- I don’t recall ever hearing a sermon on this passage, which is ironic because when you dig into it, it’s a pretty important one.
Harvest Job Assignments: Our job is to sow seeds and bring in the harvest; God’s job is the growth.
- Mark 4:26-29.
A. We sow seed.
- Going back to the four soils parable that Jesus just told, the presumption here would be that the seed is the Word of God.
B. God brings the growth.
- God brings the growth in the person’s heart.
- How it happens the farmer doesn’t understand – he just knows that it’s happening.
- See also 1 Corinthians 3:6, 7.
- John 6:44 – No one comes unless the Father draws them.
- In some ways, this is a freeing passage for us as the church. Growth is not our responsibility.
- Find freedom in the fact that you don’t have to generate growth. Growth is God’s job.
C. We bring in the harvest.
- Once grown, we’re the ones who bring in the harvest.
- We share with them the way of Christ and how to be saved.
- A major shortcoming of modern evangelism: much of our teaching about witnessing focuses on trying to do God’s job.
- We tend to focus our energy in trying to generate or hurry the growth along.
- Rick Warren tells about a tomato producer who found a way to “improve” his business. He would take the green tomatoes and after picking them he would run them under a light (I think it was an ultraviolet light). The light caused the tomatoes to become red. He could then sell the tomatoes more quickly. The only problem, of course, was that the tomatoes didn’t taste good because they weren’t ripe.
- Are we trying to artificially "hurry the harvest"?
Shortcomings Of Our Modern Evangelistic Methods:
- Rather than concentrating on “spreading seeds” and looking for opportunities to harvest, we concentrate a lot of our effort on generating growth.
- Here are some specifics on ways that we do that:
1. The gospel message is often compromised to improve “sales.”
- Many contemporary gospel presentations simply focus on “believe in Jesus” and tell folks that if they do that, then everything is alright. There is no talk of repentance. There is no explanation of the necessity of following Jesus.
- When the goal is a “sale” and you feel it’s your job to “make the sale,” there is inevitably going to be a temptation to leave out the hard parts of faith in Christ. Following Jesus is the best way, but it is not the easiest way. That, however, is a fact that is best left out if your goal is “closing the sale.”
- Why does so much of modern evangelism feel like sales?
2. There is an emphasis on knowing a “canned presentation.”
- You’ve got your Roman Road or 4 Spiritual Laws and you just go through your presentation with each person you meet.
- Compare Jesus in conversations.
- John 4:1-42 – The Samaritan woman – Jesus engaged her with conversations and questions.
- John 3:1-21 – Nicodemus – Jesus engages in conversation and questions.
3. There is lots of pressure to “close the deal.”
- John 6:66 - Jesus letting people walk away.
- Some of our techniques tend toward arm-twisting and manipulation.
- Many evangelistic seminars overly emphasize the need to push for a decision.
- The results of our evangelistic efforts certainly don’t indicate a healthy harvest.
- Could all of this be part of the reason that we have the problem with nominal Christians that we have today?
- Rick Warren has said that if the fruit is ripe, you don’t have to yank it.
- This presumes that getting the person saved is our responsibility and not God’s.
- Could this be part of the reason that we have so many false starts among “believers”? People who “get saved,” but then never exhibit any evidence of that? Of course, part of this truth goes to the parable of the four soils – you’re always going to have some who don’t come to fruitfulness. But are our numbers worse because we’re trying to do God’s job?
4. We preach a lot about witnessing, but almost no one actually does it.
- Most Christians feel uneasy about pressuring their friends and family. Maybe part of the reason we don’t want to do it is that it’s not something that God has asked us to do.
- There is a reason most of us don’t work in sales – we don’t like arm-twisting!
- Examining this parable and the qualifications for the workers, I think we can actually be the kind of people it calls for: all of us meet the qualifications that are laid out in the parable: clueless (v. 27 – “does not know how”) and asleep on the job (v. 27).
- Sometimes we presume that what we’ve been taught has to be the right way. But maybe modern evangelistic technique owes more to advertising and sales than it does to the Bible.
- As I dug into the Word as a part of the process of starting this new church plant, one of the things that God pointed out to me was how much of the basic gospel message we leave out in our focus simply on getting people to “believe in Jesus.” It was studying the first half of Romans that God used to point out to me what the four parts of a complete gospel presentation should include (repentance, belief in what Jesus did for you, that you’re a new creature in Christ, and the empowerment by the Spirit). Just because we’ve been taught it over and over doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the full Biblical truth.
- I wonder if part of the reason for all this is that we don’t trust God to do His job? We try to generate the growth ourselves instead of allowing Him to do it.
- Are we leaving no room for God? If God quit working in our church, how much of what we’re doing would proceed on without change?
What Would “Organic Evangelism” Look Like?
- Why use the term “organic”? The most obvious reason is that the process Jesus is describing is a natural process. Secondly, the phrase “all by itself” comes from the Greek word “automate,” from which we get “automatic.” That is to say, the process doesn’t require a bunch of effort on our part.
1. We spread God’s love, mercy, and truth every change we get.
- This is the “sowing seeds.”
- Joyfully, boldly, knowledgably share, but without the feeling that you have to push.
- We do that through:
a. Good questions and a willingness to listen.
b. Honest conversations.
c. Acts of mercy.
d. Words of encouragement.
e. Lifting that person in prayer.
f. Pointing people to the truth of the Bible.
- One night while working at the bank in Louisville, I ended up in a conversation with my manager about the idea that Jesus was the only way to God. She countered with the idea that all roads lead to heaven. I explained a little about the differences between religions and how they could not all be true. I didn’t push, it was just an interesting talk. The next day, she said, “You’re not going to believe this, but I went home and told my husband what you’d said and we ended up talking about it for 3 hours.”
2. We trust God with the timing.
- This is the plants growing without our help.
- You don’t have to force the door open. You don’t have to press them when it’s pretty obvious that they’re done with this conversation. Did you spread seed? Then you’re job is done.
3. We have the joy of leading a ready person to do something they want to do.
- When someone does want to invite the Lord into their lives, we have the honor of leading them to do that. It’s not sales or exerting pressure – it’s just us telling them how to receive what they’re hungry for. Doing that is nothing but a joy.
