The Divine Art of Reaping

When I first started in ministry, it was all about the experiences that could take place...no money of course, just lots of opportunities and my brother Ralph was more than willing to oblige me.  He was a church planter in Nova Scotia and I could be his youth pastor... for free and work along the side with him in roofing and siding.  It all worked great until the business slowed down and I had to start looking for other work.  So, I'll never forget getting a job interview at New Minas Chev Olds.  They asked me about my sales background to which I replied, 'I sell Jesus'!  He smiled, I told him about Jesus and yeah, I didn't get the job.

On a serious note, I think some of us really struggle with this whole aspect of reaping because all too often we feel like this is ‘the sales job’

IJohn 4:34-38 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Reaping is challenging our friends to respond to the truth of God’s Word.  We should reap because it is the natural result of cultivating and planting. If we cultivate in love and plant God’s truth, the result will be the challenge and joy of harvesting.  In order to reap a response, we need to understand the difference between our job and God’s job in the reaping process. We will discover today how to share the gospel in a clear and compelling manner and understand that how a person responds to the gospel is connected to the condition of their own heart.  Cultivators, planters and reapers are all needed and some of us are better in place than another, but everyone is needed and everyone should know how to do all three. It is all about teamwork as we realize that every type of person is necessary and that every step of the process is hard work but the rewards of seeing someone come to know the Lord is what it is all about. The celebration party here and in heaven must go on!

t is my desire that we understand that leading someone to the Lord in terms of our focus is less about decision and more about transformation.  It is less about the individual and more about the community and it is less about the after-life and more about ‘mission-life’!

So, what is our job?  The human side of reaping

There are two skills that we need to develop

1. Clearly and concisely present the Good News

Have you ever tried to sell someone something they didn’t need, or in this case, didn’t realize they needed?  You need to be saved… what do you mean, I’m not drowning...

I'll never forget my first lesson in retail sales.  I asked my boss, "Should I ask them what they need?'  He responded, 'No, don't ask them what they need, they don't need anything!  Just tell them what they want."  So, with that I began to sell suits at Steel, a men's clothing store.  I learned the gist of sales ANPOCS - approach the customer, determine needs, make a presentation, overcome obstacles, close the sale and sell add ons.  I learned how to do the windsor knot backwards and make guys look amazing!!  I would sell suits to guys for every occassion knowing that for teenagers, they will probably wear it just once, their graduation. And here's the thing, telling people about Jesus is not a sales job.  It is the incredible life giving story of God!

Colossians 4:2-6

One of the hindrances to reaping is best expressed by this statement: “I would love to tell my peers about Jesus, but I don’t know the essential elements of a gospel presentation.”

Bad News / Good News

Romans 3:23; 6:23; Romans 10:9,10; Ephesians 2:8,9

On faith – it is not a cognitive assent, it is relational, it is complete trust in a person that moves us to act lovingly and with loyally to that person. 

2. Ask For A Response

Acts 2:40  Peter strongly urged all of his listeners

Acts 4:12  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

2 Corinthians 6:2 For he says,
   "In the time of my favor I heard you,
      and in the day of salvation I helped you."I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.

There are questions that we can ask to determine where a person is at.

1. Which life best represents your current relationship with God?
2. What would keep you from beginning a friendship with God?

What is God’s Job?  The divine side of reaping

1. He convicts the spiritually lost of sin and convinces them of their need for Jesus Christ.  John 16:8
2. He draws the spiritually lost to Himself  -  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  John 6:44

The heart of reaping  Mark 4:1-20

It is not so much that these are four different types of people, but that these conditions can really reflect our heart at any given time and how effective the Word of God will reach us

First, there is what we can call the callous heart. The seed is sown upon the beaten, trodden-down pathway. This represents people whose hearts are busy, who are not open, who have been beaten down so many times they have grown cynical, hardhearted, callous to truth. When the seed hits them, the birds come and gather it up immediately. (Perhaps there are people like that here this morning. You are here not because you wanted to hear the Word but because coming to church is the "right" thing to do. Your hearts are callous and unresponsive, and the Word falls on them as on asphalt.) What does Jesus say about that kind of a life? He says it is strictly for the birds! The seed will be snatched away by Satan before you even have a chance to hear it.

Then there are the impulsive hearts. The seed falls upon them and they immediately respond with joy. The seed takes root and grows up quickly. The trouble is, they respond like this to everything -- food fads, new books, political leaders, whatever popular movement happens to be abroad at the time. As a result, their lives are so shallow that the seed of the life-giving Word cannot take deep root and change them.

