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Meanwhile
the disciples were urging him, saying,
"Rabbi, eat.”
But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not
know about.” So the
disciples said to one another,
“Has anyone brought him something
to eat?” Jesus said to them,
“My food is
to do the will of him who sent
me and to accomplish his work.
Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes
the harvest’? Look,
I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the
fields are white for harvest.
Already the one who reaps
is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that
sower and
reaper
may rejoice together.
-- John
4:31-36
In
John 4 we have the story of the Samaritan woman at the well.
Jesus went out of His way to talk to a woman from Samaria,
a social taboo which He was unconcerned about breaking.
He did it because the people there needed Him, and then
chided His disciples for not seeing how important reaching the
lost is. After the
woman discovered that Jesus was the Messiah who could give her
living water, she ran off immediately to tell her neighbors
(without the water jar she’d come to get water with).
As sometimes happens still today, the disciples were
busying themselves with the food they had just procured and trying
to get Jesus to share it with them.
Jesus was too busy doing the work God sent Him to do to
bother about food just then.
He had a message to share and at that moment only the
Samaritan woman was sharing it, while the disciples were more
worried about their personal comfort.
Some
things don’t change all that much over time.
As a disciple of Jesus, I am often more concerned about the
food I eat than the food God has given me of harvesting souls.
Jesus made it clear that His purpose was not to simply live
and eat, but to gather precious people in to God’s granary.
There was so much to be done and so little time.
The fields were white with the harvest to be brought in and
the disciples were busy with the wrong things.
As
white as the fields were for harvest in Jesus’ day, they are
more so now. Our
world is filled with souls who are ripe to hear the gospel
message. The vast
majority of people around our Church are unsaved.
In order to save them, Jesus had to work until He was
tired, go hungry and thirsty, and in the end, literally give
Himself away. He
calls us to do the same. What
we need is a sense of urgency and sacrifice.
People are dying around us every day, most of them without
Christ.
We
are embarking on a major new mission initiative to begin the
harvest of souls around us. These
hurting people need to be brought in to the Church and taught the
Truth that will set them free.
The amazing thing I’ve seen is that once you bring a
person to Christ, just like the Samaritan woman, they immediately
think of others they can share this good news with.
Think of the ripple effect we can have if we can bring our
closest neighbors to Christ.
We
are the closest Church to the Kingsford High School.
Students walk by this building every day.
Students who need Jesus.
Others drive by our building routinely without a clue how
they might get in, even if they wanted to.
We need to reach them.
To do so, we are going to have to sacrifice.
I’m talking about a level of giving that we have not
challenged ourselves with ever before.
I am praying for God to open all of our hearts so that we
will be willing to offer ourselves to his work, and reap the
harvest that is eternal. Begin
now to pray for God’s will in your life.
Open yourself to the Spirit’s leading.
The time is now. Look,
I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that
the fields are white for harvest.
I'll
see you in Church.
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Michael J. March, Pastor
From The Church Mouse
July and August 2008
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