Fields

Fields

4/27/15

We cannot comprehend our landscape status if we first do not understand that we are fields.  I am not just referring to Christians but to every human that has ever been created falls into this category.  All of us have the desire to live a fulfilled life with no wants or distress being considered.  It is necessary to recognize that each encounter that we have with someone that we are planting seeds and it is through these seeds that will make or break a person concerning their eternal placement.  One question that remains is this, are we are preparing these fields for the correct eternal setting or not and it is through the recognition of the harvest that defines our mission for if we cannot recognize the harvest how can we truly fulfill what Jesus told us to do?   The fields are ripe, are you prepared to bring in the harvest?  And do you understand the importance of who the harvest represents and what it means to bring in the harvest?

A while back God shared with us a couple of stories concerning my grandfather who was a farmer most of his life.  He recognized the time for planting and even when it was time for harvesting.  He also understood the hazards that could arise for the crops at any time during this process, and even some of those hazards could affect how many of the fields would be completely cleared before the hazards took the crop.  Even though I did not grow up around farms and did not make the connection of the harvest with the Word of God until a short while back, it is amazing how many similarities the two have.  There is not much difference from the physical crop harvest and the spiritual harvest that God commands us to gather for His table and when this concept is gathered into our spirits, the world could definitely change.

I remember that when we came out to Colorado to visit my maternal grandparents most of the time we would do so in the early portion or middle portion of the summer.  A couple of times we visited in the late summer when harvest season was beginning and we hardly ever saw my granddad or my uncle.  Unless you live through a harvest and understand everything that goes on during this period of time the detailed breakdown of events can be easily overlooked.  Harvest time is one of long hours with many stops due to weather and darkness, but with modern technology these down times for farmers have shrunk considerably and now can last for as long as the farmer has the energy and resources to continue.  It takes hard work for this process to be complete with injuries, bruises, cuts and scrapes occurring on a routine basis.  It takes a tough person to be a farmer and an even tougher one to complete the harvest season; which is exactly why the bride of Christ will be dirty, cut up, bruised by the world in order to be spotless and perfect in His eyes.

Once again, God has referenced the setting in John Chapter 4 where Jesus has been talking to the woman at the well.  His direct conversation is finished with her and she is at this time talking with the people in her village, telling them about Jesus and everything that He said and did for her; a true example of what Jesus was meaning about the fields being ripe for harvest.  Instead, the disciples are arguing with Him concerning His association with the enemy of the Jewish people and have begun to question Him concerning what others may think about this association with her.  This specific setting is a prime example of how the modern Church is now more collected with their appearance (landscapes) with the world than doing what Jesus taught us to see and commanded us to complete.  This is also a picture of people who are not driven by Kingdom principles and who have their heart set on sitting in the pews mentality concerning the harvest.

Jesus responds by looking out at the vast amount of acreage all around them and begins to teach the disciples that it is the fields that are ripe for harvest that matters, not appearance or acceptance to their personal, local or national landscapes.  When people live through the Church landscape ideology, they will bring in people within the church walls and pride themselves in doing so; claiming that they are a friend to whatever society that is in “need” of attention and acceptance at the moment.  While this principle is a good one and it is a foundational framework of the Church it is what occurs after the invitation that matters.  A landscape church is one that brings in people and then allows them to sit there in their sins and nothing is done to tell them about Jesus and the sins that they are willingly harboring.  A “field” church is one who brings in these hurting people, accepts them for who they are and then witnesses to them according to the laws, love, and testimony of the Kingdom of God.

How many enormous cities were there around the time of Jesus?  Not many were present for the dominating land was empty and either barren or privately owned for planting.  Society, as we know it today was not available for comparison back then, however, with the human mind at work it probably would not have been too hard to dream up of a modern society.  I can imagine that after Jesus grabbed the attention of the disciples off of themselves, and knowing of His all inclusive Kingdom teachings probably looked around the entire area while He was trying to get His Kingdom message across to them; not only about the harvest itself but the vastness of the harvest and the scarcity of those willing to work in those fields.  Talk about field waste management issues.

The Kingdom principle that Jesus refers to is the advancement of God’s Kingdom through the reaching of the fields (humans) that do not understand their importance.  The true adventure here is that while there are billions of people in the world that do not know God, there are millions of Christians that have no true concept of this Kingdom principle either which places them into the same category of importance to God.  How can I say that the previous statement is true?  First of all God wants us to understand this principle about His Son’s words and since Jesus included everyone in His command to go, He expects His disciples to understand every Kingdom principle that our finite minds can comprehend. 

I find it interesting that Jesus is telling this concept to His disciples and not the woman at the well.  Jesus had just finished dropping a bombshell onto the woman and she finally began to understand the freedom from the world that Jesus offered and in turn immediately went into her village and told the people about what Jesus had said and done for her.  It was the disciples, the ones who had been with Jesus on a continual basis that He had to once again explain the topics and principles of Kingdom, and it is through this setting that we need to makes sure we grasp the entire setting and not just a portion of it.

