How to Accurately Estimate a Field
It's Olive Harvest Now!
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Matthew 9:37, 38
That phrase, "...the harvest truly is plenteous..." Who said that? Jesus, you say? hmmmmm..... Sometimes I wonder about what He was thinking when he said those words. Let me explain.
First of all, realize where He was when He spoke those words. He was traveling around the northern region of Galilee. He has worked miracles, He has healed the sick, multitudes of people are following Him. Everything was going well. The future was hopeful. It looked like a great ministry was ahead. No doubt that this field deserves missionaries and workers!
Now, flash forward many months. The multitudes are still following Him. But, now they are screaming with murderous rage and crying for His crucifixion. The political leaders are highly nervous and antagonistic to the message He is preaching. The religious leaders were eagerly following every word He spoke, not to obey Him, but rather to twist everything He said. Huge crowds had followed with wrong motives. They were just out for the free "fish-n-chips" dinners He provided. He had to ask His own closest followers if they too would go away just like all the rest.
A different picture altogether, wouldn't you say? So little interest in truth, so few that really want to follow. It sounds like today, doesn't it? Mission Boards would universally agree: "We cannot justify sending a missionary to a field like this."
Yet, Jesus did not make a mistake in His original pronouncement. He said, "...the harvest truly is plenteous..." He's always right, He never makes a mistake. But things didn't look promising. It didn't look like it was "profitable" to pursue ministry with those kinds of people. If Jesus had been a traditional, modern missionary going about raising His support, surely someone in the congregation would have raised their hand and asked, "Don't you think you're wasting your time and our money with those people? They don't seem to be very interested in the Gospel."
Nevertheless, Jesus kept on preaching and teaching and loving and healing and blessing the people. He did this even for the very people that rejected Him and clamored for His crucifixion. It seems perhaps He had a different way for estimating the value and importance of a field. He saw a harvest that others could not see. In fact, He saw a harvest so great, so abundant that it should prompt us to PRAY, to plead, that the Father would raise up, motivate and send workers out to gather up the souls of men.
That word send is quite colorful. Strong's Concordance offers additional words that could be used sometimes. "...Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers..." This could say, "...that He will bring forth, cast forth, drive, expel or thrust forth laborers..." This sounds quite violent. He must be serious about people being employed in the harvest of souls.
How do you estimate the importance of the field in which you find yourself? Do you feel it is "a burnt-over field"? Do you maintain a passion for souls even when no one seems interested in the Gospel you're preaching? As a worker in the foreign field, missionaries often find themselves being challenged to justify their ministry based upon the "numbers". -- How many got saved last year? How many churches do 'you have'? (that one always irritates me. I don't have ANY. If they belong to me, they're not God's and if they belong to God, then they are not mine!)
It's all part of the humanistic, business-model approach we've developed in viewing the harvest. Thank God, that wasn't the way Jesus determined whether or not a field had great potential, great value. May God help us to adjust our thinking.
Sincerely,
Beyond Frontiers
Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Matthew 9:37, 38That phrase, "...the harvest truly is plenteous..." Who said that? Jesus, you say? hmmmmm..... Sometimes I wonder about what He was thinking when he said those words. Let me explain.
First of all, realize where He was when He spoke those words. He was traveling around the northern region of Galilee. He has worked miracles, He has healed the sick, multitudes of people are following Him. Everything was going well. The future was hopeful. It looked like a great ministry was ahead. No doubt that this field deserves missionaries and workers!
Now, flash forward many months. The multitudes are still following Him. But, now they are screaming with murderous rage and crying for His crucifixion. The political leaders are highly nervous and antagonistic to the message He is preaching. The religious leaders were eagerly following every word He spoke, not to obey Him, but rather to twist everything He said. Huge crowds had followed with wrong motives. They were just out for the free "fish-n-chips" dinners He provided. He had to ask His own closest followers if they too would go away just like all the rest.
A different picture altogether, wouldn't you say? So little interest in truth, so few that really want to follow. It sounds like today, doesn't it? Mission Boards would universally agree: "We cannot justify sending a missionary to a field like this."
Yet, Jesus did not make a mistake in His original pronouncement. He said, "...the harvest truly is plenteous..." He's always right, He never makes a mistake. But things didn't look promising. It didn't look like it was "profitable" to pursue ministry with those kinds of people. If Jesus had been a traditional, modern missionary going about raising His support, surely someone in the congregation would have raised their hand and asked, "Don't you think you're wasting your time and our money with those people? They don't seem to be very interested in the Gospel."
Nevertheless, Jesus kept on preaching and teaching and loving and healing and blessing the people. He did this even for the very people that rejected Him and clamored for His crucifixion. It seems perhaps He had a different way for estimating the value and importance of a field. He saw a harvest that others could not see. In fact, He saw a harvest so great, so abundant that it should prompt us to PRAY, to plead, that the Father would raise up, motivate and send workers out to gather up the souls of men.
That word send is quite colorful. Strong's Concordance offers additional words that could be used sometimes. "...Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers..." This could say, "...that He will bring forth, cast forth, drive, expel or thrust forth laborers..." This sounds quite violent. He must be serious about people being employed in the harvest of souls.
How do you estimate the importance of the field in which you find yourself? Do you feel it is "a burnt-over field"? Do you maintain a passion for souls even when no one seems interested in the Gospel you're preaching? As a worker in the foreign field, missionaries often find themselves being challenged to justify their ministry based upon the "numbers". -- How many got saved last year? How many churches do 'you have'? (that one always irritates me. I don't have ANY. If they belong to me, they're not God's and if they belong to God, then they are not mine!)
It's all part of the humanistic, business-model approach we've developed in viewing the harvest. Thank God, that wasn't the way Jesus determined whether or not a field had great potential, great value. May God help us to adjust our thinking.
Sincerely,
Beyond Frontiers
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