Sowing & Reaping the “Harvest” Jesus Talked About
Unless seeds are planted, watered, and given enough time for growth, there is little expectation of a harvest. That’s how farming works. And it turns out — it works similarly with people and their faith. But what if most of us have been measuring the harvest by the wrong metric this whole time?
In this episode of the Everyday Disciple Podcast, Caesar challenges the common idea that spiritual harvest means getting a “decision for Christ.” What if the harvest Jesus talked about was actually a harvest of disciples? This episode reframes sowing and reaping — and shows why God always provides for what he calls and commands when you trust him with your words, your time, and your life.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- The truth about the amount of “fruit” that is ready to be harvested
- Why the harvest Jesus was after is different from what you were taught
- What really constitutes “sowing seeds” in someone’s life
- Why sowing and reaping is an ongoing cycle — not a once-and-done event
From this episode:
“Are you looking to ‘close the deal’ or give your life away? Seeking to get a ‘decision for Christ’ or invite people into your family — God’s family — and lay your life down for them?”
Each week the Big 3 will give you immediate action steps to get you started.
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Links and Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Coaching and Apprenticeship in Missional Living w/ Caesar and his wife, Tina
Resources for missional living and group training – Missio Publishing
Get Caesar’s latest book: Bigger Gospel for FREE… Click here.
Transcript
Far too many people put an emphasis on the salvation moment.
Speaker:Yeah, that's the atonement issue.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's the atonement issue.
Speaker:Because there's... How many salvation moments do you have as you move from unbelief to belief in every area of life?
Speaker:A boatload.
Speaker:We are saved and we are being saved, right?
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And so when we think we've hit this one moment, then we get to drop them because we think our work's done.
Speaker:And see, that... Exactly, and, and boom, you nail it again, is that if, if we have this false understanding of sowing and reaping, what the harvest is, then exactly.
Speaker:And that's, you know, I...
Speaker:That's kind of the church I grew up in, bro.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Is once you raised your hand, I see that hand, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Said the prayer.
Speaker:There was zero discipleship.
Speaker:There was nothing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There, there was... They didn't almost even care if you showed up at youth group anymore at that point because-
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:... boom.
Speaker:They, you know, that's where the action was.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They got you.
Speaker:You know, they got one.
Speaker:Click.
Speaker:Welcome to
Speaker:the Everyday Disciple Podcast, where you'll learn how to live with greater intentionality and an integrated faith that naturally fits into every area of life.
Speaker:In other words, discipleship as a lifestyle.
Speaker:This is the stuff your parents, pastors, and seminary professors probably forgot to tell you.
Speaker:And now, here's your host, Caesar Kalinowski.
Speaker:It's good to be with you, good to be doing this.
Speaker:Man, I love this show.
Speaker:I love doing the podcast.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:fun, right?
Speaker:It's my favorite thing, uh, I think, that I get to do consistently.
Speaker:I mean, that and coaching.
Speaker:I love, I love coaching folks.
Speaker:But- Yeah ... man, it's fun doing this show.
Speaker:You know what?
Speaker:You know what else is fun?
Speaker:What's that?
Speaker:I just, I just got a picture of my son Caesar with his son Caesar, which is Caesar V- The lineage ... at their first Bears game.
Speaker:Wow, man.
Speaker:Like, we're from Chicago.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Some of our listeners know that, some don't.
Speaker:Live out in Seattle area now, but a long-term, longtime Bears fan, though I'm really a Seahawks fan now.
Speaker:But, um, my son is hardcore Bears, and so here he is at the Bears game.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:You want to know how, how foolish I am?
Speaker:When you said Chicago Bears, I just Googled, like, I just wanted to make sure that was football, 'cause I thought it could be basketball 'cause I'm...
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:You are a sports nerd.
Speaker:I... Sorry, man.
Speaker:I- We're
Speaker:dorks.
Speaker:I like, I, I know, like, you know, what's the SNL sketch about the Bears that was huge, you know, like some Chicago- The
Speaker:Chicago Aluminum Foils.
Speaker:Like, who's, what sport would that be?
Speaker:Well, it
Speaker:looks like they're having a good time, though.
