Seeing the Harvest-Reaping the Harvest

John 4, John. Chapter 4, we're going to, we've been doing a miniseries through John 3 and 4 looking at two encounters of Jesus. one with Nicodemus and John 3, and another in John 4 with a Samaritan woman, two very different people, but united in their lostness and in their need for Christ. And we're looking at the way Christ interacts with the two of them and hoping to learn from Him.

As to how we interact with those who are lost and do not yet know Christ. And so today we'll be looking at verse 35 through 38. And if you want to give a title to the message this morning, it would be seeing the harvest, reaping the harvest, seeing the harvest, reaping the harvest. Years ago, at the end of a message, I had every head bowed and every eye closed, and I I, I've been preaching the gospel and that, and that sermon.

And I just said, if there's anyone here that, that understands God's spirit's working in your heart, and you understand that you need to believe in Christ and cry out to him for salvation, you've heard the gospel this, this morning. And if God's Spirit is touching your heart, and you realize you need to cry out to Jesus Christ for salvation, could you let me know that by raising your hand? Well, no one's hand went up. the next day I was looking at the visitor cards, the connection cards that people had filled out, and there were 2 or 3 visitors from that Sunday.

So I was at home, but I thought I'll just make some phone calls and thank these individuals for Visiting. So, one of the guys, I, I called him up and he answered and I just said, hi, this is Pastor Milton Vincent from Cornerstone. I just wanted to call and thank you for visiting Cornerstone yesterday and see if you had any questions about, about our church. And His response was just simply to say, oh.

And I said, Why would you say that? He said, So that's the only reason you're calling. I said, Yeah, I just wanted to thank you for coming. He said, Oh, OK.

I said, Well, why did, why did you think I was calling? He said, Well, I thought you were calling to find out why I didn't raise my hand in the invitation yesterday. And I said, no, I, that didn't even register, but since you brought it up, should you have raised your hand, and he said, yes, I should have. And I said, Well, do you understand that what I talked about in the message?

He said, Yes. I said, Do you understand you need to cry out to Christ for salvation and believe in Him? Yes. And I said, Do you want to do that right now over the phone?

He said, Yes, I would. And so right there, literally, we were like 4 minutes into this phone conversation and this guy was praying and asking the Lord to save him, made my Monday. more recently, yeah, you can clap. More recently, on a Wednesday night, I was just outside the building here on Ina night and this twenty-something young man who earlier in his life had dabbled in witchcraft and he just came up to me.

I was in the middle of something. He came up to me and he said, Pastor, he had been coming to Cornerstone for a few months and He said, can you, can you tell me how to be saved? And I like stopped what I was doing and I was like, seriously, he said, Yeah, what do I need to do to be saved? And I was really taken aback by that.

I said, You, you want to know that? He said, Yeah. I said, right now, he said, Yeah. So we, I was like, OK, so we went downstairs into my office and was able to walk him through the gospel and seriously in like 1015 minutes he was crying out to the Lord for salvation.

Meanwhile, if I remember right, outside during that time there was a total lunar eclipse happening. I don't even know why that's relevant, but that's how I remember that night. But I, I bring up those two incidences at the beginning of the message this morning because I in both of those instances, I was not at all expecting a harvest. I was not thinking, oh, I get to reap a soul tonight or or this morning.

It surprised me. The Lord just brought this harvest. to me and this ripened soul to me, and I just simply had the privilege of having a front row seat to the work of God in these two lives and somewhat taken aback, I was able to regain my bearings and say, let's, let's do this. And let's reap, and let's lead this soul to, to Christ.

That resonates. This story in John 4 resonates because the disciples are in a similar circumstance. They in no way thought when they stopped at this well that, hey, we're going to be doing some reaping of souls here. Jesus was tired.

He was worn out. He sat down. They went to the city to get some food. They bring it back to Jesus.

They, they see the very tail end of a conversation with a woman, and as they're walking up, the woman leaves her water pot and scurries away, and they're afraid to even ask, what were you guys talking about? So they're clueless as to what was going on. Meanwhile, they get the food prepared and they're urging Jesus to eat, but he doesn't seem hungry anymore. but then, while they're preoccupied with this, there's a crowd of people making its way out of the city to where Jesus is.

