by
Stan Feldsine (www.tojesusbeallglory.com)
Matthew
9:1-8 - Your Sins Are Forgiven
Mat 9:1-8
Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. (2)
Some men brought to him a paralyzed man, lying on a mat. When Jesus
saw their faith, he said to the man, "Take heart, son; your sins
are forgiven." (3) At this, some of the teachers of the law said
to themselves, "This fellow is blaspheming!" (4) Knowing
their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts
in your hearts? (5) Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are
forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? (6) But I want you to know
that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So
he said to the paralyzed man, "Get up, take your mat and go
home." (7) Then the man got up and went home. (8) When the crowd
saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had
given such authority to man.
This event is another
notable milestone in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus had been healing
and delivering people and was attracting large crowds of followers.
In the healing of the leper in the previous chapter, Jesus threw a
grenade in the laps of the religious leaders when He commanded the
healed leper to go to the religious leaders and have them confirm his
healing according to the law. That event causes the religious leaders
to begin an investigation into what Jesus was doing.
When Jesus crossed over
to His own town, the scribes and Pharisees were with the crowd when
Jesus arrived and were in attendance investigating when Jesus healed
the paralytic. Interestingly, these Pharisees had come from quite a
ways away, from all over the country, from "every village".
Luk 5:17
One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law
were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and
from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to
heal the sick.
Mat 9:3
At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, "This
fellow is blaspheming!"
As Jesus is teaching,
the paralytic's four friends lowered their friend down to Jesus, and
Jesus makes remarks about the faith of the four friends.
Remarkably, with an
audience of many Pharisees and scribes, Jesus tells the man his sins
are forgiven. Jesus was quite aware that this statement would raise
the attention of the religious leaders, and indeed, they accused Him
of blasphemy.
Luk 5:20-21
When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are
forgiven." (21) The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began
thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks
blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
The background for this
comes from the description of atonement in Leviticus 4-6. The passage
details the conditions for the forgiveness of sins, and it is clear
from the Hebrew language that the one providing the forgiveness in
God Himself, with the priests only facilitating it.
Lev 4:19-20
He shall remove all the fat from it and burn it on the altar, (20)
and do with this bull just as he did with the bull for the sin
offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for the
community, and they will be forgiven.
Lev 4:26
He shall burn all the fat on the altar as he burned the fat of the
fellowship offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for
the leader's sin, and he will be forgiven.
Lev 5:10
The priest shall then offer the other as a burnt offering in the
prescribed way and make atonement for them for the sin they have
committed, and they will be forgiven.
Lev 5:13
In this way the priest will make atonement for them for any of these
sins they have committed, and they will be forgiven. The rest of the
offering will belong to the priest, as in the case of the grain
offering.'"
Only God can forgive
sins. The people brought the offerings to the priests, the priests
facilitated the offerings, and God forgave sins accordingly.
Isa 43:25
"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own
sake, and remembers your sins no more.
Isa 55:6-7
Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
(7) Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their
thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
When Jesus made the
statement, "your sins are forgiven you", He was assuming
the role that only God had as the one who could forgive sins. When
Jesus used that phrase, He was implicitly claiming to be God, and
that is why the religious leaders accused Him of blasphemy. Only God
could forgive sins.
Hendrickson: "Only
He [God] knows what is going on in the heart of man, whether or not
He has truly repented. Basically, therefore, no one else has the
right and the power to grant absolution. The scribes were right in
considering the remission of sins to be a divine prerogative."
The question of which
is easier to say, your sins are forgiven or rise and walk clearly
would show that it is easier to say something for which there is no
visible evidence. Saying rise and walk demands the evidence of the
man rising and walking. But the real impact of this statement is if
Jesus was truly blaspheming, how then would it be possible for Him to
bring about a healing?
Joh 9:31
We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly
person who does his will.
And so the healing
comes. The purpose of this event was not to tell the scribes and
Pharisees that they were wrong about the fact that only God could
forgive, they were correct about this. Jesus's intent was to
demonstrate that He was King, was divine, and was deity, and had the
authority to forgive sins accordingly. He is the sin forgiver.