Speaker:You showed me the picture of them.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:They're losing their mind over at Soldier Field, which there's no soldiers at Soldier Field.
Speaker:Not anymore, at least.
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Hey, uh, speaking of, uh, soldiers- ... we got a great review, a soldier of the, of the podcast, I guess.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Tammy15, who says, "Well, I'm all caught up on the podcast. Blown away by the information. Look forward to implementing-" Binged
Speaker:right through it.
Speaker:That was amazing, right?
Speaker:It's so awesome, yeah.
Speaker:"Blown away by the information. Look forward to implementing many of the things I've learned. I long to see this kind of-" community where I live that it, this transformation that exhibits the power of God.
Speaker:I'm sad that I'm all caught up.
Speaker:However, the replayability is astounding.
Speaker:So good.
Speaker:Keep replaying.
Speaker:That's
Speaker:awesome.
Speaker:They can listen over and over and over.
Speaker:That's so nice, Tammy15.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, maybe if you just put your headphones in while you sleep and just play all the episodes, you can, it just sinks into your
Speaker:subliminal.
Speaker:No, it's humbling, isn't it, brother?
Speaker:It's so humbling to- Yeah ... just that, you know, someone's gonna binge through that stuff.
Speaker:Well, we were just talking too offline, I mean, w- we've been at this now a year and a half, and we're getting reviews from all over the world.
Speaker:Like, it's just w- it's weird.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:Like, we're sitting in Gig Harbor, Washington.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:And the, and the thing, the thing, you know, we don't get paid for this, right?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:And we're not big enough to even get any ginormous sponsors or anything.
Speaker:Anybody out there wanna sponsor us, though, and you wanna get your message across- Send me an
Speaker:... we are so happy to take, take some sponsorship and give... But we pro- I don't know if that'll ever happen, but- Yeah ... you know what?
Speaker:Like Tammy15, just telling us what they're doing and all that, that is that, and it's so worth it, and getting, uh, in the Facebook group, and people leaving these reviews.
Speaker:So yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Join the Facebook group.
Speaker:Get on there, search up the Everyday Disciple Podcast.
Speaker:Boom.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Be a member.
Speaker:We'll prove you- Join the conversation with us.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Love this, man.
Speaker:That's all the payment I need, Heath.
Speaker:No, it's a blast.
Speaker:And what you sow,
Speaker:you will reap.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, there we go.
Speaker:Transition again.
Speaker:Ah.
Speaker:You're the king of transitions here.
Speaker:I'm, I'm doing it.
Speaker:Hey, so we talked, uh, a little bit... So this, this concept came from a Facebook post you actually put in the, the Everyday Disciple group a while back when we were trying to figure out some new shows to talk about.
Speaker:And- I,
Speaker:I read something.
Speaker:I read something about people, like, going, you know, "I'm, I prefer the reaping, but who's doing sowing?" Or something like that, you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You're like, "Oh, this shows." And I was like, "Ah, I thought about that." Yeah.
Speaker:And you put it out there, and people jumped on it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so- Yeah ... uh, it gained a lot of traction.
Speaker:Um-
Speaker:Yeah, we'll dig out a few of the, the comments from that stream, uh, i,i- as we talk about this today.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But I- Well, let's
Speaker:jump in.
Speaker:Why don't you tell us a bit about
Speaker:this teaching?
Speaker:Well, I wonder when we talk about sowing and reaping a harvest if we're actually looking at the wrong metric.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Like, we, we say that.
Speaker:Like, like, I grew up with that.
Speaker:You know, it's like, it's a, it's a, it's a farming metaphor- Sure ... right?
Speaker:Obviously from scripture.
Speaker:There's a ton of agricultural ref- just like there's a ton of military.
Speaker:And they're, they're metaphor.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Um, and there's, there's several of those.
Speaker:But I, I kinda wonder, like, have we looked at this whole metaphor through our, huh, non-agriculture or Westernized eyes and not, never really understood it?
Speaker:Like, what is the harvest that when Jesus talks about sowing and reaping, and w- you know, we'll look here, um, in Matthew 9.
Speaker:What is the harvest?