And the disciples are not aware of what's going on, that a great move of God is happening right now. And so Jesus wants to clue them in to what God is doing so that they are ready to do some harvesting. In fact, it's interesting in verse 35. Jesus begins in this verse with 3 imperatives, 3 commands.

I don't know that you see this really anywhere else in Scripture. this compressed together, but he literally says, behold, which is the command to look. So look literally is what he says, and then lift up your eyes, and then see. Look!

Lift up your eyes and see. And Jesus is pointing to this crowd of people that is making its way out of the city to where Jesus and the disciples were. See, Jesus sees the crowd of people coming. He knows what's happening.

He knows that a movement of God is in the works. He knows that the woman has left him and gone into the town and told other people about him, and now they're coming out to see him, but the disciples don't know this. They don't notice this development. They're preoccupied with food, and with getting Jesus to eat the food we learn in the text where they were urging him repeatedly, to eat, and Jesus was declining their offer.

What these disciples were doing was a good thing, right? They were tending to Jesus, they loved him, they went and got food for him, they prepared it, and now they're urging him to eat. They're preoccupied with a good thing. But Jesus, understands that they're missing out on the best thing that God is doing right now.

And Jesus renders them an invaluable service and calling them away from the food issue. And to the harvest that is moving towards them right now as he is speaking. And so beginning in verse 35, we see Jesus' insistence that they not miss out on this movement of God, to look, lift up their eyes and see there is more than meets the eye with this group of people that is coming out. And Jesus wants the disciples to be ready to handle what God is doing here.

Ultimately, we're going to see 5 things that Jesus wants his disciples. To see clearly about the people that are coming to him at the moment. Let me just begin reading in verse 35. Jesus says, Do you not say there are yet 4 months, and then comes the harvest.

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes. And, behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal, so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case, the saying is true one sows and another reaps.

I sent you to reap for that which you have not labored. Others have labored and you have entered into their. Labor, 5 things that Jesus wants his disciples to see clearly about the people coming to him at the moment. Number 1, he wants them to see that this, what you're beholding as you lift up your eyes and see and look.

This is a soul harvest, and it is ripe and ready for reaping. Do you not say there are yet 4 months, and then comes the harvest. Jesus is likely quoting from a proverb that would have been commonly spoken in this day, that when a farmer would plant crops after a short spell, those crops would begin to emerge from the ground. And every farmer knew, you don't just harvest as soon as you see the crops beginning to grow from the ground.

There needs to be time that goes by. Those crops need to be nurtured, and it will be about 4 months for those crops to reach maturity, for them to reach a ripened state to where they are ready for harvest. And every farmer knows that this takes time. But Jesus is saying, you talk this way, there's 4 months and then comes the harvest.

But just got a surprise for you. Behold, this is an arresting development. I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are ripe for harvest already. You guys have not been here.

You've not been planting. We've not been doing missionary work here in the city of Sahar in Samaria. You've not been planting gospel seeds, and you're not expecting a harvest, but I just want to let, here comes a harvest right now, and it's an amazing one. And commentators suggest that in a culture like this in a climate such as this, people would, especially in the summer months, in spring, would be dressed in white.

And so when he says it's white for harvest, as they look at this group of people coming, that that's likely what Jesus is referring to here. This is a harvest, and it's not an expected harvest, but it is here and there is work. To be done. Now this is a surprising development to the disciples.

They were just in this town buying food for Jesus. They saw these very people when they were in the town, and I'm sure that not one of these disciples saw this coming. More likely when they were in the town, they were struck by the lostness of the of the people of the city, maybe looking at the Samaritans and feeling uncomfortable that man it's weird being amongst all of these unclean Samaritans and, and maybe they were shaking their heads over the lostness of the place like boy these people are so far from God, it would take many, many years for these people to ever reach a place where they're even remotely open.

To Christ.

And yet, Jesus has a 5 minute conversation with a woman who had 5 husbands, and she was presently living with a man who was not her husband. He has a brief conversation with her. She believes in him, and then leaves her water pot and becomes the town's. First evangelist, and she goes to the people of the city and says, come see a man who told me everything I ever did.

This is not the Christ, is it? And people stop what they're doing. And here they come to Jesus. No one would have expected this.

One commentator says it this way. He says if these disciples had been appointed a commission of inquiry as to the possibilities of Christian enterprise in Samaria, I know exactly the resolution they would have passed. The resolution would have been Samaria unquestionably needs our master's message, but it is not ready for it. There must first be plowing, then sowing, and then waiting.

