The Concept of Human Personhood

The Concept of Human Personhood

__________________

A Position Paper

Presented to

Dr. Bruce Ware

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

__________________

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for 27070A

__________________

by

Ovidiu Cristian Simon

osimon039@students.sbts.edu

April 27, 2016

Issue

One of the great truths of the Christian faith that we see at work all around us is that ideas have consequences, and ideas are not something that humans lack. They can actually be taken as a proof of the fact that humans are created in God’s image, being very inventive, always trying to create new things. Unfortunately, man’s mind tainted by sin, comes up with ideas that are not always great. As Christianity fades away from our culture, the ideas are getting worse and worse but no matter what, ideas have a knack for making their way from mind to culture. Ironically, when people who see themselves as the center of the universe create ideas that reach the culture, the consequences prove to be disastrous for humanity itself, and at the same time dishonoring to God.

I firmly believe that consequences we see manifested today, such as abortion, euthanasia, or experimenting with human embryos, are all coming out of a wrong understanding of the human personhood. In this position paper I will argue the fact that every human being, regardless of their state of development, their capacity to survive or their usefulness to society, is a person created in the image of God, having a body and a soul which they “inherited” from their parents at the moment of conception. This view is classically known as Traducianism. I will argue this view by way of exegesis in key biblical passages and by discussing and showing the fallacies of other views such as the naturalistic view of the human personhood, the pre-existentianism of the soul, and the creationist view.

Positions on the issue

Probably the most damaging view to the dignity of the human personhood is the naturalistic view of the human being, namely the concept that man is a monistic being that only has a body, nothing more than a glorified animal.

According to this view, man was not created with a specific purpose by a divine creator in his own image, but his existence is owed entirely to chance. Scientists that promote this view tell us that the world came into existence approximately 14 billion years ago through a big explosion otherwise known as the Big Bang. After a few billion years, the earth started to form, and after some more time passed the first living cell had come into existence, formed out of the dust of the earth under conditions that made it possible[1]. This first living cell survived by being able to reproduce itself and through random changes, the DNA of later forms has increased leading it to various species, and eventually, after millions of years the first man was fully evolved, again, with the capacity to reproduce and survive.

Speaking of human beings, Lawrence Kraus, an atheist professor of physics said that

The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way they could get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.[2]

            Being only dust that has taken a specific shape – even the best shape out of all - through random chances, we can see how the value of the human life all of a sudden has no meaning. If there is no soul there, no eternal part, even our emotions and our deepest longings are reduced to nothing more than simple chemical reactions that could just as well not happen, or could be changed through other chemicals. When it comes to euthanasia, this view has no consistent reason for why we should not be stopping some chemical reactions from happening. The only difference between a living body and a dead one is the fact that these reactions are happening in one and not in the other. But chemical reactions are also happening in test tubes, so if we want to just entertain ourselves by them this might be a cheaper way to do it.

            The same reasoning applies when it comes to testing on human embryos, or even adult humans for that matter. What is the problem with reshaping this star dust a little? After all, a little creativity has hurt no one, and since the survival of the fittest has brought us here, we might want to just learn how to become even fitter. Abortion is also the product of the same reasoning. Everyday people are throwing out trash that is made out of start dust, trash that would otherwise become very inconvenient. Thinking this way offers no reason for not disposing of those embryos as well, and the fact that there is no eternal soul to any of these nicely shaped packages of star dust, there should be no regrets when we are disposing of them either, they are just going back into nothingness.

A different view on the transmission of the souls has started with the ancient philosopher Plato, and it is called pre-existentianism. The conclusions that Plato drew without having God’s revelation are simply astounding. From his discussion about the world of the forms, to the knowledge innate to us from birth, to the reward in the afterlife, all lead us to conclude that he was a very thoughtful man that understood a lot of things rightly (or at least partially). Plato also argued for the immortality of the soul, but unfortunately he put it in the context of reincarnation, setting a doctrine that has been followed by many after him. Talking about this through the voice of Socrates in his Republic, he said that “the souls must always be the same, for if none be destroyed they will not diminish in number. Neither will they increase, for the increase of the immortal natures must come from something mortal, and all things would thus end in immortality.”[3] To further argue this he used the analogy of sleep, saying that just as sleep comes after being awake and being awake comes after being asleep, so does death comes after being alive and life comes after being dead.

       The eastern monistic pantheism worldview has developed along similar thought patterns, adding the fact that whatever state one is in is a matter of his karma. This is probably the most dangerous kind of thinking when it comes to the value of the human life from the perspective of reincarnation. Since one’s karma dictates what he will be in this life based on the good he has done in the previous one, there is no desire of others to change someone current state of living, no matter how bad it might be. One must suffer through that life in order to have a better one in the future. The only thing that makes this thinking better than the naturalist’s is that this one does not usually advocate for euthanasia or abortion, although when this happens they do not condemn it harshly (like when some Hindu wives are killed at the husbands funeral).

Furthermore, Mormons believe in pre-existentianism as well. Preaching about this subject, Joseph Smith said that “there never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal with our Father in heaven.”[4] However, when it comes to issues of euthanasia or abortion, Mormons see life as a precious gift from God that cannot be taken by us, but must be preserved and defended. Still, I do not believe that their theology provides a good basis for defending life because it does not see it as the only and crucial chance to make matters right with God by trusting in Jesus while here on earth.

Whatever the case might be, I think we can clearly perceive that once we leave this door open and we think that the life we live on earth is not the first nor the last one here, then life on earth all of a sudden becomes something significantly less valuable than it is from the Christian worldview perspective. If you have endless chances to make things right, endless chances to live the best life possible, if the life a person lives here on earth is not the only chance he gets to meet with God and find salvation, why would it matter if any of those lives are cut short by euthanasia or abortion? Even more, why would we not abort a child or kill a person if their future does not look very bright? In fact, we can argue that we actually help that baby by giving its soul the chance to be born into a richer family with better chances for success. We are actually helping that dying old man by releasing him from that body and giving his soul the chance to inhabit a new one.

As the final opposing view to consider in this portion of the paper, Roman Catholicism presents the soul’s transmission in terms of creationism. Although it is called Roman Catholic, this view is nonetheless held by many orthodox Christians and it has a very strong scriptural support.

What this view basically suggests is that God creates each individual soul at the moment of conception of each first human cell and unites that soul with that first cell. A very strong scriptural support for this opinion comes from verses like Ecclesiastes 12:7 or Isaiah 42:5, verses that clearly affirm the fact that God gave the spirit to the body. This debate is actually an in-house debate between genuine Christians with slightly different views, and proponents of creationism fight just as ardently against the evils of abortion, euthanasia and experimenting with human genomes as any other Christians who understand what is at stake. Seeing a person as purposefully designed and created by God in His providence in His own image definitely helps when trying to establish the value of a person. Whether it would be by this model that souls are created or by the model that I am proposing, when we see God in His infinite wisdom as the one working to form a person, then we dare not tamper with his doing. This is the reason why Catholics, although they are so different from us on important issues related to soteriology, are still willing to be engaged in the same anti-abortion war that we are fighting in as well.

