Workers in the Harvest Field

Father, I thank you that you are an amazingly good shepherd.

I thank you that you're a father who cares for us.

I thank you that you're a father who sees us and who knows us and who loves us

and who gave everything for us in your son.

Father, I thank you so much for yesterday with the Chinese New Year outreach in Sun Yat-sen Park, Lord,

where we're able to just experience your goodness and your grace

and just to connect with people out in the community,

so many people who are lost and hurting and broken and needing a savior, needing a shepherd.

Father, we just thank you that you have placed us here as a church, not for ourselves,

but for your name, your glory, and for the people in this city.

So, Father, I pray this morning that you would speak to us.

I pray that you would encourage us.

I pray that you would challenge us.

I pray, Lord, where we are wrapped up in many, many things, Lord,

I pray that you quieten our hearts to hear what you want to say.

And I pray you give us soft hearts to be willing to respond to what you're calling us to.

In Jesus' mighty name, amen.

I want to invite Echo to come and read the scripture reading to us.

This scripture reading comes from Matthew chapters 9 and 10.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletins or on the screen.

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages,

teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

and healing every disease and every affliction.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them

because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.

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.

And he called to him his twelve disciples

and gave them authority over unclean spirits

to cast them out and to heal every disease and every affliction.

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 Thaddeus.

Simon, the zealot.

And Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out.

This is the word of God.

Thank you so much, Echo.

And can I just do a shout-out

for all the people who helped yesterday

at the Chinese New Year outreach.

Thank you, all your ICF students.

Let's give them a round of applause.

They were amazing.

We were in the park with lots of kids.

They did an amazing, amazing job.

Welcome.

If you don't know me, my name is Chris.

I'm one of the leaders here at Watermark.

Just very excited to welcome you this morning.

I spoke to someone just recently

who used to come to Watermark a long time ago,

and I hadn't seen them for a long while,

and I just bumped into them on the streets

and said, hey, how are you doing?

And he said to me, hey, doing great.

God's answered my prayers.

I've got amazing work.

Work's going really well.

And we had this kind of conversation

just saying how amazingly blessed

they were with their work.

And then I said, hey, are you involved in church?

How's things going?

And they said, no, I've not got any time

for all of that.

But me and God, we're doing great.

And I thought about the conversation afterwards,

and I thought, how often do we actually misunderstand

what it means for us to be doing great with God?

What it means for us to be a follower of Jesus,

living in a joy-filled, active relationship with Jesus,

because we come with our ideas

when what Jesus wants to do

and what we're doing in the series

of going through the book of Matthew

is to help us to see what does it mean for us as a church?

What does Jesus say about what it means

to be a follower of Christ?

And we want to go deeper into the gospel.

We want to learn Jesus afresh

because, and that's actually why we're doing,

if you're in a community group,

it's why we're doing the gospel-centered life,

because we want you to get not just the idea of Christianity,

we want you to meet Jesus

and have the gospel go deep in your life

because that's where you're going to flourish, in Christ.

But we don't just want to go deep

in understanding the gospel ourselves

because we also know

that when Jesus calls people to follow him,

when he called the first disciples in Matthew,

he said, follow me,

and then he says, there's a purpose to what I'm doing.

I will make you fishers of men.

I'm going somewhere

so that if you want to be a disciple of mine,

you're always going to be going where I'm going

and I'm always going out to reach people around

who don't know me

and who need to know the love of Christ.

And so, last week,

we began looking at the idea of salt and light.

We're looking through the Sermon on the Mount

and we saw how God has called us

to be this light in this city

and that actually that light is going to come

not as us trying to be the light

but actually as our love for Jesus

and how that's going to flow out of us.

But we want to camp out really

for the next three weeks or so

in looking at the,

unpacking this idea of

what does it mean for us to be a light?

What does it mean for us to be on mission?

What does evangelism mean

in the life of the church?

And we're going to look at some different scriptures

to do this

because this is what it means

for us to follow Christ,

to know Him more

and to make Him known to others.

