Before the Harvest is Ripe- The Whole of the Gospel

There is a famous verse that is used a lot when churches, and many missional organizations try to get people to answer the call to missions. It's found in Luke 10:2, "He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." While there may be some places where this verse can apply, what about the places where there isn't even a sign of a harvest? What happens when the field isn't ripe? When the field is still full of thorns, and rocks, and there has been little cultivating or preparation done.
I'll never forget a few years ago I was on a mission trip in Dallas Texas. We were on the Wycliffe campus doing some work, and I was assigned to clearing a field of big boulders and rocks. In the heat of July in Texas that was A LOT of work. I'm pretty sure I sweat through my shirt twice and then some, and probably lost 20 pounds through sweating. I'm exaggerating, but you get the point. This is apart of the work that must be done before there is a harvest.
Pray for more workers who will prepare the soil. Harvesting is the easy rewarding part.
Think about the things that must happen before there can be a good harvest of crops. First, someone has to go and prepare the land. Removing tree stumps, extracting rocks and moving them aside. I will never forget the verse God gave me on the plane when I flew back to my mission field of Portland, Oregon in August 2013. Joshua 1:3, "I am giving you what I promised Moses: Everywhere you go, you will be on land I have given you." I think this is key too. Our work is useless unless God gives us the land. We can work land all we want, but if God isn't in it...good luck. I have held tightly to this verse in the face of many discouragements, and voices, and failures. After removing all the massive stuff, the soil has to be broken up; plowed, fertilized, and formed in orderly rows to prepare for the seed. The seeds then must be carefully planted and covered. But there is still no harvest. Maybe like Nehemiah we need to build a wall around our Jerusalem and protect what God has given. The seeds must be watered, and nurtured, and fed. But then setbacks might occur-bad weather, insects...etc. However, even so, if attended to faithfully and with perseverance and by the grace of God a harvest will come. It's hard to be faithful and persevere. How do we respond when the work goes more slowly than we would like to see? I love what Andrew Murray wrote to this effect:

Let no friend of missions become discouraged when the work proceeds slowly. Among our forefathers in Europe, a whole century was occupied with the introduction of Christianity. Sometimes a nation recieved Christianity to cast it off again after thirty or forty years. It required a thousand years to bring them up to where we now stand.

Haven't we heard the stories of faithful missionaries who dedicated their whole lives in another country without seeing even one person embrace Jesus as Savior-only to learn that fifty years later there was a tremendous harvest? In our instant society we would prefer to by pass the hard work and go directly to the harvest. Who wants to do the hard work anyway? But isn't all that "other" work the essence of the coming of the Kingdom of God in its fullness? Thank Jesus He didn't by pass the hard work of the garden, the hard work of the cross, the hard work of defeating Satan! Thank Jesus He didn't cling to His right as God and endured the nails, and the weight of the worlds sin....my sin alone could kill a person. The Gospel message is the cross, of Christ's work on the cross, and our own personal taking up of our cross and dying to self. It is through our crushing that produces seed (Producing Fruit with Seed) and we plant it in the people's lives we work to build relationships with, walk with them through joy and sorrow, loving and caring, standing up for those who can't stand up for themselves. This is the whole of the Gospel, it's not just a proclamation, but a "be" kind of social revolution.
Missionary work is a cause for faith, it is a learning to cleave to God and His Word. Love is awakened-finding out how little true love we posses, but God will cause us to receive more love, and make our hearts grow larger toward Him and His Kingdom work. It was cause one to be drawn into prayer, and how much of the battle and hard work isn't in the field but right on your knees as you come against Satan fighting in love on behalf of the lost.
"If one is lost, it means they are wanted."
The blessing of missionary work? Finding the lost and letting them know they are wanted.
Lord, find my faithful.


We're pilgrims on the journey
Of the narrow road
And those who've gone before us line the way
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary
Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who've gone before us
Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives

CHORUS:
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we've left behind
May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find

REPEAT CHORUS

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful