The King of Mission

Well, good morning, my name is John.

I'm one of the pastors here. So glad you could join us today.

Such a good day. We packed out a little bit

today, so praise God for that. I want to start out by you

considering something. OK.

I want you to consider for a moment that we all like being on

a mission, to have a mission at some level, a 'cause if you

will, right? We like the feeling of doing

something that matters, right? In any hands.

Anybody resonate with that? OK yeah.

Not alone. See, for some, it's just the

brotherhood or maybe the sisterhood of doing something

with it, being in the trenches with somebody, right?

Or maybe it's the journey along the way.

You like the adventure of it, right?

The mission provides that sense of belonging, if we're honest,

right? It provides a sense of purpose,

direction or aim. I know who I am in light of the

mission, right? I know what I know where to go

in light of the cause, right? I know what to do next in light

of what I'm chasing. To have a cause, a mission or a

purpose, it's a very powerful thing.

It's a very powerful thing. And sometimes our mission or

cause involves others. Sometimes just you, but you may

feel like you don't have a mission maybe today, right.

Many of you will just create of us what was create our own.

You've ever seen this. That's why we look to a video

game to do that athletic competition, a book or a project

to and two. There's something in us that

needs the thing we get from a mission from a cause from some

kind of endeavor. OK, And without this drive,

guess what? We grow bored.

We grow bored. We get, we can even get

depressed. We can lose a sense of who we

are. We can become frustrated that we

cannot complete the thing that we're aiming at, right?

We can even get depressed because of the difficulty of the

mission. They need to be on both sides of

that, right? It's hopeless.

I can't. I can't move the needle, so I'm

frustrated. I'm depressed.

To tap into the human desire and longing for something bigger,

something to channel our mental physical energies and creativity

into, is a powerful thing. It's a powerful thing.

The Bible teaches that. God put it there.

God put it there. He made us in such a way that we

were built for Him and the purposes that He gives us.

See, life was always meant to have something to do.

It's always meant to have something to do.

A life where all you do is rest is not what God had in mind.

It's not the way He designed us. This is why sitting around all

the time doing nothing is bad for you, right?

We're going to do a little bit of that over the holidays.

That's OK. But if you did that all the

time, it's not. See, we were created for mission

purpose and 'cause God put it there, He put it there.

But what did He, what did he want us to do?

What were His original instructions?

We don't have to flip there, but I'm going to read over you

Genesis 1 verses 27 through 30. It says this.

Genesis 1:27–30

So God created man in his own image and the image of God He

created him male and female. He created them and then he says

this verse 28 And God blessed them and God said to them, be

fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have

dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the

heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And God said, behold, I have given you every plant yielding

seed that is on the face of all the earth and every tree with

seed and its fruit. You shall have them for food,

and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the

heavens, and to everything that creeps on the on the earth,

everything that the breath of life.

I have given every plant for food.

And it was so. So what were we created to do

this? We were created to start

families, societies and culture. We were to tame and create with

raw materials of the earth. We were to farm, to tend trees

and bushes and grow food. We were to care for all living

things in God's world. This is what he meant for us to

do, right? And when we do these things,

it's not just the reason behind them that makes them worship

right. It's when we do these things,

the actions themselves. We are worshipping the creator

God because we were built for this.

We're obeying. See theologians call this text

The cultural Mandate to fulfill. The cultural mandate is to

worship and obey. But something happened, not all

colorful and rosy. Adam and Eve fell and sinned and

entered the world, and through their disobedience and

deception, now all the creative, mental and physical energies of

humanity turn in on itself. It's twisted and distorted.

And all human culture making is a mixed bag, right?

Some of it fits into God's design and some of it doesn't.

Some of it doesn't. But all of it, all of it is

tainted and tinted by sin. Everything is messed up, the

world is broken, and what's more, God cursed the world as a

consequence for human sin. That's that's what this text

deals with today, right? We are finishing up a series in

Matthew entitled The Authority of the King, The Authority of

the King. We have looked at Matthew 8 and

9 and how these chapters highlight the authority of Jesus

the King. He has authority over sickness.

He has authority over the body. He has authority over creation

itself. It doesn't matter if he touches,

speaks, or even as if he's not even present, right?

He has authority over what is brought before him.

It doesn't matter if it's demonic or if it's ordinary.

He has the power because he has the authority.

He has the authority. Jesus a king, and he has ushered

in his Kingdom. But Jesus is not just any kind

of king, Praise God, He is none other than the creator God

himself. See, he has taken on flesh and

he has dwelt among us. He is Emmanuel, God with us.

We're going to talk a lot about that in the coming weeks, right?

But he is also the son of David and the son of Abraham.

He is human and he's a Jew at that.

And as the Romans will point out towards the end of the Matthew's

Gospel, he is the rightful king of the Jews.

But as it turns out, he's more than that.