Mat 9:6
But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to
forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man, "Get up,
take your mat and go home."
Jesus
referred to Himself as "the Son of Man" frequently through
the gospels. This is a reference to Dan 7:13-14.
Dan 7:13-14
"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one
like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached
the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. (14) He was given
authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of
every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be
destroyed.
This in an "in
your face" affront to the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is self
identifying as the King whom every language will worship, and who's
dominion is everlasting, and whose kingdom will never be destroyed.
Never the less, the
people, watching intently to see if the man would rise and walk, were
astonished and praised Jesus as God. We can see in this the
consternation of the religious leadership who viewed Jesus as a
blasphemer while the people were accepting Jesus as King. The people
were amazed as they had never seen anything like this before, the
forgiveness of sin validated by miraculous healings.
Mar 2:12
He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This
amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never
seen anything like this!"
As in the case with the
healing of the leper in Matt 8, Jesus was challenging the religious
leadership of Israel to pay attention to Himself and make a decision
to accept the King and Kingdom or reject it.
Matthew
9:9-13 - Jesus Calls Matthew
Mat 9:9-13
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at
the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and
Matthew got up and followed him. (10) While Jesus was having dinner
at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with
him and his disciples. (11) When the Pharisees saw this, they asked
his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors
and sinners?" (12) On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not
the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. (13) But go and learn
what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come
to call the righteous, but sinners."
Jesus's summons of
Matthew was born out of a previously established relationship. This
interaction between Jesus and Matthew should not be assumed to be the
first. Matthew was apparently ready for this event based on previous
encounters.
Jesus's statement to
Matthew to follow Him was telling Matthew to make a life change on
the road of life. The Greek "akoloutheo" from which
"follow" is translated means "road", and implies
that Jesus called out to Matthew to change his direction completely.
Matthew heeded the call.
Have you been asked by
Jesus to "akoloutheo" Him? We are not called to mentally
ascent to Jesus in His call to us to follow Him, but to change the
road we are on and get on a different road.
As a result of Matthews
career change, perhaps he throws a party with his friends and
co-workers to announce his departure with Jesus. Jesus was at
Matthew's house, not at a bar or nightclub.
The Pharisees of course
complained about the appearances. Jesus was apparently quite
comfortable with the sinners and tax collectors, while the Pharisees
who were in attendance wanted nothing to do with them. The Pharisees
and religious compared tax collectors to locusts, eating everything
in it's path, and ostracized them from the Jewish community.
The Pharisees went
further in displaying their disdain, and questioned the disciples
about Jesus ease with the guests. The Pharisees did not want to have
anything to do with them.
Jesus, having overheard
the questions the Pharisees were asking His disciples jumped into the
conversation and answered the Pharisees, and the statement that the
healthy do not need a doctor, but the sick. This brought out Jesus's
approach to the people, that His mission was to bring health to the
sick, and so it should have been for the Pharisees. On the other
hand, it was the mission of the Pharisees to avoid such people at all
costs.
Luk 4:18
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to
proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom
for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the
oppressed free,
Do we have a mindset
among the people that we hang out with that we are there to bring
healing to the sick, freedom to the oppressed, sight to the blind?
After explaining to the
Pharisees that He had come to bring wholeness to the lost, Jesus was
again in the face of the Pharisees as He directly insulted them and
their lack of knowledge about God's Word.
Mat 9:13
But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'
For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
When Jesus told the
Pharisees to "go and learn", he referred them to:
Hos 6:6
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather
than burnt offerings.
In Hosea's day, as in
Jesus's day, the apostate religious leaders had gone far away from
the heart of scripture which taught them about having a merciful
attitude towards others. Instead, they dug themselves into ritual and
external practice of the law, rather than experiencing a
"circumcision of heart".
Ritual led them to self
righteousness and criticism of others. Jesus was telling the
Pharisees that it was not the dead practice of ritual sacrifices that
God wanted, but rather he wanted heart change and mercy. Jesus
expectation for religious leadership is for them to lead sinners to
life changing relationship, not push them away with self righteous
criticism.
This
harken's back to Mat 7:1-5.