So, we're going to be looking today

at this chapter in Matthew 9.

And this, Matthew 9 and 10,

this chapter is really a pivotal part

in the book of Matthew.

Jesus has basically been doing

a whole lot of ministry,

preaching and teaching and healing

and all kinds of stuff

and now He's going to shift the focus

to not just Him doing the work

but sending others out to do the work.

And so, what we're going to do,

we're going to look at three different parts.

We're going to look at

the compassion of the shepherd.

We're going to look at the invitation

to the harvest

and the commission to go.

Okay?

The compassion,

the invitation,

the commission.

So, if you've got your bulletin with you,

please follow along.

We'll be tracking through some of that.

So, first of all,

the compassion of the shepherd.

You know, Jesus,

Jesus has been going around,

it says,

all kinds of cities and villages

in Galilee

with His little gang of disciples with Him.

And there's about 200 villages and cities

at that time in that area

and it would have taken

a very, very long time

for Jesus to go around

all of them effectively.

And what we know about these villages

from chapters 5 to 9

is that Jesus has been teaching

how different the kingdom of God is

from the way the culture

of all these villages and cities were living.

Because in these places

were filled with messy,

broken people.

There were families torn apart by divorce.

There were greedy, obsessive bosses.

There were locals

who were angry at their taxes.

There were people wanting independence

from the political rule of Rome.

There were people worrying

about getting enough food

just to feed and supply their families.

There was bitterness.

There was unforgiveness.

There was anger.

There was hurt.

There was brokenness in relationships.

Everywhere,

it was messiness and brokenness.

And it says,

Jesus came

to these places

and a crowd,

a random bunch of these people

started coming out

to see Him.

And they had

100,000 different motives

for why they were coming.

Some just came out of curiosity.

Some came because

they wanted to hear

what the latest speaker was like.

Some came because

they were desperate

to get healing.

Some came

because they just wanted

to use Jesus for themselves

and then get on

with their lives afterwards.

And it says,

when Jesus

came to His crowd

and He saw the crowds,

He judged them instantly

for their lack

of purity of heart.

When Jesus came

to the crowds,

He thought,

why should I waste my time

on all these messed up people?

Is that what He thought?

It says,

chapter 9,

verse 36,

when He saw the crowds,

He had compassion for them.

He had compassion for them.

Do you know what that word

compassion means?

It literally means

to be moved in your guts.

That's not because

you've got food poisoning.

That's because

it literally,

it's the strongest word

for pity in Greek.

Someone said,

compassion

is an emotional response

where you so identify

with the situation

of others

that you're prepared

to act

for their benefit.

Have you ever felt that?

it's the same word

that's used,

you know,

in the prodigal son story,

if you know that story,

where the youngest son

takes his father's money,

leaves the family,

squanders it all,

and he's in poverty,

and then decides to return

to his father.

And it says,

while he was a long way off,

the father saw him

and had compassion on him,

and he ran out to him.

It's the same

when a blind person

comes to Jesus

and he asks for healing

and he says,

it felt compassion

and he reached out

and touched him.

You see,

when Jesus sees

this messy bunch of people,

his reaction

isn't to run away from them

saying,

wow,

this is overwhelming.

His reaction

is to long

to run to them

with gut-wrenching compassion.

You see,

I heard a story

of a guy

who went out

to visit

on a mission trip

to an African country

which had desperate poverty

at the time.

Kids were malnourished.

It was a terrible situation.

He was just going to see

the relief work

that was going on there.

And just as he was about

to leave his little visit

and get on the plane,

a lady comes up to him

carrying a baby.

And she says to him,

she tries to hand him the baby

and says,

please take him.

Please take him

because if he stays here,

he's going to die.

And the guy

said he knows

he can't take him back.

And he says,

as he turned around

and he had to shut the door

behind him

with this woman

crying desperately for help,

he said he had this

gut-wrenching compassion

of a desire

to help

and to reach out.

