The Harvest

Psalm 19:2-4 says, “2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice[a] goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.”

This is a quote from my devotion this morning, “The apostle Paul referred to this psalm when he explained that everyone knows about God because nature proclaims God's existence and power. This does not cancel the need for missions because the message of God's salvation found in his Word, the Bible, must still be told to the ends of the earth. While nature points to the existence of God, the Bible tells us about salvation. God's people must explain to others how they can have a relationship with God. Although people everywhere should already believe in a Creator by just looking at the evidence of nature around them, God needs us to explain his love, mercy, and grace. What are you doing to take God's message to the world?”

We again see this statement that God is known by all in Romans 2:8. “8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil.” Then we move onto see that God again has said that He has made himself known. Romans 1:19-23, “19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.”

I feel that this is a call that we should all really take hold of. What is this garbage that we keep replacing God with? We say that we are ok and that we are walking a good life with Christ but we really know what is going on. There are idols in our lives that have replaced the one TRUTH!

Because of the truth of Christ the following is what we should really be doing. God has called us to explain his love, mercy, and grace to people that do not know understand the salvation message of the gospel. What are you doing to take God's message to the world?”

There are people out there that live in such a fear of death that they do now know or understand the message of salvation of Christ. We have people that are trying to predict the end of the world and there are some that are saying it is soon. But we are not to live like that. As a friend pointed out to me, Jesus tells a story in Luke 19 that speaks of him and his return in v13, he says “engage in business until I come” when he returns, we are to be found with our hand on the plow, not sitting on a hilltop waiting around.

We tend to look at the now and worry about how things will end or how we should live but Jesus tells us that we do not need to know and that only God the Father knows when Christ will return, Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32 both times Jesus says "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." Now we look in Acts where Christ is raised from the dead and is addressing the disciples again after the disciples had asked Jesus, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) Jesus responds in verses 7 and 8, “7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Christ not only shows us that we are not to be concerned with when the end will come but then, “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Mark 1:17. After we have dedicated out lives to following Christ he then says in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Not only are we called to follow Jesus but now he is telling us that there are few people out there that can help spread the gospel “the workers are few” and that we should be asking the Lord to send out His workers because the harvest is plentiful and God has made himself know to everyone.

When we think about going out to witness because that is what this is telling us to do here, “Go and witness to all mankind” but he speaks on John 4:35 about how we truly feel about going out witness to the gospel, “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” I feel like this is our true response to the call of being “fishers of people.” Basically we are not trusting in God to help with the harvest that he is calling us to be working for. We get such a fear in us (failure, embarrassment, etc.) that we say to God, “it is still four more months until the harvest” in our words, “I am not ready to be out there Lord, I don’t know enough scripture to be challenged” or “ I am scared of what people will think of me or do to me.”

This is Gods response to our petty wimping out. Acts 18:9-10 “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.” The call to trust and follow God and as it says about John the Baptist, John 1:6-8; “6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” We also are not to be or try to be the light but as it says be a witness to testify to the light! What is this light, John 1:9-14; “9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

My final challenge to myself and to everyone who follows Christ as Lord and Savior is this. Can we be a witness to the light that is Jesus Christ to the world that has replaced the truth of God with a lie? Are we so confident in God that we can be that witness knowing that God has called us not to be silent, not to be afraid and trust that he will speak through us. The harvest is plenty, the harvest is ripe, it is not 4 months away, and it is now!