I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 9. Matthew chapter 9, we'll be looking at the last paragraph in that particular chapter. One of the benefits of being with you for three occasions, Wednesday evening and then this morning and then tonight, allows me in a sense to develop somewhat of a thought and a process here. What I presented on Wednesday night was really intended for inspiration for you to see that the principles of the Reformation, sola scriptura, by faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, to help you to recognize that this was not something new at the time of the Reformation, but it was something that was already operating at the time of the early church. And we saw that on Wednesday with how God brought salvation to gross sinners in Ephesus and how God brought them out in a very amazing way. And I hope that as those of you who had opportunity to be there to think about and to be inspired by what God did in Ephesus so many years ago. The missions committee had assigned this theme of pray the Lord of the harvests. And last week Sunday, you heard a very inspiring and encouraging message from your own pastor from the gospel of Luke, where it picks up that same phrase. This morning I'm going to go to Matthew chapter 9 where it comes up again. Slightly different context with perhaps some slightly different nuances and yet the same idea. So this morning I'm hoping that we might gain motivation for praying. So I'm going to lay out four reasons why ought we to make this prayer as the missions committee has laid out for our theme. And then tonight, moving from inspiration on Wednesday night, motivation this morning, and this evening coming back to the implementation. How do we put this into practice? What does that look like? And how can we begin practicing this plan? And so with that in mind, let us go now to the scriptures, to Matthew chapter 9, beginning at verse 35, with great expectation, even as we have just prayerfully sung from Psalm 107. Hear God's word and receive it with a believing heart. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, Pray the Lord of the harvest, to send out laborers into his harvest. And when he had called his twelve disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. First, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus, and Levias, whose surname was Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. These 12 Jesus sent out. And that's where we're going to end our reading this morning. Keep your Bibles open. I've also provided an outline for you to follow along to hopefully make it easier to follow as we open up this passage of Scripture. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, sometime ago I remember an organization, a non-profit organization, ending their advertisement for their particular organization by making two statements. Statement number one, they said, your prayers are essential. The second statement, your gifts are appreciated. Your prayers are essential. Your gifts are appreciated. Don't we oftentimes turn those two around? We can't do our ministry unless you send in your money. That's essential. And if you happen to think about it, maybe you could also pray for us. I think this organization had it right, especially as we look at what Jesus instructs us to do here when he says, pray the Lord of harvest. What is Jesus saying? Jesus is saying, your prayers are essential. And if there's one thing that you walk away from today, it's this, your prayers are essential for the cause of missions. and therefore I've given the same heading to both of our sermons. This morning we're going to be looking at this command, pray for the Lord of Harvest, and we're going to look at the reasons, four reasons. And hopefully those reasons are motivating for you. Oftentimes we know that we ought to pray and we find prayer to be hard, and so we pray because we ought to pray, but sometimes we say, I don't feel like it. I'm hoping that as we unfold and unpack this paragraph here at the end of Matthew chapter nine, that we not only have this conviction that we ought to pray, but that we say, I can't wait to pray because of what God is doing even through our prayers. Well, let's take a look at these four reasons then. Reason number one, why ought we to pray the Lord of the harvest? The first reason is because of His kingdom. Because of His kingdom. Look again at verse 35. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Preaching the gospel of the kingdom. I want you to notice three things here. First of all, the means by which the kingdom advances. The means by which the kingdom advances. It advances through teaching. That's what Jesus was doing. He was going throughout their villages. He was going to their cities. And what was He doing? He was teaching. Teaching in their synagogues meant that these were the places of instruction, of learning, not necessarily first of all for worship, but that's where they would meet to be taught and to teach particularly the Word of God. Jesus went to the Jews and he taught them, but it wasn't just in the places of synagogues. He went into their villages as well and he was preaching Notice, the gospel of the kingdom. So it's not only the means of the kingdom, but also the message. The message by which the kingdom advances. And what is that message? Notice, it's the gospel. In other words, the good news. That's what gospel means. And what is the good news of the kingdom? It's the fact that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is advancing. That is good news. Now, some of you might say, but I thought the good news is that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. Is that different from the gospel of the kingdom? No. They go together, you see. But we have to get a bigger picture of what it means to be forgiven of our sins. It's not just, when I'm forgiven of my sins, there's this good thing that happens between me and God, and I now have insurance for