We Have Work to do.

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Matthew 9:37

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

(ESV)

Islam is currently the fastest growing religion in the world and set to overtake Christianity by the end of the century if trends continue at their current rate.  (1)  As a concerned citizen, I find it alarming that a religion where violence such as we saw on 911, violence like we have more recently seen at an office in Santa Barbara, a nightclub in Orlando, and a Bastille Day celebration in France would be growing at all, let alone at such an alarming rate.  However, as a Christian I view this from another perspective, we as followers of Christ have a lot of work left to do.

Jesus parting words to His followers prior to departing to be with His Father were for His believers, His church, to spread the Gospel (Mark16:15).   The Gospel Jesus commanded his church to spread was not a message of hatred but a message of love for His fallen creation.  However, in Matthew 9:37 Jesus lamented that even though the harvest of lost humanity needing the message of the Gospel was great, there was a shortage of workers. 

In this past Presidential election in the United States, jobs were one of the major issues.  However, unlike the problem Jesus spoke of in Matthew, the message that resonated with voters, and helped propel Donald Trump to victory was an overabundance of workers and few jobs for them to do.  In both situations, we have work to do but before starting to work spreading the Gospel, we must gain an understanding of what the Gospel message is. 

Luke 5:1-26 records three different events in the ministry of Jesus and provides a snapshot of what it is to live for Christ and what the message of the Gospel means.  In this passage of scripture we see,

1)      Jesus calling the first Disciples (Luke 5:1-11) – Jesus is teaching by the Sea of Galilee and after his teaching he tells Peter to go out onto the lake and let his nets down for a catch.  What we have here is a carpenter telling a fisherman how to do his job.  However, Peter, seeing something special in Jesus after his teaching relents and does what he is told and has an amazing catch of fish.  After witnessing this miracle, Peter realizes he is in the presence of the Lord and comes to grips with the fact he is a sinful man.  Knowing his sin makes him unworthy to be in the presence of the Lord, he asks the Lord to depart from him.  However, Jesus would have none of this and tells Peter and those with him not to fear and uses this miracle to tell them that in the future they would become laborers, or fishers of men telling others about the Gospel.  We are all sinners and worthy of death (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23), but instead of leaving us to our doom, Jesus welcomes those that come to him and grants them eternal life (John 3:16).

2)      Jesus cleansing a leper (Luke 5:12-16) – Lepers were outcasts in society during the time of Jesus.  While others would shun them and never touch them out of fear of catching their disease, Jesus does the unthinkable and touches the leper, healing him of his leprosy.  Jesus then instructs the leper to go to the priest and make an offering for his cleansing.  The reason for this was so he could share with others, in this instance the priest, what Jesus had done for him.  We may believe our life is insignificant and uninteresting but when we accept Jesus as our savior and he transforms our lives, we have a miraculous story to tell.  In fact, Romans 10:9-10 instructs us to make a public confession of Jesus as our Lord so I encourage everyone reading this to freely share what Jesus has done in your life.

3)      Jesus healing a paralytic (Luke 5:17-26) – Jesus is becoming popular because of the miracles he is performing and literally packs out the house.  However, a packed crowd was not about to deter a paralytic from going to Jesus and receiving his miracle.  This included cutting a hole in the roof and lowering the paralytic down to Jesus.  Seeing their incredible faith, Jesus says something that the religious leaders of the time thought blasphemous, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”  They rightly thought that only God can forgive sins but failed to realize they were in the presence of God when they were in the presence of Jesus.  The most amazing thing about the Gospel is that God became one of us and took the death penalty for our sins so we can have eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

I encourage everyone reading this that knows Jesus as their savior to become laborers in the harvest and help eliminate the labor shortage.  If you have not yet asked Jesus to forgive you of your sin, I encourage you to do as the paralytic did but not tear a hole in the roof, and instead pray with me,

Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans 3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23).  I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).  I believe you died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord of my life.

Now like the leper, you have been cleansed of your sin.  I encourage you to now tell others about what Jesus has done for you and join us in becoming fishers of men pointing men and women to their savior, Jesus Christ.

May God bless everyone reading this.

1. Miere, Jason Le. How Many Muslims In The World? Islam Set To Overtake Christianity As Most Popular Religion, While US Population Also Rapidly Growing. www.ibtimes.com. [Online] IBT, February 28, 2017. [Cited: March 1, 2017.] http://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-muslims-world-islam-set-overtake-christianity-most-popular-religion-while-us-2498931.