Unreaped Fields (Title is link to sermon)
John 4:35-36 KJV (35) Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. (36) And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
Whitened harvest fields are a grave concern for Christ; and with good reason.
Grain having reached such a stage is in danger of being forever lost, for it falls to the ground with the slightest breeze or provocation.
R. L. Brandt recalls a harvest season on his father’s wheat farm in North Dakota when, because of a family emergency, he saw one of his fine crops of hard wheat on the verge of total loss.
A relative died just as the wheat was ready for the reapers, requiring a long trip for R. L. Brandt’s parents.
The boys were too young to be charged with the responsibility of the harvest, so their father assigned it to a hired hand.
The trip took several days, and when the parents arrived back at the farm site, they discovered that the man they had left in charged had neglected his responsibility.
The beautiful wheat was dead ripe, white unto harvest, shelling and falling to the ground as the overripe heads rubbed together in a brisk breeze.
Mr. Brandt was devastated.
He had plowed, planted, and waited.
He feared his efforts may have been in vain.
The hired man lost his job, and Mr. Brandt endeavored to save as much of his crop as possible.
Reflecting on that unfortunate episode, perhaps we can relate to our Lord’s concern over His unreaped harvest. Amen?
This morning, we are going to consider three reasons why it is so, and what we in this great harvest time can do to resolve the problem of fields that have not been reaped.
First, we have failed to look.
Our Lord’s directive is clear: “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35). Until we look, we will not really see!
Only the Holy Spirit can open the eyes of our understanding. Amen?
The second thing is that we have failed to pray!
Matthew 9:37-38 KJV (37) Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; (38) Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.
I know many of us, to include me, have reached a point at times where we think, “What is the use!” But we must never quit praying for those that the Lord has put on our heart.
Our prayers is what brings the rain! Amen?
At the same time we must pray for more laborers to help with the harvest.
The third thing is that we have failed to go!
It is not really an option. It is a command.
Matthew 28:19-20 KJV (19) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
But until that command gets into our heart, until it lays hold upon us, until we, as our Lord, “must needs go through Samaria” (John 4:4), the harvest will fall to the ground unreaped.
The potential for the harvest grows greater with each passing day.
Will this vast harvest go without being reaped?
Not if we lift up our eyes and look on the fields; not if we pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest field; not if each of us will go into all the world with the gospel.
If each of us will take the Lord seriously, the whitened harvest will be reaped.
Take the Lord seriously today.
Look, Pray and Go!
God bless ya’ll
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Comments
Many years ago I was in a prayer meeting and the Lord gave me a vision of a wheat field. The wheat was gently waving back and forth in the breeze. Then a storm blew in and began to scatter the wheat. As the storm blew people came with baskets and began to gather the wheat saving all that they could and rescuing some that had fallen to the ground. The interpretation that was given for this vision was that the church I was going to at the time was going to face a storm and be scattered but that the Lord would save and gather back together many of the people who would be scattered. That all came true. But I have often seen that same vision and I believe the Lord is saying that it relates to this message of reaping His Harvest before it is too late.
Amen indeed