Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

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12 Jan 2012
            Greetings, dear ones.
            Becki and I returned a short time ago from our walk/jog.  By the time we reached the house, Kash had already come and gone…gone up to the mill site not far away.  He left a note on our table confirming that. 
            I need to take advantage of this nice weather and get the drain line installed to handle all the rainwater runoff from the barn roof to help prevent our mill operation from being such a muddy mess.  That’s just one of many objectives on the list.  What’s on yours?
            May your way be blessed.  Love, Dad/Ray

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12 January
Passage: Matthew 9:18-38
Focus: “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  Matthew 9:38.

            I want to give some introductory attention to the idea of “Lord” and begin with a quote from Philippians 2:9-11.  “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
            In review of chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew, we’ve seen Jesus presented with a lot of authority—as Lord over sickness, Lord over spirits, Lord over weather, Lord over sins, Lord over death, and now as Lord over the harvest—the harvest of the souls of men for the Kingdom of God.  Notice that it is “his harvest field”—not ours.  Personal bottom line: Please confess that He is LORD.
            Notice that Jesus is not all that satisfied with all the crowds, the excitement, and the healings.  (Many churches are.)  He recognized that there were still deeper needs that could only be met by precept-upon-precept teaching and discipleship—an ongoing vital relationship with the Good Shepherd. And He had to recognize that beyond this crowd of people were many, many more just like them.
            Jesus presents a prescribed prayer request to His followers.  We are instructed to pray that the Lord of the harvest would raise up and send workers into the harvest.  Jesus knows what He’s doing.  It’s downright clever!  He knows that no one can legitimately pray a prayer like this without making himself available to work in the harvest. He knows that if we can embrace the importance and seriousness of this task, we actually become answers, at least in part, to our own heart-level prayer.
            However you process this, you can’t deny the fact that all around you, wherever you are, lots and lots of people are wandering around, confused, struggling, hurting, and desperately in need of the Life of Christ.