Real Life Selkirk
**MAR 15** Compassion & Courage- Part 1 (Matthew 9:35-10:15)
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  • Sermon

    Key Passage

    Matthew 9:35–10:15 NIV
    Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep. Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

    Vision/Mission/Process

    We exist to reach the world for Jesus, one person at a time.
    We accomplish our vision by creating Biblical disciples in relational environments.

    Introduction

    Today, we tackle a two-part sermon that will include next week as well.
    Matthew 10 describes an event that Jesus sent His disciples out two-by-two as an introduction to ministry.
    The passage is over 40 verses long, so we are going to break it in half.
    There is a ton to cover in this passage, so I hope we can actually do it in two weeks.
    The first part of the passage that we will look at today involves the compassion of Jesus and how He communicated that passion to His disicples.
    He gave them an opportunity to try out that compassion on others.
    The second half of the passage has to do with Jesus’ call to courage as His disciples
    Jesus prepares their hearts and minds for stepping out and being a true disciple for Jesus
    The second half of this chapter paints a vivid picture of what it means to be light in a dark world.
    We like to sing songs about it and paint beautiful stories about the theory of being a light in a dark world.
    But the reality that we will uncover is that being a light is a dangerous and difficult way to live.
    It is only worth it if your eyes are set on the Kingdom and you see the darkness as Jesus sees the darkness
    Which is why we are starting where we are today.
    There is no reason to be a light unless we love those in the darkness like Jesus does.
    Setting the stage:
    Jesus had just begun His ministry
    He was baptized, then preached a big sermon on a mountain in northern Israel where He introduced the Kingdom of Heaven and what it means to be a disciple
    Then Jesus began His ministry, preaching to the crowds and doing miracles
    During this time, He was demonstrating His authority.
    Last week, we introduced two types of authority
    There is the authority of someone being in charge
    Then there is the authority of “why we do what we do”
    Our tradition, our holding to our own truth, or our own fear can become authority in our lives telling us what to do.
    Jesus fights to be the authority, all authority, in our lives.

