Matthew chapter 9 and verse 36. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep, having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Obviously this congregation is facing a time of significant change and I believe this passage has a message for a congregation in such a situation. I would like to notice three things in these verses. First of all, a sheep without a shepherd. Then, a harvest without labourers. And then thirdly, a God without prayer. Firstly though, let's look at what the Bible brings before us in verse 36. Sheep. without a shepherd. These sheep are described in various ways in these verses. First of all, described as many. He saw the multitudes. He looked out and he saw this great number of people of souls. of souls that were heading towards eternity. He saw, not as we see in little corners and with a very small angle, often of blinkered vision, but he has this wide sight and he sees multitudes. And secondly, we're told that these multitudes were fainting. He saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted. And this is a word to describe those who are weary and worried, or troubled and tired, or dejected and discouraged. He notices this. And then we're told that They were scattered. They fainted and were scattered abroad. Something dangerous for a flock in these days is safety was in the close proximity of the shepherd and the other sheep. But here they are dispersed. They are distant from one another, distant from the shepherd. They are wandering far away. Vulnerable. exposed and defenceless. And then we're told, fourthly, they had no shepherd. They were leaderless. There was no one to show them where to go, there was no one to feed them, there was no one to protect them. Is this not a desperate situation? Multitudes, not a small flock, multitudes. And they're fainting. You can see the sheep there. Their legs are buckling. Their heads are down. They're hopeless. And they're just scattering, wandering further and further. And there's no shepherd. This is a sad and a sorry picture. And this has two applications. We can think, perhaps, of this on a congregational level. That this is sometimes how we feel when a minister goes. We can feel, look at how many of us there are. We are discouraged. We are worried, we are cast down, we are in danger of being scattered and there's no one to encourage, to guide, to lead, to feed and to bring in the wanderers. I'm sure maybe we feel like this at times. At least we anticipate feeling like this maybe. And then this can be applied also of course in the much wider scale of the whole world. And this truly is what Jesus is seeing above all. He's not just seeing a local group. He's seeing the world in this state. He's seeing, he's looking out and he's seeing lost humanity. Maybe he's describing you here, unbeliever. Is this you? You're one of the multitudes, one of the millions. You're heading towards eternity. And you're fainting. You have no hope. You have no strength. You're scattered. You've wandered far away maybe in your soul at least. from safety and from food and from spiritual guidance and you have no shepherd. You have no one to go after you. You have no one to care for you. Is this not also a desperate situation? Sheep without a shepherd. But there are two greatly encouraging truths Also in these verses, first of all, the chief shepherd knows and the chief shepherd notices. Here is the good shepherd, the shepherd of all the other shepherds, the over shepherd of all the under shepherds. And he's looking out and he's seeing gaps, he's seeing flocks, he's seeing congregations. which are so described and so experiencing this, and he notices, he sees it, he's not ignorant of it, he's not blind to it, he's not deaf to it, he's sensitive to it. And not only that, he not only notices, we're told he was moved with compassion. When he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. This isn't something that, as it were, is simply noted in heaven in a cold and calculating way. It's not just something, as it were, administrative, bureaucratic. This is something that impacts. upon the Lord. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. As he was moved with compassion here, when he looked out on these hillsides of Judea, so he is moved with compassion today. As he looks down on his flocks here and there, even in Stornoway. And he knows every feeling, every thought, every faint, every time we feel Like giving up. He knows who will be scattered, who will wander. He knows who needs a shepherd. And he is moved. It touches him. More than you feel, far more than you feel. He is sensitive. He is tender hearted. And of course this applies on the wider scale too. He is still looking out in the world, not just locally, but internationally. And he sees souls so described. He is not blind and deaf to this. Do you have a son? Do you have a daughter? Do you have a husband or a wife or a father or a mother or a friend who has wandered far away? Who has gone out into the barren fields of this world and now they are fainting. They are hopeless. They are helpless. They are scattered. They have wandered far. They have no shepherd. He sees and he is moved. Maybe it is yourself. Maybe this is you being described here. Not a son or a daughter, it's me you see. That's me. This is just me to a tee. I am this sheep. I'm one of these multitudes who have wandered One of these sheep who have so foolishly gone astray, turned my back on what I've been taught, what I've been shown, and the witness of my wife, the witness of my mum and dad, my grandfather and grandmother. And look at the things that have come into my life. And how do I feel now? I feel so weak and weary, fearful of the future. What lies ahead? I'm so far, surely I'm too far for heaven to even notice. No. He notices. He