Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Few labourers
Luke 10:2
The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
There is a lot of emphasis placed on church growth. In the denomination that I am a part of we report monthly on the membership and growth of the church. There are a lot of seminars, training courses, conferences and meeting about the matter of church growth. And, many churches are growing.
There is a difficult truth to consider though. Church growth has not changed the accuracy of Jesus’ declaration in Luke 10 that “The harvest is truly great, but the labourers are few.” We need to examine how it is possible that we could have filled churches and few labourers.
The first reason that this might be so is that the church, throughout all of its generations, has a tendency to talk to itself. This needs to be addressed in our generation.
On the day of Pentecost, as recorded in the second chapter of Luke’s account titled Acts, after the Holy Spirit had come upon them, Peter preached the first evangelistic sermon to a mixed multitude – but all were either Jews or proselytes to Judaism. The church remained focused on Jews and Jerusalem for a long time.
This is surprising since Jesus, in His last words to them, said, “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8.
No one ventured beyond that with which they were familiar and comfortable. As a result, there was a crisis in Acts 10 because God told a Gentile man, Cornelius the Roman, that he should send for Peter to come and share the Gospel with his household. God was about to break into the non-Jewish world with the Gospel of the saving grace in Jesus and Peter balked.
But it didn’t end there. Peter saw the light and said, “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality.” Acts 10:34. However, when Peter went back to Jerusalem and the Jewish Christians, the brothers, were incensed. Here is the record of the opening of their meeting, “And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!” Acts 11:2,3.
It took persecution and the fear of death to finally get the Gospel out of Jerusalem proper but still not beyond the Jews, look, “those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.” Acts 11:19.
Fortunately for us, some wayward brothers, whose names we do not even know, got into conversations with a few Greeks. “But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.” Acts 11:20. Again, the brothers in Jerusalem were concerned, “Then news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.” Acts 11:22. Barnabas was sent to see what on earth is going on with these fellows who are sharing the Gospel of Jesus with folks who are not Jews.
The great Apostle Paul’s habit was to go to the Jews first too. Look at Acts 13:5, 14, 42, etc. Here is what eventually happened, “when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.” Acts 13:42. Gentiles begged to hear the Gospel of Jesus. What a thing. On many occasions, Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles was often after he was throw out, either out of the synagogue or out of the city altogether.
We are very comfortable with our own. A young Christian from Nigeria stayed at my home a few weeks ago. He was watching TV and told me that he was seeing T.D. Jakes preach for the very first time and was excited. Then he asked me after a while, “why in America when I see a church with black people it has only black people, and when I see a church with white people it has only white people?” Now, that is not absolutely true but we know what he meant. He is watching church in a multicultural country for the first time and the church doesn’t really look multicultural.
In addition to comfort with our own kind, the church today has also become a part of the rhythm of our lives and existence. We have our school, our work, our home, our club and our church. We come to church because of how it makes us feel, and because of this belief that we have.
Some go to church because church is stable and predictable. There are too many other things in the world that are changing and changing so fast that so much seems out of balance. Church maintains the balance. Church has all of our old values, our old songs, our old memory verses and often our old friends.
Church also has services, the weekly services that help our lives and then the special services that help mark all kinds of things Christian and non-Christian; Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Good Friday, Christmas Day and the like. Church also provides a connected place for the other important things in our lives our weddings, our baby dedications or christenings, and of course our funerals.
We’re at peace with the culture, these days we even have our own stars and award shows. Institutional religion is settled, no more of that change the world stuff. So, as to the harvest, the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few!
Think on these things:
- When last did you personally share the Gospel with someone?
- Do you think that people of a different faith in your community should be introduced to the Gospel?
- Would you be willing to go on a mission trip to an unknown place?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would be ready to labour for God’s harvest.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
