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MANY HARVESTS, ONE LORD

The Bible talks of several kinds of harvests, and God is Lord of them all, e.g.

Harvest of souls: Matthew 9:37, Luke 10:2, John 4:35
Harvest of peace: Hebrews 12:11
Harvest of righteousness: Hebrews 12:11, James 3:18
General harvest: Galatians 6:9
Material harvest: 1 Corinthians 9:11
Harvest that comes as a fruit of righteousness: 2 Corinthians 9:10
Harvest reaped from sin: Job 4:8, Proverbs 22:8, Galatians 6:8

Let us look at two of the above.


1. A HARVEST OF SOULS
Luke 10:1,2
Jesus is talking here about harvesting souls - helping people and preaching the kingdom of God. God is Lord of that harvest.

v. 2 we are called to ask God to send out workers into his harvest field, in other words, not just any harvest field, but the harvest field that God has in mind. Example: Philip in Acts 8. He did not get out onto the desert road by coincidence. God sent him to a "field" where he had a harvest lined up.

Don't just ask God to send workers, ask him to send you. This is the attitude that Isaiah had in Isaiah 6:8, when he said, "Here am I. Send me!"

There is a difference between merely going somewhere and being sent there, e.g. a cabinet minister of one country can decide to show up at the door of the president of another country, in which case there is no guaranteeing the success of such a visit. But id the minister is sent officially by his head-of-state then he will be accorded a stately reception because he has come with the authoriy of the parties involved. Go out with the authority and guidance of the lord of the harvest by asking him to send you to his harvest field and not just to the field that you think you should go to.


2. A HARVEST OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PEACE
Hebrews 12:11
Discipline will produce a harvest of righteousness and peace if you allow it to.

v. 7 Discipline will come in the form of hardship. We must decide to let our hardships and trials make us stronger as we learn from the, and not make us bitter by getting upset over them.

v. 10 God disciplines us through hardship for our own good. It is God who does or allows it. It's not fate, life or circumstance, because God - and not fate, life or circumstance - is Lord of the harvest of righteousness and peace that it produces.

Surely we all want good, not bad, and to share in God's holiness, not miss out on it. This come through learning the lessons God has for us from the hardships he allows on us.

Remember that "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." (1 Corinthians 10:13) God will never permit trial to come your way that you can't handle.

James 3:18
Having sown in peace and reaped the harvest of righteousness and peace, we are then able to use the qualities we reap from it, which are outlined here, to help those who are now in the kingdom as a result of the harvest of souls. Remember that it not enough to baptize people. We must love people and shepherd them well even after baptism.

Having reaped the harvest of souls and that of peace, we can now be pure, not impure; peace-loving, not pushy; considerate, not controlling; submissive, not oppressive; full of mercy and good fruit, not misery or bitter roots; impartial, not biased; sincere, not self-righteous. We can then pas on these qualities to the disciples around us and we can all experience the joy that the scriptures promise to the glory of God, who is the Lord of all harvests.