Working God’s Field (6)

“Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” John 4.35

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers aref ew. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Matthew 9.37, 38

It’s also our work
Work is merely the exertion of energy – spiritual and physical – toward specific objectives. We work at the stewardship of our lives because we want everything we do to glorify God, and because we eagerly want to hear His “Well done” at the end our journey. We work at our sanctification because we know that the stewardship of all our work begins in working hard to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. Cross-bearing as work that shows the love of Jesus to the people in our part of the Lord’s field flows naturally from the stewardship of time and opportunities, and a soul overflowing with the power of God’s Spirit.

Our work is therefore much larger than the job at which we work. But our job is important work, no matter what it is, because it is an arena for practicing good stewardship and living out the fruit of a soul carefully cultivated and nurtured.

The Apostle Paul referred to the task of evangelizing the lost as “work” (2 Tim. 4.5). There can be little doubt that the Lord intended our work to include consistent sowing of His Word into His field, so that, in and through all our work, the word of the Gospel of the Kingdom accompanies and explains the transformed lives we live before the people around us each day.

A waiting harvest
Jesus said a great harvest of souls is ready to be reaped for the Kingdom of God. He commanded us to lift up our eyes, and to see the many opportunities for bearing witness that await us each day.

The harvest is plentiful, Jesus said. In our secular age, where antipathy toward things spiritual and Christian appears to be on the rise, we might be inclined to doubt the Lord’s understanding of our times. Yet His Word does not fail; a plentiful harvest for the Kingdom and glory of God awaits in the field of the world, and in our own Personal Mission Field. All that is lacking is faithful laborers who will take up that work as their own, and go like Jesus to seek and to save the lost (Lk. 19.10).

The work we’ve been given to includes the work of evangelizing the lost; we must not neglect this important aspect of what God has given us for the purpose of bringing glory to His Name. Pray that God will raise up laborers for the harvest, and pray every day that you will be one of them.
What is involved in the work of evangelism?

The work of evangelism
Evangelizing the lost is a matter of being and speaking. Jesus said that we must first be witnesses before the power of the Spirit will enable us to proclaim a convincing message (Acts 1.8). But if we are working hard at our sanctification, at the work of the cross, and at the work of stewardship and our job, it will begin to be clear to the people who see us each day that we live a different kind of life than they do.

Peter says that, when we have established Christ as Lord in our hearts, and are doing faithfully and for His glory all the work He has assigned us, others will notice. They will see our diligence, care, joy, and hope, and they will want to understand what makes us different. Out of the context of credible and compelling lives, we will then be able to explain that the hope they see in us issues from the Good News of Christ and His Kingdom (1 Pet. 3.15).

We need to be ready for such opportunities, and this means praying for the people in our Personal Mission Field, demonstrating the love of Christ, and initiating conversations with the people around us, as well as preparing ourselves to tell the Good News meaningfully, personally, and convincingly.

For this we will need to practice our testimony of how God and His grace have worked in our lives. Just as Paul returned to his testimony over and over in Acts and his epistles, explaining the various ways that God had changed his life by grace through faith, so we should continuously review, update, and share our testimony to explain the hope that is within us.

But we must also know the Gospel, and be able to explain how the work of Jesus Christ redeems us from sin and establishes us in a new Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy.

And we’ll need to be ready to defend that proclamation against whatever objections, doubts, or questions may confront us.

The work of evangelizing the lost is inseparable from all the work we’ve been given to do; we must engage it consistently, expecting that God will give us the words we need to enable those He is calling to find their way to Him (Lk. 12.8-12).

Every day the fields are ripe unto the harvest, and every day we go forth, either as faithful laborers for the harvest or as disobedient workers in the field of the Lord.

For reflection
1.  Why do we say that the work we’ve been given to do in the field of the world is greater than the job at which we work?

2.  Since every Christian is called to be a witness to Christ, why do so few Christians ever share their faith with the people in their Personal Mission Field?

3.  Peter says we must “be ready” to explain the hope that is within us. Are you ready? Explain.

Next steps – Preparation: On one side of a 3x5 card, write out your testimony of how Christ has affected your life. On the other side of the card, write a brief outline of the Gospel as you might share it. Share each of these with a Christian friend, and ask for feedback.

T. M. Moore

Our Mission Partners Program is designed to help you and a Christian friend improve working your Personal Mission Field over a 6-month period. The program and materials are free, and you can learn more about it by clicking here. You can download a free PDF of Vocational Disciplines, a complement to this week’s study (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.