    Preaching

    Matthew 9:35 NIV
    Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
    The author Matthew gives us a context for the following passage. This was apparently after Jesus had moved from town to town preaching the Gospel
    The Gospel is the Good News about Jesus coming as the prophesied King.
    He was God in the flesh and He came to save the people from their sin.
    He is a conquering and rescuing King.
    As He preached the Gospel, He did all kinds of miracles
    I often want to remind us of the purpose of miracles in Jesus’ ministry.
    Miracles validate the message
    Jesus was preaching some pretty off-the-wall stuff for the people at that time. There was no one like Him.
    At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, that we covered a few weeks ago, the people were amazed because He taught as one who had authority.
    Jesus taught as one who had authority.
    That would be easy to discredit.
    There are a lot of people in our world who speak as if they have authority.
    They know everything about everything and they want everyone to know they know everything about everything.
    When these people talk, everyone puts on their seatbelt because this person is going to talk for a while. Eyes roll, heads nod off.
    This was not the case with Jesus.
    Jesus spoke as one who had authority, but then, He did a supernatural act to demonstrate that He actually has authority.
    Jesus didn’t show up to Capernaum because there was an infestation of sickness that Jesus needed to heal
    Nor did He show up to Capernaum so that world history would show a time and place where there would be no sickness.
    Jesus wasn’t on a mission to eradicate all disease.
    Jesus was on a mission to preach the Gospel and show that He had authority of God, He demonstrated that authority through miraculous acts.
    His ministry was one of salvation, not temporary health.
    Matthew 9:36 NIV
    When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
    Jesus traveled from town to town, speaking crowd to crowd, person to person.
    They kept flocking to Him.
    Jesus had compassion on them.
    Jesus revealed His heart
    I think it is interesting that Jesus had compassion on the crowds
    Did you know the Bible never says that Jesus had compassion on His disciples?
    Does this mean He didn’t love them? Not at all. He did love them!
    But Jesus often showed compassion on the crowds, the hurting, the broken, the desperate, the lost and anyone else that was wandering through life without hope.
    Have you ever seen those TV commercials with the poor dogs that have been rescued from terrible living conditions?
    Does your heart break for them?
    They are living pets without any love.
    Most of us naturally respond with some level of compassion.
    I do as well. But then I look at my dog at home. Do I have compassion on her? No. I love my dog.
    Compassion is reserved for those who are helpless, hurting and unloved.
    Jesus had compassion on the crowd because they were helpless and harassed like sheep without a shepherd.
    Jesus saw the crowd and had compassion on them.
    They had religious leaders, rabbis, Pharisees, and teachers of the law.
    But these people were not shepherds.
    Jesus heart is revealed.
    Matthew 9:37–38 NIV
    Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
    Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful”
    There are a ton of sheep that need shepherds
    “But the workers are few”
    There are very few people to bring the sheep to the shepherd
    “Ask the Lord of the harvest.”
    This is a place where I take pause with the English translation given by the NIV.
    This word, “Ask” carries tremendous meaning.
    Deomai- (Greek)
    Pray, beg, or plead
    I like how the ESV translates this text
    Matthew 9:38 ESV
    therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
    We are to pray to God to send out workers into the field.
    We might feel it is our place to see the need, go meet the need.
    Rather, when we see the need, we pray.
    We pray that God would send workers into the field.
    This is what Jesus is teaching.
    I want to remind you, in John 17, Jesus said that one purpose of discipleship was to reveal the Father.
    Jesus demonstrated that this was not their job, it was their job to first seek God.
    We cannot separate the message of Jesus from the method of Jesus.
    This is a point that we will reiterate throughout the rest of our passage today.
    Jesus said, “We need to pray for the sheep that are helpless and harassed, like sheep without a shepherd.”
    So what did Jesus do?
    Matthew 10:1–4 NIV
    Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
    So Jesus calls his 12 disciples to him. Matthew takes the time here for the first time to identify all of the disciples of Jesus.
    And Jesus gave them the authority to do miraculous things.
    Why? There are some people that might feel uncomfortable about this, and there are others that will hyperfixate on this.
    What did we say was the purpose of the miracles?
    Miracles validate the message
    The disciples were being sent out among the lost sheep to preach the Gospel about the Kingdom of Heaven.
    They were being sent out to preach with authority like Jesus did.
    Again, this would be a challenging message for many people to hear.
    So Jesus granted them the authority to do what He did to validate the message of the Gospel
    God is with this message. Because you see the power of God within me, you should listen to the message of God within me.
    I want to recap this so far, because this is going to boil down into a very important principle for us as disciples.
    Jesus has compassion on the lost.
    Jesus is equipping and sending His disciples with the mission to go and lead them to the Shepherd.
    Next, Jesus instructs them about the journey.
    All of this is predicated on Jesus compassion and the compassion of the disciples as a result.
    Matthew 10:5–6 NIV
    These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.
