Ephesians 2:4-10
We started this year with the theme of “Harvest”. Today we are going to revisit some of those thoughts and not conclude the theme as we often do but in some ways redefine it and I pray become reinvigorated to make harvest a permanent lifestyle rather than a temporary theme. As a group of people we have a calling to intercession which is the revelation of mercy, a calling to servanthood which is the revelation of justice and a calling to action which is the revelation of agreement with the will of God. The will of God is not for our consideration it is for our consumption; it must consume us and we must become consumed with it. Hebrews tells us that “our God is a consuming fire”, as such we must be consumed by Him and for Him so that His will becomes ours, His heart becomes ours and His love becomes ours. Jesus told us clearly that He was sent by the Father because of His great love, that He was sent to seek and to save that which was lost. Peter told us definitively that God wills that none would perish but that all would come to repentance. Salvation is the will of God and so we must become consumed with salvation, praying for it, displaying it and even laboring for it to come to those that have not yet been redeemed. God told both Ezekiel and John the Revelator to “eat the scroll” or the word that He was speaking to them so that they could go and tell it or prophesy to the people around them. They were to consume the Word of God because when you eat the message you become the message. Moses and Jesus both said “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” We must be consumed by the will of God and we must become consumed with the will of God. I must let God’s will that none would perish have preeminence over everything else in my life and then I must make God’s desire for the salvation of souls hold more value than everything else that I have ever found value in. Harvest is not a season, it’s not an action, it’s not a duty, it is God’s heart and I pray today that it will become our heart. In his letter to the Ephesians Paul draws a definite line from being loved by God to doing the works of God. Today I want us to walk along that line together and see that being loved creates action. We were not saved for our pleasure we were saved for His works and that harvest requires labor and Jesus has prayed and continues to pray that we would be the laborers in the ready fields of this city.