On April 5 the Sea Diamond cruise ship sank off the Aegean Island of Santorini, Greece after striking a reef. Sixteen hundred people were on board that ship; most of them Americans and all but two have escaped unharmed. It is said that human error is the chief cause for the loss of the ship. The stories that the passengers are telling of the emergency evacuation of the ship are frightening. They tell of not enough life jackets, ill prepared crewmembers, and insufficient and inoperable lifeboats. One passenger on a morning news program recounted how she had to use an axe to cut through the layers of paint in order to loosen a lifeboat so it could be lowered to safety. It’s hard to imagine but the very mechanism that would be used to save people’s lives had become so ignored that rather than maintain it for emergencies, they merely painted over it for appearance. The ship appeared ready to save lives that were in danger in an emergency but, instead, it was a disaster waiting to happen. That disaster finally came April 5.

In a very real way, as a church and as believers we can appear ready to fulfill Christ’s mission "to seek and to save that which is lost."(Luke 19:10) We have wonderful facilities, excellent leadership, strong resources and an appearance that we are focused on reaching and rescuing those who are far from God. Yet often getting to that place where we are ready to lower the "lifeboats," we have to chop our way through the layers of complacency and routine in order to do what we know we are called and commissioned to do: "Seek and save that which is lost."

This morning I want us to do some "chopping" at the appearance of readiness and discover what Jesus said about our role in what he called "the harvest." We’re going to look at a very familiar passage to many of us about "the harvest." Then we are going to hear the fresh story of two of our own who have heard God’s voice calling them into the harvest. Jason and Amanda McCall have responded to the Lord of the harvest and are in the process of appointment as career missionaries for the International Mission Board of the SBC. So today, armed with the "axe" of God’s word and the testimony of God’s workers, let’s cut through the appearance and discover how we can respond to "the harvest."

I want us to begin by digging into the text in Matthew 9:35-38 by asking the question, "What is Jesus doing?" The answer: "Jesus is at work in the world" (Matt. 9:35). Matthew records Jesus going throughout the region of Galilee teaching, proclaiming and healing. Historians have estimated that the area that Jesus worked in had, at the time, well over two hundred towns and villages. The area was extremely productive agriculturally so it was a prime area both in population and in farming. This was obviously exhausting both physically and spiritually, yet he couldn’t wait for people to come to him for ministry; he took ministry to the people. Before he even asked for more workers, he was already at work.

You and I need to be reminded that Jesus is already at work in our world. As we look at this text, I don’t want you to see it as if God is not at work in our world. It may seem to us otherwise but we need to know that he is at work in more ways than we can comprehend. I continue to be intrigued by the work of God in China. While the government of China continues to restrict and prohibit the free proclamation of the gospel, the church is growing at a phenomenal rate. A nation that over sixty years ago banned all religious expression is now exploding with a spiritual hunger in unprecedented ways. God is at work in Africa, India, Asian nations and so many other places on our planet. So understand Jesus is at work in our world right now!

Let’s ask another question: "What does Jesus see?" The answer is: "Jesus sees a world filled with hurting people" (Matt. 9:36). As Jesus traveled from village to village, he saw people the way they really were. Jesus could look into their hearts and see their hurt. When the Jewish religious leaders looked at people, they simply saw a crowd needing to be controlled. But when Jesus looked at them, he saw them as sheep who needed care. The NASV says they were "distressed and down cast like sheep without a shepherd." Those words in the original language describe the crowds as filled with trouble and despair. While it may have been obvious that there were sick or diseased people in the crowd, Jesus saw beyond the appearance and into the emotional and spiritual distress of the people. When he saw their hurt, he hurt for them deeply.

You and I need to understand that the vision, the emotional, spiritual vision of Jesus hasn’t changed. He still looks at our world and still sees it filled with hurting people. The compassion that affected Jesus so powerfully during that time in Galilee two thousand years ago is still breaking his heart today. He sees the poverty of Africa, the starvation in North Korea, the emptiness of the souls of people in China and Japan and the moral wasteland of the United States. He sees all of that and more. He has never lost sight of how broken and far from God people truly are. The question is: What do we see? Do we see a world filled with hurting people or crowds who demand more than we want to give?

