We are
farmers sent into the world, to prepare the ground and produce a
harvest. We have examples throughout the Bible where Jesus, on
numerous occasions, referred to some type of field or vineyard.
The verse that has intrigued me the most is Luke 9:62 where Jesus said “No one who puts his hand to the plow
and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
I have heard it said, that if you look back you are not fit for the
kingdom of heaven--but it says service in the
kingdom. This is not salvation it is just your effectiveness in
the fields. In other words, if you are so busy living in the
past, whining and making excuses for past behavior, or depending on
past glory, God cannot use you in His service. The soil behind
has already been tilled and planted but the soil before you is waiting
to be tilled and planted. That is where God needs you.
Where the work is needing to be done.
Now, as farmers, we are asked to go out and plant for a harvest.
To do so we have to start at the beginning by preparing the soil we
will be working (our hearts). Jesus instructed us about the
planting of the seeds in Luke
8:11-15. There are four areas that Jesus has given us to
be aware of in the planting of a productive crop. But first,
Jesus had to explain that the seed is the Word of God, and we are to
plant the seed as we go along our path.
1) “Those along the
path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the
word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”
(Luke 8:12) We have seen this over and over with new
believers; they are excited, full of zeal and ready to spread the
gospel to everyone, everywhere they are. It seems that the Lord
gives the new believer a bubble of protection for a while and won’t let
the devil take the joy away, but that bubble doesn’t last--the new
believer is expected to get into the Word, write it on their heart, and
live it. Beware of the devil, without fail he knows his job and
does it very well. The devil even has his own job description and
Jesus defined it for us: “The
thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”. Then
Jesus gives His (Jesus’) job description in the same verse: “I have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full”. (John 10:10)
2) “Those on the rock are the
ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no
root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they
fall away.” (Luke 8:13) Having no root means it is all
about the talk and not the walk. We like to talk about being a
Christian, but when it comes to actually doing what we’re talking about
we give up and say,
”it’s too hard, no one is perfect anyway” and fall
away. The only way we can get a root is by the constant study and
application of God’s Word; building our personal relationship
with Him.
3) “The seed that fell among
thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are
choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not
mature.” (Luke 8:14) When we take our eyes off of Jesus
and put them on ourselves, it is easy to get caught up in the everyday
activities and let the things of this world, “life’s worries, riches
and pleasures,” take over our thoughts
and
attitudes. We stop
living for Christ and start living for “self.”
4) “But the seed on good soil
stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain
it, and by persevering produce a crop.” (Luke 8:15) You
see, it isn’t enough to just hear the word, we have to retain it and put it into
practice, that’s what it means when the verse says “by
persevering.” We have to stand against the adversary and use the
weapons given us--but we have to be knowledgeable on how to use the
weapon (sword). When a soldier is sent into combat, he is
prepared, trained, and taught how to use his weapons, we are no
different.
It is the job of more mature believers to be sensitive to the Lord and
to be involved in the watering, weeding , and pruning. Some get
to see the harvest. I say some get to see the
harvest. John 4:35-38
tells us this: “My
food,” said Jesus, ”is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish
his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the
harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the
fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper
draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so
that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus, the
saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap
what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and
you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” Often, we
cannot handle the harvest, we get a big head and so concerned about
patting ourselves on the back that we miss the whole reason of
ministry, and then it becomes about “self,” rather than Jesus.
Do we get discouraged thinking we need to see proof of our sowing
seed? When Jesus fed the five thousand, Andrew (one of the
disciples) appeared discouraged when he said “Here is a boy with five
small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among
so many?” (John 6:9).
If Andrew had given up and gone home he never would have seen the great
miracle of five thousand men (not counting the women and children)
being fed, with twelve baskets full of leftovers! Don’t let
yourself be discouraged, you may give up right at the time of the great
harvest and miss it. It is God who makes the seed grow and in His
timing, not ours. “I
planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.” (1Co
3:6) Therefore, we don’t know when the harvest will
be. We need to be ready at all times. “Let us not become weary in doing
good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give
up. (Gal 6:9)
It has taken several years for my wife and I to get to to the season of
our lives where God has allowed us to see the fruits of our labor, with
the understanding it is not about us, but its all about Jesus, and our obedience to
Him. God knows when we’re ready to handle the blessing of seeing
people freed after we sow the seed. Actually, it shouldn’t matter
to us who does the harvesting since the glory all goes to the
Lord. Remember, it’s not about us--it’s about God!