He's more. See, this King's Kingdom is not

like the kingdoms of the world. Not only does Jesus have the

authority, but he is a good king.

See, we already, we've already seen his compassion throughout

this series and we've seen his mercy.

And today it really is no different.

We could just keep saying the same things.

He's he's the king of compassion, the king of mercy.

But he surprises us in this text with the beginnings of what our

role in this Kingdom will be. See, we begin to see a new phase

revealed in Jesus Kingdom ministry.

There suddenly there suddenly seems to be not just a type of

life to live, but a mission to take part in.

So let's look closely at three things that informed this

Kingdom mission. So from this text, we're going

to look at what Jesus does. We're going to look at what he

sees and what he commands. So what Jesus does, what he sees

and what he commands. All right, first, what he does,

what does this text say he does Look at verse 35 again, it says

this. And Jesus went throughout all

the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues.

So if you were sitting down and kind of reading the Gospel

according to Matthew in one sitting, you would have noticed.

Is that this this refrain you've heard before, You've read this

before. See, Matthew actually says the

same thing in chapter 4, verse 23.

OK, right before the sermon to mount, he includes this exact

statement. It acts as like a transitional

statement, if you will. This sort of concludes the the

section that we've been in. OK, This is our clue that

something new is about to happen, a new development, and

the story is about to take place.

But let's revisit what exactly he is doing and what we should

consider a response. All right, so let's look at

where he goes and what he does there.

OK, so notice that Jesus travels throughout both cities and

villages teaching in synagogues. He goes to urban centers in

rural areas. He is encountering all aspects

of Judean Life OK and Judean society, but he always stops in

a place called a synagogue. For those unfamiliar, the

synagogue was actually not always a part of Jewish culture.

The synagogue actually developed during the exile period if you

remember, due to Israel's disobedience to God.

They were judged by being exiled from the promised land, meaning

he kicked them out. It happened really in two waves,

though. OK, the first wave from the

northern Kingdom was actually exiled to Syria, Assyria.

But then the southern half, which is Judah, was actually

exiled to Babylon, all right. And during the Babylonian exile,

they no longer had access to the temple, right?

It's over there, there. What are they going to do?

So they developed meeting houses called synagogues.

All right? Now the word synagogue is a

Greek word that basically just means bring together or

assembly. OK, but this exile exilic

practice actually makes its way back to the land when they

eventually return In Ezra, Nehemiah, and so in Jesus day,

the synagogue was a central part of Jewish life.

It was not only a place of worship where you would read

from the scriptures or sing or pray or teach, but it was also a

Community Center. It was a court of law.

It was a it was a place for town hall meetings.

It was a centerpiece of Jewish society.

OK, See, the building was usually rectangular, kind of

like this one, and it had just rows of benches on the sides of

the walls. And it was kind of in a step

fashion. So the attendees essentially

faced each other. OK, They looked at each other

from across the room, right? You can make eye contact if you

wanted. But there was also also often

columns just like this one, except throughout, so it'd block

you view it. It wasn't really a place for

seeing as much as it was a place for listening because you came

there to listen to the scriptures or community affairs.

So the synagogue was an important place.

It was a community hub, if you will.

So in every city and village, Jesus went to the synagogue.

But look at the consistent things that he did and talked

about at the synagogue. Go back to verse 35 again.

So 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.

So in every city and village, he stood up in the middle of the

synagogue again, rows, benches in the middle, and he declared

the gospel of the Kingdom and healed people.

So another way you could say this is he brings Kingdom news,

good news, which is what gospel means, and Kingdom signs, which

are the healings, right? So I want you to imagine for a

second, you show up to the synagogue, right?

You're just, hey, it's, it's Saturday, it's the Sabbath.

I'm going to go and go see what's going on in the Community

Center, right? And you go in and you see what's

going on. And then there's this guy,

right? And he's in the middle and he's

teaching, and he's teaching with so much authority.

And he's talking about the Kingdom of God breaking in.

He's talking about the Kingdom is coming and is now here.

He keeps describing the Kingdom of God and how one lives in that

Kingdom. Sounds wonderful, right?

Loving enemies, generosity towards others and how to live

in all sorts of circumstances. But then there seems to be a

need for repentance and righteousness, and you may start

to wonder if any of this is possible, right?

But then it gets even more interesting.

People start coming towards him afterwards with physical issues.

Some are obvious and others not so obvious, right?

Some people actually, you know, walked away for the first time.

They didn't walk before then they walked away.

And you start going like, what's going on?

The demonstration of power and authority starts to catch on and

things kind of move outside, if you will say they, they leave

the room, right, The building, the synagogue, and they go

outside. And then what happens is crowds

start to gather. And this guy, they want to see

what this guy's going to say and what he's going to do next,

right? He teaches with authority.

He has good news of the Kingdom and he has signs of this

Kingdom. There's power.