That is what Jesus

is feeling

right here.

I don't know

what response

this morning

you think

Jesus,

you'll get from Jesus

if you come to him

this morning.

Do you think

he's a little annoyed

at you?

Do you think

he's kind of like,

oh,

I know what you've done

this week,

but hey,

I guess

I'll accept you.

Do you realize

that no matter

how far

away from Christ

you think you've gone,

no matter whether

you feel worthy

or unworthy,

no matter how pure

your motives are

or impure

your motives are,

whether you're here

this morning

out of joy

or here this morning

purely out of habit,

Jesus has gut-wrenching

compassion

for you.

He longs

to reach out

to you

right where

you are.

Why

does he have that?

Do you know

what the next part

says?

He had compassion

for them

because

they were harassed

and helpless

like sheep

without a shepherd.

Do you know,

literally,

that means

they were torn

and thrown away.

Do you know

like those wildlife

documentaries

when you see

the antelope

that's gone away

from the rest

of the herd

and then the lions

are coming

and they pounce

on its hind legs

and bring him down

and are tearing at him?

That's the idea here

because that's what

Jesus sees them as.

Why are they like that?

Because they are sheep

without a shepherd.

Do you know

the Bible's very deliberate

when it calls us sheep?

Do you know

that you're a sheep?

Say after me,

I'm a sheep.

Let's do it one more time

just to bring it in.

I'm a sheep.

Okay,

now that's not a compliment.

You may think

you're a wolf

but you're a sheep.

Here's a couple of things

about sheep

that you need to know.

Ezekiel 34

when God's talking

about Israel

it says this,

so they were scattered

because there was

no shepherd

and they became food

for all the wild beasts.

You see,

what you know about sheep

is sheep are vulnerable.

You know,

sheep don't have claws.

They don't have

razor sharp teeth.

They can't fly.

They can't run away fast.

They're a ball of wool

on four legs.

Which means this,

if you don't have

a shepherd

you will always

feel insecure

because you're a sheep.

Because sheep

by nature

always need a shepherd

to give them protection,

to give them security,

to provide for them.

Which is why

each one of us here

is always looking

for security

and protection

from something

because we're sheep.

But it's not just

that we're vulnerable.

Sheep also

always wander off.

Isaiah 53

you might know this.

We all like

sheep

have gone astray.

I don't know.

I grew up in England.

I went to Wales.

There's tons of sheep.

There's more sheep

than humans in Wales.

And I don't know

if you've ever seen

shepherds.

It's not kind of in Hong Kong

there's not sheep

wandering around.

But in Wales there are.

And if you've ever

seen a shepherd

trying to get sheep

to go anywhere

you know

there's a reason

that modern day

shepherds

have sheep dogs.

Because what you find is

even though the shepherd

is trying to lead them

to some beautiful

new pasture

one little sheep

goes and sees

something interesting

on the side

and starts wandering off

and then everybody else

is like

oh that's a great idea

and they all wander

and follow him.

Doesn't matter

if it's a cliff over there

they're all going to go.

We're like a bowling ball

you know

which has that natural curve

that it always

no matter which way

you throw it

always is going

towards the gutter.

That's you and me

because we're sheep.

But the thing is

what he's saying here

is every other shepherd

every other place

you look to

for security

is a shepherd

in wolf's clothing.

Sorry

no it's a wolf

in shepherd's clothing.

You find your approval

and your sense of worth

in anybody else's opinion

just one comment

just one look

from a colleague

from a spouse

and it will devastate you.

Find your security

in your finances

or your career

or your grades

and just see

how many people

in Hong Kong

are suffering

from stress

and insomnia

because we're enslaved

torn apart

harassed and helpless

because we fear

not getting enough

because we fear

what our bosses

are going to think about us

because we live in fear

and all around us

there are people

promoting

find your security

in this

find your security

in that

but we're sheep

and every other shepherd

is a wolf

in shepherd's clothing.

