But I will state that what is missing in many ministries and churches is a sensitivity to the "sought." We see in Jesus a clear example of how we are to see and deal with the unbeliever.
Mark 6:34 ESV
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
Matthew 9:36-38 ESV
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; [38] therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
They, those to be harvested, are out there and if we are to believe our Lord they are ripe for the harvest. We are to go and labor in the field to bring in what God has prepared.
But one does not harvest different produce in the same way. You harvest wheat one way and tomatoes in another. One does not harvest everything in the same way. If you attempt to you can damage the crop.
I believe there is a lack of sensitivity on the part of many believers to the condition of those they would seek to reach. We have tried the canned methods and have found them lacking. What we haven't tried to any great extent is taking them as they are where they are and "harvesting" then in the appropriate manner. We have failed to pray for the sensitivity we need for the harassed and helpless.
What a wonderful picture of the ripe fruit mixed with harassed and helpless sheep.
No, we don't not water-down the gospel. We do not dance around the issue of sin and hell. But we do not use it as a club to beat them into the kingdom either.
"Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling." There's a hint at how we are to go about the work of the harvest. Think of tender grapes being carefully cut from the vine and gently places in the basket. Think too of acorns which are harvested by beating the limbs of the tree (not the acorns) to get the ready ones to fall to the ground for harvest. Different fruit, different harvesting methods.
My main point is that we need to be sensitive to the ripe ones and the not yet ripe ones as well.
This leads me back to the sheep thing. Sheep can be spooked so easily and when they are spooked they can easily injure themselves - severely. We often do more harm than good in how we deal with these harassed and helpless ones. This is not acceptable.
How much good does the pro-life protest do when it vilifies the patient and the provider? Sinners? They most certainly are. Condemned? Who outside of Christ is not? But objects of cruelty they must never be and yet some think they are doing God's work when they shout epithets and vilification at these men and women.
Yes, I know, there are lots of goats out there with the sheep but can you really tell the difference? Can we in good conscience treat every unbeliever like a goat. Would we not honor Jesus and do better if we treated everyone as harassed and helpless? Would we not do better to call them (for Him) softly and tenderly?
We can not change the gospel, leaving out or softening the hard parts. To do this is to cheapen the gospel and cheat the hearer. But the hard parts of the gospel do not have to be communicated in a hard way. They are hard enough without our adding our own perverse passion to them.
I believe the following verse can not be limited to converse between just believers but applies to how we speak the good news of redemption to everyone:
Ephesians 4:15 ESV
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
We grow into Him, Christ, when we speak the truth in love whether we are speaking to a brother or sister or to a goat. But helpless and harassed sheep especially must hear the good news softly and tenderly. Anyway else would cause them to stumble and we all know what that brings us.
OK - so the idea above is not well developed - hope to do better with it as I pray and think on it. But I am convinced that we must be sensitive to those we seek in His name. It may mean we spend years in harvesting one grape but it is His grape and needs to be harvested rightly.
Yeah - grapes - sheep - mixing a lot here but Jesus saw the connection - I pray you do as well.
Just a note - He taught these helpless and harassed sheep "many things." what "many things" should we be teaching?
Later
M
No comments:
Post a Comment