Harvest

September 30th, 2011 by Angela Moore

 

And He was saying to them,

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Luke 10.2

Christian growth statistics, posted by prayerfoundation.org states that  ”If only 1 out of every 6 believers “reproduced” themselves one time each year, the entire world would be reached for Christ by the year 2020!”  Imagine that!

It’s not that there aren’t any people who would be converted to being followers of Jesus Christ…it’s that there are so few Christians who are willing to go out into the world to proclaim the good news of a coming Kingdom with their neighbor, friend or family!

Just a few verses above this verse about the laborers being few, Jesus is telling a man who wants to follow him, “go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”  (Luke 9:60).   Our mission is clear.

Jesus is telling us, if we want to be followers of Him, we need to proclaim what he did.  If we are committed believers, our purpose should line up with his.

Jesus states this purpose in Luke 4:43, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.”

Apparently, if we are to follow him, we are sent for this purpose, also!

How like our Christ we should work on becoming!  We are to conform to his image.  We are to take up his purpose.  We are sent on his same mission:  to proclaim, everywhere we go, about the awesome good news [or Gospel] of a coming Kingdom of God to anyone who will listen.

Some may listen and some won’t.

Jesus says in Luke 10:16, “The one who listens to you, listens to me, and the one who rejects you, rejects me; and he who rejects me, rejects the One who sent me.”

I think so often, we remain silent, in fear of rejection and the loss of approval in man’s eyes.  However, we should not take this so personally!  They are not rejecting us so much as the message ~ the word of the Kingdom that Jesus sent us to proclaim and teach and talk about!  They are rejecting Christ Jesus and ultimately, rejecting God, who sent him.  How terribly sad and unfortunate for them!  However, we cannot worry ourselves about this, but focus on being obedient in what we are called to do:  go out into His harvest and proclaim the word of the Kingdom he has told us to share.

“No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”  Jesus tells another man, in Luke 9:62.

In other words, we can’t be distracted by the world we left behind, to follow Christ and to do his work.  We can’t be laboring for Christ and doing his work, if our hearts are still attached to the world and its approval of us.  We will not do the job we are called to do, if we are constantly looking behind us and turning away from our purpose and mission in this life.

Your friends and neighbors need to hear this message of the Kingdom of God.  They need YOU.  If you wish to follow Christ, then you must set about the task of laboring for the Gospel.  Plain and simple.  You cannot dodge this or escape from your calling.

Easier with a Friend

Ministry is much easier, when you’re not alone.  Jesus ‘sent them two and two, ahead of him to every city and place where he himself was going to come.”  Luke 10:1.  Find just one other person, if you can, who will be your partner in ministry; your encourager; your friend; your fellow citizen of the Kingdom who will inspire you to proclaim the Kingdom to someone who may never have heard this good news.  Jesus will not send you somewhere he is not going himself.  He will soften hearts, prepare minds to receive this message, and guide and direct you where he needs you to go.  You are never alone in this.

Pray

Let us remember, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.  Let us ask Jesus to send out more laborers and pray that we, ourselves, are prepared for the task ahead of us.  It is the cost of following him that we must be prepared to pay.  Let us not make excuses or intellectually rationalize away the reason we are not following his command.

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