It is needy, but it is not ready. I think we all would have come to that conclusion. And yet this woman gets Saved so quickly, goes into town, gives an extremely brief invitation, and here comes the town to see Jesus. And Jesus is saying, lift up your eyes and behold this harvest that is on its way.

It's easy to maybe read what Jesus says here and think that Jesus is pointing to the whole world at every time and every place and says, see the harvest, it's white for harvest. but at least I think we do well in this context to understand that Jesus here is pointing to a group of people that are coming to Him, OK, that's what he's saying. is ripe for harvest this crowd of people that are coming to him. And so it raises the question, if, if we in our lives, obviously we want to be about the business of planting gospel seeds in the lives of people, but what guys, we also want to be about reaping souls, right?

You'll never run into a farmer who says, I just plant seeds, that's all, that's. I'm just a seed planter. no, they're, they're in the business of planting seeds because they want to reap, right? And so as a church, we want to be a reaping institution.

As Christians, we want to be ready and poised to reap when those opportunities come our way. And so if we're going to be reapers, then we need to become skilled at identifying when someone is ripe. OK, when their soul is ripe and ready for harvest, and, and so that would actually be a good exercise for you to think through what is a ripened soul that's ready for harvest, right? There's probably a variety of things we could put on a list like that.

But just from this story alone, we can identify four characteristics of a ripened soul that is ready. For harvest. Number one, they know the truth about Jesus. This woman has gone to the people of the town and said, this is not the Christ, is it?

So she's telling everyone, this is the Messiah. This is The Christ. So they're, they're understanding something of the truth about Jesus. Number 2, these people know that their sin will be exposed before His gaze.

This woman has gone to the people of Saar and said, Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Imagine that as an evangelistic. Technique, come see a man. who told me everything that I ever did.

And so she's telling everyone, hey, this, I was just with Jesus, and he told me everything that I have ever done. And so they would know that in going to Jesus, we're going to somebody before whose eyes, all that we have ever done is going to be exposed. They would also know number 3, that he's going to reckon with them about their sin, right? This woman doesn't say come see a man who knows everything that I've ever done, but who told me he brought it up.

He introduced it into the conversation. Her sin, history, her history of brokenness. And so anyone in the city would know, if I go to this person, he will know everything that I've ever done. And if he brought up everything she ever did, verbally, then he just might do the same with me.

So they know the truth about Jesus. They know their sin is going to be exposed before his gaze. They know that he's going to deal with their sin. And yet #4, they want to come to him anyway.

Isn't that amazing? And what, guys, if you're talking to someone, ministering to someone, and they come to know the truth about Jesus, they know that before him, all of their sin is exposed. They know that Jesus wants to deal with them about their sin issues. And yet they still are saying to you, I want to get to him.

You can take it on good authority. That that person is pretty ripe. And they're ready to be harvested. Jesus is saying, lift up your eyes and, and look.

These people are ready. To be harvested. There's a second thing that he wants the disciples to see, and that is that the one reaping the harvest profits personally from the harvest. The one reaping the harvest profits personally from that harvest.

He says in verse 36, already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal. So Jesus, notice the motivation here. He's appealing to their self-interest. And he's saying you want to get involved in this because if you're involved in reaping souls, There is reward, there is blessing, there are wages, there is fruit that is gathered onto life, eternal.

He's not saying, come on, guys, you got to help me with this harvest, please. Would you do it for me? He could have spoken that way, but he's actually letting them know that it is your blessing. It is your blessing to be involved in this.

And the reason I'm pointing out this harvest to you, is because I don't want you to miss out. I don't want you to miss out. There is blessing to be received that I want to include you in, as you get involved in harvesting these souls that are now making their way out here, outside the city of Saicar. Let's ask the question, what does it mean to reap a soul, to reap a soul, we've learned what a ripened soul is that's ready to be A harvested, but what does it mean to reap?

If we're going to be reapers, we need to know what that is. We can define it this way, to read a soul means to successfully lead a person in calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation, to succeed in assisting a person in their transition into the kingdom of God, to shepherd a person through the process of believing in Christ, calling on his name and becoming a child of God. That's a, that's a phenomenal moment in the life of a person, is it not? You remember that moment in your life, and I can't.

