NOW HIRING

Lent 2012: Week THREE

Now Hiring

Matthew 9:35-38

Objective: To "apply" ourselves to the call God has for us while obtaining the wholeness and healing Christ has promised us.

During this economy, we rarely see the bold-print black and orange signs that contain only two words: NOW HIRING. Although we do not see those signs around Atlanta and other cities/communities as often as we would like, I believe that God never removes that sign from His spiritual job site. Because we declare to be children of God, we also take on the "workload" of the Kingdom of God...or at least we should. In this third week of Lent, I believe we hear Jesus' message ringing loud and clear" "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few".

Breakdown of Scripture:

(verse 35) Doesn't this verse sound familiar? Just a few chapters later, Matthew records Jesus doing the same thing we witnessed him doing during last week's study. Jesus is going through the towns and villages, Jesus is teaching in their synagogues, Jesus is proclaiming the good news, and Jesus is healing every disease and sickness. Jesus is ultimately demonstrating again that through Him, we can experience wholeness and healing. Jesus is demonstrating that if we get in Jesus' presence, then we can experience His promise!

So, what is so different about this scripture than last week's. If you didn't read last week's lesson...stop now and review it first. We must be clear (FIRST) that our witness is of utmost importance!!! Now that we have that settled, what else does this week's scripture teach?

(verse 36) Jesus sees, Jesus has compassion, Jesus cares about our needs.

SEES-In this scripture, there was a crowd of people. In spite of their being a crowd, Jesus "SAW" the crowd. He did not walk past or look past the individuals.

COMPASSION-To have compassion suggests that you do not simply care about the afflictions of someone else, but you also desire to alleviate that affliction.

CARES-Jesus had compassion because the people "were like sheep without a shepherd". Jesus knew about their afflictions and cared that they did not have the love, protection, and guidance of a shepherd.

(verse 37) Jesus speaks to his disciples and declares "NOW HIRING"! (God needs workers because there is already a harvest that is ready...there are people who are ready to come to Christ, but God needs workers/witnesses to God's word and the truth of God's promise)

(verse 38) We must seek the Lord for the workers in the harvest filed.

APPLICATION: No matter how crowded life seems. We know that there are so many people who need something from God and oftentimes we may even wonder if our concerns are important to God. We can be encouraged that no matter what our concern is...no matter how great or small...God SEES us within the crowd and desires to show COMPASSION on us. In other words, God knows, cares, and will do something about it. However, this Word is not just meant to be a moment of celebration over the fact that God will be a shepherd to us...no, this Word is also a call to action. If we are observing Lent, then we have some type of relationship with God. Therefore, we can also see ourselves in verses 37 and 38...as Jesus' disciples. Jesus speaks to us this week and says: "NOW HIRING"!!!

CHALLENGE: Get to work this week!!! On this journey towards wholeness and healing, I challenge you to get to work! Your application has already been approved and the harvest is already set to be received. However, God needs us to do the work....God will send the workers out! Will we be in the number? It is time for us to not simply observe Lent and pat ourselves on the back for the sacrifices that we are making to gain a closer walk with God. It is time out for us "wearing our religion" instead of "working our relationship". Come on...join me...let's get to work!!!

PRAYER:

Dear Lord-thank you for another week to experience this Lenten season. We ask that you continue to walk with us throughout this journey so that we will be able to serve and please you in all that we say and do. We know that you have led us here, so we thank you for guiding our future steps. In Jesus' name-Amen.