HIS HARVEST

 

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their syna­gogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.          Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to sand out laborers into his harvest."     Matthew 9:35-38

 

The question which haunts many of us when we wake up in the middle of the night and remember that one day we're going to leave this world ... or when we're sitting alone on a quiet spring day and have a little time to think is: What do I have to show for my life? I've been in this world for a few years now ... what lasting good have I accomplished? Am I bearing fruit?

 

Jesus promised that if we abide in him we will bear fruit.

 

- If we follow him we will catch living souls into the kingdom.

- If we trust him we'll move mountains.

- If we're faithful to him in our homes,

on our jobs,                                         

in our neighborhoods,

we will see things happen.

 

But Jesus never put the whole burden of the kingdom of God on our shoulders.

 

                                  It's God's kingdom....

not ours.

It's Gods harvest....

not ours.

 

Example: Peter and Andrew had their own business ... they owned a boat, they caught fish and sold them. They carried the full weight of that business them­selves. But when Peter and Andrew leave their fishing to follow Jesus and fish for men, now it's not their business, it's God's business. They are no longer owners, they are stewards .... servants.

 

Just as God drew the fish into Peter's net the day of his call, so God will bring living souls into his Kingdom net. All Peter has to do is fit in. And for the rest of his life Peter fit into God's kingdom ...God's harvest. Peter didn't run it, Jesus did. Peter just kept fitting in ... serving.  And the kingdom, like that little grain of mustard seed, grew by itself...

 

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to sand out laborers into his harvest."

 

...His harvest! The laborers don't run the harvest, the Lord does.  Everything is done through the Lord of the harvest. So we pray that he will sand forth laborers. We fit in and the harvest takes care of itself.      

 

But we have a hard time letting the harvest take care of itself ... letting the Lord of the harvest run it his way. We're just so tempted to try to take things into our own hands and come up with a better idea,

a more efficient method. Vain men and women have been trying to take over God's harvest for 2000 years, and we're tempted to try too. What we need to see is that God knows what he's doing ... that he can do more in five minutes than we could accomplish in a million lifetimes of doing it our way.

 

In his providence the Lord God has given us each other... put us in the place where we are ... and given us work to do in his harvest and gifts to do it with. But we can only be effective when we agree that it's His harvest and it's going to be done His way and fit in.

 

From the earliest days people were objecting to the way Jesus, the Prince of the Harvest, was doing his job. They raised four objections to the way Jesus conducted the harvest, and these four objections are the same four stumbling blocks which hinder us from fitting in and letting God use us in his way.

Here are the four objections which we are going to have to overcome in our hearts if we desire to be of genuine use in God's harvest:

 

1. Jesus is spending too much time with deadbeats.

 

2. Jesus is committing too much effort to the sick and the poor.

 

3. Jesus is wasteful with the seed of the word.

 

4. Jesus is inefficient with money.

 

Look around you and you will see that in exactly these four areas American Christendom thinks it has found a better way.

 

Look into your own heart and see if you haven't tried to improve on Jesus' approach in these four areas.

 

Objection #1.... Jesus is spending too much time with deadbeats.

 

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office and he said to him, "Follow me." And he rose and followed him.

 

And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his dis­ciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."                                                                           Matthew 9:9-13

 

…."Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" "This man receives sinners and eats with them." It's bad enough to waste time talking with those deadbeats ... but to sit down at the same table and eat with them? If Jesus had any sense he would target people like Nicodemas, Gamaliel, Annas and Caiaphas ... people with influence. Win these people and you'll get all Jerusalem. But Jesus deliberately spends time with people who don't count ... people whose lives are a mess...why?

 

But when he heard it, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacri­fice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."                                                         Matthew 9:12-13.

 

It's His harvest ... not ours. This is the way he does it, and if we're going to fit in with Jesus instead of trying to make Jesus fit in with us, we Ire going to do it his way. We're going to follow Jesus to the house of Mafia Matthew and Levi the Loser ... men and women who have nothing that we can exploit for our own ands, and who have nothing to offer God but a broken. Heart.

                                                    

Objection #2.... Jesus is committing too much effort to the sick and the poor.

 

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me."                    Matthew 11:2-6

 

John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the Old Covenant prophets, can't understand what Jesus is up to.

 

"This is a revolution man! There's an unjust government to overthrow. There is real work to be done, and you are diddling around with the sick and the poor!"

 

And Jesus answers,

"That's exactly what I came to do ... heal the sick and give hope to the poor.       

 

- This is where the harvest of the Kingdom of God begins.

