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.” (Matthew 5:36-38)
The harvest, as Jesus describes it, may not look like what you imagine it to look like. It is plentiful. It’s abundant. It’s full. In fact, it’s so vast that by comparison the workers are few. But the harvest is not glistening in the sun, attractive to our eye, or appealing to our senses. Most of us are blind to it. The harvest is actually harassed, helpless and abandoned. The picture is that of sheep, wounded, torn apart, bleeding, caught, thrown down, helpless, and abandoned. This is what the harvest looks like! Is that what we imagine? This is the spiritual landscape, the spiritual condition of the people all around us, and it’s the reality that we can’t afford to miss because it’s a harvest that we can’t afford to lose. The gain is not earthly. The gain is eternal.
The harvest depends on the workers in three ways:
SPEED
When Jesus saw the people He had compassion on them. His heart went out to them. As workers seeing and seeking the harvest, our emotions must be involved. Compassion moves you. The workers often have only weeks, days, even hours to gather in a harvest. Because of the time constraints, as workers we can’t waste time complaining against each other, about the portion belonging to another, or about the task assigned to us. Rather, compelled by the love of God, our feet must move swiftly to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SACRIFICE
To go into the harvest field, the worker will be required to sacrifice whatever is necessary to bring in the harvest. Is this too much to ask? We must remember who the harvest belongs to. In spite of its condition, the harvest has not been abandoned by the Lord of the Harvest. He calls it His (verse 38). When He was slain, Jesus created a harvest and showed how valuable it was by purchasing those souls for God with his precious blood (1 Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:9). There would be no harvest apart from the blood of Jesus Christ. So if the harassed, helpless, and abandoned sheep are that precious to God, how much more to us, the workers whom Jesus calls and sends?
SERIOUSNESS
The harvest is plentiful and the spiritual need is beyond measure, but not beyond hope. Flowing from the sense of great need that He saw, Jesus commanded His disciples to pray for workers. The seriousness of the worker toward both the harvest and the Master is evidenced by prayer. Where there is coldness of heart and no sense of need, there is little to no prayerfulness. But where there is compassion of heart and a burden being carried, there is constant prayerfulness. We must recognize that because we have a mission we’ve been given prayer and, though the harvest is great, our hope in Jesus is greater!
QUESTIONS: Who do you see? What do you have compassion for? Where does your heart go out to? How do you maintain an eternal perspective of things?
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