It is no secret that I love gardening. From my earliest memories toddling along behind my grandfather, I have loved being outdoors, feeling the soil and mostly, watching things grow.
From the very beginning, this was the task God first gave to humans. Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” It has always seemed to me that followers of God should be the most committed to the care of the planet, but that is a topic for another post.
Jesus took the concepts that the farmers and shepherds of his day were familiar with and used them to teach spiritual concepts. In particular concerning ministry and outreach to others.
In Matthew 13 the farmer sows the seed that falls on the path, the rocks, among thorns and on the good soil. He explains that where the seed falls represents the various responses of people to the message of Jesus.
In the same chapter, he talks about the weeds that an enemy might plant among the good grain. Revealing that judging who is a true follower and who is a “weed” is not for us to determine but will be dealt with in the coming day of separation.
John 4:35-38 is where I would like to focus for this blog.
35“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
Anyone who has ever had a garden knows that it is WORK! There is labor involved. In our instant society, we often want to pay and instantly receive. That is not the way of the gardener or of ministry. As verse 38 indicates, if someone responds to your message and comes to know God, you can be assured that either you or someone else has put some labor into it.
I am not a gardening expert by any means, but I know that before you plant, the soil has to be prepared. It has to be broken up and softened, rocks, weeds, and other impediments have to be removed.
Often when you approach a person or a new ministry, it is the same. Their hearts have to be softened in some way; the hurts and misconceptions that they have about God have to be removed. The weeds of worry, fear, and doubt must be uprooted.
It is not just a matter of what must be removed, but also what must be added. Like soil, some people have become depleted and leached by life. Their lives must be enriched with love, acceptance, truth, and compassion. This restoration can often require years of labor before enough trust is restored for there to be a harvest.
My point is that you cannot reap a harvest of faith with a person or group without WORK!
My youngest son and I have been building a garden on a rocky hillside. This effort has required hours of hauling rocks to build garden beds, multitudinous bags of soil and mulch, and so far, the destruction of two wheelbarrows and a shovel. It has also cost blisters, sore muscles, sunburn and other minor inconveniences. Though often reluctant, my good son has “entered into my labor” with me.
In ministry as well, we need to be working together, entering into one another’s labor lest we become weary in well doing. It is especially important that we involve the younger generation. They need to work beside us in ministry. Not so much to learn techniques, but rather to absorb the work ethic of the kingdom. How do we go about loving, caring, and keeping people?
In the Genesis passage, God said Adam needed to tend the garden and “Keep” it. This is an area of ministry where we have often failed. The grapes and olives, and even the poor fig tree of Jesus time were long-term, even lifetime projects. Our ministry and outreach needs to have a long-term caring-keeping focus. How can we care for our spiritual gardens so that they will continue to bear fruit, growing stronger and more productive year by year?
Paul gives us the answer in Ephesians 3:14-19 “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
All of our efforts have only one design in mind. Harvest, fruit, growth, beauty. The result is always more than worth work.
Psalm 126:5-6
Those who sow in tears
shall reap with shouts of joy!
6 He who goes out weeping,
bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
bringing his sheaves with him.