What this view cannot account for is the way sin is inherited by that soul. If God created the soul at conception and God only creates good things, how does sin taint that soul? We rightly believe that the soul is the moral part of a person that does the sinning even when it is helped by the body, but if the soul starts as being good, then we should credit the inheriting of a sinful nature to the body. In this case, we risk falling into other ancient heresies that equate the body as evil and the soul as good[5]. For further consideration, I think we can find a better model in Scripture that accounts for the transmission of the soul, and we will turn to it next.

Support for my position

As previously mentioned, the position I will be supporting in this paper is known as Traducianism. The etymology of this word is from the Latin traduco, a word that means to pass, or to transfer. Thus, what this word implies when it comes to our conversation is the fact that the human soul is passed or transferred, inherited from the parents of one person. The soul did not preexist in eternity past; it did not inhabit a different body previously; it was not created by God at the moment of conception, but rather, God created human beings in such a way that they are able to produce new souls along with the bodies of new persons. They are able to be “fruitful and multiply” after their “own kind”. These new souls are thus transferred from the parents (both bringing their equal share) to the children.

Genesis 2:7 presents God creating man in His own image by breathing “into his nostrils the breath of life”. The Bible does not record this sort of activity happening anywhere else but here. Actually, after God created everything (including man), He finished. His creation was over and He rested from His work. The activity that took place in the six days of creation was unique, never to happen the same way again. God was done creating a “very good” creation (Genesis 1:31), and He is now in the business of sustaining it “by the Word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3).

Wayne Grudem[6] argues that the likeness of God in which man is created could include, among others, the ability to create other human beings like him. Since we are all made in the image of our ancestors (Genesis 5:3) who go all the way back to Adam who was made in the image of God, we ourselves can still claim that we are created in the image of God. We are “God’s offspring” as Paul famously argued with the Athenians (Acts 17:29). This makes us no less valuable in God’s sight than Adam himself.

Another good argument for this view comes from Psalm 51, a psalm that talks about the way people inherit sin. David argues here that he was a sinner at birth, indeed, even conceived in sin. These verses could only make sense if David inherited the sin nature from his parents. Consider this. If God only creates good things, then the newly created soul must be inherently good. If David originally had a “clean slate”, if he was an immaculate new soul which God only counts as guilty by imputing to it Adam’s sin, why would David say then that he was conceived in sin? He said it because he knew that he did not only inherit guilt from Adam, but that “even from the womb” people “go astray” (Psalm 58:3). He inherited Adam’s sinful nature. If people were merely guilty, as the creationist view seems to imply, there would be no explanation for the sin that happens so early in a child’s life. This could make sense though if the child possesses a sin nature, a nature that loves to sin, a nature inherited from the fallen Adam. Again, as argued in the first sections of this paper, if we want to account sin to the body only, then this would lead us back into old heresies that considered the body as evil and the soul as good. We do not want to go there! The Bible clearly states that the soul is the morally accountable part of a person. The souls of sinful people are now punished in Hell for sins. The body might facilitate our sin, but it is not the one responsible for it.

The Traducianist view on the transmission of the soul also makes sense when we think of the different passages in the Bible that tell us about a descendant that was present in his ancestor at a specific point in time when he was not yet conceived. This does not mean that he preexisted, but that the makings of him were present there. For example, in Hebrews 7:9-10 we find Levi was “in the loins” of his ancestor Abraham paying tithes to Melchizedek. Levi was the great grandson of Abraham, but he was not born yet when Abraham payed these tithes. In fact, not even Abraham’s son Isaac was born at this time. Yet they were present there because the one whom they would inherit, in whose likeness they would eventually be made was there. We might not know exactly how this functions, but we do have to believe it is so since the Bible affirms it.

Furthermore, we find in Scripture the fact that God “visits” the sins of the parents on the children for a few generations (Number 14:18). This cannot mean that God is punishing the children for the sins of the parents of which they themselves are not responsible. In other places, the Bible clearly teaches that “the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). God is committed to justice and does not punish a person for another one’s sin. Yet, we do see here that children inherit so much of the character of their parents that many times they fall into the exact same sins, sins that “run in the family”. At any point in time, these children can repent and stop this chain, but by seeing the matter from this perspective, we can better understand how God can visit the sins of the parents on the children.

Traducianism is also evident with other character traits that are not necessarily sinful, but that cannot be accounted to the physiological DNA only. Things like someone’s temper, attitudes, sense of humor, fears, joys, etc., can all traced back to their parents even when someone has never met them or lived with them. Indeed, these things happen even when someone deliberately tries to avoid being like his parents. 

The model of Traducianism summarizes all of these biblical and non-biblical evidences that point to the theory that souls are created and passed along rather than created. God designed things in such a way that a person inherits his body along with his soul from his parents. Understanding all of these evidences, we return to our discussion about the evils of euthanasia, abortion and experimenting with human genomes. I believe we can clearly see that Traducianism provides the best arguments against such evils. Firstly, we can understand that we are made in the image of God. When we tamper with that image, we are tampering with the glory of God. There is no escape from this reality. This is the reason why God demanded someone’s life in murder cases. Life is sacred not because of its usefulness, not because of its beauty, not because of its timelessness, not because of some kind of social construct, but because it is made in the image of God.

Secondly, when we understand that every soul has potential to generate more souls and still we decide to kill it, then we are interrupting a long series of potential human beings who could have lived their God-given life to bring Him glory.

Finally, knowing that God is the sustainer of all life, then again, what need have we to tamper with the way life is supposed to work? By experimenting with human beings and changing their basic structure, we border rebellion against God’s design. Every human being, from conception to the moment God decides it is over for them, has the God-given right to live. We as Christians should hope and pray that every one of these image-bearing souls would live their life in such a way that it would bring glory to God and that one day they will come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Objection to my position

The strongest objection against my position can only come from a one that tries to find its arguments in Scripture, and that would be the creationist view. Particularly, as I have briefly mentioned in the first part, that God creates each individual soul at the moment of conception, and then it imputes to that soul the guilt of Adam’s sin. Thus, humanity’s guilt is not an inherited one, but it is one imputed by God as he looks at Adam as our representative and forerunner. Furthermore, this view would argue that there should not be a problem accepting this imputation since we do not have a problem when we argue that Christ imputes us with his righteousness, and that Christ is another one of our representatives. The problem for my view would then be that I am willing to accept one imputation as a valid means of being justified before God but not the other as a valid means of being found guilty. As support, promoters of this view would quote Romans 5:12 and 18, verses that states that just as death came through Adam, life comes through Jesus. Although these people would try to equate the two scenarios and say they both refer to some kind of imputation, I do not believe that these verses are telling us about the way death came to us through Adam. It merely states that it did, and that life comes from Jesus.

Thus, I would agree that Adam was our representative, but the way we inherit his guilt is by inheriting his nature. Otherwise, as I have argued before, our sinful nature would not make sense. If we did not inherit his nature, then we would not be sinful, just guilty. Inheriting his nature gives an answer for our guilt as well as our sinful nature.

Another objection to my position would come from naturalism. This worldview would argue that because we do not see anything except for the body and because no one has ever seen a soul apart from the body, then people do not have a soul. They have chemical reactions happening in them. As simple as it sounds, this argument can actually be a very powerful one. We would think that if the soul was really there, then we should be able to find some kind of method of testing its presence. Since no one has ever empirically proven the presence of the soul, the conclusion should be obvious. Against such views, I could argue by appealing to the conscience that every person has and that makes him feel guilty and morally accountable for his actions. This conscience cannot be explained away by any chemical or physiological theory. Exploited more, this argument can even eventually lead to a conversation with that person about the Gospel of Jesus, the only One who can take away the guilt, the One who died for our sins and who will one day receive our redeemed souls and eventually give us a glorified body to go with them.

