Sermon 7-4-10

“The Harvest Is Plentiful, But The Workers Are Few”
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

There is old story told about a man by the name of Ali Facid.

He had a family and lived on a small farm.

One day, so the story goes, a Buddhist priest came by and said to Ali:

“You know, there are valuable stones called diamonds, and if you find one of these you could be a wealthy man."

Ali Facid went to bed that night, but the words of the old priest haunted him.

He was so obsessed that he felt that he must find one of these diamonds so that he could become rich.

He sold his farm, boarded out his family with neighbors and went out in search of those precious diamonds. 
Months passed. He was broken in body and spirit.  His funds were gone.
And one day at the Bay of Barcelona, he threw himself into the sea, never to walk this earth again.

Meanwhile, the man who bought Ali’s farm bent over one day and picked up an odd little stone.  He laid it on the mantle that night not knowing what it was.

A few days later the old Buddhist priest came by and saw it and exclaimed:
“Ali Facid must be back from his search.” 
“No,” came the response.
“Then where did that diamond come from?”

The farmer replied: “I was out plowing in the garden and found it there.”
And from that very garden, came the jewels and diamonds that today adorn the crowned heads of Europe.
In Ali Facid’s own back yard there were acres of diamonds and he didn’t know it.
He threw his life away in a search for that which was under his nose the whole time.

Today’s Gospel lesson from Luke is a story about that hidden treasure.  It is a story about a treasure more valuable than money, gold, or diamonds.  It’s a treasure that is around us all the time.  How often do we miss the very treasure that God has put right before us because we are unwilling to open our eyes and see His mighty blessing? 

This treasure is not only under our noses, but all around us.  Sadly, many people go through their entire lives, and die, sad, broken, and beaten, because, much like this story’s character, Ali, they could not see the treasure in front of them.

What is this treasure I am talking about?  Jesus said it again plainly in this passage:

The Kingdom of God is near!

The sphere of God’s rule, and our acknowledgement of that rule, is near.  Where the king is, there also is the kingdom.  When Jesus was asked elsewhere (17:21) in Luke where this kingdom was, he replied, “it is not here nor there, the kingdom is among you,” that is, it is both in us and around us.

Our reading from Luke is an expansion of an earlier account of Jesus sending out the 12 disciples on a missionary journey. This time Jesus sent out 70 followers.  The number 70 is the traditional Jewish number for the nations of the world.  So 70 here means everyone.  Therefore, this story is meant to apply to us.

Jesus sent the 70 out in pairs for mutual support and also because legally there must be two witnesses to an event – the event here being the witness to Christ and his message.  We are being led to mission together.

“The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few” tells us the opportunities among the Gentiles were great.  Around here today, the data tell us that about half the population ascribes to no religion, not even nominally.  We are the 70 and the fields are rich with unharvested diamonds.

Jesus did not want the 70 to delay their start so he asked them not to pack a bag of food, nor even carry a spare pair of sandals. To underline the urgency of their mission, Jesus told them not to stop for greetings on the road, a counter cultural directive.  Today we would be hearing something like, “Jus’ git ‘er done.”  “Eating and drinking what they provide,” means that the doing of the 70 is purely spiritual; they will be dependent for material things on their hosts.  The point is that it is not about us.

The prophet Isaiah, with whom Jesus’ listeners would have been familiar, said “the lamb and the wolf shall feed together” indicating that Christ is to usher in an era of peace.  Thus when Jesus sends the 70 out “as lambs in the midst of wolves,” he is intending that they be vulnerable as they spread peace and reconciliation.  Today peace and reconciliation remain elusive in many parts of the world.  It would be wonderful to stand here on the Fourth of July and point with pride to the peace and reconciliation our country is spreading around the world.

When I was younger and altruistic I thought this was a real possibility.  Right out of college, I went to work for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Food for Peace program.  But the Agency for International Development is a branch of the State Department, so the Food for Peace program was used as an instrument of diplomacy.  Peace and reconciliation were pretty far down its list of priorities.  Disposing of surplus stocks of subsidized crops and propping up friendly tyrants, for example, seemed more important.  I don’t mean to imply that this was a bad or wrong use of taxpayer dollars, but I left disillusioned after a couple of years.  It seemed to me we weren’t plowing the right ground.

When we (the 70) go out, Jesus said we are to go out in peace.  “Peace” here is both a greeting and an invitation to salvation.  We are to show by our words and our actions that “the kingdom of God has come near to you.” This, Jesus says, will be good news to those who accept it and bad news for those who reject it.  Either way, the kingdom is coming, and we need to spread the news, not only here in the barn, but also in the fields where the harvest is.  The harvest is that 50% of the population who are unredeemed because they haven’t heard the word of God.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”  Why?

Well, ask yourselves this question…

• When is the last time you shared your faith with someone?
• When is the last time you told someone what God is doing in your life?
• When is the last time you told someone of the good news that Jesus Christ came to redeem the lost from their sins?

If you want to experience how this is done, go to the Hill Cummorah festival this month about 30 minutes early and take a seat.  The Mormon cast will circulate and share their faith with you gracefully and sincerely – just sharing, not prosletyzing.

Let me ask another question:  for those of you who are farmers or gardeners, if you applied the same standards of sowing and reaping to your fields and gardens that you are living out in your spiritual life, what kind of crop would you have?  Now some good news, the kingdom of heaven as I said is not only ‘up there’ and ‘later sometime,’ it is in you, and in you now.  We are ready, and the fields, full of diamonds, are right here in Lima.

Still this can be daunting work - finding diamonds in all that dirt.  But listen to what happened to the 70 according to Luke.  They were successful!  The snakes and scorpions they treaded on represented evil to Jews.  In their mission work, Jesus not only saved the 70 from evil and destruction, he led them to joy!  This mission thing really works!

An executive recruiter, a "head-hunter" who goes out and hires corporation executives for other firms, once told Josh McDowell,

"When I get an executive that I’m trying to hire, I like to disarm him.
“I offer him a drink, take my coat off, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he’s all relaxed.
“Then, when I think I’ve got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and ask, "What’s your purpose in life?"
“It’s amazing how top executives fall apart at that question.
"Well, I was interviewing this guy the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about the World Cup.  Then I leaned over and asked, ’What’s your purpose in life, Bob?’  And he replied, without blinking an eye,
“To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.”
“For the first time in my career I was speechless."

If we seek to build God’s Kingdom, He will provide us with plenty of opportunities to minister and to bring people into his fold.  God has prepared the harvest; we have only to gather it in.  When we are willing to allow Christ to speak through us, He will give us the words and the power of his Spirit to bring forth the harvest.

All he needs from us is our willingness to serve.

To conclude, God’s Kingdom is right under our noses.  The barn is ready, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  God is inviting us into a new relationship with him.  Who among us is willing to work for the kingdom?

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus, we want to work to build your kingdom.
We want to be true disciples, not just complacent followers.
We want to be faithful to you.  Lead us from the barn into the fields.
Holy Spirit, present someone to each of us this week that we might share our faith.
Overcome any resistance or fear; teach us what to say.
We want to be workers in your kingdom Lord.
Increase your harvest through us, we pray.

Amen.