Opening illustration: When we arrived in Iowa in 2007, we had no idea what we were getting into. But one thing was clear, God had brought us here for His plan and purpose that He alone could fulfill through our lives. Maureena and I were on a God-given mission and were bent upon accomplishing it. How much time it took was not our agenda. Our focus is like Jesus focused on the cross – His face was like flint! We are here to get the job done.
It took 100 years for Abraham to have his first spiritual fruit (harvest), Joseph was in a spot where he was responsible for the harvest in Egypt. First 7 seven years of plentiful but then the next seven years of drought and famine. He was smart and wise at the same time to capitalize on the 7 years of harvest. Moses saw the fruit and harvest after 40 years but did not get an opportunity to enjoy it – only see it from afar.
We already had 3 years of experience with the American church on the East coast and had some idea what the church would probably look like in the mid-west. Most folks in the church who professed to be believers were culturally sound. They had compartmentalized God who was only present on Sunday mornings while being absent otherwise. The church needed as much re-evangelizing as the unchurched.
Most of the folks at church were older men and women who thought they did not need any transformation and continually dwelt on their personal family problems. The mold infested building took away 50% of our time, 20% of the time went in unnecessary meetings, 25% of the time went in dealing with individual family problems and 5% doing ministry. Is this the reason why God brought us to America? Not really! We had to rethink and revamp the ministry. Sunny was the only young guy at the church. We tried to get rid of him by coaxing him to find a church of his peers. He did not budge. Then couple of years from the time we arrived, came an underaged kid to church who was living on the edge. He was there every Sunday morning sitting in the back pews listening attentively and jotting down notes. Throughout the week he would text me his queries and questionnaires which I gladly answered. I tried not to let any stone go unturned. He is the first fruit and harvest of our ministry in Iowa – Austin Hoffon. Though this is history, but it turned him into a disciple who is now a soul-winner and a disciple-maker. This is just one of the success stories in the pending harvest. What do we do when we see the ripe fields before us? Iowa is surely the “fields of opportunities.”
Introduction: Is it true, “All we ever learn from history is that we never learn from history?” I certainly hope that is never true for us, the people of God. It was not true for the Psalmist. As a matter of fact, I am convinced the experiences of the past can serve as inspiration and instruction for our present and future.
This is a special Psalm to those who are in the church of Jesus Christ. It speaks to us of what the Lord has done for us in saving us and it also reminds us that God has a plan to bless us and use us for His glory into the future. When this Psalm is preached in churches, often only the last two verses are used. They are used to challenge the church to be active in outreach into a lost and dying world. Today, I want to consider all six verses of this precious Psalm. There are three powerful lessons that I want us to glean from these verses this evening. As we do, I want us to see the Lord and what He has done in and what He longs to do through us.
What should the church do with the harvest?
1. Celebrate the plenitude of the past harvest (vs. 1-3)
To understand this Psalm, let us identify the environment. It is couched in the celebration of God's people for the recent blessings experienced. The setting could be that of a pilgrim who has completed the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He looks back to the day when the possibility of going to Jerusalem was like a dream - and he says so to his fellow-pilgrims. The dream had become reality. Or it could have been the captives returning from Babylon.
Now the people celebrate, v. 2a. The nations confess God has done great things for them, v. 2b, 3a. They celebrate God's great blessings!
Part of our purpose today is to celebrate the great things God has recently done for us, to us, and through us! We certainly have cause to celebrate.
With the Psalmist, we celebrate, but like the Psalmist we will not let the memory of the past slip into a slumbering nostalgia but allow the past to give an impetus to confidence for the future and present. This confidence is expressed in two images which compel us to . . .
They couldn’t hardly believe what had happened to them. They were amazed at the grace, love and power of their God. They felt like people who were living in a dream. It was too good to be true! But, when it finally dawned on them that what they were experiencing was real, they were filled with joy and they lifted their hearts and their voices in praise to the Lord. Even some of the sinners around them recognized the work of God in their lives and gave God the glory. These saints simply agree with the assessment of the heathen, “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.” So, they are filled with praise because the Lord has worked in their lives in power for His glory. And, they simply cannot hold back their praises, but they exalt the Lord for His grace, His goodness and His blessing in their lives.