It will tear you

and eat you alive.

We are like the crowds

before Jesus

but Christ

is a shepherd

who is different

from every other shepherd

because when you hear

that word shepherd

in the Bible

you're not supposed

to be thinking

of those terrible pictures

that I see

in Christian hospitals

I think we may have one

of Jesus

kind of blonde haired

blue eyed Jesus

with a little lamby.

Do you have one

Christina picture of that?

That is not what

you're supposed to be thinking

oh lovely.

You see

a shepherd in the Bible

is an image

of a king

it's an image

of a ruler

it's an image

of a strong leader

but he's not

the kind of strong leader

who's just there

to use you

for his own agenda.

He's a shepherd

who has gut wrenching

compassion on you

because he knows

that you're vulnerable

and prone to wander.

You know Jesus

when he looked out

over Jerusalem

a couple of years later

he says

oh Jerusalem

Jerusalem

the city

that kills the prophets

and stones

those who are sent to it.

In other words

these guys

just don't respond well.

How often

would I

gather you?

How often

have I longed

to gather you

your children

together

as a hen

gathers her brood

gathers her chicks

under her wings

but you were not willing.

Do you see

what he's saying?

He knows

what we're like.

Do you know

that you're a sheep

like that?

And sometimes

people think

Jesus is nice

but God's kind of

angry with me

but so kind of

hide behind Jesus

and not get angry God

but actually

when Jesus says

if you've seen me

you've seen the Father

God so loved the world

God so loved you

that he sent Jesus

to you

to show his compassion

to you

because he wants

to draw you to himself

that's why he died

on a cross

for you

because he desperately

wants you for himself.

No matter how

messed up you are

no matter how good

you think you are

do you know

you're a sheep

but he's a compassionate

shepherd calling you today?

That's the first point.

second thing

the invitation

to the harvest

Jesus is in

kind of farming

territory

so he just

switches the metaphor

from sheep

to crop farming

so he then says this

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

harvest

any farmers here?

