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Called
to the Harvest
Matthew
9: 36-38 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them,
because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a
shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, " The harvest is
plentiful but the labors are few; therefore ask the Lord of
the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest."
Most
any farm boy can look over the fields of grain and tell when
the harvest time is near. For things that grow in the garden
we can tell when it is time to harvest the beans, peas,
tomatoes or squash. But are there training programs or visions
to give us the ability to respond to Christ's command to go
into the fields he speaks of in Matthew chapter nine?
In
my training for needs assessment and program development in
adult education I was taught that you never see a need. What
you observe are behaviors. What Christ saw in the crowds were
people who were harassed and helpless. He saw people who were
dependent on ideas, concepts and leaders who gave no
direction, purpose or celebration in life. Do you see that
harvest field where you live, work or go to school.
The
field is obvious. What is our mission? Is it to bring moral
requirement to the field and by law require a change behavior.
The people will still be harassed and helpless.
Our
mission, our task, is to bring Jesus Christ to the streets and
work places not as a law or a club but as a savior. We
reveal Christ by revealing our faith. We
are not harassed and helpless we are not a people of fear
breading discontent. We
are a people proclaiming a promise, a promise of grace, mercy
and forgiveness. We
proclaim a promise of salvation as God's free gift given in
Jesus Christ and made known by the Holy Spirit by faith.
We
are sent into the harvest fields to proclaim and reveal
Christ. In the harvest will the observed behaviors change?
Will the sense of harassment, helplessness, despair and
leaderless behavior be changed? Indeed. The new beginnings of
the harvest come about not because of the blade that reaps but
because of the gospel which makes new.
Like the disciples you are
sent to proclaim the gospel. God Bless, Pastor
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