Laborers Are Still Needed!

Jesus traveled around through all the cities and villages of that area, teaching in the Jewish synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And wherever he went he healed people of every sort of illness. And what pity he felt for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd. “The harvest is so great, and the workers are so few,” he told his disciples. “So pray to the one in charge of the harvesting and ask him to recruit more workers for his harvest fields.” (Matthew 9:35-37)

The field is white already, and laborers are still needed to go out there to actively participate in the season of harvest in order to gather and preserve the harvest unto life eternal.

According to the rendition of the Living Bible (Matthew 9:35-36), Jesus once travelled round through all the cities and villages of a particular area in Israel, teaching and healing all sort of illness in the synagogue. He felt pity for the crowd because: their problems were so great, secondly, they didn’t know what to do and thirdly, they didn’t know where to go for help.  Jesus said,” they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

In response to the situation above, our Lord Jesus Christ had given us the first important but most neglected assignment that precedes the great commission of “Go ye…”, which is to Pray to the One in charge of the harvesting, and to ask Him to recruit more workers for his harvest fields.

The Living bible gave us a vivid picture of the state of the harvest fields. The harvest fields are those with great problems, what other problems can be as great as the burden of sin on a man. It is the greatest problem of every sinner, and quite unfortunately, it is the problem of most church members in our churches today. I don’t care the kind of calling a preacher may be acclaiming to have, if his ministry is not treating the problem of sin in the soul of man, such a minister may just be setting himself up for a great disappointment on the day he stands before the Lord face to face! You don’t treat sin by simply preaching against it, sin in the soul is treated through the preaching of Christ- Faith, Hope and Love.

This is one major call for all the ministers of the gospel; let the sheep know that they have been freed from the penalty of sin, and teach them to know that they are dead to sin and to know how to victoriously live above the power of Sin.

Secondly, the scripture painted a vivid picture of the state of the crowd as people in confusion- “…they didn’t know what to do…” These are the bunch of people in our pews today. Well, since Jesus said that they were like sheep without shepherd, confusion is certainly imminent. Do the people in the church today know what they are called into? They will not know until the shepherd in the house is a true ordained harvester sent by the Lord of harvest Himself. The church and our world is in dire need of more laborers than ever before in the history of mankind.

We need to ask the Lord of harvest to send His laborers to all the fields, (the church not excluded) where people do not know what to do. There are too many confusions about too many things in the hearts of Gods people today. This we must resolve, before we can treat the confusion in the hearts of unbelievers in our world.

The third picture the Living bible painted are those without direction. They are those who do not know where to go for help. Things are going out of hands these days. When you ask people in the church, “what’s your pastor or leader doing about that misbehaving husband or wayward child, they will tell you, nothing?” Many have exhausted options on the pulpit, and they do not know where else to go for help. We need a true harvester from the Lord of harvest on our pulpit, we need counselling and prayer room that will give the lost souls direction to the very shepherd of their souls.

The three issues aforementioned are as a result of sheep having no shepherd. Though, the sheep may be a committed member of a denomination with a vibrant pastor, yet without a true shepherd.

A true shepherd is one who can treat the diseases of the soul of the sheep, bring the sheep out of the pit of confusion and give direction to the sheep. By these, the eternal destiny of every sheep (believer) is preserved unto eternal life.