 

- This is where a spiritual awakening that will shake the earth begins.

 

- This is where the fire of judgment that will bring Jerusalem, Rome, Detroit, Amsterdam, London and every city on earth to its knees begins,

 

by healing the sick and preaching good news to the poor.....

                                                                                      

Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and. the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is he who takes no offense at me."

 

It's His harvest ... not ours. This is the way he does it and if we're going to fit in with Jesus instead of trying to make Jesus fit in with us, we're going to do it his way.

 

"But we're not as gifted at healing the sick."

 

Never mind ... just visit the sick, pray with them, be faithful to them and you will see healing. Go to the poor with a message of hope and a serving spirit and you will see God's Spirit move.

 

Objection #3.... Jesus is wasteful with the seed of the word.

 

While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he. replied to the men who told him, "Who is my  mother, and who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disci­ples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

 

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd. stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundred­fold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear."                                                           Matthew 12:46-13:9

 

In both Matthew and Mark the episode with Jesus' mother and brothers wanting to speak to him is followed by the parable of the sower....Why? Jesus family thinks he's going overboard ... he's preaching to everyone ... he's going everywhere. They've come to tell him to cool it. Just like the man who says to us, "Why do you bring Jesus into this bar? This is no place to talk about Jesus. Do it in church."

 

Jesus' answer is,

 

"When a sower sows he sows everywhere ... the seed is limitless. Most of it is rejected. The seed by the path is eaten by birds. The seed on the rocks is scorched and withered. The seed falling on thorns is squeezed out by thorns. But some of it always falls on good soil and grows and bears fruit.

 

The eye of man is unable to see what kind of heart is hearing this word. The only way to get to the tender heart ... the honest heart, is to sow generously .... to give it to all."

 

It's His harvest .... not ours. This is the way he does it. And if we're going to fit in with Jesus instead of trying to make Jesus fit in with us, we're going to do it his way.

 

  - We're going to be generous with the seed.

 

- We're going to waste it on many a heart,

 

so that we can reach the tender heart ... the good soil ... that will receive it and bear fruit.

 

Objection #4.... Jesus is inefficient with money.

 

Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a women came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor." But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to pre­pare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole World, what she has done will be told in memory of her."                Matthew 26:6-13

 

...."Why this waste? This ointment might have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor." Today, super efficient Christendom wouldn't even worry about the poor ..."This ointment might have been sold for a large sum and converted into Christian literature or Christian radio time, it would pay for two seminars on social justice."

 

But no, this was an offering anointing Jesus for his final act ... the act which, by the power of God, would draw all men unto him ... for salvation or for judgment. This expensive ointment was preparing Jesus for his cross. If it had cost a million dollars it would have been quite appropriate.

 

- Jesus was careful with money.

- Jesus was faithful with money.

 

When he fed the 5000 he even had them pick up the left­over free bread ... 12 baskets. But he never tried to be efficient with money in the sense of using money as power in the harvest. Jesus never said, "If we had more money we could do more good." You never heard Jesus say, "Send me your money and I'll win souls with it. Pledge your money and I'll be able to expand my ministry."

 

Jesus pursued his Father's will ... depended only on his Father's Spirit ... and the harvest continued. And what­ever money was needed always came.

 

It's His harvest ... not ours. This is the way he. does it. And if we're going to fit in with Jesus instead of trying to make Jesus fit in with us, we're going to do it his way.

 

- Money is to be used faithfully, in stewardship to the Lord.

 

- Money is to be an offering to the glory of God as it was for this woman.

 

But money is never power in the harvest. The only power in the harvest is the Spirit of God. Money can never be made to do what the Spirit alone can do. Sometimes we think,

 

"If we had more money we could do more good."

 

Not in His harvest....

 

"It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to

you are spirit and life."`                    John 6:63

 

When someone says to you, "Sand me your money and I'll win souls with it," he may be efficient ... but not for God and not for God's kingdom.

 

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to sand out laborers into his harvest."

 

- God the Father is Lord of the harvest.

- Jesus is the Prince of the harvest.

 

And we are the laborers ... we fit in by doing it His way.

 

If Jesus spends time with tax collectors and sinners ... so do we.

 

If Jesus commits effort to the sick and the poor ... so do we.

 

If Jesus is generous with the seed of his word ... so are we.

 

If Jesus can let this woman lavish expensive ointment on his burial instead of being efficient with it ... so can we.

 

When we trust him and do it His way we will see glory in that harvest field and we will bear much fruit.