Monday: The Need for Laborers
Sometimes we are sent to reap where others have turned the soil, sown the seed, and watered the crop. Although there may be the rare occasion where one person digs, sows, waters, and reaps all in one field, this is certainly not the rule. In our fast-paced modern world people move into and out of our sphere of influence, and we must be ready to build upon the evangelistic work that others have begun.1
Read John 4:35–41. While we often get excited at the reaping stage of a person’s Christian growth, what do these verses tell us about rejoicing with others who have contributed along the way?
Usually when we refer to reaping, we are specifying a certain time of year when the crops are ready to be harvested. For most crops there is a specific reaping season. In the spiritual realm, however, there is no set time for reaping. Jesus makes this point strongly in John 4:35. In agricultural terms, the harvest may well have been four months away, but in regard to those who are ready to accept Jesus, some part of the field is ever ripe for harvest.
At Jacob’s well, Jesus sowed the gospel seed in the heart of the Samaritan woman. She, in turn, sowed the seed among the people of Sychar, and now the Samaritans walk toward Jesus past unripe grain fields. As it was with the disciples, the Lord encourages us to be ready to reap from the continually ripening field of the world.
Consider 2 Peter 3:9. Why is God so keen for laborers to go out into the harvest?
It is because of God’s great love and compassion for humankind that He desires laborers to go into the harvest (see Matt. 9:36–38). As we consider the world field today, the harvest still seems great and the laborers few. The disciples were told to pray that reapers would be sent out into the harvest. As we modern-day disciples pray for laborers, the Holy Spirit will open the way for us to do that which He has called us to do.
Think over the past few days. How many chances did you have to witness for your faith, to plant a few seeds that could one day reap a harvest? How many of those times did you do it? How many opportunities did you pass up?
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My family and I started a small Church amongst Lutherans and the joy of reaping is immeasurable in our experience when we reaped the first three souls after a year's ministry.
I witness every day in the way I live my life out of love for my God. We all testify of God working in our life every day; people are watching. God is watching. God's love to you.
Brothers and sisters! My testimony and taking what has been said in this lesson, I remember when I came into the church. My husband and I had just moved into our new home some years back and my next door neighbor greeted my family and I and welcomed us into the neighborhood. There was a revival at her church and she was trying to find a way to meet me where I was because I was not a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
As I often think about what she did, it is amazing how God used her to witness to me. Long story short, one day it was the Sabbath and I had asked to use her lawnmower and she didn't know how to say no to me because she was trying to witness and she gave me the mower to cut the yard and an accident came about and I was injured. Normally I would check the grass but this particular day I didn't and I ran over a hanger and it went through the lawnmower and a piece of it went through my pants leg and ended up behind my bone and she had to take me to the hospital emergency room. She was so upset and she kept telling me, I should not have given you that lawnmower because it was the Sabbath.
In my mind there was no understanding about the Sabbath, but while recovering with crutches she gave me several of Ellen White's books and a book entitled, "Project Sunlight." You know the more that I tried to prove the Sabbath being wrong, the more God revealed to me what was right about the Sabbath. And when I started reading "Project Sunlight" I didn't want to put the book down. I read that entire book in two days and then I simply wanted to cry! All I wanted to do was find this Jesus that was so loving and that had died for me! I wanted to know more and more about Him!
I praise God my my next door neighbor who introduced me to Jesus! I became a member of the church and I was like a baby on Sabbath. I didn't want to leave after church services. My husband became a member one year later and shortly after that we became heavily involved in the church. We formed a singing group and went to a church that had been closed for over 5 years and reopened it and ran an evangelistic meeting and had people who we thought would never come to church. We were blessed to form a prison team and we visited three prisons bringing the message of Jesus Christ to inmates.
I am talking about laborers, yes I agree the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. These days, it seems as though no one really wants to go out and spread the good news of Jesus Christ! Many people are going to Christless graves and we are going to have to be modern-day disciples and tell a dying world about the love of Jesus Christ! I praise God for my neighbor who took time out to bring me Jesus. I really love this quarter's Sabbath School Book!