Speaker:Um- Hm ... 'cause that makes, that makes a big difference of, like, what we think is sowing then and reaping.
Speaker:Like, if you, if you're trying to reap, you know, say, apples- Sure
Speaker:but you didn't sow apple seeds, then y- you're probably gonna be, you're gonna have trouble.
Speaker:So anyway, let's just take a look at this for a second, right?
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:At the top here.
Speaker:I wanna, I kinda wanna... I'm gonna upset the apple cart here to, to- ... stay with the agricultural metaphor.
Speaker:Jes- uh, Jesus says this in Matthew 9, okay?
Speaker:Well, first, let's set the table here a little bit.
Speaker:Um, he's performing in, in Matthew 9 all kinds of miracles.
Speaker:They go through miracle after miracle, and he's proving his deity.
Speaker:Okay, it starts out he's, uh, f- he's forgiving and, and healing a paralyzed man, right?
Speaker:Then, then you get him, uh, being, like, hassled by the Pharisees about his fasting.
Speaker:And then he, he raises a girl from the dead- Sure ... and he heals a sick woman, and he's hassled a little bit more, and they don't understand him.
Speaker:And then he heals a blind guy and, and a, and a mute.
Speaker:And, and then, you know, then he starts talking about this whole harvest and reaping and sowing metaphor that, that we're gonna talk about today.
Speaker:So that's kinda what's going on when he says what he says here, okay?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He says, um, uh, in verse 35, it goes on, Matthew's reporting, he says, "Jesus went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness." So that's, in verse 35, that's sort of the summary of everything we saw in chapter 9, verses 1 through 34.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And, and then it s- goes on and says, "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them." So notice his l- notice his attitude, Jesus' attitude about why is he doing all this stuff?
Speaker:'Cause he has compassion on these people.
Speaker:Mm. Okay?
Speaker:So because they're harassed and they're helpless.
Speaker:Now, it's interesting because Matthew, in his narrative here, he sprinkles in Jesus being harassed like crazy.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And he says, l- the, and Jesus sees these people, and they're like sheep without a shepherd.
Speaker:Then he said to his disciples, Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." We've all heard this.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:We've heard this since we were little kids in Sunday school.
Speaker:"Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And it's from this and other verses that we kinda come up with this reaping and sowing, right?
Speaker:Interesting, yeah.
Speaker:Sowing and reaping.
Speaker:That's really probably the way I should say it, that order.
Speaker:But let's pick this apart a little bit.
Speaker:Jesus is, he's, he's healing like crazy, and Matthew's, like, reporting on it, and he goes like, "Okay," and, and he's reporting on Jesus being hassled as well by the Pharisees.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Um, in fact, at one point, they say that what he's actually doing is demonic because he's not herding people over to the temple to load them up with the law.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:But he's... Notice what he's doing.
Speaker:He's healing them, and he's restoring things, and people we know in other miracles are being fed- Sure
Speaker:and their needs are being met, and he, he feels like they're, they're, they're harassed and helpless.
Speaker:And it says, "The harvest is plentiful," meaning there's loads of people out there that are, are, that feel this way, but there, the workers are few.
Speaker:Hmm, what kind of work are we talking about?
Speaker:Now, when I was a kid, that was always extrapolated to mean you gotta get out and you gotta witness.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's the workers.
Speaker:You gotta, like, proclaim, right?
Speaker:That's
Speaker:what I was told.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And, and then ask the Lord of the harvest.
Speaker:Who's that?
Speaker:Jesus is talking about himself here.
Speaker:So he's the Lord.
Speaker:That's key, right?
Speaker:Therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field.
Speaker:Now, he doesn't say, "Oh, go out and send out workers into the sowing field."
Speaker:He says, "into the harvest field." Hmm.
Speaker:Does that mean that the way Jesus sees it, 'cause he says the harvest is plentiful, that a lot of sowing work has already been done by harassment and helplessness and just the way of the world?
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:You see what I'm saying here?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:'Cause- I've never thought about
Speaker:that
Speaker:'cause I've, I've always come to this like, you know, ask Jesus to send out workers.
Speaker:So, like, that's it, man.
Speaker:Let's get a handful of tracts and the bullhorn.
