July 4 2010    Reading:  Luke 10.1-24

 Theme: The Lord of the harvest...............

In the year 1735 Frederick Martin at the age of 24, arrived as a missionary on the tiny island of St. Thomas, in the Caribbean, where he had been sent by a Danish missionary society. Because the soil was so thin on the island, slaves from the surrounding islands who had been freed were allowed to go and live there. There were nearly two thousand living with their families in very poor conditions in shacks and wooden huts. Frederick Martin had a real heart for the people, for their lives and situation. So he began travelling from village to village. His goal was to get to know every single one of the freed slaves on the island. He spent all his time walking from village to village, getting to know the men and women, their families and children. With some mission funds he bought a little piece of land and had a very simple church built. Within the first year, seven hundred on the island came to know Jesus Christ. And just about everybody on the island turned up at the services.

So Frederick Martin began baptizing men and women and their families. Right in the middle of this time of harvest, this season of blessing, trouble began. A pastor on another island said that Frederick Martin should not be permitted to baptise, because he didn’t have the proper certificates. The authorities got involved, and Frederick Martin and his two coworkers were taken to court. When the judge asked them to put their hand on the Bible and swear to tell the truth, they refused, as this was against their principles.

So the judge ordered them to pay a fine. They were not able to pay the fine, so the judge had them put in the island’s only prison, for a three month sentence.

Instead of the gospel being hindered by this, the exact opposite happened. The season of blessing and its harvest continued - the next evening a huge crowd gathered at the back of the jail and Frederick Martin found that he was able to speak to them through the barred window. Meanwhile, the freed slave who had been his helper now took over the services on the Sunday morning at the little Church. The number of ex slaves who came to follow Christ now numbered over a thousand. Times of blessing, times of difficulty.

In Luke’s gospel we find the pattern the other way round.............

Here we read of a time of difficulty and rejection, and then a season of blessing.

What is of deep interest, however, is what the Lord Jesus teaches here.

If we listen to what Jesus teaches here in Luke 10, we can perhaps see our own situation better.......

What does He teach us ?

First

The first thing is this: in Luke 9 we read of a village that rejected Jesus, and 3 would be disciples who turned away, hard and difficult ground for the kingdom of God it seems.

But despite the rejection in Samaria, despite the fruitlessness there, immediately, we read, Jesus sent out 72 disciples, two by two to the towns, villages, settlements, hamlets ahead of them.

Because, says the Lord,

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

The Lord teaches us here, not to look on the circumstances - the difficulties,

the fruitlessness, the indifference, the lack of interest,

for all of these are of the moment.........

If we were to take the Lord at His Word, we would know that there is a full harvest round us. The kind of harvest that Frederick Martin saw long ago, of those hungry and thirsty for life - A harvest so great that there are simply not enough of us to bring that harvest in.

And that instead of looking at the difficulties, the focus should be on the harvest -

because, Jesus teaches us, the harvest is in the care of the Lord of the harvest, our Father in heaven.

And in the perfect faithfulness of Jesus, to His Father, the Lord of the harvest,

72 disciples, many more than before, are sent out.

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

We must think, we must pray, we must take these words of Jesus seriously,

in the life of the Church...........

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

And learn what it means - to look not at the difficulties,

but at the harvest, and to know it is plentiful, because it is in God’s hands.

Second

We read that the seventy-two came back, from the towns, villages and hamlets to the south, filled with joy "Lord, even

the demons submit to us in your name."

We have the very words of prayer and praise of Jesus

as the disciples brought this, astonishing, wonderful news.........

We have the very prayer of thanksgiving, the very words that Jesus prayed.

We simply note two things here: one has to do with where we might find the harvest:

the other has to do with where the harvest comes from.............

Where might we find the harvest, the men and women Jesus is speaking of ?

Well, we read that at that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy

Spirit, said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and

earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise

and learned, and revealed them to little ones......

Just as we read at the beginning of Luke’s gospel, in the words of Mary’s song of praise,

we do not look first for this harvest among the great and powerful of the earth.......

the glittering celebrities, the fabulously rich......

but in the depths of real, everyday human life...... with its joys, and sorrows, and worries and concerns.

"I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and

earth, because you have hidden these things, these treasures of the kingdom these treasures of life, from the wise

and learned, and revealed them to little ones...... says Jesus.........

Or, to put it another way:

I have come to call, not the righteous, but sinners...........

This is where the harvest is, where the men and women Jesus is speaking of, are ...

those living everyday human life...... with its joys, and sorrows, and worries.

And where does this harvest come from that Jesus is talking about ?

Jesus tells us in these words......

the words of His prayer...........

"All things have been committed to me by my Father.

No-one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no-one

knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the

Son chooses to reveal him."

Here, Jesus allows us to trace the harvest to its source.........

which is this:

that our loving Father in heaven, the Lord of the harvest,

works even now, preparing the ground,

sowing the seed, bringing that seed to growth........

bringing that growth to harvest time,

a harvest so plentiful, of men and women coming to know Jesus Christ that there are not enough workers to cope.............

He is already at work............

So, what do we find in Luke’s gospel ? the Lord Jesus is steadfast in declaring that the whole situation, including the challenges to the Church is in God’s hands, He is the Lord of the harvest............and the harvest is in His care......

more than this:

from Luke’s gospel we learn that

Jesus Christ is still building His Church.

and that there are no unbridgeable gulfs, or gaps too great, no man or woman, no one here, no power, no territory beyond the power and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.......

The gospel is steadfast in declaring that

the challenges facing the Church are more than met, through the Lord of the harvest,

through Jesus, and the power of His Cross, and He....... He is still building His Church !

AMEN.