Needed - Workers!

Jesus said, if any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. And that has everything to do with surrendering. Our will, our plans, our lives, to his great design and plan for us. And a part of that surrender is the willingness to serve. Jesus also said, follow me and I will make you fissures of men. So following Christ inevitably by default involves serving. It involves being involved in ministry. The moment you got saved, you got called to ministry. Do you know that? The moment you entered the family of God, God wanted you to have a job to do for him. Some service for him. In fact, one of the illustrations of the family of God in the Bible, in fact, the one that has used the most in the New Testament is the body of Christ. And the whole reason for that illustration of the family of God is to point out that we all have a function, a role to play a ministry to serve in. Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 12, which is not our text for today, but Paul talks about the fact that we are in the body, which means every person has a function, a role in that body, a job to do. There are no vestigial organs in the body of Christ. There are no organs that have no use that have no purpose. Every part of the body, God has designed to have some part of ministry, some action, some role in serving God. Jesus modeled that and called his disciples to that on several occasions in the New Testament. One of those we are going to look at now. And that is in Matthew 9, where Jesus calls his disciples to do what he has been doing. Not just to learn about it, but to do it, to get involved in ministry, to get involved in serving in Matthew 9. And Jesus had just left gyroses house where he had raised his 12-year-old daughter from the dead. From there, he goes to another place where he heals two blind men. From there, he goes to another place where he casts out a demon, of a demon possessed man. And from there, he goes back to his hometown of Nazareth, where he begins teaching in the synagogue, is once again, but second time rejected, he will never go back to his hometown. So he charts a new course, and that is to spread out throughout all of Galilee, and he calls his 12 disciples to help him do that, to help him go to all the villages and cities in the region of Galilee. That's where we pick up the story in Matthew 9, verse 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. He had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. I want to stop right there, because in those words, in those three verses, what we have described for us is the need for workers. The Bible clearly lays out, Jesus clearly laid out for us here, the need for workers, and that's seen in at least three ways. The first reason why there is a need for workers is because of the work to be done. There's plenty of work to be done. Just look at Jesus in verse 35. Look at all he was doing. He's going through all the towns and synagogues, doing three things. Teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming that's preaching, public proclamation of the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. Those are three vital aspects of ministry that the Bible teaches we should still be doing today. Teaching, preaching, healing in the sense of reaching out to people's needs and hurts and hangouts and habits and all of their needs, and reaching out to help them be introduced to the great healer, Jesus Christ, and most of all to be healed of spiritual illness, our sin through forgiveness in Christ. The Bible teaches we should still be doing those same things. We should be teaching people. By the way, Jesus was a teacher and a preacher. There's a difference in the two. Pastors today are called to do both at the same time, but there's a difference in emphasis in those two. When Jesus is teaching, he's helping to influence the minds of people, helping them understand God's truth better to understand what the Old Testament was really saying, and how it introduced the Messiah, he's teaching them, he's informing them, he's changing their minds, helping them understand God's truth better. And the Bible says we're still supposed to be doing that. In fact, one of the titles for a pastor is a pastor teacher in Ephesians 4. One of the qualifications for a pastor in 1 Timothy 3 is that he'd be apt or able to teach preachers are supposed to teach the Bible, but we're also supposed to preach the Bible. That's a little different. Teaching is designed to help people in their minds understand God's truth better preaching is a more proclaiming of the truth of God's Word with the goal toward hitting the heart and the will, the emotions to move people to respond. And so what we're doing this morning is basically preaching, proclaiming the message to move to action, to move to a response. Hopefully it will involve some teaching and informing as well, but there's a difference in those two things, both are to be done in the church. And then the healing ministry Jesus was doing, that's reaching out to people at their point of need, whatever their need is, and reaching out to them to help, that's what all of our ministries are about here at Johnston Chapel. And so there's a need for work to be done. Jesus in his humanity could only be one place at one time. And so to that extent his ministry was limited, he needed help, he needed others to serve alongside him. And I want to emphasize to you this morning, there is more work than can possibly be done by church staff or church leadership or even leaders of ministry here at Johnston Chapel. That's the reason why the body figure is so important. We all have a role to play, we all have a place to serve. There's more to do than can possibly be done. I counted up again this week, we have 75 ministries here at Johnston Chapel. 