Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." --Matthew 9:37
You know I have a confession to make. I am somewhat of a Science Fiction nut. In fact, I am a die hard Trekkie. I even like to write Science Fiction. So I decided to write a little story that I thought I would share with you. It is titled: "The Har’ Vstors."
It was a distant planet on the other end of the galaxy known as Har’ Vst. Now those who lived on Har’ Vst were a unique species because they started their lives as plants and eventually developed into sentient bipeds. They began their lives as seeds that resembled acorns on the Lyfe trees that extended throughout the breadth of their planet. From this seed they would develop into their humanoid form within the warmth of a greenhouse.
Whenever these seeds developed on the trees, however, the mature Har’ Vstors would need to harvest them before winter came or else millions of their species would die. However, where did the Lyfe trees come from? They came from one known as the Gardener who instructed the first Har’ Vstor of his responsibility to harvest the trees and put them in a special greenhouse he had made.
The trees had existed as long as their world had. For thousands of years, all of the Har’ Vstors faithfully collected the seeds from the Lyfe trees thus continuing the life of their species. At one time, however, in their history, some Har’ Vstors had decided that they were too advanced and too evolved to spend their precious time collecting the Lyfe seeds. They had more important things to do—such as learning and advancing the culture of their species.
At first, these Har’ Vstors were a minority and thus did not affect the harvest of the Lyfe seeds. After time, however, their numbers increased as more Har’ Vstors began to attend their universities and devote their time to “improving themselves.” Other Har’ Vstors just wanted to enjoy themselves and devoted themselves to the pursuit of sports and entertainment. Still there were some that still continued to harvest the Lyfe fruit; however, for the first time some of the Lyfe seeds couldn’t be harvested in time because there weren’t enough workers.
Soon in the greenhouses where they honored the Gardener, many Har’ Vstors began to decide that their time was better spent meditating on the words of the Gardener and reading books about gardening. They decided they just didn’t have time to harvest anymore. Besides there were plenty of Har’ Vstors out there doing it! And even if there weren’t, the Gardener would take care of those seeds.
Soon the population of Har’ Vstors began to drop. It wasn’t felt sharply at first because they lived such long lives, but their population soon dropped sharply as the older generations began to die off. There were fewer and fewer Har’ Vstors left to run the infrastructure. Ironically, there were even fewer that were committed to harvesting the Lyfe trees and so millions of Lyfe seeds would continue to drop from the trees and die in the snow. There just weren’t enough Har’ Vstors willing to make the sacrifice for their species.
They are still out there, the Har’ Vstors. But there aren’t as many now. Even with their population crisis, many Har’ Vstors still choose not to aid in the harvest, even though millions of their species are dying. In fact, even many of the adults are beginning to die sooner now from disease. You see the Lyfe trees had a special pollen that added to their immune system and enabled them to stay healthy. When all of the Har’ Vstors were collecting seeds they remained healthy as a species, but now disease is rampant on their world and so even more Har’ Vstors are dying.
You can probably see that this was an allegory concerning the spiritual state of the world. You can also notice where the church has grown slack in reaching the lost. The tragedy that occurred on September 11th is still fresh in our minds. We have seen the pictures of the firefighters desperately digging through the rubble of New York city trying to find survivors. At this point as I am writing this sermon it is highly unlikely they will find survivors, but they still keep trying and I keep admiring them for it!
I want you now to see in your mind’s eye a picture of the broken World Trade Center and those who are desperately searching in the wreckage for those trapped there who might still be alive. When I see photos of the wreckage, I not only see a picture of our tragedy, I also envision the spiritual wreckage of our country. Long before September 11th our spiritual towers came tumbling down.
We see the evidence of this wreckage in the increasing violence in our schools. We see how sexual immorality has become politically correct. Many are still entangled in pornography, drug and alcohol addiction. We see how our once spiritual nation is quickly joining the post Christian world.
Though we have seen presented on the news a number of people attending prayer services, these have often been ecumenical ones that do not point people to Jesus.
If I were to ask most of you if you would be willing to go to New York if your help were needed to recover survivors, most of you would leave in a New York minute. What we need to see, however, is that a spiritual tragedy has already occurred in our nation.
The good thing, however, is that this crisis has jolted many people out of their spiritual complacency.
Many people are beginning to seek God. It is our task, however, to help them seek the right God.
