And when a great crowd came together and people from town after town came
to him, he said in a parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he
sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of
the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered
away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns
grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded
a hundred-fold." As he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to
hear, let him hear." Luke 8:4-8
When the
sower went out to sow his seed he sowed in every direction. He sowed with
unspeakable generosity. All kinds of seed was wasted,
but it didn't matter because the sower knew that some of it would grow and bear
fruit. That's how Jesus sowed the seed of his word across Israel. He didn't
care whether people appeared to be prospects or not. He didn't care whether
they were deadbeats or geniuses ... he gave out his word in all directions.
But when
some of that seed begins to grow and produce fruit, now this generous sower,
who doesn't seem to care how much seed he wastes, becomes very frugal ... very
careful. Each new plant gets his personal attention. Now there must be no
waste. Now, if you have one hundred sheep and one goes astray, you leave the
ninety-nine in the wilderness and seek the one until you find it. If you have
ten silver coins and lose one, stop everything and turn the house upside-down
until you find it.
And so
along with the lesson we've been learning, of being very generous and
wonderfully carefree as we spread the word of the kingdom, there is another
lesson we must also learn: when you get a response, you watch over that
emerging fruit ... those new sheep ... with great care.
We need
to learn this lesson, especially now as we are seeing fruit coming in ... new
souls finding their way into the kingdom in increasing numbers. If we are
careless with this fruit, if we are slovenly, if we ignore one missing sheep,
one missing coin...the revival among us won't last.
After
this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of
Tiberias. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did
on those who were diseased. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down
with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus
said to Philip, "How are we to buy bread, so that these people may
eat?" This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
Philip answered, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each
of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother, said to him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and
two fish; but what are they among so many?" Jesus said, "Make the
people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat
down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he
had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the
fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his
disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be
lost." So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. John 6:1-13
Notice
how Jesus who is so generous with the word ... gives it so freely ... along
with signs of healing, is also careful about detail.
First,
he's concerned about the fact that they're in need of physical bread. But the
disciples’ view is: that has to be their problem. We didn't tell them to come
here.
Second,
he's delighted when Andrew finds one lad among thousands of people who still
has some food ... five little loaves and two small fish. The disciples’ view
is: what good is one boy's lunch among a multitude in need?
Third,
when everybody's been fed Jesus says, "Gather up the fragments left over
that nothing may be lost." The disciples might have left what was left
over for the birds or let the park service clean up the mess ... no, every
fragment is important, they have to be gathered.
If the
outpouring of life and the ingathering of souls which is taking place among us
now and will be in the coming days is to have any lasting impact, we will have
to learn to "gather up the fragments that nothing may be lost."
In the
late 60's and early 70's revival spread across this land that involved many of
us. We saw a sudden ingathering of people... wonderful changes in lives we had
known for years. Many of us were permanently affected by this revival. Yet, in
a large measure, that revival faded away and many many
people who were part of it for a while sank back into lives of despair, lives
of greed, arrogance or cynicism.
Looking
back at our own part in that revival we can see that we were much better at
sowing the seed with carefree abandon then we were at gathering up the
fragments or sweeping the house for the lost coin or looking for the stray
sheep. We didn't attend to detail as well as we might have. Believers started
following Jesus with joy, but it didn't seem to bother them if they showed up
late for work or if they even got jobs at all. They saw nothing wrong with
witnessing or having devotions on company time, or exaggerating
their testimonies when the meeting was over ... litter everywhere ... if you
left the building you let someone else turn the light
off ... loose ends.
The only
places that revival of the early 70's matured and grew were where people
learned to gather up the fragments and tie up the loose ends.
So now
the Body of Christ across the planet, including here, is beginning to feel the
impact of a stirring of the Spirit far greater than anything we saw in the
70's.
"Arise, shine, for your light has come."
But along
with our clear, bold, generous, aggressive witness there must also be the
careful tending of every plant that grows up.
Isaiah 60
begins with "Arise, shine, for your light has come." Notice how it
ends:
Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land for ever,
the shoot of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified. The
least one shall become a clan, and the smallest one a mighty nation.... Isaiah
60:21-22a
"Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost."
If the
glory of the Lord that is rising upon us is going to draw and hold nations we
have to learn to gather up the fragments.... meaning three things:
To gather
up the fragments means that everybody counts.... everybody counts. The people
who seem to have the least to offer are given the highest honor.
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor
again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." On the contrary,
the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those
parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor,
and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more
presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the
greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body,
but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member
suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice
together...
2
Corinthians 12:21-26
In the
world, the one who produces the most advances the most. In the kingdom, there
are rewards for faithfulness which the Lord will give when the time comes.
Meanwhile, everybody counts ... nobody is left behind, nobody is passed or
ignored. Each one is honored. Am I honoring each one? Praying for each one?
Caring about each one?
To gather
up the fragments means to tie up the loose ends... to make sure that our faith
in Jesus is making a difference in the details of daily life.
"He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and he
who is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have
not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust you with the true
riches?"
Luke
16:10-11
Some of
us are trying to be spiritual and irresponsible with money at the same time.
How we handle money may seem trivial compared to the kingdom, but it is very very important. How we treat our wife, husband, children,
fellow workers, parents, bosses, may seem trivial, but very very
important. How we use our time may seem trivial, but it is of vital importance.
To gather
up the fragments means top priority is to be given to the lost sheep and the
lost coin.
"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one, does not
light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And
when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying,
'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost."' Luke 15:8-10
So we
sweep the house and seek diligently by praying, by reaching out, by going out
of our way. Of course, if the person has demonstrated a disdain for the kingdom
... refuses to receive it ... then we may have to shake the dust from our feet.
But when there is some remorse, some repentance, some homesickness, some hurt,
we go and bring them home.
And so as
we go out into the world with a bold, powerful word we can be generous, we can
be carefree. We don't have to test the soils, just sow
the seed. But as the fruit starts coming in, as we see lives turning from
darkness to light and from Satan to God, we need to attend to detail ... to be
careful, to be thorough.
And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up
the fragments left over, that nothing be lost."
Everybody
counts. Every loose end is to be tied up. Top priority given to that one lost
sheep.