Living In The Harvest....what's Involved?

As a young boy growing up in Horsham I always knew when the harvest was on.

You see, on my way to school I had to ride past the local silos.

And when the harvest was on, there would be wheat trucks lined up waiting to drop off their load.

And you also knew when it was a great harvest because the trucks would line up not just down one street but be lined around a lot of the streets.

However I also knew when harvest was on because I would get hayfever.

So when I moved to Melbourne this was one thing I looked forward to…no harvest no problems.

However my life in Melbourne was still affected by harvest time, but a different sort of harvest.

I was walking for an employment agency who helped recruit pickers for fruit harvest.

And you could always tell when it was a good year.

Growers would be frantically ringing up, panicking that there was not enough pickers and that their fruit would go rotten.

And so it is interesting that Jesus today addresses his disciples with the picture of the situation being like a harvest.

Consider the picture.

Jesus had been healing and teaching.

A crowd of people had gathered around him.

The disciples were with him and may have been wondering what are we going to do.

What next?

And Jesus highlights to the disciples that it is a good thing that these people are here.

He says the harvest is plentiful…

And also highlights the next issue of dealing with the harvest…

The workers are few.

And his solution to this situation is first of all for the disciples to pray for workers in the harvest field and secondly Jesus send them…

Jesus sends us as disciples to live and work in the harvest.

And our harvest field too is huge.

Consider our situation in Australia on any one Sunday 10% of the population are in church…

worshipping God.

But over 70% indicate they are Christian.

It is a huge difference.

And experience tells us that many of those do not fully realise what Jesus is about.

So the harvest is huge is plentiful.

It is huge.

But if we are to go, what are we going with?

What is the essential tool we take?

What are we taking out in the harvest field?

Well the answer to this comes from our reading in Romans chapter 5.

Let us hear again a couple of verses.

From Romans 5, verse 1

Therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And from verse 6

You see at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

And from verse 8

While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

The tool we take into the harvest field is the Gospel.

The message of God’s unconditional love.

The fact that even though no one deserves it Jesus has already created the opportunity for each person to be in heaven.

Now this is important.

Many people have views on what it means to be Christian.

Ask some of your friends.

I know people who believe the most important thing in being a Christian is to obey the Ten Commandments.

Others believe it is to be perfect or at least look like you are perfect.

Others believe it is particular style or approach to worship, some say organized, others say exciting.

But the message we are to take into the harvest field is the message, “that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

That God gives all who believe the opportunity eternal life, without them having to do anything else.

And this is something we should wear with a badge of honour.

It should affect how we live in the harvest field.

How we live amongst our friends and family.

That while we were yet sinners Christ died for us…

Christ died for them.

This is a challenge.

But as you live in the harvest field, constantly ask yourself.

As I relate to my friends, my family, my work colleague, my clients, my neighbours, in fact anyone how can I reflect that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

That God wants to gives us something special regardless of who we are, what we have done or how good we have been.

Because living in the harvest means

Not living according to how others live, but living with the badge of honour that

‘While we were still sinners Christ died for us!’

This is the gospel.

This is the tool we take into the harvest field.

And as we live in the harvest field Jesus calls each one of us to have an eye out for the lost.