“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few . . .” — Matthew 9:37

Reading: Matthew 9:35-38

Reflection:

In this passage, we see Jesus do several things: he goes, teaches, heals, has compassion, and tells his disciples to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (v. 38).

Let’s draw our focus to the connection between missions and prayer. In his book Let the Nations Be Glad!, John Piper states, Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.

In the same book, Piper quotes from John Stott’s Romans: God’s Good News for the World: The highest of missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God . . . ), but rather zeal — burning and passionate zeal — for the glory of Jesus Christ . . . . Only one imperialism is Christian . . . and that is concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ, and for the glory of his empire.

According to Joshua Project, out of 17,423 people groups in the world, 7,410 are unreached. Joshua Project defines unreached or least reached as a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.

We love to talk about the second coming of Christ. We love to sing about it. We love to pray for it. And all those things are good and right. We say, “Yes, come, Lord Jesus!” Yet, at the same time, over 40 percent of the world’s population lives in unreached people groups who know nothing or very little of Christ’s first coming.

Let that sink in.

So what about prayer? Why does Jesus tell his disciples to “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (v. 38)? In Let the Nations Be Glad!, Piper writes the following:

Life is war. That’s not all it is. But it is always that. Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief. It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of frontline forces and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider. The one who gives the power gets the glory.

Phillip Graham Ryken, president of Wheaton College, writes, Personally, I lived among world Christians during my internship at Gilcomston South Church in Aberdeen, where Reverend William Still served as minister for over half a century (1945–1997). For two hours every Saturday night, 60 or 70 Christians gathered at Gilcomston to pray for the worldwide progress of the gospel.

Back in 1992 it was typical for a member of that church to thank God for the way he had brought down the Iron Curtain of communism in eastern Europe. From the way they prayed, it was clear they believed their prayers had something to do with the collapse of the Soviet Empire. I was tempted to pull one of them aside and say, “You know, it was a little more complicated than that. The global economy had something to do with it, not to mention the arms race and the spiritual bankruptcy of communism. It took more than your prayers to pull down the Berlin Wall.”

I was tempted to say such things, but I knew better. Who is to say what part a praying church actually plays in world affairs? To go to Gilcomston on a Saturday night was to know what was going on in the world. The prayers of God’s people really are at the heart of what God is doing, and when the true history of the world is finally written, we’ll almost certainly discover that Christians like the ones in Aberdeen had a profound influence on world events.

May we continue to pray, “Yes, come, Lord Jesus!” and, at the same time, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Reflection:

  1. Go to joshuaproject.net to better understand the unfinished task before us and become a part of what God is doing in the world.

  2. Go to mtw.org, the global missions-sending agency of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). See how you can get involved by giving to, going to, and praying for the nations.

  3. Ask God to stir your affections for his glory among the nations. Pray the following prayer from The Valley of Vision:

Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart,
and I appeal to thee with greatest freedom
to set up thy kingdom in every place
where Satan reigns;

Glorify thyself and I shall rejoice,
for to bring honour to thy name is my sole desire.
I adore thee that thou art God,
and long that others should know it, feel it,
and rejoice in it.

O that all men might love and praise thee,
that thou mightest have all glory
from the intelligent world!
Let sinners be brought to thee for thy dear name!

To the eye of reason everything respecting
the conversion of others is as dark as midnight,
But thou canst accomplish great things;
the cause is thine,
and it is to thy glory that men should be saved.

Lord, use me as thou wilt,
do with me what thou wilt;
but, O, promote thy cause,
let thy kingdom come,
let thy blessed interest be advanced
in this world!

O do thou bring in great numbers to Jesus!
let me see that glorious day,
and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls;
let me be willing to die to that end;
and while I live let me labour for thee
to the utmost of my strength,
spending time profitably in this work,
both in health and in weakness.

It is thy cause and kingdom I long for,
not my own.

O, answer thou my request!

Write a Comment

Comments for this post have been disabled.