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Partner with us for souls Daniel Patz, Lead Pastor Grace Church, Sunday Worship March 29th, 2009
INTRODUCTION Over two months ago I began my sermon with a family talk. On January 18th I gave you a charge and asked you to partner with us in the Gospel through sacrificial giving. Many of you must have responded because God has provided in a new and exciting way. Please do not stop. I guess you could call this part 2 of that charge, because I want to call you to partner with us in another way. Since that time in early January the Lord has been doing a work in the souls of many, including this preacher’s soul. Much of this sermon has been prepared in my heart by the Spirit over the past few months. Here is my charge for your joy and the glory of our glorious Triune God: PARTNER WITH US IN THE GOSPEL THROUGH SOWING AND REAPING AS YOU WEEP FOR A HARVEST OF SOULS. 1. Believe the Promise of a Harvest of Souls. Matthew 9:26 – “Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…” John 4:35-36 – “Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. (36) Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.” METAPHOR of the HARVEST God is preparing a Harvest. God is at work at Grace Church. His Gospel is triumphant. Isaiah 55:10-11 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, (11) so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For God’s sake we must long for a Harvest of souls – for His glory and the reward of Jesus’ labor. Those who have the heart of God in their soul longs for this reality – 2 Cor. 5:14 – the love of Christ controls us. 2. Cultivate a Heart that Weeps for Souls. Psalms 126:5-6 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! (6) He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Matthew 9:35-38 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. (36) When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. John 11:35 – “Jesus wept” We need to see ETERNAL REALITIES
2 Cor 5:11 – “knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade people…” Spurgeon on George Whitfield: Hear how Whitefield preached, and never dare to be lethargic again. Winter says of him that “sometimes he exceedingly wept, and was frequently so overcome, that for a few seconds you would suspect he never would recover; and when he did, nature required some little time to compose herself. I hardly ever knew him go through a sermon without weeping more or less. His voice was often interrupted by his affections; and I have heard him say in tile pulpit,’ You blame me for weeping; but how can I help it, when you will not weep for yourselves, although your own immortal souls are on the verge of destruction, and, for aught I know, you are, hearing your last sermon, and may never more have an opportunity to have Christ, offered to you?” (Lectures to My Students) Meditate with deep solemnity upon the fate of the lost sinner, and, like Abraham, when you get up early to go to the place where you commune with God, cast an eye towards Sodom and see the smoke thereof going up like the smoke of a furnace. Shun all views of future punishment which would make it appear less terrible, and so take off the edge of your anxiety to save immortals from the quenchless flame. If men are indeed only a nobler kind of ape, and expire as the beasts, you may well enough let them die unpitied; but if their creation in the image of God involves immortality, and there is any fear that through their unbelief they will bring upon themselves endless woe, arouse yourselves to the agonies of the occasion, and be ashamed at the bare suspicion of unconcern. (Lectures to My Students) Cry out to God to give you the heart you need to truly feel like you need to feel about the reality of lost sinners.
3. Obediently Sow and Reap with the Gospel and Christ’s Spirit. We need to be obedient and do what God has told us to do. We are to be fishers of men. We are to be witnesses (Acts 1:8). We are to make disciples (Matt 28). “He who goes out weeping, bearing seed for sowing…” (Psalm 126:6) We must sow the Gospel by:
We must reap with the Spirit of Christ by:
Matthew 9: (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." John 4:31-34 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." (32) But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." (33) So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" (34) Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. We need to sow and with a great confidence in the Gospel: 1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, (23) but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, (24) but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. (2) For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (3) And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, (4) and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, (5) that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 4. Partner with the Church in the Harvesting Work. We need to look at this harvesting work as a partnership together. Invite people to church and they will, by God’s grace (so help me) hear the clear Gospel that has the power to save: I read this recently from the Spurgeon: Do not close a single sermon without addressing the ungodly, but at the same time set yourself seasons for a determined and continuous assault upon them, and proceed with all your soul to the conflict. On such occasions aim distinctly at immediate conversions; labor to remove prejudices, to resolve doubts, to conquer objections, and to drive the sinner out of his hiding-places at once. Summon the church members to special prayer, beseech them to speak personally both with the concerned and the unconcerned, and be yourself doubly upon the watch to address individuals. We are coming to a particular season for a determined and continuous assault…Easter Pray together and in private – so many have been praying for me 2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, Attend the Word… I close with this heart warming dream painted by Spurgeon:
With all that you can do your desires will not be
fulfilled, for soul-winning is a pursuit which grows upon a man; the
more he is rewarded with Conversions the more eager he becomes to
see greater numbers born unto God. Hence you will soon discover that
you need help if many are to be brought in. The net soon becomes too
heavy for one pair of hands to drag to shore when it is filled with
fishes; and your fellow-helpers must be beckoned to your assistance.
Great things are done by the Holy Spirit when a whole church is
aroused to sacred energy: then there are hundreds of testimonies
instead of one, and these strengthen each other; then advocates for
Christ succeed each other and work into each other’s hands, while
supplication ascends to heaven with the force of united importunity;
thus sinners are encompassed with a cordon of earnest entreaties,
and heaven itself is called into the field.
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