Matthew 9: 35-36

Some years ago I was in Argentina attending a conference on evangelism with delegates from around the world. As part of the conference we traveled by bus or air to various towns and cities to assist the local church in ministering to their community. It was a great time of blessing, miracles were experienced, people saved and lives changed. One morning however God lead me to read Matthew 9:38 and it wasn’t until later in the day that I realized the import of what he was saying. As a group of us traveled by bus to the city of Rosario we enjoyed fellowship and encouragement together anticipating what God was going to do, but as we approached the city the bus rounded a bend and came upon what can only be described as a slum. The contrast between the green fields, comparatively affluent travelers, the luxury coach and the slum and its inhabitants was stark.

God reminded me of the passage I had read that morning. These verses relate the activities of Jesus as he traveled through towns and villages preaching the gospel, healing the sick and teaching in the synagogues, all of the things we were doing on our conference. But the significant thing that God lead me to in this passage was that Jesus stopped what he was doing and saw the people. Depending on the version of the Bible you use, this verse may be translated slightly differently, but in any event – he saw the people. What God was saying to me at that time was ‘don’t get so caught up in your agenda, the things you are doing and even the miracles and the blessings that you fail to see the people’. At that time I was a ‘full-time pulpit minister’, by that I mean I was employed to be a pastor in a local congregation, and I confess that there were many times that I got so caught up in the next part of the church program, the next activity, conference, spiritual retreat or evangelistic endeavour that I failed to see the people. In fact sometimes the whole thing would have gone a lot better if there weren’t any people, especially those with needs. God was very clear, I had to stop and see the people; this is what it is all about.

A little while ago I was getting ready to attend a breakfast with a visiting Christian politician from Asia and once again God drew me to this passage. In the past I had been ‘full-time’ in the pulpit and worked in the secular world in order to pay the bills and fund the ministry, but now I was ‘full-time’ in the business world and pastored a church ‘part-time’ – these descriptions are all wrong – but you know what I mean! Now I saw my primary place of ministry as the marketplace I was engaged in, but God brought me back to this passage of scripture. What he told me was ‘the message I gave you in Argentina when you were a pastor, is the same for you in the marketplace – in other words stop what you are doing and see the people’. God was telling me that my primary role in ministry whether it was in the pulpit or in the marketplace is to see the people.

In business it is very easy to get caught up in making profits, increasing sales and reducing costs so that the people become a commodity or a resource. In fact the language we use reflects that – we don’t refer to our employees as people but human resources. As a minister in the marketplace our primary responsibility is to care for the people that God has given us responsibility for, of course we need to make a profit, otherwise we won’t be in business very long – but we must not get so caught up in our agenda that we fail to see the people and their needs. We can start by learning their names and finding out a little about them. We may discover their needs and probably also their strengths. Once we know them and the things that are important to them we are better able to pray for them and on their behalf and start to fulfill our pastoral responsibility in the marketplace to which we have been called. This week as you go about your day-to-day business in the marketplace remember to stop and see the people, and have compassion on them.