There's no greater privilege than, than to have a front row seat and to play an assisting shepherding role in the life of someone as they make that transition from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God, from being totally unforgiven of their sins to being totally forgiven, from being unrighteous to being The righteous, clothed with the righteousness of Jesus from being spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins to being spiritually alive, from being destined for eternal judgment in the lake of fire to being destined for eternal glory in the presence of God forever and ever, that's an amazing transition.

What greater blessing is there than to be positioned at that juncture of a person's journey? And to be able to shepherd them and help them to lead them to Christ, to lead them in calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation. And Jesus says the person who's involved in the lives of people.

Who is involved in reaping these souls that are now coming out to us right now, that person is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal. Now the question to ask is what are the wages. What are the wages that God gives to a person? What is the reward that God gives to a person who is harvesting souls?

So just imagine you're in the business of reaping souls and, and, and you've been able to lead many to Christ. would anyone who does that, after many months and years just come to God and say, Hey, where's my wages? Where's my wages? Where's my reward?

I've been reaping souls for years now. Could I get some reward? No one would ever say that, right? why?

Because the souls you reap are your reward. They really are. They are the compensation. They are the fruit that you are gathering for eternal life.

Guys, when you win souls to Jesus, you are not merely winning those souls for God, but in God's gracious providence, you also happen This is not your intention, but you're winning those souls for yourself and for your own blessing and benefit. Jesus is pointing to the harvest, and part of what he's saying is, you see that harvest coming? That's not just God's harvest, that's your harvest. That's your harvest.

There's a lot of fruit that's coming towards you that you can gather up that will bless you in this life and for all of eternity. When you win a soul to Christ, God does not merely gain a son or a daughter, you gain a brother. or a sister, that person who has come to faith in Christ is a part of your gospel inheritance. There are blessings and giftings that God has put inside of them, that will make you all the richer as a person.

You're not just simply winning souls for Christ, you're winning souls for the church. You're winning souls for yourself, you're winning friends for eternity, and your life will only get richer. One way of wording the great commission is imagining Jesus saying, go into all the world and make friends for eternity. Go find your inheritance.

In Christ, go and find those people that you will live in relationship with forever. They in part are your wages. When we reap, we get wages, and the wages we get are the very people that we harvest and we get to enjoy them and enjoy the story of what God is doing in their lives. And now the fact that our story gets intertwined with, with theirs.

And Jesus is saying, come on, get involved in this. It's in your best interest that you get involved in this harvest. Look at the language Paul uses speaking to Christians, to the Thessalonians, who is our hope and our joy and our crown of exaltation? Is it not even you?

He says to Christians, to the same Thessalonians, he's like, what, we were so comforted in all of our affliction because of you. To the Romans, Paul's like, I long to be with you to see your face, so that we could be together and we can be encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. Paul's like, I want to be with you guys face to face so that we can share the wealth and enjoy one another, and I can become all the richer as a person. And so Jesus is saying, The people coming towards you, this is, this is a harvest of souls that's ripe and ready to be harvested, and he also says those who get involved in reaping these souls already.

are receiving personal benefit from that. There's a third thing he wants them to see, and that is that the one reaping the harvest rejoices together with the one sowing. He's like, There's joy inside of this. I'm inviting you into this banquet.

I'm inviting you into this joy. He says, so that the one who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. If you are involved in the reaping of souls, there's going to be incredible joy in that, but it's not an isolated joy. Your rejoicing, your joy will be intertwined with the joy of those who have sowed the seeds in that person's life that are now coming.

to maturity. You rejoice, but you do not rejoice alone. You rejoice with other co-laborers in, in the ministry. Now, here's a question for you to ponder when Jesus says, so that he who sows, and he who reaps may rejoice together, who is the sower?

that he's referring to. In this instance, commentators speculate about that. Some say that it was Moses. And it'd be hard to argue with.

They believe the first five books of the Old Testament in the Samaritans did, and so no doubt God used the law to plow their hearts and ready them for, for Christ. Others suggest with some good arguments that the sower was John the Baptist. Who touched many lives in the region of Samaria. And so there's little doubt that God probably used John the Baptist to get people ready for the coming of the Messiah.

And now here he is. It could have been some other unnamed person. That we won't know about till heaven, who was there in that town readying the people through his teaching or his ministry. We do know with certainty one of the sewers.