In summary, souls must find their original creation in the breath of life given to Adam. All other theories leave us without the clearly expressed image of God and void of the sinful natures so obviously present within us.

Bibliography

Allison, Gregg R., Historical Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011).

Appenzeller, Tim, “Earth in the Beginning” National Geographic Magazine, December 2006. Accessed March 28 2016. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/early-earth.html.

Cracroft, Richard H., A Believing People, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1974).

Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994).

Plato, The Republic, (Champaign, Illinois: The Guttenberg Project, 1990).

Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. ‘A Universe from Nothing’ by Lawrence 

Krauss, AAI, 2009. YouTube Video, 16:49. Posted [October 2009]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo#t=16m49s

---

[1] Tim Appenzeller, “Earth in the Beginning”, National Geographic Magazine, December 2006, Accessed March 28 2016, http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/early-earth.html

[2] Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science. ‘A Universe From Nothing’ by Lawrence Krauss, AAI, 2009. YouTube Video, 16:49. Posted [October 2009]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ImvlS8PLIo#t=16m49s

[3] Plato, The Republic of Plato, (Champaign, Illinois: 1990), Chapter X

[4] Joseph Smith, The King Follett Sermon in A Believing People, ed. Richard H. Cracroft, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1974), 170.

[5] Gregg R. Allison, Historical Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), p. 326

[6] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), p. 484.

The Necessity of Preaching in Light of the Sufficiency of Scripture

the necessity of preaching in light of the sufficiency of scripture 

__________________

A Position Paper

Presented to

Dr. Gregg R. Allison

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

__________________

In Partial Fulfillment

of the  Requirements for 27060

__________________

by

Ovidiu Cristian Simon

osimon039@students.sbts.edu

24 September 2015

Issue

The Doctrine of the Sufficiency of Scripture has many implications for all of theology. In this position paper I will address one that is often forgotten. As Wayne Grudem puts it, this doctrine teaches us that “Scripture contained all the words of God He intended His people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and now it contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting Him perfectly, and for obeying Him perfectly^[1]”. However, in light of this, I will argue that this doctrine does not in any way negate the need of preaching and preachers “for salvation, for trusting Him perfectly, and for obeying Him perfectly”, but instead these (preaching and preachers) are instituted and called for by Scripture and are closely related to the doctrine of its sufficiency. I will demonstrate this through an exegetical study of various key biblical passages, such as Romans 10 and Acts 8, by pointing to the role of the Holy Spirit in aiding the preacher and illuminating the sinners mind and by trying to understand and biblically refute opposing views of this doctrine and of the offices of preaching and of preachers, views such as (1) the insufficiency of Scripture for salvation, (2) the uselessness of modern sermons and pastors, and (3) salvation by dreams or visions.

I believe this topic to be of great importance given the fact that mankind has a tendency to alienate itself from the authorities that God puts over it, and at the same time to look for different sources from where to draw its spiritual nourishment, other than the Word of God, thus churches and pastors becoming despised, and God’s Word being marginalized.

Positions on the Issue

Before I go on mentioning some of the views that are different than my position, I want to make very clear what I will not be defending in this paper:

I will not be defending the fact that a person who has never come into contact with a clergyman cannot be saved. My understanding of the New Testament tells me that every Christian can be a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and thus, through their preaching bring others to salvation in Jesus. I will not be defending the fact that a person who has never walked into a church cannot be saved. The thief on the cross was not given this chance, and yet he was saved. Last, I will not be defending the fact that if someone does not believe in the sufficiency of Scripture he cannot be saved. I wish everybody would believe in this doctrine and I believe people can lead others astray when they do not believe in the sufficiency of Scripture, but that does not automatically disqualify them from salvation. Anyway, this is a topic for another day.

Perhaps the most different position than my stance on the issue is the Roman Catholic view of Scripture and its sufficiency (or lack thereof), its view of the institution of the papacy, the roles of their priests in administering the sacraments, and especially the role of the Church in the formation of Scripture and salvation of the individual. The Eastern Orthodox view is also very similar, with the exception of the institution of the papacy. This position can almost be seen as an exaggeration of my view, and for this reason I think it should be mentioned.

When an evangelical talks to Roman Catholics about the sufficiency of Scripture, he will very quickly be confronted by them with the argument that the Church was the one that put together the canon of Scripture and she was the one that used its God given wisdom in knowing which books to choose^[2]. Thus Scripture cannot be sufficient since it is relying on the Church to be formed. Also, a long and supposedly uniform tradition will be mentioned, one that goes back to the apostles to whom Christ has given authority to bind and to loose even in matters of doctrine. The continuous aspect of revelation will be argued as well, that is the pope speaking for Christ, and other possible new revelation. Furthermore, because of these things, salvation should be understood in light of the Church^[3], in light of the tradition, and yes, in light of the Scripture as well. Thus, in order to be saved one must receive the traditional sacraments that are only to be administered in the context of the Church, that is, by a clergyman^[4]. In support of these views, Roman Catholics will point to Jesus giving the keys of the kingdom to the apostle Peter (Matthew 16:18,19) arguing that he was to be succeeded by other bishops like him^[5], they will point to Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 saying that the Church has power to forgive or not forgive sins, to Church fathers like Cyprian and others who said that there is no salvation outside the Church^[6], to arguments from the apocryphal books that the Church with its authority has deemed to be also authoritative, and not least they will point to their long lasting tradition with different councils that supposedly thought the same things.

Later I will comment more on these issues, but for now I want to point to the fact that I too want to ascribe worth and importance to the Church, to some of the offices in the Church, to the Church fathers and to some of their teachings. This can be deduced from my very thesis: I am writing to show that preaching and preachers are necessary even in light of a sufficient Scripture. Nevertheless, I will not do this at the expense of the sufficiency of Scripture.

Another opposing view to my thesis is the one expressed by Frank Viola and George Barna in their book “Pagan Christianity”. The main point that these two authors are making in this book is that the Church in our present modern day is not what it used to be in the first century. We strayed a long way from that model being influenced by different philosophies and religions and cultures, and the result is something that looks nothing like the Church of the Apostles^[7]. For proving these claims they point to the church buildings that are supposedly a new addition to the Church being influenced by the Greco-Roman temples, they point to the order of worship in our churches which, they say, is heavily influenced by paganism and Judaism, they point to some of our traditions that we undeniably have, they point to the music in our churches, the salaries of the pastors, to tithing, to the incorrect administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, again, all of them being heavily influenced by pagan ideas and deprived of their meaning. Most importantly to our discussion though, they point to the preaching of the Word of God through sermons and to the preachers themselves of whom they say are not scriptural ideas in the way we practice them today.