Our former discussion showed how the Pharisees judged with an
attitude of superiority and disdain.
Mat 7:1-5
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. (2) For in the same
way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you
use, it will be measured to you. (3) "Why do you look at the
speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the
plank in your own eye? (4) How can you say to your brother, 'Let me
take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank
in your own eye? (5) You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your
brother's eye.
At this point in the
ministry of Jesus, the Pharisees were done with their investigation
into Jesus, and from this time forward followed Him everywhere and
objected to everything He had to say and do. This set's the stage for
the eventual rejection of Jesus in Matthew 12.
Matthew
9:14-15 - A Question About Fasting
Mat 9:14-15
Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and
the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?" (15)
Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn
while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be
taken from them; then they will fast.
In the meantime, some
disciples of John the Baptist trying to understand what Jesus's
ministry was all about asked Him a question about fasting. To them,
Jesus was ignoring the teachings of the Pharisees, and they were
looking for the reason for this discrepancy.
Why did the Pharisees
reject Jesus? Short answer, He rejected Pharisaism.
God gave Israel the
Mosaic Law when the Mosaic Covenant was established at Mt. Sinai.
Biblical Judaism was the keeping of this Mosaic Law.
During the 400 years
following the completion of the Hebrew Scriptures (OT), the Pharisees
developed an entire system of traditions, rules and regulations. This
system was called "Rabbinic Law", "Oral Law" or
"Pharisaic Judaism".
The intent of the
Rabbinic or Pharisaic system was to prevent people from breaking the
Mosaic Laws. Rabbinic Judaism (Oral Law) was like a system of fences
around the Mosaic Law designed to keep people on the right side of
the law. While people might break the Rabbinic laws, it would keep
them from breaking the Mosaic Law.
See Yeshua - The Life
of Messiah Vol. 2, page 201 for example of how Rabbinic Law was
introduced.
The Pharisees believed
that Messiah would be a Pharisee Himself and would observe and
support Rabbinic Judaism, the fence. Anyone who was not a Pharisee
could not be the true Messiah. But Jesus had been rejecting the
Rabbinic Law from the day He started His ministry with the Sermon on
the Mount.
This question of
fasting by John's disciples was an honest one on their part, and
Jesus answers the question rather than rebuking them as He did with
the Pharisees.
The question has to do
with fasting, but no doubt has far reaching application into the
Mishnah. John's disciples were fasting regularly, and they saw the
Pharisees fasting often, but Jesus's disciples never fasted. This
seemed inconsistent to them. According to Rabbinic Judaism, there
were fasts that were appointed publicly, according to the Mishnah, or
Oral Law.
Mat 9:10
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors
and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples.
Luk 5:33
They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so
do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and
drinking."
Mar 2:18
Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came
and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the
disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?"
The New Testament does
not command that people fast, and it is not a measure of
spirituality, however, it is assumed and recognized that it is
beneficial. It is a private matter and is intended for focus one upon
a personal task, need or relationship with God.
The Bridegroom
Jesus associated the
fast with mourning. When asked His disciples did not fast, he replied
"how can the guests of the bridegroom mourn...". To explain
why His disciples did not fast, he used a metaphor of the wedding
feast, in keeping with the theme of the coming Messianic Kingdom.
Mat 9:15
Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn
while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be
taken from them; then they will fast.
The metaphor
illustrates the absurdity of mourning and responding with a fast at a
time when a feast is taking place. Likewise, it is absurd to do the
same when the Master is healing and performing miracles. This is not
the time to fast.
The time to fast is
when the bridegroom is taken away from their presence, not while He
was walking among them.
Joh 16:16-20
Jesus went on to say, "In a little while you will see me no
more, and then after a little while you will see me." (17) At
this, some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he
mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then
after a little while you will see me,' and 'Because I am going to the
Father'?" (18) They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a
little while'? We don't understand what he is saying." (19)
Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them,
"Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, 'In a
little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while
you will see me'? (20) Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn
while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn
to joy.
Matthew
9:16-17 - Cloth and Wineskins
Mat 9:16-17
"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for
the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.
(17) Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do,
the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be
ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are
preserved."