75, and I didn't subdivide some of those, Oana is just one of them. I mean there are lots of different ways to serve in Oana. We have 75 different ministries, probably some that you don't even know about. There's one going on right now called Standing in the Gap, where there are some folks praying in another part of the building for this service. And I believe that what God does in the hearts and minds of people is primarily dependent upon those who are praying and seeking God's face. But that ministry, a lot of folks don't even know exists. There are lots of ministries like that. There is more work to do here than can possibly be done with the people who are currently serving. We have gaping needs and empty spots in ministries in our church and throughout our community and even to the world. For a tremendous need where we need to be involved in serving the Lord. It's very easy for new people to think here at Johnston Chapel. If you've come within the last year or two, you may think this way too. It's very easy for new people to think, well, they've got all the people, that's a big church out there. They've got all the people they need. They don't need me. Yes, we do. We need everyone in the body of Christ to be involved in your place of ministry. The need for workers is great today just like it was in Jesus' day. But the second reason why there's a need for workers is because of the needs of the people. Not just the fact that there's a lot of work to do, but the needs of the people. Look at it in verse 36. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. He had compassion on them. That is a very strong word, the word compassion. It's much more than a feeling of sorrow. It's much more than pity. You can feel sorry for people and you can have pity on people and walk away. And never do a thing. You cannot have what this word communicates and walk away. This word literally is a word that has to do with the bowels. Now follow with me a moment. It's not going to get too gross. But the word here is literally to be moved in your gut to feel deeply to the point that it affects you. You can feel it in your gut. The Hebrew mindset, the Jewish mindset was the heart is not the seat of emotions like it is in our culture. The bowels were the seat of emotions. So you would say to your girlfriend, in that day, I love you with all my bowels. I know it doesn't sound quite the same, but that's what you would say. That's where tender affections originated from in the Hebrew mindset, in the Greek mindset, the Greek world, the bowels were considered to be the seat of violent emotions like anger and passionate love. So in the Bible world, when you're moved with compassion, you are literally moved deeply in a way that you feel it in your gut. This is a visceral reaction to a need, a reaction that cannot just say, wow, that's too bad and walk away. You've got to get involved. You've got to do something about it. That's what Jesus felt when he saw the crowds. He didn't just see people that were working everyday jobs and providing for their families and hope they're doing okay. Now Jesus saw people as they really were and it was the needs of those people that moved him with compassion. Notice says when he saw the crowds he had compassion on them. Why? Because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Here's the visual imagery of that. Sheep that have been brutally fleeced, are bleeding and thrown down on the ground by those who have fleeced them for their own good, for their own benefit. It's a picture of the legalistic religious system of the day where Jesus said in another place, you Pharisees bind people down with burdens, you're not even willing to carry. You're fleecing the sheep for your own benefit and then you just discard them. Jesus saw people that had been used and spit out just like he sees people today. And he wants us to have those eyes. When we see people involved in false religions or false cults or people in Togo, 80% of whom were in a false religion and many others in other false religions or unreached altogether with any religion. Jesus wants us to see that's what's happening to those people on a spiritual level is there being fleeced by people for their own benefit, bloody and bruised, discarded on the ground. But the same thing is true of materialism. Here in the United States of America, if you do all you can to call and climb your way to the top so that you can be number one and you can have the highest income imaginable. You will find yourself discarded and used and beaten and bruised and bloody on the side of the road somewhere. Your life will be wrecked. That's how Jesus sees