“Sheep Without A Shepherd”
Sermon Title: Sheep Without A Shepherd
Scripture: Matthew 9:35-38 (NIV)
Introduction
Guest speaker Pastor John Park speaks about Compassion (Canada) and about God’s heart for children around the world, especially those living in poverty.
Message
The Gospel begins with the birth of Jesus, the ministry of John the Baptist, the miracles of Jesus, and then it leads to today’s passage in Matthew 9. Jesus’ ministry is summarized as “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 (v35).” He preached and proclaimed the gospel and the kingdom of God.
The next verse says: “When he saw the crowds, he was moved with compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (v36).” At this time, many were harassed and helpless under the Roman occupation through heavy taxes and poor living condition, but also spiritually oppressed by the religious leaders such as Pharisees and Sadducees. They placed upon the people heavy burdensome traditions and customs that ordinary people would not be able to follow. Obedience to these legalistic traditions was their idea of earning salvation. Rather than bringing people closer to God, these traditions only served to condemn the people and push them away from God. That wasn’t God’s intention. God talks in Ezekiel how he wants to make an eternal covenant with his people with this one shepherd; He wants the ppl of God to be led to his pasture by a stream of living water; to hear His voice and follow close behind. But when Jesus saw the crowds, he knew that they were like sheep without a shepherd. How does God feels about us and the children of the world when He looks at the world today. Does God look at us like sheep without a shepherd?
UNICEF’s 2019 Study shows that 736 million people are living in extreme poverty and that number is most likely even greater today. However, children are disproportionately affected. Children make up 1/3 of the global population, but half of those in extreme poverty are made up of children. They lack the bare necessities to grow up and thrive - nutrition, clean water, or access to food daily. Children such as these are twice as likely to die in childhood.
Stats aside, the problem is not the materials or lack thereof. It’s not just about lack of wealth. If money was the problem, then God would have sent His financial advisor to save us, but the Gospel teaches that God sent His Son Jesus to save us from our own sins. It’s not finance, politics, or education; can spend millions and billions to try to solve the situation, but the Enemy will find ways to take advantage of our greed and other issues of our brokenness and the injustice within ourselves to create poverty somewhere else. Poverty is a force that is deeper than materials. It’s a voice that tells our children and adults that “you will not and you cannot not”. It’s the voice that constantly speaks in our minds and whispers into our hearts that “you cannot”.
The Greek word for compassion is “splagchnizomai”. It means to be moved emotionally as to one’s bowels; you are so moved or disturbed by what you see that it feels like your inner parts are moving. Jesus may have experienced splagchizomai everyday as he sees all the children in the world suffering poverty. Jesus wants to help, heal, and teach the message of the kingdom of God to these children. Jesus is fully God yet fully human, so he has limits and cannot do it all himself, nor can we do it by ourselves either. So, Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field (v38).” Jesus sent out his disciples to participate in the harvest. We need more people to participate in this harvest to serve and help these people in poverty. Not just people to be sent in the field but also people to send people out to the harvest field.
Partnering with Compassion is to participate in this harvest. To tell these children that God loves them and has a plan for them and to tell them that they matter. Our sponsorship matters because children matter to God.