THE HARVEST REMAINS UNTOUCHED:
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature.
Mark 16:16 He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
The great commission is for ALL to go forth, including us who are alive
today. The commission or mission of the church is stated plainly. Go forth
into the harvest.
But the mission/commission of the church has been changed by man: The mission
of the church today is to build large buildings and wait for the harvest
to come so ONE man can preach to them.
The church of today is committed to all sorts of plans and programs designed
for the harvest to come to our particular set of church buildings so our
paid professional ONE-man priesthood can preach to them. The competition
is on: In every community there are many churches waiting for the harvest
to come to their particular set of buildings. Each church has its own plan
on how the harvest will come to their church instead of the church across
the road.
You can see why the 21st Century church is not
getting the job done and is a complete failure in changing its community.
They are all are waiting in their buildings while the harvest is out side
the building. The New Testament Church had ALL of its members being ministers
going forth and today we have ONE paid minister who is waiting in the building
for the harvest to come to him so he can preach to them.
It is all backwards from the Great Commission of ALL going forth. In fact
the people who go forth are treated as rebels; don’t you know that only
the paid professional can minister?
All of this makes the church of no-effect in the world. The church
of today great task is to pay for salaries and buildings so we all can sit
and wait for the harvest that will never come. The great expected revival
that everyone speaks of will not come to a particular set of church buildings.
The paid professional of each church has this dream that the harvest will
come to his church only and he will get to preach to all of them, cars will
be lined up and down the road trying to get to him so he can preach to them.
If a farmer wanting a harvest waited in his barn for the harvest to come
to him, he would get the same results of the church today. THE HARVEST WOULD REMAIN UNTOUCHED.
In the New Testament
Church the harvest was the responsibility
of ALL its members who were going forth, now it is in the hands of ONE paid
professional who is waiting in the building. The results are plain for all
to see: The first church changed the world while today’s church can not
even change its own community.
I call upon you who have ears to hear: The Great Commission was not changed
or done away with; it is still in the Bible. Each of us believers is commanded
to go forth into the harvest. Each day the harvest goes untouched. All of
us will stand before Jesus and give an account for what we have done (or
have not done) or what we taught others.
Now while there is still time and the breath of life is still in
you, I call you to arise and GO FORTH. The harvest is over ripe and no one
is in the harvest field. Our
work is for the Kingdom of God.
If you are thinking of only one set of church building as your goal then
you have missed it. We bring people into the Kingdom, no matter whom they
are or where they live.
This reminds me of a fishing club that I heard of. This fishing club met
several times a week and sang fishing songs. Their leaders would give great
talks about fish and catching them. Great sums of money were consumed on
their fishing club building and the leader’s salary. Every now and then
a great speaker would come to the fishing club to hold meetings. He would
give lessons in catching fish and told of the time that he actually caught
one. Oh the great times the fishing club had. They would hold suppers and
have great singing times. THE only problem is no one in the club went out
fishing; they were too busy talking or singing about it.
The Lord of the Harvest waits for His blood bought ones to go and attack the harvest and gather. Sad to say this does not happen,
the church members have been taught very well; they know what is expected
of them by the church leaders and they are doing it. They sit and do nothing;
but they are allowed to sing and give money.
As for me, I think that I will play and work in the harvest fields. My
extra time and money can be put to use in getting the harvest in. I will
also give to the poor: The Lord speaks a lot about giving to the poor, orphan,
and widowed. But the focus of my life, what time I have left on this Earth,
will be for the harvest.
The Lord of the Harvest waits; He has told us what to do. What are you going to do? This holds true
whether you are a church member or pastor. If we wait in the building wishing and
praying for the harvest to come to our buildings then all is lost. Holding
prayer meeting and praying for the harvest to come to our church while the
harvest fields are just outside the church walls is just not going to get
the job done; the harvest will
remain un-touched. We must be like the
farmer who wants a harvest; he goes out into the harvest fields and brings
it in. Just 12 inches (the width of the exterior church wall) is all that
separates the church from the harvest.
Dave Wikle
dwikle@woh.rr.com