when I die so that I get to go to heaven. The big picture is that there are kingdoms that are in conflict, and we learn this all the way back from Genesis 3, verse 15. When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, God placed this world under a curse, and that was the world's judgment. And that is the world that you and I were born into. And it is a world in which Satan has been given power and authority. You read, for instance, in Ephesians 2, verses 1 and 2. He talks about the sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air who now works in the sons of disobedience. So that as the kingdom advances, it means that prisoners who have otherwise been captive under the dominion of Satan are now being set free in order that they might love the Lord Jesus Christ, but also live under the freedom that comes in his dominion. This is exactly what we confess in question and answer one of the Heidelberg Catechism, isn't it? What is your only comfort in life and in death? That I am not my own, but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who has paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and, and, listen to this, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. What's the good news about the coming of Jesus' kingdom? Satan's dominion is now being dismantled. Satan's domain is now going to be overcome, and it is overcome by Jesus Christ. And that's the gospel. That's the good news. That's the good news that we have for this world. So you have the means by which the kingdom comes. It's teaching. The message by which the kingdom comes? It's the good news that Jesus Christ has overcome Satan, sin, and death. But there's also the majesty by which the kingdom advances. The majesty. The majesty. Look at this. Do you see the majesty here? Look at the end of verse 35. So he's teaching, he's preaching, and the third thing it says, and healing. Healing. healing every sickness and every disease among the people. And we have to think of it in terms of this bigger picture. Why is there disease in our world? Why is there sickness? Why is there death? Because sin entered the world. Now, that doesn't mean that if you happen to be sick today, you're somehow a worse sinner than others. No, it's part of being in a sin-cursed world. And if you drop down to chapter 10, verse 1, it says, and when he had called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Why? This was the outward evidence that the kingdom of Jesus Christ was moving forward. People were being healed. Unclean spirits were being driven out. The lives of people were being changed. Why should we pray then for laborers? We should pray for laborers because of the kingdom. We should pray for laborers to teach about the kingdom. We should pray for laborers in order that they might preach the good news of the kingdom. And we ought to pray for laborers because there are still many who are under the bondage of Satan's kingdom and we should desire them to be set free. Well, that brings us to the second reason. If the first one is we should pray the Lord of Harvest because of His kingdom, the second is we should pray the Lord of Harvest because of His compassion. Because of His compassion. Notice the compassion that we read about in verse 36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Notice first of all here what Jesus sees. Notice that? But when he saw, when he saw the multitudes, When he saw the multitudes, it's not just an observation that he happened to see them. No, the idea that Jesus saw them is that he noticed them, he observed them, he looked into their eyes, and he looked, in a sense, into their souls, and he saw something about them. That's the second thing you ought to notice. What did he notice? When he looked at them, when he looked at them, what did he see? Well, he noticed this. He noticed that they were weary. And they were scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. They were without direction. And as a result, emotionally, they were drained. And in terms of the direction of their life, they really didn't know where they were going. Isn't that what we see in our world today? When you read the headlines? When you read about the chaos and the tension in our own country over all kinds of political issues, doesn't it seem that people are without a rudder in the world? The moral changes that we're seeing in our times and the kind of things that are even being promoted within the public offices of our land, Doesn't it seem that people are here in our world without direction? And the kind of things that leaders in our communities are promoting. We ought to scratch our heads and say, oh no. Why are they not giving these people clear direction? Can't they see that this is going to destroy the lives of young people? Can't they see that this is going to destroy families? And can't they see that this is going to destroy the economy? Jesus could see that they didn't have direction. Remember what we said about the Ten Commandments this morning. What an amazing law. What order. What structure. For the sake of freedom. in a society. And so the third thing that we have to notice is that Jesus responds. Jesus has an emotional response to this. When you read that word that says, and he had compassion on them. Matthew is writing this obviously under the direction of the Holy Spirit. But I would imagine that the disciples saw Jesus and they saw Jesus respond. I suspect it was much more than Jesus after the event saying, by the way, disciples, back then when I saw those folks, I had compassion on them. No, I suspect that there was a look in his eye. I suspect there was an emotion on his face. So that when the disciples looked at Jesus, they said, this man has a heart for these people. What we see in Jesus' ministry is the kind of ministry that we want to see perpetuated in our own times. And therefore, we want to pray for laborers who will look into the eyes of people in our world today. that they will have