Speaker:We're going down to the mall.
Speaker:You know, it's like- ... let's get after it, right?
Speaker:But Jesus is saying, "Hey, the harvest is already plentiful-
Speaker:Hmm
Speaker:... but hardly anybody's out harvesting."
Speaker:Well, what's... So then what's the harvest?
Speaker:Is it getting people to say a prayer and get them to church?
Speaker:Let's see.
Speaker:How many verses do we have Jesus showing us that model?
Speaker:Zero.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:None, right?
Speaker:So, uh, what I wanna ask in light of that then is are, are you, not you personally, but we, you know, the collective you, are you looking to close the deal with people?
Speaker:Is that what you think the harvest is?
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:Or give your life away?
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Are you looking- Two totally different things, yeah ... are you looking to get a decision for Christ, quote, unquote?
Speaker:You won't find that in scripture either, by the way.
Speaker:Or invite people out of being harassed and helplessness into your family where they can be cared for, God's family- Hmm
Speaker:with you, and then you lay your life down for them like Jesus did.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's what Jesus says, "The harvest is plentiful." Lots of people need that, but there's hardly anybody willing to lay their life down and invite people into the family with them and serve them with their lives.
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:So, ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the harvest field.
Speaker:They're already there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They're already there.
Speaker:So, when we talk about sowing and reaping, hmm, I think we've gotta understand that metaphor and maybe change the metric a little bit.
Speaker:It's way more on the reaping side, meaning some sowing must have been done.
Speaker:Already.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:You know, one of the things that you mentioned even at the top of this episode was that, uh, you made a comment like, "All of us wanna do the reaping, yet perhaps for years there's been very little sowing out ahead of us," right?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Why do you think this is the case, and what's causing you personally to see things from this perspective?
Speaker:Well, for one, just reading the text.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's amazing if you try to take and strip away the preconceptions, like, and just go, "What did Jesus actually say and model?" Yeah, heard
Speaker:it 100 times and that's a whole different take.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And so, um, has there been any sowing?
Speaker:Now, I don't wanna say that there's no sowing of seeds, to stick with the metaphor, that there's no sowing of seeds in people's lives.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay?
Speaker:Uh, what would it look like to sow a seed in someone's life?
Speaker:Um, I think it, it's, it's building relationship, modeling what God's really like.
Speaker:I think it's asking good questions.
Speaker:I mean, what, what else could it mean to sow seeds?
Speaker:A seed is something that once placed into the ground and unseen, sort of begins to produce fruit and life.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Mm-kay?
Speaker:So is, is there, is there sowing out ahead of us?
Speaker:Well, I think Jesus is saying there's been a ton of sowing out ahead of you, just the stuff of life, and self-love, and fear, and brokenness and all that, 'cause he's saying the harvest is plentiful.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:He's not saying, "You know why there's noth- there's nothing to harvest? 'Cause you guys didn't get out and plant and water."
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:" Ask the Lord of the harvest," in other words, who, the one who created the people and prepared their hearts-
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:... to send workers out to just scoop it up.
Speaker:I tell people this all the time.
Speaker:We, we tend to think that evangelism, which I think is ex- you know, just, you know, completely linked with discipleship and evangel- I think it's one big continuous loop.
Speaker:Um, we think it's, like, hard, and we have to go out into the field and just yank on raw fruit till it, you know.
Speaker:Like, you ever been apple picking, like, in the fall?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They're falling off.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, half of them are on the ground.
Speaker:You, you know, I remember holding up Justine when she was a little kid with a basket, little, you know, little wooden basket, and we're out apple picking.
Speaker:All she had to do is get the basket near it, bump into it, tap it, boom.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, they're
Speaker:all over
Speaker:the place.
Speaker:They're just falling off, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's the picture.
Speaker:When Jesus says the harvest, like, the field is white-
Speaker:Hmm
Speaker:... for harvest, you ever run through a w- literally a white harvest field of grain?
Speaker:Mm-mm.
Speaker:It, it's all up in your eyes and hair.
Speaker:It's, it's just ready.
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:This is what he's saying is like, are you kidding?
