Farmers have been planting seeds and harvesting crops for centuries. How the planting and harvesting is done has changed over the years, but the goal of having a harvest has never changed. The hand dug row in this country gave way to rows created with a plow pulled by an animal, like an ox or a mule, although there are still places where the planting is done by hand. Both systems work, but one is more efficient than the other, depending on where a farmer lives. But the two systems still do planting.
The one-row mule drawn plow was replaced by multi-row plows pulled by a tractor after moving machines were created. The tractors had more power and could plant faster than the single animal, or even a team of animals. When tractors came along, they required liquid fuel like gas or diesel, instead of the hay and grains the animals ate. The presence of tractors established different methods of planting, but the goal of planting to create a harvest never changed.
The old Ford 8N gave way to four-wheeled 100+ horsepowers cabbed tractors that have air conditioning and radios. Today’s farmers often use tractors guided by GPS systems that dispense seeds and fertilizer in specified quantities and mixtures depending on the acre being planted. I’ll say it again—The methods of planting to create a harvest have changed over the years, but the goal of creating the harvest has remained the same.
How the harvest was reaped has changed, too. For centuries, harvesting was done by hand by one farmer. Then field crews were hired to do the picking as farms grew in size. Although we still have migrant farm workers, what was once done by hand is now done with machinery on many farms in this country.
The one row corn picker was replaced with a two row, then four row, then eight row and even larger pickers. What used to be done by a scythe by one man in a grain field is now done by combines that cut, separate the chaff and dump only grain into a bin pulled beside the combine. Remember, though, the goal is still to have a harvest that produces as much of the crops planted as possible, regardless of the methods used to do the planting and harvesting.
The same can be said of spiritual harvests, too. Our methods of presenting the good news about Jesus may change over time, but our message doesn’t change, just like the goal of planting to get a crop doesn’t change for the farmer. How we reach people with our message has changed dramatically since the early believers were scattered out of Jerusalem by the persecution that followed the Day of Pentecost.
At one time, the only method of evangelism was word of mouth and written letters. Hand-made copies of the gospels, the New Testament letters and the Old Testament used to be the only source of reproducing God’s message to mankind. Then the printing press allowed people to be presented with the whole message of God’s relationship with Israel and His plan to provide salvation through a descendant of Israel’s King David.
Artists and writers depicted the life of Jesus, Biblical leaders and great moments in Bible lessons in their paintings, sculptures, poetry, songs and music. Those forms of communicating the good news were complemented by photographs and, eventually, silent moving pictures. Then sound was added to the motion pictures, and movies were created to present the great stories of the Bible, like “The Ten Commandments” and the film “Jesus.”
Songs, hymns and spiritual songs have been written, reproduced and sung over the centuries for use in worship and in private settings. Printed materials, like tracts and posters, have been processed since the invention of the computer and are now accessible in digital form. What used to be a cassette recording of a sermon was replaced by a CD and then by a thumb drive. The photos of evangelists gave way to video recordings of services that were passed around, and now our services can be watched on the internet live as they occur every Sunday morning.
We should do the physical work of spreading the gospel using any method we can. Word of mouth still works, but so does live broadcasting. Individual evangelism in homes and on breaks at the job is still necessary, but having an audience online at the same time we are in here is now available to us, and we are derelict in our duty to fulfill the great commission if we don’t take advantage of the technology, and any other method available to us, to reach beyond these walls.
As we move into that place we have never been before, that new direction, as the Holy Spirit creates a different kind of ministry here, we may need to change how we plant seeds of faith into people’s lives for the harvest. I’ll go a statement further than that. We will probably have to change the way we plant and harvest.
But we need to understand something about planting and harvesting, regardless of the systems we use to plant and harvest. We are not responsible for creating the harvest. We don’t and can’t do any more than plant the seeds and tend the plants that grow. That’s our part of the job.
1 Corinthians 3:7 KJVS. [7] So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
We need to accept that it is God who will give the increase. We don’t bring spiritual birth to a life when someone accepts Jesus as Savior. The Holy Spirit does that. We can use every method possible, old ones and brand new ones, to share the gospel, and we should, but the new birth and spiritual growth take place because an individual decides to repent and chooses to follow Jesus.
Allow me to repeat myself here—Our part of fulfilling the Great Commission is the talking to others about Jesus. Our part is teaching them what Jesus taught. That’s the planting and watering. That’s the physical part we do.
God’s part is giving the increase. God’s part is creating the harvest from the planting and watering. That’s the spiritual part God does.
We need to seek God about how to do the planting of the seeds and watering of the growing plants. We need to focus on preparing for a harvest, not on how we plant. The methods of planting will change, but the goal is the new harvest, not how we plant.