And that is the woman. Right? She leaves Jesus and goes to the town, and she speaks truth. This is the Messiah, is it not?

And he told me everything that I ever did, and she extended an invitation for them to come out and to see this one, this Messiah. And so she goes into the town as the city's first evangelist, essentially, and she is sowing seeds of truth. And so we at least know that on some level that she was one of the sowers, and what joy she would have felt as a sower to see these souls being harvested. in believing in Christ, and if the disciples get involved in this harvest, they're gonna experience joy, and their joy will combine with that of this woman.

They'll rejoice together with her. one other thing that I would suggest that you think about. is that when Jesus speaks of the one who sows, it's easy for us to only think horizontally, and think of fellow human being sowers of gospel seed. That's a legitimate place to go.

But we need to enlarge our, our thinking to regarding this include the idea that the sower is the triune God. Also, We've already learned from John that you've a person's got to be born again by the Spirit. A person becomes a Son of God, not by the will of man, not by the will of flesh, but of God. Jesus later says no one can come to the Father except by me.

And speaking of sowing, it's really interesting, where I think Jesus would say, you want to know who the ultimate sower is? It's God. And you want to know what the ultimate seed is? It's me.

In John 12, Jesus is right basically in the shadow of the cross, at a critical turning point in his ministry, and the cross is looming large and listen to what Jesus says in John 12:24. Jesus says, truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. The idea, and he's talking about his dying on the cross.

In one sense, the ultimate sower is God the Father, the ultimate seed is Jesus Christ, and the Father, as it were, reaches his hand down to earth, holding his Son, the ultimate seed, and the Father opens his hand and allows his Son to fall from his hand to the ground and to die. It was at the cross where the ultimate sowing of the ultimate seed occurred, and every soul that you and I ever harvest comes from that ultimate sowing. Amen. So when a soul is harvested for Christ, we rejoice as we reap, we rejoice together with all who sowed, all of our brothers and sisters who may have sowed in the past or present, but ultimately, we are entering into the very joy of God, the ultimate sower.

Of the ultimate seed. At the cross. You want, you want to enter into the joy of God. You want to have coursing through your being, the very joy that courses through the heart of God Himself.

Get involved in the harvest. Jesus is like, there's a banquet here. Come enter into this banquet, this feast, gather fruit for life eternal. There is joy that's available to you, and I don't want you shut out.

I don't want to just do all of this and handle this crowd by myself. Get involved in this reaping, because there is joy and there is blessing. For you You guys know this is true, don't you? How many of you at some point in your life have had the blessing Of reaping a soul for Christ and leading another person to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

Raise your hand. I see, I don't need to persuade you, right? there's nothing like it. There's no other joy quite like being able to effectively shepherd a person through that transition and know that God has amazingly, totally by His grace, he didn't have to, but he did.

He used you to accomplish something that is of eternal value that will survive the fires of Judgment Day. That's an amazing blessing and an amazing privilege. There's a 4th The thing that Jesus wants his disciples to see, and that is that a division of labor exists in the harvesting of souls. Jesus says, for in this case, the saying is true, one sows and another reaps.

so evangelism, the reaping of souls, is a team effort. It's a team effort. There's a role that other people play. There's a role that we play.

There's a role that God plays, who is the ultimate sower. And then there's the role that we play in reaping. And when you realize this, you begin to realize that evangelism is not just something we have to do, it's something we get to do. As we enter into this work, this labor of God, God sows, God prepares, God tills, he nurtures, and he uses human instruments to do that as well.

God brings a person to a ripened state. And what do we get to do? We get to harvest. In our relationships with people, even as a church body as we minister to the lost, there's a division of labor amongst us.

There's some in a particular person's life. There are some of you that are sowing seeds in that person's life. You're speaking to them. You're imparting the gospel to them through word and through deed, and that's making a difference little by little, but that person still has not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.

But then the day comes where someone happens to be there and it's not you, but someone else, some other brother or sister happens to be there with that person at exactly the right time, and they get to read. How do you respond when that happens? You're like, man, it's not fair. I've been doing all this sewing and pouring my life into this person and then this other person gets to reap.

Is that how you respond? No, you're like thrilled. You're excited. In fact, part of why you were sowing those seeds is like, I don't know if it's going to be me or someone else, but man, harvest day, I trust is coming and what a joy that's going to be.