Speaker:People are so s- sowed just from life, and pain, and brokenness, and the work of the Spirit that's gone ahead of you.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:We just need harvesters.
Speaker:Wow, man And
Speaker:so I grew up, though, thinking it's like, "Well, I wanna be the person to lead them to Christ," you know?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Everybody's like, "I'd rather do that than sow."
Speaker:Well, the truth is, I, I would rather just lead them in a prayer and be done with them, and they can go to church from now on than s- You know what sowing is?
Speaker:It's laying your life down.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:That's what sowing is.
Speaker:That's why I asked that question.
Speaker:And, and is there sowing out ahead of us?
Speaker:Yeah, but I, I don't think there's, I don't think there's a lot of people who have laid their lives down to model Christ, myself included, too often, uh, model Christ and sow the seeds of, "This is what Dad's like."
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's what Jesus was doing with all the miracles.
Speaker:That's why this is all tucked in that whole list of miracles.
Speaker:He's showing, "This is what God's like. This is what Dad's like. This is what life in the kingdom's like." Then we need harvesters.
Speaker:We need people to go out and say, "Okay, now walk with me, and I'm gonna help you move from unbelief to belief in all these areas of life."
Speaker:That's good, man.
Speaker:And I think, I think it's sowing and reaping, bro, is an ongoing cycle, like on a farm.
Speaker:Think about it.
Speaker:Any farms you know where it's like, "Yeah, we went and harvested up the grain," once.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Nope, next year there'll be more.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Next year we're gonna plant, and there's gonna be more, right?
Speaker:Or, or the opposite, right?
Speaker:We just plant every year after year after year, and the, it grows
Speaker:and dies.
Speaker:No harvesting.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:No harvesting.
Speaker:So if we're helping people move from unbelief to belief in every area of life, that's what discipleship is, that's the mission we're sent on, then there will b- there will be... then there will need to be sowing in every area of their life, meaning doing life and laying our life down with them in every area of life.
Speaker:Not just sit next to them in a s- in a, in a pew hearing a message, not just handing them a tract, not just next to them in their go to heaven spiritual needs.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But we're gonna have to do harvesting, sowing and reaping, harvesting in absolutely every area of their life.
Speaker:Remember, discipleship, the only mission, helping people move from unbelief to belief in every area of life.
Speaker:People think reap, I wanna reap, meaning the big reap.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They said the prayer.
Speaker:They're in.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What about the reaping of, you know, they used to be completely locked up in fear around their sexual identity-
Speaker:Yep
Speaker:... because of the way they were raised and some abuse in their life and some other things that had gone down and confusion and people in their ear and an enemy and all that.
Speaker:They've actually moved from unbelief to belief.
Speaker:We were able to help harvest-
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:... their identity to the point that they're starting to believe that what God says about them is true.
Speaker:And
Speaker:that he loves them.
Speaker:And it's beautiful.
Speaker:Oh, but, but they're still lost.
Speaker:They're still going to hell someday.
Speaker:Well, that's a different part of the resdep- the redemption.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:And that's a different part of the reaping and the sowing and the harvesting.
Speaker:It's like, well, yeah, but that's the important one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:Jesus was harvesting.
Speaker:Like, just go back to M- to Matthew 9 and look at all the different areas that he was sowing and then reaping- Yeah ... that affected all their different areas of life.
Speaker:He never once brought up with th- those people and those things- Mm ... like, what they had to stop doing and where they needed to go on Sund- you know- Yeah ... all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:The sowing and reaping is an ongoing cycle of the truth being proclaimed and displayed.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And the harvesting is then helping people move from unbelief, what they thought the world and God was all about, to belief- Sure
Speaker:in the truth of what he's done for them in every area of life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's ongoing.
Speaker:So you're kind of, I think, you're doing both end, just like evangelism.
Speaker:Discipleship is, you know, it's you disciple people to the faith and discipling them from unbelief to belief in the Gospel, so that's how they're all connected.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's not like evangelism gets them to a point, and then you disciple them.
Speaker:We've talked about this before.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:I think this whole reaping and sowing follows the exact same sort of continuum, and you're gonna be sowing and reaping and reaping and sowing, and then the whole loop in every area of life.