The dissension on this point with my position comes with regard to the necessity of the regular preaching of the Word of God, and the necessity of preachers or pastors. Writing about these matters, they ask rhetorically:

How can a man preach a sermon on being faithful to the Word of God while he is preaching a sermon? And how can a Christian passively sit in a pew and affirm the priesthood of all believers when he is passively sitting in a pew? To put a finer point on it, how can you claim to uphold the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura (“by the Scripture only”) and still support the pulpit sermon? […] the pastoral office has stolen your right to function as a full member of Christ’s body. It has distorted the reality of the body, making the pastor a giant mouth and transforming you into a tiny ear. It has rendered you a mute spectator who is proficient at taking sermon notes and passing an offering plate.^[8]

Just as we see in this section of their book about the preaching of the Word of God, these two authors claim that it was never meant to be a cultivated form of speech (possessing a specific structure) delivered regularly by the same person to an audience that passively listened to it, just as most of our evangelical churches do it today. Rather it was an active participation, prophets speaking spontaneously rather than studying in advance, being open to participation from those who heard, and all of these things occurring not regularly. In support of this view, the two authors point to the supposed irregularity of Jesus’ preaching (all though most of the accounts in the Gospels find Him teaching something to someone, even when performing miracles), they point to the preaching of the apostles that was, again, supposedly sporadic, delivered on special occasions, without a structure and dialogical rather than monological, and they point to the irregular gatherings of the early Church (although it was probably more often than we gather today). Also, to show the roots of Christian preaching today, they point to the Greek culture with their different famous orators. Fully^[9] aware of the charge of Paul to Timothy to preach the Word, the two authors dismiss this by claiming it is incumbent to every part of the body to teach one another.

As for preachers and pastors, this book claims that they are a product of history and tradition, not of the early Church. They vehemently oppose the office of the pastor or any other clergy position, pointing to verses that teach the priesthood of every believer.

As we can clearly see, these positions, though affirming the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture, render the preaching of the Word of God to be almost useless, and it speaks even harsher about the office of pastor.

The last opposing view to my thesis is the idea that God can salvifically speak to unchristian people in dreams or visions. Although this is not a position that a lot of serious scholars (if any) embrace, it is nonetheless a very widely accepted view and dangerous to the understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture and it especially minimizes, if not completely denies, the necessity of preachers and of preaching.

Trying to defend this position biblically, one would most likely point to the fact that God is almighty and that He can do whatever He wants, even speak to someone in a dream or in a vision, and do so in a way that communicates the gospel of Jesus Christ to the person receiving this dream. Also, God does desire to be worshiped by all peoples, so why would He not advance His kingdom in such a way? Furthermore, they would argue, God is all loving, not wanting people to die in their sins, and thus He would choose to share the gospel in this manner with those that are in need of it. From a practical standpoint, these people would argue that God can do through dreams what we people cannot do through our missions, and so all the unreached peoples of the world still have a chance to inherit eternal life in spite of our inability to take the gospel to them yet. It also “saves” Christianity of its negative claim that people who do not hear about Jesus will go to hell. In support of these views, people would point to passages in Scripture about God’s almightiness, to passages in which God has talked to people through dreams and visions, and, of course, to the verses that tells us that God is unchanging in His attributes concluding that He still acts in the same way.

I believe such a view is totally unbiblical, and I will argue later why. For now though, I want us to see the implications this view has for the necessity of the preaching of the Word and of preachers: if God does reveal salvific messages to people in need of the gospel, then there is not a need for preachers of the gospel. We can rely totally on God and since we know He is sovereign, we trust He will do a marvelous job at bringing these people to faith through these means.

Support for the Sufficiency of Scripture and for the Offices of Preaching and Preachers

As I have mentioned before, I do not argue for an absolute necessity of the office of preachers for the salvation of a person. If a lost person wants to be saved, 1 Timothy 2:5 makes it clear that there is one mediator between God and man, and that is not the clergyman, but Jesus Christ, the one who gave Himself as a ransom for all. For a person to come to understand this, the Scripture should be sufficient because it is clear on this matter (and it is clear in general), and it also has power to transform the mind of the reader and save him.

The New Covenant makes it very clear that there is no longer a designated place where God can hear our prayers (John 4:21), and this applies also to our prayers for salvation and forgiveness. Furthermore, it makes it clear that God hears our prayers directly; we do not need a human to intercede for us as in the Old Testament. Christ has entered once and for all on our behalf into the Holy of Holies with His own blood (Hebrews 9:24), and now God wants to have a personal relationship with His creatures. They can all draw near to the throne of grace with confidence because Christ is our High Priest. Thus I would argue to my Roman Catholic friends that even having the office of priest is totally incompatible with the New Covenant and even blasphemous since that person is assuming a role that only Jesus is performing now. Everything from the incense that the wise men brought at Jesus’ birth to His death in Jerusalem of all places, tells us that He is the only mediator and the only priest of the New Covenant (that is if we do not consider the priesthood of every believer, which is entirely different than what Christ did and is).

As far as the Sufficiency of Scripture goes I would argue to the Roman Catholics, who believe in an almighty God, that if God is almighty indeed then He has the power to control and direct the putting together of the canon of Scripture. The fact that He used the Church to do so does not mean that the Church should now go ahead and think it has authority in repeating such acts, or to issue new God-spoken words; it simply means that God has worked through her for her own good at one point in history in that way. For this reason, she should be humbled.

Now, having stated all these, I want to move forward and look at the different biblical reasons for why we do need preaching and preachers anyway:

I believe the best biblical argument for this position comes from Romans 10:14-17. Paul’s main point in this passage is the fact that salvation comes through believing in the gospel of Jesus. In order to hear this gospel though, one must bring it to a lost person, and that is why Paul is asking rhetorically “how are they to hear without someone preaching?”. The implied answer is “they cannot hear”. In the most basic sense we could reduce this “preaching” to someone dropping a Bible from a plane on an island where someone finds it, reads it and believes it, thus being saved. Although this is exaggerated for the sake of the argument – most of the times it happens that the preacher goes and talks to the lost person on the island – the lost person on the island needed the “preacher” to drop the Bible from the plane so that he can read it and believe it. There would be no salvation for that person on the island without that “preacher” “preaching” to him by dropping the Bible. This translates into more literal and more likely scenarios where missionaries go as preachers to preach the gospel to people who have never heard it before, making it possible for them to hear, believe and be saved. In this sense, those people, who never heard the gospel before, need the missionaries to preach it to them. Now, do they need them absolutely? Of course not, someone could throw a Bible from the plane as I’ve argued before, or they could find a message in a bottle with the gospel written in it, or, as it happens in North Korea, the South Koreans might send some hot air balloons and drop gospel tracts to them. What they do need absolutely though is someone to take the initiative – I will call this the preacher – and somehow make it possible for the gospel to get to them – I will call this preaching.

Because of this passage (Romans 10:14-17), I would argue that this is the only way anyone can ever get saved. Not only does this passage imply that no one can hear the gospel without one that is sent to preach it (and by this I mean a human being), we also see this in the practice of the Church of the New Testament: for example, in Acts 8 we see an angel of God coming to Philip and telling him to go after the chariot that was before him. Doing so, Philip finds an Ethiopian, preaches the gospel to him from Isaiah 53, and the Ethiopian gets saved. Why did the angel not go himself and preach the gospel to him? Furthermore, in Acts 16 we see that Paul receives a vision that tells him to go to Macedonia and preach to the Macedonians. Why did the vision not appear to the Macedonians directly and tell them the gospel? I suggest that this is because God did not mean for the gospel to travel that way, but through humans. If this were not so, there would not be a need for the great Commission, the Church would not need to spend so much time and resources on global missions, and the missionaries would not need to risk their lives to bring the gospel to unreached peoples. God would simply send His angels who would do a much better job than us anyway.

