This summer I was reading
through the gospel of John and I came across a passage in John 4 (vv.35-38)
where Jesus said to the disciples,
Do you not
say, ‘There are yet four months, and then
comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the
fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is
receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows
and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows
and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have
not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”
One sows and
another reaps
I worked in a peach orchard
during the summers when I was in high school.
I wasn’t there when years before the seeds were sown to grow peach
trees. I wasn’t even there in the spring
when the farmer prepared the soil and pruned the trees to get them ready for a
good harvest. I wasn’t there to protect
the trees from frost or insects or wind or hail. I was just hired for the precise time of
harvest. The orchard was ‘white’ for
harvest in July, and I was there to help in the harvest.
Even then there were peaches
that were still a little green and so we left them on the trees a few more days
before harvesting them. There were some
peaches that were just starting to be perfectly ripe, which we reached up and
pulled them with little effort from the branches to fill our baskets. There were other peaches that were so ripe,
we just brushed against a ripe one and it fell into our hands. And there were others that had already fallen
to the ground on their own because they were so ripe.
He who sows
and he who reaps may rejoice together
The harvest season was
intense but we had lots of fun working together. The orchard owner was very glad that he had
enough hired help to bring in the crop during the harvest season.
I sent you to
reap that for which you have not labored
Years ago I had heard the
phrase, “Precision Harvesting” and the person who used this phrase talked about
how a ‘precision harvester’ focused on looking for the ripe fruit to pick,
leaving the unripe fruit behind. The
speaker talked about how we think we each should follow a specific order:
1) preparing
the soil, then
2) sowing
the seed, then
3) cultivating
the ground and only then
4) reaping
in our own field.
This is not a bad thing! But there are times when He sends us to reap
in fields where others have cultivated when the fruit is ready to fall off the
branches. The order is changed to the
order of Precision Harvesting:
1) reap
in someone else’s field, while you
2) prepare
your own field, and
3) sow,
and
4) cultivate
and
5)
reap – either you or someone else, it doesn’t matter.
I like this idea of ‘precision
harvesting’. I believe there are lost
people all around me who want to know God now, people who God has used other
people to sow the seed into and they are ripe for harvest now! If there are lost students around you who are
ready to be harvested, then, why not find a way to determine who is ready now
and bring the harvest in?! These new
believers will be able to join you in bringing in the rest of the harvest of
students on your campus and in your city.
Lift up your
eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest
I was recently at a
conference in Manila and hear someone serving in another country talk about how
in their city they have a strategy
called, ‘fast and slow’. The idea of
‘fast and slow’ is that the first hour they are on a campus or among a large
group of students, they try to approach 25-50 students in that one hour – the
‘fast part’. They are looking for those
God has already prepared to hear the gospel.
They ask 2 questions: 1) do you know where a church is? and 2) do you
know any Christians? From that fast
approach to talking to as many students as possible, they find the 1-2 students
who are open and ready to hear about Jesus.
The second hour, the ‘slow’ hour, they focus on in-depth conversations
about the gospel with that handful of students they found during the ‘fast’
hour who showed interest in spiritual topics.
The guy telling the story
told about how one day they were in the ‘fast’ part of this strategy and had
already asked their questions to 10-15 students at this point, then turned to
the next student and asked him if he knew of any churches and he said no. They then asked, do you know any Christians?
and he answered, ‘no, but if you find one can you introduce me to him because I
really want to know how I can find God and I don’t know of anyone to talk to
about that.’ You know what happened
next! The Christians introduced
themselves as Christians and spent time with him later in the afternoon to
share the gospel with this student who was so ripe he fell off the branches
into their hands as he placed his trust in Christ as his Savior! He then went on to become the student leader
of the spiritual movement on that campus!
Others have
labored and you have entered into their labor
What I love about this is how
God has already prepared fruit for us to harvest that we have not labored
for. Of course we need to continue to be
involved in sowing and cultivating in the lives of other lost people, asking
God to prepare them for our harvest or for someone else to harvest. But it is also good for us to rearrange the
order and to figure out how to reap where we have not sown, as we are sowing
where we or someone else may reap.
Precision Harvesting ideas
- One way that we are trying to ‘reap where we did not sow’ is through the evangelistic ads through V Kontakte (which I wrote about last spring – go to the интернет tag).
- Using the ‘fast and slow’ strategy is another way.
- Setting up an open (evangelistic) group on V Kontakte and connecting with those who seem to be the most open is an idea.
- Any approach where you immediately get right to the heart of the matter will do (‘Do you know God? Do you want to know God?).
Have you
tried something like this? Please share
with us how you Precision Harvest!