knows where you are. And if you're feeling like this, we can say He has moved with compassion towards you. He's sensitive to what you're feeling. He hears your groans, He sees your tears. He's willing to be your shepherd. Is this not a great encouragement? If we think of ourselves as a congregation, this is a time when sheep are without a shepherd, it's a time for for watchfulness and caution, there's no question that having a minister, it doesn't matter who it is, but having a minister helps to keep the flock together. Having someone who's devoted full-time to the care of the flock has its own effect. And so when that is taken away, It's a time for greater caution and greater watchfulness over ourselves and over others. When the shepherd's eyes and ears are taken away, it's time for the sheep, as it were, to look after one another and to be, who's missing? Why is he missing? What can I do? And it's a time for activity and responsibility. Our elders are now going to have far greater responsibility on them. They are also shepherds of the flock, Peter describes them as. And they have big decisions to make. There are big decisions in courts. Then, I hope this is a matter of great prayer for the congregation, who will be the interim moderator? That's a mightily significant thing. We don't know how long a vacancy can go on for. You're choosing in a way your minister, a temporary minister. This should be a matter of prayer, as this is done in the coming days. It's a time for study. When sheep are without a shepherd, what should they be doing? They should be studying the Bible and seeing what is a true shepherd? What does he look like? What are his characteristics? And they should be studying the shepherds and seeing who matches this description. And it's a time for hope, a time to trust in the one who knows and who has moved with our situation and not to despair, not to be cast down into dejection. We think of this congregation, maybe only How many years ago, seven or eight years ago, a little group sitting on wicker chairs in the midst of a community centre, hardly into double figures. And who noticed? And who was moved with compassion but the same Lord Jesus? He can do the same. He can do more. And it's a time for broadening vision. For yes, noticing that we are without a shepherd, but what about the world? What about parts of the world that have never seen a shepherd? That don't even know what a shepherd looks like? That haven't seen a shepherd for decades? What about being moved with compassion for them? At least there is hope here of a shepherd. Here then we have sheep without a shepherd. But secondly, we notice here a harvest. A harvest without labourers. Then said he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Jesus looked out in a world similar to our own and he saw something very different to what we normally see. What do we see when we look out? When we look out in the world, especially our own nation today and we might think we see barrenness, we see desert, we see fruitlessness, we see infertility, we see barren fields or maybe we see We see poisoned fields. Maybe we see weeds and tears. That's all we see. But Jesus looks out in a similar world, in a similar day. And what does He see? He sees fields and fields with a plentiful harvest. The harvest truly is plenteous. In another place he said, the fields are white and ready to harvest. How different his view is as he looks out into the world. How accurate his view. How true is his view and how false is our own. He sees ripe fields. He sees ready fields. And he sees fields that if they're not soon harvested will rot. This is the great danger of harvest time, isn't it? Left too long and the fields are useless. Jesus here looks out and sees a harvest that had to be urgently gathered in because he knew another harvest was coming. A harvest we read of in the book of Revelation and chapter 14. We read there of an angel coming out of heaven. And we hear the words from heaven. Thrust in thy sickle and reap. For the time has come for thee to reap. For the harvest of the earth is ripe. It's another harvest. It's ready. It's ripe. But it's not a harvest that's a source of joy. It's a harvest that's a source of sorrow. Because it's the harvest of judgment. Another angel came out from the altar which had power over fire and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress. What a solemn picture! What a solemn harvest! And this is coming. And this is what created in the Lord Jesus this deep concern for the harvest. Because He knew if left unreaped, that eventually it would not be reaped for usefulness and gathered into His barn, but that it would be reaped to be put into the winepress of the wrath of God. And so here he looks out and he says the harvest is plenteous but the labourers are few. What a poignant picture. Imagine here we have fields stretching as far as the eye can see, ripe white acres and acres of them. And here is the Lord of the Harvest standing. He has instruments here. He has sickles. And he's looking around and he's saying, where are the labourers? And you see the odd one here and there's another one away in the distance and another just about over the horizon. But there's vast tracts where nobody's working. and nobody's labouring. The labourers are few, he says. Does this not describe our situation as a church? Does it not describe, really, the ongoing situation of the worldwide church? The harvest is plenteous. Labourers are so few. And this congregation is what we need and what you need. You need a labourer. There are plenty who will labour in the world. We go to the great cities perhaps and what do we see? We see hundreds of thousands, we see millions rushing to and rushing through sweating, earnest, putting in hours and hours and overtime and double time and