    This might seem odd to hear, so there are a couple of things that I want to say to address this:
    First, the promise of the Messiah came through the Jewish line.
    God promised Abraham, then David and through the prophets pointed to Jesus.
    Many prophecies were fulfilled in the lineage and the family of Jesus.
    This is why Matthew highlights the family line of Jesus to open the book of Matthew. It is because this is the fulfillment of God’s promises
    Second, we can see how God has chosen to reveal Himself in human history
    It started with a man of faith named Abraham.
    Because of Abraham’s faith, God made a promise that the whole world would be blessed through Abraham’s descendants.
    It turned into a family
    The family turned into a nation
    Then it turned into a kingdom
    We see in the New Testament, Jesus comes to the nation of Israel and the family of Abraham and we see the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham that:
    The whole world would be blessed by his seed.
    So, seeing that Jesus begins His ministry to the Jews, but then it opens up to the whole world.
    So don’t read this thinking that Jesus didn’t care about the rest of the world. He did.
    But, the time for His ministry for the rest of the world had not yet come.
    Again we see that Jesus calls the people of Israel the “lost sheep” of Israel.
    Matthew 10:7–8 NIV
    As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
    This is what Jesus was doing
    Now this is what Jesus was sending his disciples out to do.
    The miracles were there to validate the message.
    Jesus gives further instruction about their trip.
    Matthew 10:9–10 NIV
    “Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep.
    They were not to take any gold, silver or copper with them or even any extra clothes.
    They were supposed to go out there without any savings, credit cards, or any means to sustain themselves
    Jesus explains the reason why.
    He says, “The worker is worth his keep”
    The idea here is that Jesus is not asking them to go and fast from food for the whole trip
    They were supposed to go and the work they do for the people by preaching the Gospel, would be paid by people giving food, drink and clothes.
    What they received was to be how God provided for them on this trip.
    I want to step back from this.
    I love to ask the question, “Why?”
    Is it because Jesus is trying to get these guys used to suffering?
    I don’t think so.
    Was Jesus intentionally inviting difficulty into their lives?
    Also, no
    I believe Jesus was showing the disciples what it means to depend on the Father and live according to His direction.
    Do you remember the prayer Jesus told them to pray?
    Matthew 9:38 ESV
    therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
    Who would direct the laborers? God would!
    If God was directing them, then they needed to be dependent on Him as they went.
    Matthew 10:12 NIV
    As you enter the home, give it your greeting.
    As the disciples would enter a town, they would find a home.
    The traditional Jewish greeting when you enter the home is “Shalom”
    Shalom means peace
    But think through the instruction of Jesus here
    They weren’t going on their own merit
    They were going based on the Fathers direction and Jesus commission
    The peace they were called to leave on the house was the peace that only comes from God
    I want to step back from this.
    Does God’s peace go with you?
    Think about this:
    All of us have the fruit of the Spirit within us.
    The third in the list of the fruit of the Spirit is peace
    Where there is a disciple of Jesus, the hallmark of that place should be peace
    Peace because we are people of love
    Peace because we are people of grace
    Peace because we are people of mercy
    Peace because we are people of compassion
    Peace because God’s Spirit lives within us.
    Everything about being a disciple of Jesus should develop peace around us.
    When the disciples went into their host-homes, they were to greet it with peace.
    Matthew 10:13–14 NIV
    If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.
    Don’t read this as if there are certain people worthy of the Gospel and others who are not.
    Read this as their response to the Gospel made them worthy.
    This was the message of the sermon on the mount.
    It isn’t us that gains merit before God. It is Jesus alone.
    If they respond to the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom, then they would be accepting the teaching that the disciples brought.
    A teaching about how Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. They cannot fulfill the law themselves. They need to be followers of Jesus.
    As people would hear this message and accept it, of course they would become people of peace.
    If they did not receive the message of the Gospel, the peace of God would not remain on them.
    It would leave with the people of peace, Jesus’ disciples
    The same was true for the towns that the disciples would go to.
    They would preach the Gospel, but if they were rejected by the towns, they would shake the dust off of their sandals.
    That may see odd, but it was something that was done in that day by teachers.
    As they left the town, they would shake off every remaining remnant they had from that town.
    They did not want any of that town or its dirt to contaminate them.
    Their message was too good to be carried alongside of the rejection of the people.
    Matthew 10:15 NIV
    Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
    Jesus ends our passage today with some heavy words that we need to remember.
    There is a day of judgment coming.
    It is real.
    The only thing that protects a town or a person from that day of judgment is how they respond to the Gospel.
    I have communicated this whole passage to you.
    I think that we have a good picture of what this passage contains and what it meant for the people in Jesus day, but there are some massively significant teachings that I want to draw out of our text.