This is where the hand on the plow (Luke 9:62) comes in. I
was told by a farmer in western Texas that when he starts to plow a
field he finds a reference point on the horizon to fix his sight to,
then begins plowing.
In western Texas the land is flat and the fields seem to go on forever,
making it easy to get off course. Getting off course will make
your furrows or rows crooked, making the rest of the growing and
harvest season more difficult than needed. (It is not easy to
follow a crooked row with a cotton picker or a combine!)
If the farmer would take his eye off the reference point to look around
from side to side, (Dt 5:32;
Jos. 1:7; Php 3:13) or turn his head around to look back (at
where he had been) he would get a crook in his furrow.
If the farmer looks back, what good would that do? What is done
is done, he must learn from his mistake and move on--not dwelling on
it, but learning from
the mistakes made and moving on. We must do the same--we must
recognize the mistake and change before moving on, though. If we
won’t change, we will just keep making the same mistakes and cannot be
of use in the service of the Lord.
By learning, when the farmer plows the next set of furrows he will keep
his eyes on the reference point. His rows will be straight
throughout the rest of the field--providing he doesn't look back.
The farmer should learn his lesson, retain it, and not do it
again. That sounds too easy to be true, but a farmer can, and will do just that, because
it is about time and time is money.
It is our time as well, it is what is stored up in heaven (our “money”)
that will be our reward as Christians. To the earthly farmer it
is a cash crop, to the spiritual farmer it is a soul crop. And
souls are far more valuable than cash.
For a farmer to obtain his cash crop there are steps he must take
before the planting even takes place. He must prepare for the
planting by studying the field, knowing what kind of soil he’s working
with, and what he is going to have to do to keep the crop
growing. Is it going to take more fertilizer than the field 10
miles to the south? Is he going to have to water more? Weed
more? After studying and learning what he must do, he will then
be able to work his ground. He will understand what he has to do
differently than the field to the south, because they are different
fields. They may produce the same crop, but the work he must do
to sow the field is different. Our work for the kingdom is no
different.
We are to prepare ourselves by getting in the Word, staying in the
Word, and applying the Word to our lives so we can sow the word (seed)
to the rest of the world. But we can’t do exactly what someone
else did or what we did at another time. Each situation is
different. That is why God gave us so many examples in
scripture. That is also why it is so important that we study the
Word and apply it to our lives continually. This is the only way
we will be prepared to sow and/or harvest the field the Lord has before
us. If we don’t continue to grow we will find our efforts will be
fruitless. No crop will be produced that will survive long enough
to be harvested. This is an important point, one that we all need
to understand. Leading people to a solid relationship with Jesus
is a serious task that takes proper preparation, not yesterday’s
leftovers.
We are sowing seeds in our life every day. We will be sowing seeds
whether we prepare or not. It is a natural result of our being
alive. The question is--what kind of seed? The seed we sow
can be of sin or of righteousness. Which do you want to
sow? Of course it is righteousness, but just wanting to do it
doesn’t make it so. So, what are
you sowing? We have seen how to sow righteousness, if you are not
doing this, then you are sowing evil. If we sow righteousness we
will reap righteousness if we sow evil that is what we will reap.
“Sow for yourselves
righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your
unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and
showers righteousness on you. But you have planted wickedness,
you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception.
Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many
warriors.” (Hosea 10:12-13) Take special note of
that last sentence--”Because you have depended on your own strength and
on your many warriors.” When you are not spending that time with
the Lord you are depending on your own strength. When you depend
on your own strength you sow wickedness and reap evil all because you
have “eaten the fruit of deception.” The deception is that you
can do it on your own strength. Can you see how important this is
to us? We can be sowing seeds of wickedness instead of
righteousness when we are thinking we are sowing righteousness.
He has told us what we need to do--we need to obey!
The harvest is important to Jesus, it should be to us as well. “Jesus went through all the towns and
villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the
kingdom and healing
every disease and sickness. 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 workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Mt 9:35-38)
There will be a harvest of righteous and unrighteous fruit. Be
the farmer God is asking you to be. Sow to harvest righteousness,
for workers are needed.
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