all sorts of hours of the day and night, labouring in the world, reaping in the pounds, reaping in the success. How diligent, how earnest are such labourers. And then we look at the fields of lost souls. And the labourers are few. There are ministers, and they're not labourers. They're lazy. Plenty of these in the world. Lounging around, unconcerned. A field in their doorstep. That's not what we need. There are others who will labour in the Word, and that's essential. one of the qualifications of a minister. He must be a labourer in the word. But they never leave their studies. They never get into the fields. The fields are white and they're crying out. And the minister's in the study, sharpening his sickle, refining his theology. And the fields are ripe, they're ready and they're ruining. because the labourers are few. There are ministers and they will labour in the fields of bureaucracy and administration and everything can be so accurate and so perfect in all our paperwork, but the fields are white and ready to harvest. There are others and they will happily work in harvested fields, maybe amongst God's people. That's, in a sense, easy work. The fields are already harvested. What about the unharvested fields? What about the millions? What about the person next door? The unsaved, the unconverted? Oh such labourers are few. What a strange contradiction this is and yet what a reality. What do we need? What should our ministers be? They should be speedy men, men who are urgent about the task, who have a sense of immediacy about them. There is an urgency. They see the imminence of another harvest and they know that these souls must be brought in before heaven's sickle is sharpened and thrust in. We need speedy men. We need sociable men. Men who will indeed get out into the world. Get out of the comfort zone. We need sweating men, labourers. That's how ministers are described. This is our great need. Here Jesus tells us this is our need. The labourers are few. The labourers are few. And maybe you're here and you know you're in You're in the unharvested fields. You know that there's another harvest coming when that sharp sickle of divine judgment will be thrust in to cut you down. What you need, friend, is a labourer. And this should be your prayer. And you should be calling upon the Lord that He would bless to you the labours of the ministers who will come here. And you should be praying to the Lord, harvest me now. Bring me into thy barn. Bring me into the harvest where there will be usefulness thereafter. And not just a winepress of divine judgement. Sheep without a shepherd. a harvest without labourers, and thirdly, a God without prayer. It almost defies logic that such should be the situation. Here is great need, shepherdless sheep. Here is great need, unharvested fields. Here's a great problem, no shepherd. Here's a great problem, few labourers. And yet, the Lord sees it necessary to say, pray ye therefore. And he sees it necessary to say this because such situations can be, such problems can be present and there'll be no prayer. Here, shepherdless sheep, a harvest with no labourers. Here, the Lord of the harvest, the great and almighty God, with all resources at His disposal, ready to send, ready to equip. And who's calling? Who's praying? standing, as it were, with shepherds and labourers, and all it needs is a prayer. Send. But He won't send without prayer. Pray ye, therefore, that the Lord of the harvest will send forth labourers into his harvest. If we might summarise this, what do you need? You need a shepherd, you need a labourer, and you need a God sent man. That's what you need. A man sent from God. That's what we must seek. not who will suit us, not who we might think would be the best, but Lord thy man. Without his man, the sheep will remain unshepherded and the harvest will remain in the fields. But if he sends a man He will send a shepherd, a caring, compassionate, loving shepherd to gather the scattered, to strengthen the fainting. And he will send a labourer who will go out into these unharvested fields and bring in God's harvest. And so what should you be praying for? You should be praying for our students. You should be praying for ministers everywhere, that God would equip one and fit one and suit one to the needs and demands of this congregation. And you should be praying for the institutions that train them, for our seminary. There is nothing more influential in the life of a church than its college or its seminary. When students for the ministry are there for three or four years, they are never more impressionable. We've seen the results of it, the dangerous results of it, when the influence is for ill, but when the influence is for good, We should be praying that God will fill our seminary and other seminaries with preachers. Not with academics. With preachers. With models. With those who will set an example before the students of what a minister of the gospel ought to be. This should be in our constant prayers, especially at this time. Pray for our students. Pray for our seminaries. and pray that the great Lord of the harvest would notice your situation and be moved about it and send so that the day will soon come when one will stand here and you'll be able to say, that's God's shepherd, that's God's labourer, that's God's sent man. May he hasten the day. May he hasten your prayers. Let us pray. Our great Shepherd, we pray that thou wouldst not just locally but internationally, raise up shepherds and labourers and send them forth. How this world, how this community needs thy men. We pray that thou wouldst, in accordance with the word we have been studying tonight, Notice this situation. Be moved with compassion and send. Thou art able. Give the spirit of prayer and pardon us all our sins. In Jesus' name, amen.