“But when (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion toward them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37. Then saith He unto His disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; 38. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.”
According to verse 35, Jesus was going from village to village in Galilee healing people. A great crowd of people followed Him, and this is where our text takes place. Let’s see what Jesus saw when He looked on that multitude. Jesus saw the multitude. What I want us to see here is that Jesus is aware of people. Jesus did not just see a big crowd of people; rather the individuals who comprised the crowd. To Jesus, we are not a part of a crowd, but He sees us and sees our needs, etc. Jesus saw the multitude and felt compassion for them. Jesus didn’t look at the crowd of people following and thought, “Well, I’m becoming a big hit.” In fact, He did not think about Himself at all; rather He thought about the hurting people following Him. He saw that they were weary (fainted), jaded and worn. He saw that they were “scattered abroad as sheep without a shepherd.” He did not just see them; He saw their need. This is the same way that Jesus looks at the world today. People today are in need of a shepherd - a Savior. Jesus saw beyond their physical needs and saw the needs of their spirits – their souls. He looks over the world today and sees the same thing. What was His solution? Read on: Jesus turned to His disciples and saw them as part of the solution for these dear people. He said: “The harvest is truly plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.” Jesus was obviously giving His disciples their marching orders. They were to be His emissaries to that needy multitude. Jesus sees us as part of the solution for the world’s need for a Savior today. He wants us to see ourselves as part of the solution. He sees me as part of the solution, and He sees you as part of the solution. Ask the Lord to help you to be a laborer in His harvest. You might be thinking, “Bro. Joe, you done gone to preaching.” That would be correct. I’m preaching to me too. You are reading this because I see the need to minister to the world. It is the call for every Christian. Jesus wants us to see what He sees, i.e., a weary world in need of a Savior. Do you see it? Bro. Joe
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“These that have turned the world upside down have come here too.”
The scene of this text is in the city of Thessalonica because of what Paul did in a synagogue. What did he do? He preached Jesus to those present. Some of the people believed, but those who did not believe started a riot. The KJV says that they “took of them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city in an uproar: and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.” They took Jason and other Christians to the “rulers of the city” and that was when they accused the Christians of turning “the world upside down.” What this meant was that the Christians were trying to get them to change. What a compliment! When was the last time a group of unbelievers accused your church of trying to turn their world upside down? This might be understandable, since the Christian faith is not as revolutionary now as it was then, but we need to consider that we might be a little more revolutionary. The county that I live in, in the Bible belt of Georgia, is eighty-five percent unchurched. What would it mean if we began to “turn the world upside down”? First, it would mean that our own world had been turned upside down. Do you think that the main preacher, Paul, had not had his world turned upside down? He went from being a critic of Christians to a champion for Christ overnight. The world of all of the Christians of Thessalonica had been turned upside down. Maybe our world needs to be turned upside down. Perhaps then we could be more serious about our faith in Christ, and in our dedication to Him. In a way this would turn our worlds upside down. It would mean that we were spending more time in prayer and Bible study, which would mean that we would have to give up some of the other things that we enjoy doing. It would mean that we begin to act in love towards other people, and not always so attentive of ourselves and our petty concerns. Though it was different, all of these things happened in the lives of early Christians like Paul, and in this case in the lives of Christians in Thessalonica. If their worlds had not been turned upside down, they would not have been accused of turning the world upside down. Second, it would mean that instead of turning the world upside down, we would be trying to turn the world right-side up. This was what those early Christians were trying to do. Remember, the accusation of “turning the world upside down” was made by unbelievers. It was not bragging by believers. They were trying to get people out of their pagan religions to Christ – which would turn their world right-side up. Trying to get people to believe in Christ and give their lives to Him is a noble purpose, and anyone who has turned from unbelief to belief will readily admit that their world has been turned right-side up. Turning the world right-side up is the daily task of every Christian. First, we should rejoice that our world is right-side up and live so that others could see how good that is. Then, we should tell others about what it means. One of the greatest joys of a Christian is to see the changed life of someone to whom he or she has witnessed. Obviously, I am not advocating starting a riot in our communities.(On second thought, it might come to that today.) I am advocating that we be about the business of telling the world about Jesus as the Christians in this text were doing. Bro. Joe “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples…”
