Why dedicate my heart to planting and reaping a GC harvest?
Hope for Lenawee • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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I think the Bible creates a context that humans have been designed with a desire to plant and reap. I want to begin with Genesis 1:28.
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
It’s somewhat automatic to read this verse and think the mandate is make more people like verse 22 says make more fish and make more birds. But, God gives Adam and Eve a few more instructions. Thrive in your fruitfulness. Don’t limit your capacity. Cultivate and manage your environment.
In other words, our “be fruitful and multiply” is supposed to be something greater than the “be fruitful and multiply” of animals. Remember, animals are physical creatures. Humans are physical creatures and spiritual creatures. We cannot be one without being the other. If we are asked to “be fruitful and multiply” physically, then we are also asked to “be fruitful and multiply” spiritually.
1 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.
Those who are believers. Those who are cultivating and managing their environment. It is required that we are faithful; trustworthy and reliable.
Maybe you know somebody that was “fruitful and multiplied” physically but they aren’t trustworthy or reliable. They did what an animals does. They had a baby, released it into the woods, and made it learn how to survive on its own. They didn’t thrive in their fruitfulness. They didn’t cultivate their environment. They were not found trustworthy or reliable.
A lot of things can go wrong in those scenarios. I want to be super encouraging this morning as we dream about planting and reaping a Great Commission harvest.
Here are four reasons why we should dedicate our heart to planting and reaping a Great Commission harvest.
Reason #1 - God has given us different abilities and circles of influences.
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
God placed Adam and Eve in the garden and said “be fruitful and multiply.” God placed Moses in front of a burning bush and said, “I will be with you.” God called Joshua to lead Israel and said, “Be strong and courageous.” God placed Esther in the palace “for such a time as this.” God allowed Daniel to be taken captive and he “resolved in his heart.” Jesus prayed in the garden, “Father, remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
God placed somebody in a hardware store, in a downtown boutique, in a school, in a Bible study, with their grandchildren, in a dentist office, in an insurance office, in a car dealership, in a medical office, in a factory, in a plumbing store, in a restaurant, I could continue…
My servant. My manager. My image-bearer, I want to trust you with these abilities and talents and influences while I’m gone. Will you take care of them for me? Will you be fruitful and multiply? Will you work hard at planting for a harvest?
The person in the hardware store isn’t in the medical office. The person in the school isn’t in the factory. The person in the restaurant isn’t in the car dealership.
God has given us different abilities and influences so we can plant and reap where he has placed us. We will see a harvest when we dedicate our hearts to that purpose.
Jot down Deuteronomy 31:6
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Reason #2 - God is going to ask us what we accomplished for his kingdom.
19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’
When I was kid, I had newspaper routes. I started in late elementary school and kept going into high school. Once a month, I would go knock on doors and ask people to pay their newspaper bill. I did that because I had to settle my account with the newspaper company. They gave me newspapers every day and expected something in return. Newspapers weren’t free; they trusted I would settle my account.
We have the same spiritual responsibility. God gives us something every day and expects us to do something with what he trusts us with. I think the Lord settle accounts with us frequently. Right now, we know if last week was a “well done, good and faithful servant” week. Nobody gets to heaven and is surprised how the conversation goes when we stand before Jesus.
Does God see our planting and reaping to be trustworthy and reliable?
Reason #3 - God has called us to something greater than entry-level stewardship.
26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.
Your something greater is probably different than my something greater, because we have different abilities and influences. But if we never dedicate our hearts to reaping, the something greater doesn’t matter. This third servant was in trouble because he wasn’t even doing entry-level stewardship. The master called him wicked and lazy. Wicked because he didn’t trust the character and integrity of his master. Lazy because he wouldn’t invest in what other people were already doing.
That should challenge us a little bit. What does our stewardship say our trust in God’s character and integrity? It’s a worthy question that might tell us if our hearts are dedicated to planting and reaping a Great Commission harvest in 2025.
For some of us, your something greater might be stepping into EVERY WEEK church attendance. Every opportunity to miss church is also an opportunity to plant and reap a Great Commission harvest in your circle of influences.
For some of us, your something greater might be daily time in your Bible. You can read through the Bible in one year by dedicating about 11 minutes every day. www.trinityadrian.org and click on bible reading or there is a link in the church center app.
For some of us, your something greater might be passing out 5 invitation cards EVERY WEEK.
For some of us, your something greater might be to use your talents and resources toward a HOPE FOR LENAWEE opportunity that I will talk about on January 26.
For some us, your something greater might be to stepping into entry-level stewardship. Can you commit $30 a week to our church? What can you do so you begin moving toward, “Well done, good and faithful servant”?
Reason #4 - God rewards our faithfulness and casts judgment on our wickedness.
28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
There are individuals who portray 1 Corinthians 4:1 “servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God” but are fakes because they are cast out of the light and the presence of the Lord. Matthew 7:16 says, “You will recognize them by their fruits.”
I’ve been praying the fruit of our lives and the fruit of our church would be clearly recognized because we have dedicated our hearts to planting and a reaping a Great Commission harvest in 2025.