The Patch
So Jesus continues
expounding on the issue of Pharisaism, moving on th a metaphor of a
patch on a garment.
When Jesus referred to
"unshrunk cloth, He was speaking of a new piece of cloth that
had not yet been washed and shrunk. If it is placed on a used garment
which has already shrunk, the patch will shrink gathering up the
surrounding material and distort it.
The point Jesus is
making here is that He did not come to join with the Pharisees to
patch up the Rabbinic System of law and plug more holes. Jesus was
offering something new (a work of the heart), and would not mix the
old with the new.
Wineskins
Grape juice was put
into new wineskins, this enabled the wineskin to expand to
accomomdate the fermentation of the wine. When a wineskin lost it's
elasticity after several years, it no longer accommodated the
expansion of the new wine, and ran the risk of splitting the old
wineskin open, thus losing both, the wine and the wineskin.
Therefore, old wine was put into old wineskins, and new wine was put
into new wineskins.
The point Jesus was
making here is that Jesus had come to bring something new, and did
not intend to put it into an old inflexible system
The Old Wine
Luke records a 4th
analogy.
Luk 5:39
And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, 'The
old is better.'"
In this analogy, the
old wine would be well aged wine, smooth and savory. Old wine would
represent the Mosaic law, while the new wine would represent
Pharisaic Judaism. The teachings of the Mosaic Law, which were given
by God at Mt. Sinai are better then the teachings of Rabbinic Law,
which were given by Rabbis.
Another way to say it
is that ancient faith is like old wine, while Rabbinic Law is like
the new wine.
In the end, the
religions leaders of Israel decided that they preferred the new wine
of Rabbinic Judaism. Jesus though, was saying that the old and the
new could not coexist.
Church Fences
The filthy five, the
nasty nine, the dirty dozen. Churches in some cases have their own
version of the "Oral Law". Churches can produce lists of
laws, and sometimes require adherence to these lists for membership.
Keeping lists like this can turn into a false sense of spirituality.
There is no issue with
individuals voluntarily keeping their own regulations beyond what the
Bible teaches, but error is evident when the church assumes authority
to enforce self imposed regulations on every one else.
Matthew
9:18-26 - Girl Restored to Life and Woman Healed
Mat 9:18-26
While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before
him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your
hand on her, and she will live." (19) Jesus got up and went with
him, and so did his disciples. (20) Just then a woman who had been
subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched
the edge of his cloak. (21) She said to herself, "If I only
touch his cloak, I will be healed." (22) Jesus turned and saw
her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has
healed you." And the woman was healed at that moment. (23) When
Jesus entered the synagogue leader's house and saw the noisy crowd
and people playing pipes, (24) he said, "Go away. The girl is
not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. (25) After the
crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand,
and she got up. (26) News of this spread through all that region.
During the time that
Jesus is teaching about the difference between the Mosaic and
Rabbinic Law, a man named Jairus, who was a Jewish synagogue leader
came before Jesus in a position of worship. He was crying out to
Jesus to heal his 12 year old daughter, who was dying. Jesus along
with the disciples got up and went with Jairus to his house.
On the way, Jesus was
crushed about from all sides, with many people touching him. A woman
who needed healing from an issue of blood was among them and believed
that Jesus could heal her. She believed if she could just touch the
edge of His cloak, she would be healed.
When she touched
Jesus's cloak, she was healed instantly, and Jesus, in the midst of
the crowd touching Him on all sides knew that something special had
happened. He felt power go out from Himself and asked, while looking
at the woman, who had touched Him.
Luke provides extra
detail:
Luk 8:43-48
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve
years, but no one could heal her. (44) She came up behind him and
touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
(45) "Who touched me?" Jesus asked. When they all denied
it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing
against you." (46) But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I
know that power has gone out from me." (47) Then the woman,
seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at
his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had
touched him and how she had been instantly healed. (48) Then he said
to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace."
What kind of faith does
it take for a woman to do this?
In the meantime, having
spent enough time with the woman who was healed from the issue of
blood, word came that Jairus's daughter had died. Jairus was
counseled to leave Jesus alone at this point.
