“You Reap What You Sojourn” by Matthew Everhard. Originally preached on Sunday Morning, July 4th, 2004 at Hudson Presbyterian Church. Words 2205
Their primary concern was membership. Specifically, that membership was on the rise. Well, either that or member PLEDGES-- those were equally important. To some, they were one and the same. Even though their motto was centered on the concept of “service” a better motto could be summed up in one word: “numbers.” And so they carefully devised plans to gain more people. They specifically targeted the young families. They had about 15 golf league options for the sporty types. They hosted all kinds of clubs in their building: rotary clubs, wine clubs, and book clubs, just to name a few. Practically any group could meet there, no matter what their stated purpose-- for a small fee.
And man could they cook! One of their biggest attractions was their Easter brunches! Everything from roasted leg of lamb, to roasted marshmallows for the kids! Some people resented having to work so hard on Resurrection Sunday, but if some new folks could get a chance to sample the goods, it was considered “well worth it.” If we can just get them in the door, (so they thought) they’ll practically line up to be new members!
The name of this church you ask? Who said I was talking about a church? Actually I’m describing a country club that I used to work for while I was in college. Don’t get me wrong. I’m only going to say this once: I have no problem with country clubs whatsoever. Hey, I’d like to join one but I stink at golf. But I do have a serious problem when churches all over America confuse Christian missions with what I call the “membership mentality.”
How do we break out of the Membership Mentality and revert back to a Biblical perspective on Christian Missions? I submit that we must first radically redefine what the “Members” model would call “the target demographic” We must begin looking on humanity the way Jesus did. The people Jesus wants are not “numbers,” they are not “possible pledges,” they are not “prospective members”—Jesus seeks the lost. They are not strong, independent, happy people doing just fine but they might be a bit happier if they found a great group of people like us Christians. No, in Jesus’ eyes unbelievers are more like wandering and aimless sheep. In fact, He calls them “harassed” because life kicks them around, abuses them, and treats them harshly. He calls them “helpless” because without God in their lives they truly are without help. In spiritual quicksand—and sinking fast. We have to break this mindset that we are trying to boost our stats, and start focusing on souls that need a Savior.
What’s more, Jesus says they are “without a shepherd.” They have no guidance, no leader, no spiritual shepherd to instruct them where to find the Living Water to drink from. No guide to lead them into the safe gate of eternal life. No protector to defend them from the wolves that seek their destruction.
But listen: Jesus is not content to leave the lost alone! His desire is to save us, to redeem us, to perform a heart surgery on us and remove our hearts of stone and replace them with tender hearts of soft flesh! When Jesus briefly paused his preaching, and healing ministry in Matthew 9 to look over the crowds, one emotion took over: v. 36 “He had compassion on them!” We serve a compassionate Savior! Compassion is the ability to see hurting people through the tender mercy of God.
When Jesus looked out on the crowds during that pause in ministry, He saw people, human souls, and He loved them--just as He does today. His heart stirred for those who had yet to encounter the love of the living God. And today His heart still beats for those who don’t know Him.
Jesus had compassion and compassion must be the first step towards action! Any Christian mission, whether it is a team trip, a camp, a program, a Bible study, friendship evangelism: whatever—if it does not spring forth from true heart-wrenching compassion, it is just a dry crusty shell, an empty program, void of all love!
Which leads me to an important question: Do you too have any compassion for the lost like our Savior does? Does the Holy Spirit ever give you a feeling of compassion for a stranger in the pit of your stomach? Is there any feeling of urgency to bring lost sheep to the Shepherd? Do you list people that you know personally in your prayers, pleading with God that He might draw them to Himself? Does your heart go out to entire people groups that have not been reached with the gospel? Do you ever think about countries and places where the people are “harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd”?
Compassion is what led the Good Samaritan to say, “I’m not gonna just sit here and watch this guy bleed!” Compassion is what led Moses to say, “That’s it! I’m not gonna just stand here and let Pharaoh beat down my people!” Compassion is what lead the Don and Rose Ann Benner to say, “We’re not gonna just sit here and leave orphans homeless in El Salvador! Let’s get down there and build an orphanage!” Compassion is what leads 15 senior highers to give up a week of precious summer to rebuild homes in Kentucky—well that and the chance to flirt with each other for a week.
How does compassion become action? The Scripture says, “and then Jesus did deviseth an impressive array of activity programs to lure in the seekers, in a non-threatening and affirming environment. And He spaketh unto them: Goest thou and doest likewise!”
No! Actually Jesus had a better staging ground. It doesn’t start with glossy brochures; it begins with Christians on their knees in prayer. Every significant movement of Christian compassion in history began with God’s people humbling themselves in prayer! Do we want to see a harvest at Hudson Pr esbyterian Church? If the answer if ‘yes’ it must begin as the people of God collectively and individually labor in the ministry of prayer!