a sensitivity to their deep spiritual need and to see them not simply as people who happen to wear a certain style of clothing or live in a certain kind of neighborhood or have a particular bad habit that seems to wreak havoc in their lives, but that they would look into the eyes of those people and look at their lives and say, oh, look at these people. They are weary and they look like they were going through life without a shepherd. Oh, they need Jesus. Those are the kind of laborers that we need. And by the way, congregation, whether you are in the calling of ministry, whether you are an elder or not, this is the kind of heart that we all ought to develop. How do you see your neighbor? That neighbor down the street, are they just annoying to you because of their sinful habits? Or do you see them as sheep having no shepherd, who are wearied by their own sin and they just don't get it? Are they scattered? We must pray the Lord of Harvest because of his compassion. But the third reason is this. We must pray the Lord of Harvest because of His concern. His concern. We, in a sense, need to walk in the sandals of Jesus. We need to look through His eyes. How does He see the world? And how does that shape His concern? His agenda? Well, what is his concern? I suppose we could divide it into two parts, but it's really two sides of the same coin. His first concern is mentioned in verse 37 when he says, the harvest truly is plentiful. Jesus is concerned about the harvest. This being a farming community, you can appreciate that. Earlier in the season, you want to make sure that you get the beans off before it gets too cold, where there aren't days in which it's long enough for them to dry out. And so you're concerned. We got to get them out. When the sun is shining, let's get to work. As the corn stands in the field, let's get it out before the winter comes. There's a focus. There's an interest. We need to get that grain into the bin. But Jesus is not speaking about grain. He's thinking about people. Our God is a missionary God. Are you concerned about His mission? Am I concerned about His mission? It's as though He says to the disciples as they look at this multitude of people, He says, There it is, the harvest is out there. But we don't have enough farmers. You see, that's the second part of his concern. The first is his concern about the field and the harvest and bringing them in, but he says, we don't have enough to go out and get them. Now, this is Jesus. And God could have arranged to bring people in, in different means, in other ways. He could have simply worked in the hearts of individuals so that without anyone preaching to them, without anybody teaching them, without anybody sharing the message of the gospel with them, they automatically find their way to church. And one morning they come to church and they say, oh, welcome, you're a visitor here. How did you come to be here? They said, well, the Spirit told me to come and that's why I'm here. No, Jesus has ordained for these means to be used that there would be laborers who go out into the field. Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner. And you will gather and you will give thanks to God for the crops that have been brought in. But even in giving thanks to God for the crops, that doesn't take away the responsibility of the farmers to go out into the fields, to go out into the orchards and to harvest what's there. In the same way, spiritually speaking, God has ordained to use people like you and me to go and gather in the harvest. Think about the people who live down your street or down your road. Can you think of at least one of them that doesn't know the gospel? There are sheep out there. There's a harvest out there. Do we know which ones? No. So what do we do? The same thing that you hunters do when you go hunting. You sit in your stand and you wait for that right one to come along. Those of you who are fishermen, how do you go fishing? You throw your hook out into the water. How is it that God gathers his people in? It's through the laborers. And Jesus is concerned about the harvest and the shortage of laborers. We need to pray that the Lord would send out laborers. And I don't think it was unique just to that time. If I think of the work that I'm engaged in right now, we are operating in three prisons in Indiana. two prisons in Illinois, and if we had the personnel, we could probably put instructors in probably another dozen prisons just within those two states. Every now and then another prison says, hey, could you come and start your program in our prison? But because of the shortage of personnel, pray the Lord of Harvest. But let me also challenge you in this way. I wonder if there might be young men in this congregation, maybe even boys at this stage in their life, where God is already beginning to lay on your heart the desire to make known the good news of the kingdom of Jesus Christ to those who do not yet know. Let us pray that God would raise up godly young men out of this congregation to be proclaimers of the gospel. but that He would also raise up godly young women, that they might accompany such men in their work. Let us make this our prayer, because this is the way in which God brings them in, and this is the concern of our Savior, and if Jesus is concerned about it, ought we not also to be interested in what He is interested in? We have one last reason. And that is probably the most direct, isn't it? It is because of His command. Notice in verse 38, therefore, He brings a conclusion. A conclusion based on what He was already doing in His preaching and teaching the kingdom. He comes to a conclusion based on the compassion that He has already shown to the crowds that are around Him. He has set a pattern for His disciples. He has then, in verse 37, stated His concern about the harvest that is out there, that needs to be brought in, and we need laborers to do it. Therefore, verse 38, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. I've