John 4:31-38
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 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.”
Let’s imagine that you actually are aware of the work of the gospel. Let’s take it even one step further and imagine that you are more than aware, you are supporting ministries that are working in less than ideal, perhaps extreme conditions with regard to their welfare. You give a few dollars and as a result things like medicine or tracts or foods are distributed that open a door for the sharing of the gospel and people come to salvation. In a way, you have reaped the benefits of others labor.
This harvest is always ripe, 365 days a year, but with the unfortunate consequence that daily the workers are not enough for the harvest and some of the yield is lost. Ministries fail or limp along due to inadequate resources, it might have been an airline ticket, a tank of gas, some expense money, I don’t know, but the possibilities are as numerous as those lost, those that were not harvested.
Meanwhile, in your very church, new chairs are purchased, new books for the latest, greatest curriculum are ordered and the first renditions from the architect for the new addition are reviewed.
If you haven’t read my work before, you may not realize that I am blunt. There is a place for saintly discourse and then there is a place for candor that raises ire, rankles consciences and inflames sensitivities. I really don’t care because God has put it upon my heart to share these declarations with you to get your attention. Unfortunately, in the big scheme of things, few care or few find the words and react in a manner that matters.
I really can understand how the situation developed. Persecuted Christians survived, grew in their ability to worship publicly and solidified that blessing by building infrastructure. An infrastructure that required that they know where there next sermon was going to be and who would be delivering it and so it grew.
Men were put in charge that took up the responsibility to make sure that just as their normal families were taken care of with a hearth, bed and food, so would the members of the church be taken care of. Unfortunately, it came to be more of an institution that was preserved then the people who made it up. The programs of the institution grew instead of the direct providing for of the people. If someone that was a member had more to give, they gave it to the church and the church invested it in itself instead of in its people.
The churches that we see in the New Testament met in homes, gave to each other as each needed and then took their surplus to support the spreading of the gospel and to the care of the churches that had less than they did. If you read in places like 1 Corinthians you could see an almost competitiveness was encouraged by Paul so that they could see who might give to the next church in need more abundantly.
When I think back upon that day, I think of that simple beginning and then consider pictures of the pope with ermine, gold and jewels and though I am not picking on the Catholics, it is just the perfect image to bring up. The idea is one of opulence and whether it is paying quarterly for an educational curriculum when you could just use the Bible or $50,000 for a pipe organ’s maintenance it is all the same. When there are Native Americans dying unsaved decades earlier than the national norm or orphans in India or widows in Africa, or limping ministries anywhere in the world that could and should be receiving attention, it is all just as glaringly wrong.
John 4:39-42
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Because of a woman’s testimony many from her town came to believe in Jesus. Because of dollars that you have given, that your church has given, many from other towns have come to believe in Jesus, but many more should have but didn’t because they weren’t harvested. The workers were too few because instead of giving to the church across town that had flagging attendance but strong biblical values that closed, your church installed playground equipment. A missionary came home because he couldn’t feed his family because your church remodeled the kitchen. The orphanage was never built and children entered lives of unspeakable depravity because your church hired a youth pastor who the kids can relate to better then the head pastor.
I know that if you read this you most likely will keep on doing what you have always done and so will your church but I have fulfilled my duty of pointing it out to you.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