This is what's happening in Jesus life as he traveled

throughout this region. OK, He was always, he always

brought Kingdom good news and coupled it with Kingdom signs.

That's his MO, that's what he did right?

But this next development seems to indicate that this coupling

of Kingdom news and Kingdom signs will not stop with him.

Interesting. It will not stop with him.

See in chapter 10, we're not going to read it, but which

we'll get to that next year. But he gives the disciples the

authority to do the exact same things that he does.

Even the healings in the, you know, casting out demons bit he

gives them that same authority. Now we have to jump ahead a

little bit, but it's important that we realize that the mission

of Jesus always has both news and signs and and view always.

Now the signs are subject to Jesus delegate authority, which

is what chapter 10 is going to teach us.

We'll see that there, but the signs are not always

extraordinary either. OK, we'll learn later on that

the final sign, the final sign is actually the people Jesus

will leave behind. See, Jesus doesn't just leave a

message to share, but a people to embody that message.

Leslie Leslie Newbiggin in his book, The Gospel and a Pluralist

Society, he wrote this. He said the only hermeneutic or

interpretation of the gospel is a congregation which believes

it, which believes it. See, that means that the local

church is a lens through which the gospel is understood.

It makes the gospel visible. See New Begin argues that

apologetics is not primarily about clever arguments or

philosophical proofs, although it will include that instead,

the embodied life of the church, a community that lives out the

gospel in love, justice, and hope, is the most persuasive

witness. God knew this, right?

So he leaves good news of the Kingdom.

But Jesus also leaves a sign of the Kingdom as well, his people,

his people. So those are always connected.

So far in Matthew, we see that the Kingdom of God is God's

breaking into the world through Jesus.

It's demanding repentance, transforming ethics,

demonstrating power, welcoming outsiders, and calling disciples

to join the mission of the Kingdom.

That's what we see so far, but it's not clear.

It's not clear until you get to the end of Matthew.

OK, how all this is actually possible.

So how is Jesus so confident, right?

I could just read this and we could talk about that.

But how is he so confident? How does he roll up into the

synagogue and just just declare these things good news and and

and good signs and Kingdom signs, right?

How does he do that? The most unexpected things

happens if you keep reading in Matthew, see Jesus, who is the

Messiah. I know the word for that is

Christ. You've heard that Jesus Christ,

it just means the chosen 1. He is the one who is supposed to

usher in the Kingdom and the rescue the people of God from

their enemies and bring in a new age, a messianic age.

And it seems like that is what's happening.

When I walked up into the synagogue, I saw sickness,

disease, broken bodies and demonic forces are all coming to

an end. He is the Messiah.

It's here, it's happening, it's now He's doing it.

The curse is coming undone, the broken being made whole.

He's the one. And then suddenly, suddenly,

betrayal, torture, crucifixion and death, Jesus does all these

wonderful things and truly lives a righteous and simple life.

And then he's executed as a rebellious criminal.

Everything seems like it's going to fall apart.

He dies and the dreams and vision of the Kingdom seemingly

die with him. That's exactly what they

thought. But then, then three days later,

Jesus rises from the grave. No one saw a coming, even though

he kind of told him. He did kind of tell him he

really did, but no one understood.

He comes back to life, but there's Can you imagine the

confusion, the excitement, the amazement if death could not

hold this guy, Maybe everything he said and did wasn't for

nothing. He wasn't for nothing.

See Jesus, death and resurrection, as Paul's going to

go on to say. He's going to point out it was

necessary for salvation. See the Christ wasn't just

someone who came teaching, although he did do that, but

came with power and authority to change things.

You see, the good news of the Kingdom is that Jesus has come

to live the life we should have lived, to die the death that we

deserve and arise from the dead, defeating death, sin and hell on

our behalf. See the good news of the Kingdom

is that through Jesus we can enter the Kingdom's reality.

We can live a life with God. We can, we can begin to live the

new way to be human, but entrance in that into that

Kingdom is only possible through what Jesus did See we learn in

John, in the Gospel of John that the that right before Jesus

dies, he says the best words uttered in history and I'll,

I'll take that one to the bank. You can disagree with me, but

these are the best words in history.

He says this right before he dies.

It is finished, it is finished, it's done.

But what's done? What's done?

What did he do? We are all deserving of God's

wrath because we fall or fail to live in God's world, God's way.

Just like Adam and Eve that broke the world, right?

Even on our best day, we still don't cut it.

OK, we may not be the worst person on earth.

You're probably not. But we're still not perfect.

We're still not perfect. And only those who are perfect

meet God's seemingly impossible standards.

See, perfect is what was supposed to be.

I'm trying my best, John. I'm trying my best.

Yeah, I know. I know.