And in sowing the seed in this person's life, I'm not just loving this person, I'm loving whoever the harvester's going to be because it's going to make their day. So we enjoy working together. As a team we're connected at the heart as we pour our lives into people. What this means is that when you ever harvest a soul for Christ or experience some blessing in ministry to somebody in this way, you just need to realize that there are many other people that had a vital hand in that blessing that you are now experiencing, and you just need to make sure that you are broad minded enough.

To be mindful of the role that other people have played, and you stand ready to thank the Lord for that and to celebrate that. Rather than, you're talking to someone and man, they're just so ripe, they just believe in Jesus, and you just walk away going, man, was it something I said? what, yeah, I did say something really amazing there. that I've never quite heard anyone say the way I think I said that, and, and then you're telling everyone else, hey, just an amazing thing happened, that I give God all the glory for the salvation of this person, and I said this and I said that, and they said this, and then I just, man just said this wonderful thing to this person, and they prayed, they believed, and it's me, me, me, right?

See, the memonster can attack anybody, even those involved in Christian ministry, right? But the thinking that Jesus is instilling in us delivers us from that. It's not about you. It is so not about you.

It's, it's all about God who uses multiple people and to sow and, and then also to reap. One commentator says about this passage, it must always be the case that those who reap precious souls profit from the work of those who have been before them. Each Christian worker is dependent for success on the labors of predecessors. DA Carson says the reaper must never forget.

That the harvest he enjoys is the fruit of another's toil. Here they are told that their fruitfulness is possible because of the work of others before them. Man, just be a celebrator. of the role that others play in the lives of those that you're ministering to, and don't make it all about, about you.

If you're discipling someone, don't just brag about what you're doing, man, as you find out different roles that other people played in that person's life, go to those other people and say, I just praise God for the role that you have played. Encourage that person to go back to those people and to thank them. In your own life, maybe someone has harvested you. And as you've grown and matured in your journey, you're a real blessing to other people.

They get to enjoy the harvest of all of God's working in your life. what, who are the people that played a role in your life in years gone by? You say, Well, there are people who did help me, but man, they, there's some pretty messed up people. A lot of brokenness, right?

what, even if the people that God used in your life, are a bunch of cracked pots and broken vessels. All the more reason to thank God, right? Like, wow, I'm just so amazed God would use them in my life. And by the way, look in the mirror and see that you're a cracked pot also, right?

and God's using you in the lives of people. Just, it's just easy sometimes in our journey as we progress to become critical of those that played a role prior. In our life, or we're ministering to someone and they're like, well, I've been really blessed by this other person's ministry, and they just try to shoot that down. No, it's got to be, it's got to be my ministry.

It's all about me and my ministry, and we can suffocate people. Jesus says, no, no, no, no. a person like that is someone not with a large ego, it's someone with a small ego. Their ego is so small that only they fit inside of it.

We all need to have very large egos that are so large that our egos include many other people. And we celebrate the work of God and the lives of other people. We give God the glory, take none of it for ourselves, and we are quick to commend and affirm the work that God is doing through other people. In the lives of the very people that we may be ministering to.

Evangelism in reality is a team sport. With significant players who have had a mighty hand. Significant players in the present. And also in in the past for centuries, when you lead a soul to Christ, stop and realize that you stand at the very end of an amazingly long, beautiful, intricate process wrought by God that brings this person to this incredible moment of conversion.

Their story actually began before the world was even created, when God chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world. It involved the cries of many, many women for many generations who gave birth to children who were in the lineage of the Messiah. It involved the Messiah being born and growing up and and dying on the cross. It involved Christ being raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God.

It involves the apostles being. Faithful receiving the Holy Spirit, the Spirit being given on the day of Pentecost, the church being born, it involved the faithfulness of the inspired writers of Scripture to faithfully record under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the gospel narrative so that we can now even point to the scriptures and show people how to be saved. It involved the faithfulness of the early Christians. And of Christians down through the centuries, some of whom, with the cost of their lives, Copy the scriptures and preserve them.

And delivered a pure gospel from one generation to the next. It involves all of that down through the centuries. And on top of that, this person you're now with who's ripe and ready for harvest. How did they get there?