Having just witnessed
the faith of the woman, Jesus tells Jairus to have faith as well, and
accordingly she would be restored to life, and she was.
Matthew
9:27-31 - Jesus Heals Two Blind Men
Mat 9:27-31
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out,
"Have mercy on us, Son of David!" (28) When he had gone
indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you
believe that I am able to do this?" "Yes, Lord," they
replied. (29) Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to
your faith let it be done to you"; (30) and their sight was
restored. Jesus warned them sternly, "See that no one knows
about this." (31) But they went out and spread the news about
him all over that region.
This is another
milestone account in the advancement of the Kingdom acceptance by the
people. This is the first record of the use of the term "Son of
David" by the people who were following Jesus around. The blind
men clearly believed that Jesus was indeed the promised King that the
angel Gabriel prophesied of.
Luk 1:32-33
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The
Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, (33) and he
will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never
end."
The people were
increasingly considering this possibility, and the blind men were the
tip of the iceberg. Jesus's miracles and healings were revealing His
authority over nature and death itself, and the people were
believing.
Mat 12:23
All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son
of David?"
But the Pharisees
vehemently rejected the idea that Jesus was the Son of David.
Mat 2:24
But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by
Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
Mat 21:15-16
But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the
wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple
courts, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.
(16) "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they
asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read,
"'From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called
forth your praise'?"
The
blind men followed Jesus from Jairus's house as he left, and followed
him into possibly Peter's house, as was previously the case
(Mat 8:14),
or perhaps Matthew's house (Mat 9:10).
According to their faith, they too were healed of their blindness.
Matthew
9:32-34 - Jesus Heals a Mute Man
Mat 9:32-34
While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could
not talk was brought to Jesus. (33) And when the demon was driven
out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said,
"Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel." (34) But
the Pharisees said, "It is by the prince of demons that he
drives out demons."
One after the other,
Jesus brings healing to people who come to him. This time it is a
demon possessed man who was mute, and once again, Jesus brings
healing to the man.
Again, we have a
miracle of healing that has never been seen before, and the crowd was
amazed.
But the Pharisees are
becoming hard set against Jesus, and accuse Him of doing His works of
healing by the power of the prince of demons.
Matthew
9:35-38 - Harvest Plentiful, Laborers Few
Mat 9:35-38
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. (36) When he saw the crowds, he had
compassion on 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 workers are few. (38) Ask the Lord of
the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Matthew
records a summary of sorts to all that he has recorded regarding
Jesus's miracles and healings. Although many from the crowds received
healing and deliverance, there where many times more that were not
healed due to proximity and sheer numbers.
As
Jesus surveyed the landscape He has compassion on the people, and
states that there is a great harvest available, but few workers to
bring it in.
Jesus
did not see "sinners", He saw people who were distressed
and down trodden. He viewed the people as sheep without a shepherd.
It is the religious that have left the people in such sad shape. This
will lead to the commissioning of the 12 apostles in the next
chapter.
Eze 34:1-6
The word of the LORD came to me: (2) "Son of man, prophesy
against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: 'This is
what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only
take care of yourselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock?
(3) You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter
the choice animals, but you do not take care of the flock. (4) You
have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the
injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the
lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. (5) So they were
scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered
they became food for all the wild animals. (6) My sheep wandered over
all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over
the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
Could
their be a parallel today in mega churches where leadership is more
concerned with growing the church and their reputations than caring
for the people? The analogy of sheep is appropriate for people, being
easily confused, tending to get lost, without defensive capabilities
themselves. Jesus expected the shepherds to care for these people,
but they had not.
This
passage is not a "soul winning" passage, being addressed to
and intended to care for the scattered people of God who need a
shepherd.
Eph 4:11-14
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,
the pastors and teachers, (12) to equip his people for works of
service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (13) until we all
reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ. (14) Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth
by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and
by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Act 20:28-30
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he
bought with his own blood. (29) I know that after I leave, savage
wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. (30) Even
from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to
draw away disciples after them.
Finally
it is to be noted that the direction here is not to go around trying
to find warm bodies to press into service, but rather to pray to the
"Lord of the harvest" that HE send the workers.