Leaving salvation aside for now, Grudem’s definition of the sufficiency of Scripture continues saying that the Bible is sufficient “for trusting Him perfectly, and for obeying Him perfectly”. This being true, we know that not all Christians have the same maturity. Some do not trust or obey Him as much as others, and God designed the Church in such a way that stronger parts of this body would help weaker parts. One of the ways that they are helping the weaker ones is by making this Scripture, which is sufficient to trust and obey Him perfectly, be more easily understood by them. This is what preaching and preachers are all about.

Objections to my positions

To the position I have expressed about the putting together of the canon of Scripture, the Roman Catholics might bring up the fact that the process in which the Scripture was put together seems to have been very chaotic. Some of the books nearly made it in while others were left out after being nearly put in. Although I believe we do have the real canon today, and I would argue this historically, I would also argue that even if some of the books that were inspired by God were left out, it is still better to risk by not having all of God’s words, than to risk by having words that are not God’s be considered as His. In the first scenario, you just do not get all the knowledge and the blessings that could come from the book left out, while in the second one you will end up with damnable heresies.

George Barna and Frank Viola, objecting to my position of the necessity of the office of pastor and preacher, would probably bring up different real life scenarios where preachers have manipulated entire nations through their sermons, and caused unimaginable evil in the name of Christ. They would also point to the thousands of formal churches and their buildings that suck up a lot of money and to their payed pastors who are spending lavishly on their own desires. Although all of this is true and has been true of different scenarios, this does not mean that we get to ignore the Scripture’s teaching on such matters altogether. Just because some Christians who affirm some of the same truths as us are being hypocrites at the same time, this does not mean that all of us are like that. And if we are hypocrites, this would not be incumbent on the model of the Church we find in the Bible, but on us.

People objecting to my position on salvation being followed only after someone has been sent to preach the gospel, and not by them hearing the gospel through visions or dreams, might bring up the fact that world-wide there are many people who claim to have had dreams about Jesus, and that was their turning point. Furthermore, they would give the apostle Paul as an example of a person being saved after a vision. To them I would argue that Paul was one of the Apostles, so he needed Christ to preach to him in order to be an Apostle. As far as the people that have dreams of Jesus today, I would say that there is no way to test that. Also, even if they did hear the name Jesus in a dream, I think these people will come to church afterwards to hear the gospel and grow. So, dreaming that dream does not mean the gospel is being preached to them, it just opens them up to the gospel.

Conclusion

Through this assignment, I hope to have clearly presented the need for preaching and preachers in light of the sufficiency of Scripture while also offering a clear picture of how ideas that deny this doctrine stray from the truth.

Bibliography

Allison, Gregg R. Historical Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011.

Catholic Church, Catechism of the Council of Trent: Translated and annotated by Mc Hugh and Callan, Issued by Order of Pope Pius V, New York, 1934.

Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.

O’Brien, John A. Understanding the Catholic Faith. Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press

Viola, Frank, and Barna, George. Pagan Christianity. Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2008 

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^[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 127

^[2] Gregg R. Allison, Historical Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 91

^[3] Catholic Church, Catechism of the Council of Trent, Translated and annotated by Mc Hugh and Callan, Issued by Order of Pope Pius V, New York, 1934, 113

^[4] Ibid., 115

^[5] John A. O’Brien, Understanding the Catholic Faith (Notre Dame, Indiana: Ave Maria Press) 112

^[6] Ibid., 122

^[7] Frank Viola, George Barna, Pagan Christianity, (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2008), xiii

^[8] Frank Viola, George Barna, Pagan Christianity, (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2008), 102, 136.

^[9] Ibid., 102, 103

Where Are The Laborers?

A Sermon From The Book Of Matthew
Effective Expositions For Life

Matthew 9:35-38

Written By: Dr. Stan A. Frye
President of Gateway International Ministries

P.O. Box 667
Taylorsville, NC 28681
Office Phone: 828-632-2344

E-mail Address: gimi@charter.net
"Where Are The Laborers?"

Matthew 9:35-38

Introduction

Today we live in a world of seven billion people. Almost two billion of these are professing Muslims, while thousands upon thousands are in the bondage of other false religions and cultic activity. Presently, we are told that almost two billion people have never heard the simple plan of salvation so that they might have the opportunity to receive Christ as their personal Savior. Therefore, we must conclude that God's genuinely saved people have not and are not doing the work of world evangelism like Jesus challenged the early disciples and all believers succeeding the first disciples to do. We live in a world that the primary feeling of most people is that they are the individuals that need the most attention, and therefore, this self-centered selfish attitude has kept even those who say they are saved from truly sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with the masses of people who are going to die and spend eternity in the fires of hell. All of the human rationality and disbelief by those who say they are atheist doesn't change the fact one iota that when people die without Jesus, they will go to hell.

This lesson today is about our Lord Jesus who was making His third tour through Galilee where He was not only healing scores of sick people, but He was also going in and out of the synagogues teaching and preaching not only the Old Testament Law and Prophets, but also proclaiming the New Testament covenant message of the love of  Himself for the lost world and the mandatory responsibility for every sinner to get saved and follow Christ. We are told by some historians that at this time of Jesus' earthly ministry, there may have been as many as 200 cities, towns and villages in the Galilee area. And it is believed that the population may have been as much as three million people. Thus, everywhere Jesus went, He was constantly bombarded with the needs of scores of people. Numbers were sick physically, but the greatest sickness that the people had was the spiritual sickness of being lost like  sheep that had strayed from the flock, and they needed urgently to be found before it was too late.

Up until this time in the life and ministry of Jesus, it would seem that He alone was doing the teaching and preaching, plus the healing of the sick. But, we should understand that in the very next chapter of Matthew, Jesus began to commission His disciples for the work ahead of them because it was now time for them to get involved in the mission ministry to which God had called them. So, what we see Jesus doing at this time was indeed preparation for the soon-coming ministry of His disciples. In other words, Jesus had shown them for many months what He had come to do, and He had been training them for their task which was just ahead. And may I say that the task He was training His disciples to do is the same one He has given to us. Therefore, let us take a look at the Scripture text for this study and see the challenge that God is giving to us from His Word.


I. NOTICE THE PROOF OF THE MESSAGE. v. 35

In verse 35 of our text, God gives us some tremendous thoughts about the message that Jesus was delivering to the people all over Galilee. You might say that in this one verse, He give us valid proof that His message was different than any message that had ever been delivered to the people of Galilee or any other place in Israel.  It was the message of salvation and deliverance for all those who would believe in Him and receive Him as their personal Lord and Savior. Still today, this is the message that the entire world needs. And what a thrill it is to be a part of God's program of world evangelism and missions. Let's take a look at this proof of the message which Jesus proclaimed.