Speaker:But again- Constantly, yeah ... great hope because Jesus said, "Pray for harvesters," people that will lay their life down and go out and help bring that in in every area of people's lives.
Speaker:One of our mutual buddies says, when he was commenting on your Facebook post, he said, "I think we focus on reaping so much because reaping is where the action and excitement are."
Speaker:Like, seeing the fruit of our labor is kind of the posture we take when it comes to this sort of stuff.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Again, here, you know, I, I like Chino's question, but I think it reveals that we have this wrong understanding in the Church of what the harvest actually is- Yeah ... and what Jesus talked about.
Speaker:We see one point of harvest is they said a prayer, they're saved.
Speaker:Yeah, harvest
Speaker:complete.
Speaker:Saved in what area of their life, right?
Speaker:There's all these areas of life that need to be saved, to move from unbelief to belief- Sure ... that's true of God, that he would be glorified in all things.
Speaker:Man, I feel like such a broken record, Heath, with this stuff, but it's so core to the whole thing.
Speaker:So I love his question, but I think it does reveal that we don't really understand what Jesus was talking about there.
Speaker:Hm.
Speaker:And when our metric is wrong, then we define the win incorrectly.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So sure, it seems like where the action is.
Speaker:If you have one metric, it's like, "Did you get a person to say the prayer?
Speaker:Did you get them to say the prayer?
Speaker:Did you get them to say the prayer?" Yeah, sure.
Speaker:Then the only win is that, so it's like, which side of the field do you wanna be on?
Speaker:The side where people are saying the prayer.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's what I wanna get to do.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But what if, what if the sowing and reaping looks more like laying your life down and walking with people in community and being vulnerable and, and fighting and forgiving and, you know, being humble and seeking forgiveness, and helping people move from unbelief to belief in every area of life, including their eternal salvation and who's Lord and who's God and who's king and who's not?
Speaker:Well, that's very, very different.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:So then you go, "I wanna be where the action is." Then be involved in discipleship.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The action is w- is what, is exactly what Jesus did.
Speaker:Invest your life into people, give your life away, and help them move from unbelief to belief about what's true about God and now true about them.
Speaker:That's where the action is.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's it.
Speaker:Y- y- you're
Speaker:right.
Speaker:It's not a one-time thing.
Speaker:Not this false understanding of quote, "the harvest."
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:That, that you can't find in scripture once.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:" Jesus, watch this, boys.
Speaker:I'm about to do some harvesting.
Speaker:Invite me into your heart." And he said that to everybody.
Speaker:You know, like, just ... You don't see it.
Speaker:Doesn't work, yeah.
Speaker:Uh, I think our buddy Nick on Facebook had some wisdom when he wrote something about Greg Koukl, I think is how you say the Koukl.
Speaker:Uh, it says that his goal is just to put a stone in their shoe.
Speaker:And he says, "I think it releases a lot of people knowing that it's not our job to save people.
Speaker:That's the work of the Holy Spirit."
Speaker:Amen.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Say that again.
Speaker:Our goal is just to put a stone in people's shoes.
Speaker:Like, just to- ... give it a little bit of irritation, right?
Speaker:That's, that's some of
Speaker:the sowing, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly, 'cause it releases, uh- I love it ... a lot of people- Yeah, I love it ... who think that their job is to save people.
Speaker:Like, that is the work of the Holy Spirit, not ours.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Something that stood out to me, uh, from that is how that there's an ongoing work there.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:The way you've lived, something you've said, a question you've asked, the way you've modeled something, the way you've forgiven somebody, the way you've advocated for a, a, you know, a person who's a knucklehead or the broken, you know, or whatever, or sought justice and mercy on behalf of people who can't, um, becomes that stone.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And our job is to, you know, th- that's the sowing part, and the reaping is to help them then move, you know, we wanna say across the line of faith.
Speaker:It's like, yeah, but in every area, not just one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Well, and I think Nick's right, 'cause he does say, like, far too many people put an emphasis on the salvation moment.
Speaker:Yeah, that's the atonement issue.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's the atonement issue.
Speaker:Because there's ... How many salvation moments do you have as you move from unbelief to belief in every area of life?
