Harvest Time!

Harvest Time!

We are experiential beings. Humans crave, pursue, and thrive on experiences.  Memories are moments of heightened and deepened emotions – sometimes wonderful… sometimes tragic. We love to revisit the ‘good times’ of life and spend our time, energy, and money planning, organizing, and engineering them for our future.  From ocean cruises to carriage rides, corn mazes to parades, vacations, and traditions become our plan for our future – in fact they become our life-goal and missional effort to sculpt and shape the landscape of our lives as competitive collectors and emulous hoarders of joyful experiences.

When we look back at the first woman’s quick trip from theological debate with the serpent (Gen 3) to willful rebellion – that abrupt hike took place along the dreamy path of eager expectation. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”

In stark contrast with the mouth-watering appeal of immediate satisfaction and enjoyment of the forbidden fruit – Jesus’ agricultural parables were always along the line of a process.  Jesus taught his disciples about work, cultivating, preparing, sewing, planting, nurturing, pruning, and then – at the end of the journey – there would be a harvest.

Jesus told his disciples to expect to be despised and rejected (John 15:18). The Word tells those involved in the work and mission of God to expect suffering (2 Cor 4:11), which differs greatly from asceticism or intentionally seeking out misery.

The nation of Israel, God’s “kingdom of priests/mediators and a holy/set-apart nation” became a nation of quick-fix joy collectors – like all the nations around them, and in the book of Isaiah we read:

(v.4) Woe to the sinful nation,
    a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers,
    children given to corruption…

(v.15) When you spread out your hands in prayer,
    I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening…

(v.21) See how the faithful city
    has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice;
    righteousness used to dwell in her—
    but now murderers!

(v.22) Your silver has become dross,
    your choice wine is diluted with water.

(v.23) Your rulers are rebels,
    partners with thieves; they all love bribes
    and chase after gifts. They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
    the widow’s case does not come before them.

The nation of Israel relied heavily upon their genetic-tie to Abraham as their automatic ‘get into heaven’ membership card.  In a similar way many Christians today rely upon a profession of faith made some time ago or upon having ‘prayed THE prayer,’ as if magical words could secure a right relationship with God.  That’s sorcery or mysticism – that’s not the gift of faith from God.

The Apostle Paul challenged this abomination of pseudo-faith in writing, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?”

The examination, the test, comes in seeing how closely our lives lines up with the life of the One whom we claim to FOLLOW as LORD.  Does our life look like His…  Are we storing up treasure on earth – or storing up treasure in heaven?  Jesus made it very clear that it’s not the things we do, but WHY we do them.  That doesn’t mean that ACTUALLY DOING is irrelevant – on the contrary! Faith without works is dead - we are to be "doers of the word."

We can be like the nation of Israel and exchange righteousness for corruption and that which is precious in the eyes of God for what amounts to dross/scum.  We can exchange our fidelity for God with prostituting for the experiential bliss of the “comfort and joy” of fleeting memories and chasing gifts... we can cease to champion the cause of the fatherless and widows and become disconnected and disinterested in the mission of God…  God leaves that option open to us just as He did for Israel.

Or we can become intimately invested in a relationship with God that changes our hearts, recalibrates our values and goals, and sets us apart (makes us holy) for the work and mission of God.  We can rationalize all those things away – just as idolatrous, rebellious, stiff-necked Israel did, or we can hear the words of Jesus as He intended:

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

Blessings,

-Kevin