There is work for you, if you will accept it, there are tasks waiting to be performed, but few willing to do them. “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35)
Every born-again believer is to be a laborer, all are to be busy at the work of glorifying God in their lives, it is to be their main focus each day. It is not a sidenote, it is not reserved for an hour or so on Sunday morning or Wednesday night, it is a lifelong commitment, there is work, but the laborers are few.
We have reached a point in society where many desire to be fed without working for that food, where many want to be taken care of, not seek those that are in need, it is quickly becoming an enabled society by design, for when people decide to not work, someone else who will is required to take on even more of the burdens. This is quite easily seen in most church settings today, the work is called showing up on Sunday morning, filling a pew, and then entering back into the world for the rest of the week. The work is left to the pastor and elders, the only work that matters.
“He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.” (John 21:17) “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)
There is work, but most will not accept it. I know the reason why, but it is still hard to accept. What do you suppose would happen if each Sunday morning there was a small card in the back of each pew, and every person in attendance was asked to place the name of an individual that they spoke to about Christ with a short note of their response on that card? Would people fill them out willingly, or would they feel as if they were being pressured. I think you know the answer to that one. They are there for the most part to listen, not to apply, there is work to be done, but they do not want to be bothered with the work, it is not their responsibility. It shows much more than a lack of desire, it shows a lack of love, and not just for our fellow man, but for the Lord, it says “I don’t love you enough to tell others about you,” and that is what they will end up saying on their day of accounting, right to the face of Jesus.
After all the debates have ended, after all the excuses have been exhausted, it will be the only answer left.
It is the thought of all who are in hell today who considered themselves saved, and it is the thought of many who are in heaven, yet “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Cor. 3:15) “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)
There is work, but there are few laborers. I want you to consider the only answer that can be given in these circumstances, the only viable reason, “I was ashamed,” and I ask that you consider the Words of the Lord to those who will find themselves in that moment. “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 10:33)
Do you see that person waiting to walk into the kingdom of God, or do you see them at the Great White Throne of Judgement? I cannot say, I will not judge in this area, all I know is that if someone says they love the Lord, that if they say they are a child of the Most High God, then they would be telling others about Him, about the grace of God that is available to all men through Jesus Christ, they could not keep silent, it is an impossibility.
To say one thing and do another is called hypocrisy, it is at its base a lie, and it is a lie that many have taught themselves to believe. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5) It is the inverse of what the world teaches, the most precious item we own is to be kept under lock and key, hidden from all, treasured and kept for oneself. If that is how you are treating Christ, then you are deceiving yourself as to your salvation.
