Bro Koay Kheng Hin
Matthew 9:35-38
The Workers Are Few
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
I want to start with verse 35.
Here you find Matthew records that Jesus went around to preach the good news. NKJV calls it gospel which I think is the preferred term. A lot of miracles happened and then Matthew records he went everywhere.
He was preaching and at the same time healing every disease and the sick. And these were supernatural healing, like the blind gaining sight, the mute spoke and the dead raised. What can we gather from here?
It's the 3Gs.
First is the Gospel.
Then Great acts of God
The healing were all supernatural. The gospel call is connected to the great acts of God. But the bible also says the healing is driven by compassion and that is where we have the third G, the Good works.
I have no time to cover all three, so I will not cover the great acts. That if I get another opportunity I will talk about it. Today I want to attend to the issue of the relationship between the gospel call and good works.
What exactly is the business of the church and where do the two connects?
We will look at the gospel first, translated meaning good works. When we evangelize we actually proclaim the gospel.
What exactly is the heart of the gospel? There is a political gospel, where it sees the Kingdom of God established here without the millennial kingdom. This is a wrong view.
There is a social gospel, meeting the needs of the poor and the sick, without the millennial kingdom. We are to do this, bringing justice to the needy but we will not achieve it all in this dispensation. If you are saying all can be brought to life, then we are wrong.
Then there is the prosperity gospel, mainly health and wealth. I have to say we will be walking in the wrong direction. All these are valid, but I want to say all those are not the heart of the gospel.
So if you want to evangelize we have to be very clear what is important.
There was once when my brother ask me to go on a holiday to the East coast. He told me to meet him there but I have no idea at all how to get there. Here, my brother was excellent. He had mapped out the journey and know exactly where to go.
So when I was lost, he guided me to the place by giving me exact directions and landmarks. I left KL in the morning and finally reached at 8.00pm. But I reached the destination. It was my brothers clarity of direction that led me as I was literally traveling blind.
Look into the gospel and have that clarity. You can only lead people where you have gone. We want to be clear about what is the heart of the gospel.
I have zeroed in to one very important factor.
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
The Resurrection of Christ
1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Paul was attending to this because there were people who was saying that Jesus did not rise from the dead. Some were saying you can believe in Jesus but you do not need to believe in His resurrection to be saved. And here He said this is important.
The heart of the gospel is the salvation through Christ and that his death, burial and resurrection is essential. That is why when we evangelize, we must have the clarity of the cross before us. We have to lead that person to the cross.
Once we bring the person to the cross, what exactly are we trying to do.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Jesus is calling men and women to Him. That is the gospel call.
We cannot assume people know our Christian language. I used to use this verse in school and people mistook that I said come to me. So my friend said who do he think he is. God ah? So now I am careful and say, Jesus said.
In the context in which this is being preached, the main thrust is because they were weary and burdened by the yolk of the Pharisees where there had to be legalistic. And Jesus said their righteousness were like filthy rags. Paul says in Christ, is a restored relationship.
So when we show the person the cross, it is pointing the person to Christ. Of course heaven is your inheritance, and restoration of all your other needs may be met but the key is you coming to God for a restored relationship.
2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf:Be reconciled to God.
Reconciliation is needed when there is a broken relationship and we know we have a broken relationship from the time of Adam. The key is to have a restored relationship to Christ.
When he sees the cross, the person has to come to this point.
John 20:28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
We have to tell our friend to look at Jesus hanging on the cross and be conscious of the love of God at Calvary and he finally cries in faith just like Thomas. "My Lord and my God."
The things that accompany the cross, you will of course enjoy, like peace, love, healing, but the essence is the relationship of God.
You may ask me is a catholic saved? Some may say "Oh, if he prays to the virgin Mary or other saints he is not saved but if he prays to Jesus he is. Or a person may say he believes and prays to Jesus but when you go to his house you see a big "Kuan Kong" (God of War) and a small cross. So you may say if he had a cross bigger than the "Kuan Kong" he is saved, if smaller he is not (laughs).
I say, those that has a restored relationship with Jesus is saved. One who calls Jesus his Lord and God. That is the heart of the gospel.
It is not an accident that when you go down the commandments that God is a jealous God and that you cannot have other god.