The third condition of heart is represented by the thorns. These are those who hear the Word, but thorns spring up and choke it. This is what we could call the over-involved heart. There are three things Jesus details here which are thorns that choke the life-giving Word:

First, there are cares, i.e., worries concerns. These are people who are concerned all the time over what is going to happen next, worried about the situation they are facing -- fretful, anxious, troubled people who do not know how to rest, how to leave things in God's hands but are constantly trying to work it all out themselves. These people Jesus says, are losing truth. The seed has fallen upon their hearts, but it does not take root because it is choked by the thorns, and they soon lose it.

Second, there are those who delight in riches, who are caught up in the pursuit of wealth, Then there is what Jesus calls "desire for other things," or what we might call "restlessness." These are people who are always shifting from one thing to another. But then there is the receptive heart, the one ready to receive -- open and responsive immediately.

Spiritual Awareness In Reaping

Acts 8:26-40

Because the seed of spiritual life grows by the power of the Holy Spirit, we do not need to badger, dictate, cajole, or force people to believe. In fact, we cannot. Belief requires voluntary acceptance. Anything that looks like a threat or a bribe spoils true belief. Anyone who truly believes is drawn by God himself. We may plant the seed of faith by our witness; God alone makes it germinate, sprout, and blossom. We need to faithfully minister to others and trust God for the growth.

Sin – Let’s face it, when we use this word, the thing that jumps into people’s mind is a deed.  We need to make it clear that this is not just an accumulation of action, but that it is a disease of the human condition.  Isaiah 1:5,6; Proverbs 10:23, Romans 3:23.  It is a natural inclination and we are all suffering under its consequences.

Salvation – most people think “saved from what?” We need to stress the fact that faith in Jesus protects us from the defeats in every day life. It gives solutions to the problems in our lives. It does much more that merely improving our life however, because it saves our life from the effect of a terminal illness.

Saviour – faith in Jesus is the only effective cure. The Messiah took the disease upon Himself and let it be transferred upon Himself. He transferred it upon Himself and died, but He didn’t stay dead. The cure is something we have to appropriate upon ourselves like medicine. We have to take it to be cured.

1. Do not promise heaven on earth. John 16:33; Phil. 1:29
2. Be sensitive to your own forcefulness– know when to press and when to let up – ask the person if you’re coming on too strong. You can pray for God to reveal to them the truth of the Gospel. God wants a decision based on repentance and faith not intimidation and fear.
3. Game of 20 questions. Don’t allow yourself to get lost responding to many questions. You’ll get sidetracked and won’t get to the important questions.
4. You preach the wrong mountain. We’re saved not on the promises of what He’ll do when He returns. We’re saved based on what He did first time.
5. The missing Gospel – Jesus is the promised Messiah. However, we must never make the mistake of talking about Jesus without explaining what the purpose of His Messiahship and His first coming was. (1 Cor 15) He came to pay for our sins. Do not present His credentials without talking about His atoning sacrifice for our sins

The Joy of Reaping

Reaping is very exhilarating, to have the opportunity to lead someone to the Lord, to pray with them and welcome them as a brother or sister in Christ.  It is the greatest miracle of all, a new life, a new creation, born again, a brand new Christian!

Check out what brings Jesus joy -  Luke 10:21  Ministry that is done in Jesus’ name

Jesus knew that talking and training vs action could be the tendency of his young followers.  So Jesus actually sent them out to learn, to discover as they shared the good news.

God promises that his harvest will be magnificent and prolific—the best fruit ever grown. Our witness may be weak and our efforts may seem to influence so few, but the Word of God is a powerful growth agent. We should keep our eyes on the great harvest to come and not let bad soil or weeds discourage us from faithful service and witness.

Start with compassion that is born in prayer

The word for compassion here is ‘splankna’.  The meaning of the word is a physical all body response of mercy and compassion – He see them violently pinned by the enemy, the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy.

Go to where the people are with the power of His presence and seek out the receptive.

Focus on being faithful at proclaiming – that is our job

Prayerfully depend on God to do the work of convicting – that is His job.

Why do we do what we do? Why is it so important for us to get the good news out there? Because when you really think about it, it is incredible to know that God loves us, His children, that much.  He is a Father to the fatherless, no matter what you have done and how far you think  you’ve gone,  He longs for you to come home to experience his unfailing love and forgiveness.  If you know Him as your dad, Your picture is in His wallet.  So, what does He expect of us?  First and foremost to believe who He says we are and then to be compelled by that love to share that incredible freeing truth with others.  I guess that is what makes Christianity stand apart.  It is not a religion, it is a relationship.

Check out James Chong's presentation of the gospel at

http://www.jameschoung.net/big-story-training.pdf