I have to finally confess that I am not, nor have I ever been a farm boy.
Yes, I grew up in Kansas, in a small town the size of Livingston, surrounded by hundreds of acres of wheat fields, but I never lived or worked on a farm. My dad spent his early childhood on a farm in Missouri, but his careers were in the Air Force and with Cessna Aircraft.
We didn't even have much of a garden.
Yes I went to college for two years in western Kansas, virtually smothered with wheat fields and populated with farm kids from throughout western Kansas and eastern Colorado, but I was never a farm kid.
I worked as a newspaper editor in a town the size of Denair for two years, where most of the news was farm and cattle related. We covered stories about the planting, the insects and weeds affecting the farms. Karen and I wrote countless stories on the agriculture market and the big annual festival as the Beef and Bean Day in the county, but I never, ever was a farm boy.
Indeed I went to a Bible college for four years that was surrounded by corn fields in every direction. In fact, I had to walk on a path directly beside a forty acre corn field to get from married student housing to the main campus.
And now, my friends, I live on the most fruitful agricultural land in the world. I pass fields and trucks hauling the harvest to the canneries daily, but still I am not a farm boy.
Some of you have similar stories to mine. I bluffed my way through many conversations and many stories about farming, not sure how much of my ignorance was showing.
But after 14 years as a senior pastor and a three-time church pioneer, I have learned a great deal more about farming than I had ever imagined that I knew. It is through the imagery of farming that I have been able to make sense of my job and my personal limitations.
For a month, we have been comparing the work of the church to farming. It was the metaphor of choice for Jesus. We have learned that building spiritual relationships with people is comparative to discing or cultivating soil. Sometimes that soil is very hard an takes a lot of cultivation before is it ready for planting. Jesus also taught us that when we hear His words or share His words with other people, it is like planting seeds. When we receive His word and start aligning our lives to it, it is compared with seed taking root in already prepared soil.
Feasting on God's word daily and being adjusted to it is paralleled the growing season, with the process being like tending the plant, including watering.
And, my friends, just like the grapes and the almonds surrounding our city, there is the culmination of the entire process -- and that is the harvest. So much of farming is hard work, but when there is an abundant harvest, it all is worthwhile. Communities, including Turlock celebrate the harvest with festivals like the Fruit and Dairy festival and county fairs. It has a long tradition, dating thousands of years ago for the nation of Israel. The Lord established the Feast of Harvest for the Jews, recognizing how important it is to "cut loose" after all the hard work to get there.
Exod 23:16
16 "Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. "Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.
Since there have been parallels between each of the stages of farming and the work of God's Kingdom, we again should not be surprised at the comparisons between harvest and God's church.
1. THERE ARE TWO KINGDOM EVENTS THAT ARE COMPARED TO HARVEST.
Evangelism is a broad term we use to talk about our part in sharing the Lord with other people. If we are actively involved in evangelism it is inevitable that we will eventually be involved in a harvest. When a person comes to grips that Jesus is God's only Son and the only Savior by which we can get to heaven, and when they receive Him as their Savior and Lord, it is a time of harvest.
Jesus encouraged His followers to get involved in the harvest part of evangelism:
Matt 9:36-37
36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
The word Jesus uses for harvest is identical to the one for bringing in crops of fruits, nuts and vegetables.
I want for you to be harvesting followers of Jesus, and in addition to being a planting and growing church, I want Discovery to be a church for harvest. At the close of the message today, I am going to give you a couple of opportunities to give your life to Christ, if you have never done so before, or to recommit your life to Christ, if you have made an earlier commitment to Him but need to renew that commitment.
Periodically we will have opportunities for harvest, and today will be one of those days.
When I gave my life to Christ 20 years ago, it was like I was finally coming home after having been away from God for many years. That is what it can be like for you as well. If you have heard the good news of Jesus, if you want to turn away from your sins and turn toward God as your Savior, then you are prepared to be part of the harvest -- to come home to your heavenly father.
This is a harvest in preparation for the second harvest described in the Bible, which is the final harvest of souls when Jesus brings this world to an end. The Bible says at the time which only God knows, all of time will stop and Jesus will command that all the souls living on the earth, and all those whom have lived before us will be harvested.
The apostle John was given a preview of this event and records it for us in
Rev 14:14-16
14 I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one "like a son of man" with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
15 Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe."
16 So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Those who were harvested because of their faith in Christ before this final harvest will enjoy eternal life in heaven. Those who resisted God's earlier harvest, will find eternal punishment.
Listen to the words of Jesus:
John 5:28-29
28 "A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice
29 and come out-- those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
It is preparation for this second and final harvest that we evangelize. Because we believe in the reality of what Jesus has told us, we make sharing the good news that faith in Jesus will lead us to eternal life, a priority. We want all of our friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors to be raised with us to eternal life and we want none of them to be raised for condemnation.
