A Word about Fields White unto Harvest

 

Today I want to share a word about fields white unto harvest as I comment on 1 Corinthians 3:5-9.

This passage reads,

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

One of the elements that made Jesus such and inspiring preacher, and Paul such an inspiring writer, was their use of metaphors to illustrate the truths that they were teaching.  In fact, the very definition of the term “parable,“ which was a literary technique that Jesus used so often and so effectively, is “A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual principle.”

Both Jesus and Paul used many different types of metaphors but they both used agricultural illustrations quite often. In the First Century few people were as socially distanced from farming as we are today, and everyone would have immediately understood the concepts and principles that they were communicating, which brings us to today’s subject.

In John Chapter 4:34-35, Jesus pointed to the fields surrounding Him and His followers"

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” 

In Luke 10 :2 Jesus continued to teach on this theme:

Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

These Scriptures and others came to mind recently when I was driving to church. I live in a rural area of my county and I pass many fields on the way to church or to the offices of the Covington Baptist Association where I serve. While some fields are left fallow, some are used for hay to to graze livestock, and some are used for corn,  many are planted with cotton.

As I write this the cotton bolls have opened and the farmers have defoliated their fields in preparation for the harvest. As you can see, these fields are white unto harvest. What was impressed upon my heart when I saw these fields was not that our county is “living in high cotton,” though this seems to be both the literal and figurative truth. Instead, I am reminded of the same task with which Jesus was charging His disciples. Which, of course, is to make disciples and Baptize them in His name. So, how’s that going?

We can look at many metrics to determine how our task of making disciples is going, but the one I want to highlight is this: no county in the United States is more Christian today than it was ten years ago. Of course, that included the county where I live and minister.

In the normal course of my ministry I am usually in a different church every Sunday. As I drive across the county on Sunday morning, I see many people doing other things than worshipping God. They may be fishing on the lake or cutting grass; children may be playing outside or helping their parents rake the yard. People may be swinging on a tire swing or preparing grills for a barbecue or sitting on their porch drinking coffee. Yes, the fields are white unto harvest!

I am no farmer, but do I know that if we are going to realize a harvest of souls we need to be laborers together with God. Like Paul and Apollos, we need to plant seed and water it. We need to cultivate the seedings, and nurture them to full maturity, and then we can celebrate the harvest.

The fields are truly white unto harvest! The only question is will we do the work we need to do so we can celebrate that bounty of souls with God?

Every blessing, 

Dr. Otis Corbitt