It’s Go Time: Our Moment for His Mission
Love Hard. Pray Hard. Work Hard.
The audio of this teaching is available on Spotify.
Matthew 9:35-38 (CSB) | Pastor David Watson | Bear Creek Community Church, Lavon, TX
What Is This Sermon About?
This is a message about the people we walk past every day without ever really seeing them. Pastor David Watson opens Matthew 9 and asks one question that shapes everything else: who is going to care for people like that? People who are lost, broken, distressed, and dejected. People who are quietly asking whether anyone knows they exist.
Jesus looked at those crowds and felt compassion. Then he turned to his disciples and told them the harvest is abundant but the workers are few. That statement is not a description of a problem in the first century. It is an assignment for the church today.
This message was preached on the Sunday before Bear Creek Community Church's public launch, and it lays out the clearest picture of why this church exists.
What Does Matthew 9:35-38 Say?
"Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.'"
Matthew 9:35-38 (CSB)
Five words to mark in your Bible: compassion, abundant, few, pray, workers.
The underlined words tell you the problem. The circled words tell you the response.
Why Don't We See the People We Are Surrounded By?
There is no shortage of people in your life. They are in your neighborhood, at your job, on your roads, in the restaurants you visit, at the desk next to yours, in your family, and in your feed.
We are surrounded by people, but we don't always see the people we're surrounded by.
Some of them have been overlooked. Some have been undervalued. Some have been looked past on the way to the next person in line. Researchers have called what has happened since 2020 a loneliness epidemic, which means more people are asking the same question every single day: does anyone actually care about me?
Some of those people are sitting in our rooms right now. Some of them will walk through our doors in the weeks to come.
What Is the Chiasm in Matthew 4 Through Matthew 9?
A chiasm is a literary structure where a writer opens with a statement, closes with the same statement, and everything sandwiched in between is about that statement.
Matthew builds one across six chapters:
Matthew 4:23-25 opens it. Jesus begins going all over Galilee, teaching in synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness. Crowds follow him. He sees them.
Matthew 5-7 is the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus confronts religious people whose religion has blinded them to the people right in front of them.
Matthew 8-9 is a running record of Jesus healing, casting out demons, and inviting outsiders in. A tax collector named Matthew gets called off his booth and into the group.
Matthew 9:35-38 closes it with nearly the same sentence Matthew opened with, and then adds something new.
That addition is the whole point. Matthew repeats the statement and then attaches Jesus's application to it. Jesus was doing this work. Now he tells his followers to do the same. The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.
Bible Nerd Nugget: Notice the verb shift. Matthew 4 says Jesus began going around to the towns and villages. Matthew 9 says he continued. The chiasm closes, but the mission does not.
What Does Splanchnizomai Mean in Matthew 9:36?
Our modern understanding of the word compassion is too soft for what Matthew wrote.
The Greek word here is splanchnizomai. It describes being moved in your inward parts, a physical, gut level reaction to another person's pain or circumstances that forces a response.
In the Bible, compassion is not a feeling you have and then move on from. It is an action that happens inside you and produces an action out of you toward someone else. It is a burden.
Jesus did not step out of heaven into humanity because people made him feel something. He came because he carried a deep rooted burden for people who were on their way to hell, and he was willing to do whatever it took.
Who Is Jesus Talking About When He Says the Harvest Is Abundant?
Look at how the passage describes these people:
Sick. Every disease and every sickness.
Distressed. Experiencing mental or physical suffering.
Dejected. Sad, unhappy, without hope, disappointed in themselves. They feel like failures.
Like sheep without a shepherd. Cast out, pushed away, shoved aside.
Say all of that in fewer words: lost, broken, and messed up.
Nobody says amen to that, and yet that was every one of us before Jesus. Not once does Jesus stick a finger in someone's chest and tell them their wreck of a life is their own fault. He feels compassion. Then he turns to his disciples and gives them the assignment.
Jesus sees the otherwise ignored.
How Does the Woman at the Well Connect to Matthew 9?
Some version of Matthew 9:37 shows up in all four Gospels. One of the clearest is John 4.
Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well in the middle of the day. He tells her everything she has ever done, not to beat her over the head with it, but to show her something. She has been searching for a place to belong in a lot of different places, and it has cost her pain, brokenness, and disappointment. She has isolated herself because she feels like a failure.
Then Jesus shows her that someone can know all of it and still see her as a person.
She runs back to town and brings everyone she knows. As that crowd walks out toward the well, Jesus tells his disciples: "Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest" (John 4:35, CSB).
He is looking at people who are all asking the same question. Does anyone care about me?
Who Is Going to Care for People Like That?
Jesus gives the answer, and it is not complicated.
You are. I am. We will.
Our answer as a church is that we care. That is why we swing our doors as wide as we can swing them. That is why we cast the net as wide as we can cast it. Not because we have it figured out, and not because we think we are special. Because we care.
But Matthew 9 is not addressed to a church. The church does not even get mentioned for another nine chapters. Jesus is talking to individuals. To disciples. To people who have already said yes to following him.
So the corporate answer is yes, we care. The harder question is personal. Is that your answer?
What Does It Mean to Love Hard, Pray Hard, and Work Hard?
Three words circled in the passage. One response to Jesus's question. This is the Watson family motto, and it may become yours.
Love Hard
Jesus saw the crowds and felt compassion. Not a soft sentiment, but a burden that demanded action.
