Being Exited to Be a Part of the Harvest

Seeking to Grow the Kingdom By Grace and the Means of Christ

Good Morning,

Last evening in a sermon on Ezekiel 37 and post-millennialism I talked about something surrounding Bethany ARP that I think is applicable to most of our churches, especially those of us in settled, historic congregations.

I said, “[Bethany’s] sanctuary was built in 1914 to handle roughly 300 people. We have 80-85 regularly in the morning. Are there more or fewer people in the Bethany community today than there were back then? What does that tell you we need to do and the wonderful opportunity around us?”.

Churches don’t grow for lots of reasons, but the most common reason is simply because they don’t want to. Whether it is fear, fear of work, fear of new people, fear of being uncomfortable, fear of grace, or just not wanting to understand the mission God is calling us to they are all related to a simple question that arises from Christ’s parable found in Luke 6:46-49, married to His similar statement in Luke 10:2, “Then He said to them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”

What I mean by “fear” here is nothing too complex or hard to grasp. That anxiousness you feel when you step into the unknown, or the unknown comes to you is often based on not knowing exactly what you are supposed to do in that particular situation. One of the passages we looked at last night (come to evening service, the water is fine at night, ;) ) in concert with the main message was as you might expect Matthew 28:16-20. As Jesus is sending out the disciples to fulfil the Great Commission He is telling them to just do what He showed them to do in His own life. Show the love of God, live out the love of God, and just be normal. Being yourself as you are in Christ is the best evangelistic tool anyone could come up with. If the problem though is some kind of embarrassment as to being found at church, or at Bethany specifically, than that is a different problem. Regardless the Christian soul, despite whatever weaknesses we might have in the flesh, is a contagious faith, at least it should be. Think about the way people act when they are healed by our Savior. They can’t wait to tell others about this mighty man who has done a wonderful work in them. Once we are harvested it should be a natural outgrowth of our faith to want to see others brought into the kingdom as well. Joy on the heart shows in the face.

The question we have to ask ourselves is this, do we want to be a part of the Lord’s harvest or not? Harvesting is hard work. But you don’t get to eat unless you bring the food to the table, the same is true of any church which wants to see men and women come to Christ, to grow, to flourish. We have to be willing to do the little things, pray for the harvest, worship for the harvest, and fellowship for the harvest. Not allowing our petty fleshly grievances get in the way of the Shepherd’s gathering together of His people in His sanctuary. Our light must shine so folks know where true hope lies.

Or as Ezekiel 37:27-28 says, “My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. The nations also will know that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.” In this portion of God’s Holy Word we see a couple of things worth mentioning. First of all, when we think about the tabernacle what is that meant to represent for us today? For new covenant believers it is a symbol of the presence of God. A fellow ARP minister and I like to talk about the ministry of presence, just being present and being present while you are there is as much a work of pastoral ministry as is preaching and teaching. Jesus’ spiritual presence is how we should take the use of the word tabernacling here and if as the New Testament states, wherever two or three are gathered there I am also then what reason do we have to be anything but joyful, even in difficult and dark times, in that the lampstand is shining brightly in the midst of us? That doesn’t mean of course having some kind of mark on our face at all times, but the fulfillment of a passage like Philippians 4:6-7.

Contentment is influenced by how we understand that tabernacling to take effect in our hearts. For churches which seek to grow in grace and love that can be seen in not only the way they cry out to God together, but how they desire to be grounded in the outpouring of the gospel to their neighborhood as well. If you yourself feel no real weight about your own sin then it would make sense that you don’t really care if your neighbor goes to Hell, because there is a good chance you are headed there with them. Men who are given the light of life are called to let that light shine on others and that includes visitors who come into the house of God with you. They might be the strongest Christians ever, or they might not know Genesis from Revelation, but you don’t know that until you ask. If you don’t want to be at church the visitor across from you will get the memo and not want to be there either, so you both get what you came for. Faith in Christ is more than a verbal assent to the principles of the Christian religion. Faith produces fruit, and that fruit is sweet to the taste and lovely to the smell thereof. It is attractive to those seeking the means to make honey out of the bitterness of this fallen world.

In closing, the heart of being involved in the harvest of the saints is Jesus Christ. That seems a bit captain obvious, but so are most things in the life of the believer. Our roadmap to church growth can be found in the Bible. Speak to others of the word of hope, live out that hope in how you order your life, and feed regularly on the bread of life, and welcome others to the peace which passes all understanding. Be the instrument of the Holy Spirit as He draws all men to Himself.

Another Thought:

https://reformation-opc.org/cultivating-hospitality

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church