Yep

I didn't expect so

most of us

the farming analogies

kind of get a little

lost on us

but actually

harvest time

was the time

of the greatest joy

and opportunity

in a farming village

because it's what

the whole year's work

is all about

it's the time

where you're going

to get everything

that you've been

looking for

for the year

now in our context

just imagine

if a memo

is sent round

to employees

in a company

where basically

the whole of your bonus

is based on the yearly

profits

and it says this

it says

the rich clients

are plentiful

but the sales team

is few

therefore ask

your boss

urgently

to hire

more sales team

to send them out

to bring in the revenue

does that sound

like an opportunity

or a burden

because what he's saying

is often as Christians

when we come to the idea

of sharing our faith

and evangelism

we kind of know

it's a little bit

uncomfortable

it's a little bit

difficult

and so therefore

we feel it's like

something Christians

have to do

and we feel a little bit

guilty probably

because we haven't been

doing it as much

as we should

and so every time

you hear a sermon

on evangelism

you just go away

feeling a little deflated

and then you forget

about it

for the next few months

until the next sermon

but evangelism

as Jeremy shared

actually this week

with us

in the staff team

he says evangelism

it's not something

you have to do

it's something

you get to do

it's an opportunity

it's a privilege

that we have

because it's about

a harvest

of joy

and opportunity

but let me unpack

this for a minute

because if you think

about it

if a boss

is serious

about making

his company

profitable

unless he is

incompetent

why doesn't he

just hire

sales staff

anyway

why does the boss

need to ask

the employees

to ask him

to then hire

more staff

that's weird

right

Christians

don't need

to evangelize

because God

needs you to

he's quite capable

of doing the job

himself

you know

there's lots of

dreams

of people having

dreams

in Middle East

coming to faith

through

he could do

that

but he calls

us to share

the faith

of a compassionate

God

because he's

inviting you

to both share

in his work

and share

his heart

his heart

of compassion

so his

compassion

becomes your

compassion

so his joy

becomes your

joy

because I don't

know if you

know

in Genesis 1

it says

to be human

is to be

an image

bearer

somebody

who reflects

what God

is like

that's where

we flourish

when we're

living like

that

but the only

way you'll

ever be

fully human

the only way

you'll ever

fully flourish

if that is

true

is if you're

involved in

his mission

because it's

only when you're

on God's

mission to

save and

reach out to

people that

you'll ever

get his

heart

for people

his heart

for lost

sheep

around you

do you

notice

Jesus

doesn't

pray

doesn't

tell the

disciples

to actually

just pray

for lost

sheep

to come

to him

did you

see that

he doesn't

just pray

for people

who don't

know

Christ

he actually

says pray

for more

workers

you see

that

why do you

have to pray

for more

workers

anyone

huge

response

okay

I'll

assume

that you're

knowledgeable

but too

ashamed

to share

why do you

have to pray

for more

workers

because this

is not a

one person

job

even

Jesus

he's like

there's too

many people

for me

humanly

to reach

out to

people

here

this is a

whole community

thing

it's a whole

community

thing

I'm looking

out at

25 Nepalese

kids

on a

Thursday night

saying

are there

more people

who can reach

out

I can't reach

out to

these by

myself

you go

on the

MTR

and you

see

thousands

of harassed

and helpless

sheep

wandering

around

in your

office

in your

family

and no

pastor

can reach

them all

why are

there so

few

workers

you know

I was really

challenged

by this

but

St.