Speaker:A boatload.
Speaker:We are saved and we are being saved, right?
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And so, uh, when we think we've hit this one moment, then we get to drop them because we think our work's done.
Speaker:And see, and that ... Exactly.
Speaker:And, and boom, Nick, you nail it again, is that if, if we have this false understanding of sowing and reaping, what the harvest is, then exactly.
Speaker:And that's, you know, I ... That's kind of the church I grew up in, bro.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Is once you raised your hand, I see that hand, right?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Said the prayer.
Speaker:There was zero discipleship.
Speaker:There was nothing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There, there was ... They didn't almost even care if you showed up at youth group anymore at that point, because-
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:... boom.
Speaker:They ... You know, that's where the action was.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They got you.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You know, they got one.
Speaker:Click.
Speaker:May- maybe baptism would be, like, the final seal, and then it's like-
Speaker:Ooh,
Speaker:yeah We don't have to see them again- Yeah
Speaker:for 50 years.
Speaker:They got saved back in '82.
Speaker:Oh, and they had the creepy baptismal window up behind the choir loft, and it was just like- Yeah,
Speaker:yeah
Speaker:... curtain would open up, like, twice a year, you know, and there'd be- Two, three visits ... people in these, like, 40-year-old robes that have just been ha- hang-dried forever from the baptismal watering.
Speaker:You're like, "Yeah."
Speaker:So creepy.
Speaker:Oh,
Speaker:man.
Speaker:So I think that, uh, I think that what you're calling us to is, like, living lives that demand a gospel explanation, right, rather than-
Speaker:Exactly, man.
Speaker:Are, is the way you're living, is the, is the words dripping from your mouth, we just talked about it in what, one or two episodes back, is the way you're talking, is the way you're questioning and bearing with one another, is the way you're investing your life, your time, your patience, your attitude, is your life demanding a gospel explanation?
Speaker:And if you've never had anybody say, "Why do you and your wife live this way?"
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Like, how come you and your, all your friends are constantly serving people?
Speaker:And when you get, you know, shat upon-
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:... you know?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:Then, uh, when someone, like, just p- on you, um, why are you gracious about it and awesome?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like, like, if our lives are not demanding a gospel ex- explanation, and we're trying to wedge in a closing of the deal, and we're wondering why it never works-
Speaker:Hmm
Speaker:... you know, that- Makes sense, yeah ... maybe, yeah, maybe there's a little insight there for us.
Speaker:Hey, we, um, let's go to the big three, right?
Speaker:These are the three takeaways we want people to get from this episode, and there's a lot because we-
Speaker:Before we go to them, I, I mean, I just, I, I feel like we're all over the place a little bit on this topic 'cause, uh, like, I'm just, I'm swimming in it, man, because we've so not understood Matthew 9 and what the harvest is, and when we get those- Hmm
Speaker:we get that wrong, we create false metrics, and then we start beating ourselves and other people up because they're not hitting the mark.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:A mark that's not even a mark and doesn't exist, and it wasn't what Jesus modeled, and it's not even what he said.
Speaker:Go back, please.
Speaker:Reread Matthew 9 and a bunch of the rest of Matthew.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:All right, big three.
Speaker:All right, man, big three.
Speaker:This is the three takeaways we want you to get from this episode, and again-
Speaker:If nothing else, right?
Speaker:Yeah, if nothing else, you can at least walk away with this, and there is a lot because even today I f- I found a reframing in, you've heard about sowing and reaping my whole life, and I remember the old flanograph with, you know, like, the guy carrying a basket of, of seeds, and then in his other hand he had a basket of, like, you know, produce, and it was like-
Speaker:Yeah
Speaker:such a terrible, terrible analogy.
Speaker:But you can get the big three by going- I like
Speaker:corn.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:always corn.
Speaker:It's always corn.
Speaker:Tomatoes and corn.
Speaker:All you gotta do is go to everydaydisciple.com/bigthree right now.
Speaker:Caesar, what are the big three for this week?
Speaker:Okay, big three
Speaker:are change your metrics and how you define the harvest.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:S- the helping people move from unbelief to belief in connection w- to who God is and what he's done in and through Jesus and what is now true of us, that's the central focus of the harvest.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:The harvest is a harvest of disciples.
