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The Harvest Is Plentiful. Are You Ready? | The Gospels | Matthew 10:1–20

October 16, 20260 comments♥ 0
00:00Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.In the time it takes to get to work.I'm Jeff Parrott.All right, everybody, break out your pumpkin spice lattes because it is time for the fall harvest.That is, at least, if you live in the northern hemisphere.For most people, the harvest season is measured by what we consume.And who can blame them?There's the plethora of pumpkins ready for carving, the abundance of apples,
00:34waiting to be baked into delicious pies.And don't forget the new menu of optionsfor caffeinated autumnal drinks at your local coffee shop.All that stuff is great.I love it.But there's something that I and most of us can missif all we do is receive the fruit of the harvest.Our consumer experience stands in a stark contrast
00:59to the experience of the farmer.because for the farmer, the fall harvest season is not marked by relaxing days with a sugar-filledfall-flavored coffee drink. No, for the farmer, the harvest season is measured by full, long daysof deep exertion and a wide array of pressures to finish the work of harvesting before it's toolate. The farmer knows that harvest is not just a noun. It's a verb.It's something to do.The harvest isn't about lounging.It's about labor.
01:39According to Jesus at the end of Matthew chapter 9,we are living in the season of harvest.The kingdom of God is cultivating new lifein the mission of Jesus,and kingdom fruit is coming.But here's the question that all of us have to face.Will you and I approach this season of king,kingdom harvest like consumers or like laborers.
02:07It'd be easy to live like the consumer Christianwho prioritizes personal ease and cozy vibes all the time,always chasing down the next spiritual pumpkin spice lattethat makes us feel satisfied and feel comfortable on our own terms.Now, Jesus knows the temptation to veer toward a consumer mentalityin the harvest season, which is why he says in Matthew 9,the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest
02:43to send out laborers into his harvest.By God's design, the harvest of the kingdomwill be worked by people of the kingdom,by laborers who are loved and brought back to life in the gospel.And in our passage today, we get a picture of what this labor of the harvest looks like.As we hear these instructions from Jesus to his first disciples in Matthew chapter 10,we will be challenged to consider how we too can be transformed from consumersinto laborers as the harvest work of the king continues.
03:23Now as we approach God's word together, let's pause and ask for His grace to move through our time.Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the gift of life and breath,and we thank you for the good gift of your word.We bring before you every part of our experience now,our joys and our sorrows, our anxiety and our excitement,our calendars and our contingencies, all of it.God, would you meet us in the space?Jesus, help us abide in you as we engage with your truth,
03:58And Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in Matthew's Gospel account.As we read your living word, may it read us and restore us to life with you.In Jesus' name, amen.Our passage today begins with Jesus calling the disciples to himself and giving them authority over unclean spirits and afflictions.He is passing on the restynolds.restorative kingdom power that he holds as the Messiah, and he's sending them out to be laborers in his harvest.Eventually, this harvest work will extend to all people, to both Jews and Gentiles alike, to the nations.But for now, Jesus is sending his disciples to the lost sheep of Israel, to tell them the good news that their long-awaited king is here.
04:53Let's see what this harvest labor looks like in verses 7 through 15.Jesus says this,And proclaim as you go, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.You received without paying, give without pay.Acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff,for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it,and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy,
05:41let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyonewill not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leavethat house or town. Truly I say to you,it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.Okay, let's go back to verses 7 through 8 for a moment.This is big.This is thematic in Matthew's gospel account.The harvest labor of Jesus' disciples is meant to be marked by what they say and by what they do.
06:22Probably notice that.They are to go and proclaim that the king's,of heaven is at hand, yet they're also meant to portray and preview the reality of the kingdomwith their lives. They're called to be a living picture of the restorative power of Jesus's reign.This, by the way, is the same framework we see in Jesus' ministry back in Matthew chapter 4,verse 23, and earlier in chapter 9, verse 35. Jesus would proclaim the good news about his kingdom,with his words, but at the same time, he would also preview the reality of his kingdom with hislife, with his actions. The proclamation is always paired with portrayal. It's a way of showing
07:11this is what it looks like when the kingdom of God advances. This is the abundance of Jesus's harvest.Now with that in mind, let's pause and just do a little bit of self-reflection. If you area follower of Jesus, is your labor in his harvest comprised of both words about him and restorativepractices like him? Some of us might be really willing to talk about Jesus, but we are hesitant to lovelike him. Others of us on the other side of things may feel much more comfortable portraying thekingdom, but not proclaiming it with our words. If you notice yourself,veering in one direction and avoiding the other, there's a good chance that the Holy Spirit is tryingto wake you up and transform you into a different kind of harvest laborer who both proclaims
08:09and portrays the reign of Jesus. Now, it would be easy to imagine that this combination ofproclamation and portrayal sets you up for a lifetime of ministry success and fruitfulness,where everything is always up and to the right,like the American dream, but just within the kingdom of God.Perhaps this approach to the kingdom labor that Jesus is describingmakes the harvest easy, right?Like it's always up and to the right?Well, not so fast.
08:41Listen to what Jesus says in verses 16 through 20.Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.So be wise as serpents and in a sense.as dubs. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake to bear witness before them and theGentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say,for what you are to say will be given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the spirit ofyour father speaking through you. All right, this is a sobering passage. Notice that the realities
09:30of persecution and resistance are not merely possible here. They are guaranteed. They will happen tothe harvest laborers. Verse 19 says, not if, but when they deliver you over. And that's whyJesus includes this word about not being anxious amidst the dangers and pressures of thekingdom harvest. Do not be anxious in your labor of kingdom proclamation and kingdom portrayal,because the spirit of your father is working in and working through you. Jesus' words herebring us back to one of his key statements earlier in Matthew chapter 9. There is a Lord of theharvest. It does not belong to us. You and I do not own the harvest. We don't guarantee its outcome.All of it belongs to King Jesus.
10:26Now, remembering this truth is key,because laboring in the kingdom harvest is never meant to lead to anxious toil or burnout.We don't approach the harvest with a tight grip of ownership,but with the open palm of stewardship.Yes, there will be seasons of disorientation and disappointment and persecution.The pressures in this harvest are really,We are not comfortable consumers, but that does not make us into kingdom workaholicsbecause there is a king of the kingdom harvest.
11:03Our labor is fueled by his power, his life, and his love that are all perfectly secure in Jesus.As we reflect on these themes, how might Jesus be sending you in your own life, in your own context, into his kingdom?How does this passage empower you to slowly grow as someone who is not merely a comfortableconsumer, but a kingdom cultivator and harvester and laborer in God's love?What will your proclamation and portrayal look like in this day and in this season of life?And just as this passage empowers us, it also humbles us.we remember that there is a Lord of the harvest.He is at work in us and through us.
11:58And because that's true,how do you need to loosen your grip on resultsand let go of the anxietiesthat come from a false sense of ownership?The Holy Spirit is actively at workboth in and through you right now.How do you need to depend on himas you enter the fields of kingdom labor?
12:20There is a Lord of the Harvest, and he is sending out laborers into his work of kingdom renewal.Will you go into the work that he has for you today?Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, your kingdom is on the move.You are the Lord of the Harvest, and your harvest is plentiful.By your grace, transform us into the kingdom laborers you've called us.us to be. We pray all of this because of your great gospel grace. We pray for your glory, and we pray inyour bigger story. In Jesus' name, amen.