It's never going to be enough. I know you have never been good

enough. We've all been bad, as Santa

would say, right? You might think if if I just do

enough good things or I try my best, maybe God will grave on a

curve. My teacher does.

If the good outweighs the bad, maybe it'll shake down.

That's actually not how things work.

That's not how they work. Yeah, but what if I'm really

sincere, John, and give up stuff and stop kicking dogs?

We don't kick dogs. But you know, it's never going

to be enough. It's never going to be enough.

We've all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Paul

tells us we were created to image him to the world.

And at best see, we were created to image God perfectly.

As if you looked at a mirror, you would see him imaged, right?

You would see the reflection. As you look at the reflection of

us, you should see creator God. But at best, at best, we're a

fun house mirror. You know those mirrors that like

distort your body, make one part section bigger or smaller?

That's what we are. We're a fun house mirror at

best. We are not enough.

In fact, we're the problem and that's tough to hear.

We're the problem. We cannot do it.

We need someone to step in on our behalf in order to enter

this Kingdom life. And Jesus knew this.

He knew this. That's what that's what Jesus

finished. See, He substituted himself for

us. He didn't live and die as a mere

example. If that is all he did, we are

left to try to live up to his example.

And that's impossible. If we only died to make it

possible to enter the Kingdom and the rest is up to us, we're

still cooked. We're still cooked and we will

be crushed under the weight of it all.

If it's up to us to enter the Kingdom and how, how will we

ever know? How will you ever know if it's

enough? You won't, you can't.

We needed someone to trade places with us.

It's kind of like those backup commercials.

I've seen these where the husband, the friend or kid is

trying to do something. They just can't quite get it

done or they're failing really hard.

And they're like, Bridgewater, you're in, you know?

And it's like, we need a substitute.

We need a backup. We need Terry Bridgewater to

come be our friend because that friend's terrible, right?

You know, we need someone to trade places with us because

we're failing hard. A backup, a stand in.

It should have been us, but he laid down his life.

So his last words were it is finished, it is finished.

See, the good news of the Kingdom isn't try harder and be

good. The good news of the Kingdom is

it's finished. The central message of

Christianity isn't due. It's done, finished.

Friends, if you're here today, if you're here today, you're

looking to be more moral or more religious, if you're looking to

be more disciplined or whatever, Jesus offers something even

better than that. Jesus came to trade places with

you. He came to take your sin and

give you his righteousness, which means as if it if you had

lived his life right, he came to be an outcast so you might be

brought in. The message is to try harder.

It's to repent and trust in Jesus.

This is his life can count for you, His death can count for

you, and his resurrected life can be yours both now and

forever. It can be the reason Jesus went

around to those synagogues, in case you're wondering where

we're going. Reason He could go to those

synagogues and he could with genuine confidence and

authority, declare the good news of the Kingdom was because he

was going to be nailed to a tree and finish it.

He was going to do it. It was costly.

It was going to cost him everything, but he was going to

do it and he could proclaim good news because of what he was

going to do. So he gets to the end and before

he breathes his last breath, he essentially says, I did it.

I did it. So the first point is that the

mission of Jesus is proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and

the signs of the Kingdom and they come with certainty and

authority because Jesus is going to ensure it happens through his

life, death and resurrection. The the message of the mission

is that it's done. It's done.

OK, Now that's what Jesus does. What does what does Jesus see?

Look back at verse 36 says this. And when he saw the crowds, he

had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless

like sheep without a shepherd. The first thing in the text that

Jesus sees is crowds. OK, Now remember he starts in

the synagogue. This is the MO, and things get

going and they tend to move outside, right?

There's not a crowd in the synagogue.

There's a crowd outside of it, right?

The crowds are essentially Jewish peasants from Galilee and

Judea, the surrounding area. These are just ordinary people,

people like you and me. They hold jobs, they have

families, they have bills, they have needs.

They're locals, they're out of towners, right?

They are just people. They are drawn to Jesus because

of what he is teaching and the miracles that he's performing,

right? I imagine some of them have some

idea of what's going out, what's going on, what's happening,

right? But some of them don't have any

clue. I mean, I just couldn't picture

one of the guys I hate. Why are you here?

I don't know. Everybody else is here, right?

It's just people are gathering and looking at it.

But Jesus sees them. Don't miss this.

Jesus sees them as ordinary as they are.

He sees them through a particular lens.

The text says he has compassion for them.

See, the Greek word here is the idea that he was inwardly moved

with concern and pity for them. There's a deep, heartfelt inward

concern with the condition of the crowd.

He's bothered by the state of the crowd.

He's bothered, OK, Bothered not just sentimentally, but moved to

action. OK, but why is he so moved?

Well, he explains what he sees. Look, look back at the verse.

It says because they were harassed and helpless, they're

harassed and helpless. He has compassion because they

are harassed and helpless. But who is harassing them,

right? Why are they helpless?

What does he see? OK, this is it.

