What happens when you see a crowd of people? What emotions get stirred up within you? What thoughts start racing through your mind when you see a crowd in front of you?
If you’re like most, and let’s be honest, most of us are like the rest of us, crowds are just not all that fun to be around… especially big crowds.
Think about it like this - when’s the last time you walked into a crowded mall, gym, grocery store or restaurant and you thought to yourself… “I’m so glad so many people are here right now!”
Where Jesus was, there too was a crowd. And not just any crowd, large crowds of people with all sorts of needs. And as we all know, needy people are not always easy to be around… especially thousands of needy people all gathered in the same place.
Listen to how Matthew, a disciple of Jesus describes the crowds that showed up to see Jesus… and don’t gloss over Jesus’s response to the crowds:
”When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” Matthew 9:36
Compassion. Welling up within Jesus when He sees a crowd of men and women with many needs because they did not have Someone to care for them (the Shepherd), Jesus was filled with compassion.
But what Jesus does next, well, it’s somewhat shocking.
He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” Matthew 9:37-38
Rather than single-handedly meeting the needs of every single person in the crowd, Jesus tells His disciples to pray that God would raise up more people (workers) who would care deeply about the needy people within the crowd.
Fast forward 2000 years. The crowds have not changed all that much have they? There are MANY people who are confused and helpless in need of THE SHEPHERD. The question is simply this - ‘Will we be an answer to a prayer that Jesus told His disciples to pray … a prayer that Jesus, the LORD of the harvest, would raise up more workers?’
At GENESIS, we make a REALLY BIG deal about TEAMS for two primary reasons:
- God is entrusting to us a great harvest! In other words, every Sunday, God is sending the crowds to us because Jesus is in our midst… and where Jesus is, a large crowd of needy people will be. And, we BELIEVE even greater crowds are on their way as the the LORD of the harvest wants more to meet Him!
- By being a ‘worker’, we have the opportunity to be the tangible expression of Jesus’s compassion to the crowds that He is entrusting to us.
Through TEAMS, we get to serve others as we have been served.
Through TEAMS, we get to love others as we have been loved.
If you’re not on a TEAM yet… jump on one today. I can promise you this - you won’t regret that decision.
