Pondering Proverbs – Witness (2)

 

“He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.” Proverbs 10:5.

 

Are we wise or shameful children?

 

Are our churches wise or shameful?

 

If we aren’t honest about this it is doubtful if we can grow and mature in our pilgrimage in Christ and with one another, and it is also doubtful if the world will hear and see Jesus Christ in us.

 

There are three core elements to our calling in Christ, three legs of a stool; worship and love God (John 4:23 – 24; Mark 12:29 -30), buildup one another in Christ (Eph. 4:11 – 16), and make disciples of all people groups, teaching them to observe all that Jesus has commanded us (Matthew 28:18 – 20).

 

Consider Jesus’ words in John 4:34 – 35, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 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.”

 

We like to put witnessing off, to delay it, to say, “It isn’t harvest time, the moment isn’t right, the circumstances need to improve.”

 

Yet Jesus says, “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.” (John 4:36 – 38).

 

In other words, we have a part to play in a chain of witnessing to the people around us. Sometimes we may have a sense of where we are in that chain, perhaps most times we don’t – but the point is that we are to be faithful witnesses to others and to trust God to work through us in the process.

 

Paul expresses this idea in 1 Corinthians 3:6 – 8: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

 

Notice the idea of “each will receive his own reward according to his labor.” This brings us back to Proverbs 10:5 in that the wise son gathers in harvest and the shameful son sleeps. This also may remind us of the Parable of the Money is Matthew 25:14 – 30, each servant was given a certain amount of money to steward while their master was away on a trip, one was given five measures of money, one two measures of money, and another one measure of money. The one who had received one measure of money did nothing with it and was held accountable for his inaction. Inaction is not a viable option – it is disobedience.

 

There is a promise in the Great Commission in which we can have confidence, “…I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20b). That is, Jesus is with us in the midst of our “going” – when Jesus says “Go” in Matthew 28:19, He is also saying “I am with you” in Matthew 28:20. Wherever we are, Jesus Christ is with us, the one who has “all authority.” When we are at work or at school or in a social gathering, Jesus is with us. When we are shopping or at a sporting or entertainment event, Jesus is with us. Since Jesus is with us wherever we are, we can trust in Him as we witness about Him to others. Since Jesus is with us, we can gather in the summer as wise sons and daughters.

 

In Matthew 9:37 – 38 Jesus says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” How can we pray such a thing if we are not willing to be the answer to the prayer?

 

Shall we not only pray for our Lord to send out workers, but also pray that He will make us the answer to our prayer?

 

Shall we not pray that our Father will make us wise sons and daughters who gather in the harvest and who do not sleep?