It won’t be long now before you can start picking berries. If you don’t have raspberry of saskatoon bushes of your own, you can always stop by one of those farms that let you pick berries from their bushes. Some of these farms are so big that it doesn’t seem as if they could ever run out of berries, no matter how many people are picking them.
Jesus must have felt the same way when he saw the multitudes of souls ripe for the picking. “The harvest is plentiful!” Jesus exclaimed. If you consider that there must be a least of few billion more people alive today than in Jesus’ day, one can easily see that the harvest remains plentiful. What should we do about it? Jesus tells us: pray for workers, and thank the workers.
A gardener who has lovingly and painstakingly seeded the garden, watered and weeded it during the spring and summer months will not entrust the harvest of his hard work to anyone. The last thing the gardener wants is someone trampling the tomatoes and squishing the squash to get at the garbanzo beans! Isn’t it surprising then that Jesus turns to sinners to announce that the harvest of souls is ready and all that’s needed are willing workers to bring the harvest in? Why not tell the angels this? They would do a much more efficient job of bringing in the sheaves.
It’s to our shame then isn’t it that we see this task of telling others about Jesus as a burden rather than a privilege? When you go to the mall or walk through the airport do you see people for whom Jesus has died? Or do you see competitors – people with whom you need to jockey for your space in line at Tim Horton’s, like cattle trying to nudge their way to the feed trough first? The crowds at the SuperStore checkout line and the people that share the morning commute with us are not objects to be tolerated; they are people whom God loves as much as he loves us. So pray for workers, Jesus says. Pray that God would send willing messengers of his Word into the harvest field to tell these people what Jesus has done for them so that they will come to believe in Jesus and be safely brought to the heavenly home he has prepared for them.
So when is the last time you prayed for the Lord to supply missionaries, pastors, teachers, staff ministers, and faithful professors to his church? Perhaps you haven’t done this since the last time this congregation was without a pastor 11 years ago. But there is a lot more work that needs to be done than just here in St. Albert. What about the surrounding communities? What about far flung countries that have recently opened up to mission efforts? This is a time when we should be expanding mission efforts and yet our synod, like many other church bodies, has had to recall missionaries for lack of funding. What can we do about it? Pray, says Jesus. Appeal to the Lord’s grace and his love for sinners to provide faithful workers in the harvest field.
But don’t just pray that God would send someone else into the harvest field; pray that he would make you a willing worker. Did you notice in our text how right after Jesus told his followers to pray for harvest workers he sent those same followers out into the field? In other words, those followers of Jesus were the answer to their own prayers! Likewise it’s easy to pray, “Lord, send someone to witness to Uncle Joe.” Why not instead pray, “Lord, give me the opportunity today to witness to Uncle Joe. And when I have the opportunity, give me the right words to speak as you have promised to do.” I admit that I don’t always pray that way. Why not? Because sometimes I think I’ve got too much going on in my life. Too much going on to tell others about Jesus!?! That’s what I’m here for! Imagine calling 911 because your house is on fire only to have the operator say: “I can’t send anyone right now because one firefighter is busy landscaping his yard, another one is catching up on his movie watching, and the others are just too tired right now. When I can get a team together I’ll call you back to make an appointment.” It’s really just as crazy for Christians to think they are too busy to tell others about Jesus. This is why we’re still here: to keep people from the fires of hell by telling them about Jesus.
Anyone can and should pray this way. After all, it’s why God has left us here so that we would be witnesses to the people around us. But today I also want to speak to you about considering training for the full time ministry whether as a pastor, staff minister, or a teacher. I love being a pastor because every day I get the opportunity to share God’s Word with someone. And the best part is I also have the time to prepare what I want to say. It’s not an easy task. Jesus told his listeners that he was sending them out as lambs among wolves. The unbelieving world does not want to listen to the message that we have to share with them. Indeed, Satan will do his best to block our efforts. But Jesus does not send his workers out without power and authority. Listen: “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you” (Luke 10:19). When Jesus said that his harvest workers would have the authority to trample snakes, he wasn’t saying that they would never suffer a snake bite. Instead he was speaking about how his workers would have authority over Satan himself. Indeed, the 72 that Jesus sent out came back rejoicing that they had the power to drive out demons in Jesus’ name. Jesus shared their joy and said that he watched as Satan continually fell from his perch of power, like multiple lightning strikes hitting the ground with a wallop in a thunderstorm.
But will we have this same kind of power? As far as I know, I haven’t driven out any demons. I have, however, seen God change skeptics into devoted followers of Jesus. How did it happen? It happened with the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word. God’s Word is the “weapon” or “harvesting implement” the early disciples went out with and it’s still the same tool that we use today.
But don’t think that every time you share God’s Word that you’ll be bringing in the harvest. Jesus told his disciples, “But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town... 16 He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me” (Luke 10:10-12, 16).
There will be those that reject the message of salvation. There is nothing that we can do about it. We’re not even supposed to take it personally because those people aren’t rejecting us; they are rejecting Jesus and his heavenly Father. Of course we want to make sure that we’re not among those who are rejecting Jesus. Sure, we may count ourselves followers of Jesus but following him means listening to his teachings…all of them. It means forgiving others as Jesus has forgiven us. It means taking what others say in the kindest possible way, and considering others better than ourselves. When it comes right down to it, we’re not very faithful followers of Jesus. Thank God Jesus’ blood protects us from our sins – like a bib that keeps the dress clothes clean when we’re eating something sloppy like spaghetti. And because Jesus continues to forgive, we will want to keep telling others about him!
And yes, there will be gospel victories. Your years of patient effort with that neighbor may bear fruit. And when it does you’ll be ecstatic, just like the disciples were when they came back from their little mission effort. Interestingly enough though Jesus said to them: “…do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
Jesus wants us to know that the greatest gift we have from him is our salvation. Sure, he gave his early harvest workers the ability to drive out demons but even if we were given that miraculous ability, it would pale in comparison with another miracle that has taken place in our lives: the miracle of conversion. I mean even if we were able to take on Satan (and we can through God’s Word) the ability to send Satan running the other way still wouldn’t be enough to get us into heaven, would it? We would still be answerable to God for our sins. But Jesus has written our names in that Book of Life with the ink of his blood. How do you know this be true? Because someone shared God’s Word with you. Thank God for this faithful harvest worker whether it was a parent, a spouse, or a Sunday School teacher.
The harvest remains plentiful. So pray for workers and thank those who work. Pray especially for Ashley Mozak as she gets ready to head off to China to teach English and, more importantly, to make friends so she can share God’s Word with them. Pray that others in this congregation would follow in her footsteps and pursue training in the full time ministry. A number of our young people have the gifts to be pastors, staff ministers, and teachers. What are we doing to encourage them? What are we doing to raise up Canadians to reach out to Canadians? You may not be able to go off to school to get this kind of training but you may be able to support those who would like to study for the ministry. You can do so through our congregation’s scholarship fund.
The harvest is plentiful. So pray for workers, not forgetting that God has given this privilege to you too and not just to called workers. In fact think of one person that you would like to share God’s Word with this week and pray that the Lord would give you the opportunity to do so. Amen.
