the new car, and essentially you have fearful, fragile, harassed, helpless.

Do we see people the way Jesus sees people? Or do we filter people through a political lens — Democrat/Republican, first and foremost. Or rich — they can help me out. Or poor — they have nothing to offer me. Or black, or white, or Latino. Do we look at people through superficial lenses, or do we see people the way Jesus sees people?

And one of the ways we’ll know whether we do that is, when we watch the news, or we see an online update, or we see something horrible, or something good someone’s done, how does that affect us? What does that move us to do? Does it move us to do what he’s about to tell us to do?

We can easily dehumanize people by categorizing them. But as Dane Ortlund says,

“Jesus walked the earth rehumanizing the dehumanized…Why? Because his heart refused to let him sleep in. Sadness confronted him in every town. So wherever he went, whenever he was confronted with pain and longing, he spread the good contagion of his cleansing mercy.”

This is stunning. The most powerful person in the universe, who has authority over all disasters, demons, disease, and death, sees weakness in us and doesn’t pull away, moves toward us. Weakness is a magnet to Jesus. He is moved with compassion. And this really is the whole movement of Matthew, the book. It’s why it moves toward the cross. As Romans 5:6 says,

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

While we were spiritually feeble — we couldn’t even see our own need clearly — nevertheless meet it. We are like,” verse 36, “sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus is here fulfilling the prophecies that confronted the false shepherds and promised a true shepherd. Look at this example.

Ezekiel 34:2, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; [And these would be the priests, and the kings, the leaders] prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, ‘Thus, says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?… The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshnes you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered;’”

He goes on to explain, Yahweh says,

“I am against the shepherds.”

And then he concludes,

“I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 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. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

All of that points to what we’re seeing here in Matthew — Jesus.

See the mission of Jesus.

See the compassion of Jesus.

See the desperation around us of those who don’t know Jesus.

In light of seeing that, what’s the one thing we’re supposed to do? Look at verse 37.

“Then he 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 his harvest.’”

The need is great. The opportunity, plentiful. But there seems to be a massive gap, Jesus is saying, between the work and workers, the heart of Jesus and the need for helpers.

And so here is the climactic call. Here is the way followers of Jesus respond first. This is what we as a church on our 33rd anniversary need to hear from Jesus. When we don’t know what to do, what the future holds, how we as the church are going to navigate all of that, what do we do first?

“Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Pray earnestly. That is, beseech or beg with a sense of urgency.

Now, this seems odd to me. Why pray? Why pray to the One who already knows the need? He’s Lord of the harvest, so he can just send people. Why doesn’t he just say, “Go”? He’s going to say “go” at the end of the book, but right here, he doesn’t say, “Go.” He says, “Pray.” Why? Let me suggest some reasons.

1. Harvesting without prayer-saturated sending is like shoplifting.

Why? Because he is the Lord of the harvest. It is his harvest. When we pray, we are acknowledging we are not Lord of the harvest, you are Lord of the harvest. We don’t own the harvest. We don’t control the harvest. You control and own the harvest. Notice at the end of verse 38, by the way, it’s “into his harvest.”

2. Harvesting without prayer-saturated sending is impossible.

John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing.”

Prayer is the way we agree with God.

“Apart from me, you can do nothing.”

And Jesus is going to really emphasize this as we work our way through Matthew. For example, Matthew 19:24,

“‘Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person [/American] to enter the kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’

Can Americans become Christians?

“But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God [even Americans can become followers of Jesus] all things are possible.’”

So earnest prayer is our response when we become convinced that “with God all things are possible.” With us alone, we cannot do anything that ultimately matters and will last.

So you say, what does this have to do with the church’s anniversary? Think about the transition God has put us in. Everywhere I look, I hear of people coming to Christ, ministries expanding. We’re building a new auditorium.

We can build that auditorium and we can fill every seat and not accomplish anything apart from earnest prayer. If the Lord of the harvest doesn’t move in hearts and transform lives and save souls, we are meeting in vain. We are bleeding ourselves. Like the doctors of Washington, we can mean well and actually be bringing about harm.