When we evangelise, we must know what is the gospel call with clarity. We have to draw them to Christ.
Where is the place of good works then? When we share the gospel we look up to the power.
Romans 1:16-17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written:“The righteous will live by faith.”
I want you to focus on the word, it is the power of God. What? The gospel is the power of God. The word is dunamis. The gospel has God with an intrinsic dunamis, that divine power of God to save. We must believe that the power of God can come upon that person.
Some of us don't even believe when we share, then how can the listener believe? This is where I come to the next part.
Let's say one person come to you with a problem, and you tell him you just want to share the gospel and disregard his problem. Actually when Jesus ministered he was moved by compassion. Jesus saw and had a tender heartedness and mercy when he ministers. That is the good works. It is an intrinsic power that saves but it is objective. It cannot be experienced until the person receive it. It is an impartation. The person can feel it and sense it. Spiritual matters are often an impartation. Do you believe in the gospel cry, where you have the conviction in your heart when you share?
We are not ministering to spiritual beings, these people are real with real problems. When you say God loves you and when you help him, he'll say "I know your God is a loving God" because he will see the love of God through you.
The relationship between the gospel call and good works is that the intrinsic can only become real in the person's life if accompanied by good works. But the good works is not the gospel call. Why?
Category One
The business of the church is the gospel call. Good works, leave it to the NGOs. I was thinking people like that is a disciple or not. I thought for one day. He did preached the gospel, so probably saved.
Category Two
People are touched by love. You just show them good works and they will come. Tell them Jesus and they'll run away. Is this person a disciple? I doubt it.
Category Three
I am a pragmatic person. I will share the gospel and do good works. But after three months if they cannot accept, leave them be and I go away. Disciple? Don't think so too.
Category Four
The more I share the gospel the more I see the needs. I will try my best to help but his or her biggest need is a restored relationship with Christ. This is the best kind of disciple.
I came out with a submarine analogy.
You share the gospel but no good works, you are just below the surface.
You share the gospel but set a time frame. You are deeper and sometimes sink.
You share good works but no gospel, you are a submarine that cannot sink.
You do good works but ultimately wants a restored relationship for your friend, you are a submarine that is under but you have a telescope that sees for miles.
With good works, you impart, why?
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Why you do what you do is more important than what you do.
I want to encourage you that as you do good works, look into your motivation. Duty or compassion? Is it because that is what Christians do or are you motivated by your feelings for the people in their needs, their hurts, in their problems. That is kindness. That is mercy. That is compassion.
Matthew 9:36-37 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
The harvest is indeed plentiful as we look at the Jelutong community. This is where I want to wrap up my message. When God says look for labourers, don't look to your left or right. Look at yourself. This word sent, in Latin for mission is very powerful. In Moses' case, when God sent Moses, he asked who am I? And God said "I Am who I Am sent you." You will be an exceptional worker in the Lord when you are sent by the Lord Almighty.
The first is in the gospel message. That Christ died on the cross to restore our relationship to God.
The second, why the good works? Because you are motivated by compassion.
The third is the mandate. Who sent you? The devil knows you are entering his kingdom and if he ask you "who sent you" it is the Lord Almighty. You are an ambassador of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
This is the gospel call. I want to end with the word ambassador.
Christ Ambassadors! Sounds great. You may think you want to be an ambassador. What happens to an ambassador? Let me tell you.
In the past, the ambassador's job is the most risky job in the army. I'll use the Mongols as an example as they are closer to us and almost reached Europe.
The Mongols conquered the whole continent, and almost to Italy in Europe with an army of two to three hundred thousand. The year was 1260, with the Egyptians facing the Mongol army, the ambassador wrote, you have seen what we do to our enemies, we'll exterminate you from the face of the earth. If you surrender, you'll live. Four ambassadors went and they were beheaded and put on the city's gate.
In the bible, the ambassadors were often prophets and not many of them end well.
But knowing all these, generations after generations God raises ambassadors.
Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Let us come together and not murmur or complain. Saying you could have done a better job. You do that when you are not focused on the right things. God is asking each and everyone seated here, who shall I sent? If you are like Isaiah and said "Sent me", you will not be complaining again as you will be watching out for your own skin.
If the Lord says who shall I sent, say here am I sent me.
No comments:
Post a Comment