The Fields Are White For Harvest

by:  M. Allen  (parts based on an original outline by Jeff Smith)

 

FILING INFORMATION:

96048

09/08/96 - Cyclone, KY

 

I.  Introduction.

A.  Our gospel meeting with Dudley Ross Spears begins next Sunday. To make this meeting  successful, we will have to work hard during the next two weeks. Are you willing to work for Jesus?  Do you feel that this meeting is important or not?

B.  Will you invite anyone to come to the meeting? Will you attend it faithfully yourself?

C.   Jesus spoke once of a field white for harvest and that field is just as white as ever. But where are the laborers to tend to it and bring fruit from it to Christ?

1.  What kind of a laborer are you?

 

II.  Are You Ready?

A.  The Fields Are Ready.  The world is full of people who desire to be saved.  It is up to each and everyone of us to go forth and spread the gospel.

B.  Spiritual Hunger-John 4:31-38

1…the disciples became concerned that Jesus had not eaten anything lately

a.   he did indeed have an insatiable appetite, but it wasn't for morsels that entered the stomach to be eliminated

b.   Jesus said that he hungered to do the will of God, hoping to stir up a growling appetite in his disciples as well

2. as the disciples gazed into their fields of grain, they anticipated the harvest that was yet far in the future-four months from them (like  us looking forward to the first of January)

a. their eyes were focused on the physical and the visible; their  minds marking time by a calendar with unlimited pages

b. Jesus wanted them to wipe away the haze of this world so that they could concentrate upon the spiritual focus of a disciple's life and understand the urgency of every day

c. look at the fields, he commands

1.    reminds me of the cotton fields in East Arkansas around harvest time-looks like it has snowed because it is time to harvest or pick the cotton

2.    the spiritual field Jesus showed them was even at this time white for the harvest

3. the world was grown up with souls ready for harvesting now-not in four months or four years, but today!

4. in other words, what are you waiting for, get to it!

 

B. Those around us are Always Ready-Matthew 9:36-38

1. Jesus spoke of the world at large that was starved for some good news about freedom from sin and hope for eternity

a.  righteous Jews who were kept under the law realized their  ineptitude at keeping the Law perfectly, their need for a Savior, the promised Messiah of prophecy

b.  righteous Gentiles were surrounded by sin and perversity and futile idolatry, searching for the truth and dismissive of obvious error

c. like a six inch headline in the newspaper, the answer to every righteous seeker's prayer was answered in the person of Jesus of Nazareth who had arrived

d. the work of those who first came to Jesus was to herald that good news from the rooftops and cover the world with joy and hope

2. we, like those early disciples, can look out our windows and see a field white for harvest

a. people starving for the forgiveness of God and the removal of  their guilt

b. men and women, blinded by hopelessness and despair, groping about in the darkness of their misery and searching for some hope in eternity

c. suffering people, made lame by the devil's sorrows, limping through life fraught with illness or depression or difficulty

3. like them, we realize that this field is composed, not only of strangers, but of our friends, our family, our neighbors

a. what will we do with the message they are dying to hear?

b. will we at least put it before them or will we instead never mention Him to them?

c. do you know someone like this-wandering about in confusion?

d. are you one of the laborers that God sent into the vineyard to work amidst the white harvest?

 

III. Are You Not Sowing the Seed of the Kingdom?

A. For Fear? - Prov. 28:1

1.    first century disciples had every reason to fear teaching the gospel to others

2.    they faced imprisonment, torture and execution from both the Jews and the Romans

a. and yet, they preached and taught anyway, sweeping the world  with truth and changing the course of history in the name of the son of man

3. fear is one of the leading reasons that more Christians do not teach their neighbors today, though imprisonment, torture and execution are highly unlikely

a. instead, we fear what others will think of us, or hurting someone's feelings

b. their courage so shames our cowardice

4. we have a need this week for you to hand out meeting invitations to our friends and then encourage them to visit

a. there is a need for us to have the courage to do these small, yet vital things

b. do you have the courage to sow in the field of souls for Jesus?

