About six months ago author Neil Cole (Organic Church, Organic Leaders) infected me with a contagious virus known as 10:2b. If you're not totally opposed, I'd like to pass the virus on to you.
At the beginning of Luke 10 Jesus is sending out 72 of his followers to be His forerunners in all the towns to which He was planning to go. He grants them all the authority to heal the sick and to proclaim the Kingdom of God (which is a pretty amazing investment of power and responsibility), but in verse 2 He also gives them a command: And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." The command, of course, is to pray, which is not merely preparation for the work of ministry; it is the work itself!
Jesus situates His command in an observation that is both hopeful and heavy at the same time: The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. This is the reality of the church's environment in every time and place, and Jesus' words remind us of the necessity of our complete dependence upon our Lord if we are to see this situation as hopeful (The harvest is plentiful!) rather than heavy (ughhh... where are the laborers?). In view of the awesome harvest God calls us to, we must cry out to the Lord that HE might raise up the laborers for HIS harvest field. We will not succeed in this work on our own, for like the Psalmist says in Psalm 127:1 - Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
As I dream about the harvest CityWell churches may be a part of, I know this work cannot be accomplished except by the power of Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us. I do not want to labor in vain, so I have volunteered to be infected with the 10:2b virus. Every day at 10:02 am the alarm on my phone goes off and I stop whatever I am doing to pray the second part of Luke 10:2 (thus the "b"): "Father, you alone are the Lord of the harvest, and I beg that you would raise up laborers for Your harvest field, that the CityWell churches may be houses built by Your hands." To this base, I add specific prayers for people to be prepared even now for the ministries God will call them to in these churches. This has been a great discipline of intentional dependence, which could also be called a practice of living in reality.
So what do you say? Care to catch the virus? I would love your partnership in these prayers.
Thank you for sharing this message. I don't know that I'm all that comfortable with the term INFECTED mainly because we just dealt with a very nasty computer virus in our household which caused hours of work to remove and a lot of anxiety but I get the point. I think it's paramount to remember this daily and it's very fresh on my mind especially after a two and half hour church trustee meeting last night. There is always so much work to be done and it’s overwhelming to think that I can do anything about it…I’m only one person, who I am to think that “I” have the ability to make a difference in this big huge problem that lay out there before me?!?! Only by the power of Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think….I’ll set my alarm but I’d like to think that I’m reminding myself to reengage or make myself available to the power of the Holy Spirit because I alone will not make a dent in this awesome task of bringing light into the darkness….
ReplyDeleteGood news, Paul... we're not alone!
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