And so to inspire His disciples, Jesus gave them this illustration: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Now I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about farming. I know that my grandparents grew up on farms. But I’ve never even so much as had a garden in my yard. Actually that’s not completely true. One time I got a packet of seeds at school and I chose corn and I planted some of it in my mom’s flowerbeds, and one tiny cob of corn (just one!) grew up. And I picked that baby and ate it and it was the sweetest corn I’ve ever had in my life! (Probably because it wasn’t ripe yet!)
But I do know this about farming: Harvest time is the biggest event of the year. It’s when the fate of the whole farm is at stake. You’re either ready for it or your not. You either have enough labor to take in all the crops or you don’t. And if you aren’t ready for harvest when it comes, you may have ruined all hope for the year. Because when harvest comes, the worst possible result is to have a great blessing of crops, but to watch them rot on the stalks because you weren’t ready, willing, or able to haul them in. Only the fool sits on his hands during harvest time.
I think if Jesus were giving this illustration to us today, He would say, “Yo! Wake up! It’s harvest time! Look out at the fields! They’re full! The stalks are so heavy they’re bending over! Every row is ready to be gathered in! There is no time to waste! So pray to God, that He will send out laborers into the field that will be willing to give their heart and souls for this! We’ve got to be willing to work hard! Long hours! We can rest later, but now let’s get out there! If you share my compassion, get on your feel!
Christians! Watch out for the things in life that steal your compassion! One of the top “compassion-stealers” is our own reasoning! Jonah’s strategy! Christians have become experts at finding all sorts of “reasons” to avoid doing what God has plainly called us to do. I’m not old enough! I’m too old! Doesn’t the denomination do that? Isn’t that what we pay the pastor for? I’m not smart enough! I’m over qualified! And of course the top two, “Somebody else will do it.” And “I’m too busy.” All fraudulently created reasons to avoid what Scripture has plainly taught us, Go and make disciple of all nations!
Christians! Watch out for the things in life that steal your compassion! If you don’t watch out, another compassion-stealer can be our own theology. William Carey is considered to be the catalyst of the modern missionary movement. When he shared his burden to reach India for Christ in the late 1790’s an elder from his own church scolded him, “When God wants to convert the heathen, He’ll do so in His own time, and He certainly doesn’t need you!” Well, that is absolutely true. That’s Calvinism 101. That’s the sovereignty of God! That theological statement will get A’s in Presbyterian Seminaries. But it doesn’t exactly stir the fire of compassionate action does it? What if the Apostle Paul said, “Oh well, when God wants to convert the gentiles, He’ll do it in His own time, and He certainly doesn’t need me!” Have you ever considered that in God’s sovereignty He WANTS to use us?
Watch out for the lures of wealth, success and luxury. They too will steal your compassion through a simple but clever distraction. The enemy leads you discretely out of the camp with the pretenses of honest ambition, then before you know it you are sitting alone, gagged and bound by your own greed. You spend so much time counting your own dimes, that your compassion for others runs bankrupt. I recently read that “Tony Campolo stood in front of a group of Harvard M.B.A’s and said, “Anybody can get a great job at IBM and be a success. How many of you can go to Haiti and start a cooperative bakery among the poor?” Six of them went and their summer will change the lives of hundreds.”
Even today, Jesus stands in the middle of the harvest field and calls out: Who will labor in the great harvest of eternity? Do you hear the call?
· God may be calling you, passionately and urgently, to the mission field of your own home. We all have some lost and helpless sheep somewhere in the family don’t we?
· God may be calling you to the mission field of your own church. I know for sure that the youth ministry is looking for one senior high Sunday school teacher, and others willing to lead mid-week Bible studies starting this fall…The harvest is here!
· God may be calling you to the mission field of the inner-city: we are in desperate need of more missionaries for CrossWalk, our inner-city children’s ministry. Both desk-work and on-field workers are badly needed for September. I’m telling you, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few!” We’ve got a waiting list for kids to get into this ministry, and not enough workers to get it all done!
· God may be calling you to the task of mobilizing a prayer effort. After all, prayer is Jesus’ main challenge in our passage this morning.
· God may be calling you to reach: the other executives in your branch, your co-workers, your business partners, your neighbors, your ex, your uncle, your mailman, your barber… I don’t know!
· Isn’t it possible though, that God is also calling us beyond our own borders? There is nothing I would like more than to see a family from our home church, or even a youth from our youth group say, “I think I am going to be the one to answer the global call and leave all the comforts and excesses of this place to be a worker in the harvest in the neediest places on earth!”
The calling to compassionate action is virtually unlimited. The harvest of need in this world is so expansive that the human mind can scarcely comprehend it. If it weren’t for the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit literally working through us, I might say the task is impossible. But because God is the sovereign Lord over all Creation, he holds the entire harvest in the palm of His hand, just as one of us might hold one kernel of wheat. The only limitations that exist for us as Christians are the dimensions of our own hearts.
Where does your compassion lead you to action? Follow it. If you let your compassion bloom into action, the true Church of Jesus Christ will gain members like we’ve never seen before!