This is not passive, stand in the back, sit on our hands love. It is fierce, committed, no matter what love that walks alongside messy, broken people. It means we will get rejected. Things will get said about us. People will call us crazy.
We love God and people with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength, because we are trying to be like Jesus.
A litmus test: Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 (CSB) that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." The reverse holds too. Where your heart is, your treasure follows. If you love people the way Jesus loved people, you will leverage your time, your talent, and your resources to let them know you care.
Pray Hard
Before Jesus says go, he says pray. Before any mission and before any movement, prayer comes first.
Some scholars argue the word here is better translated beg. Beg the Lord of the harvest. Beg the God who still calls people to himself. Get on your knees and beg the God who rescues people out of the mess they are in.
You will never carry the same burden and the same compassion Jesus carried without prayer, because prayer is where kingdom vision begins. We will not build anything for God until we get on our knees and ask him to help us see people the way he sees them, and the way he saw us.
Pray with urgency. Pray with expectancy. Pray with faith. Pray like it matters, because it does.
Work Hard
Jesus says to pray for workers to be sent into his harvest. It is God's harvest. And though Jesus does not say it outright, the implication is unavoidable: the workers are the people he is talking to.
That is us.
Jesus never says there is a harvest problem. He says the opposite. The harvest is abundant. What is short is workers.
We are ambassadors of the kingdom. We are dealers of hope. We are harvesters, sent by Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit, and our job is to stay committed to the mission. We will not coast. We will not consume. We will not miss this moment.
How Many Churchgoers Actually Know the Great Commission?
Barna Research Group surveyed churchgoers, defined as people who attend church twice per month, and asked whether they had heard of the Great Commission and could say what it is.
17% could. 83% could not.
Tell me there is not a worker shortage.
We will not be the 83%. Everyone in this church will know that the call on their life as a follower of Jesus is to go and make disciples.
What Did Penn Jillette Say About Sharing Your Faith?
Penn Jillette, the magician and outspoken atheist, recorded a video in 2009 after a man approached him following a show and handed him a Bible. Jillette described the man as kind, honest, and not defensive, someone who looked him in the eye and was genuinely complimentary rather than flattering.
Then Jillette said he has never respected people who believe in heaven and hell and refuse to tell anyone because it might get socially awkward. His question was blunt: "How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?"
That question comes from a man who does not believe any of it. The man who handed him the Bible knew he would probably be rejected and did it anyway. That is what loving hard looks like.
What Is Our Moment for His Mission?
Jesus has placed us here, in this moment, in this place, surrounded by these people, for the advancement of his mission. The way we say it around here is that we are here to help people find life with Jesus.
We have two options. We can seize this moment or we can miss it. We can be used by God to impact the world, or we can live comfortable lives and ignore everybody else.
God's mission will not fail. The church down the road will not fail. But we might.
And here is the thing. I don't want people to only find the answer to their question when they walk through our doors. If Sunday morning is the only place they discover that somebody cares, we have missed the moment. I want them to find that answer in your neighborhood, at your workplace, in the seat next to yours at the restaurant, and anywhere they run into you in the wild.
So the question is simple. Are you in?
What Is the 9:38 Prayer Challenge?
Set two alarms on your phone this week: 9:38 a.m. and 9:38 p.m.
When they go off, get on your knees and beg the Lord of the harvest. Pray for the specific people in your life who are far from Jesus. Pray for the people God is going to bring through our doors this Sunday.
Not because we think we are something special, but because the harvest is abundant, the workers are few, and we have said yes.
Key Takeaways from This Message
We are surrounded by people, but we don't always see the people we're surrounded by.
Jesus sees the otherwise ignored.
Compassion in Scripture is a gut level burden that produces action, not a passing feeling.
Jesus never says there is a harvest problem. He says there is a worker shortage.
Our response is to love hard, pray hard, and work hard.
This is our moment for his mission. We can seize it or we can miss it.
Discussion Questions for Small Groups and Personal Reflection
Who are the people you are surrounded by that you regularly look past? Name one specifically.
Read Matthew 9:36. Where is the difference between feeling sorry for someone and carrying a burden for them showing up in your life right now?
Jesus commands prayer before he commands going. Why do you think that order matters, and what does it change about how you approach the people in your life?
Penn Jillette asked how much you would have to hate someone to stay quiet. What holds you back from speaking about Jesus with the people closest to you?
If your treasure follows your heart, what does your calendar and your bank account say about what you actually care about?
What would it look like for someone in your neighborhood or workplace to get the answer to their question, "does anyone care about me," from you this week?
Are you in? What is one specific step you are taking this week to say yes?
Scripture Referenced in This Message
Matthew 9:35-38 (CSB) - the anchor passage
Matthew 4:23-25 (CSB) - the opening of the chiasm
Matthew 5-7 (CSB) - the Sermon on the Mount
John 4:1-42 (CSB) - the woman at the well
John 4:35 (CSB) - open your eyes and look at the fields
Matthew 6:21 (CSB) - where your treasure is
Matthew 28:19-20 (CSB) - the Great Commission
About Bear Creek Community Church in Lavon, Texas
Where Does Bear Creek Community Church Meet Near Lavon, Texas?
Bear Creek Community Church is a contemporary, Bible teaching church serving Lavon, Wylie, Josephine, Royse City, and Rockwall, Texas. We gather every Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
Come as you are. However lost, broken, or messy life feels right now, there is a place for you here. Plan your visit at bc3.church
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