I think that all Christians want their lives to glorify God. Of course, we can glorify Him through praise and worship. We can glorify Him by living the Christian life to the fullest. In John 15:8, Jesus mentions one thing that can really glorify God, and that is to bear fruit. As already mentioned. there are several ways to glorify God, but if we want that glorification to make a difference in our world, we will bear fruit. What does it mean to bear fruit? I think that Jesus gave the answer to that in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” We cannot bear fruit if we are not living the life. How do we let our light shine? First, I think we let our lights shine when we love people. Second, I think we let our lights shine when we serve the Lord. By this I mean that we minister to people. Now, this is not complicated. Ministry can be a visit to a lonely old person either at home or in a nursing home. Ministry can be taking food to a hungry person. What I mean is that ministry is doing what Jesus would do. Real ministry always has to do with people. Look at the ministry of Jesus. His life was spent ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of people. What we do at church is important, but real fruit is borne when we are outside of the church building and living the Christian life to the hilt in the community. In a real sense, to serve God is to minister to people. Sure, we can minister to people through the church, and our lights will shine, but we can also minister to people in daily life. We just need to be caring and loving people. When we minister to people, that is what is called bearing fruit. Let’s say that fruit is living like Jesus did while He walked on the earth. Letting our lights shine through ministry to people is to bear fruit for Jesus. What does it mean to bear fruit? It means to obey the commands of Jesus at the ends of all four gospels, and in Acts 1:8 to be His witnesses. Let’s take a look at Acts 1:8: “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” We have a mandate to be witnesses for Jesus Christ in this world. When we witness to someone about Jesus we are bearing fruit for Him. Notice that I did not write that when we win somebody to Jesus that is the only fruit. Of course, that is the point of witnessing, and when people accept Jesus through our witness, that is fruit. But it is also fruit when we obey Jesus and take the gospel to people. We do not always get the results that we want, but God is pleased when we witness – however we do it. One thing that I have learned as a preacher that I don’t always know what the results are. Oh, we have an invitation at the end of the service, but because no one came down the aisle does not mean that fruit was not bore. The same is true of those who teach Sunday School, work with children, or sing in the choir. Seek to bear fruit for the Lord in the way that you are led, and let your light shine. Bro. Joe “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
The first three verses of Psalm 1 are about the godly person but I want to focus on verse 3. I want to concentrate on how we can have an abundant supply of God’s grace love and mercy to make us fruitful in our lives. The teaching here is clear: A tree that has an abundant supply of nourishment will be a fruitful tree. When this is applied to a godly person, it means that he or she has a constant supply of spiritual nourishment that makes his or her life fruitful. The lesson here is so simple that it seems almost unnecessary to write it, but obviously we need to be reminded of it. There is really nothing new here, but it often helps to be reminded of the obvious. First, a fruitful person will read and study the Bible daily. Bible reading is absolutely essential to a fruitful life. This being so, why don't we Christians spend more time in the Bible? This is so plain and simple that it hardly needs to be mentioned, but we need to be reminded anyway. We cannot have an abundant supply of God’s grace, love and mercy if we do not stay close to His word. I do not mean to be legalistic here, but when we neglect the Bible, we cease spiritual growth. I know this personally, that if I neglect the Bible I encounter more spiritual problems. That’s why I make an effort to read the Bible every day. There are not many things that I do seven days a week. For example I try to ride my stationary bike each morning, but I take one day off to break the monotony. But I do not take a day off from Bible reading, because it does not become monotonous, and because I know that I need it. I’m not bragging here. What I’m telling you is that I need an abundant supply of the word of God to help me to be fruitful in my service for God. Second, a fruitful person will, to quote Paul, "pray without ceasing." This does not mean that he or she will have to be on their knees all of the time, but they will stay in constant contact with Jesus. Every Christian needs a special time of prayer, but we need to remember that the ear of God is open to us all day every day. I make it a point to pray each morning, but that is by no means all of the praying that I do. Things come up all during the day every day that drive me to prayer. Watching world news is a good example of what drives me to prayer each day. Again, I’m not bragging, I’m just telling you that I need to stay in constant contact with God if I want to bear fruit for Him. It is important to stay in communication with God. He doesn’t need for us to pray, but we certainly need to pray and He loves to hear and answer our prayers. Third, a fruitful person will be involved in the fellowship of God's people called the church. Jesus shed His blood to create this fellowship of believers. We need the church because we need each other. Our problem is that we stress attending church more than we stress being church. The godly person is in good fellowship with fellow believers and is willing to learn from them. Fourth, the fruitful person will have to take all of the inspiration from the Bible, prayer and fellowship and go out and tell others about Jesus. We call it witnessing. All of this needs to be wrapped up in our love for God and for each other. I'm sure there is more that could be written about this verse, but these points should suffice. This seems almost too simple to be written, but the state of Christianity today seems to dictate that it is a lesson that we need to remember and to practice. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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