There is much to be distressed about in the world today. Crime, war, politics, disease, death, sin, evil, etc. all combine to cause our hearts to despair. However, if we can learn to keep our hearts focused on the Lord and all that He has done for us, it will go a long way toward giving us joy even in the midst of trials. After all, the Lord has promised His children joy, 1 Pet. 1:8; Gal. 5:22. The bottom line is this: if you allow your happiness to depend on the circumstances around you, there is a good chance you will be sad and defeated. If, however, you make God and His gracious gifts the focus of your joy, then you can rejoice regardless of what is happening around you. Let us make the same decision that Habakkuk made in Habakkuk 3:18, “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
Illustration: How God used us to win souls and raise disciples in the past while in the Middle East.
2. Commit to the promise of the present harvest (v. 4)
As these pilgrims ponder their past and as they deliberate their deliverance, they also lift their voices up in prayer to the Lord. They pray that just as the spring rains fill the southern streams with floods of water, that God will also deliver others from their captivity and restore them to their homeland. They have a burden to see others delivered as they have been, and they call on the Lord to see they others are set free as well. They want other captives to enjoy the deliverance they have experienced.
There is a word here for the church. Those who have been delivered from their sins should carry a burden for those still lost in sin. We need to pray for them and for the Lord to touch their hearts, show them their condition and to point them to Jesus Christ so that they too might be saved.
Illustration: "Tom, you're the sort of Christian I like," said a young lost man to his friend Tom. Now Tom was a church member in good and regular standing. "You're the sort of a Christian I like. You never seem to bother yourself about a fellow's soul." The words were lightly spoken, but they pierced like an arrow. If we had listened at Tom's chamber door that night, we would have heard something like this: "O God, forgive me that I seemed indifferent to the welfare of my friends! Help me to trouble myself more and more about them. Give me a passion for souls!"
Perhaps more of us need a time of prayer just like that! May God create a burden within our hearts for the lost that drives us to Him for them and then drives us to them for Him! May we be like John Knox who was so burdened for Scotland that he prayed, “Give me Scotland, or I die!” Or, like George Whitefield who was so burdened for the lost that he cried, “Give me souls or take my soul!” Or, even like Paul the Apostle who wrote, “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:” Romans 9:3.
Illustration: B. Tisdale, missionary, upon returning from the Philippines, lifted his eyes and saw, and said ''it's harvest time in Texas.''
3. Trust God for a glorious future harvest (vs. 5-6)
The sower went to the fields, he worked, and he sowed, now he returns with rejoicing, bearing in his arms the fruits of his labors. He has a great harvest to show for the investment of his time and his tears.
Note: The seed is called “precious.” Why? There are several reasons, but the main one is the fact that the seed contains within its life. When it is sown into the ground, and the conditions are just right, that seed will germinate, and new life will be the result.
Illustration: When the tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh King Tutankhamen was discovered, among the many treasures in that tomb were some seeds that were over 3,000 years old. Scientists took some of those seeds, planted them and they germinated and grew up into plants. No wonder the Word of God is compared to a seed. There is power in the blood, but there is also power in the Word of God!
There seems to be a total change in the direction of this Psalm at this point. In fact, these verses continue the thought of the previous verses. When these people returned to their homeland, they found in decimated and totally destroyed. The fields were fallow and there was no harvest and little food to eat. All they had was a few precious seeds that held the promise of a future harvest. Taking these few seeds, they involved themselves in the backbreaking work of sowing the fields. They take those few seeds, and with tears, they sow those seeds into the earth. With faith and patience, they wait, and in a few weeks, there is life in the fields! When harvest time comes, those few seeds have been transformed into a great harvest, and the workers return from the fields this time with great rejoicing, carrying their sheaves in their arms.
Explanation: Jesus saw Samaritans coming from the village and saw in them a harvest already white!
Illustration: We live in a world with billions of lost people. Iowa has millions of lost people.
Application: The opportunity, the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few. Where do I begin? How many times have you shared your testimony with a lost person since you have been saved?
Past-thinking churches raise monuments. Forward-thinking churches raise missionaries.
