But I’m not Billy Graham

How many times have you listened to an evangelist, a preacher online, or even your local pastor…you hear them give the good news message of faith alone in Christ alone for eternal life and salvation from sin…and you see people, some times tons of people, respond?  While we celebrate that moment on the outside, can we admit to feeling a little bit of “well, that’ll never be me…I’m not that good of a Christian witness”.  We often – misguidedly – use the moment of a person’s belief as the measure of our usefulness to God.  We think we’re not a “good Christian” because we’re not out preaching in tents like Billy Graham.  But…what if…God doesn’t determine the value of our work for him by that measurement?

We’re dropping into the scene where Jesus has been schooling his disciples, telling them how the Samaritan outsiders often overlooked by the Jews were actually ready to receive His gift of eternal life:

John 4:35-38
“Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, and then comes the harvest’?  Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, because they are ready for harvest.  The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.  For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’  I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.”

Jesus’ point is pretty clear: Opportunity is here, right in front of you.

While that part is pretty easy to understand, the next phrase can make us scratch our heads.  The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together…what does that mean?

From The Grace NT Commentary:
Jesus now launches into a brief discussion of eternal rewards.  Anyone who does God’s work is receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life.  Pay (misthos) refers to eternal rewards, not eternal life.  The former is a free gift, the latter a payment for work done.  Gathering fruit for eternal life refers either to leading other people to faith in Christ (and hence to eternal life) or to laying up treasure for oneself, which will be useful in one’s eternal experience.  In light of 1 Cor 3:5-15 – which is surely based on the Lord’s teaching here – the latter interpretation is suggested.  However, possibly the Lord meant both things with the one expression.

I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor. – as the commentary mentioned, this is echoed in what Paul would write many years later:

1 Corinthians 3:5-8
What then is Apollos?  What is Paul?  They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given.  I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who give the growth.  Now he who plants and he who waters are equal status, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

Paul planted, Apollos watered, God caused growth.  The disciples, too, were being prepared to reap what they hadn’t labored for…they hadn’t planted any seeds in Samaria, and yet, they were going to reap the benefits and see the results from other people’s labors.

Sometimes, we plant seeds…other times, we harvest what others have planted.  We should rejoice in both.  The work God has for us to do is a team effort. 

Although there is usually great celebration at harvest time and typically no fanfare when planting or watering occurs – in God’s economy, neither the sower nor the reaper is more important.  To God, neither one’s work is forgotten or has less worth than the other.  They are intimately connected in the process of bringing others to belief in Jesus for eternal life.  The one who reaps is benefiting from the one who sowed, for he is completing the sower’s work; however, both will rejoice together at the Judgment Seat of Christ.  Therefore, sowers must not think that their work is secondary to reaping, even if they see others experience more fruitful ministries as harvesters right now.  Both are essential in God’s plan.

As such, we have found a promise from Jesus for us to claim: There is a joyful reward for doing the work God gives you – whether you are planting, watering, or harvesting.  God will provide food to sustain us now, and eternal rewards will be given to us all later.

Keep Pressing,
Ken