Speaker:People who are moving from unbelief to belief and showing the world what God's like.
Speaker:Don't settle for a harvest of occasional church attenders and people who purchased what they believe to be fire insurance.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:That's
Speaker:good, man.
Speaker:Just don't settle for that.
Speaker:Such a low bar.
Speaker:Go for discipleship.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, man.
Speaker:Go s- go to any bar right about closing time, a bunch of drunk people that are sad about losing their job and their wife and their dog and their pickup truck- Yeah, sure
Speaker:and all this stuff, and you can do all kinds of, quote, "harvesting and reaping." You know what I mean?
Speaker:Yeah, sure.
Speaker:It's not real.
Speaker:Don't settle for that.
Speaker:Go for the real gold, which is harvesting of disciples who make disciples.
Speaker:Be one.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Second, God always provides for and fulfills that which he calls and commands.
Speaker:So when Jesus says, "Hey, pray to the Lord of the harvest," you know, 'cause th- there's so much to harvest out there.
Speaker:You know, when God promised to fill the world with His glory, He meant it.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And Jesus showed us the means to accomplish this when he said, "Go and make disciples." So when you trust God with your words and your stuff and your time, He will bring the harvest.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:He always provides for what he fulfills and commands.
Speaker:Man.
Speaker:Third, um, and you said this earlier, are, are you living lives that demand a gospel explanation?
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:Remember the analogy of sowing seeds is like dropping a stone in someone's shoe?
Speaker:You know, how is your life, your community, your family, your words dropping stones in people's shoes that they're now looking for ways to deal with it?
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:And are you, are you looking to close the deal or give your life away?
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Give your life to people.
Speaker:Walk with them, even with the stones in their shoes.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And, and you're gonna, you're gonna have, uh, the ability to reap a great harvest out there, 'cause they, like Jesus said, believe it, the harvest is white.
Speaker:It's just, it's, there's, there's no one who's willing to give their life to people- Hmm ... long enough to help move them from unbelief to belief in every area.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We get to, though, man.
Speaker:We get to.
Speaker:Hey, if you want a copy of those Big Three takeaway downloads, you can get them by going to everydaydisciple.com/bigthree.
Speaker:We'll get those right away to you.
Speaker:Hey, quick question.
Speaker:I know- This probably is the last week we're gonna even be able to mention it, but I think you have maybe one spot, two spots left
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Coaching is starting up again here real soon.
Speaker:If, if you've been hearing us the last few weeks talking about life in Missional Community and how to transition conversations to spiritual things, and a lot of this sounds new to you, or you're like today even like, "Holy cow, this Matthew 9 kind of flipped, you know, flipped me upside down with understanding the harvest," we do, my wife and I, and, and other, we o- we offer coaching.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And we'll walk with people from either, you know, "How do I begin to, like, live a life of discipleship at home and with my kids and then have it go outward?
Speaker:'Cause I, you know, I wanna do that," or, "I wanna start a Missional Community.
Speaker:I know I do.
Speaker:How do I start one from scratch that's, that's the, you know, the right way?"
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:"How do I do that?
Speaker:I really don't know, but I know I want it.
Speaker:I want, I wanna live this life you're talking about." Or maybe you're in a small group or you lead small groups at your church and you're like, "They're duds." Yeah.
Speaker:"I want it to be missional to me. I want the gospel to be huge," and all that.
Speaker:Well, this is what we coach to.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:All these things.
Speaker:And so yeah, if you, if you wanna get involved, it ... Maybe by the time you hear this it could be too late, but if you go to everydaydisciple.com/coaching, fill out the thing, and if there's slots, we'll let you know.
Speaker:But it's gonna be like, boom.
Speaker:You know, like, we're into it.
Speaker:We're starting up real soon.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Right
Speaker:away.
Speaker:Thanks, man.
Speaker:Yeah, man, of course.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Thanks for joining us today.
Speaker:For more information on this show and to get loads of free discipleship resources, visit everydaydisciple.com.
Speaker:And remember, you really can live with the spiritual freedom and relational peace that Jesus promised every day.