The harvest is plentiful

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. Matthew 9: 37 – 38

We all know that we are not saved by works but by grace, through faith, and even this is a gift from God (Ephesians 2: 8). There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation for which we are all very pleased I hope. It is not down to us, but it is all about God’s wonderful gift to each one of us.

However there is a wonderful harvest waiting to be reaped out there and that does require ‘work’. Jesus said to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers and workers work.  It is true that the work may be prayer or giving to missions but it is also work that each one of us needs to get involved in.

I am currently in South Africa and every week we have a team of people visiting the homes of visitors and attendees to our church. Every week people are getting saved but every week we have to go out and work for the harvest. It will not happen whilst we think happy thoughts or even stay home and pray. People have to be told the good news. Paul says that people have to be told in order for them to call upon the Lord Jesus and be saved (Romans 10: 14 – 15).

I have to confess that I never thought I was an evangelist. I never thought I could do that work. I could pray for others and I could witness about Jesus but I was not much good at sharing the Gospel. I have now been bitten by the bug! 

To bring in the harvest requires some work. In Luke 5: 4 – 11 we read how Jesus had been teaching the crowd and afterwards he told Simon to go out fishing, to put down his nets into deep water. They had been out fishing all night and were tired. To go out to the deep water would require rowing or putting up the sail but because Jesus said it, they did it.

They caught such a large number of fish that the nets began to break. Even when they called their partners to help, there were so many fish that the boats began to sink. This was hard and dangerous work. They could have lost their boats but instead they were commissioned to be fishers of men. To bring in that harvest required some effort but it was worth it on every level. They may have had to repair their nets, sort out their boats but the harvest was plentiful.

Today the harvest of souls is as plentiful as in Jesus’ time and we not only need to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers as Jesus did but to be willing to be a worker. If the thought of sharing the Gospel frightens you, ask God to give you courage to talk about Jesus whenever there is an opportunity.  Take some time to learn a clear Gospel presentation and be ready. It does take work but the rewards of plundering hell when souls are saved is worth every bit of effort that it takes.