So this is in the middle of the Roman occupation of Judea.

OK. So maybe there's some aspects

that they had to do with Rome itself.

OK, maybe we don't know. The Pharisees and the religious

leaders are there too. And they're like, they basically

piled up so many traditions around Torah.

That is the law of God, that to be a good Jew was so hard and

impossible for the ordinary person.

And most people, most people in this crowd probably walked in

great deal of shame of not being able to measure up to the

Pharisees. They probably they're like, I'm

never going to be that guy. I'm not going to be that guy.

See, there was, there was also demonic oppression in the crowd,

sickness, physical ailments and things like that.

We've seen this, right? The specifics, we don't know

exactly what he sees, but Jesus looked at this crowd of image

bearers and he concluded, this ain't it.

This is not how it's supposed to be.

It shouldn't be like this. He was saddened by it,

internally moved, but he said one more thing.

He said they were like sheep without a shepherd.

OK, See, there was an aimless to the people in front of him, and

they had no, they had no direction to their life.

You ever felt like that? I was listening to a guy the

other day and he was just telling me about how he and his

son would basically just go up to a nearby fast food place

first thing every Saturday morning, just every Saturday

morning, and just kind of sit there and ask each other, what

are we supposed to do today? What are we supposed to do?

See, there's an aimlessness that he was expressing to me.

He wasn't saying that like, that's awesome.

He was saying that like, I don't know what to do with my time.

Right. Is that you?

Do you feel aimless? What is my life?

That's a scary question. What is my life?

If you think about it too long, you get depressed and you have

to start scrolling, you have to start buying.

You have to put on a game or show or a movie.

I've been there. Anything to not feel aimless.

You have to start a project, a business, a hobby, anything to

not feel aimless. You were built for something.

That restlessness that you feel, the angstiness, if you will.

There is something in us that needs a purpose there, and God

put it there. He put it there.

See, the crowd was aimless, like sheep without a shepherd.

There was no spiritual leadership.

But wait, I've been reading this.

There there are, aren't there? There are.

What about the Pharisees? What about the priests?

What about the scribes? They're leaders.

What were they doing? They saw and knew some of the

same people Jesus did, right? Why does he have compassion and

see them as aimless sheep? What did the spiritual leaders

of Judea see? What did they see?

Well, we can't necessarily get into the minds of the Pharisees

directly. We can't understand how Jesus

viewed the Jewish leaders. OK, saw them for what they were.

See, Jesus views the Pharisees as hypocritical leaders who

distort God's law by emphasizing external rituals.

They add burdensome rules and seek public recognition, all

while neglecting justice, mercy, humility, and a genuine devotion

to God. See, they harass the crowds, the

system they have created, props them up and misses, misses the

very things that matter the most.

Jesus points us out over and over.

They they do not understand justice, they do not understand

mercy and they lack humility. See, they don't practice what

they preach. They love status and appearance.

They keep people from the Kingdom by trapping them in

legalism. And later on, Jesus is going to

call them blind guides and fuel and fools.

They look at it in Matthew 23 and he gets so colorful in the

same chapter to describe them as whitewashed tombs.

That means that they're clean on the outside, but on the on the

inside they're dead. They're dead like a grave.

See, the people are neglect. People are neglected sheep

because their leaders are motivated by prideful, selfish

ambition and seeking public recognition.

The classical way to say this is vanglory.

It's vanglory. Vanglory is not simple people

pleasing, but image driven performance.

Image driven performance. It's being consumed with being

seen as a certain way. I'm going to care what you

think, but I do care what you see.

I care what you see. I must look good.

I must look the part. I pray publicly to be seen as a

prayer warrior. I ask you to hang out with me so

you can see me in action. I seek to win you over so you

can bask in my greatness. I wouldn't say that to you, but

that's what the vainglorious mind thinks of, OK?

It's the heart that wants glory for oneself.

The Pharisees and the other religious leaders were concerned

with the outward purity, but we're inwardly corrupt.

To make them feel better about themselves, they constructed

rules and and traditions to make themselves appear better than

others, namely the crowds. But they did it all in the name

of law keeping, of keeping the law.

See, in short, they didn't see the crowds at all.

That's why that's the difference.

They didn't see them at all. All they could see was

themselves. See, Jesus points this out about

them over and over. And so the sheep are aimless

because their leaders are self absorbed and narcissistic.

The people are only of concern to them as much as the people

are interested in them. See how that works?

See, when leaders lead this way, people suffer.

When positions of power and authority are used this way, the

ordinary everyday people are abused, harassed and are

helpless. Now keep in mind Matthew has

been establishing Jesus authority and the contrast is

that those who have authority among the people are harassing

them and the people are helpless.

Now a side note, not at the point of the text, but a side

note. We all have power over

something. We all have power over

something. What are we doing with it?

