Sermon for Sunday, Oct 5th, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Jeremiah 50:6-7 ESV] 6 “My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. 7 All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
New Testament Reading:
[1 Corinthians 3:1-9 ESV] 1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
Gospel Reading:
[Luke 10:1-12 ESV] 1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Sermon Text:
[Matthew 9:35-38 ESV] 35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Introduction
As we typically preach THROUGH books of the Bible in the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition, it is not often that the same text is the subject of the sermon on multiple occasions within a short period of time. But as we come now to Matthew 9:35-38, I recognize that Dr. Backus preached from this text at my Installation Service here at Unionville Presbyterian Church. That was now over 5 years ago, so you can be the judge as to whether that is a short time ago or not.
The subject of the sermon today, from that text, is also the title of the sermon, “Pray for More Gospel Laborers.”
In short, we have Jesus concluding a certain time of preaching and healing as he goes from place to place proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Seeing the state of the people he has compassion and says to his disciples “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into the his harvest.”
So this is a passage of transition. The Sermon on the Mount of chapter 5-7 gave way to the miracle accounts of chapter 8 and 9, and now we move into a section where Jesus raises up disciples and teaches them, preparing them for the work they are to do.
And the command is to Pray for More Gospel Laborers.
I. What is a Gospel Laborer?
You might ask, what is a Gospel Laborer?
Gospel Laborers can be teachers, elders, deacons, even each and every Christian to some degree in their own lives and situations. But primarily what is in mind here is Gospel evangelists, missionaries, and pastors. Those who labor full time for the gospel.
We see that because of the context. “The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few.” “The harvest” is referring to the people that Jesus sees out there without a shepherd. They need to be gathered in; gather in to the church; and the method of accomplishing that is to have Gospel Laborers proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that they will come to Faith in Jesus Christ.
God brings people to faith through His word, but it is the laborer who usually brings that word to the people. So Paul says in Romans 10:15 “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news.”
This, I think, is a bit of a relief. I don’t want to be taken the wrong way here; all are to be involved in evangelism, but some are especially called to the task. And its OK if you are not a full-time Gospel Laborer. That was something so important about what came out of the Reformation of the Church 500 years ago; monks are not more holy than “regular” folks. ALL Christians are saints, we are all members of the priesthood of believers.
We are each called then to some work. Some are engineers, some are teachers, some are nurses, some are physical laborers, and some are called to be Gospel Laborers.
Now his term “Gospel Laborer” implies and proves that such work is “LABOR.”
And it is indeed labor. It takes time and effort. And consequently, as the Scripture show us, Gospel laborers are to be paid for their labor.
A. Gospel laborers are to be paid for their labor.
This has some effect against the Plymouth Brethren who don’t allow any regular full time laborers, but have elders take turns preaching. Also against their view, we find in Scripture that the laborers for the Gospel are to be paid. This is even more explicit.
[1 Corinthians 9:13-14 ESV] 13 Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
B. Gospel laborers are to work hard.
But woe to the lazy pastor or missionary, who gets paid without laboring. He is stealing from the Lord.
We indeed each steal from our employer when we do not work hard.
Jesus gives the example for the Gospel laborer in his own efforts of working hard: “And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.”
This doesn’t mean that all pastors are to be Circuit Riders, traveling preachers, or that all pastors are to be healers of diseases. But it does show that pastors are to labor for the Gospel. They are to “proclaim the gospel of the kingdom.” Pastors who do not do preach the Gospel are not pastors, and churches without the Gospel are not churches.
II. People without the Gospel Laborers are Sheep without a Shepherd
These Gospel Laborers are to be sent out because the people are “sheep without a shepherd.”
And what is a “sheep without a shepherd.” It is a “sitting duck,” or “a sitting sheep,” easy prey for a wolf.
Imagine a sheep sitting at the edge of a field with woods just beyond him. He’s all alone and in those woods is a wolf, or even a pack of wolves. Without a shepherd, the sheep is going to be attacked and killed by the wolves.
The wolves in the context of Jesus’s ministry are the Pharisees; the scribes and religious leaders.
Jesus had compassion on the people because he say that they were “harassed and helpless.” Harassed by whom? By the Pharisees with all their laws. Helpless because the religious leaders were of no help, only a hindrance.
One commentator says “The scribes and Pharisees filled the people with vain notions, burdened them with the traditions of the elders, deluded them into many mistakes, while they were not instructed in their duty, nor acquainted with the extent and spiritual nature of the divine law.”
And if you’ve ever sat under that type of teaching, whether from a harsh father or a tyrannical pastor, you too would feel harassed. Challenged at every move with a new law and a new requirement, rather than given the freedom of Christ.
Now, it is AT FIRST that Gospel Laborers are SENT OUT, as far as evangelists and missionaries. But the long-term goal is to BRING THE PEOPLE IN. The term is the Bible is then “elders” and “overseers,” the type of Gospel Laborer that will teach you more of the faith, give you the discipline of direction when you have sinned, and who care for and watches over your soul in his work.
