January 13
Genesis 25-26
Psalm 9:1-6
Proverbs 2:6-8
Matthew 9:18-38
The Harvest is Plentiful
“Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.’”
Matthew 9:37-38 LSB
When Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection He gave specific instructions to His followers. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NIV His disciples were faithful to follow Jesus’ instructions and as a result the gospel has been spread throughout the world. It has been passed down from generation to generation and the good news about Jesus continues to be spread because of the work of the early church.
The gospel was first preached to the Jews and then God used a man named Paul to spread the gospel to the Gentiles. What started in Jerusalem then spread to Europe and Asia and throughout the rest of the world. The early apostles did their part. They followed the Great Commission, but Jesus’ words were not just meant as instructions for His followers then. Jesus intended for the Great Commission to be followed by all believers until He returns. It is His mandate to every Christian throughout the ages. It is His mandate to us.
As a little girl growing up in the Baptist church, I have heard about the Great Commission my whole life. In Sunbeam and Acteens, we raised money for foreign missionaries. We heard stories about the work missionaries were doing in foreign countries to spread the gospel to all of the unreached people groups throughout the world. Missionaries came periodically to speak at church and show slide shows about their work. In college, I went to Arizona as a summer missionary on an Indian reservation through the Baptist Home Mission Board. As I have grown older I have participated in several mission trips going to other countries to tell people about Jesus. I’m deeply grateful that a sense of the necessity and urgency of spreading the gospel was instilled in me from the earliest age.
Through the years the methods have changed but the message is the same. Modern technology has made it possible for essentially everyone in the world to have access to the internet. It is now possible to reach groups of people that have never heard about Jesus in their own language without the need for interpreters. Sending missionaries to other countries is no longer the best way to spread the gospel. Training local people to teach their neighbors about Jesus is a much more effective means of discipleship. Instead of spending thousands of dollars on a mission trip, it is much more effective to send the money to be used locally in those countries by local pastors.
The other major change that has taken place in the last several years is that immigrants are coming into our country from all over the world daily. We no longer need to go to them, they are coming to us. The United States has become a mission field. All we have to do is look around us and we can find people who do not know about Jesus. Unfortunately, I do not think we are doing a very good job of evangelizing them. God is bringing them to our doorstep and we are not taking advantage of the opportunity. Regardless of your opinion of legal or illegal immigration, they are here and many of them are lost souls who do not know Jesus. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Our passage today tells us that we should ask God to send out workers into the harvest field. Are we willing to be those workers right where we are? Ask God to give you opportunities to share Jesus with those around you. Ask God to open your eyes to those people in your community who need Him. Ask God to send you into the harvest field today.
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