What are we doing with it? Are you using your power for

yourself? Do you innerly and secretly like

to prop yourself up? Is your power used to your

benefit only? Are you making your life easier

at the expense of others? See, the Gospel of the Kingdom

calls for a radical rethinking of how we wield power.

The gospel turns things upside down when our power is used,

like Jesus used his power, although being God humbled

himself and leveraged his power for the sake of others.

See, power can be used for the benefit of others.

First. Power can be given away.

See, through the gospel, power doesn't have to advantage us,

but be leveraged for the sake of others to advantage them.

The gospel turns that upside down.

It flips it. Power's no longer for you.

That could be leverage for others.

That's exactly what Jesus did. Just look at Philippians 2.

So Jesus sees a harassed and helpless people, sheep who need

a shepherd. But the shepherding isn't like

the Pharisees who use the people for their own gain and glory.

See, Jesus sees them. He's bothered by how they are

treated. But what does this mean for the

Kingdom of the Kingdom? Mission.

It means this is hard, But it means that mission is not about

building our brand. It's not.

See, the mission of Jesus is not about using the crowd to chase

our own vanglory. That's what the Pharisees did.

Mission cannot be vanglory, A vanglourious exercise that makes

us the solution or the hero to the crowd.

It can't. But faith, family, faith,

family. Church history, both historical

and contemporary, is littered with Christian leaders doing

just that. The Pharisees had all kinds of

justifications and practices that made it seem like they were

doing the will of God. They did.

But look at what was happening to the people under them.

See, they were harassed and helpless.

And in our own day, what happens when people try to do this?

They are exploited and taken advantage of.

You see it. See if they family.

Are people flourishing under our influence and power, are they

flourishing? Do we see people?

Do we have compassion for them? We must see the way Jesus sees.

The crowds are like sheep without a shepherd.

But we are not the Good Shepherd.

We're not. Jesus is.

People don't need us, they need Jesus.

We are to shepherd towards the shepherd, right?

We are to see people as Jesus sees them.

Paul goes so far to say in 2nd Corinthians 5 that we are to

regard no one according to flesh.

And what he meant by that was we are no longer to see from human

viewpoint, but we are to see people as Jesus sees them.

See, we are all aimless, in need of a shepherd.

Our, our compassion for people must move us to point them to

the Good Shepherd, not to ourselves.

But let's be careful here too as well.

See, we can easily want something for someone's good.

We can, we can want that, and I commend that.

But we have to make sure that that what we want corresponds to

what the Good Shepherd wants for them.

So the difference, it's not about what we want, it's about

what he wants. So in humility, we have to

understand that what we see for our good is not always what

Jesus sees as good. It doesn't have to work out the

way we want it. In other words, it needs to work

out however Jesus wants it to. All right, there's a difference.

It's thy will. And my will are not the same

thing. They're not equivalent.

And we have to check ourselves on that.

Hey, family, in the end, Jesus sees we got to, we got to when

we're looking at the Kingdom mission, we got to know you got

to not miss this part. Jesus sees if he can see through

the Pharisees and he could see he then he can see through you

and me. He can't that heart level secret

motivation that we can that we can barely mentally own up to

and see it, right? We need to own that right?

It's it's in us, OK, We have to repent of it.

We have to put it to death by God's grace and may we put away

the fair sacral use of power and influence by the Holy Spirit's

power. It can't be in US.

And and we can't say Christians don't do that because I can, I

can pull out stories of Christians doing just that.

We have to see it for what it is.

We have to put it to death by the Spirit's power.

OK? So point #2 is that Jesus sees

the people and what's happening to them.

The heart of the mission is compassion, a Jesus centered

botheredness. That's what compassion means.

OK, but lastly, what does Jesus command?

What does he command? Now you would think that the

next part would be something to the effect of storm the gates,

right? You would think that's what's

coming, but it's not exactly. Actually the text goes on to say

in verse 37 he says, 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. So he turns to his disciples and

he gives them a metaphor, the heart classic Jesus, right?

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

There's something very important that we need to see here.

Very important. OK.

And I hope this, this Christmas season, this really sticks with

you See this, this metaphor is drenched in optimism.

You catch that? It's optimistic.

It is so optimistic. See, Jesus sees the crowd and

their state and and then he turns and explains to his

disciples that the reality is that there is plenty of harvest.

It's like looking into a field of crops and seeing the ears of

corn, the countless greens or the plump okra.

There is plenty to do. There is lots to pick.

He could have used a negative example though, guys, He could

have. He could have said look at the

vast need. He didn't say that, but instead

he uses an example of harvest picking.

The harvest is work for sure, but it's filled with hope.

You think about that. The crops in the Lord has

provided. We're going.

We're not going to starve. It's positive.

It's optimistic. Some of us need to hear that the

mission is hard, it's work, but it's drenched in optimism.