A. The proof was in the credibility of the Messenger. v. 35a

Who was this new preacher that had come to Galilee with this new message which the world needed? Well, this new preacher was none other than Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, Who was born of the virgin Mary down in Bethlehem, and was now living in His earthly father's home in Nazareth. His home was a modest one and one where no doubt He learned the carpenter's trade from His earthly father, Joseph. This was Jesus Who had given up all of the royalty and regality of heaven and divested Himself of much of His position and power to take on the form of a human being so that He could ultimately die on the cross. Therefore, there never had been a teacher like this One and there never will be again. But, we can rejoice because we will have no trouble believing that He is Who He claimed to be if we give our lives to Him and experience the new birth. All the proof in the world that we need to know that His message is authentic is just simply to give our lives totally and completely to Him. Once a person does this, he or she will become a new creature in Christ and his or her life will never be the same again.

B. The proof was in the content of the message. v. 35b

The content of the message which Jesus was teaching and preaching was simply the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom of God. It was the glorious message that there was and is hope in what is seemingly a hopeless world. And, even in that New Testament time when Rome controlled the known world, the message of the Gospel brought the promise that one day things would be better, not only for the Israelites, but especially for everyone who gave their lives to Christ in a personal experience with Jesus. The people of Jesus' day may have been looking for a new kingdom which would provide a deliverer to free the people from Rome's bondage, but the message they received from Jesus was far greater because it was a message about living in a spiritual Kingdom rightly related to the King. And, it was also a message of hope that one day there would ultimately be a literal earthly Kingdom for the Jewish nation, but presently they could have an eternal relationship with Christ Himself and live above the bondage of Rome and of sin. The message was one of hope, forgiveness, and a promise for better things to come.


C. The proof was in the confirmation of the miracles. v. 35c

It is very hard for some people to understand it in this dispensation of history, but we must understand that during the time of the first century church there was a transitional period of time when the new Gospel message had to have signs and miracles to affirm the truthfulness and credibility of the message. These miracles and signs were very prominent in the ministry of Jesus, and then again after the Day of Pentecost when Peter preached his dynamic message.

These miracles and signs were necessary because the Bible text of the New Testament was not yet completed. Of course, after the completion of the written text at the end of the first century, there was no longer the necessity of these confirming signs and miracles to validate the Gospel message preached by Jesus and afterward His disciples. Yet, I do believe that God still heals people physically in these days, but not to confirm the authenticity of the Word of God or the Gospel message. I would be very wrong to say that He does not continue to heal people because He healed an incurable lung disease for me back in 2013. But my friends, we must understand that the originally transitional signs were not given to the entire church to continue for the same purpose they were demonstrated in New Testament days. But one thing for sure, when Jesus and the disciples, including Paul the Apostle, healed people during their ministries, both Jews and Gentiles were given proof that the new message they were hearing was indeed truth.

Before moving on to the next point, I want to mention that now since the  written Word of God is completely finished, there is no need for any kind of miracle to affirm or confirm that the Bible is truth when scores of people are being changed completely spiritually by the power of God's Word. In fact, the greatest healing miracle that has ever been known is when Jesus Christ saves a lost soul and changes the entire life of the individual who places his or her faith in the finished product of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, all we need to do is to believe in the authenticity of God's Word and the Gospel message in order to exercise saving faith in what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross and arose from the dead. There is no greater miracle ever to be seen more than when a lost sinner is transformed by the power of God's Word (II Corinthians 5:17).

II. NOTICE THE PITY OF THE MASTER. v. 36

I want to begin this point by providing this entire verse, Matthew 9:36, where we find these words: "But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." Folks, this has to be one of the most moving passage of Scriptures in the entire Word of God. I say this because of the unbelievable compassion that is shown by our Savior toward those wandering lost people that were like sheep without anyone to shepherd them. Remember that Jesus has been in Galilee teaching and preaching the Kingdom of God while confirming the veracity of His message by many miracles of healing and deliverance. Obviously, there was a huge multitude that showed up to witness what Jesus was saying and doing, and so our Lord's heart was literally broken over the lostness of these people. The people were just hopeless living in their own world with no hope whatsoever. But may I say that when Jesus comes on the scene, there will always be hope for everyone who will put their faith and trust in Him. And I must tell you that when no one else will care, Jesus will. Therefore, we must have on our hearts what He has on His, and when this happens we will do everything we can to reach out to those who are wandering in their lostness with no one to care for them. Let's take a look at three  important points concerning the pity and compassion that Jesus extended to the multitudes during the days of His earthly ministry, and He is still doing the same today.

A. Notice that this pity was created by the Master's Cogitation. v. 36a

Now if this sounds like a big word, I guess you could say it is. However, it is truly a great word because it means that as Jesus was viewing the multitudes, he was sizing up the situation to determine what needed to be done to solve this enormous problem of humanity that needed so much help. In other words, Jesus was evaluating the seriousness of the need and the urgency of the hour.  And even in His assessment of the situation, I can see His broken heart which really went out to these lost people who were fainting along the way with no hope whatsoever. So, Jesus' evaluation of the problem produced a vision of what could be done.

Therefore, we too must take a look around us and see the multitudes that are perishing without Christ as their Shepherd, and we must recognize that the Gospel message is the only hope that they have. And, if they are to receive the Gospel, then we must take the message to them. But, we need to know that this will never happen until we too have genuine pity in our hearts for theses lost dying people who still need to hear about Jesus. Without laborers to take them the Good News, there will be no hope. And if they get the Good News too late, it will no longer be good news.

And, I must remind all of us that we can never have genuine compassion for those who are lost unless we have intimacy with Christ daily. In order for us to really love sinners the way we should, then Jesus must love them through us. And therefore, He can't love through us unless we allow Him to be Lord and Master in our lives.

B. Notice that this pity was continued by the Master's Compassion. v. 36b

We now come to the main point that produced this great text in the Word of God. That point is that Jesus had enormous compassion toward the multitude who did not yet know Him. Truthfully, when the Bible says that Jesus was moved with compassion, it means that He was "moved in His bowels" with so much emotion that He may have even been sick on His stomach to the point that He vomited or He may have even had diarrhea. If this sounds very gross to you, just try to remember a time in your life when you received some bad news and you were so overwhelmed by the news that you were made sick on your stomach. This has happened to me several times down through the years, and therefore I can readily understand how Jesus must have felt because He came to seek and save those who were lost. Thus, when He saw the multitudes that needed to be saved, His heart was broken and His pity went out to these dear people. Also, bear in mind that up until this time, Jesus was doing most of all of the ministry while being with His disciples, but the time had now come when these disciples were going to be commissioned to get busy fulfilling the Great Commission to the lost world. In other words, the mission was changing because soon Jesus would die on the cross, rise from the dead, and return to heaven. Then, the work would have to go on through those laborers whom He had sent to take the Gospel to the lost world. In fact, in the next chapter, Matthew 10, Jesus did indeed commission the apostles and sent them forth to the mission fields. I am presently writing a book on chapter ten dealing with “God’s Biblical Blueprint For Missions.” So my dear friends, we will never reach the multitudes with the Gospel until we have genuine pity and compassion coming from our hearts because of our intimacy with Christ. Again I must say, “We have to have on our hearts what Jesus has on His; the souls of men, women, boys and girls.”