I think this is why Jesus here, near the beginning of his ministry, is saying my followers are characterized by prayer. Harvesting without prayer is impossible.

3. Harvesting without prayer-saturated sending is discouraging.

And there are many of you who know this, right? I do. I know I’ve spoken to many people over the years who used to serve. They used to volunteer in nursery. They used to teach a kids’ class. They used to feed the homeless. They used to lead a life group. They used to go to work at GE or Starbucks with a sense of gospel expectation. No more. What happened?

Now they spend their days deconstructing everything and telling everybody what they’re doing wrong or what has been done wrong to them, which many of those things are real. But they’re not constructing anything anymore. I know this isn’t the whole reason, this is one.

If you have the compassion of Jesus without the call of Jesus, you’re not going to make it. If you have the compassion of Jesus, you see the need, and you desire to meet the need. But if you don’t go forth with a prayer-saturated call, I’m telling you, you’re not going to go the distance. It’s too hard. Too often people will say stupid things and will be discouraging. And pastors are included in that. It’s too difficult to do this energized on our own.

This is why Jesus is saying “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest,” so that these laborers aren’t just going out because they feel like doing something, don’t just have good intentions, but they’re called, sent.

A large heart with a little call leads to a big fall. A large heart with a little call leads to a big fall.

I am concerned about how we often view this passage. Many people think this passage we’re looking at is just for missionaries. And let me be clear, it is a missionary passage. God is going to call some of us to sell everything and go to the other side of the world to proclaim the gospel to people who have never heard. And that is a high and a holy calling. And we never want to block our ears to that call.

But I believe this passage isn’t just for the missionary, it’s for the mechanic, it’s for the engineer, and the teacher, and the mom. It’s for the neighbor. It’s for the student. It’s for the patient. It changes the way we think about what we’re doing. What if we woke up on Monday morning to do what he’s called us to do, flowing out of a prayer-saturated sense of call?

Let me give you an example. John Beckett was born in 1938, son of an entrepreneur. After graduating from MIT, he became an engineer in the aerospace industry. But when he was 26 years old, his father died, and he became president of his father’s manufacturing company. Later that year, the company building burned to the ground, and John was at the end. He writes,

“I was prideful. With everything going my way, I thought I could handle life on my own strength. But these challenges brought me to the end of myself. I realized I wouldn’t succeed relying solely on my own resources. For the first time, I turned to the Lord in a personal way – not just knowing about Him, but truly getting to know Him. Out of those ashes, faith grew, and I became a follower of Jesus Christ.”

He assumed that God was going to call him to become a missionary or something. Anything but business. Listen to what he said in a recent interview.

“My call to Christ grew out of business challenges – the sudden death of my dad (our company’s founder), and a devastating fire. At one point I realized I was on a fool’s errand – trying to build a business in my own strength. Following my conversion, my call to vocation was confirmed when I sensed the Lord speak to me: ‘John, I’ve called you to business. Do it with all your heart.’

“That was five decades ago, and I haven’t looked back. My goal is indeed to live a life worthy of my dual callings –  to the Lord and to business – and to do so with my fullest energy and capacities.”

Under his leadership, the company has grown from 12 employees to 600 with over $100 million in sales. But that’s the inconsequential part.

John has written a book called “Loving Monday,” where he argues that you can do what God has called you to do with a strong sense of calling. And he started, and is still on the board of, a national prayer organization because he knows it is not enough just to do something to do something.

“Apart from me, [we] can do nothing.”

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”

So will we as a church say “yes” to this climactic call?

We see the mission of Jesus, we see the compassion of Jesus. We look around, and it’s not hard to see the desperation of those who do not know him. And I believe the Lord has us in this passage at this time in our life as a church, so that we can settle, or settle again, reaffirm, the fact that before we do anything else as a church, we want to be a praying church.