Augustine

he lived

he was a

guy

he's a

dead

guy

lived

a lot

of time

ago

he said

this

he said

this has

really impacted

me

cramped

is the

dwelling

of my

soul

expand

it

that you

may

enter

in

cramped

is the

dwelling

of my

soul

expand

it

that you

may

enter

in

what

is he

saying

everyone

in Hong

Kong

feels

cramped

that's

why we're

all looking

to buy

bigger

flats

and moving

to bigger

spaces

right

do you

know

the most

cramped

place

in Hong

Kong

is in

our

hearts

because

we only

get

concerned

with our

own

issues

our

own

things

we get

bitter

about

life

and about

others

we want

to hang

around

just with

people

who are

like us

just with

people

that we

like

and who

are going

to give

us

something

you know

that's

networking

right

but God

has a

heart

that is

spacious

a heart

that is

expansive

his heart

is not

cramped

it's

overflowing

to compassion

to the very

people

that I wish

he wouldn't

be compassionate

towards

to the people

that you and I

have issues

with

which cramps

our hearts

his heart

where we are

cramped

his heart

expands

you know

in John

Jesus

has just

been talking

to a

Samaritan

woman

and he's

been calling

her to

herself

and he's

showing her

that she

doesn't need

to look

to men

to fulfill

her

but he

is the

living

water

that she

needs

and then

after this

amazing

conversation

the disciples

come back

and see

Jesus

talking

to this

woman

and they

go

hey

Jesus

let's

grab

lunch

and

internally

they're

going

what

why are

you

talking

to

her

and

you

know

what

Jesus

replies

he

says

lift

up

your

eyes

and

see

that

the

fields

are

white

for

harvest

that's

challenging

when you

look out

at Hong

Kong

do you

go

I wish

there

were

fewer

people

here

because

it

made

my

life

so

much

easier

or

do

you

go

the

fields

are

white

for

harvest

oh

that

convicts

me

you

see

there

are

so

many

people

here

Jesus

says

we

should

be

praying

God

send

out

more

workers

there

are

so

many

people

that

you

have

brought

to

this

city

you

know

I

got

in

the

list

yesterday

a

rather

old

grumpy

man

got

into

the

lift

in

my

building

and

just

to

be

friendly

I

said

to

him

and

then I

noticed

he

had

a

Manchester

United

cap

on

and said

oh

do you

support

Man U

and

he

replied

I don't

want to

talk to

you

this is

literally

this was

yesterday

okay

I get

that all

the time

it's okay

I don't

have a

complex

and

and

then

he

said

and

I

was

just

about

to

get

out

of

the

lift

actually

then

he

said

you're

one

of

those

missionaries

aren't

you

and

I

didn't

know

how

to

respond

to

that

because

I

didn't

even

really

know

him

so

I

was

like

how

do

you

know

this

stuff

and

as

I

got

out

the

lift

normally

what

I

would

be

thinking

would

be

he's

got

issues

he's

a

grumpy

old

man

or

I'd

feel

offended

or

I'd

feel

like

I've

got

to

try

and

be

nicer

next

time

I

don't

know

what

I've

got

to

do

but

actually

because

I've

been

thinking

about

this

passage

I

walked

away

going

there's

a

sheep

who's

suspicious

and

hurting

and

broken

and

I

don't

know

whatever

shepherds

he's

running

to

but

you

can

tell

from

his

face

that

they're

not

bringing

him

joy

and

my

heart

broke

for

him

and

I

started

praying

father

would

you

send

people

into

his

life

who

are

going

to

show

him

that

you

are

a

good

God

a

good

compassionate

shepherd

just

think

if

every

one

of

us

in

watermark

started

praying

God

would

you

open

my

eyes

to

see

people

not

the

way

I

normally

see

people

but

to

really

see

the

people

you've

placed

around

me

to

see

even

my

boss

even

the

people

who

intimidate

me

or

annoy

me

or

anger

me

with

your

eyes

of

compassion

and

love

just

think

how

different

our

responses

would

be

isn't

that

what

Jesus

is

saying

to

be

about

a

light

in

the

city

as

you're

walking

along

the

streets

and

you're

seeing

the

broken

and

the

hurting

around

you

how

more

freely

would

we

be

loving

people

how

much

more

urgently

would

we

be

praying

God

there's

so

many

people

I

can't

reach

all

these

please

send

more

workers

because

when

you

start

praying

like

that

you

can

be

living

in

a

hundred

square

foot

flat

but

you'll

be

living

the

most

spacious

life

because

your

heart

would

have

been

expanded

to

be

more

and

more

like

Christ's

heart

but

it's

not

just

his

compassion

this

compassion

he wants

us to

have

it's

also

his

joy

he

wants

you

to

experience

I

don't

know

if

you

know

that

God

is

a

joy

filled

happy

God

not

a

miserable

grumpy

God

did

you

know

that

it

says

in

Timothy

he's

the

blessed

God

blessed

means

happy

and

what

brings

him

delight

is

to

bring

lost

people

like

you

and

me

broken

people

to

himself

Jesus

said

there is

more

joy

in

heaven

over

one

sinner

who

repents

than

over

99

who

don't

need

to

repent

heaven

gets

on

party

mode

when

someone

comes

to

faith

if

that

guy

in

that

lift

came

to

know

Jesus

heaven

would

explode

with

joy

it

would

be

better

than

LKF

so

how

is

our

response

when

someone

comes

to

Christ

like

someone

did

last

week

through

somebody

in

watermark

do

we

go

that's

nice

another

member

of the

club

or

do

we

go

with

unconcainable

joy

that

is

just

so

gracious

of

you

father

thank

you

cramped

is

often

the

dwelling

of

my

soul

but

we

have

a

compassionate

shepherd

who

shows

us

his

love

so

that

he

can

expand

our

hearts

so

that

we

can

have

compassion

on

others

to

involve

us

in

his

mission

so

that

we

might

experience

his

joy

and

we

need

to

be

praying

that's

the

first

place

we

start

to

pray

that

God

would

do

this

in

our

lives

and

God

would

send

out

more

workers

I'm

going

to

ask

Joanne

to

come

up

and

share

a little

bit of

her

story

Joanne

welcome

it's

okay

we're not

too

scary

up here

Joanne

would you

love to

just tell

us

who you

are

and

yeah

just