C. The pity was compounded by the Master’s Calculation. v. 36c

In the first part of this verse, Jesus saw the multitudes and evaluated the situation as very bad. But now, in the last part of the verse, He calculates that the situation is indeed extremely bad because of the fainting of the people and the danger that is present for those wandering sheep. You might say that Jesus’ thought pattern had moved from observation to complete calculation so much that He is now pondering what must be done. Of course, we know that Jesus knew that He had come to die on the cross and rise from the dead to rescue the perishing, but now He came to acknowledge or confess that because He would be going away to heaven, He would for sure need more laborers to help Him in this worldwide task. Therefore, I believe He was trying to impress upon the hearts and minds of His disciples to see the lost sheep as He saw them, or they would never be moved with compassion to help reach these lost people. So friends, we need to know that not only can evangelism and world missions be taught, they must also be caught from those who have a contagious spirit for winning people to Christ. I assure you that you will never become a laborer for Jesus unless you get on fire and become passionate about telling the world about Him. It is sad to say though that in most of our churches around the world, especially here in America, the fire for evangelism has gone out and church function has become nothing more than dead routine and formalism. May God deliver us from these country-club style religious recreation centers, and get us back to the task of world missions.

III. NOTICE THE PROCLAMATION TO THE MISSIONARIES. v. 37

Before Jesus could send out His disciples as new missionaries, he had to proclaim a personal message to them so that they could receive His command and catch His burden before they started on their way to share the Gospel message. You might say that we are not prepared to preach to others until we have had a receptive heart and a teachable spirit to claim the message and responsibility that God has given to everyone of His saved brothers or sisters. Therefore, my prayer is that God will open our ears and our hearts to the message He is trying to get across to us in order to prepare us for the task of world evangelism which all of us should be doing.
Let’s now take a look at three points pertaining to the proclamation which Jesus gave to His disciples.

A. Our Lord’s Proclamation Was Personal. v. 37a

In the first part of this verse, we are told that Jesus speaks personally to his disciples about the great harvest that is waiting for reapers. I don’t mean to be melodramatic, but I would just like to say that when God speaks to any or all of us, He always does it in a personal way. This is true when He draws us to salvation and it is also true when He calls us to a place of service in His Kingdom work. The call of God is very personal and no one will know for sure what God wants him or her to do with their lives in the work of the Kingdom unless he or she pays close attention to the voice of God speaking through His Word and even through open doors. May God please help us to listen carefully to what He is saying to us when the fields are now ripe unto harvest and the laborers are so few.

B. Our Lord’s Proclamation Was Promising. v. 37b

I genuinely love the part of this verse which says, “The harvest truly is plenteous,….” What a tremendous promise our Lord gave to His first disciples, and He is still giving to us today this same promise. The promise is that the harvest is truly plenteous if we will pay the price to reap in the fields regularly and consistently. Folks, this means that harvesting the crop of souls that are ready to be saved should be our main concern. If it is our main concern, then our lives will be prioritized so that we will be busy sharing the Gospel personally, participating in missions collectively with our church and mission teams, and we will be down sizing our lives so that we can invest in this harvest field evangelism. Of course, “I know that there are those today who teach that we should not fish where the fish are biting, or reap where the crops are ripe, or try to win people to Christ through mass evangelism.” Their concept of the Great Commission is that we must go through under-ground methods and slip up on the blind side of non-expectant people groups and maybe share the Gospel with a few of these people, and then be sure and disciple each one of the new converts before we move on to try and win more to Christ. If this sounds like I am sarcastic, you are absolutely right! This new style of mission strategy is strait out of the pits of hell. Why folks, the former President of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention told me in a letter indirectly sent to me that “the purpose of the Great Commission is not to populate heaven with as many souls as possible, but instead, the purposes is to take the Gospel to every unreached people group and then let them win their own people to Christ.” This really sounds good until you stop and think about that statement that the purpose of the Great Commission is not to populate heaven with as many souls as possible. May I say emphatically, “Hogwash”. If the purpose of the Great Commission is not to win souls and prepare them for heaven, then folks let’s shut her down, close the churches and take a long vacation. This new-fangled “Emergent Church” trash doctrine is so far from Biblical truth that we should avoid it at all cost. Poor Jesus! He didn’t know that He needed to send His disciples to the fields where the doors were closed to the Gospel, and then, as Zane Pratt said in his book on “The Introduction To Global Missions”, “God gave us the authority to go into any closed country and declare the Gospel.” until the country opens up. Whatever happened to what Jesus said in our next chapter, Matthew 10, about taking the Gospel to the cities where the people would receive the message, and if they didn’t, shake the dust from their feet and go to where they would receive it. How in the world have we gotten so messed up about the Great Commission? Jesus promised that the fields would be plenteous, not just to win two Muslims to Christ per year so that we can brag on that to our churches. But we have been given the promise of a very fruitful harvest if we will go where He tells us to go and where He opens the doors, rather than us trying to move people from the fields where God sent them to places God never called them. Some fields may be harder than others, but if God places a missionary in the field where He wants them, then there will be fruitfulness and many times the harvest will be plenteous.

C. Our Lord’s Proclamation Was Plain. v. 37c

In the latter part of verse 37, we discover that Jesus emphatically said that there are not enough harvesters to reap the crops that are ready to be taken in. Jesus was making a plain statement telling his new disciple missionaries that their responsibility was large, the harvest was plenteous, and that there were not enough people committed to the task of winning the world to Him. Just try to imagine this! This was near the end of Jesus’ singular earthly ministry and just before He was turning the task of world evangelism over to His disciples, and there were not enough committed people to get the job done then. If we take a good look around us today, I am afraid that we will find even less people proportionately than Jesus had in the first century.

Where are the laborers? George Barna tells us that 97% of all Evangelical Christians never lead a person to Christ in their entire life time. This is such a terrible tragedy! It is a tragedy for those who need to be saved but are not getting the message. And beyond this, it is a terribly sad thing that so few believers ever get to enjoy the excitement of winning someone else to Christ. And even worse, we are told that the average professing believer only gives one cent per day to world missions. So, what a tragic situation that we are in because professing Christians want to enjoy having eternal fire insurance because they got saved, but they are perfectly content, seemingly, to never tell someone else about what they have found in Christ. Therefore, we all should feel ashamed and embarrassed because of our lack of concern and interest in seeing the multitudes come in from wandering in their lostness. Later in Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commissioned all us to go and teach the world about Him, and then disciple those who get saved. Are we doing a good job with this? I would say we are not.

IV. NOTICE THE PRAYER FOR MANPOWER. v. 38

In this last verse for this study, we come to see that Jesus gave His disciples explicit instructions for them to give themselves to praying fervently for Him to call and send forth laborers into the fields of service. This is a remarkable request because Jesus could have Sovereignly called and sent forth every reaper that would be needed, but instead of doing this, He called on the disciples to pray and register the request with our Lord before He would grant their prayer and send the servants into the harvest fields. Why do you suppose that He did this? Well, let us take a look at this verse and discover the answer to this question.

A. Jesus commanded the disciples to pray and ask for workers because He wanted to reveal to them their personal responsibility. v. 38a

I know that this might sound a little trite, but our Lord cherished the thought of using His disciples in His plan to win the world to Himself. He could have done it any other way He wanted to, but He decided that He would let His disciples and us as well, get in on this wonderful responsibility and privilege. This is why that in over 50 years of ministry, I have never gotten over the wonder that God chose me and my family to be a part of His plan for world evangelism and service. II Corinthians 5:20, tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ! In other words, we have been chosen here in this world to represent His Kingdom as His ambassador. There is no joy on earth that I believe can compare with the joy of trying to win men, women, boys and girls to Christ. Therefore, it is truly a privilege to accept the responsibility to try to tell the world about the Gospel message of Christ, and then get in on seeing the harvest right before our very eyes. And, to be given the responsibility to pray for God to call others to the harvest fields is truly a great privilege that we should not take lightly. Let me say it again! Christ could have called and sent everyone needed to the fields without our help. But, He loved us enough to give us the privilege to pray for Him to send forth more laborers.