people. Jesus sees people who are overtaken by addictions whose choices have led them down paths of bondage and he sees them used up and beaten and bloodied and cast to the side. And his heart is moved by that. How do you see people in false religions? Do you just get angry about it? How do you see people who are struggling with addictions and crime? Do you get disgusted with that? How do you see people reclining the latter of success and end up with empty lives? Kind of a feeling of smugness like I told you so. Then you don't share the heart of Jesus. When Jesus saw people like that, he was moved so deeply he could feel it and he's got and he had to do something. He had to do something to reach out and try to meet those needs. That's Jesus response. The need for workers is because of the great work to be done. But it's also because of the needs of people. We need to see people like Jesus sees them. Not like we so often in our sinful minds see them. We need to see people like Jesus did. There's a third reason for the need for workers and that is quite frankly the scarcity of workers. Jesus talks about that in verse 37. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. There's a lot of work to be done. There were 200 cities and villages in Galilee at the time of Jesus. 200 just in that small region. And you got 12 people in addition to Jesus who are going to try to reach that whole area. Get to every one of those cities. We need more workers. That's Jesus point. He cannot do that all himself. He needs those who are being trained by him to be involved in ministry, to be active in the work and to get involved with him. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Workers are few. And I want to re-emphasize the fact that the workers are few here. Oh, there are lots of you involved in ministry. I know that and I'm so grateful for that. Some of you involved in several ministries. I was thinking of some of you this week and thinking about some of you that are involved three, four, five different ministries. Often in leadership positions. And you're probably going to be the ones today that look at the ministry survey. We'll do it in a little bit and think, man, I need to do more. What we really have is a scarcity of workers to where those who are not involved in any ministry need to find places to get plugged in. Need to find places to serve. We talked about what we're going to be doing today among the pastors in our meeting, or Tuesday meeting this past week. And so they knew it was going on. Later in the week, James, pastor James, the children's pastor sent me an email that said, you know, John, he said, just thinking this week, I've been working on this anyway. They said there are 26 classes in children's ministry in children's ministry, 26 different classes or gatherings of children, which requires 120 people to staff. That's just children's ministry. 120 people are needed just to do that. And he added this. He said, that's if everybody's there every week when people go on vacation or are sick or away for whatever reason. We need folks to take their place. And so that number can almost be doubled. And the same thing could be said of youth ministry. The same thing could be said of celebrate recovery. The same thing could be said as you heard this morning about mobs. The huge need for mopets workers. The same thing could be said about the music ministry and all that it takes in the various facets of music ministry. People who play the piano in Oregon for four different services a week or to play in the praise band or to sing in different ways or to be involved in other forms of music. The same thing could be said of almost every major area of ministry in our church. So the need is huge. And the workers are scarce. We need you. I'm Uncle Sam up here this morning. I need you. We need you. We need you to be involved in ministry. Nobody can afford to sit on the sidelines at Johnson Chapel. Nobody can afford to sit in the bleachers not beyond the playing field. We need you in the work of ministry. There is a need for workers. So how are we to respond? What are we to do? Jesus tells us exactly how to respond. Notice the response of workers. First of all, in verse 38, Jesus says, first of all, here's the way to respond. The disciples, 11, 12 men, here's the way to respond. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into his harvest field. So the first response we have to have is to pray for workers. And all of this ought to be doing that. We ought to be praying that God will raise up people to serve. Don't get discouraged at all the numbers I've thrown at you and think the task is overwhelming. Don't be like the shoe salesman that was sent to Africa to sell shoes for a major company. And he wrote a panic letter back saying, nobody here wear shoes. And so they called him back and they sent another salesman. And this salesman wrote a letter back just a glowing letter saying, everybody here needs shoes. You see, don't be overwhelmed or overcome by the needs. The thing to do is to say, there are needs and I can plug in here and maybe over here and maybe there I can plug in and I can do something. I can't do it all, but I can do something and certainly I can pray for