“Bringing In The Sheaves”
Gospel Reading: Matthew 28: 18 – 20
Hear, O Israel, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your strength, and all of your soul.
Now hear what Jesus replied when asked “What is the greatest commandment?” “you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind, all of your strength, and all of your soul. That is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. From these two commandments comes all of the law and the prophets.”
There was a wheat farmer who had children that he loved very much, and they said that they loved him. One day at the beginning of the harvest season the farmer went away on business. Before leaving he told his children to go into the fields and harvest the wheat, bringing it into his barns. He told them he didn’t know how long he would be gone, but it was important to harvest all of the wheat before his return.
When he did return, he looked into the barns and found that only a small amount of wheat was there. Then he looked out on his fields and saw that most of the crop had rotted and was lying on the ground. He found most of his children busy doing things that pleased themselves, having made no effort to bring in the harvest. Only a few had tried to obey their father, but there were not enough of them to bring in the whole harvest before it rotted.
The wheat farmer was very pleased with those of his children that had done his will, and he gave each a wonderful mansion. But his anger with those who had not obeyed his will was great. He disowned them and told them to get off of his property and never return.
In Matthew 9: 37 and 38, Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” and in Matthew 28:19 Jesus said on the day of his ascension, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The farmer in my little story is the Lord Jesus, and we are his children. The harvest of wheat to be brought in is all those people who have not yet been saved. The barn is God’s kingdom which is manifested here on earth through His church.
For the past several Sundays, Pastor has been preaching that all we who are saved are gifted by the Holy Spirit. Last Sunday he talked about things we can do to attract more people to join us, and he told us that the sole purpose of the church is to save souls. He is absolutely right.
Now I will tell you something that may surprise you. You are a royal priesthood. Listen to 1 Peter 2:9
“9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
Note that Peter did not say the pastors are a royal priesthood, and he did not say that only missionaries are to declare the praises. No! He said YOU!! You being all Christians. We are made a royal priesthood for the purpose of declaring the salvation of the Lord to all of the world.
This congregation is a representative of God’s kingdom on Earth, and this building is one of the barns into which the God’s harvest is to be gathered. Look around this barn, this room. Is it full of sheaves of the Lord’s wheat? How good of a job have we done in bringing in the harvest? How much of that harvest is out there rotting in the streets? Matthew 28: 19 is the Great Commission that Jesus gave His church. Have we been busy fulfilling that Great Commission?
I have been reading articles that tell me that congregations all over the world are getting smaller because they are failing to make the effort to bring in the lost. Much of this is attributed to liberal thinking that says, “I have no right to try to influence other people’s religious thinking.” A lot of the problem also comes from the idea that evangelism is not the job of the ordinary people in the congregations. It’s the job of Pastors, Missionaries, and Evangelists. Some of the problem comes from our own feelings of insecurity, fear of being ridiculed or rejected.
If we follow that line of reasoning we must declare that Jesus had no right to preach; he had no right to teach the twelve, and He had no right to send them out as apostles. And the apostles had no right to try to win converts. None of them, including Jesus, were members of the Jewish hierarchy. None were ordain priests or missionaries or evangelists. And all were sometimes ridiculed, chased out of towns, and even killed.
To answer the question of whose job evangelism is, turn to Acts 8:1 and 4 and starting with the second paragraph of verse one read with me
“On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria”.
Now skip down to verse 4. “Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.”
Note that it says “All except the Apostles were scattered. Also note that it says in verse 4 that "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went." Those were lay people that were preaching the word wherever they went. Not Pastors or deacons or special missionaries. LAY PEOPLE. The ordinary people. They went out and preached. The result of all those lay people preaching, coupled with the missionary work of the Apostles, was that by the end of the second Century AD Christianity had spread across all of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and beyond. Even the Roman emperor, Constantine, became a convert.
Brothers and Sisters, we too can go out and preach – just as the Great Commission commands us to do. We don’t need to go out and stand on street corners; we can just seize the opportunities that will certainly come our way. We can talk to our friends at work during breaks, we can witness to our doctor or dentist, and don’t overlook our own families.
The second greatest commandment is that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, and in John 15: 13, Jesus said “ Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
We have the joy of knowing the lord; shouldn’t we share that joy with those we love? How can we truthfully say we love our neighbors, but never tell them about the salvation that comes through faith in Jesus. How can we not tell them of our joy of knowing that no matter what happens to us in this life, it’s of little importance compared to the joy that awaits us in that place of joy unspeakable – that place where there’s no more sickness or dying or mourning or pain, but only eternal life and joy.
You may say, “We are only ordinary people. We don’t know how to preach or evangelize. What can we do?” You can watch for opportunities to talk to people about Jesus and what He has done for you. If you like you can even stand outside a store in the shopping center and talk to people as they pass by.
Brothers and sisters, if we say we love our neighbors, but then never tell them about the Lord, is that not the same as saying to them, “I love you, but go to hell.”
Jason Duncan, pastor of the Gallatin Church of Christ near Nashville, Tennessee told this story in one of his sermons.
Some time ago an 18-year-old girl from Washington state attended a worship service. For the first time in her life she heard the gospel message. The following Tuesday the members of the church received a letter from her. It read:
Dear Church members:
Last Sunday I attended your church, and I heard the preacher. In the sermon the preacher said that all men have sinned and rebelled against God. Because of their rebellion and disobedience they all face eternal damnation and separation from God.
But then he also said God loved men and sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem men from their sins and that all those who believe in him would go to heaven and live with God eternally.
My parents recently died in rapid succession. I know they did not believe in Jesus Christ, whom you call the Savior of the world. If what you believe is true, they are damned.
You compel me to believe that either the message is true, that you yourself don’t believe this message, or that you don’t care. You see, we live only three blocks from your church, and no one ever told us.
Edward E. Hale made this comment: “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”
Remember — you & I don’t have to do everything but you & I do need to do something. We need to expect to bear fruit. We need to disciple others to love God as we do. We need to make every effort to fill this building, one of God’s barns, with his harvest. We must bring in the sheaves.
By the way, for those who may not know: Long ago, before they had combines, the wheat in the fields was cut, sometimes by machine, sometimes by hand, and then gathered up and tied in bundles to be carried to the barn. The bundles were called sheaves.
There was a wheat farmer who had children that he loved very much, and they said that they loved him. One day at the beginning of the harvest season the farmer went away on business. Before leaving he told his children to go into the fields and harvest the wheat, bringing it into his barns. He told them he didn’t know how long he would be gone, but it was important to harvest all of the wheat before his return.
When he did return, he looked into the barns and found that not only were they full, but additional barns had been built to hold the abundance. Then he looked out on his fields and saw that all had been brought in, and he found his children in the barns tending the harvested wheat so it wouldn’t spoil.
The wheat farmer was very pleased with his children, and he gave each a wonderful mansion and everything they needed to be happy forever.