There is a great need for Gospel Laborers because without them the people are like sheep without a shepherd. This phrase, “Sheep without a shepherd” describes many people today. There are many who claim to be Christians, but have no church and have no pastor. I actually heard two men debating (friendly) at a Christian coffee shop last week in Western New York whether it was necessary to join a church. I (annoyingly) barged into their conversation and mentioned to them 1 Peter 5:5 – obey your elders in the Lord. You can’t obey your elders, if you don’t have any! If you are not part of a church, your not doing it right! The scriptures tell us to not forsake the assembly of the brethren, and they tell us that when converts were made in the early church they were “counted” among the brothers. The church has always had some understanding of membership and its commitment. So without membership, without being part of the Body of Christ, people are sheep without shepherds, if they are sheep at all.
Quite a few places in the OT use that language of “sheep without shepherds” for the people of Israel. Jeremiah 50:6, Ezekiel 34:3-6, Zechariah 10:2, 2 Chronicles 18:16. So it is an Old Testament idea; Jesus is speaking the language of the people to the people; the language of Scripture.
But now Christ has come. He is the Good Shepherd. The Gospel Laborers are his “under-shepherds” working for His Kingdom. Knowing the Lord, the people of the Lord then are WITH A SHEPHERD. Jesus is even GOD WITH US, IMMANUEL. The good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
III. Pray for More Gospel Laborers to be raised up.
Now the compassion of Christ leads him to say to the disciples “pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Pray for Gospel laborers.
More specifically pray for God to raise up NEW Gospel Laborers.
Pray for your pastor and for missionaries, of course, but the focus of this passage is to pray for MORE pastors and missionaries.
Why? Because the harvest IS plentiful. That is encouraging. This is one of those indications that MANY will be brought to the Lord. If it is just a few who “make the cut” they we don’t need many laborers, but Jesus is saying “pray for more laborers.”
The harvest is so plentiful that we need more workers! And the time is short!
That is the thing about harvests (of grain and fruit and vegetables); when you have a good year, it all comes at once! Farmers will work through the night to gather grain because a rain storm is coming later in the week. Fruit and vegetables growers might also need to harvest quickly because of a coming frost or to avoid pests eating their produce.
So when the harvest comes, it must be harvested quickly. It is not a matter of 1 man working harder or longer at the task. It requires 20 men for a field. It takes a family to harvest a large garden. Lots of workers are needed.
Pray for more gospel laborers. We must grant that the context is THEN, when Jesus was in his ministry. But who can doubt that we need more Gospel Laborers throughout Church History and even today.
So we are to pray for more gospel laborers to be raised up.
But, not only to pray; also to act. Don’t just sit back but think and act on this question:
How can I help to identify and encourage future Gospel Laborers?
Or am I called be a Gospel Laborer?
Has the Lord put a country on my heart? A people group? A network here even in America. Am I called to work for the Lord among sport leagues, or nursing homes, or nature clubs?
And, as for missionaries, evangelists, are pastors, we ought to look for men who are called to ministry and encourage them on the path.
It is expensive to go to seminary. Even if, as sometimes happens now, the tuition is free. You have to give up 3 years of income while you’re in school.
And the number of skills that a pastor is to have is very broad. They are to be academic yet personable. Mature yet on fire for the Lord. Able to counsel, yet willing to work with a team of elders.
There will be many openings for pastors in the Reformed and Presbyterian world in the coming years, especially as Baby Boomer pastors retire.
And there is a great need for missionaries. Our own denominationally-approved mission agency PMU is looking (and waiting) for a person to come to them who wants to do foreign missions, or domestic. I’ve been a missionary with them for 5 years working our trail mission to the hikers, and I scarcely know of a new missionary coming to mind in those years. We need more missionaries. If you know someone, don’t keep it a secret. Let me know. Let the church know. And pray for them.
The field once was Africa. But today it is New York. It is places like where we live that have fewer Christians than supposedly “heathen” countries.
JESUS HIMSELF asks you to pray for laborers to be raised up for the harvest. This is perhaps the ONLY place where Jesus tells his people to remember a specific prayer request. It must be pretty important.
But note that we are praying TO THE LORD, FOR HIM to send out laborers into His harvest. Ultimately, we must recognize that GOD must be at work. God will make “Fishers of men.” HE will do it.
The harvest is plentiful. So I want to sing a favorite hymn of mine. Not in the bulletin, but I have printed copies of it available, and we sang it at previous Fall Retreats:
Bringing in the Sheaves.
Before we do so, let us pray for the missionaries we support:
Adam Gordon, with All 4 Jesus.
The local Gideons.
Sussex Christian School.
Chapel Field school.
The free clinic at the Goshen Church.
And for all the mission work in the Bible Presbyterian Church.
Let us pray that God brings in a great harvest of souls; raising up His people for His Kingdom work.