 

B. For Apathy?  -  Prov. 24:30-34

1.    the man who refuses to work watches passively as his field is overrun by trouble

2.    we will experience the same thing ourselves: if we refuse  to work for God, the devil will overcome it

3. the very sin we see all the time-whether it be commission (fornication, homosexuality) or omission (not attending anywhere on Sunday mornings)-cries out for us to do something to give those scattered sheep our Shepherd

4. often indifference is a result of pessimism, the concept that nothing good will come of our efforts, so why bother?

a. we look at a city of sin, and suggest that such iniquity forbids teaching truth

b. Two salesmen in the late 1800s were sent from this country on  separate missions to Africa to view the possibilities of selling shoes. One salesman wrote back to the company and said that the  prospects for selling shoes in that country were absolutely no good because everyone went barefoot. The other salesman wrote back and said that the prospects for selling shoes there were fantastic because everyone needed shoes.

c. widespread sin points out the need for God's power unto  salvation, not the lack of prospect

 

C. For Procrastination? - Prov. 27:1

1. when it comes time to finally invite that neighbor or relative to a gospel meeting, inevitably some suggest that there will always be next time to do it

a.     those people whom you have always intended to invite to services but have never gotten around to it have continued to sin against your Father and theirs

b.    they have  marched a steady course to eternal hell fire (your brother, your cousin, your friendly neighbor on their way to hell; why won't you help?)

2. the part of the field Jesus saw white for the harvest is perishing because his laborer has better things to do; he is too busy this week, he will get to it tomorrow

a. that field is composed of the souls of people you love; will you let them starve and die eternally or will you do what you can?

b.    put the offer before them

1. if they refuse it, it is not your fault, you have done what you could

2. but what if...what if they accept and come to the gospel meeting next week... what if one day you can call your friend brother or call your cousin sister?  what if?

3. you will never know unless you try; and worse, souls may perish if you sit by idly and let the devil plant and nourish his weeds in your field

 

D. For Ignorance? - Hebrews 5:12-14

1. all Christians should become teachers when they have grown to maturity in Christ

2. all Christians should mature in Jesus

a. no saint should remain a babe in the faith forever or even for terribly long

b. all will not become public teachers, but all can be personal teachers

3. teach yourself so that you can teach others

 

E. For Misplaced Priorities? - Luke 9:57-62

1. the disciples of Jesus were following with him along a road in Samaria

2. one made a confession, a pledge-Luke 9:57-58

a. Jesus told him that that pledge, if followed through, would take him into some unsavory places and uncomfortable conditions

b. to be his disciple, one should first count the cost and be certain that Jesus is top priority and that things that are sacrificed and chances that must be taken in His name will be willingly committed and not grudgingly

c. working for a gospel meeting is one of the costs of discipleship

3. Jesus told another what he must do

a. he seems to have accepted the instruction to follow the Lord, but he said, wait, there is something I must do first-Luke 9:59-60

b. Jesus saw that his priorities were confused

1. the man was concerned with elements of the field that were already past harvest instead of the work in the field now

2. his priority was upon himself and what he wanted to do rather than serving God and telling others about Jesus

c. working for a gospel meeting will require you to put God and others before self

4. another agreed to follow Him but only after doing what he wanted first-Luke 9:61-62

a. Jesus reproved his priorities as well: he pledged to follow the Lord, but it wasn't long at all before he began looking back at other, earthly, temporal concerns

b. through the preaching of the gospel, Jesus told you to follow him, just as he did in person to some on the Samaritan road-Php 3:13-14

c. when you confessed Christ and were baptized into his body, you put your hands to the plow, you must not look back at earthly priorities

1. a plowman that loses concentration in the field soon veers off course away from the goal ahead

2. one who looks back never accomplishes anything, never bears any fruit at all to the Lord; Jesus moaned for that wayward plowman who was not fit for the kingdom of God

5. is Jesus a priority above job and school, reputation and recreation

6. are your hands set firmly on the plow, your eyes trained upon the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, your spirit focused upon the souls of those you know well?

 

IV.  Conclusion

A.  Our meeting is six days away.  Have you invited anyone yet?  Why are your hands off the plow?  Jesus has not told you to rest yet!