    Teaching

    I want to begin with some application beginning where our passage ends today
    There is a judgment day.
    The judgment day is real and everyone will face it.
    As we get further into the book of Matthew, Jesus will articulate this point deeper
    On this judgment day, the hearts of people will be revealed
    There will be those who are followers of the King and citizens of the Kingdom
    There will be those who have not surrendered to the King.
    Heaven and hell are the eternal destinations of the two groups
    When Jesus went around preaching and teaching, He saw the people and had compassion on them
    They were like sheep without a shepherd
    We might look at this and think that their lives must have looked like chaos. They didn’t have any rules to follow and they must have had all sorts of issues.
    Not true at all
    These people were rule followers in a religious society.
    Their helplessness and harassment came spiritually and there was no hope for them.
    As these people navigated their lives, they did so with absolutely no eternal hope.
    Everything that happened in their lives resulted in temporary outcomes, but they were lost spiritually and eternally.
    We must see the world as Jesus sees the world
    This is why Jesus had compassion on them.
    When you look out your window, when you look at your friends, your family, your co-workers, what do you see?
    Do you see people with problems? Everyone has problems
    Do you see people with sickness? Everyone gets sick
    Jesus was looking at the people through the lens of eternity.
    Truly, if you see people as Jesus sees people, we develop an urgency in our hearts.
    It isn’t just an urgency for salvation, it is also a compassion for where they are.
    It is where we were in our own lives.
    Who is Jesus laying on your heart today?
    Our church exists to reach the world for Jesus one person at a time.
    Who is your one?
    Jesus went from town to town.
    This may be someone you know from any interaction in your life.
    Look at them as Jesus sees them.
    Striving for meaning and value.
    Harassed and helpless
    Like sheep without a shepherd
    Let the lost break your heart.
    Plead in Prayer
    We don’t see a need and jump into action!
    Jesus saw the need and it broke His heart
    He said to “pray earnestly” to the Lord of the harvest to send workers
    Pray to God for this person. Pray that God would send a worker.
    This isn’t a simple 2 second prayer. That isn’t “earnestly praying”
    This is going to God on their behalf. Praying for them. Seeing their need as it truly is.
    We may earnestly pray for someone’s sickness or cancer
    We may earnestly pray for someone's job situation
    We may earnestly pray about conflict we are experiencing or someone else is experiencing
    But do we pray earnestly for God to send someone to the lost sheep in our lives that have broken our hearts?
    Be Ready to Go
    In the very next verse, Jesus sends the disciples out to the lost sheep of Israel.
    The very ones He had compassion on
    Notice, Jesus didn’t send the disciples to every lost person. Rather, he sent them to the people God would lead them to.
    This was for someone, some situation, some God-circumstance that they would preach the Gospel and God would do His part in their lives
    We must have compassion on the lost, and pray for the lost that God has laid on our hearts
    But that doesn’t mean that we are immediately sent to that person. We may be. Or we may not be.
    But we ARE sent.
    We may be sent to a situation that someone else is praying for
    Someone else may be sent to the situation we are praying for
    We are sent. We aren’t waiting to be sent
    Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go...”
    We are called.
    Be Ready with the Gospel
    Jesus sent them out to preach the Good News
    You may say, “I haven’t taken that class yet.”
    I ask, “Are you saved?”
    If you are, than I ask, “How did you get that way?”
    That is your answer.
    I speak these words up here every week. I say it in the same way every week. I hope you can remember them at some point.
    Gospel presentation
    Trust God
    God’s Part
    He will lead
    He will guide
    He will prepare their heart
    He is the source of salvation, not you
    Their Part
    They must respond to God, not you
    If they reject, they are rejecting God, not you
    Not everyone will respond
    Your Part
    Tell your testimony
    Good news
    Love them as God loves them
    Trust God’s part (no belt, money, etc.)

    Conclusion

    So here is where we land today.
    Jesus looked at a crowd and saw eternity. He saw faces, stories, burdens — but more than that, He saw sheep without a shepherd. And it moved Him.
    If we are going to be His disciples, we must ask: Do we see people the way He sees people? Do we feel what He feels?
    Compassion is not optional in the Kingdom. It is the starting point.
    But compassion does not stop at emotion. It moves us to our knees. “Pray earnestly,” Jesus said. Beg the Lord of the harvest. Plead with Him.
    And here is the uncomfortable truth: When you begin to plead for workers, you must be willing to become one.
    You cannot separate the message of Jesus from the method of Jesus. He prayed. He depended on the Father. He went. And then He sent.
    Some of you have a name on your heart right now. A family member. A co-worker. A friend. A neighbor.
    That is not random. That is compassion forming in you.
    So here is the call:
    See them. Pray for them. Be ready to go. Be ready to speak. Trust God with the results.
    Because there is a real harvest. There is a real Shepherd. And there is a real day of judgment.
    The only hope for sheep without a shepherd is that someone, somewhere, loved them enough to carry peace into their home and proclaim, “The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.”
    Church, we exist to reach the world for Jesus one person at a time.
    So who is your one?
    Let compassion shape your heart this week. Next week, we will talk about the courage it takes to act on it.
    But today — let your heart break like His.
    Use this for directed Prayer

      • Matthew 9:35–10:15NIV

      • Matthew 9:35NIV

      • Matthew 9:36NIV

      • Matthew 9:37–38NIV

      • Matthew 9:38NIV

      • Matthew 10:1–4NIV

      • Matthew 10:5–6NIV

      • Matthew 10:7–8NIV

      • Matthew 10:9–10NIV

      • Matthew 9:38NIV

      • Matthew 10:12NIV

      • Matthew 10:13–14ESV

      • Matthew 10:15NIV

  • Finished Work Of Christ
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