Why? Because we come with the

confidence that Jesus has done it.

We don't have to. He already did.

We herald that, right? So there's a positive optimism

here. There's so much that is ready to

be gathered in. Because don't you know that

that's actually what you do with a harvest?

You gather it in. But there's a problem.

There is a problem in his metaphor.

There are not enough laborers or workers.

There are not enough hands. There's too much to do for one

person, right? But notice, notice the solution.

It's not money. Solution isn't marketing.

The solution isn't even a strategy per SE.

Kind of a strategy, but not quite.

The answer he gives is therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of

the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

There's too few hands. What must we do?

Pray earnestly. And you're like, what?

Pray we need to get to work. Let's put our heads down and

grind Jesus. By next quarter we will be up

3%. We'll have 3% in.

We will, we will, it'll be done. Now don't mishear me though.

There is work to be done. There is work to be done.

Gathering in a harvest is work regardless of the number of

hands. But Jesus is loving us here.

So let's look back closely again and see what he said, OK?

He says. Therefore, pray earnestly to the

Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Notice who owns the field and all the crops in it.

The Lord of the harvest, right? The master of this harvest has

to send his laborers. Isn't that interesting?

That's it, I've been pondering it for a while.

The harvest is some plentiful, but stop and pray earnestly to

the Lord of the harvest to send his his workers.

Why is that the command why is that the command?

Why do we have why don't we have like go there for and make well,

we're getting to that right. He will he will get to that at

the end of Matthew. So there is work to do this, but

why is the beginning of this unveiling of the Kingdom mission

starting with praying through the Lord of the harvest.

Contextually, I think this is what he's saying and and and why

he's saying it this way. I want you to picture for me,

for example, or for a minute, picture a barista at a coffee

shop. OK, she clocks in, takes orders,

makes drinks. She clocks out.

If the espresso machine breaks, she shrugs.

Not my problem. If a customer asks for a

recommendation, she gives the shortest answer possible.

She's there for a paycheck, nothing more.

Her attitude says I'm here because I have to be.

OK, But now picture another barista.

Same coffee shop. She knows every regular's name

and remembers their favorite drinks, has it ready for them as

they walk in the door. When the espresso machine

breaks, she's already troubleshooting because she

cares about the experience. She experiments with new

flavors, excited to share them for her.

For her, coffee isn't just a product, it's a craft, a way to

connect with people. Her attitude says, I'm here

because I love this. What am I getting at?

Jesus isn't looking for mercenaries.

You know what a mercenary is? As long as I'm getting paid,

I'll do whatever you want me to do.

Preach this text, Sure. Teach people to do these

practices, sure. Help organize them to do these

things, sure. But a mercenary doesn't care,

doesn't give a RIP if it's true. A mercenary doesn't care if

people are cared for. A mercenary doesn't even care if

they succeed. A mercenary is a hired hand and

leaves when the job is done. A mercenary is not a subject of

the king, right? A mercenary is not a part of the

Kingdom at all. A a textual implication that

Jesus doesn't want mercenaries is the first mission trip in

chapter 10 again that he sends his disciples on.

He tells them don't charge anyone anything for what you're

about to do Jesus. Basically he's saying Jesus

mission is not a business. It's not OK.

He tells them to not take a bunch of stuff with them.

It's not a leisure leisurely trip either.

OK. Don't you see?

The laborers in the harvest have to be his laborers, or else the

job won't be done right? OK, The laborers have to be sent

from the Lord of the harvest because only those sent from him

will get it. Only those who see as Jesus sees

will be able to gather in the harvest.

You can't make mercenaries care. They won't even see what Jesus

sees. They'll miss the people.

They'll miss them. See, the laborers have to be

sent from the Lord of the harvest.

And when they are sent from the Lord of the harvest, they go on

behalf of the Lord. They represent him, respect him,

submit to him, and love him. And they will gather in the

harvest just like him. And when they are done

gathering, don't miss this. And when they're done gathering,

guess what? They're going to go back to the

one that sent them, the Lord. See, the command is to pray and

ask the Lord of the harvest to send more laborers.

It's ultimately the Lord of the harvest responsibility.

Did you see that? We're to ask him and he's going

to send. Now you could say mission

requires dependence on prayer. That could be how we conclude

here as the take away, but you'd be wrong.

You'd be wrong. Is it what you'd be wrong?

See, mission doesn't require a dependence on prayer.

Mission requires a dependence on God.

OK, not the same thing. One is an act, the other is a

person. Don't put your hope in the act,

put it in the person. Mission is not dependent on

prayer, it's dependent on God. The mission goes forward as we

ask God to move. If he doesn't move, if he

doesn't sin, guess what? We have nothing.

We got nothing. Unless he moves, we have

nothing. So the final point is that the

mission depends on God. So what we've seen is that the

mission, the message of the mission is it's done, OK?