workers to be involved in all of these areas of ministry. All of us need to be doing that. But Jesus moves a step beyond praying for workers. Jesus then says to these same 12 men, okay, pray for workers. Yes, that's important. But now you go as workers. Go as workers. Look at verse 1, chapter 10, Jesus called His 12 disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. And then he lists their names in verses 2 through 4. And then in verse 5, these 12 Jesus sent out with the following instructions that he gives them instructions as to what to do. Okay, you see the big picture here. Jesus is ministering reaching these 200 villages just in Galilee. He needs help. And so he calls upon his 12 co-workers, pray. The thing he says, okay, you're going to be the answer to your own prayer because I also want you to go. And so he gives them instructions that there to be the ones involved. They're the ones to go and he gives them the authority to go. And so Jesus says to all of us today, yes, pray, pray. That's important. But then say, okay, Lord, I'm willing to be the answer to my own prayer. I am willing to step in and go. I'm willing to go serve in ministries here at the chapel. I'm willing to go into my community and serve in ways that God puts on my heart. I'm willing to go to the utter ends of the world. I'm willing to go to Togo next summer. I'm willing to see what God might have for me even beyond that. He wants me to go to the mission field. I'm ready to go. All of us can serve in some way. And we will not all serve in the same way. That's one of the great mistakes about about serving as people think, well, they got to do what I'm doing. No, no, that's the beauty of the body. Not everybody can be the eye. It's exactly what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 12. If everybody were the eye, then he says, where's the hearing? Where's the tongue? Where's the feet? You know, we need people in many different areas of service. And we can never say Paul says they're in 1 Corinthians 12. The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. You're not doing enough. Some of us are going to be the pinky fingernail. Is that got an important role? Terror went off and you'll find out. Sure it does. Not everybody's going to be the eye or the brain or the mouthpiece, but we can all play a role. And rather than criticizing or expecting everybody to do the same thing, I'm doing, we all need to find what God's put in our hearts to do and what we are gifted and have ability to do. And plug in somewhere in the recent film, Monuments Men. There was a woman named Claire Simone who lived in Paris during the German occupation of France. The movie, by the way, is based on a true story and it is a fascinating story. You see the Germans were stealing art from all over Europe, sculptures, great pieces of art, and sending them to Germany for use by Adolf Hitler and others in his regime. And this lady Claire Simone found herself as a French woman stuck in an office in Paris compelled forced to help the Nazis gather works of art and be shipped out of town. Broker heart, but she decided she would do what she could do. It didn't seem like much, but she kept a careful record of every piece of art that went through that building. And connected it with a little seal that she in an inconspicuous way placed on the back or some place on that sculpture that connected it to that log she was keeping. She had no idea if it would ever be of use. She had no idea that it would ever be discovered. In fact, if it were discovered by the Nazis, she would probably lose her life. But she did it anyway carefully behind the scenes where nobody could see until one day James Granger shows up one of the few US art experts that had been recruited by the army to scour Europe and rescue these great pieces of history. James Granger shows up in Paris and starts asking questions of people who are in the art world. Then nobody knows where this stuff has gone secretly kind of undercover. He finds Claire Simone. Long story short, it is her records meticulously kept over the years that she had no idea would ever see the light of day that helped the monuments men recover great, great works of art and keep them from destruction. Amazing story of a woman who just faithfully did behind the scenes what she could do. And I know some of you who meet downstairs in an empty room to pray during these services. Nobody knows about that. And I know some of you who write letters to prisoners on Wednesday nights or Sunday nights, then on a room downstairs. Nobody knows about that. I know some of you who reach out to folks in CR and go drive a van or who knows about that. I know many of you serve in so many other ways crawl around on the nursery floor with little kids and wonder if it's doing any good. You are the Claire Simone's. You are the people whom Jesus said occupy till I come. He's coming someday to deliver us from to liberate us from Satan and his kingdom on this earth. And rewarding every faithful servant regardless of how little it may have seemed you did. So no matter what it is, no matter where it is, all of us can be involved in ministry. And that's what we're going to focus on in the last few minutes of this service.