Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. – Luke 4:35
The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. – 1 Samuel 4:2
The Christian faces many conflicts in life. Conflict is hard. The child of God fights battles outside of themselves (Matt. 18:7, Mark 9:42, 1 Tim. 6:9), within their hearts and minds (Prov. 6:14, 18; 12:8; 28:26; Matt. 26:41, Luke 11:4; Rom. 1:28; 7:23), and from all sides (1 Cor. 7:2, Gal. 5:19-21, Eph. 2:1-3, James 4:1-10). When we think about these spiritual battles, our cultural influence conditions proclivity towards a militaristic fighting tendency. We take a defensive (Exo. 28:32; 39:23; Judg. 9:50-57; Isa. 21:8; 2 Cor. 7:5) or an offensive (John 18:36; 12 Tim. 4:7) stance putting on our full armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18). Emotions run high, and we are ready to dig in our heels and fight. Battling is good. Contending for the faith is exceptionally good. Biblically, God expects no less from His soldiers in His army (1 Sam. 17:45; 2 Tim. 2:3-4).
Of course, “there is a time for war, and a time for peace” (Eccl. 3:8). The puritan preacher John Collins (1632-1687) says, “[Earnest contention] is not a contention of uncharitableness, for it allows no murdering, either in the bodies or souls of men. Christians are so to contend against error and sinful practices as to love men’s persons and pity those they contend with.”[1] Believers are to stand firm. Paul closed his letter to the Corinthian church with these words, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). Also, he encouraged the Philippian church stating, “Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and my crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved” (Phil. 1:27).
Often forgotten, yet equally important, is another field that the Christian is called to work. It is the field of harvest. The late Dr. Adrian Rogers said, “there are two fields the believer is always in, the battlefield or the harvest field. ”[2] Paraphrasing him, he goes on to say that the Christian is in one or the other. If they are not in one or the other, something is wrong. For this reason, we need to concentrate on analyzing what field God has placed us in.
Unfortunately, many covenant children set themselves to fight all the time. They are combative. They like confrontation. One may dare say they live to argue for argument’s sake. And they like it so much that they fight in the harvest field. Paul told the Philippian church to help Euodia and Syntyche resolve their conflict and agree in the Lord (Phil. 4:2-3). James asks, “4:1What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask” (cf. James 4:1-10).
As much as drawing lines and slicing erroneous doctrines and false teachers open with the “sword of the Spirit” are essential, there are times when God places us in the harvest field to work there. Too often, we turn our plowshares to swords when we should “beat our swords to plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks” (Isa. 2:4; Micah 4:3). It is in the harvest field where the sheep are tended and loved (21:15-17). In fact, God set an indictment against the shepherds of Israel for not loving the sheep but abusing them (cf. Ezek. 34). Also, the workers in the harvest field sow, plant, and harvest souls (Matt. 9:36-38; 13; John 4:34-36; 1 Cor. 3:5-9; 2 Cor. 9:9-11). In Luke 4:35, the Lord wanted His disciples to notice Samaria and the rest of the world. Jesus wanted them to see that people everywhere are ready to receive the message of the Gospel and hear the Word of Truth. He wanted them to understand that even in places like Samaria, they would find a harvest of souls ready to be reaped if they would only be reapers. John Calvin states, “Christ intended indirectly to point out how much more attentive men are to earthly things than to heavenly things for they burn with so intense a desire to harvest that they carefully reckon up months and days, while it is astonishing how drowsy and indolent they are in gathering the heavenly wheat.”[3]
Consequently, the worker in the field of harvest receives Christ’s pleasing eye. He tells us there are wages laid up for the laborers (Matt. 20:8; John 4:36; Rom. 4:4). There is fruit to come forth (2 Cor. 2:15). The kingdom of heaven is found in the field (Matt. 13:44). And there is rejoicing (Psa. 126:6). Even on the Last Day, there is a reward portioned for the quality of their work (1 Cor. 9:24; Col. 3:24; 2 John 1:8; Rev. 11:18). The work in the harvest field is challenging but rewarding, discouraging at times but promising.
The covenant child must be in one field or the other. However, they must not stay in the one that brings the most comfort all the time. If one loves harvesting, they should not plant or water or nourish with the plows and harvest sacks on a battlefield when the evil one hurls flaming darts at them (Eph. 6:16). Accordingly, they must not fight and battle with their armor on in the harvest field when they should be behind the plow, pruning the trees, harvesting the grain, or tending and loving the sheep. J.C. Ryle reminds us, “Do we do any work for God? Do we try, however feebly, to set forward his cause on earth,– to check that which is evil, to promote that which is good? If we do, let us never be ashamed of doing it with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.”[4] However, the proper work needs to be done in the appropriate place.
[1] John Collins, “Contending for the Faith,” in Sermons of the Great Ejection, (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 57.
[2] “Love Worth Finding.” Spotify. Accessed July 07, 2022. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5SDGOAq0pUnz8Lz9ttKYYY?si=45a4a78c72c142fe and https://open.spotify.com/episode/1JJo4FZwNlZX2EPw6z4mJk?si=f7549c1720cc4516. Adrian Rogers. “The High Cost of Low Living.”
[3] J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, vol. 1 (Carlisle: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2012), 172. A quote in the Notes section of John 4:31-42.
[4] Ibid., 167.
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