The heart of the mission is compassion, and the power behind

the mission is God himself. All right, But what does this

have to do with us? This is all nice and fancy, but

we got to connect. And then why should I care?

Two things. One, here's what you need to

know. When he saw the crowds, he saw

people just like you and me. We weren't there.

We weren't there, but we were just like them.

But maybe you feel aimless. Maybe you feel anxious about

something you're going through. Maybe you're tired and weary

just like the crowd. See this?

Don't miss this. The Christian hope is that Jesus

is alive. He saw the crowd, then He sees

you and me now. Because he's alive.

And guess what? He's moved with the very same

compassion that he had for them. See, Jesus still has the same

compassion he did then. The compassion of Jesus is still

active here right now in this room.

He sees you. There are still crowds that need

his compassion through the Kingdom news and Kingdom signs.

That's the first thing. The second thing, at the end of

Matthew's Gospel, he concludes with a life altering event.

I can't talk about Matthew 9 going into 10 without talking

about the end of Matthew. This wouldn't be fair, wouldn't

be right. He says this.

So flip there. Matthew 28.

These are Jesus final words on earth before ascending into

heaven. Matthew 28, starting in verse

18, it says, and Jesus came and said to them, all authority.

We've been talking about that, right?

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, to

Jesus. Then he says, Go therefore, and

make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of

the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching

them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

See, our text was only the beginning.

I told you that it was the beginning.

You see, Jesus has all authority on heaven and earth right now.

He commands those who have propelled of their sins and

trusted Him to go and make disciples, baptizing them and

teaching them to obey all his commands.

See, the mission of Jesus realigns us back to the cultural

mandate as it should be. See, Jesus teaches us teachings

push us to the more fully human, to be more fully human.

And by grace, through faith in Jesus alone, he saves us and

begins to make us new. This is what the New Testament

teaches and we step back into the mission filled and purpose

filled life that God always intended.

He always intended this of us. But in order for things to be

reordered, we need Jesus and his finished work.

See, the last part of Matthew is called the Great Commission,

okay? Because Jesus commissions his

disciples to his mission. See, the Great Commission taps

into how we were built, how we were built.

See, Jesus gave his people something to do.

The cultural mandate now has a redemptive aspect to it.

See, just as we were to be fruitful and multiply and subdue

the earth, so now we are to make disciples and teach them to obey

King Jesus. This is everything to do with

us. In other words, everything.

But I want to draw your attention to something.

We don't have a lot of time, but I'm going to just show you a

little bit. But the word go in the Greek

isn't technically the command in here.

It reads as if it's the command, but I promise you it's not.

It's actually make is the command.

The command is make disciples. The word go is what you call a

passive parsable, meaning it's more kind of like as you go, OK,

now what? This does this, does this mean

people aren't commanded to go? No, that's not what I'm saying.

Most certainly not. It actually broadens the going.

It broadens going. It doesn't shrink it.

OK, as you go about cultural mandating make disciples, Life

in the Kingdom isn't just a spiritual experience.

It's a holistic life. As we live, we make disciples.

This means as you deliver that package, find ways to make

disciples. As you teach students, find ways

to make disciples. Whatever you, wherever you live,

work and play, make disciples. We declare the Kingdom news.

It's finished with a heart of compassion, bothered by the

aimless of the crowds, and powered by God's sending.

See, what's offered to each of us is a full life that will

outlast us. It will outlast us.

See, the gospel of Jesus Christ has turned the world upside

down. It has ever since the 1st

century, things have not been the same.

The things have not been the same.

The world is not yet as it should be though.

But the gospel comes with Kingdom breakthroughs that are

signs of what one day the world will truly be.

And that happens through his people with Kingdom news and

Kingdom signs. And I want to invite you today

on behalf of Jesus, be reconciled to God through him,

but also regain the mission you were built for.

Because here's the thing, there are many causes and many of them

really matter. But only this one will actually

matter 10,000 years from now. Only this one, the others

matter, but this one is going to matter longer.

Let's pray. Father in Heaven, I just thank

you that you've made us in such a specific way, that you've made

us in your image, that you have built us for yourself.

I ask for those here that that you would give them eyes to see

and ears to hear. I ask that you would just send

laborers into our great city. How could we not beg you there?

There are not enough laborers here in the city of Norfolk.

There's just not. And so God, we we beg you, Lord

of the harvest, would you please send laborers into our city?

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Lord, this is our this is your city.

And for those who are in Christ, we are your laborers.

Father, thank you that you we get to participate in this

redemptive work with you. Forgive us where we make it

about ourselves and where we are so prone to be like the

Pharisees. Father, would you put it to

death? Spirit make us into the people

that act as a collective Kingdom sign so that that our city might

hear and believe and they might join us in saying joy to the

world. It's free.

Beautiful name. Hey, man.