And while I am writing about this today at my computer, the thought has come to me that God has gloriously blessed us with the privilege to pray for other harvesters to come forth from our family members, work colleagues, classmates, and yes, even our neighbors down the street. Without God’s amazing grace extended to us which allows us to pray intercessory prayers for others, we would not be able to see the joy and excitement of seeing our family members, work colleagues, classmates, and our neighbors surrender their lives to Christ in answer to our prayers. So, I think I will just shout hallelujah! Amen!

Before I move on to the next point, I would just like to say that while I am talking about the call of God sending forth other laborers into the fields, I can’t help but think of a special young man in our church that God has given me the privilege to mentor and try to help train for the Gospel ministry. I am very proud of this young man, and I count it an enormous privilege to be able to intercede for him and his family as he prepares to be one of God’s special harvesters. It is my prayer that God might use him mightily!

B. Jesus commanded the disciples to pray and ask for workers because He wanted to reveal to them the need for a powerful reverence. v. 38b

The second part of this verse is so very important. As Jesus told His disciples to pray for more workers for the harvest fields, He told them to direct their prayers to the Lord of the harvest. This command reveals a very precious thought. That is, if we are going to pray for workers in the fields, we must address or direct our prayers to the only One that can answer our prayers and send forth the laborers. And to call upon the Lord of the harvest is to acknowledge our reverence and respect for not only the One that can provide the workers, but He must provide the fruitfulness of the harvest as well. In other words, it is like what Paul said in I Corinthians 3:6, when he said, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” In other words, it is only the Lord of the harvest Who provides the crops when the harvest comes in as a result of our labors. There is just no way that we can reap the crops unless the Lord of the harvest gives the increase.

So, if we are going to pray for more manpower for the fields that are ripe unto harvest, we must direct these prayers to the only One that can call the workers, and then provide the harvest when these workers go to work. We must totally understand that the harvest is not about our efforts only, but it is because of our obedience to the One Who has called us and because we trust Him to provide the harvest as a reward for those who go to the fields to work. We may not be able to see every effort we demonstrate rewarded down here in this life, but there will come a day at the Judgment Seat of Christ for the believers, when we will be rewarded for our faithfulness in the fields of harvest. And folks, rest assured, our Lord will not forget anything we have done. He surely keeps good records, and as the great Lord of the harvest, He will reward accordingly based upon our work with the right motives and sincere dedication. Aren’t you glad that He will never forget? I surely am, and truthfully, I look forward to that day when we shall be rewarded. And beyond this, I look forward to the day when I get to meet all of the people that may have come to Christ through our efforts.

C. Jesus commanded the disciples to pray and ask for workers because He wanted them to offer a pressing request. v. 38c

This pressing request was for more laborers to be sent forth into the fields to help harvest the crops. Obviously, Jesus knew the tremendous shortage of workers when the fields would be so ready for the harvest. As I stated earlier, it was true during Jesus’ earthly ministry, and it is probably more urgent that we get more workers today than ever before. Why? Because time is running out and Jesus is coming again. Therefore, we must pray for God to not only call forth more laborers, but we must also pray that His servants will respond without reservation to this call.

Then, when these people report for duty, He can send them forth into the fields of harvest. Yet, is very important to  know that God doesn’t always call the equipped, but He wants to equip those He calls. And, if these called harvesters are going to be properly groomed and trained, then the people receiving the call must be willing to pay the price to get properly trained. And I must say that in this generation, I see a lot of people who don’t want to pay the price for this training, but they are looking for some short cut that won’t require so much of them. May God give us some truly committed servants who are willing to take whatever time is necessary, sacrifice whatever is required, and pay whatever the cost to become efficient harvesters to work in the fields. The Bible says in Luke 12:48, “To Whom much has been given, much is required….” Therefore, if the God of heaven and earth loves us enough to save us, and then call us to His service, then we should give everything to Him in our commitment. Some of the old preachers of  the Gospel use to say, “we must abandon everything and follow Him,” if we are going to be fruitful working in the fields. I hope that  this is the way you feel, because for sure, this is the way I feel still after all of these years in the ministry. Will you please join me in not only appealing to our Lord to send forth more workers, but may our level of surrender be far above the commitment of the average professing Christian. I still believe that God can and will use totally committed people in His service far beyond any person’s expectation if they will abandon all and follow Him whatever the cost.

Conclusion

Let me conclude this wonderful lesson by asking you a question: “Where are the laborers”? I know where they are! They are all around us just waiting for us to help get them to Christ and then pray to the Lord of the harvest to call them to His service and send them forth into the fields. They are everywhere, but they want become workers in the fields until we accept the responsibility to pray for God to redirect them to the harvest fields where He has planned for them to go. Therefore, my beloved friends, we must commit ourselves totally and completely to Christ, abandon all, pay the price to become better equipped, and then follow the will of God to the fields where He is sending us. Then, we must beseech our God in heaven to save and call other workers to join us in this worldwide endeavor of taking the Gospel to the world. And may I jump upon my soap box one more time and say, “God will send us and those around us to the fields where the harvest is plenteous, and not to those places where the doors are closed and the fish are not biting. Whoever would have thought that our so-called Christian leaders would be directing the workers away from the open doors to the doors that are closed where covert mission activity must  go on in order to get one or two saved every year? There is no wonder that people are stopping their giving to world missions when because one man, Ralph Winter, decided in 1974 in Lausanne, Switzerland to convince the entire Christian world that all of our mission strategy must be changed in order to fulfill the Great Commission. If this damnable lie would have been propagated in Africa before the Masai Revival, thousands upon thousands of Kenyans and Tanzanians would have never gotten saved and given their hearts to Christ. May God forgive Ralph Winter and those who bought this failed mission strategy to an endless degree and have shoved it down the throats of multitudes of pastors and churches. I can’t even begin to imagine the greatness of  the judgment of God upon these people who have squelched the missionary zeal of millions of people! Without a doubt, hell will have enlarged herself because of this false mission strategy and activity. I just wish that good Godly people and church leaders would open their eyes and see the tragic mistake that has taken the excitement away from millions of believers who no longer see the importance of winning the masses to Jesus one life at a time. If we are not to give invitations and invite people to make decisions for Christ, then why are we throwing away millions of dollars  which could be used to help the poor in our neighborhoods.

It is my sincere prayer that if you have taken the time to read this sermon and pay attention to its content that you will allow God to use it to get you where you need to be in the harvest fields, and that He may have placed upon your heart a greater burden to pray to the Lord of the harvest to call and send forth other workers to help us with the big harvest; not the fields where the Gospel is rejected and the laborers are hated! I just believe that we need to be shaking the dust from our shoes in some of these closed-door places and move on to the fields that are plenteous and white unto harvest. May God richly bless you for reading this material.