Jesus’ Priority In Ministry

What a picture! These “spiritual leaders” were not godly shepherds nor men who were close to God. They were in the ministry for themselves. So when the Holy Spirit says that the people were like sheep without a shepherd, this was not new. It had been this way for a long time, and the Pharisees and Sadducees were only continuing the practice. But Jesus taught the truth. Jesus was holy. Jesus was a godly shepherd since He was God Himself. Jesus healed the people. He had compassion for the people. Ultimately, because He taught the truth, the religious leaders wanted to murder Him.

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (NASB) Matt. 9:37-38

This is a strong passage. We understand that the harvest is great, but is it obvious that the harvest is enormous and the number of workers is exceedingly small? We have seen Jesus’ compassion in His actions. Now we can hear Jesus’ compassion for the people. We hear the need.

Jesus encourages us to “beseech” God the Father to send out workers. The actual meaning of the Greek word that is translated as “beseech” may surprise you. It actually has the idea of “pleading, begging, or ‘Please Lord’” And the Greek word translated as “send out” workers has the idea of “force out” or “drive out.” It is the same word that has been used for casting our demons. Taken together, we discover that Jesus encouraged the disciples to plead with God the Father to force workers out into the harvest. I do not know about you, but is it hard to pray this prayer without feeling obligated to go out into the harvest yourself! How does one plead with God to send workers and not feel obligated to go?

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. (NASB) Rom. 10:17

Since one must believe and accept Jesus as Lord, Savior and God in order to be forgiven and find peace with God, workers are needed to communicate the truth of the Bible. That is, one must hear and be told the truth before one can believe or have faith.

After a person has spoken the truth, then the Word of God has been unleashed to perform its work. The apostle Paul tells us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit the words contained in the Bible are the words of God. Once they are spoken, they will perform a work in the mind and heart of the hearer.

For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. (NASB) 1 Thess. 2:13

God has called the workers of the harvest to plant and water. We are not responsible for the result. We are only responsible for planting and watering.

I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. (NASB) 1 Cor. 3:6-7

God the Father through the Holy Spirit causes the growth. We are “planters” and “waterers.” God produces the result. It is our responsibility to share the Word of God.

Here are four key verses that we can give someone. Or, put another way, use these verses to plant and water,

. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . . (NASB) Rom. 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB) Rom. 6:23

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (NASB) John 3:16

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. (NASB) Acts 4:12

The first two passages tell us that each of us have sinned and deserve spiritual death, We have offended God by our evil behavior. As a result, we stand as sinners before a holy God. The message is difficult, but it is the truth. It is God’s message! He wants all to know. We can tell others lovingly or with indifference. Let’s tell them with love.

The second and third passages reveal that our sins will be forgiven if we believe in Jesus Christ and accept His death on the cross as payment for the penalty required by God for our sins. We must believe that He is God, our Savior and Lord. To the ancient Jews, to believe “in someone” implied that one believed everything about them. Since Jesus was God, the Messiah, our Savior, and our Lord, one who believes in Jesus believes that He was all of these. True faith will willingly submit to Him.

The last verse reveals that there is no other God who can forgive sins, only Jesus Christ. In fact, there is no other God according to the God of the Bible.

And there is no other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me. (NASB) Isa. 45:21b

Conclusion. On occasions, God allows us to see some of the fruit of our labors - some of the fruit of our planting and watering. There is no greater joy than to know that God has used us in some special way. On occasions, God allows me to see some of the fruit of my labors. For example, within the past year a woman sent the following note to NeverThirsty.org,

I would like to thank you for this lesson. I truly enjoyed it. I would greatly appreciate further lessons sent to me, for my heart’s desire is to grow in my relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. About the lesson, I used to be rocky soil. But praise God, I now am good soil.

It was a blessing. Such notes only come on occasion as God chooses. Sometimes, we also receive negative comments. On such occasions we praise God for the opportunity to suffer insults and rebukes for Him. God has asked us to present the good news about Jesus Christ even though some do not believe that it is good news.

God wants us to boldly plant and water. The following is a great example of a bold follower of Jesus. It is a true life story,

Jack Cooper in Dallas is an ophthalmologist. Instead of the trite “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country” flip chart [that is] standard for eye examinations, he made one that says, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life:” He would do his cataract surgery, giving his patients eyesight again. Then when they would come in for a checkup, he would say, “Let’s see how you’re doing.” He would have them read, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life:’ “Wow! I can read! ‘God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my ... What does this mean?”[1]