There’s another question to ask that this passage raises and it is: "What does Jesus promise?" The answer is: "Jesus promises that there are people waiting to respond." (Matt. 9:37) Jesus said that "the harvest" is "great." Other translations say, "The harvest is plentiful." What that means is that Jesus saw the people as ready and willing to respond to the compassion that he was offering to meet their needs. He looked at people and knew full well every place that they were hurting and needy but promised that they were, at the same time, eager and ready to respond. They were like a field that was ready to be harvested. He saw people like the cotton, wheat and rice fields that we have in our area. It is a beautiful sight to see miles of white cotton bolls open or shocks of rice and wheat heavy with grain ready for the combines to come and gather them. He saw people as a giant field ready for harvest.

The truth is that this promise hasn’t changed. There are still fields in our world that are waiting to be harvested. There are people whom God’s Holy Spirit has providentially prepared so that they are currently open and responsive to the gospel to a greater degree than other people. Not everyone is responsive in the same way. There are areas of our world that are more open and responsive than others. What Jesus promises is that we don’t have to wonder or worry if anyone will respond because there are people who are ready. Jesus makes a bold promise that there are people waiting to respond to his good news.

While there is this tremendous promise of response there is, as well, a tremendous problem that Jesus identifies. What is the problem? Jesus said that the problem is that there are not enough workers for the harvest. (Matt. 9:37) He said, "The harvest is so great but the workers are so few." (Matt. 9:37) He could look out and see what he was doing, the condition of people, the willing responsiveness of people but he knew as well that physically he couldn’t do it all. There would need to be more than just the twelve who followed him or the seventy that he would send out later. There was a harvest that was so great but it would be restricted because the workers were so few.

That problem hasn’t changed in two thousand years. There are still four billion people without Christ in our world. There are 160 million in the United States alone. Yet there are less than twelve thousand persons committed to missions in the SBC and CBF combined who are trying to impact those billions and millions of people. I realize that Baptists are not the only Christians who are seeking to reach the world but still the number of those without the gospel compared to those willing to share the gospel presents a staggering disparity. Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, pointed out in a recent message that 8% of the people in Seattle are Christians, which is the same percentage of people who are Christian in mainland China. Christianity Today noted that there are 775 chaplain positions in the Army National Guard and only 310 of them are filled. Wherever you look in the world, Jesus said, you will find two things: A great openness to the gospel and not enough workers to go and tell. "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few" (v. 37).

What does Jesus say is the solution? "So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields." (v. 38) Jesus asks us to pray, not just for those who are lost but for the workers. He does not ask us to pray for more people to respond to the gospel but for more people to respond to the need to work and share the gospel. He asks us to pray to "the Lord who is in charge of the harvest…to send out more workers." The word Jesus uses is a very strong and forceful word for "send." It means literally to drive out, push out or draw out by force. It is the picture of God’s Spirit so bearing down on a person’s heart to go out and serve him that only by saying "yes" to his call will they have any relief.

This morning Jason and Amanda McCall will come and share their story of how they found relief from God’s intense, ever-present pressure to go work in his field by saying "yes" to his call to go. Their response is a model for any believer who is aware of what Jesus is doing and seeing in our world today. Let’s listen as they tell us their story of how they said "yes" to work in the "field" of international missions. [Jason and Amanda’s story…]

Jason and Amanda have sought to stress that they are only doing what every one of us should do and that is to be willing to hear the voice of the Lord of the harvest calling believers to go and serve him in his harvest field. That process began when they started listening to God’s Holy Spirit stirring them within their heart. They left a ministry in Houston not knowing where God was calling them to go but only knew that he was calling. They had seen the real needs of people with their own eyes and let that vision burn in them. They continued to listen until at last they could say "Yes" to the voice of God to go and work in his harvest field. What will happen from this point on only God knows. What is clear is that they dared to cut through the appearance of rescuing people and answer his call with their lives.

Today Jesus is still at work in our world. He still hurts when he sees the hurt in the lives of people. He has promised that there are people everywhere who are eager to respond to his gospel. Yet the problem still remains--there are not enough people willing to serve. The solution is to pray for God to send more workers. The only thing is none of us can pray for God to send others unless we are ready to go, to go where he is already working! Where does he want you to go today? Wherever it is he is already there and he is waiting for you and me.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org