Consider this recent article from the Washington Post:
"After the enormity and injustice of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many people are asking the same question. It’s not just that the faithful are flocking to houses of worship -- it’s that people who have never been and still won’t go, who passed all those candlelight vigils last week and kept on walking, are finding themselves, despite themselves, praying.
"Certainly, houses of worship are crowded. ’No room in the pews on a Wednesday,’ said David Stahl from Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., one of the nation’s largest mega-churches. "Packed on a Saturday morning," said Saul Kesner of Congregation Emanu-El, the largest Reform synagogue in New York. The sentiment was echoed locally from the Dar al Hijra mosque in Falls Church, the area’s largest, to the storefront church the Rev. Tollin Razer runs in Shaw.
"But psychiatrists and grief counselors working in New York and Washington say they were surprised to find their once-secular clients confessing a need to pray in the days after the crashes.
"Raji Nonan runs a Web site where people post prayers, and he’s set up a separate section for reaction to the attacks. In the last two weeks the site has crashed several times from the overload, always after midnight. He can tell many of the prayer-posters are spiritual neophytes because their phrasing is awkward and tentative: ’God, you around?’"
(Quoted from Hanna Rosin, "In Terror’s Wake: ’God, You Around?’"Washington Post, Thursday, September 27, 2001,
p. A03)
I want to focus on the question: ’God, you around?’ Since this tragedy many have come to the realization they are helpless and in desperate need of a God to protect them. Most are in spiritual darkness, although they haven’t fully grasped it yet. They are searching for truth in churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples and many haven’t found it yet.
I remember when I was in college, a blind student told a story to the members of our speech class. Before he was blinded, he saw a blind person who was stumbling around, but did nothing to help at the time. Years later, after he had been blinded, he asked someone to direct him to the restroom, but the person just gave him directions without leading him there. He shared this story to make his sighted friends more sensitive to the needs of blind people.
Most people are spiritually blind and stumbling around in the dark. If people are stumbling around in the dark, what they need is a light. Jesus talked about this in the gospels. Consider what is in Matthew 5:14-16:
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
"Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
While I believe that God works to sovereignly draw people to Himself, He chooses to work through believers. Consider what the Apostle Paul wrote:
"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
"And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" -- Romans 10:14-15 NIV
Many Christians watching the tragedy have asked: "What can I do to help?" Though we can donate blood and money to those in need, we can also do two more important things: pray and witness!
I remember one time someone scratched up a friend of mine’s car. His response? He said: "When people do things like this it only shows me how many lost people there are out there and how much harder I need to work at winning the lost to Christ!"
In looking at the tragedy, this is how we, too, should respond. This is a very strategic time in our history. Many people are confused, broken, scared, and searching. Some of those people live down the street from you and some of them are in your workplace. What will you do to reach them. O brother, sister, Where art thou?
Consider what happened in Japan after World War II. General Douglas MacArthur, who oversaw the occupation of Japan, requested missionaries to come to minister to the Japanese. Japan was a shattered nation in desperate need of spiritual healing. The Japanese also had a practice of emulating the advanced Western nations.
Unfortunately, this window of opportunity did not last long and far too few missionaries answered the call. The Japanese were eager to emulate America, however, they saw that most Americans were not focused on knowing God, but rather making money. As a result of this, Japan has become hardened to the gospel and is still a very difficult place to start churches.
The churches of America had an opportunity to establish a spiritual beachhead in Japan and let the opportunity slip from their fingers. As indicated in the news article quoted above, our churches are again faced with such an opportunity. Will we act upon it? Will we seize the moment? Or will we let another opportunity slip out of our grasp.
Consider what happened after the Battle of Gettysburg.
After the battle, Lee and the Confederate army were forced to retreat. Union General Meade considered pursuing Lee, but decided that the defensive nature of the Appalachian terrain made it too risky. Meade’s decision not to pursue Lee infuriated Lincoln, who desired a final victory.
The weakened Confederate Army was thus able to return to Virginia. As a result of this, the war was to last another two years and thousands of more American lives would be lost.
We see here that Meade had a window of opportunity he let slip by. With this crisis we the church, too, have an opportunity we can either embrace or let slip by. History has often proven that when such opportunities are allowed to slip by, the road often becomes more difficult to achieve the objective.
This is the first time in probably over a century that America has expressed such spiritual openess. People are afraid, confused, and searching. Will we, the keepers of the light, take advantage of this opportunity or will we just wait this one out? O Brother, Sister, Where Art Thou? The fruit on the trees of America is ripe and awaiting harvesters.