We want to be a church that starts all ministry, that penetrates this community, businesses, hospitals, classrooms, neighborhoods energized with a sense of call that flows from the answer to that prayer: “Lord of the harvest,” it’s your harvest, send forth laborers. And you know there’s a short distance between “send forth laborers” and “here I am, send me.”

People ask me often, how do you walk through really hard things like sickness, other trials, with joy and peace?

And there are a lot of answers to that. And my wife and I are still beginning to learn how to do that. But I think one of the keys is what Jesus is getting at. What if God calls you to weakness, to sickness, to cancer? What if he calls you to a difficult job or difficult relationships? What does that look like to pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest? Send forth laborers in and through this. Send forth me in and through this. Can you imagine what happens to a church family when we are praying that prayer and going forth with that sense of calling?

And even as I mention that, I want to commend you because I am continually blown away at the hundreds and hundreds of people in our church who sacrificially go forth through discouragement, through misunderstandings, serving on a weekly basis here, and in this community, and around the world.

And I think what Jesus is saying to us today on our anniversary is let’s not stop. Let’s recommit to be a church with a harvest vision that’s big and that isn’t some kind of legalistic got-to-prove-ourselves, because it’s his harvest. He is the Lord of the harvest. We pray because he is Lord, not us. And he will send forth laborers into his harvest.

So we want to respond in two ways.

Number one, John’s going to come in a moment and lead us in prayer, that we as a church would hear this call.

And then secondly, we’ll go right from there into a number of songs. So we’re not in a rush. We will have time.

And if this is your first Harvest Sunday, let me explain that these baskets up here are not just ornamental. They are offering baskets for praises, prayer requests, gifts, offering for the harvest offering. And during our singing, as we pray to the Lord of the harvest, as we praise God for his faithfulness, and his greatness, and goodness, don’t be in a rush. You will have an opportunity alone, or come together with someone, or grab one of us up front if you want to pray, but use this time to respond to the one thing he calls us to do in this passage.

“Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.”

And as you do that, we’ll participate financially in the offering. And if you don’t feel comfortable coming up here, you can go in the back, in the lobby, in the boxes in the back. But let’s use this time to respond to what the Spirit is saying to us.

Lord, we can’t see people the way that we should without you moving in our hearts and opening up our eyes. We’re so quick to see the problems and to see the frustrations that others around us present.

And so, Lord, we come to you with open hands, asking for you to do in our hearts what we can’t do to ourselves, which is to give us your eyes. Help us, Lord, to see the needs, to see what’s going on that is just not apparent to us with our natural eyes.

As a church, when we know that there’s so much that needs to be done, my heart runs to trying to strategize, and trying to fix and solve problems, but your call is very, very clear that first and foremost, you want us to be on our knees. You want us to be talking to you more than we’re talking about solving a particular problem. We get a taste of this in the way that we live right now, but we want so much more for us, for our families, for our church family.

So would you please draw us to yourself? From the leaders, to individuals, to every aspect of ministry here at North Hills, Lord, make us more and more a praying people, a praying church that is not content with just working and doing.

Lord, help us to be on our knees more than we’re actually trying to solve problems. This is your upside down kingdom. This is the way you operate, and it’s not what we would have come up with, but we’re so thankful that we’re not the ones ultimately in control here, it’s you.

So help us, Lord, not to just run off to the next thing, not to be bogged down by past failures, but that we would just put down our burden, put down our way of doing things, and take your yoke upon us because it’s easy.

And, Lord, we’re going to be in lockstep with you, which is what our hearts want. It’s what our hearts need. So if there’s things that I’m holding on to, Lord, I just put them before you. And as a church we just lay these down before you and ask that you would move in a way that we can’t do on our own.

We’re so grateful that we get to respond to you as a church. We get to take the next step together in lockstep. Lord, do this work in our hearts. And we ask that you would please give us your eyes and help us to be a praying people first and foremost. In Jesus’s name I pray, amen.