Rooted Church Ross - Pastor Pete
March 4, 2021
As I was thinking about the message from this past Sunday where the concepts of planting and harvesting were key to what God was saying to us. I also began to contemplate the Apostle Paul's words from 1 Corinthians adding the concept of watering to the ideas regarding planting and harvesting, and the Holy Spirit led me to these thoughts.
Pastor Don's sermon from 02/28/2021 titled "The Harvest" started in Matthew chapter nine with Jesus telling the disciples to pray for laborers or workers to bring in the harvest.
Matthew 9:35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
While the scriptures in Matthew illustrate the importance of the laborers and workers in the harvest - the next scripture text gives insight into the heart of Jesus regarding the harvest - and - what/who the harvest actually is.
John 4:34 Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. 35 You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe[e] for harvest. 36 The harvesters are paid good wages, and the fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life. What joy awaits both the planter and the harvester alike! 37 You know the saying, ‘One plants and another harvests.’ And it’s true. 38 I sent you to harvest where you didn’t plant; others had already done the work, and now you will get to gather the harvest.” The fruit of the harvest is PEOPLE! The Church of Jesus Christ, His Body, is in the people business. In my Facebook post this week I shared the story of how many years ago a young man who felt called into the pastoral ministry asked to shadow me and follow me for a week to see what it was like being a pastor. During the week we ministered to people, visited folks, attended some meetings, led a mid-week service and did other things that pastors do in a given week. At the end of the week I asked him what he thought about being a pastor.
His reply was epic, he said, "Pastor Pete I think I still want to be a pastor, but I am not sure i like working with people."
My response to him was that he should think about another line of service in the kingdom because people are our business.
Next I wanted to hear what Paul had to say about the additional concept of watering.
1 Corinthians 3:1 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people.[b] I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world?
5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.
Paul says it here - it is not important who does the planting or the watering or the harvesting for that matter. God is the one who gives the growth. We are assigned to the particular task that God puts before us in a specific moment or season of our life. We may plant, we may water, or we may harvest - but it is all about God.
These scriptures made me think about the man whose name is in the title of this blog Mr. John Steve. Mr. Steve was the father of one of my best friends from our neighborhood. His son and I had worked with Mr. Steve since we were young teenagers doing all kinds of work in his lawn care business. Even after we graduated high school and had full-time jobs we worked together each spring, summer and fall when we would get off our main jobs until we were almost thirty years old. About twenty years ago Mr. Steve was diagnosed with cancer. It was a fast moving cancer and his prognosis was not good. His son asked me to visit his Dad so I immediately went to the Hospice unit in Hamilton to visit Mr. Steve. Everyone told me he was near the end of his life and to the best any of us knew Mr. Steve had never made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. After we chatted for a few minutes and remembered some of the old times I asked Mr. Steve if we could pray together for him to accept Jesus Christ. He sighed deeply and almost in a whisper said no as he shook his head.
I cannot tell you the depth of my disappointment. It was like a crushing weight descended on me because I knew Mr. Steve was not long for this world. He passed away a couple of hours after I left. The family asked that I officiate the funeral and I experienced such a feeling of heaviness those next couple of days leading up to the funeral service. Mr. Steve had a nephew by marriage who was a Methodist pastor and the family asked if he could have a part in the funeral service. Of course I said that would be fine.
The time for the funeral came and the Methodist Pastor and I were in a small room before the service preparing. I mentioned to him that I had seen Mr. Steve just hours before he passed away. His reply both stunned me and flooded me with joy at the same time. The pastor said, "I know! You where there just minutes before I arrived to say goodbye to Uncle John (Mr. Steve). I asked him if I could pray with him to receive the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. He said Witty (that was his nickname for me) just asked me the same thing. Uncle John said yes and I prayed the sinners prayer with him"
Praise the Lord! This experience with Mr. Steve made me realize that it is so true. Sometimes we plant, sometimes we water, and sometimes we harvest. Let us pray for the laborers of the harvest. God bless.
Comentarios