Well, God brought them into existence. He has preserved their lives physically. He's now regenerating them to believe. shaping them through many experiences and bringing to them, them to this critical moment where they're ready to say, I believe and I want to cry out to Jesus.

And here you are. You've just shared the gospel with that person. And they said, Yes, I want to pray. I want to cry out to God.

I want to call on the name of the Lord. And you get to harvest that soul. Evangelism is so not about you. Nor me.

You never make a soul get saved. Evangelism is simply God giving you a front row seat to a very narrow event. Which is but a small part of a cosmically huge narrative as it comes to this culminating moment in the life of a person. Evangelism is God giving you the luxury of being on the harvest end of this amazing process.

Jesus is not kicking shins here. Jesus is inviting us to feast. The feast of harvesting that leads to a final. thing that he wants the disciples to see, and that is he wants them to see this, that I have sent you to reap the product of the labor of others.

This is like a really amazing way for Jesus to put Evangelism, he says, I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored. Others have labored and you have entered into their labor. That's evangelism. Here's the call to evangelism.

Go and harvest that for which you have not labored. Others have done that for you. Go and enter into their labor and reap. And again, when Christ says others have labored, I think he's talking about other human laborers that we've been talking about who played a role in people's lives.

but I think others also includes the members of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The real labor that needs to be done in saving souls is God's to do. He's the one who really does the heavy lifting and bringing people to life and to salvation. The real labor entailed in getting a person saved is done by the triune God.

In fact, you can almost say it this way. Jesus in his great commission says, I want souls to be saved, and much labor needs to be done to make that happen. So here's how it'll happen. I will come to earth and I will do the living of the life that they failed to live.

I will do the dying of the death that they deserve to die. I will rise from the dead, and I will ascend to the right hand of God. and on top of that, I, I, I'll send my spirit to empower you as you evangelize and, and God says, I will regenerate that person that you're talking to and bring them to life, capacitating them to believe, my Father will draw them to Himself, and as for you, What do you do? I'll let you harvest.

And when you harvest some soul, please don't think for a minute that it was some genius thing you said. This is the work of God, and it's a blessing that we get to be a part of this. Jesus is inviting us. Into this feast This harvest feast.

Into this task of reaping souls. Let us not be a church that just plants seeds, and we're just content to be a seed planting church. Let us cry out for souls. Let us pray for souls.

Let us ask God to make us a reaping church full of reaping people. who in God's providence, are at the right place at the right time, and that God blesses us with the privilege of being able to harvest souls. And when he allows us that blessing, we give all of the glory to Him. We take none of it for ourselves.

And may we honor Him. In this way, How much In your life How much energy do you spend? How good a job are you doing at lifting up your eyes and looking at the fields? How aware are you of the state of the harvest in your neighborhood?

In your workplace, in your family. What are you focused on, and are you, are you looking at the fields? Are you studying the fields? If God came to you and said, Give me a report on the status of the field of your neighborhood, what intelligent report could you give?

Do you, do where they're at? And, and not that we're supposed to know everything, but just, can you look at yourself and say, what, I can do better than I've done, right? I know I can. May God give us the grace to do better.

And to be more ready to be reapers of souls. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you for Just your word For the wisdom that, We find in it. I pray if there's any who are here this morning, Lord, that have never, cried out to you, Jesus, for salvation, Lord, that you would, would so work in their heart that they would come running to you, Jesus.

right now, So I want Jesus. And whatever work your spirit has been doing in their lives in recent weeks and months and even years, may they know that that's you, that's you that's been working. Bring them to this moment. And may they fly to Jesus.

Make us Lord a reaping church. May we become Passionate, not just about planting gospel seeds, but about reaping souls. That we care about and love souls like Jesus did. His heart churned with compassion for those who were lost and without a shepherd, and may, may our hearts be broken by those things that broke Jesus' heart.

We're moving to a bigger facility, Lord, primarily so that we can reach more people. But a facility is not going to accomplish anything. What we need is a mobilized congregation that's passionate about the gospel, passionate about sowing gospel seeds, and is just as passionate about the reaping of souls. So help us to look, to lift up our eyes and see.

The harvest wherever it is to be found. And that we're ready. To be used by you. Thank you, Lord, for this opportunity to give of our offerings to you.

Receive these funds, do much with every penny that is given for the glory of Jesus. In His name we prayed, and all God's people said,