said it before, God is a missionary God. And as a missionary God, he has a harvest. It's his mission purpose. And there are two dangers here that we need to avoid. The one danger is, is that it is all man-centered and it all depends on us. And if only we will get out there, we will make it happen. But I suspect we're more likely to fall into the other extreme that says, well, God is sovereign in evangelism. God is sovereign in the saving of souls. And so God will make it happen somehow or another. Well, we never take that approach at the dinner table, do we? We pray for God's blessing upon our food, and as soon as we say amen, we pick up our fork, we pick up our knife, and we start putting it into our mouth. And we expect for God to bless that food. We must pray that the Lord would send out laborers for his harvest. Yes, Jesus died for his elect. Now they need to be gathered in. And now during our lifetime, another crop has grown up. People who weren't living a hundred years ago, people who weren't living in the days of Jesus, but they're living now. And in another generation after we're gone, those people will be gone too. Now is the time to gather the harvest in this generation, in this time. And Jesus has determined that He will do it through laborers. And so let us give ourselves to prayer. Jesus commands this because of his mission, but Jesus also commands this because of his method. We've said this before. You see, Jesus involves our prayers for the harvest. Could Jesus do without our prayers? Absolutely, but he has ordained that our prayers would be part of this, and so let us be a congregation that commits ourselves to praying regularly. Let me even challenge you to pray daily for the mission of the church, not just in faraway places like Puerto Vallarta or Tepic, Nayarit, but here in Holland, in Kalamazoo, in Granville, Grand Rapids, Hudsonville, Zealand. Pray that God, God would raise up laborers for the sake of the harvest. Pray to the Lord because the harvest is about his kingdom. Pray that that kingdom may come. Knowing you folks, I'm sure there's a bit of emotion and intensity as you think about this coming Tuesday coming up and what you might accomplish by casting your vote for a particular position, for a particular party, and you understand the stakes that are involved. Think about the intensity with which you've given yourselves to this political season. Let's give ourselves that same level of zeal to the praying for the kingdom of Jesus Christ to advance over against the kingdom of darkness. Let us pray for the Lord of harvests so that we might reflect the compassion of Jesus Christ in our own neighborhoods of His concern and in response to His command. And so pray specifically that God would send out laborers Pray regularly, pray daily, but also pray expectantly. Expect that God would call some of our own young men, that God would raise up some of our own young ladies to be partners in the gospel so that the word may go forth with great power. Congregation, your prayers are essential. Your gifts are appreciated. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ commands us to pray for laborers. May these four reasons give you motivation to pray. Tonight, we're going to look at some illustrations and examples of how we might implement that in our daily lives. Shall we pray? O Father in heaven, we pray even now that you would raise up laborers to gather in the harvest. Lord God, we pray that you would raise up laborers from this congregation. We are thankful, O heavenly Father, for ways in which you have already done so. But we pray that You would raise up more. We pray, dear Father, for our boys and our young men, that You would lay upon their hearts a desire to make the good news of the Kingdom known to many who are walking in darkness. Especially at a time in our own country where it seems that fewer and fewer people know what Your Word has to say, or at least understand it aright. Lord God, we pray that you would raise up our girls and our young ladies so that they might accompany husbands and men in the gospel ministry, so that they too might have a zeal for you. O Father in heaven, we pray not only for those who are outside, but also we pray that within that we as parents would train our children in the fear of you so that they would be gospel ready, that they would live by gospel expectation, that they would live with gospel hope, that they would have gospel joy. And we pray then, Heavenly Father, that you would bless those institutions that are now training men for gospel ministry. We thank you, Heavenly Father, for the Puritan Theological Seminary and for Mid-America Reform Seminary, as well as other seminaries that we have supported in the past. Lord God, we pray for the work again in Puerto Vallarta and for the church that has been established in Tepic. We pray, Heavenly Father, for men and women who are being taught and trained in the prison to know you and to walk in your ways. And even though we have been locked out, we pray that they may have opportunity to speak of the good news of Jesus Christ with their neighbors. And may it be, Heavenly Father, that You would gather in Your harvest, and may we rejoice in that. O Father, let us not be sidetracked in our own times by so many other ambitions and so many other interests. Though they may be good, we pray, dear Father, that we may be concerned about what our Savior has been concerned about, namely the harvest and the shortage of workers. Dear Father, we pray for the leadership here and for the parents that they might be wise in nurturing young people for service in your kingdom, so that your kingdom may indeed advance as the word goes out that Jesus Christ has come to deliver sinners from the snatches of Satan, to give them life out of death, and to enable them to walk in the paths of holiness and to one day inherit the glories of heaven. O Lord our God, hear our prayer. For Jesus' sake, amen.