This example that Jesus gives here provides us with an invaluable situation in which He says that everyone is subject to sin and needs to be “harvested” for God.  The woman was just told the truth about Jesus and she went and told the people of the village. Jesus at the same time told His disciples to ensure that all of God’s Kingdom principles were taught to the people no matter what their conditions were in at the moment they chose to receive.  Jesus began with addressing the sin, and then taught His disciples to continue the message of the Kingdom through the emptiness of the fields and everyone in the scene was included in the advancement of God’s Kingdom.  It is of the utmost importance that we include entire story here when we tell it to others or study its meaning, we cannot afford to leave any portion out for if we do the advancement of God’s Kingdom cannot be completed and will be stalled which means that Satan’s Kingdom has won.

The barren fields hold the key to this example in that the emptiness and barrenness of the field represents not much life or fulfillment to its potential.  It is through the power of God and through the blood of Jesus that our emptiness and brokenness can be healed and be brought back to life again.  Jesus is the living water and through the bridge that He provides with the Father we can be hooked up to the source of living water and to be restored according to His divine and perfect life.  As this setting proves, man (woman in this case) and the ideas that they bring into their lives, shall fail and it is a quick resolution when Jesus comes into the picture.

Jesus did His job in this story and He pointed out some major flaws that the Church has grown within, even before the Church as even established.  Those flaws became evident within the early Church, through which Paul had to directly intervene with, the Middle Age Church was grossly defined in these measures and today the modern Church has found herself locked in a spiritual battle with the world, and its acceptance, for her life.  The Church has failed to grasp the concept of Kingdom and therefore cannot see the importance of her life and for each and every person that is lucky enough to make it out of the womb. The idea of God and having an eternal destination has been deluded and thrown away all in the name of rights and in self; just the way our enemy wants it to be.

If one has Kingdom principles alive within them, then it is easy for one to understand God’s laws and the meaning of God’s laws to mankind in the Old Testament.  One will also begin to understand how the Old Testament laws in which God put into place flow through Jesus’ life all culminating through His death and resurrection as the final sacrifice.

Why is this concept so important, you ask?  Jesus understood that His divine and earthly life was only going to be just a short period of time.  How did He know this?  Look at the comparison to the Old Testament and New Testament sacrifice procedures.  In the Old Testament Scriptures each sacrificial lamb was young, fresh and without blemish.  It had not grown old and been through hardships in life.  It was pure and perfect in every way possible according to the physical and spiritual eyes of the High Priest.  Jesus had to have the same type of life in which we can directly see through the scenes that the New Testament gave to us concerning His life, death and resurrection.

Jesus knew that His time was short and according to the genetic codes of our lives and through the choices that we make for our lives, He understands that we fall into the same category when it comes to our lives.  When Jesus physically died His purpose for being on this planet was over and His spiritual and eternal purpose continued.  This is exactly what our lives shall do when our physical portion is over; our eternal choice shall continue.  Once our physical lives have drawn its last breath it is time for our eternal to continue.  How important are those fields to God?  This article should at least get one to think about this and begin to comprehend the importance of a barren and desolate field becoming a fruitful harvesting area for the Kingdom.

Are we practicing the harvesting of fields or are we drawing up our own landscapes?  I once asked a friend of mine to look out and to describe a field that was in front of us.  She did not know what the barren field meant and could not understand the reason why I was asking her this specific question.  I then suggested that the field in front of us was her life and then asked her again to see what was within in its borders.  She really did not have a confirmed answer about herself and had to take a while to answer the question; which she still has not fully completed.  I ask her about her field every once-in-a-while and I pray that she understands this barren field someday, for it suggests that a harvest needs to be worked.  But first we must recognize that while the field may look barren to the physical eyes, it is still ripe for harvesting in Kingdom terms.

If we as the body of Christ continue to monitor the barren fields as landscapes, then we will continue our false course of salvation and Kingdom movements.  We will serve no one but Satan and his worldly ways.  It is time for the Church to throw off the world and the Gnostic like persuasions of the flesh and move back to the Kingdom of God principles.  A field church operates on a totally different plane than a landscape church and if one is ever privy to understanding both, it will become clear which church is operating like the Church and which one is operating like the church. 

Jesus told us to go into every corner of the world and to preach the gospel, and here is the gospel in a nutshell.  There are two kingdoms that can never mix; both are ruled by immortal and hated enemies.  One Kingdom is ruled by God and represents truth, holiness and perfection based upon a perfect and holy Creator.  The other kingdom is represented by a liar, selfish, fallen and defeated enemy of God and one who wants nothing more than to trick God’s precious creations into an eternal damnation of separation from life and back it up with constant torture.  The choice is yours and no one else can eventually make that choice for you.  God loves you and is calling you back to the truth before time runs out and your field withers up and dies.  His enemy wants your field to stay nocturnal and flourish accordingly.  Jesus is the living water that will provide the necessary life for a spiritual field that is ripe for the harvest.  The harvest is a Kingdom principle for it brings another life into the Light so that that field may continue the expansion of Light for another field to be harvested.

DLB