I know the impact of these words. It is because of them that 18 years ago, I left the secular work place and entered into the sacred work of paid ministry. Because of these I have made evangelism and church planting to be priorities of my ministry. I deeply believe them, and since Jesus never lies, they must have an impact on each one of us.
I am therefore asking you to join me today in a commitment toward spiritual harvest.
2. DISCOVERY HAS BEEN MANDATED BY GOD TO BE CREATIVE, ACTIVE AND
AGGRESSIVE IN THE SPIRITUAL HARVEST OF TURLOCK.
My friends, if there were enough workers in the spiritual harvest in Turlock, I would not left my previous ministry to start Discovery Church two years ago. I am familiar with almost all of the churches in Turlock and I am familiar with most of the pastors in town. Some of them are doing very fine jobs in worship, discipleship and evangelism -- but it is not enough.
Statistically, 80-90 percent of our community is unchurched. The 44 churches in our community are not producing the labor force necessary for the harvest.
Starting a new church, as we have, without a sponsoring organization, a mother church or an established core, is a tremendous challenge, but it is possible. In early spring of 1999, we had about 20 families involved with Discovery. A year and a half later, we have 13 families who were not with us in those days, and nearly a dozen have moved away or now attend different churches. This challenge can be discouraging at times, but it doesn't change the fact that our community is filled with tens of thousands of unchurched people and not nearly enough harvesting is taking place.
As a new church, we have the freedom of making changes quickly to try to be more effective in the harvest. We have changed music styles from our earliest days from a full band to what is known as acoustic worship. We have changed our meeting location twice to find the location where we can be the most effective. We have distributed fliers, set up a website, and placed a banner at Taylor and Geer roads to help people find our worship location. In fact, we have 1000 new fliers on the back table today, and I am asking you to please take a few dozen and help in the harvest by distributing them in your neighborhood, at your job or on the windshields in a parking lot near you. It allows all of us to have a part in the planting and watering that is necessary for a harvest.
I don't want to miss the wonderful opportunities we have as a church today, because we begin to think that the harvest will be sometime in the future. Jesus said,
John 4:35-38
35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true.
38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."
I now want to lay out for you the philosophy and strategy of Discovery Christian Church for evangelism.
Our first core value is that Lost People Need Love and Special Care. That means those who are unchurched will always be priority in the way we conduct our ministry.
We will be creative in trying to attract unchurched people to our worship services. We will do what we can to make them feel welcomed, appreciated and unhindered by traditions that have nothing to do with the gospel of Christ.
We will work to move unchurched people to the next step by our One Step Closer and Stepping In seminars. They will give people the basics they need to move forward in their spiritual walk.
We will give people breathing space. We will not try to manipulate anybody, ever to making a spiritual commitment they are not prepared to make. But on the other side of the coin, we will offer a variety of opportunities for people to respond to Christ who are prepared to make those commitments.
We will nurture young believers in Christ, like a mother takes care of her infants and toddlers. We will provide much grace for make mistakes in the process of learning.
We are aware that Discovery will be especially appealing to unchurched people until we become established in our unique way of doing things. So our sixth core value is that we will plant other church-planting churches.
It is an obscene lie that Turlock has the most number of churches per capita in the nation. It was true in the 1930s when there were 22 churches for a population of 3000 people. The population has increased 18 times in the past 70 years while the number of churches has only doubled. The city's lack of church planting is already being felt by the increase of crime, domestic crises and suicides. Until we adopt and advance the vision of harvest by sharing our faith, becoming disciples and then disciple makers of other disciples, and increase in number so that we may birth other healthy churches, these horrible tragedies will increase.
The apostle Paul gave us a principle of life which we must take to heart:
2 Cor 9:6
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
Again, believing God's words to be absolutely true, I want to give you some ways that you can respond to Him.
First, in a moment, if you have not made a public commitment to receive Christ as Savior and you are now ready, or if you need to publicly renew your commitment to Christ, I want you to leave your seat in a moment and join me here at the front of this auditorium.
Second, if you want to become pro-active in being a disciple of Jesus, you need to register for the two seminars that are coming up, if you have not yet done so.
Third, if you want to make sure that Discovery becomes one of God's effective tools for harvest in Turlock, I will give you a few things you can do:
1. Take a few dozen fliers today and distribute them.
2. Pray for opportunities to share your faith in Christ with others and then do it when those
opportunities avail themselves.
3. Give your money generously to the ministry of Discovery, knowing that if don't have sufficient funds, we are not going to be able to be a part of the Harvest like Christ commands.
4. Be dependable in your church attendance, your giving, and supporting new and existing
programs of Discovery.
5. Invite others to attend church with you at Discovery as an important step to bringing
them to faith in Christ.
My friends, I never used to think I was a farmer, but now I know differently. You can't eat the field in which I work, but there is plenty of room. Would you please join me in the fascinating, eternal work of spiritual farming?
